A recent conversation with a very wise person inspired the following, so while I can’t take credit for all of it, I’ve tried to make the words my own:

One of the outcomes of this recent stay-at-home situation is that we have all been given a gift of time.  It is up to each of us to determine how best to take advantage of this gift.  If you are still working but working from home, instead of gazing out the office window or scrolling through Facebook during an idle moment, you can use that moment in another way.  Connect with a friend by phone, water your plants, go for a walk.  If you are out of work, you can use the time to learn a new skill or update your resume or LinkedIn profile.  If you’ve been thinking about quitting your job and starting something new, the first (and often the hardest!) step may have already been done for you.  Figure out what you want to do next and start preparing for it.

One of the most frequent things I hear from people is a statement that starts out with “when this is all over….”  When what is all over?  Life?  No, this IS life.  This is change.  We’re probably not going to return to “Before” in terms of everything being exactly the same.  We’re likely going to move on to “Next.”  And Next will be different.  I hear people talk about the “new normal” like it is some idyllic, static situation.  It’s not.  Many things will return to the way they were before, but many won’t.  As an example, Kathy & I have found that cooking at home and not eating at restaurants is good for us.  Maybe that’s our Next.  It’s probably not a good idea to hop onto a cruise ship for a while.  Maybe that’s our Next.  We can’t wait to get in the car and drive 5 or 8 or 10 thousand miles on a road trip.  We could do that now but it probably won’t be a lot of fun.  Hopefully in another month or two that might be possible.  Maybe that’s our Next.

I’ve got a whole list of projects and priorities that I’m working on.  I hope I get a lot of them accomplished.  I also hope that I don’t, because that will hopefully mean that we’re getting back to some of the things we’ve had to put off during this time.  We’ll see.  But in the meantime, we’ll take a day at a time and when it’s time to pack the car and head off, you can bet we’ll be ready!

Friday is trash day in our neighborhood, and once in a while on my morning walks I come across something that’s a little bit different or interesting.  Since the Goodwill store is closed, I guess people are just throwing stuff in the trash.  That’s a shame, although I suspect that a lot of stuff that Goodwill gets will eventually end up in the trash.  This morning there was a set of golf clubs sticking out of someone’s can,  I recently got rid of a set of my own (less a sentimental putter), but I took them to Goodwill.  Not that I know, but the ones I saw this morning looked better than the ones I got rid of.  No, I didn’t bring them home.

Later in my walk I passed an empty box from a 75″ television.  75″!  Lordy that’s huge!  The “recommended viewing distance” for a 75″ 4G TV is 8-12 feet.  First of all, I only have maybe 3 walls in my entire house to hang a TV  that size, and there is only one of them where I could get that far away!  Yikes!  We don’t even have a TV, although we’ve been contemplating buying one just to watch old movies.  In the meantime we’ve watched a few on my 24″ computer monitor.  That seems large enough!

Something else I wanted to mention.  I know that a few people who read my blog might have something interesting to say in reply, but don’t feel comfortable posting a comment.  That’s OK!  If you are an email subscriber, replying to the email you receive will come directly to me and not post to the blog.  If you subscribe via an RSS feed, you can send me an email directly at tomdills (at) tomdills.com.  I welcome the dialog and feedback, and I don’t judge!

One of our local columnists wrote recently about an experience he had with some people wearing and some people not wearing masks.  He described a situation where he was waiting for a carryout order outside a restaurant.  He and the other two people in line were wearing masks.  During this time, a person without a mask walked into the store, picked up his order and left.  Those standing in line were apparently incensed by – not the idea of the guy cutting in line – the fact that the guy was not wearing a mask.

The writer opened his post by stating that “There are plenty of ways to divide us into two types of people.  I think the newest way is this: Those who wear masks when they go out and about, and those who don’t.”  He closes his article by stating: “if you’re wearing a mask, it shows that you’re thinking about others. And if you don’t, it feels like it’s all about you.”

