Corona Virus & Day to Day

[ceeaton]

Thank you guys and thanks for the PM's. What I though was going to be the worse day in recent memory turned out to be the best since I married my wife 2??? ut oh, I'm in trouble...hmmm 1997...2020...May 17....almost 23 years ago in a week and a half. Just wish we could go out to dinner....

We can't control about 90% of what happens to us, but we control our attitude. Amazing what a positive one can do to turn a crappy day into a great one.

Thank you guys again for caring so much!

 

[1d10t]

I did a curbside pickup at big box hardware store. It was very busy. Way to many people couldn't be bothered to wear masks. One group that looked like a father and his two late teen/early twenty kids were so scroungy and dirty I would have avoided them pre-COVID. Of course, no masks. It wouldn't bother me as much if I could get certified N95's for my own use. I'm OK in a group where everyone is wearing what amounts to home made sneeze guards as long as there is some distancing. I have no idea what it was like in the store but there was traffic jams at the door. No traffic control at all. This is a few miles north of the county that led Ohio in deaths until the bigger counties and counties with prisons decided to catch up.

 

[ZebraB]

I also visited a curb side big box hardware store yesterday. I witness the same event. No masks and lots of people with no limits buying non essential stuff. After 25 minutes of waiting for curbside and trying to call to get a status with no avail, we bailed. Just wasn't worth it.

 

[ceeaton]

Much better day today, amazing what a good nights sleep does for your spirits. Had as full a day of work as I'm allowed pretty much, after I got the internet stable enough to connect to the VPN and work. We had an outage (two poles down, two different accidents) and sometimes the substation that controls my phone and DSL take a while to get back to normal), almost had to call the engineer for Verizon I call in Pittsburgh to have techs check it out. Had gotten his number after the backup batteries went dead in the substation a few years back and they were slow in replacing them.

Went to the grocery store and they had everything on my list except anchovies, didn't know there was a run on those. They even had bread flour and big packs of paper towels, miracles never cease to happen. Got a 7+ lb bone-in pork butt. Looking at the forecast it looks like a Sunday cook. I love using the leftovers to make up some pulled pork spicy nachos. The gift that keeps giving, especially the next morning. Just wish people could follow the arrows they have plastered down on the floor. There is usually one who can't follow simple directions (they even have one way signs), but there were about six of them (and only 25 or so people in the store). Wonder what kind of drivers they are?

Just a beautiful Spring day here, wind is starting up a bit. Guess I have to enjoy it before our rainy Friday and high wind Saturday.

Hope you'all are doing well today!

 

[DizzyIzzy]

@DizzyIzzy I'm not sure where in Georgia your nephew is, but in the Atlanta area where I live, things seem better than where I work (Santa Clara, California)...

The statistics also don’t really seem to support that the situation is “BAD” in Georgia.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/georgia-coronavirus-cases.html
Normally I would ignore your post, but I keep hearing from people who don’t live in Georgia, how bad things are here which couldn’t be further from the truth at least in the Atlanta metro area which is the bulk of the Georgia population (60%). Everyone should carefully consider their own personal risk as certain conditions and age groups are much more susceptible to this disease, and definitely an “invisible disease” creates a tremendous fear effect, however I’ve heard numerous misstatements about “the situation in Georgia” which I would caution from my point of view as a Ga resident sound a lot like fear mongering. Time will tell, but imo it’s too soon to see any real impact of our state reopening as we are barely past the early incubation stage of the earliest possible new cases.

I will call my nephew and ask him just where in Georgia he is working as an EMT. I'll get back to you. You shouldn't take my post personally, I am just conveying what an EMT who is "on-the-ground" in Georgia is reporting back to his family in Ohio and Maine. He has no reason to exaggerate or lie about the dangers he faces everyday in trying to protect the citizens of Georgia.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Jim (@Boatboy24), thank you so much for posting that, one of my favorite songs from my past. Instantly improved my mood! I was dancing in the rain (neighbors probably think I'm nuts, which I am).

I just had to file for unemployment benefits today, hours cut (2 billable hours so far this week). Fortunately the first time in my lifetime. That was a hard pill to swallow, I was brought up to support myself and family and not depend on anyone to support me (other than my parents when I was growing up). Oh lights just went out, maybe I shouldn't be typing this....or maybe He's making it so I can't go make that pizza dough in the mixer right now. Kinda gives you a new perspective when it affects you personally.

So slightly depressed and feeling sorry about myself, what do I do? Called Mom. Had an hour conversation and got to share how wonderful of a parent she was. I get my upbeat attitude (most times) and love of God from her. Remember it is Mothers Day on Sunday, call your mom if she is still around. This pandemic is really hard and cruel on our older popuation. Please pray for them if you are religious at all.

Watched earlier today and saw my Son interact with his diabetic dietician (virtual visit). He's so smart and knows his insulin pump almost better than the dietician who works with literally thousands of kids. I think my wife and I don't give each other enough credit for our four kids upbringing. Stop beating yourself to death parents, life will do that all by itself.

What to get from my ranting? If you feel down and need help, just reach out to someone. It is cliche to say we are all in this together, but we are and we will get through this with the help of each other. If you have a neighbor in need, just help, you don't have to fix all their problems, but just let them know you care and maybe fix a small one.

I hope all are well, I can't imagine losing a loved one and having to stay six feet away from each other in a mask to celebrate their life. Please, if you are so inclined, to pray for those in need.

ceeaton....I feel your pain on the need for unemployment. Thank God it's there for those who are in need., and I heard the president has authorized increased benefits? You have nothing to blame yourself for......this virus can be the undoing of so many of us. Our country, and our citizens, have seen hard times before, and we WILL survive! God bless you and your family...............stay strong, and make wine.

