i had no errands to run which somehow made the morning go by even faster for some reason. i was preparing to have some granola-blueberry-yogurt for lunch, but spent some time tidying up the kitchen. i discovered that panty moths had gotten into my cardamoms so i had to transfer them into glass jars. i didn't eat lunch until it was almost time to go to work, realizing that yogurt could make me want to go to the bathroom. i ended up going right before heading out.
instead of enumerating, there was an optional informal census meeting in cambridge common with my supervisor. i was the first to arrive (since i live nearby), about half a dozen enumerators showed up, half of which i was meeting for the first time, since they didn't come to our saturday meeting in the park 2 weeks ago. originally i thought i was only going to be there for 15 minutes, but i ended up staying for the whole hour. enumerating is a lonely job, the only census person i'm ever really in contact with is my supervisor. i rarely ever bump into a coworker while i'm working so it's kind of a treat to be amongst peers. everyone was sharing tips and gripes. i learned how to input airbnb units. afterwards i realized a lot of people just had cases very close to where they live, compared to me where some cases take me as far as 2 miles away from my house. turns out it's because i originally told the census i have a car, so they give me cases that are farther away. our supervisor brought cookies, everyone pulled down their face masks to eat, it was the first time seeing so many naked faces, and i felt a little self-conscious exposing my own face as i hadn't shaved in over a week.
i had some good luck today enumerating, enhanced by the very pleasant weather. there was no threat of storms like yesterday. today was just sunny and mild. i was prepared to wear pants because i thought it'd be cold but it was actually a warm so i changed into shorts at the last minute. as far as census work, i managed to get 10 interviews today. even though i only managed to get through 56 cases today because of the late start, i cleared 33 of them. 
i found people to interview, as well as helpful proxies. many times i managed to bump into people as they were coming or leaving the house, or a neighbor just happened to know some info about an address. once again, i could've stopped at 7pm, but while there was still daylight i kept on pushing myself. today i pushed it to almost 8pm. the last address i rang i wasn't expecting anyone to answer so was surprised when a couple came downstairs. they were about to head out, but i convinced the guy to do the questionnaire with me, so i ended my shift with one last interview.
usually when i reorder my cases i group them by streets, which is the normal way to do it. but i discovered through experience that the census order actually has a reason to it, even if it does make you occasionally revisit the same street at different times of the time. so for my printout today, i ordered everything according to the census order, but making a note when the same street would appear at a different time, should i want to detour and enumerate the entire street. i discovered the census order is actually more efficient, and i'll follow it in the future, with the occasionally exceptions.
i had to race home before 8pm but there was just no way as i was out beyond inman square. putting on my bike lights, i pedaled home as fast as i could, since technically it meant i was working beyond 8 hours. traveling west, i rode with the setting sun on the horizon, it was an uplifting vista.
highlights include getting an interview from a girl with a very unique name and accent. only when we got to the ethnicity portion of the interview did i realize she was turkish. i was also knocking on a neighbor's door when i heard a girl's voice telling me the house was empty. i turned around and saw a young woman sunbathing topless (she covered herself with a towel). i managed to use her as a proxy to answer questions about the address i was enumerating, the whole trying very hard not to look down.
i made a chicken burger for dinner. learning a lesson from last night, i knew it wouldn't be enough to keep me satiated so i also cooked up a package of biang biang noodles. plus i had a bunch of haymarket produce in my fridge, including dragonfruits and pluots.
our census supervisor sent us a message this afternoon that the census has authorized 10 hours of overtime for each day of this weekend. you could theoretically work 40 hours during the week (the maximum), but then still add another 20 hours of top of that. the only way you could potentially work 20 hours is start at 9:30am, taking a break at 2:30pm, and finish working at 8pm. it's tempting because it's overtime pay, plus additional overtime for sunday, but i value my free time. even if i'm not doing anything on the weekend, i need the weekend to recharge. i'm sure they'll have plenty more overtime since it's impossible to make the end-of-september deadline.
tonight was the last night of the DNC. biden gave his speech. i wasn't sure how it was going to go, but he was passionate, serious, affable but not joking, unlike trump - snake oil salesman at heart - who can't seem to make a speech without going off on a joking tangent, even when it's nothing to laugh about, or get bogged down with fact, peppering his talks with lies. i'm curious how the RNC will respond next week.