COVID Diaires - Dec 30

 

COVID Diaries - Dec 28

 

COVID Diaries - Dec 27

 

2020 So Far - in pics

 I'd like to describe the shit storm that has been COVID 19 in pictures.

Last dinner date before lock down.

Last time having friends in my house before lock down.  This was a day before my first (and worst) COVID scare.  (That one turned out to be not risky at all, but the lack of information in the beginning....)

First quarantine visit outside.

First time sorting masks for work.  This was when they still had disposable masks for us to wear.  There was a point where that stopped.

First time "masked" at the grocery store. 

Next time sorting masks for work.  This time they did not have disposable masks for us, so I got to wear one of the donation masks. 

Captain Smiley did a lot of casual clothes shopping. 

I practically lived out here from June to September.

I don't even know what's happening here.

My chef for the summer.

I did get to have an outdoor, limited attendance birthday party.

Olive got a bike that she could ride along side my slow ass while I ran.

I found the biggest fish in Minnesota. 

Got to test all kinds of masks.

I got attacked by a fucking owl while I was running.  

And there was the day I had to wait 30 minutes for a train to get out of my way.

We had a blizzard in October.

And then shit got so real that Dungeon Master had to drive over and check on me in December, in the freezing cold.  

"Shit got real" also means that old pics were dug up. This one is classic me.  If Aunt Barb was around, that's probably where I was.

Dec 8 - COVID Diaries

 Y'all - I have spent the day learning about COVID vaccines.

Phase 1 = 3 waves within the phase. I am potentially the 3rd wave of phase 1.  I have acute/chronic patient contact but not in a hospital or LTC facility. However, there's a lot of, um, distrust, of the vaccine.  And since it's an emergency use authorization, there's no mandate to actually get the vaccine.  So, who knows? 

Also, apparently cheese and cheese wheel distribution is at risk?  (Dry ice is important people.)

Overall message: the people running the state of Minnesota are absolute nerds led by a football coach.  We could not be in better hands.

Meanwhile, I'm over here ignoring the realities of winter.  Since we don't have snow on the ground and it's supposed to be 50* outside tomorrow.  Not sure if I'll go on a 'long run'.  I'm just going to live in my bliss.

Dec 6 - COVID Updates

I haven't really said anything about who has and has not gotten COVID in my life on here.  I'll try to be vague but precise here.

Self: so far so good.  Though there was definitely a moment I thought I had it.  For now, fingers crossed.

Minnesota peeps: I definitely know people who have tested positive and recovered.  (I walked with one of these people last week.  She was all "I knew you wouldn't be scared to walk with me.)  I know people who are still sick but expected to recover.  I don't "know" people who have died from COVID, except I do through friends up here.  

Family: One family member has tested positive and is isolating but currently has no symptoms.  None of us can believe this person has no symptoms yet, btw.  We are all just crossing our fingers so hard over here. 

Health care workers: Some family members and several friends also work in health care.  Isolation precautions in health care are, like, weird.  "Oh, you had a super low risk exposure in the community, no symptoms and a negative test within 14 days.  Get yourself to work." Because, if they didn't the hospitals and nursing homes would be closed.  Apparently in Minnesota the MN National Guard has already been assisting in some facilities.

Vaccine: I am told the first shipment of vaccines is like, imminent.  For my company, staff who have patient facing jobs get the vaccine first.  But, within that, I'm not sure who is prioritized.  Like, hopefully hospital workers are high on that list? 

I was thinking about the difference between rounds 1 and 2 of quarantine. 

COVID Snacks: So much talk in round 1; not so much in round 2.  Round 1 was like "I accidentally ate all my COVID snacks by day 3."  Second time around with this nonsense, it's like 'no, potato chips and cookies are not allowed in my house.'

Toilet paper: Yes in round 1; yes and why, wtf? in round 2   Same apparently goes for paper towels because no one uses rags anymore?  One of the bright spots of round 2 was when a dear friend (who is out of town for a long time) texts me and says "if you need toilet paper just let yourself into my house and take some; I have plenty".

Rice: Yes in round 1.  No one cares in round 2. Which is how I bought 25lbs of rice for $10.00 at Costco.  Now I see why they have all those big tupperware tubs at my Asian supermarket. 

Exercise: Yo, I was so much better in round 1.  Round 2 is like "how little can I get away with and keep my streak alive".  There's no such thing as weight lifting or anything.  It's been rough.

