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How are you dealing with life now with the Covid-19 virus situation? (1 Viewer)

Adam Gregorich

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Just this past Saturday we paid the earnest money for the lot where we will eventually build our forever home, which is a nice milestone amidst the chaos.

Congrats on the path toward better health and the property purchase. We did that 20 years ago and had a great time building our home.
 

TJPC

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We just came back from a grocery run to Walmart and Costco. We were disgusted by the number of plastic/rubber gloves and surgical masks littering both parking lots how incredibly disgusting can people be? “Lets protect ourselves and throw germs around for everybody else”!
 

DaveF

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I’m working 12 hr days this week. Started Sunday. I’m struggling to grasp what day it is, my sense of time is so out of whack.

Assuming I’m still working though Saturday — and it’s really one day at a time — I’m off Sunday for the next week. And if my organizations threat level,doesn’t increase, then another round of 12 hr days for a week and then off a week.

my coping is basically:
Get up, dash to work. Do what ever ... which has been a lot of working management stuff to help inform staff and deal with some panicking personnel and setup and then cancel meetings because things keep changing.
come home, make some quick dinner around 8pm.
Spend another hour dealing with work and management and acute minor crisis stuff
Then watch some Futurama and check the forum in bed, before turning off the lights ... and then do it again.

next week, my off week? I will need to find a routine to deal with the opposite situation of having zero work responsibilities and being at home 24/7.
Will probably do a bit of cooking. Trying to find an at-home workout routine. Play board games with my wife.
 

Josh Steinberg

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Tonight I did one of my weirder meal combinations. I wasn’t really in the mood to cook so I went with the practical approach of clearing out little odds and ends, as well as making stuff that can be repurposed to other meals.

The wacky plate I served had chicken parm, roasted potatoes with diced onions, and garlic green beans. I was making a bunch of chicken cutlets to have for lunch sandwiches and I had just a little bit of tomato sauce leftover from something else, so I turned a couple of the cutlets into parm for tonight. The potatoes will go nicely with the vinegar pepper pork chops I’m planning to make tomorrow. The green beans needed to be cooked anyway. Did all of this after putting the kids to bed while my wife was having a FaceTime session with her best friends. The upside is I took a night where I had no motivation and did all the boring crap I had to get out of the way anyhow, and tomorrow I get to make just the pork chops and the rest of the meal is already done and I can relax more when I’m hopefully in a better mood.

Over the weekend I think I’m gonna do homemade mini pizzas and use the variety of leftovers as topping options.

I haven’t stepped foot outside this one bedroom apartment in nearly a week. I have garbage to bring out anyway. It’s after 1am and there’s almost no chance that there’s any serious population density on this block. The babies both just had their middle of the night wakeup, changing and feeding and are back asleep so I can safely step away for a moment. I think I’m going to take a quick other-people-free walk for a few minutes.
 

Clinton McClure

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My company is considered an essential service provider since we maintain mailroom equipment for banks, insurance companies, state, and federal government, etc... I am also a customer-facing service technician so I have to report to work every day unless I’m sick. There is no work from home option for me.

With so many people working from home already, my afternoon commute is a little weird. Rush hour yesterday was about as busy as a typical Sunday morning.
 

jcroy

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Over the weekend I think I’m gonna do homemade mini pizzas and use the variety of leftovers as topping options.

I do this every now and then. Usually I put more cheese and whatever leftovers stufff from the fridge.

From making pizza over the years, I've found that choosing the pizza/tomato sauce frequently made the difference between something which tasted really good or really bad. I was frequently using some spaghetti sauces which had some hot/spicy stuff in it.
 

Scott Merryfield

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I’m working 12 hr days this week. Started Sunday. I’m struggling to grasp what day it is, my sense of time is so out of whack.

Assuming I’m still working though Saturday — and it’s really one day at a time — I’m off Sunday for the next week. And if my organizations threat level,doesn’t increase, then another round of 12 hr days for a week and then off a week.

my coping is basically:
Get up, dash to work. Do what ever ... which has been a lot of working management stuff to help inform staff and deal with some panicking personnel and setup and then cancel meetings because things keep changing.
come home, make some quick dinner around 8pm.
Spend another hour dealing with work and management and acute minor crisis stuff
Then watch some Futurama and check the forum in bed, before turning off the lights ... and then do it again.

next week, my off week? I will need to find a routine to deal with the opposite situation of having zero work responsibilities and being at home 24/7.
Will probably do a bit of cooking. Trying to find an at-home workout routine. Play board games with my wife.

I still have a lot of friends in Healthcare IT, and they are going through the same thing right now. A very old, close friend has been doing duty in the hospital command centers doing 12 hour shifts. If I wasn't retired, I would be doing the same right now.

My last text from him after I said I was glad I was retired read "Yeah. Was thinking that. Good time not to be in healthcare. On the flip side, you can see firsthand the good we do".

I couldn't agree more with his sentiments. During previous crises I was involved with (local floods, 9-11, influenza epidemics, etc), the working environment became very stressful, but you did get to see first hand the type of difference you were making.

So, hang in there, Dave, and know that you are making a difference.
 
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TJPC

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Two strange things are happening to us since this quarantine:

1) We inherited a cat when my mother-in-law passed away 2 years ago. As she used to say he is “a bit bite-y” and moody. He is much better now, but sometimes it still is pet-pet-pet-purr-bite. He is my friend usually but my wife has always been indifferent to hostile to him. Well, she has completely bonded with the cat — everything from belly scratches to pet names, and he has not even tried to bite!

