The New Reality

Another week of everything revolving around covid 19.

Jameson worked from home, I went in to the call center like usual.
The number of calls is gradually going down, but it's still WAY more than a work force of this size can handle.
There was one 30-minute period on Sunday where we processed 2,000 calls.
CapTel has 800 employees, not all of whom are working at any given time.

yeah.

Everyone is doing their best.
One really nice thing that I'm finding out is that my employer is actually pretty awesome.
Last week we started receiving a sort of "hazard pay", an additional $$ per hour to help us get through this weird time.
And anyone who worked when all the shit hit the fan (late Feb/early March) is receiving a pretty decent bonus in the next paycheck.
Not only that, just tonight we got an email about emergency medical pay/leave.
If I have to self-isolate because someone I or someone I work with was diagnosed with covid 19, I can request emergency medical pay and receive basically the entire two week period paid. This is available to ALL CapTel employees regardless of length of employment.
There's also a Family emergency pay/leave that allows parents to receive partial pay while they take care of their kids now home from school and daycare.
I mean...that's pretty awesome. Not every company would do that.
I'm really impressed. And extremely grateful that I ended up working here. No, I don't always like my supervisor job. But no job is perfect, and honestly I'm way more motivated to do my best for a company that truly supports its employees all the way down the chain.
Extremely grateful right now.

On my "weekend", Wednesday, I got a lot done.
I cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed, and dusted. I hit the grocery for food and ingredients for enchiladas. Still no toilet paper. Everyone was trying to social distance. I tried very hard not to touch anything unless I was gonna buy it, although I had to break that rule to look at the ingredients on the bacon (Jameson has an MSG/synthetic salt intolerance.)

I had a really nice video chat with my family, just to see how everyone was doing. With one exception we all have been able to keep our jobs, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. I have one sister living in NYC so I'm pretty terrified for her. Another is an OR nurse, equally afraid for her health and safety. But it was good to talk with everyone today and see that for now, we're all OK. That's all anyone can ask for.

Stenography school started up for me again on Monday, with a few changes to accommodate more online students now that the physical campus is closed. Just thought I'd mention that, I know I don't talk about it much but it's still happening.

In the afternoon Jameson and I went for a walk around the neighborhood.
The weather was nice and we saw a few other people riding bikes and walking and stuff.
Everyone was very courteous about physical space.
Lately there has been a solitary turkey wandering our neighborhood. I'm not sure why it's alone or what it's doing around here but it's kind of fun to watch. Kind of like a middle-class peacock, lol.

https://instagram.com/p/B-dSqb1AOmG

For dinner Jameson made the enchiladas. It's a recipe we've used many times before and it never gets old. Guaranteed delicious!
We ate outside to enjoy the fine weather. It was really nice :)


On Thursday I got a lot done, making pancakes and bacon for breakfast, meal prepping for the week, and making chicken salad for us to eat for dinner. I also did some gardening. I've been wanting to take cuttings from the tomato plant (the cuttings are called "suckers") and plant them to try and grow new plants.



I also want to move the herbs out of the planter before it gets too hot, but since it's cooled down these last few days I'll wait a bit longer. Today I only moved the thyme to a pot with the chocolate mint.


Finally, I planted the crotons in the mulch surrounding the pool deck.


All of my plants are doing really well (whether they're producing or not.)
The passion vine bloomed earlier in the week, one blossom per day for three days.
There were only three buds but it's a small vine as yet and that was more than I was expecting.
The flowers are really something special.


The strawberries really stole the show, though. For some reason (maybe it's the perfect temperature/humidity, idk) they have suddenly begun producing fruit like their little lives depend on it. We got to enjoy these three strawberries just today.


The vanilla orchid seems to be doing all right, although it's not forming any aerial roots.
I love the color of it...kind of a creamy mint. Beautiful.


On our afternoon walk Jameson and I came across a raccoon digging through someone's trash.
I think the animals are getting more bold with fewer humans around?
Or maybe this is his daily routine and we've just never been around to see it.

In the evening after dinner I practiced steno while Jameson played MLB.
We had a "happy hour" video chat with some of his friends around 7pm that lasted for a few hours, it was really fun!

Tomorrow I go back to work. Like everyone, I'm not sure what will happen this week.
Just going to try to enjoy what I've got and get by safe and healthy.