Dec 1 - COVID Diaries

 I cannot even believe it's December.

I saw one of my most favorite nurses today and she asked how I'd been.  "every day is the same" I replied.  It's kind of true.  There's parts I like about working from home, like parts I hope I can keep after lock down ends.  And there's parts I'm like "let me out; I can see humans again".

In running life, my foot is soooo much better.  And I'm getting stronger in running in general.  This year has been a real shit show for running, so feeling a bit stronger is lovely.

In 'what'd I sign up for now' life, I am doing a walking challenge for December, 30 miles on the month, so roughly a mile a day.  I tried some inside miles tonight after the sun went down. That was not ideal, so maybe I'll walk a mile in the morning and run in the afternoon? It's a thought.

In pandemic life... it's just EVERYWHERE right now.  Every time I turn around, someone I know or someone I work with or... someone's getting sick.  And it's such a crap shoot.  It's such a range of "I have no symptoms" to "I felt lousy for a couple of days" to "in the hospital and having breathing assistance" to death.  Young healthy people get nailed.  Frail old people skate through.  And vice versa.  For 80% or so, it's mild.  But yo, do you feel lucky?  Do you want to see if you're in that other 20%. 

Minnesota is a hot spot, but also expected to have a vaccine for front line health care workers in a couple of weeks?  Weeks?!?  I can't believe I'm writing that.

This is one of those things, when I look back on it, I'm really going to remember the uncertainty. Who's sick?  Who's exposed?  If we get sick, how bad will it be?   Will the vaccine really work? Will I get to see Grandma again?  So much uncertainty.

Happy Turkey. Turkey.

11/26/2020: This marks the first Thanksgiving since 2001 that I was not with family for Turkey Day.  This brings my total of non-family Thanksgivings to 2.  In normal years I'd be in Indiana with Dad's side of the family having part American food and part Italian feast!  This year, I got a care package from a dear friend/awesome chef and had Mom and Dad on Facetime. The three of us realized we don't have "our" Thanksgiving tradition. So, I decided we say the Prayer for Protection. That's us. 

11/27/2020: First Friday after Thanksgiving that I've worked as a social worker.  Ever. Y'all.  I'm so happy to report it was super boring.  No one wants to talk to social work on the day after Thanksgiving.

11/28/2002: A friend texted me: "I wanted to walk, so I'm by your house" and I ran outside like "hang on, I'll grab my mask".  This friend actually had COVID and has recovered.  She was all "I knew you'd be okay walking with me".  (Meaning 'I knew you'd understand science and that I'm not contagious').  It was LOVELY.  Since we're in lockdown, I can't walk with Dungeon Master, nor Olive.  And I can't play with Pooky Bear and Baby Pooky at the playground.  Want to know my main social contacts? So, I'm so happy for the limited options.

COVID Diaries - Lockdown 2.0

 Today is Thursday.

Wednesday night the Governor announced a new lock down.  This one will be similar but not exactly the same as the original show.  Churches are going to remain open (which I think is kind of ridiculous but no one asked me).  Restaurants, bars, gyms, schools, youth sports, all shutting down.  Restaurants do get to keep carry out and delivery service.  All retail is staying open. 

The one that hurts the most, and is the same, is the "no social gatherings of any size, inside or outside".  Which means, if I don't live with you I can't visit you.  Y'all, I live alone.  My pandemic partner, Captain Smiley, is actually unavailable for the foreseeable future so I am legit all by my lonesome up here.

I am continuing my avocado farm.  I planted 1 yesterday and 2 more today.  I need to go to Costco soon for more. 

My foot is feeling significantly improved from the day I stepped on the horse, so I am running a bit more.  I got back up to 3 miles today. That was nice.  Plus it was the best weather ever.

I have perfected my Salmon Poke bowl.  I follow this recipe almost exactly. The siracha sauce is super important in the marinade.  Absolutely makes the dish as far as I'm concerned.  I've been practicing making the Japanese pickled veggies, so I've been using those a lot in this bowl.  

I am planning a passion fruit farm, but have not made the leap yet.

I will be alone for Thanksgiving, for those doing the math.  I'm hopeful for a Facetime or Zoom call with lots and lots of family members.  And a friend (who is an even more excellent chef than I) said she'd make me a care package.  I may also get a visit from Dungeon Master where she stays in her car and I sit on my porch with the heated blanket plugged in.