2) I am one of those guys with short hair and a big 4 year old beard and handlebar mustache. I was quite overdo to get a haircut when self isolating was imposed. I also decided that no one was going to see me, so I stopped dying the beard for the duration. We go for walks around the neighbourhood and I wear a toque. I looked in the mirror before we went out today and I suddenly realized something.
I am turning into a 6’ garden gnome! Next unless the barbers open up soon will be man-bun time!
 

JohnRice

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I'm rather fortunate, which is a nice change because most of my life seems to have been a lesson in constantly being in the wrong place or the wrong person at the wrong time. I own a small online business, so no public traffic and virtually zero exposure to anyone except the USPS and UPS drivers once or twice a day, and employees. We're in a commercial building, but each unit is completely independent, with no common areas or entrances. We're also considered an essential business, as a food supplier, so we get to keep working, even while Colorado has implemented some of the most stringent "shelter in place" rules in the country. As an extra measure, I've been locking the doors, which I'm technically not supposed to do, to assure nobody just wanders in.

We're one of those businesses who are actually benefiting from all this, because we sell tea, and tea is comforting. Don’t take that the wrong way. I’m glad I can provide something that makes it all a little better for people.
 
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Johnny Angell

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Two strange things are happening to us since this quarantine:

1) We inherited a cat when my mother-in-law passed away 2 years ago. As she used to say he is “a bit bite-y” and moody. He is much better now, but sometimes it still is pet-pet-pet-purr-bite. He is my friend usually but my wife has always been indifferent to hostile to him. Well, she has completely bonded with the cat — everything from belly scratches to pet names, and he has not even tried to bite!

2) I am one of those guys with short hair and a big 4 year old beard and handlebar mustache. I was quite overdo to get a haircut when self isolating was imposed. I also decided that no one was going to see me, so I stopped dying the beard for the duration. We go for walks around the neighbourhood and I wear a toque. I looked in the mirror before we went out today and I suddenly realized something.
I am turning into a 6’ garden gnome! Next unless the barbers open up soon will be man-bun time!
This illustrates something that is common in cats. They know when you care about them and will respond in a positive way to a human who cares about them.

Perhaps you should change from Producer to Garden Gnome. :P
 

JohnRice

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Cats are strange. They often bite as a sign of affection. You can tell the difference, since when they do that, it’s clear they aren’t trying to cause harm.
 

TJPC

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The problem with this cat is he often drew blood with my wife’s mother. He would grab her skin hold on and shake his head as if he wanted to pull out a piece! Since having him we have trained him not to do this. This cat absolutely hates being ignored. When he tried to bite, we would scream “no!” and then completely ignore him for 24 hours which drove him nuts.
 

DaveF

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<Moderator Hat on>

I'm going to be more direct and more "inside baseball" than is typical for the moderation staff, in hopes that in this unique situation, I can keep threads that I and others personally appreciate open longer.

We've got three or so COVID-19 / coronavirus threads going. These, in my opinion, are great to have. I find them interesting and useful and provide good information in a largely positive and encouraging manner. I think I'm not alone in this.

But HTF has its no-politics rule, and for good reason. And people are starting to bring more politics more frequently to these threads. I get it. This is a pandemic. It's a national emergency. And politics are deeply entwined in our personal, local, state, and federal responses. Politics is very tangled up in the conversations and the information flow.

But not in HTF. Not if we want to keep these threads open.

And I've got a crazy work schedule right now due to the crisis so I'm not "pulling my weight" right now in keeping on eye on these threads.

So, please, keep the politics out of HTF threads. Find another space in your life to process that side of it.

If you can't, these threads will get shut down. And don't misunderstand this as a moderator schism: I will supporting shutting them down. And don't take this as a way to get a thread locked you don't like: bad actors are at risk of thread or even forum bans for making making life even more difficult during an already very difficult time.

Thanks you for your help in keeping some good threads and helpful conversations going!

 

DaveF

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Cats are strange. They often bite as a sign of affection. You can tell the difference, since when they do that, it’s clear they aren’t trying to cause harm.
My cat is a nibbler and nipper. When he gets over-stimulated from petting and brushing, he'll do a little nip to let you know he's had enough. But when he's being affectionate and wanting to be petted, he'll nibble and nip at my arms and elbows. These are sometimes uncomfortable, but never malicious.

I'm pretty sure he was taken from the litter too young -- rescue cat -- and didn't have time to learn some kitty-cat social rules about nipping from his littermates. :)
 

DaveF

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Coping...I'm doing better than I expected. I'm 48 hrs in since Sunday. I'm less frazzled than I feared I'd be. I'm hoping to keep up my schedule, get my 80 hours in by the end of Saturday. Next week I'll have seven days off. I hope to enjoy that, get some exercise, get back to Season 3 of The Magicians. We might watch Picard since that's now free.

And then my schedule changes again. I'm moving to alternating shift work, to keep office population at 50% max. So I'll start on the 6a - 2pm M-F shift for the first week, then the second week switch to the 2p - 10p shift. Then if this continues long term, that will be my two week routine. Until things change again and it's not. :)

I'm still working. I'm very fortunate. We're going to start doing more dinners ordered from local restaurants. At work we might starting trying to organize my orders from the local fast food places. To do a little something to help our communities out.
 

Dennis Nicholls

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Today Idaho has finally promulgated its stay-home edict.

https://coronavirus.idaho.gov/wp-co.../2020/03/statewide-stay-home-order_032520.pdf

It must be difficult to state in a few words whether a business is essential or not.

1) Your tree blows over and blocks your driveway. A tree service is now essential.

2) You want to plant a new tree that's pretty. A tree service is now not essential - you can wait 6 months.

I'm sure you can come up with many more examples. How can you draft an edict that separates essential services from non-essential services?
 

Radioman970

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I wouldn’t eat a thing.
they changed it to take out food. :D


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