Coping with Coronavirus

(ok so not quite pooping)

I had the tv playing a livestream of the bay from the Monterey Bay Aquarium all day yesterday. Got to hear the ocean and see seals and kelp. It was helpful.

MathGoddess wrote:

I had the tv playing a livestream of the bay from the Monterey Bay Aquarium all day yesterday. Got to hear the ocean and see seals and kelp. It was helpful.

That sounds nice.

I’m continuing to do headspace. A guided meditation during the day, one at night and I fall asleep to some music on their app. It’s all quite good.

Aquarium has guided meditations on their YouTube channel too! Might be worth checking out.

John Krasinski started doing feel-good “some news network” videos on YouTube. Episode 2 knocked out of the park!

Huh, I didn't realize Quellcrist was in Hamilton - cool.

I think this video belongs in every thread.

Something my wife and I have really enjoyed lately is Smule.

We both love musicals and my wife loves to sing. Smule is a social network where you basically do distributed Karaoke including duets with other people on the network.

On account of using licensed music it’s not cheap, but we leapt at the chance to enjoy singing with other people across the world and man has it been fun. It’s passed the time and I truly feel music is good for your spirit.

Some of my favorites so far.

https://www.smule.com/p/2078811389_3...

https://www.smule.com/p/2215154286_3...

And of course my beautiful wife joining a former college classmate of ours who happens to also be on the app.

https://www.smule.com/p/33485272_347...

BadKen wrote:

I think this video belongs in every thread.

Me too. I’ve only posted it in three so far...

DSGamer wrote:

Something my wife and I have really enjoyed lately is Smule.

We both love musicals and my wife loves to sing. Smule is a social network where you basically do distributed Karaoke including duets with other people on the network.

On account of using licensed music it’s not cheap, but we leapt at the chance to enjoy singing with other people across the world and man has it been fun. It’s passed the time and I truly feel music is good for your spirit.

Some of my favorites so far.

https://www.smule.com/p/2078811389_3...

https://www.smule.com/p/2215154286_3...

And of course my beautiful wife joining a former college classmate of ours who happens to also be on the app.

https://www.smule.com/p/33485272_347...

Don't know if I'll try it, but that looks very, very cool. Thanks for sharing.
Hmm, unless I can find enough duets that need a low bass...

I’m an atrocious singer and I’m still enjoying it. I’m a theater kid who was sadly trapped in the body of a football player. As an adult I just go for it, even if I never learned how to sing.

PaladinTom wrote:

John Krasinski started doing feel-good “some news network” videos on YouTube. Episode 2 knocked out of the park!

I really enjoyed the first one and in the second one I was really happy when his wife made a cameo.

Spoiler:

Then when Lin popped in I was like "oh man, that's cool". As it went on I was just stunned. I saw it before my girls got up, and knew it would make their week. My daughter has been a huge Hamilton fan and got my wife and I hooked as well. When we'd travel we'd have the soundtrack on and sing along (I make a pretty credible King), we finally took her and her best friend to see it last year, got photos with the Schuyler sisters, etc. Watching her and my wife enjoy the revelations as more and more characters showed up in this video was a delight.

The first person our family knows personally died yesterday: Charlotte Figi, the namesake of Charlotte's Web, a low-THC strain of medical marijuana used to help children with seizures. Charlotte was in a therapy group with my son for awhile, and my wife has stayed in touch with the family since. Charlotte was only a few years older than my son, and while he doesn't have the same underlying conditions, it's still a heartbreaking reminder that "at-risk" isn't a category limited to people who are older. My heart is broken for the Figi family.

Uuuugggghhhhh. f*ck. Nothing gets me more than children being affected by the stupidity of adults.

Sorry for your loss Clocky. And thank you for sharing the article. It's important that we also know that she had such an impact on the world.

Sorry, Clocky. Too many days like this.

Sorry to see the passing of John Prine. Came across this, and it was just the right tone and mood I need today. Maybe every day as this goes on. By that, I mean it's a nice song that makes you smile, and appreciate the one you are with.

Lovely song.

I've found that two things we were doing before self isolation started are actually proving very useful now. We are lucky enough to have a chest freezer in the garage and, as well as being able to have reserves of food in there, we've been regularly buying four or five freshly baked loaves of bread and freezing them. We also started having milk delivered some time ago and it is useful now, to say the least, to have milk dropped of on your doorstep every other day.

I did realise, quite a few days into isolation, that I should probably be cleaning the handle on the plastic container the milk arrives in as that was the point at which the deliver and I would be making contact.

My ideal is to only go out once every two weeks. A week or so ago I had to sort out some medicine for my Dad which required three trips to the chemists (who were snowed under with prescriptions to fill.) Most of the time I'm fine being out, it encourages me to see people spacing themselves and taking the restrictions in good heart, but occasionally I'll either feel a fraud for trying to maintain a six foot separation or, in a moment of impatience, I'll open the door with the door handle everyone else has used to exit the shop and then kick myself for being so careless for a long time afterwards. I wash my hands when I get home but the more careful you are being the more hypersensitive you become to the little lapses that could ruin your good work.

