Life 4.20.20 - 4.26.20

Life

6 weeks of WFH. Not much has changed on that front except I have to start going to the office 1x a week. 

Getting to run with Ze and L was nice on Sunday. 

Zé is a happy boi- he carries his Dinos around with him - especially if we bring one of the others “to life.” Then he tries to shove the one in his mouth at the one we’ve got. 


We had a Zoom with Kim, Violet, Anne and Ze last week. It is always nice to see them. 


Birds have returned to our balcony. Zé barked at one of them, but decided to play ball as it watched. 


Every morning I do the New York Times mini crossword puzzle. 

Food

We kept up with making food during the week and getting carry out on the weekend. 

We made pizza again and again. Roasted vegetable tacos were delicious! I also tried to make crumpets with sourdough discard, but they burned on the bottom and didn’t cook through on top- they went straight to the bin. With the remaining batter, I made pancake type things. 

And more pizza! 



We got take out Friday night from Firehouse- I had a short rib grilled cheese, we also got delicious Italian sandwiches (I had the muffuletta) and Nduja arrancini from Teptesta market. Sunday was fried chicken from Harbor- which has fast become one of our favorite places. 


We will continue to cook at home during the week. I would like to start making items out of my cookbooks- but most of the recipes would involve getting extra ingredients I don’t already have - which is my current barrier. 

Workouts 

Cycled 160 miles and ran 5. I enjoy cycling in the mornings a ton. Running outside makes me feel great- but the weather was cold and I just didn’t care to get dressed in layers for 2-3 miles with Ze. 

He knows that the harness is for running and gets so excited he starts shaking in the elevator on our way down to run. 

One day I decided to do 20 push-ups each hour. (Mainly to get myself off the couch and move a bit) I lasted 6 hours and the next day I was quite sore. 

I’m happy to not have decided on any big races or goals for 2020 at the end of 2019. A few races I was signed up for got cancelled but that’s life. 

It’s been nice to run and cycle as I please.  That being said, I signed up for 2 virtual events. “The great virtual race across Tennessee” which starts May 1. It’s hosted by Laz who created the Barkley marathon.  From May to August you self report on your progress of running 1000km which is about 5 miles a day. The other is  “take a jog, save a dog” in September. 

I also signed up for the Ironman Virtual race series. Each week there’s different challenges involving cycling and running of various distances. 


Goals for workouts:

• continue on with avg 20 miles a day cycling. 

• Run outside more. 

• strength train

Thoughts

America is sill a raging dumpster fire of complete incompetence. “Leadership” in the white house suggested people should inject cleaning supplies or drink them since they kill viruses. This resulted in spikes of calls to poison control. Idiocrary. 

Mas

We took Ze to see Fido to Go and buy him some treats on Sunday. He was so incredibly happy to be at the truck again. It’s like he knows it’s for him. To see him blissed out made me so happy. 

I’m pretty much the only one with a face covering while running- I leave it on all the time because hands are dirty and because I encounter a lot of people where I run. I don’t understand why people Can’t cover up. It’s so gross to see all the mouth breathers out there especially when the CDC recommends wearing something to stop the spread. Selfish is the word that comes to mind.  

Unite at 8 happens every night. I look forward to it each night. Soldier field even played music for us Friday and Saturday.  


Another week down and more to go since our stay at home has been extended until the end of May.  The only way I feel better about this whole situation is “to live life a quarter mile at a time.” Thank you Dom for that gem. To try to think about what life will look like in the summer or 6 months from now is a waste of energy. I like to focus on what I can control. 

Life 4.13.20 - 4.19.20

Life

My mom made us masks to wear. 

5 weeks of working remotely now. Not much has changed on the work front- I’m able to run the new reports and analytics more efficiently so I can get other tasks done. We have a lot of video meetings which are nice to see everyone. 

Ze is a happy boy. He turned 3 and we celebrated by bringing a few of his racquet balls out of toy jail. He has been carrying them around with him all over the house. 

He also brings them to me while I’m at work. 

Food

We cooked a lot at home again. We only get carry out Friday night and the weekend now. 

Eggs are a huge staple of my diet now- it’s so nice to have the time to be able to make a breakfast or lunch egg sando. 

We also made pizza again- pepperoni, olive pizza and truffle goat cheese, mushroom. The truffle goat cheese is especially delicious with salted tomatoes. 

We made breakfast tacos with leftover tortillas and pico from dinner Saturday night. I got a box of meat from a local purveyor so we cooked steak. I also made soy like marinated chicken and restocked our pizza dough supply.

