June 30, 2020

Last day of the month...then we repeat all over again starting tomorrow. The never ending cycle continues.

June 29, 2020

June is almost over with. I just remembered making all these monthly payments on the first of June and here we are... July is upon us. What did I accomplish in the month of June? On Friday, we got picked up by the Catos and made it to a drive-in movie theater on the southside. They were playing "Twister". One of the scenes from the movie involved a tornado wiping out a drive-in movie theater. We had good weather except for a few noise distractions that eventually resolved themselves. On Saturday, we were off to the pool at the Nichols and then to Marlow to hang with Brendan and Kim. On Sunday, we got the new patio dining table set up and the tiki torches installed. The Knapps came over for a bit to end the night. I had planned on going into the office today to work but that didn't happen.

June 26, 2020

Friday is finally here and guess what? I don't want to do anything this weekend. I just want to relax and not worry about anything. It's been a crazy week once again. I only made it the office one day this past week. It was Monday. I worked from home for the rest of the week. I only have two meetings this morning and I'm home free. I am loving the JBL bluetooth speaker. It is portable and produces excellent audio. It's on par with the Sonos speakers. Jake and Haley's wedding is coming up during Labor Day weekend. It is still scheduled to take place in Mexico. We have airfare and lodging booked but I am 90% sure the wedding won't happen considering the spikes in positive cases across the board. Emily and Wyatt came by last night with pizza and wings. I got the fire pit going last night and it felt great. Too bad the weather is super humid today and for the rest of next week. The Sahara dust storm is upon us. It's crazy how sand from Africa made it across the Atlantic Ocean. We are off to Yukon/Mustang tonight!

June 25, 2020

I worked on the back patio for most of my morning yesterday before the temperature got too high. After noon time, the temperature increased a bit but went back down in the late afternoon. We finally got yeast to make bread, but the pandan sweet bread recipe is quite complicated. Even thought the ingredients are simple, the process to knead the dough and wait for it to rise can get complicated. I think you have to let the dough rise like four different times. No one has time for that. I told Sharon I'll make the bread if I'm really bored this weekend. This means I won't be making them. I like that we have no weekend plans but end up doing something. We literally take it day by day now. Friday night is with the Catos and the rest of the weekend is up in the air. Thank you for the pride goods, Sterling! I'll be sporting the button down this weekend at some point.

June 23, 2020

The dumbbells are working just fine. I upped the weights a bit this week. My goal is to get back to where I was pre-covid. Yesterday we had three people in the office including myself. I wanted to join the girls for happy hour later in the afternoon but I ended up working. Instead of pushing a presentation draft to tomorrow, I worked on it and submitted for review. The Kendra Horn yard signs came in and I'm stoked. I should give the second sign to Jen because she's also a fan. I hope Kendra wins again!

June 22, 2020

I took off last Friday and came back with a bunch of Teams messages about the Houston and Dallas mask orders. The firm took a stance that if masks are required when in public, the firm will not reopen our offices. This aligns with the uptick in cases that have skyrocketed Texas numbers. With people moving around and summer upon us, people think it's back to normal. This is certainly not the case.

June 18, 2020

I have this dry erase board in my office that lists all of the projects I am working on. More than half are completed and some have been postponed until next year. I have a few more new projects coming up and I'm too lazy to update the dry erase board. I will need to get a wet paper towel to erase the finished projects. That's just too much work. I'll get to it soon because I am starting to freak out with what all I have going on.

June 17, 2020

Parker finally made it home yesterday. Poor guy has been at the hospital for almost three weeks. I bet he won't remember being away from his parents for that long considering he's a newborn. He's eating and gaining weight as we speak. We sent them some Japanese delivery yesterday for a late lunch. Too bad we can't be there soon to visit them and to finally meet Parker. Hopefully we can be in San Antonio in late August right before the trip to Mexico. With all the spikes happening, especially in Texas, I'm not sure if the Mexico wedding is going to happen. We are supposed to connect at Houston Hobby so we will see how it all plays out in the next couple of months. For our firm, if we travel internationally, we are asked to self-quarantine for at least 14 days upon returning from the trip. This shouldn't be a problem because I don't foresee the firm moving into the next phase anytime soon. With the Trump rally happening in Tulsa this Saturday, Oklahoma will certainly see a significant increase in infections. Tulsa expects many people traveling in from other states to attend the rally. I'll be home filing my nails.

