You hear a lot from Republicans and conservatives that they don't like being called stupid and racist. They don't like being talked down to, or to be accused of being ignorant. They. Hate. It. Yet, then they turn around and do something stupid while waving something racist. Today a bunch of Trump fans decided that they needed to plan a protest of Governor Whitmer's latest executive which says that stores like Lowes have to shut off areas of the store that aren't essential like the paint or garden sections, that lawn care crews can't be called essential workers, and that people can't go to their second homes. Some guys are suing because their 1st and 4th amendment rights have been infringed upon. But today, what they decided to do was to flood the capitol in a big ol' parade of stupid to show how unhappy they are with this. They blocked up roads, on and off-ramps, and entrances including to hospitals. They waved the Confederate battle flag. They crowded together to "own the libs" and their social distancing guidelines.
Stupid is as stupid does.
I get it, no one likes to be called stupid. But, if you keep doing stupid things over and over again you are going to be called stupid over and over again. However, this is what happens when one party in this country has spent the past forty years tearing down the government, attacking expertise, denying science, vilifying colleges and education. Seeing crowds of people out doing the exact thing that will spread this thing, make people sick, and lead to death is the product of decades of conservative politics. This is why a large segment of the population, most at risk because they lack healthcare, sick pay, and economic stability, are arguing that this thing is overblown and fake news. They sit and watch all this happening, and somehow are now arguing that the possibility of 100,000 deaths is not a big deal. They see this thing being bungled day after day, lie after lie, but are being fed a constant stream of bullshit and are still sticking with Trump when his failures are so obvious that there is a website ticking up the death rate every day.
If a group of people you know were telling you something, and one single friend told you something else and said that literally everyone else you know is lying to you and you can only trust that one person, you'd probably think that one person was the one you couldn't trust. That's why those commercials say 4 out of 5 doctors recommend this toothpaste. Yet, in Fox News world, if Fox was that one doctor they'd say it's fake news and brush their teeth with sugar-coated horseshit and pretend it tasted like mint. Yet, they don't want to be called stupid. Time after time they do stupid ass shit, then get mad when tells them they're doing stupid ass shit. They get defensive and say, "well it's just my opinion." as if that means fucking anything. Your opinion doesn't matter. Opinions are built off of facts and evidence. When new evidence is discovered, your opinions should change. This lot instead says it's fake news, and the evidence doesn't count because they want to cling to their opinions rather than shift them to something that is different from what they've been spoon-fed.
Sure, there is a point when measures like this could be authoritarian, but when they are temporary to combat a deadly pandemic, this isn't the time to cry about your 4th amendment rights which really seems like a stretch anyway. If it were permanent, of it it was not a legitimate use of power then sure, a protest would be logical. However, when it's something that has infected over a half million people and still growing, now is not the time. The thing is, by doing this they may have made this shit longer for all of us because I'm willing to bet we're going to see a spike because these human-truck-nuts went out and did the one thing we need to not do right now.
For 244 years our country has asked Americans to sacrifice for the greater good, and at times that greater good was a load of horse shit (I'm looking at you Vietnam, Iraq II, Korea, etc.). We've been asked to ration, to send our kids to war, to help our neighbors, to donate to first responders, to pay our taxes on time to keep the arsenal of democracy going. We've been asked to stay home. This is not a sacrifice that is hard. Oh no. You can't buy gardening equipment and have your lawn crew out. Boo hoo! This is not much of a sacrifice, so maybe all these little bitches should shut the fuck up. For some, they don't have jobs they can do from home, and I understand that this is hard for them. But that's not who was out there on the roads showing their asses. Those people are sacrificing. They are trying to get through to unemployment offices. They're trying to make their money go further because they are doing jobs that are basically expendable while the rich CEOs say that a living wage is too much to ask and healthcare isn't their responsibility.
These MAGA shits are not working in good faith, and when this is all over there needs to be a reckoning where we deal with the absurd systems that are failing us right now. This pandemic has laid bare the inadequacies in healthcare, especially when linked to employment. It has shown that the people who are paid the least are the most essential. It has illustrated what "making government small enough to drown in a teaspoon" really does when there is not proper funding of the CDC or WHO. It shows that the scariest thing isn't the words, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help," but that it's "I don't take responsibility at all."
This isn't the wild west, and "Governments are instituted among Men... to effect their Safety and Happiness." Safety and happiness are necessary to allow us to pursue happiness and provide us with life and liberty. "We the People of the United States, in Order to... promote the general Welfare," established a government. This is what it was for, and when we've spent nearly half a century attacking it, destroying it, and acting stupid this is what you end up with.
