How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

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andy10917
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How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by andy10917 » March 17th, 2020, 6:43 pm

This is the 9,287th day of my incarceration (oh wait a minute, it started last Monday).

Working from home is not the dream that we so hoped for, when you have no choice and you see 4 walls 9am-5pm, and 4 different walls the other waking hours.

I'm near the NYC hotspot, 60+, and diabetic. High-risk if I get COV-19.

How is everyone else adjusting (assuming you've had to make adjustments)???

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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by edslawn » March 17th, 2020, 7:09 pm

We're at home witth the hatches battened down and working from home. My wife, two teen age girls, two dogs and myself. I'm with you...getting old fast... I did get my prodiamine down this weekend, so I can still work on the yard (thankfully I'm stocked). Also have a new 12x20' shed that I've been getting sorted out. Plenty of food and liquor, so we are good there. Hopefully, we can quickly get this thing behind us and get the economy cooking again.

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » March 17th, 2020, 11:45 pm

The only thing I get to do outside my house right now is yardwork.

Thank goodness for this hobby it's my sanity lol

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » March 17th, 2020, 11:47 pm

And yeah, everybody thinks it's great get to work from home but when you dont leave the house for 3 days.....

Work and private life blend, you end up working nonstop.... you get less exercise...

Wait until its 3 weeks....

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Dchall_San_Antonio
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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » March 19th, 2020, 1:58 am

My wife's school district had extended spring break for a second week. Then late last week (end of 1st week), two teachers in the district got symptoms and were tested. Don't have the results yet but that spooked the district into extending to a 3rd week of break. It's really a good thing those teachers were not in school. So she's in a relatively high risk position as the librarian in an elementary school, but they are addressing the issue.

My daughter's college extended spring break to 2 weeks and will do only online instruction at least through April. I'm not sure what that means for her three lab classes.

I retired last November although I did not realize it until December. Long boring story if you're not living it, but my former employer has been fired and has lots of lawsuits against her. When I got let go it signaled the beginning of the end for her. But anyway after checking all my retirement sources, I ended up with a 9% raise after taxes, so good news. Rather than looking for a new job and moving, I'm retired. Thus, COVID has not affected my retired lifestyle. I got second hand smoke at home until I was about 11 and none since. No diabetes, no meds, and no flu for years. I live on a golf course outside a town of 900 people, so social distancing is the normal way of life here. So I'm in a relatively low risk position, of course with the caveat that my wife is in a higher risk position.


deboy922
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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by deboy922 » March 19th, 2020, 9:01 pm

Wife is a 5th grade teacher and is off this week until 5/1 at least. 2 college kids came home this week for the year...1 is doing their classes online...the other is on spring break this week and will start online classes next week. Next week, I start work-at-home every-other-day Hope my wifi holds up! I worry for my parents and father-in-law...and the economy. Hoping for some warmer weather to get the family outside more. Stay safe everyone!

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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by bpgreen » March 20th, 2020, 12:48 am

If you're new to working from home, it can be an adjustment.

Set up a work area and only use it for work. If possible, use one computer only for work, and use another computer or tablet for non work. If you've got multiple people in the house working or studying from home, carve out a section for each person, if possible, and schedule conference calls.

Get up, take a shower, shave, get dressed in clothes you'd wear to work (or the client site). The last part can be temporary, but at first, it can help put you in work mode.

Get up once an hour and walk for a minute or two. I have a fitness watch that prompts me ti do this. There are also programs that will prompt you.

Exercising outside is not only ok, it's encouraged, as long as you keep 6 ft away from other people.

Slack, teams, Skype, zoom, webex, gotomeeting, etc, are all good apps to help stay connected with coworkers (or family you can't or shouldn't physically visit). That's not meant to be an exhaustive list, just examples. When you join a call, go on mute immediately. Only go off mute when you bef to talk. If you share your screen, stop sharing before checking emails or ims. Also pause notifications first.

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andy10917
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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by andy10917 » March 20th, 2020, 7:28 am

I agree with everything BP said, and I've worked at home for many years, part of the time. But this is clearly different. Somehow, knowing that this is mandatory and long-term makes the walls close in, psychologically.

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Dchall_San_Antonio
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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » March 25th, 2020, 9:19 pm

I worked from home or in a hotel room for 8 years. Everything bpgreen said worked for me. If you don't get up and face the day like a normal work day, sure enough there will be a (small) meeting you have to go to, and you won't be ready to go.

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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by Dargin » March 26th, 2020, 3:14 pm

Hanging in alright here. Taxed, but functional...

Still need to hit the market more often than I'd like; wish I was good for a few months, but no way around it. I go masked (surgical) and gloved up. Disinfecting everything on porch before it comes in.

Concerned for my mother, 64, who still has to commute to work via the train, and my father, 73, who has diabetes, former 30 year smoker, pacemaker, you name it...

Working to keep everyone around me healthy; physically and psychologically. But thinking about the coming months is just a series of giant question marks.

On a positive note I know more about bleaches and alcohols than I ever thought I would. Figures it would take a pandemic for me to -really- care about chemistry.

Stay safe guys.

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Dchall_San_Antonio
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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » May 3rd, 2020, 5:15 pm

May 3 update: Of course my wife's school has been closed for the duration since Spring Break. As the librarian at an elementary school, she has sat in on all the other teachers' Zoom meetings online. It is interesting to see the different ways the teachers have adapted to online teaching. At her school there is one clear winner - a superior application of the Zoom tools and instruction. Most of the rest are pretty grouped together as average, but a couple teachers cannot manage to remain online for an entire class. What??? I call them the sloths.

