COVID 19 Poll

[Dan Gould]

How do you stand?

Edited March 22, 2020 by Dan Gould

[Hardbopjazz]

A bidet helps to save in toilet paper.  

[JSngry]

 

[Ken Dryden]

We were already well stocked with toilet paper before this crazy hoarding began. You have to be prepared when you stock 4.5 bathrooms.

There is plenty of unheard music to enjoy, unviewed DVDs and Blu-rays, along with numerous unread books. There is no excuse for boredom around here...

 

[medjuck]

Yes, as I posted on FB:  In the one week I've been self quarantined, thanks to TCM and The Criterion Channel I've watched :

Louise Webber's "The Blot", 1921

Josephine Baker in The Siren of the Tropics, 1928,( a silent movie with lots of dancing and on which the assistant director was Louis Bunuel.)

John Ford's "The Quiet Man" ,1952

Renoir's "Toni", 1935

Three short films by Agnes Varda

Private Lives 1931

Mrs. Miniver 1942

Renoir's "On Purge Bebe" 1931

How do I fix the above? When I go to "edit" it looks fine. 

Edited March 22, 2020 by medjuck

[clifford_thornton]

Telecommuting and set for TP but damn this shit is freaking me out.

[jazzbo]

Up til today the biggest problem for me so far is missing hanging out with my Dad and having meals with him, something I usually do once or twice a week. They won't let me see him unless he turns fatally ill, which I sure don't want to happen. I suspect I'll get used to it. . . but I'm eager for this restriction to end.

Then today I discovered that one of my wife's nephews, who lives in NYC, has come down with the virus. He's mid-thirties and healthy so I'm hoping it will be just an illness that passes with limited misery. . . .

Edited March 23, 2020 by jazzbo

[ejp626]

Very sorry to hear that!  The odds are good for him at least.

I know a fair number of people in NYC, and I am sure it is terrifying right now.  It's pretty bad in Toronto, and we don't have it nearly as bad (so far).

[Rooster_Ties]

I guess I might as well come clean about my situation.
 

The museum I used to work for (since 2013) had to temporarily close to the public for 3.5 months starting in mid-November — an unforeseen major construction project that would have been impossible to stay open during (long story).

All salaried staff and some part-timers were kept on the payroll during the closure, and most work continued behind the scenes, but the loss of revue was huge, and the museum had to permanently lay-off 20% of salaried staff at the beginning of February, and the two hardest hit departments were Admin and Education - and MY JOB was part of that cull.

I used to be the assistant to the executive director, and I managed everything related to the museum’s board of trustees. Best job I’ve ever had, and having to leave was tough, and I’ll leave it at that. Great place, and incredible people I got to work with. People at all levels were affected, including the vice-president for Education, and people who had been there 10+ years.

Then literally on the eve of the Museum re-opening to the public (on March 13), the Smithsonian closed their doors for 4-6 weeks (I forget which), which of course meant practically every museum in DC (rightfully) followed suit.

Since I’m no longer on staff there, I have no idea of the specifics of their situation, but I’m sure they’ll have to be closed for 2 months more (minimum, if not longer) - and I’m guessing they’ve got to be paying staff only partial payroll checks now (or something like that), given the prior financial situation (given our/their closure since mid-November).

I got 6 weeks severance, plus 2 weeks vacation pay (unused roll-over from last year), but I’m otherwise my wife’s new assistant as she’s working from home 100% since the beginning of last week.

She has a good Federal job, with 25 years in the same department (of Education, I might as well say), so we’re not too worried about her employment going forward. And she’s been the major breadwinner in our household for the last 15 years. But given the new unemployment applications being up 3,000% in the last week, I suspect I’m dead in the water for the next 6 months, at a minimum.

Fortunately my wife and I get along splendidly (it’s just us, and our cat), and we expect to be hunkered down at home 98% for the next 2 months, only going out when necessary.

As far as life for us here in DC of late, for about the last week or so there are now manned police cars 24/7 on every other block all along the commercial street we live on (in the absolute heart of the DC zip code with by far the highest population density in the entire District and wider DMV area) — maybe for about 10–20 blocks (I’d imagine all of 14th street from where we are, plus half a mile North, and then South as far as another mile or 2 even). I haven’t been any farther south than our vet’s office (3/4ths of a mile from us), so I don’t know how far it extends.

No sirens, but said police cars do have their wild and bright roof-mounted lights flashing/spinning 24/7, so there is both a sense of imposed order, and calm, with a dash of “Martial Law” thrown in, for good measure.

But I’m glad the DC PD are taking all this as seriously as they are. Shit could get real, and fast too, if things really go south - which I’m *NOT* expecting, but who knows?