I was surprised at how exhausted and bummed I was last night.  Even though, yo, we should've been locking down two weeks ago.

Also, apparently we're going back into toilet paper hoarding mode?

COVID Diaries - I guess I finally got sick of writing every day?

 I'll just do a little catch up here.  Apparently half my movements are now tracked with my credit card, btw.

Monday: I must not've gone anywhere, because I didn't buy anything other than a lid for a pot on Amazon.  Side note here, it's good I looked at my credit card because I thought I'd set up payment for this month's statement and I had not. (I'm still a week or two before due date, so all is well.) 

Tuesday: My foot still hurts, but I'm like "I may, at some point, recover from this".  Also, snow day? 

Wednesday: Foot is slowly improving.  I am running so freaking slow.  But, I have not given up the streak.  So, there's that.  Also, more snow?

Thursday: I had to actually leave my house, so I legit made the most of it. I had to go to one of my satellite office locations, which is on a hospital campus (though nowhere near the main building.)  The work I needed to do lasted a full two minutes.  And then I switched into running gear and ran my mile on campus where the plowing is absolutely legit. 

Then, I went to the main attraction of the day, which is the Asian grocery store. (I'm okay calling it that right?)  There's also a lot of African imported food and Mexican/south American food, but it's mostly targeted at South East Asian immigrants.  I got my passion fruits (always my main motivator).  I got a few new kinds of mushrooms to try.  (Yum!)  I picked out oyster sauce, fish sauce, and what I later learned was not the right kind of soy sauce but not the worst guess in the world either. 

Also, you know, I worked all of these days.  Even a little bit on Monday.

Friday: I don't know what my issue was.  

Let's start with the true COVID dream I had. "Work" was a place I actually went to and our COVID tests in dream Liz world looked suspiciously liked a breathalyzer or something in awake-land. (You blew into it to get a reading.)  Somehow I came up positive.  But y'all, I didn't leave work.  Or I did but I lived upstairs?  And then it's like "I'll go to the grocery store".  That's not allowed. So I went back downstairs to work. To help with dishes?  Or clean my dishes?  And one of the supervisors (who is a real life person I know) was like "can we at least keep the COVID+ people out of this one space?"  But, yo, I kept forgetting I had COVID. So they tested me the next day and poor Supervisor was like "this is worse than before, go away". And I went back into the room where I wasn't allowed, to help with dishes or whatever, before trying to get groceries again.  And I wasn't the only work person that kept trying to come in, and forgetting we were sick.  We were all asymptomatic.  I told real life supervisor what Dream Liz put Dream Supervisor through and she thought it was hilarious.

I had a Teams training from 8am-10am.  And it's actually a training I enjoy and a subject I love. I ended it 20 minutes early.  (That part I'm okay with.  I will force role plays in person, but I won't over teams.)  A colleague was on just watching, and gave great feedback.  I told her it felt like I had backup for the training!

Next up I had to work for a while.  I was like a freaking zombie.  I don't know what my problem was.  I liked the training.  The work calls I made were positive and I felt relatively helpful.

Around noon I told my colleague I needed to take a break and was that okay with her.  Mercifully she was like "I get it.  Go."  I ran my mile and did some clean up grocery shopping including yeast and bread flour.  How did I not know that was a thing? 

I came back feeling refreshed and started the weekend on a relatively high note.

Saturday: (That's today y'all.) I woke up for reals a little before 10am.  And had junk food.  And then napped.  Not gonna lie.  

Somehow around 2pm, I got off my ass and did all the things.  I ran my mile.  I took out the garbage.  I legit cleaned my kitchen.  I rode my exercise bike.  I made bread.  All the things.

For supper, I had much better luck with a new Naan recipe (and improved ingredients on my end).  And I had better mushroom luck than one other night this week that we don't need to talk about. 

And now my kitchen is clean again, so, there's that.

 

COVID Diaries - Nov 8

 From COVID world:

Today Pooky Bear, Pooky Baby and (I'm sorry, I can't call him Pooky Dad, can we have another name for him?) came up my way and we walked to a new playground.  In COVID world, I was like "Pooky Bear is standing too close to me".  For everyone's information, Pooky Bear has NEVER been accused of invading personal space.  Ever.  