We had a ham egg sando from Spoke and Bird, burger and carrot cake from Firehouse, Mexican food from La Cantina and leftover Ube donut from Moms.


It’s been nice to cook at home more- I hope to start trying new recipes out of the cook books I’ve accumulated. I should get “The Adventures of Fat Rice” in the next day or so, and I’m excited to make some Macanese (Portuguese - Chinese) food. (I am sad Fat Rice has closed. It was one of our favorite restaurants).

Workouts

I cycled 7 times for a total of 144 miles. I’m really enjoying cycling for an hour in the morning.

Zé Pequeno and I ran 5 times for a total of 13 miles. 

We have a lot of fun running early in the mornings before it gets too busy out.


I am surprised at the number of nasty mouth breathing runners who don’t wear any face coverings despite evidence that wearing something can help prevent the spread.  We wear our covers the entire run because I don’t want to touch my face unnecessarily during a run.

Thoughts

Illinois is still under a “stay at home” order until 4/30. I feel like any day this will get extended. 

The government is full of incompetence. No surprise when people elected a reality TV clown to office who appoints unqualified friends and family in place of scientists and people with actual knowledge in the subject areas. 

People still can’t get tested without a lot of hoops to jump through. (Let alone that the accuracy of the tests can produce false negative up to 30%). Reopening the economy will be a monumental task- because if everyone rushes back to “normal” activities, then a second wave of the virus will hit. 

I still see people online posting “social distance” selfies with groups. It’s a slap in the face to people working on the front lines. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. (Broken record intraday sure)

Mais

I feel fortunate L and I are able to work from home- but feel terrible for friends and people in general affected by the closures. We try to support our favorite places so that they exist in a world post covid.

Running outside, even for a couple of miles with Ze has helped my mood tremendously. No surprise there. I sat out on the balcony on Sunday for 30 min and got slightly sunburned from the reflection on our window. Ha. The sun felt so good.


Virtual happy hours have been great. Technology is so cool. 

100% that. I live for 8pm each night.

Life 4.6.20 - 4.12.20

Life

I’ve now completed 4 weeks of WFH. We were asked to send in photos of us working remotely, so I had to include Ze Pequeno. 

Ze loves his new dinosaurs. I was initially worried that they would be too big, but he carries them around and wrestles with them. 

Ze also lost over a kilo (2.5lbs) since last Saturday. We’ve been running with him more, feeding him less pellets, and supplementing with roasted squash. 

Food

We didn’t get carry out as much this week- our first carry out for the week was Friday night. 

We made jerk chicken with asparagus and quinoa, pizza a few times, and I lived on eggs most days. 

We got michelada mix from Big Mich- a Chicago based business and it is so good. 

We got food from Firehouse turtle cheese cake + chicken sandos (not pictured), and got carry out from Mom’s on Saturday- Spam musubi, Pork katsu sando and tamago sandos. 


We will continue to eat out less and less. I think our mindset is shifting towards going out as a “treat” vs convenience. 

Workouts

I ran with Ze 2x. He was so happy to run with us. He goes crazy when he has his running harness on- he squeaks and pulls until we start running. 

I was shocked at the amount of people who weren’t wearing face coverings. L and I wear Buffs and pull them up when we see other people.  But the amount of disgusting mouth breathing runners was surprising given all the recommendations to wear a covering to help prevent the spread as many of us could be carrying the Covid and not even know it. 

We also ran with L on Saturday morning. Buckingham fountain was predictably empty. 

I cycled 142 miles. I’ve been enjoying cycling a lot (from my living room). 

30 mile ride in virtual London on Easter. 

Thoughts

It’s very clear the way the US handled the pandemic from the start was full of incompetence. When governors came out this past week saying “we didn’t know until yesterday covid was transmitted through the air” all you can do is shake your head in disgust. They also predictably come from states which reject science, aka facts. 

I know of 2 people who have lost loved ones to Covid 19 in the past week. Even before knowing this- L and I have been doing everything possible to prevent us from spreading this virus. Not everyone is taking the same approach and it makes me upset. 

Mas

It was so nice to talk to Anne and Kim on Friday evening over Zoom. I “see” them more now than we did before. 

Saturday L and I joined a virtual chat with people from our run club in 4 different cities in Russia + Los Angeles. It was interesting to hear what is going on in Moscow, Kazan, Minsk, And Novorossiysk. 