June 16, 2020

So much for working in the office for most of my week...Marci and I were back in the office yesterday thinking we would be there for most of the week. Here we are and it's only Tuesday. We decided to work from home is better today. I don't have any meetings to contend with. I have a bunch of administrative tasks to take care of to get the July and fall audits going. Many of my projects were delayed or push to the fall so today is my day to get a handle on scheduling them. I spruced up the back patio a bit this morning. All of the leaves were coming down as if it's autumn. I dusted the patio chairs and fluff up the pillows. The mowers are supposed to come today. We have moved to a weekly schedule as opposed to every other week. Sharon has been great at keeping the lawn watered. The grass seeds she put down a couple weeks ago are starting to sprout. We have grass growing in the back corner of the backyard. A shed used to be there and we have since demolished it. What was left was an muddy space that was not leveled with the rest of the lawn. We added dirt, grass seeds, and plant food.

June 15, 2020

Cases are spiking all over the country. Oklahoma has opened and continues to spike. We officially reopen our offices today for folks to come back. Less than half of the OKC office is coming back voluntarily. I think people will revert to teleworking due to the increase in cases. My original intent was to work in the office a few days out of the week. I'll stick to that plan until we go in hiding again. The new dumbbells are sweet. I think the only thing I'm missing now is a workout bench. If we do end up getting it, I'm not sure where the bench will go unless we create a gym in the garage. It was nice to work with weights again. I can return the case of bottled water to the fridge. Sharon can have her light dumbbells back.

June 12, 2020

I had every intention to come into the office this morning but that didn't happen. My head is pounding. I'm just glad Friday is finally here and guess what I'm doing this weekend? Not a damn thing...I really do enjoy not having plans. The only thing we having going on tonight is to go out for dinner. I'm really impressed with a lot of the businesses. Republic pulled most of their seats from the bar and every other booth table was blocked off. Almost all of the customers at Lowe's had no masks on but when I went to Home Depot, almost all had their masks on. It's weird how it differs from one business to another. Also, I'm noticing more and more employees are not wearing masks. I continue to wear my mask in public, even to pump gas. However, I don't wear it when I'm going into a restaurant to eat. It's like taking two steps forward and two steps back.

June 11, 2020

Just when you think things can't get worse, Trump says, tweets, and does more insane stuff. I'm so ready for this guy to be down with and go back to his bankrupt businesses. He has yet to produce his income tax returns to show that this fool has not paid income taxes.

June 10, 2020

It's been great being back in the office this week. Granted it's only my coworker and myself, it's good to have a daily routine that's outside of my home. Being confined to one space for a long time can feel like an eternity. I still can't get over how we all have been under lock down for over three months. I picked up a lunch special from Sushi Go Go earlier. They did not allow people in their dining room. They see you arrive with your takeout order and bring the food to your car. It was quite easy and somewhat contact-less. We were informed that a group of our friends tested positive for COVID. The group of friends all went out to a local bar during Memorial Day weekend. Lucky for us, we did not go. However, it doesn't mean we are safe. I bet there were some indirect contact with this group at some point so we need to wait and see. Baby Parker remains in the hospital. He is eating and gaining some weight but he still can't keep himself warm without the heating lamps. I bet he is loving getting pampered around the clock. I hope he gets to go home soon so his parents can have him 24/7!

