What did you do with your spare time during COVID?

[WillieC]

Our very own DesertAlbin Steve worked in the Maricopa County Election Center processing ballots. I have been texting with him about his daily duties and on Thursday, I think it was, from our home on the Canal, while watching PBS Newshour report on the counting progress in Arizona, The Starfleet Commander and I said, "That's Steve!"

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Sure enough! Bottom of pic, back to camera, in gray t-shirt, white hair.

Thank you for your service, Steve!

[DesertAlbin736]

Yep, that was moi. Glad it's over now. Earned a bit of pin money just in time to help pay the cost of replacing a worn out set of tires on the family car. 96 grueling hours over 12 straight days from 10/26 to 11/6 including last Saturday & Sunday where my teammate (opposite political party) at the table & I pulled returned mail-in paper ballots from pre-slit envelopes & checked each for physical damage or smudges that might cause a a paper jam or mis-read in the counting scanners. We cleared them at the rate of a tray of 200 ballots about every 45 minutes, including double checking the counts & documenting everything. That's 1,000 ballots
every 4 hours with a 15 minute break. That's why AOG postings have sparse lately. I have a ton of work to do on the boat that's been on hold & pushed back for weeks. Times 62 tables working 8 hours a day we could theoretically with a full crew could pull & inspect 124,000 ballots per day. Our actual single day record was 113,000.

This was a screen shot from MSNBC on Friday morning

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[NickScheuer]

I worked as an Election Judge at a polling place in Rockford. It was a normal election day with no drama.

[DCatSea]

So glad to see AOGers “doing their bit” to make sure that the election went off as normally as possible.
Huge thanks to you for your dedicated service.
Hope your winter work will be as successful, and the 2021.... cruising seasons will be likewise as normal as can be.

[jleonard]

Spare time? Who had spare time?

[WillieC]

"Spare time? Who had spare time?"

Agreed! I often tell my boys that I don't know how I ever managed a full time job. Sure, I'm slowing down, but I call it paying attention to detail.

Again, a huge thank you to all the election workers. Your diligence is the big story for the history books. No footnotes for you!

[jcollins]

Like others I have had no spare time. I unfortunately could not meet with the guy that bought my boat. It was all handled via email and one quick visit to the brokers office. Hopefully in the Spring I'll be searching for my next Albin.

When we did have time, we just didn't want to or couldn't go out. Business is up for me.

[Jeremyvmd]

If anything I’ve been MORE busy with work since covid hit. Everyone is home and getting new pets or just noticing the problems sooner and someone has to take of them all lol

[DesertAlbin736]

Mostly now that election work is done, not a whole lot. Still waiting on the warranty replacement Blue Sea Systems main battery switch for La Dolce Vita to arrive. So even though our fall/winter lake boating season is underway (10 day forecast sunny, dry, & highs upper 60s to low 70s, lows mid 40s) we're still dead in the water until the new switch arrives which is who knows when. May try to see if I can repair the old one but that's a big if whether that's possible. Meanwhile for my wife's birthday recently we were gifted with with some timeshare points for a free week's stay at a high end Wyndham beachfront resort condo in Oceanside, CA from 11/13 to 11/20. Oceanside is 40 miles north of San Diego, an easy 7 hour drive from Phoenix. This was a 4th floor 2 BR suite with living room & full kitchen, essentially a small apartment, so we could do a lot of our own cooking. Only cost for us was gas for the car to drive over & back & meals. With SoCal on high alert for spiking COVID cases restaurant dining was limited to take out or outside dining and most of the hotel amenities like sky lounge & exercise workout rooms were closed. We invited our bestie sailing buddies along & we took a Coaster train ride down to Old Town San Diego for some sightseeing & window shopping. The hotel is a short block from the beach and opposite a long municipal fishing pier. Gorgeous sunsets over the ocean & nice change of pace. Timeshares are usually not our thing, but was nice change of pace & getaway with free points from our friend & neighbor since she has some health issues going on & isn't using her points.

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[DCatSea]

DA - Thanks for your election work.

Oceanside is SoCal's best kept secret; Georgia's family is there (mainly) and we love to visit. Under "normal" circumstances there are some good restaurants: Johnny Manana's and Betty's stand out, and Ruby's on the end of the pier, Oceanside Broiler is nice. Sunset Market has great street food and live music. Harbor Fish and Chips never fails to please, (I'm a Brit and know of what I speak). There are also some serious coffee shops in Oceanside, and a couple of excellent brewpubs.
Crowds are less than Carlsbad or Encinitas.
Fishing generally sucks, but I have nailed a couple of keeper Yellow-fin, so I guess I can't complain too much. With a decent pair of binoculars Oceanside has good whale-watching from the beaches, especially if you drive the 101 south to Carlsbad's old power station and look down about a mile offshore (seasonal).
OS Pirates is the HS team, and the home team of late Hall of Famer "Junior" Seau.
Don't try to get a haircut in OS; the proximity of Camp Pendleton means High and Tight or nothing.

[DesertAlbin736]

DCatSea,

We did have some fish & chips at Harbor Fish. Can't help thinking of the scene in "Fish Called Wanda" where Otto, played by Kevin Kline, tortures Ken played by Monty Python alum Michael Palin by stuffing "chips" up Ken's nose and then later at the end Ken gets his 'revenge'.

Everything else was closed or outdoor dining & things have only gotten worse in the 20 days since we came back home. We took a train ride on the Coaster line one afternoon down to Old Town San Diego & had a Mexican food dinner there. We knew a little about Oceanside already as that was one of our harbor hop stops on our San Diego to San Pedro & Catalina Island cruise on our Catalina 25 sailboat back in 2012. We'll see what happens this coming year. One short cruise option after the first of the year is may be to take our boat out & launch from either Oceanside or Dana Point for some whale watching & some runs between Dana & Oceanside. All TBD & so far in the near term things look pretty grim.

[Mike Monte]

I learned how to play electric bass.

[WillieC]

Very cool, Mike! I have been spending a lot of time plunking on my Taylor acoustic with a little electric thrown in there. These pastimes, along with boating, should have started much earlier in life with more intentionality.

And I've been putzing on the boat.

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More pics to follow if I ever finish the details.

[Jeremyvmd]

Work still hasn’t slowed down, but I got a little time as we have been doing an expansion at work so we have had to close here and there. I’m putting the final touches on a dozen rods I built for myself. Four are tuna trolling rods, two heavy vertical jigging rods, and a couple of lighter inshore rods (mostly replacements for rods I’ve broken/didn’t like anymore)

[Norseman]

Been goofing off mostly.
Some occasional projects on the Albin 28TE, but in general, not much:
Reading books, drinking beer, laying on the couch scratching my belly, all good.