Next up <a href="https://www.axios.com/george-w-bush-biden-election-599b0ce7-5278-438c-8b68-e5d1052e9e6d.html">I'm over here agreeing with Former Pres G.W. Bush</a> and watching <a href="https://ijr.org/romney-trump-losing-election-dont-expect-him-go-quietly-night/">Mitt Romney quote Hamilton</a>.  

So, yeah, we're still in the COVID time and reality warp over here.

COVID Diaries - November 7. #46

 So, I  took a long time off the COVID diaries, because, I was so over... everything.

I'll also point out I totally slept through my eight year running streak anniversary.  Next big milestone is 3,000 days, so maybe I celebrate more then, if I make it? 

Election night, I had a small but might contigent of friends on Zoom who did Taiji or Qigong every hour on the hour that the polls closed across the mainland US.  (Sorry, Hawaii and Alaska, but I was legit toast by the west coast.) The next day, Dad called to tell me how much he enjoyed the exercises.  Dad.  Who is not a gusher.

Wednesday morning, I did finally get the nerve to turn on my phone and look at the results. At that point things were slightly leaning towards Biden but in no way certain. 

The calling of Wisconsin and Michigan for Biden are a blur.  Was that Wednesday?  Thursday? I can't remember.  And why is Arizona light blue? Also, Nevada had been light blue by like 6,000 votes at that point, which had me super nervous.  Until I understood all the outstanding votes were in Las Vegas. 

Friday morning, I woke up to the headlines that Biden had somehow pulled ahead in Georgia by 900 votes.  (And then several articles about Stacy Abrams roll in the election.)  Sometime on Friday they also seemed to turn the state of Pennsylvania blue. And it was like "is this real?"  and "can I trust it?"

Today is Saturday.  I woke up and looked at CNN.  The headline was roughly "Biden's really close".  Shortly after that I was talking to Dungeon Master on the telephone and it was she who told me they'd called the election.  She also told me all of downtown was boarded up and many stores in south were boarded up as well. And she then clarified, these are new boards.  These are not related to the George Floyd murder.  One of my neighbors up here confirmed.  I'm unclear if things were boarded up in case the election was called, or in case it was not.

I talked to Mom and Dad for a while.  Neither of them are real gushers about this kind of thing, but they were obviously touched by the celebrations in the streets. I was too. Some of my friends are getting together in person later to celebrate. I am too COVID aware (5400 new cases in the state yesterday?!?!) to go.  I'm celebrating from here.

2020 has been a real shit show, from wild fires to COVID to the economy to the state of my own mental health (and waste line?)   I feel like I'm taking a break from reality over here.  Sitting in my backyard on a record warm day, celebrating 46!

COVID Diaries - This weather is bullshit!

 Apparently I don't even care about censors.

Wednesday 10/21

I woke up to find out the snow removal people legit just didn't come. So, that was a whole thing.  I cleared my snow and texted my neighbor that the salt I use is pet safe.  (Neighbor has a dog, which is different from last year.)  Eventually neighbor texted me back that her shovel from last year was a disaster and she was getting a new one soon. I shoveled her side of our back yard too, before I had to leave for work.

I did work outside the home for a minute, which was lovely. And involved another COVID test. For reals, the one in the office hurt significantly less than in the car.  I think the angle of approach matters. 

I also ran in the suburbs.  One of my offices is on a hospital campus which is generally well plowed.  Hospital campus also has a walking trail (which is partially under construction but still suitable for an out and back) so I ran out there versus in my neighborhood where there were varying levels of shoveling compliance.

Thursday 10/22

I ran my mile pretty early in the morning because it was supposed to snow again.  I was about a block from home when the snow thunder/lightning started, so I'll call my timing okay but not ideal.

In the evening Dungeon Master and I did online Tai Chi together. That is quickly becoming my most favorite workout of all.

Friday 10/23

Work was surprisingly wild.  I wound up with 8 points on a day where I needed like 0-1.  It's fine.  I'm happy for my job, and at this moment, happy to be able to help out my colleagues.  Fridays it's me and one other social worker, whom I really enjoy working with.  We do a phone call or two, check in on the computer, keep going, etc.  It's usually a nice day.  Today was a bit wild for us both, but ultimately fine.

In the afternoon I went out and ran/walked 3 miles.  (But I did run over a mile.  This change is emotional.  Let me have my space.) 

