Day 38 of rollback-California Covid-19 spike-Governor shuts us down

L. and the monsters…

Wednesday. 8/19/20

7:30-9:00: I’m up at 7:30 so I take the dog out.  She didn’t bark so I thought I got the jump on her this morning, but that was not the case.  She already pooped near the front door.  We go outside and she goes potty. Inside and cheese. I grab my coffee and go upstairs. Shower. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up.  Moving quickly again. I listen to The Daily.

I go to work (enter home office) and start to redo the syllabus for my high schoolers at College No. 2 in light of the new information the administrator gave me.

9:00 – 11:30 -B. arrives with free Starbucks and we talk politics until 11:30. I have Greek plain yogurt with diced apples, walnuts, and honey, then take pictures of my door and the locking mechanism, after he leaves.

12:00–2:00 - I go to work (enter home office). The important tasks today involve finishing the syllabus revisions for my high schoolers [College No. 2] and recording the lectures for my two classes on Thursday, which will be the first day of school for these classes. I still have some questions about the school day for my highschoolers and I emailed the administrator, but she didn’t email me back.

For example, why was my class period reduced by 30 minutes? Class was originally scheduled for 1 1/2 hours [8:00-9:30], two days per week, but now it’s scheduled for 8:30-9:30. A reduction of 30 minutes makes it difficult to deliver any significant course content – not enough time.  Also, it greatly reduces the number of hours required for a standard semester college class, so how can my class adhere to CCC guidelines?  If this sounds like I’m a stickler for rules, I’m the last person who would agree.  I’m all about circumventing the rules on any playing field; HOWEVER, a reduction in time means a reduction in course content.  All of my lectures (read ‘scripts’) were written years ago for my core class (basic principles and concepts are the same – it’s a core class) to coincide with a 3-hour course.  A reduction in classroom hours means I will have to revise my lectures and cut content for 15 chapters.  This is called “reinventing the wheel” and I. don’t. want. to. do that. Too much work.

I get to work on the syllabus and listen to Air Talk and Today Explained.  This week my news consumption has been abysmal but it’s to be expected as I’ve been putting in long hours for the “First Day of School” launch. I try very hard to keep up with the news cycle as it involves my craft.  Although I have yet to identify my classes, I teach this stuff.

L. leaves for work at the art studio.

I take a quick break to email the pictures of my door and lock to the BMC employee I spoke with previously.  The door installer still hasn’t called to schedule a measuring appointment (sigh).

2:00 – 2:30 - I leave work (exit home office) and take a lunch break. 

So, as I try to settle into a retirement routine that also involves working from home for my side gig (which has now become my main gig), I’ve found that preparing my breakfast/lunch for ‘work’ the previous evening is really, really helpful and allows me to stay on track and be more productive.  This sounds so cheesy and stupid, but every evening I prepare breakfast and lunch for the next day, put the food items in Tupperware, and pack everything in my insulated lunch bag – just like I did when I was working.

Over the years, some days got pretty crazy, especially when I had to be at my state job from 7:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m, then drive two hours, set up for my night class, and teach from 7:00-10:00 p.m.  I used to have a HUGE thermal lunch bag and, on those days, I would pack breakfast, lunch, AND dinner, and then add a ton of frozen inserts so the food would keep.  I think a lot of people might say, “Just go through a fast food drive thru” for convenience, but my window of time was always too small.  I had to bounce from job to job – often I felt like a wind-up toy – so if I didn’t pack accordingly, I’d starve.

Today, for lunch, I have an arugula salad with red, yellow, and green peppers [left over pieces from the night I made kebabs], a boiled egg, and cherry tomatoes, in a basil olive oil dressing. When I’m finished I have a few bites of Ben and Jerry’s Fish Food, one of my guilty pleasures.

I take the dog out.  She pooped on the cement section of my patio [instead of on the designated astroturf], in two locations, where it sat in the hot sun for hours.  By the time I noticed, both areas were covered in flies.  So disgusting!  I clean it up.