So, if you want people to stop calling you stupid, then I guess you need to stop being fucking stupid.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Friday, April 10, 2020
On Being Together
This is the end of the fourth week of staying at home, so I've been home for 29 days without having to go to work. I do have to teach online and spend a lot of time doing that as well as home projects. However, I would say that my biggest job the past nearly-30-days has been keeping Sal busy. Or perhaps that has been her biggest job for me because she does not want me to be doing anything else except playing games, pretending, or interacting with her. I prefer the actual games, the art, or things like that over the pretend play. She's very bossy with the pretend play and is constantly telling me what I should be doing. That's not how improv works! You have to go with it not say, "No, daddy pretend that you do the exact opposite of what you just said." It's nice to get to play and spends so much time with her, even though it can be exhausting to try and keep up with her demands of playing and the constant games that I don't find all that fun for me.
She's also been one to constantly ask questions. All the time. Over and over again. Sometimes the same questions over and over again. For the first two weeks of the quarantine she asked me usually at least once a day, but sometimes more, if I "liked our time together?" Every day I would say absolutely loved our time together, and she'd say, "me too!" After about a week of this, I pointed out that she asked me this every day and that of course I did. She eventually stopped asking that and moved on to other questions. Yesterday she asked me, "Daddy, what is your 5th favorite color?" and "What is your second favorite holiday?" She doesn't seem satisfied that I don't have a 5th favorite color or a 4th favorite day. The other day when I got out of the shower I put on my NASA shirt, and when she came in and saw I was wearing it she excitedly explained, "I CAN WEAR MY NASA SHIRT TODAY TOO!" She then promptly when and found hers to wear. That day she asked me things like, "What is a meteor shower?" and after I explained it she asked, "Why do those happen?" I love that she is inquisitive and curious about things. It's actually one of the things that I worry about her going to school because she wants to know things but I think our education system is killing natural curiosity and a desire to learn things by forcing us to focus so much on standardized tests which eliminate things that make school and learning fun. I do feel better about it now because it looks like we were able to get her into a program that will hopefully help preserve that curious nature and allow her to kind of direct her own learning. But I'm going to move on before I evolve into a rant on the education system, and instead, I'll save that for a later date.
I also love to have so much time with Sal because when we work all day she wants to pack in constantly playing when we are home together and so we don't usually get very much in the way of downtime. Since we're home together all day we have a more relaxed time that I've really enjoyed. The other day I introduced her to Sailor Moon. This was for two reasons, the first was she was watching this modern show where they have these kids who can transform into superheroes and it was just the worst. I figured if she liked that then she's probably like Sailor Moon, which is better (though also horrible, but at least it's something horrible that I have a soft spot for because there is nostalgia linked to it because it was my first anime). Turns out, she loves Sailor Moon and we've been watching a couple episodes after dinner every night. The other night she was sitting on the couch after dinner eating her "dessert" popsicle. I was standing eating one too and she said, "Daddy, can you just stand there while I eat my popsicle. She just wanted me to be nearby, something that I've noticed lately because she comes up for random hugs, and likes being near her while she eats lunch or dinner. So instead I decided to sit down on the couch with her so we could watch Sailor Moon and eat our popsicles together. I finished mine well before hers and as we sat I put my hand on her shoulder for a minute, but when I took my hand away she said, "Daddy, can you put your hand on my shoulder again?" She just wants cuddles, and it was really sweet.
I've often joked that this kind of life being stuck home has been the best because I hate people and having to leave the house. Since we can't go I don't have any pressure to ever leave. This is partially a joke, I do love going to some places, doing some things, going shopping, getting dinner, seeing family and friends. However, I also love staying home and this has not put much of any stress on me at all. In fact, I feel far less stressed and anxious than usual. I love this time together with my family, though I wish it could be with the whole family since we're all off work and could be having fun together and enjoying our time. But, as long as I can get some cuddles, Sailor Moon, and popsicles on a lazy after dinner evening, I'll take the pretend play and questions about what my 18th favorite smell is.
She's also been one to constantly ask questions. All the time. Over and over again. Sometimes the same questions over and over again. For the first two weeks of the quarantine she asked me usually at least once a day, but sometimes more, if I "liked our time together?" Every day I would say absolutely loved our time together, and she'd say, "me too!" After about a week of this, I pointed out that she asked me this every day and that of course I did. She eventually stopped asking that and moved on to other questions. Yesterday she asked me, "Daddy, what is your 5th favorite color?" and "What is your second favorite holiday?" She doesn't seem satisfied that I don't have a 5th favorite color or a 4th favorite day. The other day when I got out of the shower I put on my NASA shirt, and when she came in and saw I was wearing it she excitedly explained, "I CAN WEAR MY NASA SHIRT TODAY TOO!" She then promptly when and found hers to wear. That day she asked me things like, "What is a meteor shower?" and after I explained it she asked, "Why do those happen?" I love that she is inquisitive and curious about things. It's actually one of the things that I worry about her going to school because she wants to know things but I think our education system is killing natural curiosity and a desire to learn things by forcing us to focus so much on standardized tests which eliminate things that make school and learning fun. I do feel better about it now because it looks like we were able to get her into a program that will hopefully help preserve that curious nature and allow her to kind of direct her own learning. But I'm going to move on before I evolve into a rant on the education system, and instead, I'll save that for a later date.
