Zooming with Family

March 27, 2020 by Adam in Family

It's a Mocha Friday, my mocha long gone.  I'm Zooming away with my family, catching up on everyone and how they're doing.  I think everyone is doing okay and it was nice to hear their voices.

I'm finally starting to feel better.  Yesterday I ran my full four miles and later went for a walk with Emma.  I was pretty worn out by the end of the day.  My new computer parts have been coming in and I was too tuckered out to try and assemble anything.

Emma's off with her mom this weekend. I'm hoping to get my new computer assembled and play the new Half Life game.  Somewhere in there I'd like to tidy up the house.

Sam likely has COVID-19 with a bad cough and brief fever.  Dad's manufacturing personal protective equipment.  Mom's still sick but feeling better.  John and Yayoe seem okay.  Hopefully we all pull through this.

The Spread Continues

March 26, 2020 by Adam in Family

Joanna and I continue to be sick, though I think we might be getting a little bit better.  I talked to Sam today, who had a horrible cough and just started a low grade fever.  Ben's stomach hurt today, but not too bad.  Mom says she's doing better.

I drove over to see Emma and we had a pleasant walk while social distancing, blowing kisses at the end.  Joanna and I had a nice date with takeout and puzzles in the basement.  I chatted with dad, who's manufacturing masks and face shields in his garage.  Work was good, with Jackbox games with my coworkers.  I'll be working on another project for a few months, though fortunately with a couple developers I like working with.

Other than worrying about Sam, all is mostly okay.

Just Another Pandemic Monday

March 24, 2020 by Adam in Family

Joanna and I have come to the conclusion that we probably have COVID-19.  We've had the occasional stomach issues, I've had a regular cough, and we've both had reduced lung function.  It hasn't been too bad - more annoying that truly debilitating.  Of course, we can't confirm that's what we have as no one is doing testing except for the most severe cases.  In any case, we're hunkering down still.  Joanna asked her friend Jen to go food shopping for us, which she very nicely agreed to.

We had a fairly pleasant weekend otherwise.  The day of sun and walking through the meadow was wonderful.  Sunday afternoon I mowed the lawn and put in some work outside.  Allergies were quite high, managing to get me sniffling. 

Today was another hearty breakfast of poached eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausages, grits, and of course a cafe mocha.  I wore myself out and Joanna kindly cleaned up the dishes.  Late morning we started up another Pandemic: Legacy game, with Joanna helping with the rules I forgot.  New York is rioting too now and things looked pretty bleak for a few turns there.  Fortunately we turned it around and the end and won our second game, moving the timeline into March.  The game plays through December and is over one way or another.  Hopefully we'll finish before the real pandemic is over.

Hat Time!

March 24, 2020 by Adam in Emma

Joanna taught Emma and I to knit.  I managed a small rectangle, but Emma went on to make a square and over the weekend finished her first piece of actual attire - a hat.  She worked hard on it, listening to audio books or watching Star Trek and knitting away.  With a bit of help from Joanna she finished it off and showed it off.

State of Emergency, Bro!

March 22, 2020 by Adam in Adam's Games

We've been playing quite a few games with the kids, with Ben and Emma being the most enthusiastic about such things.  We dusted off TKO, a t-shirt making game where you have to make drawings and logos and then other players put them together.  This was the winner of our most recent game.

Clinging to Normality

March 22, 2020 by Adam in Family

These are indeed strange times.

Joanna and I have been sick off and on this weekend, though I'm actually feeling relatively chipper today.  Neither of us have had a fever - it's hard to tell if this is a lingering cough or the Coronavirus.  Testing continues to be generally unavailable.

In the meantime, we've been hanging out with kids and took advantage of the nice weather.  Ben and Emma have been playing video games and watching Star Trek.  We did our usual pizza and science related shows.  Saturday morning Emma decided to schedule a school for herself, breaking out the grid paper and setting up days and activities.

One of the more wonderful activities was heading out to the South Eugene Meadow park to wander the rough paths and collect flower samples and pond water as part of Emma's self-created science curriculum.  It was so warm that I took my shirt off at one point - I think I ended up with a touch too much sun and lay down for a nap afterward.  Emma broke out the microscope and I helped her identify plants as she scribbled things down in her new notebook.

We're still figuring out quite a bit.  SATs have been canceled and the AP tests are online only.  Distance learning for the kids starts April 1st.  Duncan has been forced to go for walks each day, but otherwise is making videos and playing on his computer.  Ben occasionally works on clothing projects.  Emma is knitting a hat.  Joanna's giving live concerts on Facebook.  I bought myself a bunch of new computer parts from the small profits I made selling stock a couple weeks back on the perfect day.  

