LFH: Days 14-17
by Sunita
I really fell behind on these posts. Although the days are starting to develop a rhythm, so each day doesn’t seem like a Whole New Thing anymore. I thought I’d be more excited when Day 14 finally arrived, but not really. We made it through the entire 14-day self-isolation period without developing any virus symptoms. Now we just hope that we can stay symptom-free.
After my great Linux Achievements on Thursday, Friday was Zoom-conference-free. It was lovely. I still had a ton of stuff to do but I got through the most pressing tasks in the morning and was able to get out and take a walk in the park in the afternoon. It wasn’t too busy so maintaining distance was easier than the last couple of times I was out and that made it less stressful. The weather improved as well and we’ve had sunshine and warmer days, and the trees are starting to flower and leaf. Every little bit helps.
I made up for my Zoom-free Friday by spending over four hours on video conferences on Saturday. This was the replacement system put in place for our scholarship weekend activities. Although it was tiring, talking to the scholarship candidates was as enjoyable and heartening as ever. They are so accomplished and mostly really sweet, and this batch felt even more like that. After four half-hour conversations with short breaks in between, we got an hour off for lunch and then convened as a group to make the decisions. All the finalists are already admitted and everyone gets at least a half-scholarship, so no one goes away empty-handed. We still took nearly an hour and half to rank the list, but that’s par for the course. That done, I shut down my computer and took a break. I should have gone out for a walk, but it was Saturday and nice and I knew the park would be packed, so I took a nap instead. 🙂
We watched another of the Maigret episodes in the evening and tried to relax. It’s hard, because the news just keeps coming. We here in STL are luckier but watching what’s happening on the coasts and other cities reminds us that we still have a ways to go.
Sunday was prep-for-teaching-on-Monday time, but it was hard to get going. I’m finding that if I sleep decently (sleeping well is a thing of the past), then the next day is OK to good, but if I wake up a lot and can remember all my anxiety dreams in the morning, it takes quite a while to shake those feelings off. TheH got himself out for a walk, but I didn’t manage it. We had to run errands Sunday morning and those take a lot of energy. We went to Walgreens which has a FedEx pickup counter because we had two boxes that had to be redirected there from their usual delivery to our offices. It wasn’t crowded so that wasn’t too bad and we managed to pick up some cleaning supplies there as well. We then stopped at the grocery store on the way home, and it was relatively quiet too. Everyone was keeping distances properly, no one was shopping with their entire extended family, and we could use the self-checkouts. When we shop we make sure to wipe the carts down with disinfecting wipes and we wear gloves when we’re out. And we take hand sanitizer. We’re planning to get or make some face masks as well.
Monday was teaching day, and as usual, one class went well and one class went OK. In the OK class Zoom kicked me off after an hour and wouldn’t let me back on so I had to boot up a second computer. That one had the audio muted and the only way I could unmute it was to hold the space bar down. I have no idea what happened. In between classes I had a committee meeting, but while I’d been dreading it because we were continuing to discuss something that was very divisive, the head of the committee proposed we table the issue. We all welcomed this, because it’s not something we can do anything about now anyway, and probably not for the next year.
The Chancellor sent out an email in the afternoon announcing a hiring freeze effective immediately. Offers that are in process will continue, but everything else is subject to highest-level approval, which means the vast majority of them are not happening. We already had a faculty hiring freeze in place for next year pending the appointment of a new Dean of Arts & Sciences and I’ll be shocked if that freeze is lifted. I looked around online and found stories saying that dozens of universities and colleges have hiring freezes for next year and some of those have also abandoned current searches. We spent part of our committee meeting talking about contingency plans for our grad students who were planning to go on the market in the fall, because it seems unlikely there will be a market. It’s 2008 all over again, if not worse. And yet, I and my colleagues and my grad students are so much better off than so many people.
Ugh, how about something more cheerful to end this post? We’re still eating well! TheH had been craving dal and vegetables and rice, so we had that last night. I made the easiest dal, which is masoor dal with onions and spices. It only takes an hour from start to finish, and the actual working time is about fifteen minutes. I made Indian-style cauliflower, only to discover when I was putting away the leftovers that we already had some in the freezer. Both sets of leftovers (frozen and fresh) can turn into curried cream of cauliflower soup. TheH made delicious Korean fried rice a couple of nights ago and has been making bread to keep us stocked. This week looks pretty good, weather-wise, and I’m determined to exercise more. I feel so much better when I do, and it’s time to break out the audiobooks I bought in the recent Audible 2-for-1 sale.
ReaderWriterVille 
Sunita, here’s a modest tip to wow your students and colleagues on Zoom: every day, post a different picture from your lovely England UK walks as your Zoom background. Mine is currently a thatched cottage.
LikeLike
I’m not at all surprised to hear about the hiring freeze. I think the impact on the economy is going to be bigger than anyone is daring to admit at the moment. Tough time to graduate.
