had another solid 3+ hour block of calls in the morning — i was on the phone from 0930 to after 1230, pretty much continuously (albeit on a series of different calls, pre-calls, and post-calls). it pretty much destroyed me.
in the later afternoon, i had to go get my driver’s license renewed, which pretty much completed the destruction: it was the first time i’ve left our property and gone to an enclosed area since we started the Isolation Times back in mid-march. i say, “to an enclosed space” because this felt very different than going out to a park for a walk, or walking around the neighborhood.
on the plus side, everybody at and around the dmv was masked, and almost everybody was masked properly (nose covered, etc). spacing was generally good, although in the middle of my transaction at window #2, they decided to open window #3 when window #4 was vacant — that was a little annoying. i knew i’d need to sign stuff with their e-ink pen, so i brought gloves. all in all it was …i guess it was fine? but it was stressful as hell and i felt a lot better after i got home and had a shower.
spent the evening figuring out how to record myself giving a talk while also capturing myself on a webcam positioned in the corner of the video. i worry i’m gonna end up making a file that’s too big, but i guess we’ll burn that bridge down if we have to. hopefully i don’t have to do too many “takes” of this 50 minute talk before i get a good one…
meta: per the jhu covid tracker, the US broke 150,000 dead today. the world is over 17,000,000 confirmed cases; the US alone is closing in on 4,500,000. it feels like it won’t ever be over.
lunch: sandwich
dinner: pizza