I stayed home all day.

I do plan on hiking tomorrow - just not using the water faucets to clean out my liquid reservoir at the end of the hike. I think hiking its relatively safe.

What activities are you guys still doing?

>


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not really, but I'm stocking up on food and meds mostly for other people I have to look after who can't do it, or shouldn't be out there, so I'm a bit in hunter/gatherer mode.

stores are pretty surreal. i wouldn't yet classify the vibe as panic (at least most people), but there's definitely an uneasy sense of urgency and uncertainty that's pretty palpable, but as soon as you leave the store, everything else feels the same.

aside from that laying low, cleaning the house, watching netflix, etc..

Now's our time to have that you-look-mad grown man straight face like our grandpa had in those old pics...they looking at us..we gotta lead lol

smoking random roaches on my solo outings to the store and playing music loudly in my wife's car

This shit is weird thinking I'm the leader.

I think between us, my wife is the do-er. She will get shit done and kill anyone who gets in her way.

I on the other hand have a very different role - I'm the strong back. I have to hold things down emotionally. Keep a strong face, stay calm, make sure everyone's well being is kept at optimal levels.

Lately I've had a few moments where I've laughed+cried and had to catch myself, like, I'm alone doing the dishes and just thinking about shit and then I start laughing to myself thinking "Is this life? how the fuck is this life? nigga." and I feel emotions coming through and then I have to regulate myself.

Edit: to clarify, the shit that doesnt worry me is getting sick, it's all of the destabilizing effects related to the lockdowns that fuck me up, PLUS I'm going crazy being here with two young kids and balancing work and parenting between to working parents.

I think I need to go back to weights because that room doesn't have good enough ventilation to be doing bike rides for an hour and I think it's making me sick.

online shopping
FaceTime’ing with my grandchildren
listening to music...

i'm a teacher and they cut school for weeks to come but we are to try to continue teaching / grading, and we're still paid under natural disaster pay.

set up a hike in a couple days. but weekly jiujitsu and basketball group workouts are called off.
will head to the ganja spot to get some edibles to chill as smoking is not a good idea. also headed to the eastern medicine school to get hooked up with hella vitamins, supplements, etc.

acting on this great advice email from nurse practitioner friend:


What if we (young and healthy people) get Coronavirus?

I know we’re all tired of hearing/talking about it, but one thing I HAVEN’T really seen going around is advice for what happens if you DO get coronavirus (many of us will), only advice for how to try to AVOID it. So as your friendly neighborhood NP a wee thread:

Things you should actually buy ahead of time:

- Kleenex
- Acetaminophen (Tylenol) in 325 mg tablets
- Ibuprofen (Advil) in 200 mg tablets
- Cough syrup as a last resort for lingering cough. No cough syrup <6 years pls

If you don’t have a humidifier, that would also be a good thing to get. (You can also just turn the shower on hot and sit in the bathroom breathing in the steam).

Also a good time to make a big batch of your favorite soup to freeze and have on hand.
If you have a history of asthma and you have a prescription inhaler, make sure the one you have isn’t expired and refill it/get a new one if it is.

You basically just want to prepare as though you know you’re going to get a nasty respiratory bug like bronchitis or pneumonia. You just have the foresight to know it’s coming.

For symptom management, use the meds I mentioned. For a fever over 101, alternate Tylenol and Advil so you’re taking a dose of one or the other every 3 hours. Drink a ton, hydrate hydrate. Rest lots.

You should not be leaving your house except to go to the doctor, and if you do, wear a mask (regular is fine, you don’t need an N95). You DO NOT NEED TO GO TO THE ER unless you are having trouble breathing or your fever is very high and unmanaged with meds.

Try to connect with family/loved ones who would be able to bring you groceries/paper goods (yes like toilet paper) and drop it off at your place.

90% of healthy adult cases thus far have been managed at home with basic rest/hydration/over-the-counter meds. We don’t want to clog the ERs unless you’re actually in distress. The hospital beds will be used for people who actively need oxygen/breathing treatments/IV fluids.

If you have a pre-existing lung condition (COPD, emphysema, lung cancer) or are on immunosuppressants, now is a great time to talk to your PCP or specialist about what they would like you to do if you get sick. They might have plans to get you admitted and bypass the ER entirely

One major relief to you parents is that kids do VERY well with coronavirus— they usually bounce back in a few days, no one under 18 has died, and almost no kids have required hospitalization (unless they have a lung disease like CF). Just use pediatric dosing of the same meds.

(If you want to share, copy and paste.)

i keep trying to calmly explain to people who don't give a fuck about this that it's not about them. I'm not worried about getting sick, but I'm terrified of passing it to my grandma, or to someone who passes it on to their parents or grandparents, or sick relatives or healthcare workers, etc..

the slower this spreads the less painful it's gonna be for everyone. the more lives you're gonna save. I still saw bars full of people last night on the way home and there's a weird combo right now of both panic and dismissal. Neither are helpful. the latter is downright dangerous.

>i keep trying to calmly explain to people who don't give a
>fuck about this that it's not about them. I'm not worried
>about getting sick, but I'm terrified of passing it to my
>grandma, or to someone who passes it on to their parents or
>grandparents, or sick relatives or healthcare workers, etc..

... just 10 minutes ago sent an e-mail - to a 15 person chain we've been on with a group of our college friends since we graduated - that his family held an 89th (!!!!!) birthday party today for his grandfather.

WTF. How irresponsible.

friend of a friend up until the Trump ban was still gonna fly his mom and his grandma to Spain next week

Newt Gingrich of all people is trying to sound the alarm about how serious this is because he's stuck in italy and wrote a newsweek piece describing the situation there. Maybe at least a few of these asshats will listen to him

>... just 10 minutes ago sent an e-mail - to a 15 person chain
>we've been on with a group of our college friends since we
>graduated - that his family held an 89th (!!!!!) birthday
>party today for his grandfather.
>
>WTF. How irresponsible.

are going to quickly come around to nationalized health care... sunday's debate will take place with that clarity developing and ongoing patchwork corporate-friendly policies that again not enough to get people through what's to come.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/opinion/coronavirus-pelosi-sick-leave.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Opinion
There’s a Giant Hole in Pelosi’s Coronavirus Bill
The legislation passed by the House doesn’t actually guarantee paid sick leave to most American workers.


"Paying sick workers to stay at home is both good policy and good politics. Why not pass a bill that required all employers to provide paid sick leave and then force Republicans to explain their objections to the public?

The bill does require some employers to provide full-time workers with up to 10 days of paid leave. But the requirement does not apply to the nation’s largest employers — companies with 500 or more workers, who together employ roughly 54 percent of all workers.

After a Waffle House employee tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month, the company refused to promise it would pay other sick workers to stay home. Now, under the new bill, it would qualify for the big-company exemption. Would Ms. Pelosi please explain why the House decided not to require Waffle House to protect its workers and customers by paying for sick leave?"

He'd rather his taxes fund proxy wars

Get a grip, bro

haha... "bootlicker" has been one of my favorite political disses by the way. i'm sure i'm a berniebro bootlicker to corporate democrats.

i look forward to bringing many back from the kind of biden / non-neoliberal worldview when the world gets to weigh the differing approaches tonight during their debate at 8/5pm.
at a time of socio-economic collapse we need everyone to rally behind the policies collective well-being sanders has long fought for.

i mean it's hard to clearly define a stereotype so it's my own version. you're obv a hardcore bernie guy, but there's a certain dickish to downright cultish characteristic i see in the people i consider bernie bros. some other people on this board fit that mold. you i'd just consider a staunch supporter.

as for people "coming around" i think it's probably wishful thinking on your part, man. Americans have BEEN good with socialism as long as it's called something else.

i was listening to a podcast recently with this columbia professor/former UN advisor who was also a bernie supporter.

his take was that Bernie makes a political miscalculation by even calling it democratic socialism, because socialism is such a loaded word. And that even though it's pure semantics, calling it Social democracy could have gone a long way, his theory being that it would make it easier to point to countries like Denmark or Norway where most of the economy is still private but higher tax revenue is collected for public services, but that with the word "Socialism" too many americans are hard wired to associate it with Venezuela or the soviet union, or whatever their worst example might be.