I also love to have so much time with Sal because when we work all day she wants to pack in constantly playing when we are home together and so we don't usually get very much in the way of downtime. Since we're home together all day we have a more relaxed time that I've really enjoyed. The other day I introduced her to Sailor Moon. This was for two reasons, the first was she was watching this modern show where they have these kids who can transform into superheroes and it was just the worst. I figured if she liked that then she's probably like Sailor Moon, which is better (though also horrible, but at least it's something horrible that I have a soft spot for because there is nostalgia linked to it because it was my first anime). Turns out, she loves Sailor Moon and we've been watching a couple episodes after dinner every night. The other night she was sitting on the couch after dinner eating her "dessert" popsicle. I was standing eating one too and she said, "Daddy, can you just stand there while I eat my popsicle. She just wanted me to be nearby, something that I've noticed lately because she comes up for random hugs, and likes being near her while she eats lunch or dinner. So instead I decided to sit down on the couch with her so we could watch Sailor Moon and eat our popsicles together. I finished mine well before hers and as we sat I put my hand on her shoulder for a minute, but when I took my hand away she said, "Daddy, can you put your hand on my shoulder again?" She just wants cuddles, and it was really sweet.
I've often joked that this kind of life being stuck home has been the best because I hate people and having to leave the house. Since we can't go I don't have any pressure to ever leave. This is partially a joke, I do love going to some places, doing some things, going shopping, getting dinner, seeing family and friends. However, I also love staying home and this has not put much of any stress on me at all. In fact, I feel far less stressed and anxious than usual. I love this time together with my family, though I wish it could be with the whole family since we're all off work and could be having fun together and enjoying our time. But, as long as I can get some cuddles, Sailor Moon, and popsicles on a lazy after dinner evening, I'll take the pretend play and questions about what my 18th favorite smell is.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
I Can Do It!
Having a bit more free time than in the past I've found myself going down some strange YouTube rabbit holes. Last Saturday I came across a channel that does videos of races, but instead of cars, they use marbles. I became far too invested in this where I've got some favorite marbles and some that I don't like at all. They do qualifiers that set the race order, then they reset the course every race because they are going "around the world" to different tracks. This guy has multiple cameras, has "rain" tunnels, and it's like a live commentator while it's going on. I'm most impressed by the timing that they do for each lap for each marble. It's crazy.
I also went down this hole of home improvement looking at things like building furniture like tables, side tables, storage cabinets, etc. Also, I watched a bunch of videos on deck building. I think I've probably watched about 20 hours of videos on these topics over the past two weeks and feel like I probably could do some of this stuff. I mean, part of this is because I've gotten quotes for building a deck that works out to $15,000 for a literal square deck that isn't that big. Nothing special, no bells and whistles, but a basic square deck. They gave me material lists and when I plug it into Home Depot with COMPOSITE decking I could buy the materials for between $2,000-$2,500 so that other $13,000ish is just highway robbery. I can fucking screw some wood (dirty) to the side of my house and lay some decking. The only thing that really worries me is the holes and supports, which I feel is probably just more of my general worry/anxiety than my abilities. It's pretty clear what you're supposed to do and as long as you're doing it correctly you should be good to go. I'm also a little worried about making sure everything is waterproofed so I don't have rainwater seeping in and rotting the house. However, it doesn't seem like it's worth $15,000, and that I should be able to do it myself since there aren't really any reasonable quotes. We did have one group that said they could do it for a reasonable amount, but it didn't include the materials that we would have to get ourselves. Though, that made me a bit worried because why are they so cheap when everyone else is quoting me like $10k?
Now I've got all this research into doing a bunch of home renovations. I've been watching how-to videos on everything from landscape retaining wall for flower beds, decking, tiling, laying flooring, landscape pavers, building a vanity for the bathroom (why are they $1,000?) and bunk bed building (really, $2,000 for a bunkbed Wayfair?). I'm feeling really motivated to do some stuff, and I've got the time, and have many of the tools that I would need. After refinishing the fireplace last year, I learned that a lot of it is being patient and paying attention to the details. Take your time and use the right tools and you have a pretty good chance that things will go well. There is, of course, some skill (I'm not great at getting a nice smooth drywall finish.) and so there are a bunch of things that I feel like I would need to practice on such as staining and finishing woods. But I could work on that and see how it goes. Right now a lot of the stuff we're looking at doing would be painting, and I've got that down pretty well.
This may just be a product of being at home so much and wanting to feel productive.
