Some Firsts this Week

On this my first week working entirely my “usual” schedule since February, I’ve also had some other “firsts” this week: first Zooms, first online grocery orders, and first time I’ve pre-enacted a birthday party with stuffed animals.

Working my regular day shift was both familiar and new. Familiar because almost everyone in my department was there in person and the command center was virtual most of the week so there weren’t many others around. Distinct because with social distancing we’re doing conference calls instead of in-person meetings; my boss and I joked that we were probably sitting 6 feet apart (though separated by a wall) even while we were holding a phone meeting. I’m sure one day having my temperature taken when entering the hospital and taking my own temperature even on days off won’t feel as unusual as it does now (Oregon is requiring health care workers to monitor temperatures twice daily).

Next week might be more active in the command center since Oregon's governor has authorized hospitals to start performing elective surgeries as long as patients are tested for covid-19, the hospital has 30 days of PPE on hand, and the hospital maintains at least 20% capacity in case there’s another covid-19 surge. This should be interesting, parts of the hospital have exceeded 90% of capacity for many months. I will know more Monday and Tuesday as I’m assigned to the command center those days.

Socially things are getting more fun and more creative. I've had two sets of friends stop by, Sunday was a donation to the hospital of 3-d printed mask holders and Friday a costco run. Both times we chatted outside on and near my side deck, socially distancing, but with a sense of normalcy

Tuesday evening Roy and I whats-app’d while I walked around inside my home to reach my daily step goal. After we finished Ben returned a call via text saying his phone didn’t get good signal at home and suggesting Zoom instead. Eventually Roy and later Alison joined us – do I get bonus points for my first Zoom being interstate and international? Lots of fun, even though we missed the opportunity to include more friends. Hands down, it was my favorite “stay at home” evening of the season. It was hard to excuse myself at 9pm to go prepare dinner, but then again it was probably past everyone else’s bedtime as it was midnight for them. Definitely looking forward to connecting with a larger group next week.

On Wednesday, seven of the eight households in my homeowner’s association convened via Zoom for the quarterly-ish meeting we’d postponed from March. We had both a productive and social gathering, and scheduled our next meeting in July, to be held at a location to be determined later based on the social distancing requirements in place on that date.

Tonight a neighbor brought me take-out and we had fun dinner and conversation via Zoom.

A couple of weeks ago I tried and failed to find an available pick-up time for a grocery store order with parking lot delivery. Tuesday (before the phone calls) I scheduled a time, and then got distracted by the phone. This was the beginning of my education and saga, which I’m recounting here partly as a public service should anyone else try to order online from Safeway. The system logs you out if you’ve been away too long, though it’s not obvious, so while it looks like you’re adding things, they’re not making it to the shopping cart. It turned out to be a poor choice to place the order on Tuesday for a Thursday pickup since prices change on Wednesdays and both the price quoted and price charged “current” at the time. Looking for matzo ball soup? Can’t find it in the virtual “soup” aisle. Roy suggested searching by brand. How is Manischewitz spelled? Oh, there’s the soup, in the “international” aisle, wouldn’t have though to check there. I still haven’t figured out how to find pot sticker wrappers, even with input from Roy and Ben. I know where to look in the store, and I searched online for pot sticker, won ton, gyoza, wrapper, and several brand names but no success. Apparently, I really didn’t want to make them after all. I had a similar experience with some other esoteric items, clearly only some items from the store inventory are available online, though it’s not obvious whether it’s possible to “special order” something not on the online menu. By default, the order is placed in the name of the account. Which means that if one didn’t pay attention when placing the order, one might not be aware that the order was placed in, oh, say, a geocaching alias, hypothetically speaking, of course. This can be a problem when retrieving the order.

I arrived promptly at 5pm Thursday to pick up the order and was told everything is running 45 minutes late, bummer. I drove to a nearby neighborhood and took a nice walk, then returned about 6pm. They couldn’t find my order even though by now I’ve received the text that the order is ready, and suggested I come back in 45 minutes. Grumble, I would have gone home to ride my exercise bike if I’d known it would be that long. I returned about 7:30 (pick-ups end at 8), and they can’t find it. I sit with the back of my car open and the interior lights on for close to an hour. Eventually we discover the name that the order is placed in, and the nice employee says she recognizes that name. She quickly retrieves and loads groceries and I’m ready to go home.

Except that my car isn’t ready to go home. It won’t start. I can’t even roll the window up, and it’s starting to get chilly now that the sun is down. Fortunately I have plenty of jackets in the car. Tried to start the car a couple more times. Called AAA, let them know that I think it’s the battery. Rather than be annoyed, I decide this will be an interesting thing to blog about -- much like the way I try to think of my mishaps while traveling.

AAA arrives, tests things, agrees it the battery and the helpful repair man says he can either give me a jump start or sell me a battery. I buy the battery. We had a nice conversation, both of us wearing masks and comparing notes as “essential employees” these days, while he swaps out the battery. He’s nearly finished when we start to hear sirens. Then we see at least six(!) police cars. Some coming from the west and turning south; some coming from the east and turning south; some coming from the south and turning east or west or going straight. Then more cars come, or maybe it’s the same ones and they’re circling. Huh? Most of the time they’d be converging on a single location, there must be a reason they’re continuing to move. Ah, probably a fugitive. The AAA repair man agrees with my hypothesis. Others start to ask us what’s going on, someone mentions that going west is blocked by a police car, everyone seems satisfied with my guess. The sirens continue for several minutes, and we keep seeing more police cars pass us, going in all directions. Eventually the sirens are muted, the AAA job is complete, and I return home, seeing at least seven police cars that are stopped with their lights but not sirens on. When I get home, I do some online sleuthing and learn that there’s been an armed robbery at a convenience store less than a block south of Safeway.

On Friday, I placed an order for Saturday to get the proteins I failed to order on Tuesday. Easy peasy, no problems, no police noted. Did identify one non-urgent item (chocolate chips) which has now been added to my cart for the next order.

As for the birthday party, it’s a virtual barbecue/pot luck for a friend’s milestone birthday, but it will be held while I’m at work. The assignment is to post virtual pot luck contribution and photos of you and your immediate circle in your best barbecue outfits. Since I have no clue what to do, I wander around my house looking for inspiration and realize I have a small Tigger and a similarly sized Baby Big Bird. Decide they should pre-enact the party with the context of social distancing. It was a fun exercise, and the birthday person’s spouse was entertained.

I hope whatever firsts you’re experiencing are keeping you entertained rather than frustrated.