Day 14 - California Reopening Plan - Phase 2

Sedona, here we come!!!

I have great news!  L. and I booked a trip to the Enchantment Resort in Sedona about a year ago in order to celebrate my retirement and her graduation. Last week I posted that we would not be going as the spa was closed. BUT!!! It was re-opened, for guests, and, miraculously, we received our Spa itinerary. It’s happening – we are going to Sedona in June!!

8:30 – 11:00 – The dog is barking.  I come downstairs to take her out and see that she shit right in front of the stairs. I almost stepped in it. Cheese.  Hydroflask. I read two Money Diaries and online news, then talk to B. about his trip.  He just returned from Arizona – Flagstaff, Winslow, etc. – with his friend and sent me pictures along the way.  They’re in bars and restaurants and, in one of the pictures, his friend is getting a hair cut. I find it startling that both of them aren’t masking in any of these venues. Even in Georgia, which I consider to be a rogue state to some degree, customers attending hair salons and barbers are masking.

During our phone conversation, B. said it was nice to go to a bar and “return to normal”, but I pointed out that things actually aren’t “normal”, even though Arizona customers have opted out of masking. Yesterday, 418 more Arizonians were infected with Covid 19 (Total – 15,600) and 16 people died (Total – 775).  The number of Covid 19 cases are on the rise in Arizona. B. said that everyone “looked safe.”  [To the reader…I won’t even bother responding to this inane comment, but know this…B. is 68-years-old].

B. said that employees were gloved and masked, but it’s not really employees I’ve been concerned about throughout this pandemic – it’s gross, contaminated, smelly, entitled customers whom I don’t like being around.  Ok, I’ll be honest – I felt this way BEFORE the pandemic, but now I mask and I want the masses to mask, too, as I find people, in general, disgusting.  Can you imagine, now, going to a Super Cuts and waiting in the lobby for a haircut  next to dirty people, especially kids, who are also waiting and NOT wearing a mask?  I can’t.

11:30-1:15 – Recall that L. and I got some primer on her bathroom ceiling when we painted it last week.  I thought the primer would blend in with the color of her ceiling, but it didn’t, so now I have to re-paint the ceiling. I tape and prep the room, then cut in and roll the first coat. I listen to Air Talk and Today Explained while I work.

1:15-3:00 – I have a Skype meeting with my state job at 2:00 and I’m running late.  I pray to God we don’t have to show our faces as my hair is still wet and I log in at 2:10.  Everyone is dark, which is a relief. As usual, this meeting could have been an email – why do we keep having these monthly meetings? My supervisor said he does not want us to stagger our days in the office [why not? why can’t we have designated days?], even though this is an edict from the Chief; however, we cannot STAY in the office when we show up.  We are to complete the task at hand and leave.

I’ve operated in just this way whenever I’ve had a flexible supervisor for 18 years.  Why on earth would I want to just hang around the office? For the socialization? And I’m saying that in a mocking tone. Whenever possible, I completed my work and left.  Now, when their lives depend on staying away from the office – okay, so I’m being melodramatic here -  my colleagues STILL want to come to the office every day and work an 8:00-5:00 shift! I don’t understand…

3:00 – 7:00 p.m. - It’s time to post grades and attendance. They’re actually not due until June 2, but I don’t ever want to hear from my Poli Sci 101 students again. The only way to take role is by going to the date an assignment was due – assignments are always due at the beginning of class – and determining if the student completed it and when.  If the assignment was finished on the due date in question, I can assume that they attended class on that day. So, I have 60 students and I have to check each student’s completion date, one at a time, for 8 assignments, in order to take role. Attendance, along with their final semester grades, have to be mailed to Admissions and Records at the end of every semester.  This is a long, laborious process. I listen to The Daily; Bad on Paper; Today Explained; and Vox The Weeds while I work.

-I work on other projects while I’m taking attendance.  I finally make contact with a US Bank representative and start the HELOC process.  Hurray!  After 30 minutes of questions and the employee gathering my information, the call drops – great – BUT she calls me 30 minutes later, apologizing and explaining that she is working from home – aren’t we all? -  and doesn’t know what happened. She emailed me a link that explains what I’m supposed to submit for final approval. Finally, the HELOC is underway and it should fund before I retire on 8/1/20.  Then, I can start my master bathroom reno.

-I mailed a check for my life insurance annual premium on 5/1/20, but received a Delinquent notice a few days ago.  They never received it, so I paid over the phone.

-I start posting Semester grades to the database and alternate between that and checking emails.  A student emails me while I’m in the middle of posting, asking if she can make up her missed assignments as she has been struggling with child care during Covid 19. The last day of the semester, for Monday classes, was three days ago, 5/18/20, and Semester grades were posted. No.

-In a flurry of emails, I am FINALLY enrolled in French 2, online, at my local community college. While not authorized to audit, the message in the fine print states that students won’t be dropped for summer session if they don’t pay – instead a “hold” will be placed on their account. Since I’ve already taken French 2 and received an A, I’m not concerned about a so-called “hold”, nor do I need a grade for this class.  I really just want a refresher before moving on to more French classes during Fall Semester 2020.

-I submit my monthly Wine.com order and check the new brands they’re featuring. Finally, something fun!

-Attendance is done and the grades are posted!!  I “unpublish” the class from the Canvas platform and I never have to deal with the students from this course again.

7:00-7:45 – To celebrate, I go outside and finish putting up the last of the green wire trellises in my yard. Done.

7:45-8:30 – I make a baked potato and stuff it with the vegetable base I rescued from the crock pot disaster the other night.  I have a glass of champagne and read All You Can Ever Know.

8:30-9:00 – I convert my home office into a gym and pull down the treadmill.  I do a 30-minute power-walk with my Kathy Smith app. I ask L. to figure out how to operate our new forehead thermometer, while I’m walking, because tasks like this overwhelm me as I am not mechanically inclined. My new beach lounge chair arrived yesterday and I ask L. to take it out of the box and if, need be, assemble it, because as stated earlier, I’m overwhelmed when I have to put something together.

9:15-11:00 – The thermometer works great and I LOVE my beach lounge chair. I need to check the times for optimum sun in my backyard.

I put another coat of paint on L.’s ceiling and then clean up.  I listen to The Political Gabfest and Fresh Air while I work. I’ll pull the tape off tomorrow.

11:00-1:00 – L. and I began the first episode of Married at First Sight, Season 8.  So far so good.

1:00-1;30 – Night Routine. Bed.