I also went down this hole of home improvement looking at things like building furniture like tables, side tables, storage cabinets, etc. Also, I watched a bunch of videos on deck building. I think I've probably watched about 20 hours of videos on these topics over the past two weeks and feel like I probably could do some of this stuff. I mean, part of this is because I've gotten quotes for building a deck that works out to $15,000 for a literal square deck that isn't that big. Nothing special, no bells and whistles, but a basic square deck. They gave me material lists and when I plug it into Home Depot with COMPOSITE decking I could buy the materials for between $2,000-$2,500 so that other $13,000ish is just highway robbery. I can fucking screw some wood (dirty) to the side of my house and lay some decking. The only thing that really worries me is the holes and supports, which I feel is probably just more of my general worry/anxiety than my abilities. It's pretty clear what you're supposed to do and as long as you're doing it correctly you should be good to go. I'm also a little worried about making sure everything is waterproofed so I don't have rainwater seeping in and rotting the house. However, it doesn't seem like it's worth $15,000, and that I should be able to do it myself since there aren't really any reasonable quotes. We did have one group that said they could do it for a reasonable amount, but it didn't include the materials that we would have to get ourselves. Though, that made me a bit worried because why are they so cheap when everyone else is quoting me like $10k?
Now I've got all this research into doing a bunch of home renovations. I've been watching how-to videos on everything from landscape retaining wall for flower beds, decking, tiling, laying flooring, landscape pavers, building a vanity for the bathroom (why are they $1,000?) and bunk bed building (really, $2,000 for a bunkbed Wayfair?). I'm feeling really motivated to do some stuff, and I've got the time, and have many of the tools that I would need. After refinishing the fireplace last year, I learned that a lot of it is being patient and paying attention to the details. Take your time and use the right tools and you have a pretty good chance that things will go well. There is, of course, some skill (I'm not great at getting a nice smooth drywall finish.) and so there are a bunch of things that I feel like I would need to practice on such as staining and finishing woods. But I could work on that and see how it goes. Right now a lot of the stuff we're looking at doing would be painting, and I've got that down pretty well.
This may just be a product of being at home so much and wanting to feel productive.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Corona Hot Takes
I've generally greatly decreased my media consumption over the past few days/weeks since the start of all of this. I posted a while back on the funny blog that my wife created as a silly way to document life right now about how news and social media were stressing me out and making me a little crazy and anxious because it's such a train wreck. Generally, I've been doing better with it, and there are some days where I'm pretty cut off from the nonsense of the day. I don't really miss it much because I already was at a Trump-Exhaustion level of things and this has just made it all the worse. Every day it seems like some other dumbass is saying something even stupider. I mean, I don't think I should expect any different, when the entire Republican Party has spent years denying science, calling climate change a hoax, it's only natural that this extends to what's going on now.
All this gives me a bunch of knee jerk reactions when I read stupidity. For example, the megachurch pastors that insist they should stay open because "real Christians aren't afraid to die" or that "god will protect them" or even general Republicans and Libertarians who are going to go out for "freedom" or to "own the libtards" I can't help but think, "help yourself! If you wanna go die then have at it because you're only taking out morons like you and that's better for everyone." Of course, I don't want anyone to die, I'd rather everyone stay safe, even these morons. But, I mean, they're kind of proving natural selection here if they're going to spread it among themselves and hurt themselves and their families. It's like that preacher from Virginia who called it a hoax and then died from it. Like, that's terrible, but if he wasn't such a dumbass then maybe he would have taken it seriously and would still be around today. At the same time, now he's gone and not spreading his stupidity and those who did take it seriously are still with us.
However, it seems like there is this mounting narrative that we've been overreacting because now it looks like we're **ONLY** going to have 60,000 deaths. It's amazing how this went from, "we're at 15 and soo it's going to be zero" to "well it's **ONLY** going to be 60,000 deaths from this thing so that's a win because ***IF WE HAD DONE NOTHING IT WOULD HAVE BEEN 2.2 MILLION DEATHS*** as if that was an option to sit and do nothing! I mean, federally it's been almost nothing, but thanks to proactive governors we've ended up with some strong measures and it's been helpful. I hear that and I wonder if it would have taken 2 million deaths for these jerkshits to actually take this seriously because we're at 60,000 deaths (20 times more deaths than 9/11, more deaths than in the Vietnam War which lasted from 1956-1975 and we've only been dealing with this since January) and they're saying this was a media hoax fed by overreactive Democrats. Does the entire world nearly need to burn down before these asshats become reasonable? Do they all need to drink the Kool-Aid and take the cult down because they all poisoned themselves and are dead now? I don't get it. What will it take for these sycophants to come to grips with reality and start acting like reasonable people who can negotiate in good faith instead of undermining facts and spreading misinformation, lies, and whatever it takes to villainize the other side?