>haha... "bootlicker" has been one of my favorite political
>disses by the way. i'm sure i'm a berniebro bootlicker to
>corporate democrats.
>
>i look forward to bringing many back from the kind of biden /
>non-neoliberal worldview when the world gets to weigh the
>differing approaches tonight during their debate at 8/5pm.
>at a time of socio-economic collapse we need everyone to rally
>behind the policies collective well-being sanders has long
>fought for.

I'ma start calling it that.



>even calling it democratic socialism, because socialism is
>such a loaded word. And that even though it's pure semantics,
>calling it Social democracy could have gone a long way, his
>theory being that it would make it easier to point to
>countries like Denmark or Norway where most of the economy is
>still private but higher tax revenue is collected for public
>services, but that with the word "Socialism" too many
>americans are hard

N/m

the regimen this medical worker recommended is coming against a new warning.

france is warning that fever control should drop ibuprofen and stick with the active ingredient found in tylenol, paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen (which you can buy labeled as such like online via amazon due to people rushing tylenol brand).

France warns against use of anti-inflammatory drugs to tackle coronavirus

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-france-drug-idUSKBN2110Q8

happened to buy a huge bottle of tylenol this week, but my mom is on ibuprofen regularly so it's good to know in the event.

ibuprofen is my go to. gotta make sure i have acetaminophen. dont remember if i threw away what i had because it was expired or if i still got a good amount.

>i'm a teacher and they cut school for weeks to come but we
>are to try to continue teaching / grading, and we're still
>paid under natural disaster pay.

What do they expect out of you?

but there obviously isn't. they suggested we explore whatever we could around providing "continuity of instruction" using online platforms. however the obscene inequities our enormously wealthy society allows to persist means families are scrambling to secure childcare, food planning (we feed hundreds of thousands of students twice a day), etc, and the availability of tech and online access is limited for our students. our union reminded all that highly structured teaching and learning in these rapidly changing circumstances isn't realistic nor legally mandated.

so we made, copied and handed off packets of work in under 24 hours at the request of our principal all day friday while learning we aren't to come in monday. the admin was in such a rush they didn't include my whole material. as a high school and middle school art teacher that knows they have few if any art supplies i had to plan accordingly, and i likely will not focus on their progress in the weeks ahead. i told them they have a lot of personal concerns that they (and i) need to attend to.

also good to know that teachers are being paid. they closed schools here for 3 weeks at least and i was wondering if teachers would be paid.

Awesome explanation - thank you

trying not to catch COVID-19 and help others recover from it.

I'm legit worried about going into the office next week. We have a few ases (as of Friday) in our hospitals, but I'm worried about the IT people who work in the hospital coming to my building.

If I catch it I think I'll be fine - bu my mother has just gone through chemo and radiation and i don't want to have to isolate from her - she needs some care. (She's taking care of her self- but that might change.)

He has been checking all of their back up generators and hooking up a bunch of portal back up generators to outside medical tents that the hospital put up to help with the extra people.

He said they have about 80 people come in for testing on Friday and they only had enough test for 40. He is worried about catching this.

The majority of the people coming in are older and all Fox News/Trumpers.

Shelves were already largely empty by 9 AM, but I still managed to get a solid supply of staples- canned goods, rice, beans, pasta, oats, snacks for the kids.

My wife was kind of annoyed because I did my norm shopping run earlier this week, and this run was about twice what I normally get, but it wasn't the usual items either.

Personally, I saw it as practical, not excessive. We're well stocked, but not overflowing. No pallets of anything, no industrial sized anything. But we're good.

Anyone who can stock up for two weeks absolutely should, because a lot of people aren't just buying up necessities. They're hoarding large quantities. Staying in, as much as possible, is at a premium right now. We cannot predict what's to come. We cannot predict the ability of stores to meet demand, or how long demand will continue to be so over the top, or if there will be greater shutdowns.

I don't know that I would have had anywhere near the same success if I had gone later than I did though, because shelves were damn near cleared at 9 am today. It's all pretty unsettling. The part that was a little hard was seeing the medicine aisles of three stores completeky cleaned out, particularly the children's medicines. I was able to get some though.

All in all, I feel exceedingly fortunate to be able to stock up without worry. Too many people don't have that luxury

As I whined about in the other post, I've got to move three of my classes online in the next couple days but I also went into spring break expecting to use some of the spare time to catch up on the small mountain of grading that I let slide right before break. Old habits, you know?

Anyhow, that back grading is all clear, so I'm working round the clock to move two different "World Religions: Eastern Traditions" classes online. They're on different schedules but the redundancy should help. Any decision I make for one section will apply for the other one, so that's more heavy lifting and less actual thinking.

The tough one is that I have to teach a "20th Century Global History" course as well. I'm technically a historian, but I studied religious history and I've had a bit more traction picking up religious studies classes than history. So I'm *thrilled* when I get the chance to teach actual history. But the 20th century world isn't really part of my training AND the class is just starting up this week because the school uses varying schedules AND it's a three hour long daily course AND the school has a lot of students from poorer backgrounds so it is extremely hands-on when it comes to keeping students on track (substantially more than any place I've taught) so I'm getting a lot more attention than I want and it's making me kind of anxious since nobody actually knows what we're doing here.

Still, making progress. And that's in itself a bit frustrating because I sort of hoped I'd be the sort of person who'd make my employers sweat a bit. Not a single one (I have another job coaching track that's canceled for the foreseeable future) has mentioned anything about additional compensation for the work that I'm doing to transfer these classes and I doubt that's going to happen. But if I mishandle the transition or drop the ball in some other way, I strongly suspect that's going to impact future class assignments. And since I depend on those to, you know, get paid - that's more than a bit concerning.

I also get paid seasonally for the track thing and I expected the check for indoor track to be available for me to pick up sometime this week. Then the school closed (its a private school) and zip, not a word. That's a not-insignificant amount of income that just vanished indefinitely, but like a sucker I'm still going to do my job and send workouts in case there's anywhere the kids are safe to do them.

Would have been cool to sit at home and just say "fuck all four of you" to my bosses, but apparently I'm conditioned to do my part. Which: yuck.

Thursday we sent home all non-management staff and I made good money, but the whole thing had a weird air to it. Friday nobody got sent home early and we had a great weekday, fine weekend sort of service that left everybody feeling really comforted and optimistic about the weeks to come. There was still a lingering doom and gloom in the air, most of it looking further into the future at lost revenue from the cancellations of March Madness (College World Series has never been our crowd, but NBA dads are big on wine so we've had some cool tables like David Robinson in the past) and Berkshire Hathaway events, as well as the potential of the Olympic Swim Trials closing, but we all felt pretty good about our futures after Friday. Even the after-work bar was mostly full, though we noted the other two fine dining restaurant staffs hadn't come by as they usually do.

Last night (Saturday) was a mess. We brought in a ringer to cover a shift for someone who'd taken a vacation to Mexico and all he wound up doing was breaking down cardboard boxes for two hours. The other server on the floor didn't take a table until about 8PM. The first couple, a pair of regulars hoping to catch a sighting of our chef's newborn son, didn't show up until just before then at 7:15. At the end of the night I did the budget for the bar program and realized we hadn't even sold $100 in beer over the course of the week; my spreadsheet basically spat out a fat "YOU BROKE" sum at me for the first time in the eight months I've managed the bar's finances (I have a very healthy surplus, something I imagine I won't even think about touching for a while).

The one ace in the hole I have to keep reminding myself is that our building happens to be owned by one of the few truly benevolent landlords to ever roam this Earth, as she is super selective about the businesses that occupy her buildings and opts to take a percentage of the monthly net profit rather than place a flat value on the occupation of the property. Our chef has worked with her for over 20 years and known her for more than 30. The business, I'm more than positive, will survive this thing (as long as she, in her late 80s and perpetually on her third martini, survives and controls the property). But I'm not sure the employees will, and in my case specifically, I'm not sure what to do. I've been a line cook or bartender since I was 14 and my only other skill is writing, a job that's so notoriously hard to make a living at I never seriously gave it a shot.