I have been awake this many hours before realizing it is Friday, not Saturday.

My wife might cut me.

So I made her some hot tea.

Jayhawker wrote:

I have been awake this many hours before realizing it is Friday, not Saturday.

My wife might cut me.

So I made her some hot tea.

Good move. I don’t know if cut means you’re off the team or you get stitches, but good move either way.

Jayhawker wrote:

I have been awake this many hours before realizing it is Friday, not Saturday.

I got extra confused when I played Animal Crossing at lunch and KK slider was there. Usually he does concerts on Saturday. Maybe because there's a fishing tournament tomorrow he moved days?

Weird day.

Just got off the phone with my insurance agent. First I had to deal with them still not taking our daughter off as a driver. She moved to California last June, and has not had a car out there, or been home. She sent her lease to prove she no longer even had access to our cars, but they needed something else. So that was annoying.

But for the coronavirus, I also took my car off our plan. We don’t need to insure two cars when we only take one out, and even that is just a couple times a week at most.

I could have dropped it to storage for $15 a month, but it’s tags expired last month, so I just took it off completely. If a car is licensed to drive, apparently you are still supposed to have some insurance on it, which is why they have the storage option.

I figured I should maximize the money we are saving by driving so much less. Gas savings are pretty big, too.

With Geico, you just call and tell them. If he's in an accident with the car, they treat it like you loaned it to a friend, and if he doesn't have coverage, it's on him. Geico would sue him for the accident cost.

You don't want to mess with Geico's lawyers...

Robear wrote:

With Geico, you just call and tell them. If he's in an accident with the car, they treat it like you loaned it to a friend, and if he doesn't have coverage, it's on him. Geico would sue him for the accident cost.

You don't want to mess with Geico's lawyers...

Actually, my wife is sort of a Geico lawyer (works for an ins defense firm). She would argue with that notion. Geico is way more likely to just cover than sue than an average agency. Which does make them a good company to use.

She did say that they probably would have made it easier to drop your kid from our policy. She would also, as a lawyer, argue they should do more.

The issue is permissive drivers. When you give someone permission to drive tour car, they are covered under your policy. And it is not an uncommon thing for people to try to do, to let a dependent drive their car, but not include them on the policy.

She does think it is asinine that her lease was not enough to get them to drop her.

But my wife would love to go to court more, but Geico avoids that to keep costs down. It’s a tough balancing act, though.

We've had occasion to shift my son's insurance, and it was easy. And I've dealt with their lawyers several times; the ones out of VA are, ah... They enjoy their work. Always took care of me the few times I needed it. (Yes, Geico is a great insurance company.)

I bow to her wisdom on what happens if the kid then drives the car. Worth knowing.

Restaurants given temporary green light to sell to-go cocktails

The Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control announced it will temporarily allow the to-go sale of alcohol beverages packaged by retailers. Usually, to-go alcohol must be in its original package.
"The change is designed to assist workers and retail licensees financially by allowing them to recover some alcohol sales that may have been lost as restaurants’ dining facilities closed because of

the coronavirus pandemic,” the ATC said in a statement.

Per the official announcement, the beverages must be in a “durable, leakproof, and sealable” container that meets the existing minimum size requirements in the Code of State Regulations for alcohol beverages in their original package.

The container must be sealed with tamper-proof tape or placed in a transparent, tamper-proof and securely sealed bag.
According to the announcement, “The change does not allow liquor licensees to sell mixed drinks in ‘to-go’ plastic or Styrofoam cups with straws or loose covers.”

A customer must purchase the beverage at the same time as a food purchase.
The waiver expires May 15.

Mostly happy because we have been getting Margaritas from one of our favorite Mexican restaurants when we ordered food from them. At the time, I think everyone was just looking the other way. Probably better to get it codified. I would hate to get into an accident and get them in trouble. And no, I was not drinking them on the way home.

But one of Pueblo Solis's top-shelf margaritas was exactly what Terasa needed the other night. I was picking up an order, when I decided to call on my way there to see if they would do it, and were totally selling them weeks ago. That was the kind of surprise she needed.

Jayhawker wrote:

But one of Pueblo Solis's top-shelf margaritas was exactly what Terasa needed the other night. I was picking up an order, when I decided to call on my way there to see if they would do it, and were totally selling them weeks ago. That was the kind of surprise she needed.

That's great. Little things are important if you can swing it. I've tried to do some little surprises and comforts here and there.

My daughter made this slime “recipe” to refresh her slime collection. You need some colourful paint, water, water-based glue and some old slime from one of those slime-kits that is too stodgy to be fun to play with. Some sparkles etc for decoration.

Mix the paints and water to get the desired colour. Add glue until the mixture is a little viscous. Add decorations. Add little bits of the old slime and mix vigorously. After a few minutes, it should hold well enough together to knead by hand. You should have a colourful, sparkly, slightly sticky blob of slime that’s fun to play with again!

Pretty sure they never stopped selling alcohol here in NC, even for to go and delivery orders.