I've become worried that we're reaching a situation that it will take something drastic to reframe things and break the current cycle. Before the Civil War it progressively got worse and impossible to negotiate and find common ground. It took a war to get things out of that system. In the years leading up to World War II we had economic stagnation and a rise in totalitarianism and fascism. It took a world war reset the world and stop the movement toward fascism, and help spawn serious challenges to inequality in the United States on a widespread. Now we're locked in this system where one side will do whatever to win power, who denies science, attacks experts, promotes xenophobia and is moving toward authoritarianism and fascism and can not be debated with because anything that comes from any source other than their side is "fake new." I wondered if this would be the thing that helped reset the positions and realize you can't keep shrinking government programs simply because the last guy did it, that you can't attack experts and ignore their advice because it'll lead to death and disaster. It seems like in this drastic situation it should be enough to make people realize this is nuts. We have 17 million people out of work, new unemployment claims are so far beyond anything that's ever been reported that the chart looks like a border when in fact it's the recent line. Nothing like this has happened in the lives of many people alive today. The first thing I can think of similar to the level of sacrifice is rationing during World War II. This is unprecedented. This should be the wake-up call, and yet public safety is even becoming partisan. Life and death have become partisan. Actual government officials have said that old people would be happy to die for the economy. What the actual fuck?
I don't know. It's just absurd. And there is not immunity on the left for this since we've got the Bernie or Bust crowd still out there yelling about the "rigged" primaries because their candidate got fewer votes. That Biden is no better than Trump. As if we aren't living in a literal pandemic where the country, economy, and lives are on the line. What is it going to take for people to get a grip with reality and start acting like responsible adults instead of petulant children or autocratic fascists? Would it take two million deaths? Is that what we need to realize that science, education, and expertise matters? That operating in good faith and negotiation is more important than partisan purity? I don't want to burn everything down, but is that what it's going to take?
This has been my Corona Hot Takes. Let's get it together, people.
All this gives me a bunch of knee jerk reactions when I read stupidity. For example, the megachurch pastors that insist they should stay open because "real Christians aren't afraid to die" or that "god will protect them" or even general Republicans and Libertarians who are going to go out for "freedom" or to "own the libtards" I can't help but think, "help yourself! If you wanna go die then have at it because you're only taking out morons like you and that's better for everyone." Of course, I don't want anyone to die, I'd rather everyone stay safe, even these morons. But, I mean, they're kind of proving natural selection here if they're going to spread it among themselves and hurt themselves and their families. It's like that preacher from Virginia who called it a hoax and then died from it. Like, that's terrible, but if he wasn't such a dumbass then maybe he would have taken it seriously and would still be around today. At the same time, now he's gone and not spreading his stupidity and those who did take it seriously are still with us.
However, it seems like there is this mounting narrative that we've been overreacting because now it looks like we're **ONLY** going to have 60,000 deaths. It's amazing how this went from, "we're at 15 and soo it's going to be zero" to "well it's **ONLY** going to be 60,000 deaths from this thing so that's a win because ***IF WE HAD DONE NOTHING IT WOULD HAVE BEEN 2.2 MILLION DEATHS*** as if that was an option to sit and do nothing! I mean, federally it's been almost nothing, but thanks to proactive governors we've ended up with some strong measures and it's been helpful. I hear that and I wonder if it would have taken 2 million deaths for these jerkshits to actually take this seriously because we're at 60,000 deaths (20 times more deaths than 9/11, more deaths than in the Vietnam War which lasted from 1956-1975 and we've only been dealing with this since January) and they're saying this was a media hoax fed by overreactive Democrats. Does the entire world nearly need to burn down before these asshats become reasonable? Do they all need to drink the Kool-Aid and take the cult down because they all poisoned themselves and are dead now? I don't get it. What will it take for these sycophants to come to grips with reality and start acting like reasonable people who can negotiate in good faith instead of undermining facts and spreading misinformation, lies, and whatever it takes to villainize the other side?
I've become worried that we're reaching a situation that it will take something drastic to reframe things and break the current cycle. Before the Civil War it progressively got worse and impossible to negotiate and find common ground. It took a war to get things out of that system. In the years leading up to World War II we had economic stagnation and a rise in totalitarianism and fascism. It took a world war reset the world and stop the movement toward fascism, and help spawn serious challenges to inequality in the United States on a widespread. Now we're locked in this system where one side will do whatever to win power, who denies science, attacks experts, promotes xenophobia and is moving toward authoritarianism and fascism and can not be debated with because anything that comes from any source other than their side is "fake new." I wondered if this would be the thing that helped reset the positions and realize you can't keep shrinking government programs simply because the last guy did it, that you can't attack experts and ignore their advice because it'll lead to death and disaster. It seems like in this drastic situation it should be enough to make people realize this is nuts. We have 17 million people out of work, new unemployment claims are so far beyond anything that's ever been reported that the chart looks like a border when in fact it's the recent line. Nothing like this has happened in the lives of many people alive today. The first thing I can think of similar to the level of sacrifice is rationing during World War II. This is unprecedented. This should be the wake-up call, and yet public safety is even becoming partisan. Life and death have become partisan. Actual government officials have said that old people would be happy to die for the economy. What the actual fuck?