I went out to the shop just now. First time out of the house (and garden) for over a week. It was SO NICE! I think I would like the world a lot better with considerably fewer people in it. Anyway, I just went to the little Coop near me and they had a rule of no more than four shoppers in it. We all waited patiently in a spread out queue to get in, but it only took a few minutes. And even though it was 7pm they had almost everything still on the shelves, which I wasn’t expecting.
I am enjoying Holidaying At Home. The garden is getting some serious attention, which it has needed for a long time, so that’s good. I’ve sewn a cardigan and a tunic dress. And I’ve signed up for an online sketchbook course. So I’m having fun!
LikeLike
It hasn’t been officially confirmed by the university here yet, but the rumours are flying that there is going to be hiring freeze that will include even current searches. The budget is of course in a mess from all this and the provincial budget is also not going to be great. Everyone is pretty resigned to the hiring freeze, and I know of at least one prof who is putting off retirement plans for at least another year because of the financial hit. On a positive note my friends who are profs are reporting that their classes are going fairly well online.
For me it’s day 7 of self isolation, so only another week to go and then I will be allowed at least to walk outside and go to shopping when needed. I assume the social distancing will continue at least through April.
One thing I did before this all started was take up knitting again as I had mentioned I was thinking of doing. In February I took basic socks course since I thought socks would be small manageable projects and so an easy way to get back into knitting. I’d also never done socks before — back in the day I was pretty much a sweater knitter only. So I’ve been working on socks (using 9″ circulars). The first I did in the class and my tension was dreadful; the sock is wearable, but sort of lumpy. The second I completed while away and it is much better. I have enough leftover wool so I’m working on a third sock. I also bought additional wool back in February for another pair of socks and a headband so I can keep working on my knitting skills.
LikeLike
I broke self-isolation today to drive a friend to/from the hospital to get her broken hand splinted. She lives alone, can’t drive with the hand, and couldn’t get a cab. Seemed pretty low risk since we’ve both been at home and I was glad to be able to help her out! My high-schooler is “back” from spring break and teachers are getting in touch, mostly to check on well-being and what tech people can access, at this point. It’s not at all clear to me how much learning they will actually try to accomplish in the remainder of the year.
I’m procrastinating on my grading more than ever without the push of seeing my students face to face. But most of them have gotten their assignments in and I’ve had contact from almost all who are still working, so that’s good! Now if I can just get them through their research papers….
LikeLike
I don’t think I’ve posted about this before—I was too busy with a critique— but I had some Coronavirus-like symptoms 2-3 weeks ago. Coughing (so hard that I couldn’t sleep for two nights), a scratchy throat in the mornings, shortness of breath that got pretty bad for a couple of days, only very slight nasal symptoms, though my eyes had that burning sensation that I get when I’m sick. But I also didn’t have a fever, and I have underlying conditions that could have been responsible for most of my symptoms. So I just don’t know.
At the time, the only places to get tested in Los Angeles were emergency rooms. I was advised both by my cardiologist and an area representative at the mayor’s office (I called the latter after my PCP directed me to dial 211, and 211 was busy), not to go to the ER unless my symptoms worsened in the next 1-2 cays. They were worse a day later (the shortness of breath got scary) but the day after that they were better.
Luckily I had an inhaler my doctor prescribed a year and a half ago for bronchitis, and that (in addition to Mucinex) was helpful. I advise anyone with even a hint of shortness of breath to try to get one—it really, really helped. me.
I actually think it is more likely not to have been the Coronavirus. Nevertheless, I have not left the apartment since then. My husband has done all the grocery shopping, an he uses hand sanitizer a lot.
This being cooped up (I haven’t even gone for a walk since this outbreak) is getting to me. I have read that people can be contagious for as many as eight days after getting better. Today is day eight, so I may go out tomorrow. My husband hasn’t shown any symptoms of whatever it was I had, but of course, if he has been infected, he might not be symptomatic for another two weeks.
LikeLike
@Dan: That’s a great idea! I need to dig out some photos, which are mostly still on my camera.
@Ros: I’m feeling a little more house-bound than you, but not nearly as trapped as a lot of people I know. It’s really hard on gregarious people and those who love to go out. For me, my slothful tendencies are coming in very handy now. 🙂
LikeLike
@Kathryn: I think we’ll be lucky to have less restricted mobility by mid-May. I hope we get some relief by then, both because we’ll really need it and because it will mean we’ve made some progress. I’ve been thinking about knitting; last time I knitted I was still doing winter stuff but by the time I get back I’ll be pulling out spring yarn.
@Liz: Some social closeness can’t really be avoided, can it, if we’re going to keep our humanity. My students have been great, but I’ll be curious to see whether we can all sustain it for another month. It’s hard.
LikeLike
@Janine: That sounds awful but at least you were able to recover without being hospitalized. I hope that it was Coronavirus because then at least you’ll have had it. Staying home is a good idea whether you had it or not, anyway, because you don’t want to get it when you’re weakened. And having pre-existing conditions increases the likelihood of a severe case. So I’m really glad that as bad as it was, it wasn’t worse. That’s scary, though.
LikeLike
Thanks, Sunita. I hope the same thing.
LikeLike