i woke up this morning and started sorting through my addresses. not sure why i even bother, i could simply just print out the same case list from yesterday. i made an omelette for lunch and left by around 11:15am.
it rained for the first half of the day. my original plan was to bike to some far away cases first, get those out of the way like an appetizer, before tackling the bulk of the cases in the agassiz area. but with the rain i wasn't able to ride my bike, so i postponed those address for later in the afternoon, once the rain stopped. so instead i walked.
as soon as i started working i felt an urge to use the bathroom. but once i found my enumerating groove, i seemed to have forgotten about my bathroom break. the rain finally stopped by around 1pm. i'm definitely more productive when i don't have to deal with rain and need to carry an umbrella, keep my forms dry, and use the phone all at the same time. i reached out to a few property managers, none of whom called me back, which is par for the course. fortunately i had enough other cases that i didn't need to get into those restricted apartments.
the census bureau sent all the enumerators a text asking for volunteers to travel south to enumerate for a week, maybe longer. what do they mean by traveling south? south like connecticut or rhode island, or south like alabama and mississippi? i was actually intrigued enough to ask for more info. if the census is willing to pay for my transportation, lodging, and food, it could be an interesting adventure. downside? rednecks, racism, heat, and coronavirus.
i went home by around 4pm for my break. a few amazon purchases arrived during that time. i brought them inside but didn't have time to check them out. mass general hospital gastroenterology department called me. i had an appointment tomorrow that i booked a year ago that they cancelled without fully informing me. i only realized this because they never sent me a remind, and the reason why was the appointment no longer existed. they called me back to reschedule, now it's happening mid-october.
once my 30 minutes was over, i took the bike and attempted those far away addressed i skipped from this morning. there weren't many, but one of them involved going into an apartment complex where i had to find 3 proxies for every address, that's why it look so long. on the plus side, it was one of those apartment complex where the buildings are interconnected through a basement passageway. i felt like an explorer finding a shortcut, even though the basement seemed a little scary, a good place to get murdered.
i had enough easy cases to finish out the rest of my shift. easy as in small housing units, not large apartment complexes i can't get inside. there were a few smaller apartments that i got lucky and managed to gain access, closed a few cases that way. it always surprises me that people react different between an intercom buzzer ring and an actual knock on the door. more than one occasion they ignore the buzzer, but when i'm knocking on their door they come out every time.
i could've stopped at 7pm but i cleared a few more cases and finally quit by 7:15pm. i rode the bike (i was still on bike at this point) to the star market parking lot so i could admire the sunset.
even though today was a day of more repeats, i still made good process. out of the 84 cases assigned to me, i managed to go through 41 of them. of those, 25 were inactive, while i did manage to clear 16, 6 of which were interviews (5 proxies, 1 case respondent). i had enough of repeats though, send me someplace new census! speaking of which, all the enumerators received a text today asking for volunteers to travel to "some southern states" to enumerate there for a week, maybe the rest of the month. i replied to the email address saying i might be interested. it's worth going if it's all expenses paid, and the assignments aren't that difficult, just understaffed. of course southern states (like real deep south states) are hotbed for coronavirus, so it may not be worth it.
after a shower i boiled some frozen meat tortellinis for dinner along with half a jar of tomato sauce. i watched the celtics game, celtics were 0.5 seconds from winning game 3 of the celtics-raptors series, but toronto pulled off a miracle, made a perfect inbound pass for a catch-and-release 3-point. you have to admit, it was a pretty awesome finish, despite the celtics losing. but boston is still up 2-1 in the series, and toronto hasn't really done anything that makes me think they could threaten the celtics. i still like boston's chances. i don't want the season to end for the celtics, i love watching them play.
as for the amazon purchases, one was a friction-mounted chin-up bar. i've always wanted one, but i didn't want the ones where you needed to drill holes in the doorframe, even though they're the sturdiest. i did find one of those pull up bars that wrap around the top of the doorframe, but my 1903 has molding that's too darn thick for those things to fit (they work great at my parents' place though, with their smaller door frames). so when i saw these new friction-mounted chin-up bars for sale ($30), i couldn't resist getting one. it took a while to mount, it kept slipping off until i realized the trick was to rotate the entire bar to tighten it up. once i did that the bar didn't budge, although i was still afraid to put my full weight on it without bracing my legs for possible impact if the bar should suddenly release. but the one that i got is advertised to be able to hold 440lbs, and i only weight a third of that, so it should be able to support my weight.
the other thing that arrived was my computer table. as you recall, i opted for the table instead of the tray, since i didn't want to deal with the hassle of moving the tray and finding a place to put it; with a table it's just free standing, nothing to move. after dinner i put the table together. there was just 4 pieces: table top, legs, and a brace. it reeked of bamboo, which is the material it's made from, not wood. the table is actually a lot bigger than i'd imagined, large enough to not only fit a laptop but also a drink on the side. no more laptop burn marks on my thighs, or awkwardly working with the laptop perched at some uncomfortable angle, killing my back in the process. i welcome some renwed productivity!