As we began our trip home from Las Vegas we had to detour through Southern California on account of heavy snow on our usual route. The day before we left was the start of COVID-19 lockdowns in the Vegas area. Ahead of our return trip we visited a supermarket for supplies and to marvel at the spectacle of people stockpile ahead of the lockdown. Many aisles were stripped nearly bare. Amusingly, people were purchasing the worst comfort items while leaving more sensible items alone. For example, every cheap kind of potato chip was sold out, but nearly all of the beef jerky remained. In the juice section, all of the cheap, mostly sugar water juice was sold out, but all the 100% juice remained. Yes, all of the paper products were sold out too.

Back home we were still a week away from our lockdown. This gave us time to prepare and stock the house with food. Though paper products were still sold out until the stores began limiting the amount customers could purchase. Toilet paper was in such demand that I keep a big pack in my car just in case I need to barter with a warlord or gypsy.

The benefit to being home is getting to spend more time working on the garden and around the house. One nice perk of working from home is taking a break to go outside and enjoy the garden. Other aspects of working from home are not as enjoyable. It is harder to solve simple hardware issues for coworkers when the device is remote. Our internet went down for a few days and that created a different set of headaches. Having daily work meetings at home was enjoyable for the first few weeks but has now grown tiring.

I am very glad I bought a Nintendo Switch and had the foresight to pre-order Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Liza and I have been playing it regularly. Our cats Phil and Nemo get a lot more attention with all of us home. Nemo likes to sit in my lap when I work in the living room. Phil is becoming vocal about wanting attention, he occasionally yells at me while on voice chats. The living room is littered with shipping boxes left for the cats to enjoy. They clearly run the show now.