Then again, maybe Saturday was the outlier day. Maybe Friday was the new normal, half as busy but sustainable, packed with regulars who know the fuckin' vibes and just appreciate having a place they can go and escape from their social media and national news firestorms for a couple hours. Who knows! It's 4AM and because the aforementioned Mexico-vacationing coworker is out I'm managing the brunch shift that starts at 9AM. I'm definitely not getting any sleep before then; the coffee's about to get hot.

The city canceled all the fish fry events and people love our brunch even in the dead of winter - fingers crossed! Except also not? Maybe we should be empty, especially since it snowed yesterday and then rained all night? Who the fuck knows?! All I know is I didn't fall asleep until 6AM, and now it's 8:40AM and I'm waiting for an Uber to take me to a restaurant where some woman never thought to call in and cancel the nine person birthday brunch for her 70-something year old mother, and I can't tell whether I'd be happier if they stayed home or showed up. Life is wonderful!

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

I hated reading that. Anxiety is right. Good luck, boss.

The first was when that brunch group was wrapping up and had been our only table for over an hour. I thanked them for coming in and threw in a joke about how it was probably the most sincere thanks I've ever given a group of people in 4 years at the restaurant, to which one woman began to respond with a hug before immediately realizing what she was doing and taking two steps back again. That shit almost felt like an amiable breakup.

The second was when, about a half hour later as we'd decided to close three hours early and were going through closing procedures, one group of five showed up, and then the GM of the restaurant across the street, and then another two pair of regulars for brunch shocked no one else was around, and then another group of four newcomers...it got to the point I had to burst into the "do we close for the week?" kitchen meeting and belatedly yell, "for today fuck that, we've got people to serve!"

I made about $7 an hour because brunch money is bullshit, but it might've been the first time I was expecting to close early only to get more and more ecstatic people kept walking through the doors. They might be complete assholes that get us all killed, but until the state shuts us down (which seems likely in about two or three days given the curve of the spread) I'll take it all as a W for now.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

Like - actually listening. Not having it on in the background while watching a game or something.

Working out a lot - at home.

Barely spending any money because I’m not out and about throwing away $8 here and there on a bullshit sandwich and coffee at Dunkin Donuts or something.

Wasn’t intentional. They opened a Lidl down the street so I got a ton of food. Wife wanted to get some more things yesterday so we drove out of Charlotte 20 minutes and the stores are all stocked with everything.

It’s really weird how people are acting within certain pockets of the city.

CMS was going to close schools on this wed and move spring break. I hate to say it but the only dude to vote to close schools on Monday was white. All the Black women on the school board had these weird reasons for staying open. They all going to get removed next time we vote. People were livid.

Thankfully the Gov stepped in and forced all schools to close.

I still have to work. My wife is off for 2 weeks. Not sure if daycare is open or not. It’s a small daycare.

Gonna grill out and chill today. May go for a walk around the neighborhood.

I got rice, and beans, and pasta, and soup, and mac and cheese, and oatmeal and butter for several weeks at all times.

Probably have 20 frozen dinners too.

I ALWAYS have at least 30 rolls of TP, 2 or 3 toothpastes, 5-10 shampoos too, an extra 10 soaps, dishwasher and laundry detergent.

And ALWAYS popcorn.

It's good stuff like soda, snack cakes, ice cream/etc that I need to go get - and I feel like maybe it's time to start a diet?

Figured a chest freezer would come in handy back on Wednesday and it was delivered Friday.... good call because both Home Depot and Best Buy appears to be sold out.

Trying to stock up on staples.... vegan/vegetarian diet makes it a tad easier.... ain’t nobody hoarding tofu and seitan and frozen protein crumbles....

1st grade teacher sent kids home with 10 day lesson plans and access to Raz Kids and another app... she’s also committed to updating the lesson plan every 2 weeks...





"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

NC is until April 1st and then they will re-evaluate.

Maybe I’m tripping but besides lunch I can’t see why parents are acting like a month off or 2 weeks off from school will set their kids back 2 years.

I just don’t think school work is THAT important given the circumstances. These kids will bounce back once they get back into the routine.

And behind the curve this could be a major setback.
Not to mention the kids that rely on school for healthy meals and a safe place to exist and escape from bad home conditions.
Arlington county stepped up big time and will be providing lunch and breakfast box free for pickup at two locations.


"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

That is delivering essential supplies/food/medicine (making the delivery run) for older and/or compromised people who feel anxious about going out to shop. I think that's a great way to do a small, local task that could mean a lot to the most vulnerable members of our communities.

I see a lot of my friends posting IG stories of their traveling and clubbing - and I wish more people understood that while you may not be under a great threat (as a young/ish and healthy/ish person) - you could carry it and spread it to those who are more vulnerable.

Trying to stay home as much as possible - but also want my fam/friends/neighbors to know that we're all here for each other. I think the worst thing in America right now is this sense of "every man for himself" cowboy/rugged individualism mythos that typifies our current government. This is really exposing just how inept our public services/policies are.

-->

Doctors from our hardest hit province (where carnaval was being celebrated as the first carriers came back from places like Italy) are saying that a lot of the people currently in intensive care are young, otherwise healthy adults. Youngest person on assisted breathing (artificial coma too) is 16.

So while your eventual survival chances may be better as a young person, you can still get really, really sick. And in the US, chances are doctors are going to have to make choices about who to help, like they already had to in northern Italy (which has a pretty good health care system).

Anyone who is still out partying these days is playing with fire. And lives.

this was "fake" news. the hospital (Amphia) categorically denied that story
probably not that far off tho

These are the articles I got my info from. Both these papers are mainstream publications with a good journalistic track record (edit: you're Dutch, right? Just clarifying for other board dwellers):

https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/jongen-16-uit-breda-aan-beademing-door-corona-dit-virus-is-geen-grap~bca93e1a/

https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/brabantse-artsen-substantieel-deel-coronapatienten-op-ic-is-onder-de-50~b6aff849/

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/03/16/helft-patienten-intensive-care-is-jonger-dan-50-a3993863

Amphia's social media statements are very vague, it only mentions a "fake message" without specifying its contents. People on Twitter are asking for clarification, but get referred to an other non-specific statement on their website.

If those articles are based on fake news, somebody's probably getting fired, lol.

If you have more concrete information on why this is fake news, I'd love to hear it.

I've also read numerous reports out of China & Europe that show younger patients (under 60) having serious complications with Covid-19. Also, it seems that a small (but not insignificant) percentage of patients who recover sustain varying levels of organ damage - and because this is a novel virus - we don't have any long-term data to assess any lingering effects that could be in play.

There also seems to a fair amount of cases where patients have been infected, recovered, and then been re-infected again. Some health care workers seem to be getting hit with particularly nasty cases - so there may also been some correlation with increased exposure leading to more severe symptoms/cases.

Finally the U.S. is starting to shut down and take this seriously - but anyone (regardless of age) who is being cavalier about this is doing a disservice both to themselves and their communities.

-->

https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/nepnieuws-kost-artsen-onnodig-veel-tijd-sommigen-zeggen-dat-wij-aan-censuur-doen~b1187468/

According to this article, an intensive care doctor at Amphia sent out a warning message to their social network when she first noticed patients getting really sick from covid-19, because at that time people were still brushing it off as "just another flu".

Then someone ran with it and edited the message to make it seem like the hospital was seeing more casualties than reported and losing control of the situation. That seems to be the fake news part they're referring to on their Twitter channel.

As far as I know, the part about the 16 year old guy on life support and a significant number of the treated being under 50 is still true. If you have information that contradicts this, please share!

I only saw the social media message, and then the denial from Amphia.
my bad, didnt mean to discredit you or your story my man.

trying not to check the news every minute for my own focus :))

It's good practice.

Be safe!

supplies and basic medicine.

My daughter is 2 and her preschool is shutting down on Tuesday. My wife is 6 months pregnant and due in June, so I am a bit worried but got my strong face on.

I work for a Tribal Government and we obviously can’t completely shut down but I’m probably going to work from home over every other day until told otherwise.

