Still at Home (or, the Coronavirus Diaries, part II)
Originally, we were told we'd work from home for at least four weeks. Since then, the date has been pushed back two more times, and if it doesn't move again we'll have worked from home for seven weeks. My previous record for being out of the office was five weeks during my sabbatical, and nobody believes that we're actually going to be back in the office after seven weeks that way this pandemic is going.
Fortunately, I've been reasonably effective at working at home and at being quarantined in general. Other than occasional blips in internet speed that have caused me to drop off of remote meetings, I haven't had any trouble working at home.
I spent most of the third week working from one of M's sofas because last Tuesday I felt a little sick. I actually took Tuesday as a sick day, which was my first in 2.5 years and means I've now taken 7.5 sick days in just under 18 years. Fortunately, whatever it was passed quickly, although in deference to M, I stayed on the soft through Friday in a quarantine inside the quarantine, just in case.
We've done a good job at not leaving the house. Since this all officially began on March 16, I've only drive my car five times.
- made one trip to the specialist vet on 3/18. On the way back I picked up some prescriptions via a drive through.
- made a second trip to our usual vet on 3/20 (this vet was doing curbside pickup, so Tulip went in the building but I didn't).
- made one trip to the pet supply store on 3/28 (curbside pickup)
- made one trip to the grocery store on 3/29 (curbside pickup)
- yesterday and today I picked up some stuff off of M's friends porches that they had extra and she needed.
For three weeks, that's barely anything. I haven't even had to buy gas in that time, and I still have more than half a tank.
Yesterday was the first Saturday with decent weather of the quarantine, so I took a long bike ride west. I made it all the way to Avon Lake before turning around. When I added up my mileage I got 26.2 miles on the nose, which is a remarkable coincidence that means nothing. My hips are a bit sore today, which is unsurprising given how little physical activity I've been up to. My gym has been doing remote workouts, but it turns out the act of "leaving the house" is an important part of my workout and thus far I've not felt motivated to work out at home. Despite that, my weight has gone down significantly. When I showered after my bike ride, I was down to 201, which is lower than at any point I've written about. This is because apparently working out makes me hungry, so I eat more. If I'm not that hungry, I eat less, and if I'm at home, I spread it out more over the day. Weird. It's probably not sustainable, but I'm not complaining. It would be fun to get under than 200, even if in what is unlikely to be a sustainable manner.
My other accomplishment was that using the time I'd normally spend on commutes, I finished some long desired decluttering. I went through all of the boxes from my childhood home. A whole bunch of stuff was pitched or recycled, a few small boxes are ready to be donated or sold, a few things were put away in more appropriate places, and a very small number of boxes went back in the closet. At the same time, M went through a bunch of her bins in the basement and made significant progress on putting things away. We also successfully restored the closets that were still disorganized from everything we moved for painting.
At this point, my declutter list is much smaller. The china cabinet was done during painting prep, and I paid some guys to clear out my garage last summer. The list is basically:
- workbench area (super low urgency)
- all my stuff from school that was kept is in one place, but it could be better organized
- M still has some scattered odds and ends in the basement that need to be sorted
And that's about it. Let's hear it for quarantine. We're all going to be here a while.
Fortunately, I've been reasonably effective at working at home and at being quarantined in general. Other than occasional blips in internet speed that have caused me to drop off of remote meetings, I haven't had any trouble working at home.
I spent most of the third week working from one of M's sofas because last Tuesday I felt a little sick. I actually took Tuesday as a sick day, which was my first in 2.5 years and means I've now taken 7.5 sick days in just under 18 years. Fortunately, whatever it was passed quickly, although in deference to M, I stayed on the soft through Friday in a quarantine inside the quarantine, just in case.
We've done a good job at not leaving the house. Since this all officially began on March 16, I've only drive my car five times.
- made one trip to the specialist vet on 3/18. On the way back I picked up some prescriptions via a drive through.
- made a second trip to our usual vet on 3/20 (this vet was doing curbside pickup, so Tulip went in the building but I didn't).
- made one trip to the pet supply store on 3/28 (curbside pickup)
- made one trip to the grocery store on 3/29 (curbside pickup)
- yesterday and today I picked up some stuff off of M's friends porches that they had extra and she needed.
For three weeks, that's barely anything. I haven't even had to buy gas in that time, and I still have more than half a tank.
Yesterday was the first Saturday with decent weather of the quarantine, so I took a long bike ride west. I made it all the way to Avon Lake before turning around. When I added up my mileage I got 26.2 miles on the nose, which is a remarkable coincidence that means nothing. My hips are a bit sore today, which is unsurprising given how little physical activity I've been up to. My gym has been doing remote workouts, but it turns out the act of "leaving the house" is an important part of my workout and thus far I've not felt motivated to work out at home. Despite that, my weight has gone down significantly. When I showered after my bike ride, I was down to 201, which is lower than at any point I've written about. This is because apparently working out makes me hungry, so I eat more. If I'm not that hungry, I eat less, and if I'm at home, I spread it out more over the day. Weird. It's probably not sustainable, but I'm not complaining. It would be fun to get under than 200, even if in what is unlikely to be a sustainable manner.
My other accomplishment was that using the time I'd normally spend on commutes, I finished some long desired decluttering. I went through all of the boxes from my childhood home. A whole bunch of stuff was pitched or recycled, a few small boxes are ready to be donated or sold, a few things were put away in more appropriate places, and a very small number of boxes went back in the closet. At the same time, M went through a bunch of her bins in the basement and made significant progress on putting things away. We also successfully restored the closets that were still disorganized from everything we moved for painting.
At this point, my declutter list is much smaller. The china cabinet was done during painting prep, and I paid some guys to clear out my garage last summer. The list is basically:
- workbench area (super low urgency)
- all my stuff from school that was kept is in one place, but it could be better organized
- M still has some scattered odds and ends in the basement that need to be sorted
And that's about it. Let's hear it for quarantine. We're all going to be here a while.