I began work from home on March 13th, followed shortly behind by Bay Area counties initiating shelter in place orders. For me, that means I've been feeling the direct impact of Coronavirus for almost 60 days. I think I'm overdue for a blog update, so I'm going to write about how I've been adapting and keeping busy during the past two months.

Who would have known at the start of March that we would be spending our last days in the office, or going on our last hikes. I struggle a lot with how I talk about the impact of Coronavirus. I know I speak from a place of great privilege, as someone who has not lost their livelihood, a loved one, or faced other major hardships. The changes to my life have been not been insignificant in terms of my daily routine, but I am thankful that their extent is only that far. My sympathies go out to those that are dealing with the loss of their job, or worse, a loved one.

Work

Work is probably the single thing I spend the most time on. I work from home at my desk most of the day, but I've been switching things up a little and working from the patio or other rooms when I can. It's weird working from home, and I definitely don't like it as much as working in the office, but I'm grateful that I have a great job and even better coworkers during these extraordinary times.

Swiss

I haven't written about it here yet, but Harvest and I picked up a new friend! His name is Swiss (short for Swiss Cheese, his shelter assigned name). When we first got him he was a very shy fellow, who did a lot of howling and kept his distance from everything that moved. Over the past few weeks he's grown into an affectionate interesting little guy. He follows Harvest around like a shadow, and we've started preparing him for a life where we aren't at home 24/7. We really lucked out with our timing when we got him, we adopted him only three or four days before shelter in place orders were initiated. He's been a great addition to our home, and he's done a great job of making sure we're keeping a consistent routine and our mental health.

Sourdough

I've turned into one of those people that talked about my sourdough starter too much. Over the course of more than 15 days I got a sourdough starter consistently rising to the point that I could make my first loaf of sourdough with it! I followed this tweet thread by Jonathan Guillotte-Blouin from sourdough starter inception to my first loaf of bread.

Running

I've been running again, usually somewhere in the area of 10-15 miles a week. On weekdays I often do between 1.5-3 miles, while on weekends I try and break 3 miles on each run. I'm a lot slower than I used to be, but it feels good to get out and run a little bit. I'm hoping I can keep it up throughout the summer and build up a base that helps keep me more motivated through next year's winter. Maybe I'll even run a race this summer (if they come back).

Video Games

I've been playing video games in my spare time a lot, which probably doesn't help with a sense of never stepping away from my computer. The games I've been playing most have been Risk of Rain 2 and Red Dead Redemption 2. I've put countless hours into Risk of Rain 2, especially playing with friends, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something to do.

Cooking

I've been trying out some new recipies, especially those that involve my new dutch oven! I've made a whole roast chicken in it, as well as a drunken chicken gumbo.

Blogging?

I've been thinking that becoming more active on my blog might help me find something to do, help grow me as a writer, and make my blog a little more lively. Will I follow up on it? I'm not sure I will, but I hope to!