• If you live in a less population dense city or town, don't be afraid of your locally owned restaurants or bars. A lot of information and strategies have been shared over the past 48 hours and many of these spaces have essentially become doctor's offices. I work in a place that has the luxury of sheer square footage, so we remove chairs and menus from the venue as soon as a table finishes their meal, and that is one of the smaller steps we've taken to avoid issue.

• Most of that is irrelevant, because soon most states will have closed their restaurants and bars. Most of these businesses should have what in my state is a Class C license, which allows its holder to make off-premise sales. You drunks already know this, but that means you can get a 6-pack from your favorite bar at your least favorite time (admittedly, at a slightly higher price than most markets).

• Most of these places are desperate to remain open, and all of their employees are desperate to remain employed.

• Therefore, keep on the lookout for bars and restaurants you love offering delivery and takeout for all kinds of things they normally haven't. If you're desperate for a hamburger better than you could ever, or an ingredient for a cocktail you've been craving if only the air weren't filled with the filth of reality, there is a chef or bartender just as desperate to give you that shit.

• That said, I'm no legal expert. Please don't ask for a shot of Sambuca during your fave's trial period with Postmates just because you see the button. Call in, order from the staff on hand.

• Which is the primary thing I want to get to - I love GrubHub, but I only love GrubHub because they bought SkipTheDishes, which I only loved because the restaurant I work for signed up with them. I could've easily been a Door Dash or an Uber Eats person. Please double back and admire the equal opportunity and grammar I've used so far. Whiskey and 5AM can be a tough pairing from time to time.

• All that to say, the designers and operators of those applications do not employ their employees, they contract them. If you find yourself craving a total delivery banger like, oh God I'm gonna say it, Paddy McGown's or Flavors or Salween, call in and find out if some of their front of house staff have been offered delivery positions. Call your other favorites that don't find themselves on delivery hubs and ask if they are now offering delivery. Try as often as possible to support the people who have attached their livelihood to the place they work, rather than the applications who derive their value from whomever is available to take a brief survey and provide a driver's license.

• Be safe, and remain healthy. Don't be too scared. But be scared enough. Thanks to those of you that patronize those of us that are balancing psychic petrification with that wonderfully sardonic comic timing service industry workers are known for. Appreciation for those of you who accept what this moment is, find your way to support any number of flailing lower- and middle-class workers in the ways you can. Understanding for the immensely talented people who will just have fun in their house for two weeks.

• Has anybody else been watching Devs on Hulu? I can't tell how into it I am yet.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

collectively, they cannot survive this on their own. delivery and take-out during this time is just rubbing pennies together.

They limited gatherings to 250 late last week, re-upped on that last night, and then came back this afternoon and said "actually, no more than 10 people including employees in any establishment". The fact that they won't just go ahead and mandate a shutdown is making it nearly impossible to confront job mortality or apply for unemployment.


To make things worse, most of our fellow bars and restaurants have announced closure until further notice, which puts us in this weird position of being one of the ones still open but also being one of the ones still open. I've talked to 20 or 30 people about this and it's almost an even 50/50 split between "fuck that" and "I wish".


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

to be spread in the media. Just this morning my local sports radio host listed several restaurants that offer delivery and curbside pick up.

i did get some frozen meat and veggies as well as some canned soups. gotta make sure i do have some food at home if i get sick and cant go out. not looking to hoard anything though. put in an order for pick up at walmart, hopefully they actually have what i ordered lol

my biggest worry is water, i go through like 8 gallons in a week. kinda tough to stock that up. i ordered a filtered water pitcher and going to stop by the grocery tonight to pick up any water i might be able to. probably just a weeks worth of gallons and a 24 pack of bottled water.

the other big thing is im not paying off cards i was planning to. i think i might want to have some cash on hand instead of credit available. chilling on making a couple of purchases i was looking to do.

the fridge has more stuff in it than it has lately, but not an absurd stock.



www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

...i'm feeling guilty having an extra bite of food even though my basement stocked with a ton of stuff

you just don't know.

part of it is like...I don't want to waste something and not be able ot get it later.

another part is worrying that if either of us gets pretty sick, or both of us, what's the easiest to prepare stuff to have around

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Tesl is good for traveling.

Thinking about learning a trade but certifications come first.nI got dumb certs to get and cant decide between erp and frm.

Came home to 2 happy kids and an obviously stressed but pleasant wife.




"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

...reality check for them for sure, but i now remember all the stories my grandfather told me about the depression and how they made it thru

...and rehearsals/practices for now.

Gardening. Digging up the yard and starting seeds indoors now.

Working on the house. This is gonna be the most time I've spent at home since I bought the place.

Cooking. Got a bunch of recipes to try.

Working out. Got weights in the basement, so that's set.


Might sneak out and go on some late-night motorcycle rides if the cops aren't out tripping.

We got an email detailing county shutdowns.

These fucking morons are all huddled up in a cluster chatting about the shutdown....

....which doesn't impact us because we provide essential services....

So naturally, the thing to do when everything is shutting down due to a virus, is for 5 of the 6 people (I'm the 6th, and I stayed put) in my row to huddle around a desk and spend 10 minutes gossiping about it in extremely close quarters.

This is beyond stupid, and highly irresponsible.

We have good distancing here. There's a good ten feet between me and the guy next to me, and about 5 feet from the lady behind me.

But that doesn't mean a damn thing if these idiots choose to spend these chunks of time huddling to say "OMG EVERYTHING'S CLOSING" a foot from each other's faces.

The fact that we're still open doesn't mean we shouldn't practice the same common sense rules as everyone else. We still got people going on group walks an shit.

Granted I'm comfortable flying solo and don't really need to be with other people at all times, so maybe I'm overthinking this. But I don't think so. If anything, since we're still open... we should probably be following every "best practice" tongue letter, as much as possible.

so now we have a ton of branded cups, plates and napkins..

and nothing to do with them

I’m working on some webinars and online marketing... and also thinking about mailing some of this shit to current clients as a thank you for doing business.

I also just remembered I have a bunch of Fortinet hand sanitizers in my trunk.

a ghost town at that time of the morning....and remained that way when I departed at 10:00am to telework from home the rest of the day.

Talked to mom (71) on the 15min. drive home. She was cooking grits....Dad(73) was at work....
...drove past grocery store to peep the scene....appeared rather mellow.

Neighborhood list serve was buzzing all day...they organized a "touchless shamrock hunt"..... goal=find the shamrocks taped to windows and doors throughout the neighborhood.

DOPE IDEA!!!...this is when these privileged, stay-at-home, kept, soccer moms really shine...

Ate lunch.
(leftover quinoa patties for me & the wife. Frozen mini chicken corn dogs & frozen veggie "chicken" nuggets for the youngins...

Took the yougins out to hunt at 1:00pm. Oldest one wrote down all the houses that participated and tallied up the totals. Youngest one played spotter......
Was good to get out of the house....1st time they'd been outside since Saturday! ...Damn...I gotta do better....

30 more minutes of telework now.....

throats a lil scratchy....allergies...I hope.

"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

I've hiked a lot over the past decade so I know how many people "should" be out at a given time.

There are at least 4 times the "normal" amount on the trails right now.

So many in fact I don't think the "popular" hikes can be counted as practicing social distance. People are walking by narrow trials and not turning their heads - and if you have to touch a rock then dozens of people have touched the same rock that day.

Cowles Mountain was PACKED more than I've seen it except on summer weekends.

I ended up making a route through Mission Trials park that avoided the most popular paths and it was okay - but I've never run into so many people on the climbers loop.

It's absolutely JAM PACKED with people. I'll have to head to the less popular hikes in the future.

I prefer to exercise in solitude and normally I only encounter a couple of like minded souls in the wee hours of the morning...

It's like a fcking club out here now though....


"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

Wasn't terrible. Lot of kinks to work out. Very alienating though. Having students see any part of my house makes me uncomfortable.

"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

Rough one.
Teleconference at 7am
Emails and coordinating shit all morning because construction supply chain might be disrupted according to “they”. And.... well.... work must go on.

11am or so I go into full “Man fck this shit!” mode and do what I do best.... stress shop online. Hope this Nintendo Switch is received better than them Nike purchases were... its for the kids!!!!

