The Doctor is in.

April 2020

To be Honest, I Love Working from Home

I like not having to get dressed to go to church online. (I finally set up our church giving as an automatic donation on the 20th of each month.) I love getting up at 6:30 AM to work in the garden, or 9:00 AM, or like this morning, 9:52 AM, and needing to get to "office hours" in the basement in eight minutes! I don't miss the two hours each workday on the bus. And, while I've reserved 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM each weekday for students to email, call, or Zoom chat with me, a typical day will find be out in the garden before or after that time.

My typical workday for SPU is actually not just 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, but often also 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM. And looking forward, I would not be surprised to see this schedule extend through the summer. (See updates in Bits and Pieces.)

In my basement office, the all-in-one PC shown on the left, while older, is faster on Zoom since I have it on an Ethernet wire that connects to the router upstairs over the normal house wiring. My Dell laptop from SPU is connected to my 27" monitor from my family room office. A 21" surplus monitor from my SPU office is now serving me in the family room. A major perk of my job is being the collector of all surplus technology in the business school. I can always find whatever tech toys I need.

"Stay Home, Stay Healthy" Order Changes Our Daily Life

On Palm Sunday, we had a Zoom chat with the family. On Easter afternoon, the group grew to include Cousin Bob from California, Julie Adams, and Randy (just with audio). During the week, Annie and Charis have called to Skype with me. And later in the month we had Zoom chats with Jonathan, Reuben, and their happy parents. These Zoom chats have let us share this season in this unique corner of the Twilight Zone.

And this is indeed a new season. With all our children managing their own families and personal affairs, Nancy and I have had time to refocus on our own plans. Nancy dreams of a greenhouse (and a swim spa!) We've also had time to consider our financial giving going forward.

In theory, I now have time to do those basic things I've often overlooked like exercise, careful dieting, and even flossing! But online teaching, serious yard work, and a new interest in investing have filled in the gaps.

I appreciate what Dr. Kenman Wong said about online teaching in a faculty development Zoom session. It is true for me too. "Regular teaching is like driving your own car on your normal commute. But online teaching is like driving a friend's car in a strange city in a snowstorm!"

How Does My Garden Grow?

Pick a hobby, any hobby. If you want to go from ignorant beginner to knowledgeable novice quickly, YouTube has all the how-to videos one could want.

By mid-month, I had 25 tomato plants in the ground in my new garden, and 61 pots growing marigolds, onions, green beans, catnip, and more tomatoes from seeds. (At the end of the month, only one bean plant is "up," 6 of 18 new Oregon Spring tomatoes from seeds have arrived, and some of the Marigolds have sprouted. The onions I've tried to start from seeds show no progress so far, but the bottom of a store-bought onion I got to root in a cup of water is now showing hopeful growth. I'm excited to think I may never need to buy onions again!

Our first visitors during this stay-at-home month were Don and Amber. Don stopped by to pick up one of the two big puzzle boxes that came to us when Grandma Mary Moody passed away. A 500 or 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle was a common sight on the kitchen nook table at the Moody house in Spokane.

Even as I wait for seeds to sprout this season, I have added new reminders to my Outlook calendar to begin the planting process indoors in January next year. I'm now thinking the dining room granite window bench will be a perpetual mini-greenhouse, until we build the real one we've had on our bucket list.

When we designed this big house, we'd planned for an indoor garden center in the south-west corner of the basement. But right now, that space is being used for storage for Randy and for Annie and Thomas. It would not surprise me to see grow lights down there next year.

On the 25th, I was out again with the chainsaw cutting plum, cherry, and Portuguese laurel branches that had grown over where the lawn ought to be. I'm learning that yard-care is a year-round project.

It's a Cat's Life

When Shadow isn't crawling into my arms, begging to be fed, licking my beard, or patrolling her yard, she is sleeping either on my basement recliner or beside me or on top of me at night. Shadow (pictured left) is curled up on the recliner in my man cave. Maybe three nights in seven,
I sleep there at night, and occasionally nap during the day.

Unlike dogs who have more expressive faces, cats hide their emotions well. The picture at the right looks like Shadow was angry with me, but it was just a well timed yawn. Her claws usually only come out, daintily, to say, "Feed me!"

Our New NE 10th St. Round-a-bout

One bright spot about not driving during this stay-at-home period is that the construction of the new round-a-bout at
NE 10th Street and 100th Avenue NE has been completed.

Right turns from NE 10th to 100th NE are a snap now. But the crosswalks have been moved and look less safe as now they are farther from the intersection. Bellevue drivers are as oblivious to pedestrians as any I've seen.

This picture of NE 8th St. was taken at 5:50 PM on a Thursday. Traffic is still incredibly light.

The light traffic is partly due to the fact that Bellevue Square is closed for the duration of the Governor's stay-home order.

It shows how few times I walked on 100th Ave NE this month when I took only my third walk to the local QFC this last day of April. I'd seen the grass on the parking strip torn up, but I had no idea the City would replace the grass and few trees with attractive plantings from NE 12th St. to NE 10th St.