June 9, 2020

Jennifer B. has the best hacks so far. I've learned a few things from her since we all went into quarantine. It's okay to bake a whole loaf of banana nut bread and a full batch of cookies. Don't feel like you need to eat them all in one sitting or even throughout the next few days. Keep out whatever you think you'll eat and put the rest in the freezer. The baked goods will remain fresh when you take them out again to eat. I like to cut up the brownies and slice up the banana nut bread before storing them in the freezer. This way, you can eat them on the fly without having to deal with cutting them up. Please you can eat the frozen baked goods immediately without having to thaw. It will taste like raw cookie dough...if you're into that. Another tip Jennifer B. shared with us is to get buy dumbbells that are out of stock. She subscribed to their mailing list so they'll let her know when the dumbbells are back in stock. I subscribed to it weeks ago and finally got an email from them last night. I purchased the dumbbells this morning and I'm super stoked. Goodbye regular gyms and hello home gym! That's the one thing I missed since working out from home. I never really had weights to work with other than a pack of bottled water that is barely heavy. Another tip that Jennifer B. suggested was to show your video when on conference calls with people. This was way before COVID-19 happened. It's great to see people's reactions and how they speak because you can tell a lot just on the visual alone. You can't really feel the room if you only hear someone through audio. There are a couple tips that she shared with me and it's been "life changing".

June 8, 2020

Today is my first time back in the office since we all went into hiding. It was weird having to pack up my computer monitor, docking station, and all other desk supplies that I have at the house.

June 5, 2020

Friday is finally here! Baby Parker is still in the hospital. He can't keep himself warm so he's been basking under heated lamps. When he's under the lamps, he's able to eat around the clock. Hopefully he gets to leave the hospital soon so he can be home. We are looking at visiting the Liaws in late August before the trip to Jake and Haley's wedding. If we end up catching something in Mexico, we won't be giving it to Baby Parker. Hopefully we can stick to the plan.

June 4, 2020

I'm glad I told Dianna to snip some more of my hair. She was about to be done and I noticed my hair didn't have the volume it had pre-COVID. She then realized that my hair was in fact a lot shorter before COVID and she started chopping off a lot more hair on top. After a couple minutes of styling, my hair was back to how it was before we all went into quarantine. It was funny having the exchange with her because I didn't want to insult her, yet I wanted to let her know I was not satisfied with the cut. In the end, it all worked out and we laughed about it. I am very happy she is no longer up north in the Quail Springs area. Her new salon is literally two minutes away. I was also pleased to see my gym being right next door to her, but I have since canceled my membership. I don't anticipate going back to a gym environment this year or really ever at this point. I have all I need at home.

June 3, 2020

Instead of getting the lawn mowed every two weeks, we have switched to weekly. The grass has been growing faster than before because of the rain and warm weather we have been getting. Sharon's goal is to get the backyard grass in tip top shape. It's looking a lot better back there than the front. The flowers are blooming in the front flower bed as well as the rogue flower bed along the side fencing. The plants in the backyard are going to be wild. They will do their own thing and provide additional privacy from the neighbors.

June 2, 2020

Doing that one lap around the lake isn't so bad after all. You sort of get used to it. Every time I do the lap, I try to go faster than before. Paul and Blain are both very fast and can maintain their speed or even increase as we go further in the route. I am always the last to arrive, which is fine. As long as I finish the route, I'm golden like everyone else. It just takes me a couple minutes to be in line with the rest of the group. I'm glad Paul picked us up two road bikes for the lake loop. We need to get brakes fixed on my bike because there have been some close encounters when we cross the streets.

June 1, 2020

Congratulations to the Liaws for welcoming their first born! They may have some more kids so that's why I'm saying the baby is their first born. I think they didn't want kids at first but decided to try after a few years of being married. I can't wait to meet Parker later this summer or fall. Di Chang needs to let us know when it's okay to come visit Baby Parker. We are scheduled to return to the office by mid June. Employees will have the option to return full time, part time, or not return to the office at all. Once we figure out how many are coming back and how it's working, a determination will be made to enact the second phase of employees returning. The date of when that phase starts is still yet to be determined. A lot went on last week with the firm on multiple fronts. I'm ready to be back in the office. Working from home is good but I'm not sure if I want to be working remotely full time. There are pros and cons. I cancelled my gym membership and have been working out from home. I stick to my morning routine during the week and sleep in on the weekends. I try to stick to the high protein/low fat diet to complement the morning workouts. All you need is a yoga mat, drinking water, and a pack of bottled water as your weights. We looked into buying dumbbells but they are very expensive. I still need to make my way to Blain's garage to take advantage of his workout equipment.