 

[joeswine]

And this to shall pass..my fine Vino friends,alone with the ignorance and the stupidity of others.
I've learned to enjoy my home as I venture out on my service calls
I've appreciate my wife more and the 41years we've been together , through it all.
I miss the little things and found out that the big things really weren't important after all and they will keep.
Take a breath and just relax

 

[sour_grapes]

ceeaton....I feel your pain on the need for unemployment. Thank God it's there for those who are in need., and I heard the president has authorized increased benefits?

I apologize, Dizzy. I believe in an earlier post, I made a response that assumed you were in the US. I should have known better, since this is a global forum. Where are you located?

 

[ibglowin]

IP is saying KY (USA)

Where are you located?

 

[Boatboy24]

Hoping this trend continues. The 6-7th numbers are identical because Virginia had some sort of "glitch" and didn't report on the 6th, and simply reported a revised total on the 7th. I just split that down the middle for those two days. Our 7 day moving average appears to have plateaued, despite testing having tripled in the last two weeks. We are set to begin a phased reopening next Friday, and phase 1 is pretty minimal.

 

[ceeaton]

I didn't have much work today, but boy a few us are having a good laugh! Our paychecks are mostly direct deposit so I had my boss mail it to me when he went in the other day. The reason I had him do this is because it was a rather large sum in my direct deposit. When I got the check I realized why it was so large, they credited me with 144.5 hours, when it should be 80 (at a reduced rate for the 8 hours we miss every week). I had turned in a weeks vacation for pay, which they are nice enough to do at the beginning of May and June. But the 40 was on a separate line. I thought they may have cashed all my vacation in at a much reduced rate. But no, they gave me 40 at regular rate (when I earned it last year). Now how do you get 144.5 when it should be 80? Can't be a typo. So I scanned and emailed the check to our payroll manager and the HR manager. Still waiting to see who they blame it on. I'll owe back $1000+ dollars, but the laughs messaging back and forth between a few of us is worth sending it back.

Have a great Fryday! (Not a typo, I work for a company called Fry)

 

[Boatboy24]

Maybe they'll let you keep it. You know, just for being honest.

 

[ceeaton]

Maybe they'll let you keep it. You know, just for being honest.

Nice thought. When I brought up the issue with the payroll manager, he said you can't apply for UC benefits because you are salary. Here he never heard they converted a bunch of us from salary to hourly so they could slash our hours. Last four weeks they have been posting us as 80 hours and reducing our multiplier used to figure out the salary (little strange in my mind). Since they already sent in my 401K deduction, they can't just let me send them a check to reimburse the extra funds I received. Sounds like they will deduct the difference from my next...4 or 5 paychecks. I will be getting $0 dollars until I bill enough hours to make up the difference. Oh well. The best is the HR manager hasn't come up with the numbers yet I have to change for my initial claim. Fortunately I know the payroll manager from another printing company and she was gracious enough to set up a time tomorrow to talk with me to try and help me get my numbers in order enough to get my initial claim to go through.

 

[joeswine]

Trials and tribulations,of the work place ever changing, always evolving,getting more politicly correct.and can't think there way out of a paper bag. No offence mind you just a thought
.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

I apologize, Dizzy. I believe in an earlier post, I made a response that assumed you were in the US. I should have known better, since this is a global forum. Where are you located?

I live in central Ohio, about 1 hr. 15 min. NE of Columbus.

 

[sour_grapes]

I live in central Ohio, about 1 hr. 15 min. NE of Columbus.

Oh, now I need to apologize again! Sorry about that, your comments above made it sound like you were not from the US. Sorry for my confusion.

 

[GreginND]

So, it looks like the US is plodding along only very very slowly showing a downward trend in new cases and new deaths. My guess is that this will continue or even start to rise again as many places in the US "open up".

 

[Chuck E]

So, it looks like the US is plodding along only very very slowly showing a downward trend in new cases and new deaths. My guess is that this will continue or even start to rise again as many places in the US "open up".

When the goal was to "Flatten the Curve," in order to keep hospitals and staffs from becoming overwhelmed; that never meant that the death toll would be smaller. It only meant it would last longer into the future. I think that is what we are are seeing in the urban population centers. If you take NY & NJ out of the stats, the US looks like it is doing well compared with other countries. We have several "hot spots" that skew our numbers.

 

[sour_grapes]

When the goal was to "Flatten the Curve," in order to keep hospitals and staffs from becoming overwhelmed; that never meant that the death toll would be smaller. It only meant it would last longer into the future. I think that is what we are are seeing in the urban population centers. If you take NY & NJ out of the stats, the US looks like it is doing well compared with other countries. We have several "hot spots" that skew our numbers.

I more or less agree with most of your post. However, the underlined/bolded part doesn't make sense, IMHO. We are discussing a highly contagious disease with no known treatment. We are not talking about Type 2 diabetes or something. "Hot spots" are how Covid rolls. Clusters don't skew the numbers, they ARE the numbers. So you want to take out the clusters, and then compare US data to other countries where you DON'T exclude their clusters?

I would also quibble that "flatten the curve" meant that the case numbers (not deaths) would be similar, but just spread out more in time. My understanding was that we also had reason to hope for fewer deaths, because it is harder to survive while being treated by an overwhelmed health system. But I acknowledge that this is a second-order effect.

 

[GreginND]

Actually, NY and NJ have largely declined and their curves have gone way down. If you take them out, the rest of the country shows a continued increase.