Day 63 of Governor Newsom’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy”

Milwaukee’s Covid-19 Memorial…600 empty chairs…

Covid-19 cases are spiking throughout the country, especially in battleground states as we head into the 2020 election. The very states where Trump continues to hold rallies of more than 50 people, who are not social distancing. Hmmm…I wonder why Covid-19 is spiking in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania…?? In other news, looking at California’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy”, Los Angeles County continues to be in “purple - widespread” mode. Why, then, is our local mall open? Beach communities like San Diego, Ventura, and Santa Barbara have moved down into “red-substantial” mode. At least there’s some improvement.

Other than a few scattered blue states, the rest of the country is infected (100,000 a day), and my fellow Americans are dying (1000 a day). Thank God Trump hates California and can find no reason to hold a rally here - otherwise, we would be spiking, too. He also hates New York. Currently, your best form of protection against Covid-19 is your political affiliation - choose Democrat or run the risk of a Trump infection and possible death, literally and figuratively. Democrat or die!

Thursday. 10/29/20

8:00-8:30 - My alarm goes off and I cannot get out of bed. At 8:15, I force myself to crawl out and head downstairs. Class starts in 15 minutes so the dog and I shuffle outside immediately and she goes potty. I didn’t pre-make my coffee last night, so I have to do it now - darn! Minutes are ticking by and I still have to post the Discussion Board! Chicken for the dog and my coffee is ready. I try to move quickly into my office, but have no energy so I’m still shuffling along. I post the Discussion Board with one minute to spare and go back to bed.

8:30-12:00 (sleeping) - I have strange dreams about a catastrophe happening at College No. 2, but when I check email, everything is fine. One student is in the middle of an ice storm in Oklahoma and can’t log in - she emails me her address in case I want to verify, but, come on…who’s going to lie about an ice storm?

1:00 - 2:30-Specialty Class No. 2 starts soon, so I check email at College No. 1, then send an advance email to the students, explaining the importance of logging in on time on the Discussion Board (2:30). Logging in late or not at all counts as an absence and they will receive zeros on future assignments if they’re absent. “You can’t take an in-class quiz if you’re not in class.”

2:30-5:30 - Class begins. I hover and post course content throughout the three hour period. This is the segment I created on white supremacy and I get a few emails from the students as lecture unfolds. I email the students who currently have Ds and Fs in the class and let them know the last day to drop with a W is 11/6/20.

-I step out and clean the kitchen. In my home, you can gauge how much my life has gone off the rails by the status of the kitchen. Sadly, I’m ashamed to admit that dishes have remained piled in the sink for the last TWO days!!! as I spent this week grading the last of the papers and recording lectures. Things will start getting back to normal now as I’m finally caught up (for the most part).

-I do a paper attendance for my classes.

4:30-5:00 - Shower. Covid-19 uniform

5:00- I deploy a quiz for Specialty Class No. 2 and respond to a few emails from students.

5:45-6:30 - I take a short bike ride

7:00-10:00 - Class begins. Same thing as the 2:30 class. Previously, I sent an advance email to the students, explaining the importance of logging in on time on the Discussion Board (7:00). I also email the students who currently have Ds and Fs in the class and let them know the last day to drop with a W is 11/6/20.

7:30-8:00 - I walk the dog. Walking her this month has been so fun! - I like to stop and look at the Halloween decorations in my neighborhood.

8:30-9:30- I post a video for the students. They will be engaged for the next hour, so I run to Whole Foods for coffee as I’m out of Keurig cups. While there, I pick up cheese and hummus.

9:30-10:00 - I post a video quiz for the students and read online news while I wait for the students to finish the quiz.

11:00-12:30 a.m. - I finish compiling the video quiz for the BLM documentary that I’m going to show in Module 11 next week. Then I manually load it into two Canvas shells.

1:30-2:30 - I do a 1-hr. HIIT, full body circuit, work-out with 5-pound weights.

2:30-3:30 - I update my bullet journal in preparation for my blog but fall asleep after a few sentences.

3:30-4:30 - Wake up and do my night time routine. Bed.