Corona virus, what's different for you.

political addresses should all be like this in the future:

That's fabulous. Nicely done.

We had a friend stay over last night, he had just completed his 14 days of isolation after moving back from interstate and catching up for some wine and dinner was great.

That was a change from the last few weeks. Our standard Friday night routine has become playing an online quiz night with a few friends around the country on video chat, and maybe watching a movie through Netflix Party or similar. Having a physical guest was nice.

A big change in the last week is the feeling about gatherings here. People are getting less scared of going out, but are largely still following the emergency laws. We can have small gatherings in person now, but none over 10 people. The wife returned to work on a limited basis this week, although there isn't much business yet.

These next few weeks may be some of the hardest to enforce. 9 days with no new cases, and our state Premier (closest equivalent: US Governer/state level PM) has started publicly talking about how we could aim for full elimination.

The tipping point to get confident that has happened is 28 days of no new cases. That's a long time for people to follow the rules when the threat seems to have gone, but it would be so much worse if we had a slip up and cases spread again.

A big topic of the conversation last night was the surrealness of the whole situation in general, but especially here. The stories and numbers coming from overseas are horrifying, and it feels weird to say that we too are living through a historic time like this when right now we are largely just...waiting.

Anyway, that's what's different for me right now.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053137/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

It does feel a little like that!

Mods can we please send someone to check on ed69? I'm really worried.

Honestly you should check out the BSG reboot if you already haven't. A much better version of Voyager.

Anecdotally, L.A. traffic has increased. Still not up to "normal" levels (I've never understood where all these people have to get to in the middle of the day), but a few weeks ago a pedestrian could cross the street unscathed without standing patiently on the curb waiting for the light (which no NYer does anyway - "I'm walkin' here. I'm walkin' here!" - took me years to acclimate to the fact that six lanes of traffic will screech to a halt if I step off the curb).

Within the past few days, I'd say, there's about 50% of the "normal" traffic on the main drags, quiet on the side streets.

And there are still assholes on the streets and in stores not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing. (I guess you think you and your gf/bf and your annoying little dog are immune. Well, you'll find out, I suppose.)

Small, local grocery stores are requiring masks and distributing gloves. Target, not so much.

A little more than a week ago, if I was out in a store, I would see a fair number of people wearing masks and gloves. Yesterday when I went to the store (and since the governor announced that we'd be reopening the state today), I saw almost no one wearing masks or gloves. Even in the staff in the stores I went in were no longer wearing masks and gloves. Does not fill me with confidence at all.

We had our restrictions lifted here on Georgia, yesterday traffic was probably around 80% of normal around Atlanta at noon. It was around 30-35% 2 weeks ago and has slowly increased.

No matter what level or technique of virus spreading protection you practice - the virus doesn't have a calendar. It's not like any chosen date will suddenly make everything better.
If Georgia is any indication the economy will throttle back up and things will return to some level of "normal" at a gradual, incremental pace that will vary greatly within states, counties and communities.
It is not "one size fits all" by any stretch.

Traffic for me is about 50 percent of normal for civilian Augusta areas, but once you get closer to the Fort Gordon gate it drops to about 20 percent. Many soldiers and other employees aren't at work on any given day because of coronapocalypse. Anyway with less gridlock by my way of thinking there should be less frustration, less speeding because you are running late for work, and so on.

So why are people still driving like rude irresponsible self centered fucktards? Let's enjoy our light traffic while we can! It's our one ray of hope in this long tumultuous ordeal!
Maybe old habits are hard to break or something....I don't know.

Traffic here in DC is picking back up. I had to go to the office yesterday - first time in four weeks - and volume was still light but definitely more than it has been. Building was mostly empty. The agency has temperature checks before you go in, everyone is required to mask up, and there are hand sanitizer refill stations at the entrances. So I refilled my bottle. Wearing a mask all day is annoying but it sure beats dying of the ‘rona.

Afterward I did a Costco run. Lots of people masked, a few not, long line to get in since they limit how many people can be inside at one time. Came home and followed protocol with the stripping and showering and stuff.

Stripping and showering are not covid shopping protocol.

That's for nukular.

Same here too. In the beginning it's like 90% of the place is dead and it's just you and a handful of others.

Now it's not back to pre-Covid levels but it is definitely busier. More like weekend afternoon traffic levels.

Schools and daycare to pick up their kids.

When school is out traffic is way down in the middle of the day where I live.

This is what happens when you don't mask up.



Mask:



No mask:



Wear your masks folks......

I did just notice that the damage is both only on the right side of their faces.

Was Two-Face doing makeup for the movie?

Scientist working on the front lines.

One thing that's unintended, or not expected, but I've lost about 12-14 pounds. My activity level has gone down a bit, I was working 5 day weeks since January through the beginning of March, previously until I tore my rotator cuff, I was working 4 day day weeks. And then when the whole corona virus thing hit, I had a week where I didn't work, and then went to working 3-4 days weeks here and there. That lasted until the first week of April where I had 5 day week, and then went back to a 4 day week. So that had nothing to do with the weight loss, what is different is how I'm eating, instead of having fast food for breakfast, and sometimes lunch, and dinner being home cooked, I'm now eating and have been eating every meal home cooked. I know that fast food isn't the best choice, but I didn't realize it could make that much of a difference.

Also, I was working an average of 44 hours a week, now I'm at about 30-32 hours a week. But my income is the same or slightly higher. For the hours I'm actually working I do get hazard pay, even though my contact with people that are not my coworkers has gone down about 90%. I have very little contact with anyone that's not a coworker, which is good. Work is paying us 38 hours a week, even if we work less than that or not at all. So my last 2 paychecks were about 10% higher on the take home pay, even though my actual working hours were about 24 hours less, and my hours paid were about 12 less.

I'd probably lose more weight, but my beer consumption is the same, if not slightly higher.

hmmm.....less work and more pay? I can't argue with that! Rotator cuff tear? I know a lot of folks who have gone through that - you have my sympathy! Nobody thinks much about their rotator cuff until they tear it, then they never forget it.

I think I've GAINED 10 pounds. Eating bigger breakfasts and better lunches now that I'm away from the cafeteria at work, and not worried about my fucking boss glaring at me for eating instead of working.

Just saw this on our hometown FB group:

damn...
Bryan Adams has had a meltdown.




If his career wasn't dead enough yet, it's now collateral/kamikaze damage.

From a friend who works in Shopright:

what's "instacart"?

A small miracle: www.instacart.com

There's an annual fee if you want free delivery (used to be $99; now it's $149 a year), but you can order from almost every supermarket, chain pharmacy, even Target, from their website, choose your time of delivery, and it's right at your door. Yes, there's a tip for the shopper/driver, but often the prices are lower than in the store itself.

Of course, with the lockdown, they stopped delivery entirely for two weeks, but they're back online now.

thanks for the info, but hard pass on it. If I ever become handicapped or lose my driver's license though it might come in handy, so I'm not dismissing it entirely.

Fair enough. I just added up the hours I spent in supermarket-aisle gridlock ("It's water, bitch! Fat-free, gluten-free, keto-friendly water! Put it in your fucking cart and quit blocking the aisle!") and decided this was easier. There's still a local Mom & Pop grocery I go to for little things (and fantastic produce), but given how many idiots still can't tell the difference between six feet and six inches (even though the six-feet limit is marked in the cashier line and, no Tootsie, your bf may tell you it's six inches, but it's not... really), Instacart does me just fine. Plus most of the shoppers and drivers are students or people between jobs, so it helps them. Works for me.