As the quarantine continued to drag on, I’ve been keeping myself busy with tech projects at home, such as installing an LED case fan for my PC and a Raspberry Pi-Hole for my home network. Our buggy Wink smarthome service suddenly decided to charge a subscription fee, which was the last straw that prompted me to jump ship for a more reliable Lutron Smart Bridge and Chamberlain MyQ garage opener. Bad luck kept me busy as well, with a nail that necessitated a car tow and a pricey tire replacement. Who knew that run-flats could not be patched? Meanwhile, the pandemic reminded us of the risks we take as healthcare workers, which helped get us off our butts to finally complete the estate planning we have been putting off with the help of Melody’s high school classmate as the lawyer and a traveling notary in our backyard to sign the papers. At work, our clinics have been ramping up and my lab members have begun resuming experiments. We are increasing our use of video visits, but my patient demographic are not so comfortable with technology so uptake has been poor. Back at Tupper Hall, we celebrated our two med students who spent the year in the lab over vegan chocolate cake in fully-masked socially-distanced fashion. The gathering reminded us of the weird times we live in, and gave us a chance to laugh about it.

Working from home this past month has given us interesting opportunities for eating in and exploring outside. We tried new recipes like French onion beef noodle soup, gochujang roast chicken, and soondubu jjigae in my new dolsot. We also ran blinded taste tests for hot chocolate and kimchi, which placed Godiva over Ghiradelli and Starbucks, and YD Tofu House over KP and Sinto. McDonald’s offered “thank you” meals for healthcare workers, which provided the occasional egg mcmuffins for breakfast, and chicken mcnuggets for Westley’s dinners. We also ordered T-Kumi and Ming Dynasty from DoorDash, and Uniboil and Chengdu Style from UberEats, thanks to coupons from our employer. Even Google stepped up and offered a free battery replacement for my Pixel, although UBreakIFix couldn’t get it right the first time, necessitating a second trip to Citrus Heights. Back home, we tried to keep Westley occupied with letter-writing practice and iPad games like Khan Academy Kids and Teach Your Monster to Read. We tried our hands at building 3D wooden puzzles, but our solar-powered rover failed to function. We also handcrafted some cardboard rifles together, but combined with our recent uptick in video gaming, led to some disturbing Westley doodling at daycare. To maintain our physical activity and sun exposure, we visited nearby playgrounds for badminton, frisbee, basketball, and kiting. It has not been windy enough for our Daiso kite to really take flight, but we’ve gotten some good mileage with our bikes. We’re also exploring more of our neighborhood on foot, including a corn field trail with an adjacent waterway that turned out to be home to an otter. Turkeys have been roaming our neighborhood as well, with two confirmed sightings in our own backyard. Feeling the isolation from social distancing, I’ve also taken to reconnecting with old friends from med school, college, and high school through Zoom. It’s hard to imagine what our new normal will be like after all this, but these past weeks have at least encouraged me to spend more time with family and friends.