Wife didn’t answer any texts or phone calls since like 11:45 and I get quite worried by 1:45 so I hop on the bicycle that I’d left at the office the other day and book it home...

Walk in, they just fine, she just been on calls all morning for work.... words, anger, excitement, stress Yada yada yada....

3:00 we all hop in the car to pick up a Target drive up order...
3:30 we watching the youngins ride bikes in the school parking lot....

There is no normal anymore....
Not feeling this.


"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

At this point I'm not even sure I'm thankful I have projects to accomplish because it's hard to see any work paying off the way I want it to (ie. keep me living my current lifestyle in my current line of work), it all just seems so distant. Gatherings of ten or more are officially a misdemeanor offense through April 30th now which means that even if we were to ever reopen as normal, I highly doubt we'd have the same part-time staff.



There are bits during the day where I get little rushes of dopamine - a big takeout order here, a random thought sounding really good until it gets said out loud and immediately you realize the logistics behind it are unfeasible.



It hasn't even been a full week of this and I'm burned out. You have no idea how stressful it is to sit around an empty restaurant that can seat 150 people with your chef owner who just had his second son four days ago, your retail manager who just finalized plans for his wedding this summer and closed on a house.


There are a lot of heartening things going on - I'm jealous of one neighborhood association that's already raised nearly $150,000 for the employees of its bars and restaurants, for sure - that make it easy for a procrastinating guy like myself to start thinking, maybe it won't be so bad. But I just don't know how that could possibly be true.



~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Since we bought it by selling lots of stock, stock that has dropped considerably since we bought it in february.

Also not too concerned about the house losing value because there is a demand for bigger isolated homes within a couple of hours for the city since everyone is trying to get out the city.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

...also looking into getting my farm/rural land.

>

lonely af and bored out of my mind since our soccer/basketball leagues were cancelled. cant go to the gym. already bored of playing video games (i just hop on teamchat to talk w/ my friends mostly)

not doing well other than the fact that i do have a solid savings to draw on.

I’m just on my phone constantly, checking for updates. Not good. Bored as hell.

i just came back from the local and they were absolutely stocked food-wise. Asian market too. Even got water.

:(

On the phone and emailing and teleconferencing from the moment I sat down at the desk until the moment I rolled it to move my vehicle to a different parking meter zone at 9:59 am.

Parking spots along Constitution Ave are plentiful.... it’s eerry.
Haven’t seen “Help A Nigga” in several days.... kinda odd... hope he’s ok

Rolled out at 11am

Rest of the day was a blur.
But there was bread at the grocery store.
At least we had that going for us.



"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

Like reading the prequel to a horror movie. Waiting for the plot twist.

people have GI issues no matter what..
we are doing emergency/as need basis.


___________________
Nas >>> your favorite rapper's favorite rapper

people getting annoyed with when i request more than a few feet of space. i'm getting mocked occasionally for washing my hands. people up here are not taking this unprecedented pandemic seriously. management keeps pump-faking letting us work from home. i hate this. i want to walk out and never return

I never found the time to do it once I moved back

my old room dusty as hell, lol
this should be fun...

To my division head from my work cellphone...
Caught some more Zzzz on the couch with the laptop at my side...

6:30 email forced me to get dressed and head to the office to put out a fire real quick
7:31 am walked back into the house just as the kids were waking up....

Teleworking is not feasible with kids. Full stop.

Finished up my day at 2 pm and tuned in to the kids as best as I could. We all made it to the park to enjoy the 80 degree temps. It was jamb packed out there.

We made it through the first week.
It either gets better, or it gets worse.



"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

First, the hiking in San Diego is INSANELY packed right now so I've started to hike the "B-list" hikes to avoid people. Yesterday was Mt. Gower, which is about a 40 minute drive from my house. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/mt-gower-open-space-preserve-trail

Went with 2 friends but we remained at least 10 feet apart, never EVER touched each other.

Looking back now I think that maybe that's even too close when hiking becuase we're walking through the same air (the person in the front is safer than the one in the back.)

Later that night my mother came by because I had ordered some milk for her from Amazon fresh. She touched about 10,000 things in my house so after she left I had to wipe down the kitchen, the remote control to the TV, tv light fixture, etc. If she's got it then I likely got it too - we'll know in a few days.

She brought me some gloves but she had taken each set and shoved them in each other so every set has been touched A LOT. I'm going to wait 5 days to use the gloves.

Like...HOW long CAN a virus molecule float in thin air in a non-lab controlled environment? Air typically is NOT static...ESPECIALLY in the outdoors....


"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

We go for walks along the river once the workday is done (we're both working from home now). The weather has been near perfect so there are still a number of people out biking, jogging, etc. But folks are definitely maintaining a considerable distance from each other. No friendly chats or socializing.

Our weekend fun consists of sitting on the porch with each other, sipping on drinks and listening to music on Spotify. Trying to stump each other with obscure hits that you haven't heard in a while.

We're planning on trying new recipes since we have the time & energy to cook more often. But we're also getting the occasional delivery from local restaurants as a way to try to show some support for them. Actually, tonight is Taco Tuesday.

Google Duo, Marco Polo & House Party with friends and family around the country help a little bit too.

of this situation... (Dual Income No Children)
*puts on envy goggles*


"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

I made a quick run to the store, when I got there I realized I was the only one not wearing a mask. I felt like the stupid one...

but yeah...
doing my hair
puzzle books with mom
watching tv with mom
eating
working

...since Day 9 was banished to the ether....although it did end in a rather "interesting" fashion....Commuting home by foot proved challenging yesterday since DC is now effectively in a lightweight Police State. The primary routes back into Virginia for pedestrian & bicycle traffic are now cordoned off with police tape and a heavy Police presence (patrol cars, patrol bikes, patrol motorcycle & officers on foot) as the District attempts to prevent larger gatherings along the Tidal basin...

I fear this may just be a test run for a larger quarantine effort... (Metropolitan Police, Park Police & Secret Service Police are apparently working together in these efforts to secure portions of the city that are typically the jurisdiction of National Park Service Police.)... which i'm not completely against...but at the same time...wow...a lot of what's going on and being tested as far as locking down an entire city, could easily be implemented in the future for other reasons...reasons I(we) may not necessarily support..

Today is rainy & dreary & all out shitty feeling....Wife was up most of the night with runny nose & sore throat...praying that it's the allergies...

Today....goals are:
*Work at office until last teleconference ends at 11am & then head home to finish out the day via teleworking.
*Lunch with the family. We ordered pie & soup from ACME Pie Company (https://www.facebook.com/pg/acmepieco) hopefully it arrives today...
*Homework & Dreambox & Raz Kids assignments with the oldest at some point in the afternoon...even though it feels to be senseless pursuit now that schools been called off for the year.....
*I'm going to miss the Google Hangouts sessions that daycare parents have setup for the youngest and her classmates...wife is going to try to get her on though..
*Work on my temper & getting used to the whole way of existing among others...I kinda went off of some random old white couple yesterday...wasn't my finest moment (i'll post more details in CW)

BE WELL OKP....BE.WELL.

It looks ridiculous - but it feels much better.

Britney level crazy looking:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ET92A2RUUAYvCim?format=jpg&name=large

i used to shave my own head with clippers before. since ive let it grow out im used to cutting it every couple of weeks. they still want me to come to work so it will be pretty overgrown soon.

i have a couple of face/body trimmers. i think i used to have some clippers for my head back then. might need to buy one.

But imma let my shit do what it do in solidarity with the brethren that aren't able to make it to the barber shop or have the tools/skills to cut their own hair...


"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

maybe i need to get some clothes to match instead.

Why not use a razor?

Hydro 3 schtick is the best.

… most of the weekdays are the same for me. I've been trying to find a cadence to my home workouts - something that will push me that I will enjoy enough to continue to doing.


