I am happy to report I have moved a bit past shelter-in-place-hole. Figuring out Zoom happy hour helped. Today would have been our final vacation day in the Bay Area, so on Thursday we had a virtual wine tasting with Lisa and Fred. Broke open our finest box of wine.
I have several new observations about our new shelter-in-place world. Let's say, well, perhaps there will be 7. Sure. We'll start with that.
1. First and foremost, even though minimal human contact might seem like the ideal situation for an introvert, I am clear now that I need some baseline amount of human contact, beyond my immediate family. And cat contact doesn't count.
2. A few existential questions that had to be answered:
a) Jill wondered if one had to change out of pajamas before one could start drinking wine, assuming one had been in pajamas all day, working. The answer she came up with was "no", and to be clear, it's a hypothetical, intellectual exercise with no real world example.
b) I have realized that I need to carefully scan my calendar in the morning, or risk missing that the 11 am conference call with a national funder is in fact a Zoom call. Did a quick shave, just to realize that most people disable their camera anyway.
3. Passover started a couple of days ago. Thinking about it, seems like the perfect holiday for these times. Plagues on the House of Egypt? You've got your CoVid; global warming; Cheeto Voldemort, and last December's frog rain. I started to worry that the slaying of the first-born male child would be next. Then I remembered all my offspring are girls. So, no worries. Then I briefly worried about my nephew Ryan. But since he is part of the tribe, he'll be fine. I hope Stacy remembers to smear blood on the door. I think that was the sign to "Pass Over" the house, or maybe that's just to make sure Amazon leaves your package and drives away.
. So probably if you are going to hoard anything these days, it should be matzah.
4. My agency takes off Good Friday as a holiday. Not sure why, but it seems way low on the priority list for me to address. My specific question, though, is in this new world, how is a work holiday different from a work day? And a follow-up question, any body else having trouble remembering what day of the week it is?
5. Kinda related, I am finding that my morning commute seems to be taking longer each day. I have to get up, go downstairs to get coffee, determine if I have any video calls, shower and shave if I do (and usually even if I don't - don't want to be voted out of the house these days); then walk the few steps to the computer room where I have set up my office. Not sure why this seems to be taking more time every day. Damn cat traffic in the hallway.
6. For a minute, I felt like full-on frontier man. My brother sent us a smoked turkey from the New Braunfels Smokehouse. OK, I didn't raise the turkey, kill it, smoke it, wrap it, box it, and deliver it. But, after I removed the meat, I simmered the carcass with some veggies and made a smoked turkey broth, that I them used to make creamy smoked turkey soup with wild rice. Admittedly, I didn't grow any of the vegetables or rice. Basically, I boiled a turkey carcass. AND - I have now been able to get TWO curbside appointments at HEB. I may be over estimating my self sufficiency. But there are five cherry tomatoes in my garden that will be ready within ten days or so.
I will have more to say on the Dos Equis virus later, including how proud I am to live in a state that makes sure churches and gun stores are deemed essential businesses, but are going to the mat trying to close clinics that provide abortion services because they are "non-essential."
Have to go to my mantra: " At least we are still not Florida. At least we are still not Florida."
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