Two Months of SIP

Wow, it’s been two months (9 weeks actually). I can hardly remember what has happened these past 4 weeks. The days are blurring and would probably be worse if I wasn’t going to work on a regular basis.

I’ve been able to work from home 2 out of 4 of my work days and it’s been helpful but challenging at the same time. Jes bought me a widescreen monitor for the desk upstairs and set up my laptop so I had dual screens for work.

The kids are in somewhat of a schedule now:

Between 7-8am: They wake up and hang out together on their iPads until Jes wakes up.

8:30am: Breakfast (they get some good meals nowadays – bacon, eggs, waffles sometimes)

9:30am: KK’s Classroom Zoom Meeting / Peanut on his laptop doing some math games

10:00am: KK either has Music (on Mondays) or free time to play with Peanut

11:00am: Office Hours with Ms. Bliss (her teacher). Some days she reads to them, some days it’s a small group lesson

12:00pm: Lunch

1:00pm: Play Time

2:00pm: Yu Ying (Mandarin online school) and Peanut takes a nap

3:30pm: KK is done and Peanut generally wakes up by then.

The rest of the day is spent watching tv and/or playing.

5:00pm: I come home (on Mondays and Tuesday) and the kids go outside to ride bikes, scooters, and skateboards. I park the van outside and they use the garage as a play area.

One Month of SIP

It’s April 15th and it has been over a month since KK’s school closed and will be one month on Friday that we’ve officially been living under the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order (started on 3/17). It’s also Tax Day and the deadline has been extended. Our taxes were prepared in February so the packets have been sitting around collecting dust while we put off mailing them in.

So far, the kids and Jes have adjusted to a new routine. They have been doing pretty well without me. Outside of their regular Zoom meetings for school, they have been enjoying life without all the shuttling around to various classes and activities. They have rekindled their love for playdough and sand and our patio is getting much more attention lately.

Sadly, their idea of a good time nowadays is taking a ride in the car to pick up boba drinks and drinking them in the car on the way home. They haven’t been out in public aside from bike rides and runs around the neighborhood last past month. I’d say they haven’t left Alameda for over a month!

It was also Easter this past Sunday and instead of having our usual neighborhood egg hunt, the kids and I went outside and drew eggs all over the sidewalks for others to fine later as they walked by. We didn’t dye eggs due to the shortage at our stores. We did, however, manage to do egg hunts in the house with the plastic eggs that we’ve accumulated over the past couple years.

Luckily, my feet are no longer hurting and I was back to running just in time for this pandemic. Now that the gym is closed, all I can do is run or do some HIIT videos at home. It’s been fun running with Brother on the phone too.

At work just last week (4/07), everyone in my department was issued laptops and given permission to temporarily work from home. I had my first day of working from home on 4/8, had 4/9 off as usual, and then worked from home on 4/10. That meant I had been home away from the hospital and office for 5 straight days. That was the longest stretch I’ve had since this all started. By Sunday, I was a little stir crazy and not used to being home all the time.

Going back to the office on Monday was pretty eerie. By then, everyone had migrated to their homes (even the ones that initially said they wanted to stay in the office). I was literally the only one from my department in our 2nd floor treatment area. I wasn’t needed in the hospital so I hid in my office and worked. At lunch, I got antsy so I took a walk. It gets pretty lonely when it’s so quiet in a normally bustling part of my life.

At this point, the government has recommended universal masking so I took my handmade cloth mask that was donated to our department and wore it outside to pick up lunch and also to shop at Trader Joe’s after work. I’ve always hated wearing masks for work and now I have to do in my life outside of work.

We had planned for a surge by now but so far we have “flattened the curve” so much that we anticipate the surge will be closer to end of April/beginning of May. Schools are officially closed for the rest of the 2019/2020 school year and I have no idea whether or not kids will be able to go to Summer Camps by June.


P.S. We finally got some toilet paper from Costco. Jes was lucky enough to see it in stock online and ordered a pack.

COVID-19

It’s April 2nd and Day 17 of the Bay Area Shelter in Place. I’ve been meaning to document what’s been happening so far this year but hadn’t gotten around to it until now.  Unfortunately, we are still bracing for the worst of it here.

In late January, we were hearing about a virus that had originated in Wuhan, China. At work, we had regular huddles to discuss new screening processes at the front desk. We were still seeing patients in our clinic and it was mostly business as usual. At home, we were still going to large gatherings for Super Bowl and Chinese New Year.  The kids were in school and we had just signed up KK for Spring Soccer.

It was around this same time (end of January through Chinese New Year), Jia and the twins went to Beijing for a trip and they arrived with everyone starting to wear masks all day long. She would send us photos and updates from Beijing and saw that they was quarantined to their relative’s home for the last part of their stay. She also sent photos of what it was like to go to the grocery store with everyone getting their temps taken before entering. We were wondering if she would even be able to fly back to the states. They got home safely but had  to fly through Japan and Dallas before arriving in LA. They also self-quarantined at home for 14 days with Jason staying away at a different house.

