A Whole New World

Well, since I've last actually written a blog post, SO MANY THINGS have happened.
The most noticeable of which is that Corona Virus has caused us all to flee indoors, away from each other.  Most of America is now holed up in our houses, trying to learn how to work from home.
It isn't so bad for introverts like me, but it does get hard to stay on task sometimes.
I will be doing online trainings and helping clear some housekeeping tasks on our database during this time.

The Desk

View From the exercise bike

I do my database work on my tablet, as that is the only route I can use for access.


Some further observations on life during all this :

Proper use of the apostrophe is still a really tough thing for a lot of people.

Spring is determined to show up, no matter how crabby we feel being cooped up at home.  Evidence from my walk today:

 The trees, the bulbs, even the weeds are blooming.  Of course, this makes everyone's allergies act up, and that makes people nervous with this virus going around.

I don't know what kind of tree the one with the pale pink blooms is, but it sure is pretty.



The darker pink ones are redbuds, of course.

 I don't know the name of these weeds, but they are blooming everywhere in the neighborhood just now, including the parking strip at our house.

The photo is a bit distant, but those tulips are beautiful.










Another thing I have noticed since all this started, I don't sleep well.  I wake up when Matt's alarm goes off, and can't really get back to sleep.  I can't GET to sleep  before midnight, either, no matter what I try.  My brain is like a hamster in a wheel, running and running.  I try all sorts of things to stop it, but the only thing that eventually works is that my body is so tired, it just ignores my brain.

I had some wine this evening.  That may help.  I had it more than three hours before I plan to go to bed, so maybe Fitbit is right, and it won't interfere with my REM sleep.

I have been acquiring equipment to make me more productive at home.  Most of it is fairly inexpensive, and will also make other endeavors easier, not just working from home.  One thing is the cube timer.  It's really neat looking, and really easy to use.  Just turn the time you want to the top, and the timer starts.  

April 13, 2020

The dreaded Monday, the 13th.  Not so dreaded this year, because it's my buddy Ron's birthday, and all of us friends got our heads together online and made him a little birthday surprise.  I think he liked it.
The fact that I can't seem to finish a blog post, or to finish the story I'm working on is ample illustration of the fact that though I am working from home, I am still short of time and attention span.
I am writing this during my "processing" time for work because there is no email in my inboxes, and well, trying to sort out my wayward brain before  trying to work is probably a good idea.  I have watched a LOT of training videos over the last three weeks.  I have become much better acquainted with the Mango Languages program the library gives patrons access to.  (Though the weird thing is, even though I have the Spanish and German courses saved, I am currently spending the most time with Scottish Gaelic.  )  My only complaint about Mango is that there is very little phoneme-grapheme correspondence training.  It would be grand if I could also learn to READ the language.  I can already read quite a lot of Spanish and German, having spent several years acquainted with both languages, and basically being immersed in German for four years.

I am currently re-reading a mystery series that I started several years ago.  The next book should be out soon, so I am catching myself back up on all the previous plots, and they do intertwine a bit. You can read just one book and it will be fine, but it's more fun if you've read all the others, too.

I still find sleeping difficult, and waking up is becoming my least favorite thing.  I would love to just go to sleep and let all of the worry and fear pass me by completely.  Wake me up when it's over.

Trying to maintain the physical activity is difficult when I am not hauling books around and walking folks back to the stacks like I do for at least 10 of my 20 weekly hours at work normally.  I have started walking twice most days, and I'm going to have to start making more use of the exercise bike, too.
So far, Matt and I have not bothered each other when both working from home.  I stay in my office for my 4 hours, except for breaks, and he stays in his for his 8 hours, except for breaks.
I find myself doing things like taking the trash out and checking the mail on my breaks. Anything to get up and move!
So many worries pressing in on me.  For NOW, Matt has a job, but the Postal Service is under distress, and Congress is not really inclined to help, and of course Mr. Trump says he'll veto anything that tries to rescue a service he'd really rather dump, because he doesn't get any income from it, and can't figure out how to get income from it. (I don't know his real reason, but this is my suspicion.  I have never trusted the man.  I had hoped he would prove me wrong, but so far, his behavior has been even WORSE than I expected.)

So, on to another four hours of training videos, brainstorming ideas, trying to cheer my coworkers long distance, and doing some database maintenance. 
Here's hoping we get a vaccine for this stuff in record time, and that we can put the world back into an order that maybe works a little better for all of us.  For certain we have seen that our healthcare system needs some overhauling.

May we all emerge healthier and stronger rather than heavier and fattier! (Not looking good for me, so far!)