(For context, I had started a 10 week beginner's boxing clinic at the beginning of the year and was JUST "moved up" to the intermediate class two weeks ago when it was announced the gym was closing down indefinitely. The intermediate class isn't really intermediate at all - it basically means that I train with the amateur/pro fighters and do everything they do. So I went to an upper echelon beginner to a bottom-of-the-barrel fighter)


What I've come up with so far is:

Every day: 6 rounds shadowboxing
Every other day: sprint or distance running (switch off on either every week)
Every day I'm not running: max sets/reps pushups, situps, squats

As you could imagine, those sets are the hardest to continuously push myself to do

as an essential employee
interacting with patients using my mask and gloves
1 of our peers recently tested positive for covid-19
they were screened by a provider here and they were not sent home until the results came back
so they interacted with all of us and patients

i sent a letter to the higher-ups last week discussing our issues in our lax screening process and gave suggestions

they pointed me to their online portal, with rules that aren't being implemented and some not even communicated

i've probably been exposed or actively have it

they refuse to test us if we don't have symptoms

this is off the back of our unionizing issuing a petition about their lack of action on protecting us and our patients

the board of union elections also paused our vote

so now we have to wait for even that

Its better than nothing but we basically were given 48 hours to start teaching online as a replacement for in the room. I teach at risk high school students. Its going decent, given the circumstances.

I see 4 ladies selling them. About $10 a piece

it's really awful right now. essential staff overseas is barred from going to work due to the pandemic. our group has to pick up their slack and it's not going well. everyone is working crazy OT. our affiliate got ransomware'd last week and is still trying to recover. they were basically dead in the water for 2 business days (a lifetime in my field) and are sending us backlogged work when we're already inundated. we're also trying to go paperless on the fly after having the same paper-based system for maybe three decades and we're trying to figure out how to get people out of the office and working from home, or at least enough people out of the office so we can practice social distancing. i say this with no exagerration: it's never been worse. going paperless during a pandemic while missing a sizeable portion of our staff is about as as bad as it can get, barring some horrendous natural disaster or terrorist attack. i'm lucky enough to be working from home and i'm still getting the manic energy of the office from team chats

that said i have a lot of experience with shit going sideways from my previous gigs so i'm able to cope with it a little better than others seem to be able to. a lot of people are not happy they have to keep showing up to work in these cirucmstances. we, as a department, are seeing people's true selves in these tense times and finding out who has the willpower and discipline to work through this. some people are completely falling off because they weren't prepared for this kind of workload (who is?) and their job has been mostly stress-free up until this point. now they're disappearing when we need everyone to step up and it's making everyone else's jobs harder. and there are a lot of people doing this, not just a few folks

this shit sucks but at least i'm working and collecting paychecks with heavy OT. i feel really bad for the salaried folks working as many extra hours as me (or more) and not getting compensated for it. but it's fine. this is all enabling me to take that next big step in my progression as a person which is getting the fuck out of dodge and to somewhere a little less chaotic

being forced in the house like this. weather has been trash too so that doesn't help.

i already stayed at home with the kiddo but with everything closed the days are feeling LONG.

6AM
get up. check the news on phone. regret checking news.
6:15-7AM
qi gong + meditate.
7-8AM
write.
8AM
wake the kid up.
8:15
affirmations for kiddo.
8:30AM
breakfast
8:45-9:30AM
tablet time
9:30AM-12:30AM
play: house, puppet show, dance party, board games, run around whatever we can to make it to 12:30-1pm
1:00PM
lunch.
1:30PM
read books.
2-3PM
nap time.
lunch + binge watch anime or reality tv and/or pick up the house
3PM
wake the kid.
3-4PM
tablet time - make dinner
6PM
depending on the day(head to my "essential" night job) 6-10pm
5-6PM
dinner time
630-8PM
play time
830-9PM
wife puts kid to bed
9-10pm
parent time
sleep
repeat 5 days a week.

I've gone from managing a bar inventory worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to presiding over a spreadsheet containing 10-30 delivery and pick up food orders a day, making calls to confirm specific details and other mundane stuff like that I haven't done since I was a teenager. Originally we were trying to maintain a bit of normalcy by having that shift split in four hour blocks but I wound up lobbying for it to just be a full day's shift because I found it really hard to A) stay focused once I'd get excited about leaving or B) come in feeling upbeat halfway through the day.

But now that just means I'm basically the only full-time employee there, even our general manager is only there Sunday and Tuesday and the AGM only comes in to help seal up our meal prep deliveries for an hour or so. Our chef-owner can be a kinetic wreck of a man on a good day (think Gordon Ramsay) so having him pace around the building, on and off the phone looking for a hundred silver linings is pretty bad for my anxiety. Luckily he's also our delivery driver, so days like today with lots of orders he'll be gone for most of it.

But like the subject line says, what's really starting to get to me is how little I'm actually doing outside of work this week, and I'm not doing all that much at work. The shift is 12-8, so I'll usually wake up around 9 and just lay in bed reading more terrible news until about 10, get up and get ready for work, get in an Uber and A) get asked a dozen questions about why nobody else is taking Ubers or B) exchange a grim nod and dig into my Instagram feed. Around 7:30PM I'll crack a beer for "happy hour" and start closing up the restaurant, turn off all the lights and just sit there in the dark drinking for an hour or so.

By the time I get home, I'm just so emotionally defeated from thinking of all my coworkers out of work, all the service people not even "lucky" enough to continue to earn some kind of paycheck, staring out the window at an empty street that's usually full of foot traffic all day and night...I just sit at my desk and scroll Youtube like it was Netflix until eventually I just turn to my COVID-19 playlist I made on Spotify and lay down until I fall asleep. And then I usually dream about bodies being dumped out of 4th floor hospital windows and other delightful pablum like that. Last night I fell asleep to a Vice documentary about Chris Benoit, the wrestler that unexpectedly strangled his wife and son in a double murder suicide, which also happened to spend about ten minutes discussing Eddie Guerrero's unexpected death from heart failure at age 38. It seemed like a light, breezy watch at the time.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Halfway jokingly lol but ... we'll see what comes of it

looking at all those faces in the grocery store thinking just one can infect you and possibly kill you.

Then once you’ve got you’ve got to go back and tell everyone you’ve been around for at least the past 2 weeks.

not counting the base (which wont be reporting anymore) we were at 11 one week ago. confirmed community spread now. the issued the stay at home order last week. theres reports theyre going to tighten it up more today.

im seeing more and more traffic on my way to work. see groups of people walking together in the afternoon. teens just out there having fun.

this will go well.

Also reading and writing a lot more… Working on my self discipline… Trying to build better habits… I think that's most important to me during this time... Listening to ?uest DJ for about 5 hours a night… Missed a lot of last night's set so I'm listening to that on youtube right now…

to substitute for dumbbells since the apartment gym is closed but apparently they're sold out everywhere. I saw some on the Walmart website that look like they have no brand name.

Wife's had sinus issues all week...
Youngest daughter runny nose all week....
Seem to be allergy related, as the Zyrtec they take clears them up a bit....
Oldest daughter going strong as ever....we could all stand for her to dial it down a notch though...7 year olds...gotta love em....

Had some bowel issues yesterday AM, chalked it up to some muffins we made using a new recipe because it set on within an hour after eating....I've had similar episodes before, starts with some weird eye issues and then I know the nausea is coming....

Had me in bed for a couple of hours mid-day but by later afternoon I was sound enough to go out and do some pretty heavy yard work... trying to get the garden in shape for the season...tilled up a new section of the backyard to try to capture longer duration of sunshine than last year. Hopefully I can finish it up by the weekend....

But...Today..i'm increasingly worried...... got to the office around 5:45...did my usual thing...had my coffee around 7:30.... by 8 my eyes started acting up again and sure enough within 30min had the bubble guts...and bowel issues....(sorry to be so graphic)....

Deciding to come on home for the day...home now waiting on this Zoom meeting for youngest daughter's school... they're having technical difficulties getting it started so posting this is killing the time while I refresh the email waiting for them to send updated link....
Also distracting me from doing more online searchs about COVID-19 bowel symptoms....

I've decided not going into the office for the foreseeable future.....these days are better filled being around my family...NOT in my office even if it's only me and another guy... I'd be happy for all construction activities to be suspended...this shit really at that essential....



"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

but def. am putting the word out that my presence on site will be null (or at least reduced to 1-2x per week) for the foreseeable future....

"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

stay safe

I feel like this is def. making people more aware of their bodies and day to day physical condition...