2:30 – 5:00 - I return to work and field emails from students.  At least 20 kids want to crash my core class at 7:00 tomorrow and they are clamoring for an Add Code, BUT I only have one opening and I already have 7 students on the Waitlist.  Still, I have to respond to every student because ‘pandemic’…now, instructors are expected to respond to emails in a timely manner instead of blowing off the students like we used to do.

I do an audio recording of me going over the syllabus for Specialty Class No. 2. [33:06 minutes]

I do an audio recording of the Chapter 1 lecture, coinciding with PP slide advancement, for Specialty Class No. 2 [1:33 – 1 hour and 33 minutes].

I make a few alterations to the syllabus in preparation for the first day of school.

5:30-6:30 – I do a 40-minute cardio app – taking it a little easy today with just cardio.

L. returns from work and “air drops” the audio files I recorded so I can transfer them to Canvas.  I’m not able to transfer the recordings from my Ipad to my computer because my computer is not compatible [not an apple product].

 L. leaves with friends to stand in line at a taco truck in Newhall. Apparently, these are the best tacos in the land.

I check my personal email and, in a shocking turn of events, the BMC employee emails me back and tells me to call him, that he can replace the LOCK!!  Not the DOOR…the LOCK!!!

6:30 – 9:30 - I continue with syllabus revisions for my high schoolers.

 I do an audio recording of the syllabus for my Core Class [35 minutes]

I do an audio recording of the Chapter 1 lecture, coinciding with PP slide advancement, for my Core Class [33 minutes].

I make a few alterations to the Core Class syllabus in preparation for the first day of school.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I teach two classes tomorrow:  Specialty Class No. 2, from 2:30-5:30, AND Core Class, from 7:00-10:00.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this in previous blogs, but the dog is a lap dog and has to jump in my lap for kisses and cuddles every 30 to 45 minutes, which lasts about 10 minutes.  If I try to type, she shoves my hand away from the keyboard with her nose because she’s jealous of the computer and wants my full attention. I almost always indulge her because I probably should take more breaks – sometimes it can get a little irritating, BUT L. and I specifically picked this breed because they’re lap dogs and like to be around people so it’s not fair to the dog to reject her overtures. I think I would get more done if I didn’t allow her in the office, but that would make her unhappy and destructive. She runs the house and I try to keep her happy.

9:30 – 10:15 – I talk to B. about the Dems virtual convention.  I haven’t seen any of it, but have read the commentary.  B., who is completely retired, was able to watch most of it.  Impressive since a) he was able to FIND it [I had no idea how or where to watch it]; and b) he’s a conservative.  But, he was interested in their party platform and wanted to see “Who’s Who” in Dem circles.  He only trash-talked a few of the players, so it was okay.

10:30 – 11:00 - L. returns, saying the tacos were the best ever.  Unfortunately, the taco truck only materializes on Wednesday nights, at a small corner in Newhall, for a 3-hour period.  She said the line was intense.

L. airdrops the recordings I made and I transfer everything to the Canvas shell in preparation for tomorrow.

11:00-11:45 – I straighten up the kitchen and pack my breakfast/lunch for tomorrow.

11:45-1:00 – L. and I listen to scary episodes of Radio Rental. L. has to turn on the stairwell light because she’s afraid, just like when she was a little girl.  I have some of my crock pot chicken tortilla soup that I made the other day.

Funny story:  After my divorce, L. and I lived with my parents for about 2 years.  L. was around 4 or 5 and afraid to go to sleep at night because “there are monsters in my room.”  I filled a plastic spray bottle with water and told her that I had special “Monster Spray” that would  keep the monsters away – then I sprayed the corners of her room and under her bed.  I told her the monsters couldn’t stand the special spray and would stay away. This went on for quite some time…

One day, my Mom [Grandma] was ironing and used the spray bottle to spray water on the clothes.  Shocked, L. said, “Grandma, that’s the monster spray!”  My Mom, having no idea what L. was talking about said, “What?  Oh…this is just water” and went back to spraying the clothes. At that point, L. realized I was only spraying water under the bed the entire time. [L. told me this story].

First Santa, then the Easter Bunny, and now…monster spray.

1:00-2:00 – Nighttime ritual. Bed.