What Did I Accomplish This Week?
This week I got stuck in a 24 hour curfew due to the coronavirus. I also put together a solution that allows me to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons with friends on my shitty internet.
Puppy Problems (Monday)
Puppy
So yesterday the puppy found where the sink drains to under a tree in the neighbor’s yard (don’t ask) and spent a while down there before I noticed. Because of that, she’s had some tummy troubles and had her first real accident in the house. Luckily it is easy cleanup, but pooping four times in a three hour period is not normal for this dog.
Work
Already running around a bit this morning. Headed to our old house to plug in the washer and dryer for the housekeepers. They’ll be cleaning up after the guests left and prepping for it to close for a while. Another set of guests left a different house so I went by and raided their goodies. Not a whole lot of great stuff, but a few decent items.
Home
So I went by Flow to see if I can get fiber to my house. The woman there seemed to think we couldn’t get it, but I was given the number for someone who would be able to better determine that. Gave the guy a call, and of course he didn’t answer. I really hope I can get off this cellular internet, it is so restricted and I really want to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons with my friends. . .
Tuesday
Work
I finally got started on the accounting. It really isn’t as bad as it seems. I got all the cash receipts entered and it didn’t take very long. I have more to do, but if I do a little everyday I should get it all done pretty quick.
Home
I spent a while this morning trying to get around the restrictions on my internet. First I tried with my laptop, setting up a secure VPN hotspot. But my network adapter doesn’t seem to support it. Then I tried setting up one of my old android phones for VPN tethering. But it only supports WPS and the Switch can’t use that.
Next step is trying to get my Raspberry Pi to be a VPN access point. It’s taking a lot of work because I haven’t used it in so long. I’m trying to update and upgrade all the software on it but it’s years out of date. Two distribution upgrades that took forever! It would probably have been faster (and better) to wipe the SD card and just install a fresh image of the latest Raspbian.
Wednesday
Home
Picked up where I left off with the Raspberry Pi. In the end, I could not get it to work. After all that, going through all the steps in the WAP Guide it just wouldn’t work right. So I ended up starting from scratch. Downloaded the newest version of Raspbian and tried again. And again it wouldn’t work! So then I jumped back a version (to Stretch) and like magic it worked!
I had to use a little bit of searching and tinkering and troubleshooting, but I got the thing setup to work as a wireless access point. After that it was time to setup the VPN portion. That also worked pretty easily, although there were a couple issues I had that required more tinkering. But in the end it’s perfect. Everything just works once the Pi boots up. Just needs a wired network connection and USB power.
Animal Crossing
And just like that my Nintendo Switch is no longer stuck behind restricted NAT! I can very easily visit friends’ islands as well as have friends visit mine! I really do wish I could have just enabled the VPN WAP option on my laptop, but alas the network card doesn’t support it. Would have taken a lot less time and effort than what I did.
And in visiting friends’ islands I was able to collect and plant all the fruits on my island! I also collected flowers that I haven’t seen yet and of course, I shared my fruits with them. Can’t wait to have my friends over to check out my house.
Thursday
Gardening
I’m having serious issues with tomatoes. Every single plant grows well for a while and then just starts dying! I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I’m going to have to try something different I think. My basil is looking amazing, so at least I’m doing something right.
Coronavirus
Last night the government here has enacted a curfew starting tomorrow at 8pm and lasting for nearly a week. That means I’m stuck inside until April 2. That’s okay since I have lots I can do. Not like I’d be going out and doing much during that time anyway.
Pools
Because my resident services building in Animal Crossing is closed today for an upgrade I decided to do pools a day early. It was all fairly easy stuff, added a water to a couple, no serious cleaning, but I did a bit extra with chemicals to prepare for the worst.
Lockdown
So, tonight at 8pm my island (Virgin Gorda) and the entirety of the BVI has been put under a 24 hour curfew until April 2 at 6am. There was no mad dashing around to grocery stores to prepare for me. I had already stockpiled food previously in anticipation. I’m prepared, I’m ready. Even if it gets extended I have enough to survive, even if it isn’t entirely pleasant.
I stepped outside after curfew to walk the dog. I felt at ease, calm. The night was just so still and quiet. Everyone locked in their houses, unable to leave, no cars running around. I was built for situations like this, I thrive when I know I’m ready for what’s coming. No more worries about running out for work, nobody coming by to disturb me.
Lockdown Day 1 (Saturday)
Rationing
So, even though this is only supposed to be a six day lockdown, I’m prepping for it to be worse than that. I’m rationing myself a bit. I have a decent amount of most things, but if I go hog wild eating I will run out of my faves. Because of this, I’m limiting the amount of certain items I eat per day, like eggs and bread. This morning’s breakfast was a single fried egg (I usually eat 2-3 eggs for breakfast) and three strips of turkey bacon.
Luckily I’ve got over a dozen eggs, more than half a loaf of bread, and all kinds of breakfast meats. Lunch might be a bit of an issue, but if it comes down to it I can dip into my supply of ramen noodles or canned pasta. Every dinner combination, like spaghetti, chicken and rice, or Mexican, should give me 2-3 meals each. And I can afford to eat less per meal than usual because I’ve built up a bit of fat since I moved here.
For lunch I made a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some potato chips. And for dinner I made linguine with red sauce (basically spaghetti). I even picked some of my fresh basil and added it to the sauce. I had enough noodles leftover for another entire meal, and enough sauce for two.
Lockdown
Even this morning, things are so quiet. No cars on the roads, boats on the water, or planes in the sky. It’s serene here, peaceful. I did see my neighbor leave, it looked like she was going for a jog. I do hope she doesn’t get in trouble during the curfew.
Lockdown Day 2 (Sunday)
Puppy
So I decided to give my dog a bath today. She hates water, so I expected it was going to be a pain to do. But this puppy hasn’t had a single true bath since we took her in, definitely time for one. Luckily, she was a very good girl! If anything, I think so much water put her into shock. She was very still and didn’t try to get out of the bath once. Even when it was over and time to dry her off I had to pick her up out of the bathtub.
Rationing
I’m practicing my fried egg skills. I tend to flip them too early, but today was a little better. Could have waited a little longer before flipping, but it wasn’t underdone. I still haven’t gotten the turkey bacon right, I might just be expecting too much. Luckily it’ll be time to move on to a different breakfast meat soon. Should I go sausage or real bacon? I think I’ll save the bacon for last. Only a dozen eggs left though.
For lunch I did the usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich with chips. Only have enough bread at this rate to squeak through the original curfew. But if anything changes I can at least try my hand at making my own bread, I have everything I need to try this whole wheat bread recipe. I’ve never made tortillas before, but I could also try out this tortilla recipe.
Lockdown
Other than the bath and breakfast, I’ve already got my laundry going as is usual for a Sunday. Other than that, my day is scheduled for a Star Trek: Discovery marathon and more Animal Crossing: New Horizons!
And just like that I’ve watched two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery. Wow, time sure does fly. I never expected I’d get it all watched in just a few days. What will I do with myself for the rest of the lockdown?
Speaking of lockdown, the governor released a statement and something in it bothered me. It started “It is Sunday evening and we have spent our first week-end in Territory-wide curfew.” The problem I have with that is the curfew is only supposed to last until Thursday, therefor this should be the only weekend we spend locked up. I have a feeling this lockdown is going to be extended.
Featured Image
This week’s featured image is of the ocean from afar. It has been so still and calm during this lockdown. Not a whole lot to show for the curfew.
Remember to go check out my Gallery for more photo goodness!