Saturday post run I went to the grocery store for the first time in a month. It was busier than I expected but most people were wearing masks. Toilet paper was completely gone but they had plenty of food- I meant to go check out the flour aisle but forgot. Only because I was curious if people were still hoarding baking supplies. (We’ve got plenty of flour currently)

Happy sourdough starter. 

Sunday we cooked ham and veggies for dinner and also had our weekly virtual check in /happy hour with our run club. It’s been nice to be able to see everyone and hear what they are going through. I know we will all be stronger on the other side of this. 

We still look forward to 8pm each night. The highlight of this week was an officer blaring “New York, New York” over their speaker. Saturday’s tribute was dedicated to NYC. 

Life 3.31.20 - 4.5.20

Life

(I live for 8pm balcony singing/light show)

3 weeks of WFM completed. Not much has changed on the work front. I think I’m finally settling into the “new normal” of various extra reports and analytics that I do, so I can better manage my time and get my actual work done. 

On Monday, Zé pequeno head butted me (after L said a “special word” which made Ze move abruptly as we were cuddling) and split my top lip open. It hurt for a few days.

Ze is now 57.7lbs as of Saturday. He is going on a diet of more veggies, less pellets and more walks/runs. He’s a happy boi, but he needs to lose like 10-15lbs. 

I got Ze some early birthday presents- meet “Tundro” the newest member of his Dino squad. 

Our flights to Denmark were finally included in the “no fee” change date range- so we will possibly look at new flights. I say possibly because I’ve lost all interest in going at this point. I don’t see how the pandemic will be cleared up in 6-7 months and I worry we would have trouble going or getting home. But that’s just my anxiety talking. 

Food

We cooked more at home this week- but still got carry out from some places. 

I’m a pro at making various styles of eggs.

We made pizza again. Making pizza on the balcony boosts my mood so much.

Wedge from firehouse. I love wedges.

Chicken burrito from 18th street. 

With leftover fries from firehouse, we made a breakfast hash- cut up fries, shallots, and eggs + cheese. 

Goals for this week cooking/eating wise include: eat smaller portions, cook more at home, continue to supplement with carry out. 

Workouts:

I cycled 7 times (on Zwift, indoors) for a total of 155 miles. 

L, Ze and I took a 3 mile run on Saturday morning to keep the MRC Chicago spirit alive. 

We ran on Michigan Ave early in the morning to avoid as many people as possible- plus the sidewalks are very wide.

Ze was so happy to run with us. 

Sunday, L and I went to 18th street brewery to pick up food and cocktails to go. When we parked we saw the owner who said they had changed their hours and would be opening at 12 - we arrived at 11:36. So we decided to walk on the Monon trail for a bit.

It was a gorgeous, cool  sunny day. It felt great to walk on the trail we usually run on for MRC 18th street. As we were walking, some birds started fighting in the air and almost hit us.

We only saw 3-4 cyclists and a family playing in a nearby field during our 40 min walk. I was surprised there weren’t more people out. I would have opted to sit in the car had it been busy.


I didn’t do any running intervals or organized strength sessions this week. I didn’t feel great for part of the week and didn’t want to push it.  

Goals for next week: organized strength sessions and some running intervals- as well as running with Ze. 

Thoughts

THIS ARTICLE From Time Out Chicago made me happy. Our 8pm south loop gatherings are gaining momentum and are such a great stress relief + mental health boost. Plus- I was quoted in the article and a great compilation of my nightly balcony recordings  were made into a fun video. 

Someone in our building tested positive for Covid. We have been washing hands/avoiding people since early March - but it’s unnerving to know it’s confirmed and it’s so close. 

Status of America: raging dumpster fire.  “Leadership” in Washington is blaming states for not being prepared, and pushing blame for not helping boost the amount of PPE and ventilators available.  It’s a joke. They took a gamble back in January about the virus not being a big deal and now shit has hit the fan and getting worse. Incompetence is the only word I can think of. People are dying because the government didn’t take this serious enough. 

Seeing people continue to post selfies and preface it with “we were totally social distancing” is such a slap in the face to healthcare workers and everyone who is working to stop the spread. Maybe things haven’t gotten to an alarming level where these people are- YET, but there’s enough news and information available to show that you shouldn’t be meeting in groups. This is a hill I’m willing to die on. 

Mas

We had a few virtual happy hours - and it was so nice to see everyone. 

It was so nice to go to 18th street and get food + cocktails to go and walk in the sun for a bit.  This boosted my mental health so much. 

Whenever I hear a helicopter outside I’ll look or sometimes go to the window to see it- now I know what a dog feels like when they see something outside and get crazy excited. 

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”

Paulo Coelho