The fact that i'm of the mindset to systemically take note of every variable of my daily food consumption & exposure and comings and goings...is really putting my memory & organization skills to the test.

Things about yesterday that were outside the norm of my daily routine & possible contributing factors to stomach issues:

Ate Muffins made with oat bran instead of regular flour & whole oats added in..then drank a cup of a new batch of coffee that's a different roast than my usual....

Today I didn't do the muffin, but I did the coffee again...

So tomorrow I eliminate the coffee & muffin...


"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

nose started running suddenly late at night. have mild allergies and i never can tell so i took a hit of allerflo. nothing changed, then it went away for about 15 minutes and came back worse.

so i start googling of course, and runny nose seems to be a very uncommon symptom, then i see tightness of chest and start thinking about the slight heartburn i had earlier in the night

fuck that. go to sleep. I wake up with an upset stomach which is nothing new because my stomach has been stress knotted up for weeks but this time wonder if its something else. wake up to piss like "am i ok?"

shit, i'm not sure. went back to sleep for another hour and woke up fine.

if i didn't have to worry about passing it on part of me wishes i could just get this thing and get it over with.

and your last sentence! SO.TRUE.

"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

I could see if you have to go to work but if you just trying to get out of the house to feel normal it’s time to sit down.

I’ve been doing store runs just to get out of the house and my throat felt funny. I started getting nervous. Then I realized the car has been covered in pollen and I ran the AC.

We have everything we need for the next month and anything we don’t have we can get delivered. Told the wife if I say I need to go to the store she needs to remind me to sit the effe down.

Most we are doing is playing in our front yard.

Some dude knocked on my door this afternoon looking for donations too. Wtf is that dude thinking?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFgT9vt2sJM

I'm literally not opening the door and stepping outside the condo unless I absolutely have to - and then it's just throwing garbage away or maybe using the laundry room.

i was miserable the first month, but then i got used to it, and fortunately it became habit by the time quarantine kicked in so i've been largely able to stay the course and not eat past 8.

i work(ed) nights and late ass meals were killing me.

i do need to exercise more tho

>I'm literally not opening the door and stepping outside the
>condo unless I absolutely have to - and then it's just
>throwing garbage away or maybe using the laundry room.
>
>

Yo my salmon game is pretty strong though!

as this drags on and a lifew ithout sports becomes the new normal



I haven't watched a lick of ESPN or really any sports programming since the games stopped

Wasn't even breathing hard at the end, didn't think I'd run like this again. (38 married with 2 kids)

The quarantine allows for a focus on family and health that was tricky prior.

>Wasn't even breathing hard at the end, didn't think I'd run


a friend of mind who suffers from severe allergies around this time, was able to run longer than he's ever did....yet he doesnt believe in climate change


a couple of the soccer moms mentioned their kids havent had an asthma attack in over a month...car emissions are the leading factor in asthma and respiratory issues

I'm also surrounded by woods & water.

Before and after pictures of some smoggy cities have been astounding though. I can imagine stepping out in that has been a breath of fresh air.

"flu shot" pretty hard but its not mandatory

if one doesnt get it they will not be allowed back to work or school, if a job allows nonvaccinated employees back they will be fined or shutdown.

they basically juggling at the moment how to get the masses on board.

They make you take a vaccine?

They have yet to produce a vaccine for it, which will take up to a year or more.

5:35am...officially "awake"...
Home from here on out....I hope.
Gut issues & queasiness subsided by Sunday morning, never developed any sort of fever...taking isolation precautions as best as I can for 72hrs just in case...but i'm telling myself it was food related...

Work Life:
Had a teams meeting to review our "game plans" across the board for all construction activities. Our "mission" is to keep moving forward with work as scheduled. It's "essential". I dunno....I see the money side of it...shut down work and a LOT of folks don't get paid, and thus they might not eat, and if WE initiate the stop work, then it's on us to reimburse if they make a case... Personally...I can technically just do what I do...from safety of home...and so that's what i'm choosing to do from this point on... We'll see how it plays out.

Home Life:
The natives are getting restless...but it seems we're getting into a routine of
*7:45am - kids wake up (that's THEM though, we'd love if they'd sleep in much much much much later)
*8:30am - Eat breakfast
*9:0am - noon - A combination of random playing with Lego's, running up and down the stairs and through the house, playing with dolls, watching shows on TV. basically just doing whatever they want to do with us interjecting and chiming in as much as we can while working.
****PARENTS of 3 - 8 year olds..., here's a couple of good shows: Molly of Denali, Mira, Royal Detective*******

*Noon - end of work day - who.fcking.knows. :(
*End of work day - bedtime - Stay sane.

this real talk.
Hugs to all. Thankful for the low noise OKP platform. Other Social Media is just too much right now....

Appreciate it.

We might be stuck inside for a year or more.

those two docs will mentioned a vaccine. a vaccine that is being formulated by a company who is being funded by a certain billionaire.


yet the AG yesterday was concerned about this vaccine. now why would a non-medical professional be worried about this vaccine?

Vaccine trials take at least 1 year.

They are in phase 1 of the vaccine trials.

The situation we are in today will be run in a very expedited manner and I could see it taking half the usual time to come to market - or less - depending on the data that comes out in the first few months.

Basically if they think it's effective and low risk they'll skip a bunch of the normal shit.

This is NOT the usual virus outbreak - literally most of the world's economy depends on this - not to mention literally 10 to hundreds of millions of people's live.

If they can make a vaccine in 2 years they'll make it in 1 year.

Top scientists have already stated that is something that can’t be rushed, due to the consequences of pushing a vaccine that could have serious and even fatal side effects.

There are several, several phases to vaccine testing, and that process wouldn’t be rushed due to an outbreak, because it all depends on it working and not causing health issues. And even if that goes well, it takes even more time to make it widely available. This is why Dr. Fauci shot trump’s statement down about having a vaccine within months.

“These early-stage studies are a first step to see if a vaccine appears safe enough for larger tests needed to prove whether it will protect. Even if the research goes well, it is expected to take more than a year before any vaccine could be widely available.

Dozens of potential vaccines are being designed in labs around the world, expected to begin this testing process over the next several months.

“The good thing is we’ve got a bunch of candidates,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the NIH’s infectious diseases chief, said during a podcast for the Journal of the American Medical Association Wednesday.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foxnews.com/health/2nd-coronavirus-vaccine-trial-begins-in-us.amp

>Top scientists have already stated that is something that
>can’t be rushed, due to the consequences of pushing a
>vaccine that could have serious and even fatal side effects.

I'll stop here at your reply ...it CAN be rushed - but YES there could be very bad outcomes.

This is where the risk management equations are going to be tweaked --- because we can't leave the fuckign house for months.

And TRUST that the first company to developer AND release this will make everyone working there incredibly rich and famous - you're going to get companies wanting to rush too. (Think of the money, the press, the SEX!)

If it means that 3% of those who take it unexpectedly develop lupus in 4 years then prepared for a rise in lupus.

Trump will want to skew the risk management wildly toward "miracle and NOW!" and the FDA will want to follow it's normal procedure - but these two things WILL meet and they are going to give.

medicine. What people don't understand is that it normally takes 10 years to develop a vaccine, so to do it within 1 or 2 years would be a miracle in itself. But you're saying this year? Politics can try all it wants to, but medicine and science rolls with a serious strictness when it comes to vaccines and cures. And Risk Management does not get bent or tweaked

Here is a recent article why it takes so long to create a vaccine for a new pandemic, even with the existence of modern technology. This was written a couple of year ago when Zika was a huge epidemic.




https://qz.com/751478/why-it-takes-so-long-to-develop-a-vaccine-against-a-new-epidemic/

Amid the depressing news about Zika continuing to infect more people and spread quickly, there is some good news. Three vaccine candidates have been shown to work successfully in monkeys and one is being tested in a human trial, raising hopes that a vaccine may soon be available on the market.

But don’t get your hopes too high. Even with such success stories, it is unlikely that any Zika vaccine will be available this year or even early next year. That’s because developing a safe and effective vaccine is difficult in the best of times, and gets harder during an epidemic. Consider the example of Ebola.