We went to Vancouver for ski week (2/15-2/22) and the usual bustling parts of Vancouver were already getting quiet. We went to a Chinese restaurant where they had a sign on the door that said it had been “fully disinfected”. We also went to Cypress Mountain on the busiest day of the year. The crowds were annoying but had different meaning to us then.  We got lots of time on the ski slopes that week and were excited for the rest of the season now that the kids were getting a lot better.

At the end of February, we drove down to Cerritos to take care of our taxes and spend some time with the family. That feels like it was so long ago. We were also relieved that my mom canceled her trip to Italy. She was supposed to go a couple days before that weekend and just days later there was a surge of cases and Italy was experiencing an outbreak.

By March, there were some new reports of cases in Washington state. We were JUST THERE traveling through Seattle to come home from Vancouver. Work was getting a little more stressful with an increasing number of memos and changes to screening procedures at our registration desks. People were asking for masks and stealing the hand sanitizer off our receptionist’s desk while she was on her lunch break. At that point, Jes’ company was having some trial “work from home” days and other companies already started closing their offices. There was also a cruise ship that had 9 positive cases on board and they were going to dock in Oakland sometime around 3/9/20…scary!

On 3/8/20, we were still hearing about cases outside of California and I even had some friends over for brunch that morning. That would be the last I would see of them (except Teresa) for a while. Later the following week at work, we had converted all our in-person therapy appointments to video or telephone visits.

On 3/12/20, Jes worked from home and I was off so we took a casual trip to Costco while the kids were in school. We hadn’t gone for a while and we were out of chicken and running low on toilet paper.  When we arrived, we saw that all the whole chickens and toilet paper were sold out and there was only one flat of bottle water left. The panic-buying has started and most stores were running out of hand soap, toilet paper, sanitizer, and rice. On the evening of 3/12/2020, the school district announced that if parents chose to keep their children home from school that they were be “excused absences”.

We still sent KK to school on 3/13/20 and she was only one of 6 in her class that attended. On that same day, it was announced that school would be closed starting 3/16 and continue through Spring Break (4/3). Earlier that week, there was an increasing number of reports of COVID-19 cases – mostly in Washington state and the Bay Area was starting to prepare for its inevitable arrival. By that weekend, Disneyland announced they would close (!), the NBA season ended (with one player already testing positive for the virus), and large gatherings in the Bay Area were already canceled.

That weekend, we took the kids to their last swim class and last kung fu class that had only 1 other kid in Peanut’s class and a handful in KK’s class. I did my best that weekend to keep it together but things were sounding worse and worse on the news. By Sunday evening, the governor asked all at-risk people (including people over 65) to stay home as much as possible. I was also getting emails from various organizations and companies announcing they were be closed for a while – including the Tahoe resorts. NOOOOO!! It was JUST STARTING TO SNOW AGAIN!!!


I couldn’t sleep on Sunday night. These memes I found truly depicted how I felt.


Everyone was going to be staying home but I had to go to work on Monday.


To help me sleep, I went back downstairs and taped some butcher paper on the wall and wrote out a rough schedule for KK for her first day at home.

On 3/16/20, the Governor announced that 6 Bay Area counties would be ordered to “shelter in place” starting at midnight. That afternoon, Jes and KK went to Costco, Trader Joe’s, and Safeway to stock up. There was no toilet paper or chicken but they managed to get a good amount of fresh produce, other meat, and plenty of coffee and wine for me. 🙂 Luckily, daycare was still considered an “essential service” so Peanut was able to continue going to school. In the meantime, they also allowed families to withdraw their enrollment if they chose to keep their kids at home. So, he was one of 5 kids in his class and by the end of the week he was one of 6 kids in the entire school!


At work, the parking structure was not as crowded and the streets were not as busy around the hospital. It was also eerie to see everyone at work but no patients in the waiting area.


We were taking it all in stride and people were getting creative with their virtual visits and social distancing.

On 3/21/20, Peanut’s school sent an email saying that they too were going to close. So, starting on 3/23/20, Jes would be home with both kids and still have work to do. In the meantime, we canceled my mom’s trip to come up for Spring Break. It was a tough decision but the right thing to do. Southern California had not started their “shelter in place” until a few days after us and Los Angeles County was having a surge of positive cases.


We also upgraded from butcher paper to a large dry erase board and everyone has a section (even Jes).


KK is navigating the internet as best as she can and has become very good at texting and starting Facetime and Zoom meetings. She checks in with me and I also Facetime during the day to check on what their doing.