I don't know. It's just absurd. And there is not immunity on the left for this since we've got the Bernie or Bust crowd still out there yelling about the "rigged" primaries because their candidate got fewer votes. That Biden is no better than Trump. As if we aren't living in a literal pandemic where the country, economy, and lives are on the line. What is it going to take for people to get a grip with reality and start acting like responsible adults instead of petulant children or autocratic fascists? Would it take two million deaths? Is that what we need to realize that science, education, and expertise matters? That operating in good faith and negotiation is more important than partisan purity? I don't want to burn everything down, but is that what it's going to take?
This has been my Corona Hot Takes. Let's get it together, people.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Keeping Active
This is now the fourth week for me staying at home, though the official statewide stay at home order for everyone is now in the third week. Some graphs this morning for our county have shown a persistent lower rate of increase, though cases are still growing, they just aren't growing as fast, which is good news and proof that staying at home has drastically flattened the curve here in our area, though not yet statewide. I'm disappointed because for Christmas I got Becky tickets to see the ABT perform Swan Lake at the end of April, and Danny got tickets to see the DSO do a summer blockbuster show in early June. Both have been canceled and I'm sure those things will happen again at some point, but for right now we don't have them to look forward to. In other disappointing news, we ordered some tea from a shop online, and we got it but it wasn't as good as I hoped. It's not bad, but it doesn't have the same flavor that Teavana had. I still don't understand the point of Starbucks spending millions of dollars to buy Teavana only to close them down. Like... maybe stay in your lane. Are they really recouping the expenditure through having a few varieties of their tea in Starbucks locations and the grocery store flavors? I doubt it.
As we're now in the 4th week of this thing, I've found that staying active is really important for me and my general mood. I haven't been scientific about this and tracked it, but I seem to feel more stressed out and grumpy about things on days that I don't do some sort of activity. Yesterday I ran and felt very productive. Today I didn't because I felt tired and didn't feel as productive, though my mood was much better at the end of the day after I did some yoga. I generally felt more relaxed and less anxious over the last few hours of the day after doing it. As I said, nothing scientific here, just some anecdotal evidence. The good news is that I'm getting quite a variety of activities, this week I've done indoor walks and runs, as well as yoga. Last week I did indoor walks and runs, as well as some outdoor walks, and some time on the trampoline with Sal. By the way, can we talk about the workout that you get on a trampoline? My heart rate is similar to when I run, and my legs really can feel it while we're jumping around. It's no wonder that I had weird legs and was like a rail because we were always on the trampoline when I was a teenager. It was a lot of fun.
The good news is that this increase in activity is showing a new downward curve on my weight, and in my morning runs I've really decreased the time for me to run a mile (which is now below 10 minutes). So, gotta stay active out there!
As we're now in the 4th week of this thing, I've found that staying active is really important for me and my general mood. I haven't been scientific about this and tracked it, but I seem to feel more stressed out and grumpy about things on days that I don't do some sort of activity. Yesterday I ran and felt very productive. Today I didn't because I felt tired and didn't feel as productive, though my mood was much better at the end of the day after I did some yoga. I generally felt more relaxed and less anxious over the last few hours of the day after doing it. As I said, nothing scientific here, just some anecdotal evidence. The good news is that I'm getting quite a variety of activities, this week I've done indoor walks and runs, as well as yoga. Last week I did indoor walks and runs, as well as some outdoor walks, and some time on the trampoline with Sal. By the way, can we talk about the workout that you get on a trampoline? My heart rate is similar to when I run, and my legs really can feel it while we're jumping around. It's no wonder that I had weird legs and was like a rail because we were always on the trampoline when I was a teenager. It was a lot of fun.
The good news is that this increase in activity is showing a new downward curve on my weight, and in my morning runs I've really decreased the time for me to run a mile (which is now below 10 minutes). So, gotta stay active out there!
Monday, April 6, 2020
Life In Quarantine
It's been 13 days since the order to stay home came out, and it's been 25 days since schools have closed. So basically, with the exception of going to the grocery store or the quick drive to the post office or to drop something off to family members who should not go outside, I've been home for the past 25 days. That being said, it's really not bothering me much to have to stay home. I like staying home for the most part. I like having nice slow start mornings. I like being able to work on things around the house and to be able to spend plenty of time with Sal, and all her crazy games (this morning we played pet store where she was a dog that I bought, but then went missing, and I had to put up missing pet signs so that she could pretend to be a person who found the missing dog, which was also her). Basically, I easily could be a hermit in a cabin on a mountain cut off from society. That being said, I prefer to do my job at school and I don't love doing the online school thing.
