daily blog of a 51-year-old
Besides working, I’m spending my day following the news, finding causes to donate to, and educating myself. It’s honestly tiring to keep up and task-switch. But I do have my ukuleles to help with my own well-being. Currently learning “Rainbow Connection”. I think it’s an amazingly beautiful song.
We rarely get fast food, but tonight we didn’t plan anything for dinner at home and when Bay suggested we get something from McDonald’s, the idea sounded really attractive. I guess it is a connection to when life was more normal before COVID-19. We ordered our food online, then I went to pick it up. The restaurant’s dining room is closed, but the drive-thru was open and there were parking spaces designated for pick-up orders. I parked in space #3, clicked on the “I’m here” option in the app, and in a few minutes, the food was delivered out to the car. Very convenient!
I don’t know if it is because of the new process that the pandemic has forced on the McDonald’s, but the food wasn’t the freshest. Everything tasted as usual, though, and after Koa put his chicken nuggets in the toaster oven, he said they were good! I guess even though we don’t go to McDonald’s often, we have our usual preferences: Mariko likes the Filet-o-Fish, Bay will get a “fancy” chicken sandwich, Koa will get the chicken nuggets, and I’ll go for a burger or some sort. It’s definitely a comfort food, and once in a while, fast food can’t be too bad for you!
One of my “stay-at-home” routines is converting between my home desk and work desk. It’s actually the same table, but at then end of every work day, I shut down my work laptop, put it in the cabinet, as well as the keyboard, mouse, and headset. It would be easy to just keep everything out, but I really enjoy going through the ritual of switching from work mode to home mode.
The photo above is my home mode (with margarita, even!), and the photo below is my work mode, with laptop, keyboard, and wired mouse. During work hours, I have both my home computer and work laptop hooked up to the monitor, and can toggle between the two, but I find it easier to use Chrome Remote Desktop to access the home computer from the laptop. It’s a nice setup!
I’d really like to get the cables behind the monitor hidden away, but I’m going to wait a week because… I ordered a new monitor! It’s larger, with higher resolution, and better color rendition. I’m super excited because I haven’t had a new monitor in a long time, and the higher-quality is warranted since I am a graphic designer and also an amateur photographer. But I’m also kind of a cheapskate, which is why I have held onto my inexpensive 1080p monitor for so long. 😄
I hope you had a good day!
Today I went for a lunchtime run, and immediately I could tell my legs were a bit tired and the muscles were stiff. From our house, whichever route I take is downhill so it’s a nice, gentle way to warm up and assess my physical (and mental) condition. Yesterday was a rest day so I wasn’t too worried about straining myself, however, I made a note to take it easy. I don’t want any injuries!
I’m reading the book The Pants of Perspective: One Woman’s 3,000 Kilometre Running Adventure through the Wilds of New Zealand by Anna McNuff and I kept thinking about what a bad-ass she is and how she dealt with physical down-days on her journey. Super-inspiring and motivating! That positive energy definitely helps with my mental state, and although my legs might still be tired, I don’t let that get me down.
I ended up running 3.43 miles, which I am pleased with, and my pace of 12:19 /mi wasn’t as slow as I expected. And besides, it was beautiful outside!
Not surprisingly, the run’s momentum carried with me into the evening and I went for a short evening bicycle ride around the neighborhood. I remembered to pack my camera and was rewarded with a really nice sunset. You know, it’s really nice having a cargo rack and panniers on my bike β I can get the mail, carry my phone and camera, and still have plenty of room to spare.
The ride was great and I saw lots of people out walking, running, and playing safely. Lots of waving too! Although we’re living in a pandemic situation right now, people seem to be keeping it together. I really like our neighborhood.😀
I hope you had a nice day!
I like the shape of the bottle, the lettering style, and the color. It only holds a few pens, which is great because I have way too many and I need to reduce/simplify my collection. A cleaner, less-cluttered desk makes me more productive so it’s a perfect pen-holder for me. Another item that sparks joy and is functional too. Win-win!
I use an X100 series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?
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