In the evening, Dungeon Master and I had another Tai Chi date. We had a bonus participant at the last minute.  I'm not sure I have a blog name for this dude, so we'll see what he wants to be called. Eagle Scout maybe? You know when friends from high school meet your adult friends?  That's what that night was for me.  Both Dungeon Master and Eagle Scout are the kind of friends who know where the bodies are buried, and probably helped put them there.  So to speak. 

Saturday 10/24

First off, whatever the hell I did to myself after Tai Chi was not good.  So I woke up around 1am ready to puke.  Which eventually happened.  Since I was so wide awake, I thought I'd cut my hair (which I'd been thinking about for a minute) and that mostly worked out, except the back of my head is a bit uneven.  (Sigh.)

In real life, Dungeon Master and I walked around Palmer Lake, ahead of tomorrow's proposed snow storm (which may or may not reach the Twin Cities, we are not taking chances). After the walk; I ran/walked and did my mile for running.  I also got my steps in for whatever step challenge I'm in right now.

 

 

COVID Diaries - A note to my future self

 Dear future self: anyone who says "it used to be like this when I was a kid" is full of shit. This is the most snow recorded this early in the season. This is the second highest snow fall in October, ever.  Bested only by the Halloween Blizzard or legend. 

We had 7-8" of the white stuff today.  On October 20. What the....

I woke up early and got my run in before the snow.  I had to run a work related errand, and because I'm a bone head I had to run a second work related errand as well. (Could've been more efficient there.  Sigh.)  It was trying to snow when I was running.

 

When I got home, I just sat down, worked, and watched the stuff pile up.  This needs photos, not a hand written diary entry.  Photos are in time stamp order here.  For these, the best indicator is the snow accumulating on the orange bucket.

 

COVID Diaries - October 18 and 19

 

COVID Diaries - Overdue

 

Anxiety COVID

 Anxiety COVID: So, I'm going to write this now and set it to post in like, a while.

I have described my current condition as anxiety COVID 19.  For the past couple days, my heart rate has been JACKED UP when I've been running.  Like, nutso, one day it got up to 170 on a 1 mile run.  It should be much lower than that.

Oct 13 and 14, heart rate was jacked up.  Only while running.  The rest of the time things were fine, including the "recovery" after running.  (Like, it was too high, but it came down correctly.)

October 15 I had what is technically an asymptomatic COVID test for my employer. But, like, yo, I'm curious, right?  Do I have some other infection?  Is my body going nuts?  Did I get the real deal?

October 16, end of business day: I still don't have my results.  Not sure if they come on the weekend, or if I have to wait 'till Monday. I get a call if I'm positive and just an email if it's typical results.

So, I've described my current condition as "anxiety COVID".  Because, unrelated to anxiety, my heart rate should not have been that jacked up on those runs.  But, related to anxiety, I don't want to kill all my friends.  Captain Smiley hasn't seen me for a week and he feels fine.  Dungeon Master saw me about five days ago and she hasn't mentioned anything.  I won't say anything to her 'till I know for reals.  One person saw me on Wednesday on the day of the 170bpm run.  Independent of me, she was also going in for a COVID screen because she also started coughing that day. 

I don't really want this because I strongly don't want to have to tell any of my friends to get tested.

But part of me was like "what else would be true, if I had COVID and then recovered?" And, the things that'd be true are "I'd probably go home for Christmas" and "I'd probably start going to the gym this winter".  Which, I understand 'have this and then recover' is a big assumption of health privilege, access to testing privilege, and some much else. But it's been an interesting path to travel down in my head. 

Anyways, this post is being written 10/16/20 at 5pm or so.  I'm setting it to auto publish in a couple weeks.  We'll see if I remember, and if I come back and change it. 

10/17/20 - I actually got my negative test later on the 16th and was happy not to have killed any of my friends.

However, I went out for a run today and I still feel like garbage.  So, I have a regular cough?

 

COVID Diaries - Liz dreams

 Today in Liz Dreams:
Y'all, I had like the "Outlander" dream, but it was my own dream.
I was more like, watching this like a fly on the wall.
The main lady, Claire, was born in modern times, somehow got thrown back into olden times, and then got married, but was able to take her spouse forward into our time.
Dream starts as Claire and Jamie and their kids are like, hanging out in modern times.
Then one of the kids finds like, a portal through the dresser drawer (not even a full wardrobe, just a little drawer).  And somehow the whole family finds it and goes back to what we'll call Jamie's time.
Except, y'all, they bring stuff.
In my dream, they brought a lot of plastic/water tight jars.
Dream Liz is surprised they didn't bring duct tape and ibuprofen.
Jamie, Claire, and the kids has this reassuring disregard for warping the timeline.  Like "oh, I don't need this plastic container, I'll teach a peasant from the 1600s to screw on a bottle cap and tell them it's magic".
And somehow they could get back to our time through the dresser portal.
Yo, this was a great dream but then my alarm clock went off, so I hope I have "more" of this dream sometime.