My reaction to his statement is that we already have way too many ways to divide people like us and people who aren’t like us.  The mask thing is just something else for people to be divided and self-righteous about.  We were already harboring an overly-reactive state of suspicion and paranoia before the virus arrived.  We don’t need to be thinking up new ways to judge people.

A month or so ago, the “experts” were telling us that masks weren’t necessary.  But now, a different set of “experts” is telling us that wearing a mask “can’t hurt” or something to that effect.  And yes, I understand that a small percentage of the population might be “carriers” and not know it.    Both approaches are right, neither of them is wrong.

My concern with masks is that they give people a false sense of security.  Just like someone taking a cholesterol medicine rationalizes that he/she can eat anything he/she wants, wearing masks makes people think they are “safe” when the safest thing to do is to stay the f*** home.

Because we are dealing with incompetent, ineffective and inconsistent leadership at all levels in this country, particularly at the national level, no one really knows who or what to believe.  We as a society act like a flock of sheep.  Where the crowd goes, we follow.  When it comes to knowing what to do in a crisis, we tend to follow the one with the loudest voice.  Right now that voice is hollering about masks.

We missed out on the so-called ‘Super Pink Moon’ last night due to cloud cover, but of course due to unfortunate timing awoke this morning to perfectly clear skies and are looking forward to a temperature in the 80s.  The pollen count has been quite high, which makes it challenging for spending a lot of time outdoors.  We’re hopeful that a cold front passing through tomorrow will give us at least a little relief.

I’ve got a lineup of mostly kitchen gadgets coming this week, but have some ideas for shooting other interesting things around the house.  I’d better, because I need to be prepared for at least a few more weeks, possibly more!

One of the “miracles” of our modern time is home delivery from all kinds of stores.  It is proving to be especially useful now, as a way to minimize trips to public places like Home Depot and Target.  There is little point in risking exposure for hummingbird nectar or Roundup, but you can have it delivered!  Delivery does have a bit of a downside, however, as things don’t always get delivered at the same time.  I purchased some patio cleaner and a pump sprayer to clean some mildew off our patio.  The cleaner will come today, but the sprayer isn’t due to arrive until Friday.  Good thing I’ve got plenty of time to wait.  I’m not in a hurry to do chores!

The saga continues, and Nero fiddles.

Fortunately some beautiful spring weather has made it pleasant to be out and around the neighborhood.  We find our screened porch to be a great daily source of peace and solitude.

One of our bartender friends dropped off a bottle of his homemade Old Fashioned Syrup the other afternoon.  But he just left it on the porch then emailed me later to tell me it was there.  I replied to object that we had been hoping to say hello – and to pay him.  His reply to me was moving and I wanted to share:

“I know me too.

I’ve been a social distance steward.

Plus it’s really hard seeing people and not hugging them.

It hurts my heart.

Hope you guys love it and it makes quarantine a little bit bearable!!!!

Cheers!”

Cheers!

Nota bene: this is not my opinion, only a thought I’ve been pondering.  Keep that in mind when you read it.

One of the things I wonder about as this virus thing chugs along, is whether the long-term economic impact of all these closures will ultimately be more devastating to a larger portion of the population than the health impact.  In U.S. alone in the last two weeks, 10 million people filed for unemployment, vs. (as of 4/5/20) 311,536 confirmed cases and 8,499 deaths.

It sounds crass to suggest the possibility that the lives saved are not worth the cost, and I’m not actually suggesting that to be the case.  But there has to be a breakeven point in terms of cost/benefit.  We’re doing all this quarantining to stave off a capacity crisis in our healthcare system.  I get that.  But at what point does the long-term economic cost – that is impacting everyone, not just the ones who get sick – outweigh the lives saved?  And perhaps more importantly, if the same thing happens again in a few years, then what?

To apply the medical terminology to the economics, isn’t this a bit like infecting everyone with the virus, then depending on the strength of our personal immunity and an overwhelmed healthcare system to cure us?