The kids have Zoom meetings with their classmates and KK is doing a great job helping out with Peanut during the day. They are getting better at checking the board during the day and checking off their tasks.


I am still going to work at my regular schedule and while it’s scary out there, I am comforted by the company of my co-workers and knowing that we are doing everything we can to help people while protecting ourselves. We haven’t had a surge yet and PPE is still at a good level for now.


Last week I even helped pick up donated masks, gloves, and wipes from local dentists that were no longer seeing patients.


We also managed to have a couple virtual Happy Hours last weekend, which was a nice way to stay in touch.

It is now 4/2/2020 and KK has been out of school since 3/16/20. Peanut has been out of school since 3/23/2020. Tomorrow will mark the end of the 3rd week of this new normal. School has officially closed until May 3rd but it looks like we will be out of school until fall now. I have no idea if Summer Camps will even be available by June or July. We don’t know what the next month will look like but hopefully it will be uneventful for our little family of 4.

KK will turn 8 this month and we will have to be creative with how we can make it special at home. There will be no egg hunt outside with the neighbors and who knows when the kids will be able to take their belt test (supposed to have been on 3/28). Peanut will likely not have his Preschool Graduation in June as well. Things are put on hold, other things are canceled, we are getting refunds for some things, and some costs will get eaten. We still get to go outside as a family and happy that Peanut still learned how to ride a bike through all this. I’m thankful for our health and thankful for a dual income that is not impacted by this pandemic yet. I will never take those for granted.

Can’t wait for all this to be behind us.

Stay home. Wash your hands. Stop buying all the toilet paper and chicken.

Cabinets

This guy turns out to be pretty handy. He installed IKEA cabinets in the laundry room for me all on his own. We just need to buy extra shelves and install cabinet doors.

Here are the BEFORE and AFTER photos:

Thanks, Jes! I love it! Now I feel like the space is so much more functional. Ah…the simple pleasures in life.

OTAC Conference

As Supervisor, I was asked to attend the Annual OT Association of California (OTAC) Conference in Pasadena. It was an all-expense trip paid for by the department that pays for recruitment and marketing. So, I flew up on Thursday afternoon and checked in a the Hilton Pasadena.

On Thursday evening, I took an Lyft to DTLA to meet up with Brother and Joy. We went to Tender Greens and then Library Bar for a quick drink.

I love attending these conferences because of the new things I get to learn and it’s also a great way to catch up with old friends/colleagues. I bumped into Allison who I worked with at PTN over 17 years ago!

I also hung out with current co-worker who was attending to help with OTAC membership recruitment.

The main reason I was sent to the conference was to be present at the KP booth. We are hiring and Ken (middle) is the recruiter who sometimes does this on his own without actual OTs present to answer clinical/day-to-day questions. It was fun chatting with people and giving away KP swag.

On Friday, Brother drove the parents up so we could have a birthday lunch to celebrate my mommy’s birthday.

We went to Houston’s, an old favorite of ours.

She got her steak and I got my tuna platter that was very different from what I was used to.

The nice thing about having so many people is that we can share all the favorites. Brother got the ribs and I was so happy.

I also got a prosecco that came in this cool glass.

Later that evening, I went out for dinner with Holly, who lives in South Pasadena. It was so fun to catch up with her “after work”.

Overall, it was a productive trip with a good sprinkling of personal time. I flew back on Sunday morning with enough time to take the kids to kung fu that day.

My 44th Birthday

My birthday celebration started early the week before when Ranee invited us to the winery at Jack London Square last Friday evening. It was a gorgeous evening with lots of sparkling wine to sip and taste.

Ranee also got us a bottle of sparkling rose to share. The kids played on the lawn all evening and we got to sit and unwind.

If that wasn’t fun enough already, we got to hang out AGAIN the following night!

We dropped the kids off at Jimmy and Eleen’s house (thanks guys!) and took an Uber to the city. We had tickets to see JANET!!!

We had purchased these tickets months ago and the Chase Center just opened a few weeks ago.

It was so nice to see Ishya smiling after the passing of her mom (my aunt).

Janet was awesome and sang what seemed like ALL HER SONGS.

The Chase Center was on their feet and he had such a good time.

The following week, we flew down to Cerritos to celebrate the actual birthday with Brother who turned 40!!

We had a family dinner at Lawry’s and then went out for dessert at David Chang’s milk bar.

The following night, we went to see Ali Wong at The Wiltern.

Interestingly, she had a strict no-device rule. We had to go through security at the entrance and lock our phones and smart watches in a bag that we carry around with us but can’t unlock until the show is done. It was a fun experiment and reminder of how things used to be when we were younger and didn’t have cell phones.

Ali was really funny and so was the guy that opened for her! Good show.

My last bit of birthday fun was the day after when we arrived back in Alameda. Just the 4 of us went out for Korean BBQ and stuffed ourselves silly.