I think the thing that really surprised me was how fast this all unfolded. At the beginning of our last week in school, a coworker said to me that they thought the school would be closed by the following week, and I thought that was unlikely. It didn't seem like it would be this big of a deal, I mean we had SARS, MERS, and were bringing people in during the Ebola crisis in Africa. I guess I forgot about the sheer incompetence of the current administration. This is this bad because our fool of a president didn't take it seriously, and still 25 days into this crisis is making wild conspiracy theory style claims about drugs, and wanting to open this soon, and saying that the cure can't be worse than the disease (as if mass death is not worse than a recession). However, just today in our county we are seeing a drastic drop in new cases, surely thanks to the decisions of our governor to take this seriously even though the president did not (and has made nasty remarks about her because she has pushed back on his poor handling of the situation). It's absurd that this president has made responding to a pandemic a partisan issue with still a number of Republican-run states operating as if nothing is going on while Democratic states quickly responded to the issue and took measures that were necessary for this situation. I guess this is what happens when you spend decades being the party of stupid that goes against science, experts, and knowledge.
One thing that I've appreciated at this time is to start doing some projects around the house that we've needed to get done. We started refinishing Jasmine's old room so that Sal can move into it. We're nearly completed with it, we just need to do a little more painting and seal up around the boards so that it has a finished look to it. The problem is that we don't have enough caulk to complete the job because it took a lot more than I expected it would, and I was overestimating. We also need a could of longer finishing nails to take care of the baseboard. The problem is, it's not really a good idea to go out there and get those kinds of things. It's not necessary, and even though Lowes is open, it wouldn't be right to go out there and pick up unnecessary things. I mean, right before the stay at home order we did a purchase online for pick up, and people were just shopping like it was a normal day. I hear that's still going on now, but. we haven't really gone anywhere so I wouldn't know.
During these past few weeks, we have also done a number of online grocery orders for pick up and delivery. This is more expensive, but it seems like this is the better way to avoid things spreading but also bringing down the number of shoppers out there in the stores. I mean, a shopper had to go out to Costco so that didn't really decrease anything, but for Kroger, it just is an employee who is already out there shopping for things. I figure this also helps keep the lines from getting too clogged and people can get in and out faster. I'm not sure if this is better or worse since it puts people who probably make less in danger while I can safely stay home. Though for our shoppers who delivered I gave a sizable tip to hopefully make it worth for them to be out there doing this job. It's a weird time and it seems like there are no good answers for how we should act.
So, that's kind of a recap of the quarantine so far. It's a crazy situation and it seemed like it's something that I should log because it's definitely history. I joked with my principal the last day we were at the school that I looked forward to someday teaching about this period in history. Hopefully, people take this seriously and things can get back to normal. Hopefully, this is also teaching people that it's important for us to spend money on things like the CDC and pandemic identification systems and programs because this president closed them down and has proposed cutting the CDC budget every year including literally RIGHT NOW in the middle of a pandemic. For decades one party in this country has pushed the idea of "drowning the government in a teaspoon" and that the free market can solve all problems. Well, it seems that is not the case as this thing has spiraled for a few months now and we're looking at possibly 100,000-200,000 deaths as a result of these horrible policies.
I guess we can only do our individual bests to try and look out for everyone.
I think the thing that really surprised me was how fast this all unfolded. At the beginning of our last week in school, a coworker said to me that they thought the school would be closed by the following week, and I thought that was unlikely. It didn't seem like it would be this big of a deal, I mean we had SARS, MERS, and were bringing people in during the Ebola crisis in Africa. I guess I forgot about the sheer incompetence of the current administration. This is this bad because our fool of a president didn't take it seriously, and still 25 days into this crisis is making wild conspiracy theory style claims about drugs, and wanting to open this soon, and saying that the cure can't be worse than the disease (as if mass death is not worse than a recession). However, just today in our county we are seeing a drastic drop in new cases, surely thanks to the decisions of our governor to take this seriously even though the president did not (and has made nasty remarks about her because she has pushed back on his poor handling of the situation). It's absurd that this president has made responding to a pandemic a partisan issue with still a number of Republican-run states operating as if nothing is going on while Democratic states quickly responded to the issue and took measures that were necessary for this situation. I guess this is what happens when you spend decades being the party of stupid that goes against science, experts, and knowledge.
One thing that I've appreciated at this time is to start doing some projects around the house that we've needed to get done. We started refinishing Jasmine's old room so that Sal can move into it. We're nearly completed with it, we just need to do a little more painting and seal up around the boards so that it has a finished look to it. The problem is that we don't have enough caulk to complete the job because it took a lot more than I expected it would, and I was overestimating. We also need a could of longer finishing nails to take care of the baseboard. The problem is, it's not really a good idea to go out there and get those kinds of things. It's not necessary, and even though Lowes is open, it wouldn't be right to go out there and pick up unnecessary things. I mean, right before the stay at home order we did a purchase online for pick up, and people were just shopping like it was a normal day. I hear that's still going on now, but. we haven't really gone anywhere so I wouldn't know.
