Sunday, March 29, 2020

Coronavirus Pandemic 2020

An interesting time in our life.  Never has it been so bad with other viruses.  This one is ravaging the world.  Shortages of essentials - toilet paper, canned goods, meats (although that is getting better), and selected medical supplies like masks, gloves, and hand sanitizers.

Staff at work started teleworking if they felt that they were in danger of getting sick.  Then it was determined that if you can work from home, to do so.   I don't have a laptop at work so I continued going in and working my full shift.  Then it was determined that I should be set up.  So . . . IT shop helped get me set up with a laptop, docking station, full-size keyboard (when  you do financial work, you need the 10-key portion), a mouse, and a VGA cord so I can connect a second monitor (I already had one at home not being used).

I had my son set things up and I attempted to work one afternoon.  Didn't like the set up.  So I continued working full shift in the office.  There are only 2 of us doing that (mainly because we both have an important role - taking in money (depositing checks) and paying out money (bills have to be paid).  Then the Governor put out a "Stay Home, Save Lives" proclamation.  So, we still come in to the office but as soon as the afternoon mail is delivered, we go home and finish our work there.  

Okay, that meant I had to clean off the desk in the master bedroom and have my "office" set up.  Oh boy . .  . not ergonomic as far as furniture goes.  My back was starting to kill me after a couple of hours.  Need a different chair.  Luckily, we had an office type chair (not a dining room table chair) in the garage.  Got that out and cleaned off.  Now I'm up and running.  Privacy from the distractions of a husband.

Now we are thinking of only going in the office twice a week to take care of the financial deposits.  Brainstormed ways we can change our process in paying bills for the agency and will be kicking that off this coming week.

New staff coming on board on the 1st and they will have to be trained via online.  Have to keep our social distance.

Personal lives are changing too.  Limited trips out of the home - grocery store, medical appointments, and getting propane to keep the home heated.  No social gatherings or going out for dinner.  That makes for more meals at home and more meal planning and preparation.  Calling family to check up on them to make sure that they are doing fine (especially those that are not on Facebook).  Oh darn . . . the washing machine quit working.  Wonder if mechanics are still doing business.  Are laundromats open?  Whew, they are but you have to wait out in your car while the clothes are being washed.  More reading time.

We have a vacation (cruise) trip planned for end of April.  At the moment, the cruise line hasn't formally cancelled it (they've cancelled all cruises up to the day before ours).  Except I'm thinking it will be cancelled - Canada has closed its ports until July 1st and that was our first port of call.  Hawaii has shuttered tourist sights (that was where we were going) and has put a 14-day quarantine in place.  

I still have another week planned off for State Grange Convention the end of June.  Thinking that will still go as planned.  Need to book hotel room and send off payment for meals.

The proclamation is supposed to end on April 8th but I'm thinking they will need to extend it out for at least another week.  Schools are closed  until the end of April.

I am getting more done on the weekends - working on Grange financial reports, some genealogy and back to writing on my blog.  Listening to music.  cleaning selected places around the house.

Guess it's time to move on.  Stay safe and healthy.