 

We don’t know anyone who’s had the virus for sure, but we know about 5-6 people who think they might(?) have had the mild cases (but with no testing, no way to know).

Hell, I think there’s a 20% chance the slight symptoms and weird headaches I had the week of March 9th might have been it - but who knows? My wife has had some similar super-mild symptoms too this last week, but neither one of us have had a fever (not in the slightest, and we’ve been taking our temps 2x per day for a couple weeks now). So we don’t THINK we’ve had it, but again, some weird (slight) symptoms. But hell, it could be colds, or allergies (in my case), and it could easily just be psychosomatic too.

We’re staying in 98%, save for grocery shopping and taking our cat to the vet 2x (and they're not letting people inside their building even). The cat had to have some bladder stones taken out on Friday, and she’s doing pretty well, all things considered (sweetest cat ever, btw).

And now my wife has a new personal chef too!! 😊

Edited March 23, 2020 by Rooster_Ties

[felser]

38 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said:

And now my wife has a new personal chef too!! 😊

Thanks for sharing your story.  I hope others will do the same.  What are your culinary specialties?

[jlhoots]

I make all of the salads, open the wine & help with cooking any way I can. My wife is a superb cook. I could never match her.

[felser]

Just now, jlhoots said:

 My wife is a superb cook. I could never match her.

Same here.  I do the kitchen clean up and put the food away.  Also, back in the ancient past (like 2 weeks ago), back when we would get take-out food sometimes, I handled all of that.

[Dan Gould]

If I want to eat, I cook. 

Been that way for a while.

However this week will be a little different as we decided to conserve the meat on hand and she will be making her secret family recipe for Mac and cheese.

Two notes about that:

I had to convince her that her recipe needed ham to actually become a meal but

I thought Mac and cheese came out of a box when I was a kid so this is pretty good compared to then.

 

Correction, pretty *awesome* compared to back then. She just finished it and I just had a taste before it went into the oven .... With something new, those fried onion pieces on top.

[JSngry]

Mac & cheese made from scratch is one of the more awesome things in life, especially when you get to playing with multiple/fancier cheeses!

Mid you, I have zero insight on how to do that at any level other than just eating it!

[ghost of miles]

Sorry to see that someone on the board knows somebody who's died from COVID-19.  

[catesta]

I do 90% of the cooking at home and therefore 90% of the grocery shopping. That was a deal made years ago to let me of the hook for other chores.

My wife makes fantastic and very creative salads, so I leave that to her as well as any dessert type baking.

If there is a positive in any of this crap, it's the allowance she is making for more pasta. Saturday night we had bolognese (home made) with orecchiette and a chicken soup with tortellini last night.

Tonight though, looks like a kale salad with grilled chicken.

[felser]

13 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

Sorry to see that someone on the board knows somebody who's died from COVID-19.  

Me too.  And there will be more.

[JSngry]

46 minutes ago, catesta said:

Tonight though, looks like a kale salad with grilled chicken.

I feel sorry for kale. It always does its best to be loved, I mean, I know its got a good heart and a pure spirit and SHOULD be loved.

and I try to love it, I mean, I really. REALLY try.

But ya' know, you can make yourself do a lot of things, but you can't make yourself love.

[Dan Gould]

I'm thinking I should redo the poll every couple of weeks or each month.

[catesta]

4 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I feel sorry for kale. It always does its best to be loved, I mean, I know its got a good heart and a pure spirit and SHOULD be loved.

and I try to love it, I mean, I really. REALLY try.

But ya' know, you can make yourself do a lot of things, but you can't make yourself love.

I hear you. My lady is making me a believer though. She does this fantastic kale apple salad in which she julienne cuts lacinato kale, adds sliced honeycrisp apples, toasted almonds, dates or dried cranberries, tosses with Pecorino Romano (Grana or Parmigiano works too) and a lemon with a touch of honey vinaigrette. Pretty tasty.

I also got turned on to Chris Cosentino's lemon kale pesto.

[JSngry]

I never have difficulty beginning to love kale.

It's sustaining the love that appears impossible.

[catesta]

Hearing that too.

I bought kale chips once.

[felser]

9 minutes ago, catesta said:

I bought kale chips once.

but not twice.  I actually don't really mind it.  

[David Ayers]

4 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

 

And now my wife has a new personal chef too!! 😊

Thanks for sharing all of that. Nicely written to boot!

[JSngry]

59 minutes ago, felser said:

but not twice.  I actually don't really mind it.  

Exactly. Don't ever mind it. Just can't love it.

Brenda has prepared it like any other fresh green, boiled it in a pot full of onions, spices, and bacon. It's delicious once or twice. But inevitably, when walking past it on the fresh greens section in the grocery, we never keep picking it.

I feel sorry for kale, really I do. It never hurt anybody.