For months, I'd complained to the family that the many dogs living at the new Lux Apartments at NE 10th St. would take their masters for morning walks to visit the lone grassy patch in the neighborhood, the parking strip
I walked beside to and from the bus stop on NE 8th St. In time, the grass was looking pretty well dog-visited.

With more apartments scheduled for this area, perhaps the dog owners will need to find an new morning relief route.

Another Good Month in the Stock Market

In March, I reported a stock market gain of nearly $12,000 with the purchase of five stocks on the 23rd, which I turned around and sold on the 26th. That was simply a matter of buying on the promise of a government stimulus and selling when that promise became reality.

This month, I managed to hold off investing until the 15th, buying Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hewlett Packard Inc., American Outdoor Brands, Exxon Mobile Corp., and Marathon Oil Corp. News was sour for oil companies and continued to get worse. But the two I had purchased slowly edged up. Yet on the 24th, after holding these stocks for only nine days, I sold all but the two HP stocks, earning a bit more than another $12,000. For the two HP stocks, I placed "limit" sell orders which will cause those 3,000 shares to sell automatically when my desired price is reached.

The market moves on rumors, promises, and news, and too often on the paired emotions of greed and fear. Investors expect the market to rebound from its March lows, and it is accomplishing that in the face of the headwinds of a badly damaged economy. It remains a dangerous time to be a stock picker. The likelihood of both recession and inflation have greatly increased. The best bets should be in depressed sectors that trade in products with inelastic demand. Thus, my purchase of Exxon (XOM) and Marathon Oil (MRO). A one-point rise from $4.01 to $5.01 by Marathon Oil earned me $8,000. I bought 8,000 shares of MRO because the price was so low. I'll be watching that stock and hope to buy more based on the promise of people going back to work, whenever that becomes a possibility – but before it becomes a reality. (Alas, on April 30, MRO is trading at $6.12, and I could have made another $8,000. Perhaps this has taught me not to sell so fast. However, I did invest most of my funds at TD Ameritrade in MRO and that smaller account is enjoying its own substantial rise.)

My strategy is twofold. First, buy the stock of well-established companies which are trading well below their long-term average. Second, buy low-priced "A" rated stocks. I am very risk averse, but at least so far, I haven't missed the post-COVID19 rally. The big picture surprises me. On March 22nd, my Roth account at Charles Schwab was valued at $112,800. On April 1st, it had risen to $125,800, and on this last day of April, despite a down session today, finished at $145,000.

“While bull markets often last for years, a significant portion of the gains typically accrues during the early months of a rally.”
www.thebalance.com But in past recessions, a false bottom signaled a brief market rise followed by a renewed deep decline. Vigilance is essential.

Bits and Pieces

Here is my new "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" face. I'm gradually beginning to look my age. Nancy will cut my hair when I get tired of it getting in my eyes. But it is so thin now that I just comb it back. I doubt if the full beard will stay in the long run.

Our utility bill went down. Less shaving, fewer showers, and Jean out of the house! But my biggest surprise came when I paid the bills here at the end of the month. We have two Citibank credit cards we use almost exclusively at COSTCO. And both of them had a $0.00 balance. Keeping Nancy out of COSTCO is another way to boost our family bottom line!

On other financial news, I learned on the 28th, that my work hours would be further cut back due to the COVID-19 response by SPU. Beginning Monday, May 11th, and extending at least through July 31st, I will be reduced from 80% to 60% time. This was a surprise but not a completely unwelcomed one. I will gain an additional day off each week at the cost of about $2,400 in take-home pay. But considering that I already made ten times that in the Stock Market since mid-March, I think I'm better off at home. Especially in light of this next bit of news.

Annie told us this month that she plans to be here in mid-June to do whatever is needed to move us toward their relocation to their new home in the Big Blue house. Our goal is to move the Dishers from Redmond to Bellevue by the 4th of July. With this accomplished, Jean and Joel will be free to move to Susan's house.

This term, nearly half of my students have Apple computers. I have never used one for more than a few minutes. But on Monday, May 4th, I'll drive over to SPU and pick up an old loaner laptop Mac from the Computer and Information Systems folks and begin preparing sample Excel exams that can be completed on both Apple and Windows systems.

My Quote from April
Every gambler knows That the secret to survivin' Is knowin' what to throw away And knowin' what to keep. 'Cause every hand's a winner, And every hand's a loser, And the best that you can hope for Is to die in your sleep."	And when he finished speakin' He turned back toward the window Crushed out his cigarette And faded off to sleep And somewhere in the darkness The gambler he broke even And in his final words I found an ace that I could keep	You got to know when to hold 'em Know when to fold 'em Know when to walk away And know when to run You never count your money When you're sittin' at the table There'll be time enough for countin' When the dealing's done Lyrics from The Gambler Kenny Rogers, (1938-2020)

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