My county has had 5 cases of "the rona." Two of them are recovered. They have not released any more information. Mask usage out here is about 30% and seems to depend on where you are. In our little grocery store, there are more masks than anywhere else. Interestingly, the grocery store has everything back on the shelves and have for about a week. I was at Walmart yesterday (in the big city), and they still don't have toilet paper. Texas' huge grocery chain, HEB, has toilet paper from Mexico. HEB has a big presence in northern Mexico, so I'm certain they have to source lots of items from Mexico due to Mexico's import laws. Anyway, butter is the only other thing missing at Walmart. I did not check for flour. I hear a lot of people are baking...as if bread was gone from the shelves. Maybe baking is just a way to pass the time.

My oldest daughter teaches Spanish I in Austin. After her administration fumbled the ball, she developed an integrated approach using Zoom, YouTube, and Google docs to interact with her students.

The youngest daughter is in college. I sat in on her genetics teacher's prerecorded class. OMG! The teacher cannot follow a track. I don't know what tools she's using but she doesn't know how to use them. Plus, I know what she tried to do is trivial using PowerPoint, but she could not get her point across without apologizing (for her ineptitude) over and over. The university administration is toying with pass/fail for all classes this semester. I helped her study for genetics and believe she will finish up fine, but no thanks to the teacher. Sheesh! So the teachers were caught completely off guard trying to teach online without any preparation or advanced notice.

Texas "reopened" this past Friday. Yesterday, Saturday, our little town was inundated with visitors. It's sort of a tourist attraction (Cowboy Capital of the World), but the attractions they come here for are not open. Those would be the parks, bars, and restaurants. Some of the locals like to ride their horses to the bars, but when they're not open, then, no horses for the visitors to see. It's going to be very interesting to see what the disease statistics do in 2 weeks. I think opening up was premature, but the pressure from the businesses is pretty strong.

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 3rd, 2020, 5:25 pm

Turns out I'm busier than a one legged man in an azz kicking contest.

Demand for what I do took a big spike due to rona

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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by schreibdave » May 4th, 2020, 8:34 pm

My wife and I have been working from home since March 16th but work for both of us is slow. My son works for UPS so he is essential and still working. My daughter is a medical student in NC. They had just started the hospital rounds portion of her education when this all started and the students all got sent home. The work she is missing will have to be made up. My dad is 76 and still lives in Manhattan, one brother is a NYC firefighter, the other is an RN at a makeshift covid hospital in Wooster MA.

What would make this so much better is if the weather here in Syracuse was tolerable - it's not. Cloudy, rain, 40s and 50s. I have free time and lots of things I could do in the yard but not with this weather. By the time it warms up I'll probably have to go back to work. Not ideal.

On a related subject, in mid March my son came down with an "infection" in two finger tips. The first anti-biotic didn't touch it and after a week they put him on a different one. The "infection" cleared up after that. Looking back now we think he had "covid fingers" which is thought to be a symptom of the disease. At the same time I had a cold. So ... we're thinking that he and I were probably infected. And if we were, my wife probably was too. So maybe we have immunity now?

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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by PW405 » May 5th, 2020, 9:53 am

Hangin' in there... just... bored. Somehow managed to fall behind on yard work. The GRASS is doing pretty well, but general yard work, flower beds, projects etc. all kinna fell by the wayside the past few weeks. I haven't even send in my soil sample to Logan Labs this year.

Ironically, I've found that working from home (week 8 now) has translated to LESS free time. For some reason, about 30 minutes before I would usually be off work for the day, I am suddenly imbued with the energy and focus of 5 men and I get carried away on a project and wind up working 11 hour days with no lunch. I have, however, made it a point to apply some BLSC + KH on lunch twice so far.

Hope everybody is well as many states start to re-open!

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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by DevilDawg81 » September 22nd, 2020, 9:53 pm

Are you guys still working from home? I work for a very large company and it’s likely I’m working from home indefinitely. It has been an adjustment. My wife and I have both carved out work spaces and we’ve somehow managed not to snap at one another.

I can’t say it’s been 100% ideal, it’s had both positives and negatives.

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andy10917
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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by andy10917 » September 22nd, 2020, 10:03 pm

I'm still sitting in that same chair I was on March 9th. I've learned to get up and go out to the porch between upteen meetings. I can do tricks with MS Teams, Zoom, Google Meetings.

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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by MorpheusPA » September 22nd, 2020, 10:35 pm

The husband is working from home and has been advised that they will be doing so through next summer as the company does not expect a permanent resolution to this until at least then and isn't going to expect anybody to be back until that point at the bare minimum.

As for me, I can't find jack. My earliest possible recall date would be January, but that's unlikely. On the up side, it has lead to an expansion of any number of skills, talents, and crafts, and tons of time for remote volunteer work.

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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by DevilDawg81 » September 23rd, 2020, 7:36 am

I went into the office about a month ago and my heater was still running from March haha. I turned it off, packed up everything I could and brought it home. I too will sit out on the patio to get some fresh air. It does seem like there's more meetings now.

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by ken-n-nancy » September 23rd, 2020, 8:10 am

DevilDawg81 wrote:
September 23rd, 2020, 7:36 am
I went into the office about a month ago and my heater was still running from March ...
Ouch! That sounds expensive! If it was an electric space heater, I'm surprised it hadn't caught on fire!

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Re: How Is Everyone Doing? (Coronavirus)

Post by bpgreen » September 23rd, 2020, 4:09 pm

I'm still working from home and will be for the foreseeable future.

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