COVID Diaries - October 5

 

COVID Diaries October 4

 

TC Loony Challenge: Virtual 2020

Registration: I register online; nice and simple.  TCM sends me an email when registration opens up.  One of the reasons people register for Loony is they really just want to run the 10 mile, and having a race or two the day before seems okay?

Packet Pickup: Packets were mailed this year.  A bit of controversy here:Based on the mailing schedule, 10K and 5K packets cannot arrive before the original race day.  Loony and some other packets were mailed a week earlier. So I had my medal and finish line ahead of Dungeon Master. Obviously we shared for the pics.

SWAG: The SWAG is good but also very bad/cheap and it annoys me.  (It's the sole reason I'm even doing a race review this year.) 

I'll start with two new items this year: the mask is on point.  It's one of the better masks I have, especially since I apparently lost my 1 mile mask?  Second, the finish line tape, which is mostly so you can take/post pics, but it's sweet. 

Old items, and things that annoy me:  The shirt for the 10K and 5K: it's ONE shirt.  They used to be two shirts of two different colors.  The medal for the 10K and 5K: It's ONE medal.  This annoys me. It's cheap.  And also unimaginative.  In every year before this, the 10K shirt had one color and the 5K shirt another.  Though in 2018 they did do the cheapass thing of having the same medals for the 5K and 10K.  Not enough people must've complained because they're still doing it.  There's also a 10mile medal and shirt, and a gift bag which looks nice.

Transportation to and from the race:  LOL.  I just left this here for fun.

Course: I made "programs' on my Garmin for the 10mile race (I was at Rush Creek Trail), the 10K race (I was on Shingle Creek), and 5K race (we were at aPalmer Lake). I just ran until my watch said I was done. 

Pace Team: For the 10mile, Olive rode her bike next to me.  10K was alone listening to The Bee Keepers Apprentice.  5K was with Dungeon Master and it's hard to tell who was pacing who in that one.

Race Recommended For:  If you're one who wants to do the 10 mile, doesn't want to do the lottery, and these other races sound fun, this is absolutely for you.  Also, I'd say people who are trying to build a base.  Normal training for Loony is back to back long runs.   

COVID Diaries - October 2 and 3

 

COVID Diaries - October 1

 

COVID Diaries - Cincinnati Trip

 I've already told family this is my Thanksgiving and Christmas trip.  Not sure if I'm telling them or myself.

Thursday: 

Run: I woke up and ran first thing.  Ahead of showering and all the other good stuff.

Periodontist: I had my final check up with the periodontist.  He stuck his fingers in my mouth, said all good, took a couple of pictures of my mouth and let me go.  I'm allowed to brush my teeth now, so that's new.

Traveling: For a long trip, it was mercifully uneventful.  I did all the things the google lady told me to do around Chicago and kept myself out of trouble there and in Indy as well. I had McDonald's for breakfast and lunch (I know), and when I got home I had Dad take me over to Skyline for supper.  So, yeah, not losing weight yet.

Friday:

Run: This is the earliest I've run on the trip.  Probably won't get my hopes too high for more of the same.

Work: I worked from Mom and Dad's basement most of the day.  That is what it will be.  It's actually fairly comfortable down there. 

After work: Mom and I took a walk "around the circle" which makes sense if you know where they live.  Mom could stand another lap or two.  Her hip really bothers her.  (Her hip that she blamed on me all these years. Y'all, one leg is shorter than the other.  I had nothing to do with this bullshit.)  Then we went and had a social distance dinner with friends including Downstairs Mom and Dad who I haven't seen in a while and some other wonderful people.

 Saturday:

Pretty sure I was a lazy bum most of the morning.  In the early afternoon I took Mom and Dad on a "longer" walk.  I'm getting all my minutes in for a walking Garmin challenge on this trip.  Then I ran my mile.

Family: In the late afternoon, I headed over to my aunt's house.  We had an early supper and then social distance watched a young cousin play soccer.  From a parking lot on top of the hill.  And then we had apple crisp.  I have missed my Kentucky people so hard.