It's hard to know what comes next.  I'm thankful my job seems relatively stable so far.  I'm excited to keep working on things that actually help hospitals cope with what's coming.  Hello to everyone out there - hope you're all okay.

Holding My Breath

March 20, 2020 by Adam in Family

I'm feeling pretty good today, having just finished my tasty mocha and my long-running cough seems pretty much gone.  

Mom reported she was feeling sick yesterday with a headache, cough, and upset stomach.  I'm going to check in later this morning and see if we need to escalate anything.  I think it's still hard to get tested, but maybe things are improving.  Joanna was also feeling bad yesterday with an upset stomach and occasional cough, though fortunately no fever.  It turns out Joanna knew the woman who died of a heart attack last week and later tested positive for the Coronavirus.

Other than the pandemic and stock market crash, life's doing okay.  I hear that at least high school will try to reopen using distance learning.  We may need to scrounge around to get Emma a computer for her mom's house.  Kevin opted not to come to Oregon, poor guy.  Duncan arranged a get-together in Minecraft.  I've been putting in some extra time after work to do things that might be helpful.  Our entire company is shifting to try and find ways to help.

If there's any bright spot in this mess, the late night comedians have put out some great shows at home, complete with interrupting kids and improvised laugh tracks.

Life Goes On

March 19, 2020 by Adam in Family

We continue to ride the churn that's our day-to-day life.  Last night was the first I got a good night's sleep in quite awhile.  Joanna and I had a date night last night, walking down to get takeout from one of our favorite local restaurants, then retiring to the basement to eat, chat, and puzzle.  Ben walked down to South during their free lunch, saying hi to friends while practicing social distancing.  Jamie's cut back work, so she and Emma have been hanging out - Emma's honing her cooking skills.  Duncan is in 24x7 vacation mode, making videos, playing video games, and hanging out with friends online.

The manager for the local Nissan dealership called, asking if I needed anything and apologizing for the situation.  I appreciated the gesture and I said I was fine with the loaner and hoping to eventually get my car back.

Hopefully everyone is at home and settling in.  My cousin Ben was apparently in Italy but made it back in time.  Bob's son is stuck in Washington DC and can't return to China.  Even if he could go back, I think he'd be quarantined there for a couple weeks.

What strange times we live in.

Tales from the Hot Zone

March 17, 2020 by Adam in Family

The first confirmed COVID-19 case in Eugene/Springfield was announced today - a 69 year old man.  They're apparently notifying people he came into contact with.  They think it was community spread - symptoms started March 1st, so it's been around for awhile.

The car saga continues.  It looks like they were acting on a recall service I didn't know about or approve when the ECM died.  I think "shorted out" isn't as accurate as a plain old software update failure.  The letter I sent got everyone's attention - Nissan and the local deal both called back.  It feels like they both feel the other is responsible and are duking it out.  On the plus side, I finally got a loaner car, a very nice 2020 sedan that's in the driveway.  No idea if I'll actually drive it much or how long I'll have it.

Everyone is generally doing okay.  Joanna cleared out the tea and biscuits from the store today, proving that she's the lovely English person I married.  Still no word about Kevin and if he's coming to visit.  I keep checking in with various family members.  Jenny probably has the most challenging job, figuring out which patients to see each day.  Dad's staying at home for the foreseeable future.

I keep trying to balance keeping my spirits up while frantically searching for the latest updates and making plans to shelter in place.  Hope you're all doing the same.  Be safe.

Pandemic Outbreak

March 16, 2020 by Adam in Family

The world seemed to lock itself down over the weekend, with the stock market crashing even further this morning.  I had a brief moment of panic when I took my temperature after having a headache this morning along with my ongoing cough.  It was over 100 degrees, which put Joanna in "calm but firm" mode, checking my vitals and telling me to test myself again in ten minutes.  I waited, thinking about where in the house to self-quarantine, then tested again only to have it be normal.  I sheepishly admitted to Joanna that I'd just had a cup of tea, who chastised me slightly as I slunk off to my shed.

I played video games with the kids, in between working on a GIS skunkworks project at work.  Jacquie and I decided to make a map chart type on our own, in part to have something useful to do that we're both passionate about.  She made way more progress than I did, but I did manage to write a script that downloads the daily Coronavirus stats as test data.  Grim, but real data is always more useful.

Joanna, Emma, Ben, and I also all played Pandemic Legacy in the afternoon.  It's weird in that you draw on the board, change rules permanently, rip up character cards when they die, and every game changes how the game is played. Johannesburg is rioting and Ben's character was scarred for life, but we did get cures for them all.  I suspect the strains mutate and we play again - every game takes a month to play.  We'll see if we finish before the current pandemic ends.