The Ebola epidemic began in west Africa in early 2014. By the time the World Health Organization (WHO) declared in June 2016 that it was over, the disease had infected 28,000 people and killed 11,000.

Ebola had been on the radar of public-health officials for many years and we even had some vaccine candidates lying on scientists’ shelves before the epidemic. Once the WHO declared Ebola a public-health emergency, scientists began working with renewed urgency and funding. Two years on, some vaccine candidates have reached the very last phase of clinical trials. Sadly, however, none have yet been approved to be sold on the market.

There are many reasons why, despite much scientific progress, we are still unable to develop vaccines in a timely manner.


1. Epidemics cause chaos

When a new disease starts spreading, it often spreads unchecked before raising alarm. And the pathogen often spreads in places where health infrastructure is not good, such as Ebola starting in Guinea. So by the time we are aware that an epidemic has taken hold, the pathogen is many steps ahead of the humans trying to stop it.


2. Pathogens are shifty

We live on a planet of microbes. The microbe behind every new epidemic is wildly different from the previous one. For instance, even though Ebola and Zika are both caused by viruses, they are completely different beasts. To develop a successful vaccine, we need to understand the pathogen quickly, see if there is more than one genetic strain of it that is causing the disease, and then develop means to counter each strain. But chaotic epidemics can make it difficult to collect the necessary samples and send them to labs.


3. Vaccine development is risky business

Big pharma companies invest billions in research every year, but few jump to action when there is urgent need for vaccines. Though such companies regularly make losses on failed drug candidates, they are often able to claim some return on investment by applying lessons learned and expertise gained in new projects. However, most can’t follow that process for vaccine developments, because they don’t have other vaccine projects that can carry over the learning.


4. No global body coordinates research

If big pharma won’t take the lead, you’d expect the WHO to do so. Even though the WHO’s constitution states that its objective “is the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health,” the WHO hasn’t been setup to coordinate research programs. Research programs require huge sums of money and the WHO doesn’t have it. All it does now is create a framework for how research must be conducted on a new disease and then it hopes that various national health bodies will use the framework to do the work.


5. Animal models aren’t always available

Once the pathogen causing an epidemic is identified, scientists need to find a good animal model to test early vaccine candidates. The most commonly used model is small mammals, like rats or mice. But they don’t always get infected by a pathogen that has specialized to infect humans. For instance, it took nearly two months to develop the first animal model for Zika after the WHO declared a public-health emergency.


6. Human trials take a long time

Despite all these difficulties, some vaccine candidates do make it through to human trials. But here they linger for longer than we’d like. The first human trial for the most promising Ebola vaccine candidate started in November 2014. Despite success, by June 2015, the company was struggling to find enough human volunteers to continue its trials, because the disease had passed its peak.

Clinical trials start with tens of patients. With success in each phase, the trial is expanded—from hundreds to thousands to, finally, tens of thousands. However, at each phase, scientists have to collect a lot of data and analyze it to be sure that the vaccine is doing what it should in humans and there are no nasty side effects. This takes time, and in that time often an epidemic crosses its peak. So even though the trial needs more patients, there often aren’t enough around to test the vaccine on the scale needed to approve it for commercial use.

So although it’s great news we are making progress on a Zika vaccine, it won’t be ready any time soon to stop the disease spreading. Still, given it normally takes more than 10 years to develop a vaccine, it’s a small miracle that we can get close to developing one in an emergency in less than three years.

If I can't go outside then outside can come to me.

Working from home.

NEVER going out unless it's absolutely required.

Gained 9 pounds.

I’ve tried 444 hairstyles and watching a lot of tv

Most of my bad calories come from eating out and alcohol.

Being home all day I'm cooking all my meals and never hitting those weeks where I am just too busy/have no time to cook. I have all the time in the world.

And as far as alcohol, I never drink at home besides maybe a beer/glass of wine with dinner occasionally, I rarely have it stocked. I haven't had a drank since a wedding I went to the first weekend of March before shit hit the fan.

I'm still active, maybe not as much as before, but I'm trying to go for a run every other day. But most of my weight loss comes from having a noticeably smaller caloric intake.

Solidarity with us or is there some reason why they can't do the show from home under the real name?

probably also to help identify the episodes that were filmed during this period.

pretty sure there is nothing that makes them have to change the name. just a funny little touch.


i could be wrong though.

She asks this... every.single.day.
We've noticed that they've also been incorporating virus & quarantining into their imaginary play...
For instance....
*We no longer have a basement. It's the hospital now where all the sick toys go to get fixed.
*I now know what they think a coughing horse sounds like.
*The Barbie with the bun gets hurt more than the Barbie with the long hair...so the bun Barbie is restricted on what activities she can do..incidentally....the Barbie with the bun is light skinned & the Barbie with the long hair is dark skinned... I don't really know how to process that or if it's necessary...but there it is...

Recap;
So yesterday was my first day back in the office since Day 23.... Haven't been on the bicycle in weeks. Driving feels foreign too. I realize that's a privileged thing to say. It was wild to get into the car and have a FULL TANK of gas...incidentally it's also that $3/gallon gas...not this $1.85/gallon mess.... I lightweight wish I needed to get gas just to take advantage of these prices.

It was nice to see the police tape removed and the streets back open as I came off of the 14th street bridge back into the city. I think i'll be getting back on the bike now that I know my route home is no longer restricted.

It's weird that my face isn't familiar to everyone now....and I barely recognize anyone else myself...because of the masks. I think masks are going to be the new status symbol. My feed is already littered with ads for fashion masks...and I catch myself noticing the quality or lack of quality of the masks I see folks wearing...

Trying to get back into my running routine...it's tough though...not because i'm suddenly out of shape or anything...I just need to change my playlist...everytime that ONE song comes on, I kinda loose it and the tears fck up my cadence and the rest of the run goes down hill from there....

Today;
Gonna head back to the home base in a few...I been here at the office since 5:30am and seen what needs to be seen, coordinated what needs to be coordinated, and gotten just enough exposure to others to keep me shook until at least tomorrow morning..

We're following a daily routine that was posted up on the https://www.khanacademy.org/ website. The kids seem to dig it...and it keeps us in a semi sustainable daily rhythm. I look forward to the outdoor activity more now that the weather is warming up. Teaching the kids how to jump rope has been fun...and the 7 year old thinks she's ready for some double dutch action...we'll see...she kinda clumsy though. real talk.

peep the sig...

"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

I gassed up when it was 1.71 but I don’t have anywhere to go besides the store.

My kids keep asking about school. They no longer ask if I’m going to get sick when I go to the store and we are trying to avoid that convo.

Copped a generator a couple of weeks ago and was planning to use propane with it....but with these gasoline prices I wish there was a way to buy and store it at home myself.


"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

ready to grow my own food

I'm still not going into work.

Still not going into grocery store (all delivery.)

Have not eaten out since this post was started.

Haven't used an ATM in 6 weeks.

Spraying down all surfaces on the way to the shared laundry room and washing my hands like crazy.

Seeing the stats from the hospital that we're still going UP to a peak that should be in the next week or so.

But even after all that I'm thinking "Why don't I just go to the grocery store and buy my food instead of trying to get it delivered and not being able to get everything?"

No reason to do it - I have food, and cleaning supplies, toilet paper, everything I could possibly need.

I'm just getting overconfident because no one I know has gotten it.

My brain says there's still danger and risk - but it's also saying the risk is lower because you haven't gotten it yet. (I *KNOW* that'S not how risks works.)

visiting each other and taking photos and shit.

It’s crazy to me.

Like folks don’t actually believe their friends and fam could have it because they know them.

We go on walks or I’ll go on a quick bike ride around my neighborhood but that’s it.

I do go to the grocery store but i have gloves and a mask on. Costco was pumping this weekend. Still seeing a good 25 to 30% without mask on.

My confidence is up a bit but not enough to not wear a mask in public. Fuck that

they suspect due to corona. I’ve been seeing him since high school. When I went natural he was so mad, lol. He was my homie so this hurts. nobody could style my hair like him. When I moved away, I made a point to see him whenever I was in town. I last saw him in February...who knew it would be the last time.

RIP Derek is hair

Wassup?