Sunday:

Run: I did run in the morning today.  We had an early lunch of goetta and eggs.  And then, y'all, we headed back to Kentucky.  Unexpectedly though, I had a screw in my tire, so we took mom's car which hadn't been driven in like a month.

Family: We headed down to the farm to see my aunt and uncle, and also said hello to their neighbors (who are basically bonus family).  It's always a request of mine to go down to the farm and take a walk.  Always.  It's one of my most favorite places in the world.  I am surprised and mildly pleased to tell you that Mom came along.  It was hard for her, but I think maybe a little easier than the last time I was in town because she wasn't telling everyone else to clean their hands.

Monday: 

Car repair and running: So, I mentioned the screw in my tire.  I didn't even have a tire pressure warning.  I took it to a tire place near Mom and Dad and said "can you make this safe so I can drive back to Minnesota?" and they said sure.  I said "I'm going to take a walk, I'll come back when it's done."

I wound up using my super power of finding a fun running trail close to wherever I am.  At first I was just walking, racking up minutes on my Garmin challenge.  But then I was all "this is silly, I should run my mile so I'm done, and then I can have Skyline for lunch" so I did that too. And yes, I did have Skyline for lunch and almost nothing for supper.

Tuesday: 

Y'all, I think today is Tuesday but I'm a bit confused.

Family: I got to see Grandma.  I haven't seen her since Christmas so it made my heart big even though I couldn't give her a hug.

Work: I had kind of a repeat of yesterday, but not exactly.  I worked from Ault Park in my car.  Then I ran my mile.  Then I had Skyline, and then I worked from a different park for the rest of the day.

I'd had a date with Dad to play tennis in the late afternoon but he was too tired so we bailed.

Wednesday:

I started with a work meeting.  I tried not to see it as super boring.  But I'd heard the first hour of it 2 times before, so I spent that time making coffee, breakfast, etc.  And then I worked most of the day.

In the afternoon, Dad and I headed out.  He let me out of the car at the head of a running trail, and then headed over to the driving range.  The running trail leads to the driving range if done correctly so I got a great workout.

In the evening, I hung out with Marge on our driveway.  The neighbors and their kids were out and super entertaining.  Apparently we get to do it again tomorrow.  It's someone's birthday? I'm unclear.  I just have to organize take out.   

Thursday: 

I worked in the morning.  And had goetta and eggs.  I was fairly grumpy most of the morning.  I dunno why.  It is what it is.

I ran in the afternoon and then walked with Mom and Dad.  Slowly.  We saw a neighbor of theirs who'd been hit by a car (in his car) and was home from rehab finally.  He wanted Dad to stay and have a beer with him.

In the evening a friend came over and we had carry out for supper on the driveway.  It was excellent.

Friday: 

 I did a quick weight routine and then a short run in the morning.

Work was fast and slow.  I'd worked so hard other days this pay period, there wasn't a ton left over for me to do on Friday, but I needed to check in because I was one of two people working. 

In the evening, I headed down to Kentucky for another visit with the family.  We wound up playing corn hole and social distancing by the fire.  Super relaxing evening and I was glad for everyone's company.

Saturday: 

Was a super chill day as it turned out.  I ran, walked, and hung out with Mom and Dad.  Mom was going through the archives apparently and found this gem.  Phone list on the back not pictured.

Sunday:

Was also a super chill day.  I ran, had Skyline, and visited my cousin and his family.  They are probably the least quarantined.  I saw them last because a few people earlier on were super strict about staying inside/away from people. But it was a great visit, good to see them and the baby who's almost not a baby anymore.

Monday: 

So.  Much.  Driving.

I got up at 6:30am Cincy time and as in the car by 7am.

I started off by listening to Between The World and Me by T. Coates.  It kind of blew my mind.  Definitely not an easy or a comfortable read, but super important.  Especially right now.  I stopped for the arches in Indiana for breakfast.  I drove straight through Illinois because I was grumpy and also because the google lady took me straight through Chicago on the Skyway.  (This is the fastest way, but only if the traffic is right.) I stopped one last time in WI at Arby's and tried their Greek Gyro sandwich.  It was really good but I could've used twice as much meat.

When I got home, I went for a run.  Then I went back to Arby's for another sandwhich.  I don't know what time I went to bed but it was early.  I was still confused about the time.