Day 8 - CDC recommends all J&J patients get a booster after 2 months

Plumbing problems…

10/28/21. Thursday

9:00-10:00 – The students in tonight’s Core Class submitted their extra credit essays on 10/21/21 so they should be graded and ready to pass back tonight… aannnnddd they’re not. I have the remaining essays in a pile on my chair, in my bedroom, which is something I rarely do because bedrooms should be a sanctuary, where you don’t worry about work, right? As soon as I get out of bed, I go straight to my bedroom sitting area and grade papers.  I don’t even say good morning to the dog first. I have to get these done before my 7:00 p.m. class. tonight. 

10:00-10:30 – After an hour of “deep work” [see author Cal Newport], I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal. She’s on her hind legs with her paws on the child safety gate at the bottom of the stairs, probably waiting for me to come down all this time. I know she can hear L. and I moving around up here when we get up in the morning. The dog grabs her tennis ball and we head immediately to the backyard, where I see that she pooped on the patio (sigh).  She goes potty, I clean up the poop, and we return inside; cheese for her, coffee for me.  

I have one chocolate-covered marshmallow and one mini-chocolate-covered graham cracker for breakfast (both are from Trader Joes). 

10:30-11:00 – Return upstairs and I read Lady Parts; then 

11:00-12:00 – Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up. 

12:00-12:30 – I grade more extra credit essays. 

12:30-1:00 – B. and “Gil”, the plumber, arrive and I show them the repairs I need.  Neither of them mask, but I don’t either as we’re in the garage and outside the majority of the time anyway. Shockingly, Gil says there is nothing wrong with the sketchy hot water heater pipe!  It does not have to be replaced! A rare piece of good news…   I move on with the other repairs I need, i.e., the leaky faucet in the backyard and a leaky faucet in my bedroom.  

Gil says he can repair both faucets but isn’t sure when. He has to go back to the office because he doesn’t have his calendar with him. I’ve been dealing with multiple contractors and vendors of late and this seems to be a recurring problem.  Why don’t contractors carry their calendar/planner with them or store the calendar on their phone so they can schedule customers in real time?  Aren’t these delays bad for business?  I wouldn’t run my business like that if I had one. Gil says he’ll call me with his availability…what a waste of time with the back-and-forth phone calls… 

Spoiler Alert: It’s a given that the “gods” will “compensate” me for the fact that I don’t have to fix the water heater. Gil will return on Friday and attempt to fix the outdoor faucet, but is initially unsuccessful. For reasons that I won’t be able to understand, he has to bust out the stucco and remove the entire faucet casing. He will then ask ME for an Allen Wrench to complete the project, which I provide. Finally, he will finish the job, only to discover that the faucet still leaks because HE, a plumber, is out of “washers”, so he will instruct me to insert a washer ASAP - of course I don’t have any washers. B., who has a few washers on hand, will put it in four days after the job is finished. All of this will cost me $300 out of pocket.  The faucet no longer leaks. 

1:00-1:30 – B. and Gil leave.  B. has to run an errand before we go to CVS to pass his $10 coupon so I grade more extra credit essays.

1:30-2:30 – B. and I go to CVS and I buy several items for my 2022 inventory, such as 4 boxes of hair color, 6 tubes of toothpaste, 4 econosize bottles of Lubriderm, 1 jar of regenerative Oil of Olay night cream, and 6 bottles of Clear Care contact solution.  I have multiple CVS coupons for these purchases as well as a 30%  coupon for the grand total and B. has the $10 coupon. Of course, I’m not finished compiling my 2022 inventory with these few items, but I’ll order the rest of my toiletries from Walmart.com or return to CVS for the remainder when I have another grand total coupon. 

2:30-3:00 – Driving 

3:00-4:15 – Home and B. and I watch a partial episode of Maid and I have cheese and crackers for lunch. B. leaves. 

4:15-5:15 – I finish grading the last of the extra credit assignments, then scan and email them to the online students in my Hyflex class.  I’ll pass back the remaining assignments in person, tonight, to my F2F students. 

-Gil calls and says he will be here on Friday, around 10:00. 

5:15-5:40 – I pack a few snacks for my lunch bag, put my school bag containing my Beets speaker and Netbook in the car, grab my Filoflex folder and my backpack, and leave. 

5:40-7:00 – Traffic. Is. Horrible. I listen to Citations Needed and finish the mozzarella sticks from Happy Hour 2 days ago.

7:00-9:00 – I lecture for 1 hour, play a podcast clip, then lecture for a second hour. The last hour, the students listen to a podcast documentary about BLM.

9:00-10:00 – I update my bullet journal while the podcast plays. 

10:00-10:30 -Class dismissed. I email the online students who didn’t sign in on the Discussion Board and inform them that they were marked absent.  Then, I email the online students who received a D or F on the Podcast Quiz and demand to know what happened.  Did you listen to the documentary or not?  Aren’t we over this s—t already? 

10:30-10:45 – I’m almost out of gas – poor planning on my part – so I stop at the Chevron nearest me and pray I don’t get raped or mugged. Holy Cow! – at these prices, I feel like I’ve been physically assaulted.  Gas is $4.85 a gallon! I put $10 in my tank and leave – that’s enough to get me home and then some.  I’ll fill up at the Conserv gas station around the corner  from my house for much less. 

10:45-11:30 – Driving. I listen to Spooked and eat zucchini and hummus on the way home.

11:30-12:30 – Home and L. is also home.  She worked at the art studio today and also had a 7:00-10:00 p.m. online digital media class, which she hates. We talk about our day and then L. goes upstairs to get ready for bed and; 

12:30-1:15 – I go upstairs to read Lady Parts… 

1:15-2:30 – Oops…I accidentally fall asleep. 

2:30-3:15 – Up and I ‘brush myself off’ and go downstairs for kitchen duty.  I ready my coffee for tomorrow, take the dog out, and shut everything down. 

3:15-3:30 – I check course content and the Discussion Board to make sure everything is ready for my highschoolers tomorrow morning [8:30 a.m.] and do a quick email check. Nothing of interest. 

3:30-4:00 – Nighttime routine. Bed. I set my alarm for 8:30.