My office, because I had to do a task online that is far easier to do over there (I don't remember my password for the site and with everyone in NYC - where the place is based - locked down, I bet there's no user assistance available). This was resetting (AGAIN) the deadlines on the online homework for the one class in which I was told I had to do them. One person either had a bad financial aid delay or else fussed around and missed my longer deadline, and they e-mailed me asking for an extension. I sent them back a rather stern e-mail noting "I can do this now, maybe, but in the future I might not be able to" and I also sent a message to the whole class basically telling them they really need their poop in as much of a group as possible (not in those words) because there is only so much I will be able to do to help. (I worry that teaching online from 0 preparation ahead of time is going to be a dungshow, and I am just going to have to tell my fear of failure to shut itself up for a while, that failure might be the only option here, but failing at my job is better than getting a virus and dying)
I ran to the post office. My brother's birthday is on the 29th and in happier times, I bought a gift for him, and I wanted to send it. Also, I knitted these:
Those were mostly done while listening to the webinars about "transitioning to online"
I made them for my mom; I thought maybe she'd need some "happy mail" since she's staying 100% home (except for brief runs to the Jewel, and that might even change shortly - cases have shown up in her town).
I admit, I was nervous going, because I interpret the "stay home everybody" message as "don't leave your house or yard for anything!!!!" and it's really probably more "don't go and sit in a bar for a couple hours, you idiot." A friend with access to what she calls a "tame virologist' tells me that if I'm around a person for less than 10 minutes I should be OK
Anyway, the post office was deserted, I was the only one in there.
And irony of ironies: my brother's gift is due to get to him on the day my birthday present from him is due to arrive here. Note that my birthday was February 27. And yes, I get that he's busy but I went out in the middle of a freaking pandemic to get his gift out to him ON TIME but whatever.
And then, I ran to Pruett's. I am happy with them, for what they are doing in these times: they have scaled back their hours (I am guessing, to protect staff and allow for better cleaning of the store) and they are offering "by appointment" shopping before opening hours (or after closing hours) to anyone in high risk groups.
I needed salt, though, I was down to a teaspoon or so of the cooking kind, and I just have a small grinder of the other kind. And I really wanted some more bread crumbs. And maybe some kind of meat? Just in case. And some fresh salad greens if any were to be had.
It was....a little disheartening. LOTS of stripped shelves. I tell myself that that's a supply-chain issue and not a shortage issue; much of it was canned goods. I didn't even look at the flour to see what the stocks were like, but there were NO breadcrumbs, just Shake N Bake, so if I need to, I will use oatmeal as a "stretcher" in bean patties and the like, I guess. (I have some "italian seasoned" ones but they are high in sodium so I don't even know).
Milk was abundant, so I grabbed one carton to add to my stocks (the sell by date on this one was in to JUNE). Cheese was abundant enough, so I grabbed another package of pizza cheese. I did take the last pizza-crust mix on the shelf and felt slightly bad about that but.....pizza is one of my comfort foods and the mechanics of doing fully from-scratch crust feels a little daunting to me right now.
The spinach - there was very little salad out on the shelf and I kind of gasped, but circles back around after getting everything else and the nice produce manager was unpacking. I asked him if they happened to have any spinach ("but if you don't it's OK") and he opened up a box he hadn't got to yet and handed me the package. It's more "mature" than what I normally like but that's fine, if nothing else I can saute it if it's too tough to be good salad.
Chicken was abundant so I figured maybe some slow-cooker thighs would be good for morale. The sell-by date is Wednesday so I have a couple days to figure out exactly how I want to make them. Beef also seemed fairly abundant, pork was low. Didn't look at frozen foods as I have little space in the freezer at the moment. I'm good on canned goods so I will focus on fresh foods. Lots of people buying lots of canned vegetables. The premium brands were gone, but there was a LOT of their house brand of green beans and of corn. So, I guess, kind of like in WWII, we may have to learn to be flexible with the menu.
I came home and stripped out of my clothes, washed hands before and after putting away the groceries, and now I'm wearing a t-shirt my mom handed off to me last trip:
Yeah, it was my dad's. The geology club on his campus - he may have been the faculty advisor for couple years there - was called the RockBirds. That's an unofficial logo and it was either them or the IceBirds (the intramural hockey team) who got in some trouble for using an unapproved Reggie (which would have cost money).
I dunno, I just like it, especially since it belonged to my dad.
Too chilly to go work in the garden (so I have decided), so I need to do some piano practice and maybe do some reading; I brought home a few more books from my office just in case we get totally locked down here.
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