During these past few weeks, we have also done a number of online grocery orders for pick up and delivery. This is more expensive, but it seems like this is the better way to avoid things spreading but also bringing down the number of shoppers out there in the stores. I mean, a shopper had to go out to Costco so that didn't really decrease anything, but for Kroger, it just is an employee who is already out there shopping for things. I figure this also helps keep the lines from getting too clogged and people can get in and out faster. I'm not sure if this is better or worse since it puts people who probably make less in danger while I can safely stay home. Though for our shoppers who delivered I gave a sizable tip to hopefully make it worth for them to be out there doing this job. It's a weird time and it seems like there are no good answers for how we should act.
So, that's kind of a recap of the quarantine so far. It's a crazy situation and it seemed like it's something that I should log because it's definitely history. I joked with my principal the last day we were at the school that I looked forward to someday teaching about this period in history. Hopefully, people take this seriously and things can get back to normal. Hopefully, this is also teaching people that it's important for us to spend money on things like the CDC and pandemic identification systems and programs because this president closed them down and has proposed cutting the CDC budget every year including literally RIGHT NOW in the middle of a pandemic. For decades one party in this country has pushed the idea of "drowning the government in a teaspoon" and that the free market can solve all problems. Well, it seems that is not the case as this thing has spiraled for a few months now and we're looking at possibly 100,000-200,000 deaths as a result of these horrible policies.
I guess we can only do our individual bests to try and look out for everyone.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Goals Update: April Edition
This has been a crazy March. So, here's the recap.
Goal Number One - Read 12 books: This year the goal is set at 12 books, with an extended goal of 18 books. For January I finished two books up, which was a pretty good start to things. In February I didn't finish any books but I did start two. In March I again did not complete any books.
Reading List (total so far 2)
Goal Number Two - Average a one pound per week weight loss by the end of the year: I've not lost any weight, but I have started to become more active. I've been consistently moving in February, which was good progress. But here's what I got on the mini-goals:
Goal Number Four - Home Repair/Improvements: Since we've had nothing to do we started refinishing Sal's new room. She's moving into a larger room but wants it to look like her current room, so we have to put up the board and batten look to it. We've got most of it up but just need to do the finishing of it. We also had the wind rip off the top gutter, so we need to get that fixed, but the fascia boards in a few places are rotted, so we need those replaced too. I'm also really wanting to get a deck added.
Goal Number Five - Spend at least one hour a week on creative things: Well I didn't do an hour a week, but I did do two hours one week because Sal and I did art one day during the first week of being at home.
Goal Number Six - Take three photos a day: I've been doing this on my daily Instagram.
Goal Number Seven - Have seven new experiences: So, I think we're going to count two because I have never had to live through a pandemic with a shelter in place order. Then there are all the things that come with that, which include reworking my classes to be taught online, ordering groceries, fearing germs when having to actually go into the grocery store. It's a crazy world!
So, that's the crazy month of March! Ick.s
Goal Number One - Read 12 books: This year the goal is set at 12 books, with an extended goal of 18 books. For January I finished two books up, which was a pretty good start to things. In February I didn't finish any books but I did start two. In March I again did not complete any books.
Reading List (total so far 2)
- Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas
- Falling Over Sideways by Jordan Sonnenblick
Goal Number Two - Average a one pound per week weight loss by the end of the year: I've not lost any weight, but I have started to become more active. I've been consistently moving in February, which was good progress. But here's what I got on the mini-goals:
- Subgoal 1: Close my three rings 75% of the time. March was another perfect month!
- Subgoal 2: Create a schedule that includes two different activities a week. This month I had two or more activities every week. In the case of March, it was all walks and runs, both indoors and outside.
- Subgoal 3: Log every meal, every day right after the meal. Don't skip any snacks. I logged every day, and I did so timely so that was good.
- Subgoal 4: Complete another 5k race. I wanted to do the Walk and Wag 5k in May, but it looks like that won't be happening. I did get an e-mail from the pumpkin 5k from last year, maybe I'll do that again.
- Subgoal 5: Limit my snacking to under 350 calories a day. This was better under control this month. It wasn't at my goal, but it was improved. Small progress I think!
Goal Number Four - Home Repair/Improvements: Since we've had nothing to do we started refinishing Sal's new room. She's moving into a larger room but wants it to look like her current room, so we have to put up the board and batten look to it. We've got most of it up but just need to do the finishing of it. We also had the wind rip off the top gutter, so we need to get that fixed, but the fascia boards in a few places are rotted, so we need those replaced too. I'm also really wanting to get a deck added.
Goal Number Five - Spend at least one hour a week on creative things: Well I didn't do an hour a week, but I did do two hours one week because Sal and I did art one day during the first week of being at home.
Goal Number Six - Take three photos a day: I've been doing this on my daily Instagram.
Goal Number Seven - Have seven new experiences: So, I think we're going to count two because I have never had to live through a pandemic with a shelter in place order. Then there are all the things that come with that, which include reworking my classes to be taught online, ordering groceries, fearing germs when having to actually go into the grocery store. It's a crazy world!
- Visited the natural history museum at the University of Michigan
- Living in a pandemic with a stay at home order, possibly until June
So, that's the crazy month of March! Ick.s
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