I read an interesting article today about Carl Sagan and the idea of a Baloney Detection Kit from his book titled “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.” It is a thoughtful look at critical thinking and how it is or could/should be applied to the way we view information and how we form opinions. It inspired me to request the entire book from the library to read, and it is now on my Kindle. Unfortunately it’s about 4th in line to read, but I’ll get to it!
This chair is part of a dining room set that we bought when we lived in Ohio 30 years ago. Interestingly, it was manufactured by the Cochrane Furniture Company in Lincolnton, NC, just 30 miles from where we live now. It is woefully out of style, but it suits our house nicely, is well made and we still love it.
Here’s a story of our government’s ineptitude. We have friends who have been on the Pacific Princess cruise ship since early January. He is an entertainer, she is a port lecturer. The ship finally made it back to Los Angeles yesterday, after having been at sea for nearly 2 months with no port stops. No one on board is sick, no one on board has even been to a place where the Coronavirus is. When it came time to disembark, she is allowed to leave because she is on the passenger list, while he is required to stay on board because he is on the crew list. They are married, have been sharing the same cabin for nearly 4 months and are going home to the same place. But he can’t go. Rules is rules, the CDC says. No wonder people are getting upset.
The SC governor is lifting the order that closed the beaches in South Carolina. Some of the officials in those beach towns, however, are saying “not so fast!” We’ve got our eye on Hilton Head, because if we can get down there in May or June, we can “social distance” there just fine. It’s just like living at home, but with a beach!
Good coffee almost always means a good start to the day!
As we approach the end of the original 30-day shutdown of North Carolina, a lot of folks are understandably anxious about whether the shutdown will be extended, or whether all or part of it will continue. Much like cars sitting at a red light that start to creep forward in anticipation of the green light, I feel like some folks are getting a little antsy.
I tend to be more of a Rule Follower. Even though I consider myself to be a pretty smart guy and capable of forming my own well-reasoned opinions and decisions, I typically seek and rely on the advice of others for subjects in which I don’t have expertise. I read the statistics about illness and death and compare them with unemployment numbers and deaths from other diseases and it feels like we are seriously overreacting. I drive past businesses open and closed, and wonder how come I can stop at the auto parts store and buy a new air filter but I can’t stop at Dick’s and pick up a new pair of shoes. Thankfully my coffee shop is still open so I can buy beans!
I default to the idea that “people smarter and better informed than me” are making the best decision they can. It might or might not ultimately turn out to be the right one, but there is only one way to know, and that is to ride out the storm and see what’s left when we’re done. I see people protesting, seeking to “liberate” their state or county, and I wonder “what makes you think you are smarter than the smart people?” and “liberate from what?” My gut tells me that maybe those are the people that need to stay home the most! If they are that sure that they’re invincible or aren’t concerned about their own health or safety, I probably don’t want them standing behind me at the grocery store or visiting a restaurant I’m planning to go to.
Day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month remains our motto!
We went for a nice long drive in the countryside yesterday. It was a beautiful day, blue skies and sunshine. We had no destination, just a big loop that took us about 50 miles in an hour and a half. It was nice to get out and see some different scenery.
We last filled up the gas tank on March 30, and when we left the house yesterday we only had about 50 miles on the odometer. The shame of it is we keep getting “Fuel Points” from our grocery purchases and prescription refills that give us a nice discount on our gas. The points expire every month but we have a hard time using them because we don’t need gas! A nice problem to have, I guess, but I hate to not buy gas when we can get up to $1 per gallon off.
We continue to avoid eating restaurant food, and have gotten to the place where it doesn’t have much appeal. One of these days we may go out for pizza, but we just bought some frozen pizza dough and are going to try making our own. It won’t be as good as pizza from our favorite place, but we’re on a roll now with cooking at home and don’t want to break the streak!
Someone blogged the other day about takeout being a “significant treat” but we don’t see the appeal of eating food from a cardboard or styrofoam container. We’ve been experimenting with beans and grains and different kinds of veggies, improving our ability to grill fish, and continuing our weekly steak habit (about the only meat we eat these days). The scale has been very happy with the higher quality of food. Just this week my weight hit the lowest point since we started tracking in 2009! Kathy is right along beside me. Life is good!
Today’s photo reminds me that we would all be a lot better off if we spent more time listening instead of talking. Listening to good music through good headphones allows us to mind our own business and to not bother others.
We were scheduled to get haircuts today. Fortunately things haven’t gotten too shaggy yet. Another month, though, and we may need to take action.
Busy head this morning…that’s not always a good sign.
The headline in this morning’s Charlotte newspaper said “Coronavirus Claims Two More In Mecklenburg.” Two people out of a total county population of 1.1 million. If the paper reported daily deaths from heart disease and diabetes on the front page, would the number be more than two, and would it get the same level of attention? Nah.
And we have a “president” who says “hey, don’t look at me” when criticized, while a country is looking to him for leadership. It’s time to move on from that bozo.
Our local liquor store manager/philosopher publishes a weekly newsletter, and in yesterday’s newsletter he recounted an amusing story from a recent visit to the grocery store:
“Okay so I am the grocery store and I need some celery for Keith’s world famous chicken soup. It is all about the egg noodles folks. There is a woman that is touching every single head of lettuce for reasons that only she knows. I lean forward and swiftly grab my celery and she turns to me and says “do you mind keeping your distance? Just give me some space buddy.” I just smiled at her and continued my shopping because what kind of conversation are we going to have? Like why is the worried person touching every single lettuce without gloves? I didn’t see that going well so I just moved right along. I figured she had a long life and day ahead of her.”
What kind of conversation are we going to have? That’s something we could all think about before we try to make any witty comebacks. Reminds me of a recent encounter that Kathy & I had with the owner of a nearby fitness center. We used to walk through the parking lot there because it added a few hundred steps to our route and was generally pretty quiet, especially while the center is closed. One day last week, the owner – who all our neighbors don’t like anyway – came out and said that he couldn’t have us walking through his parking lot due to “insurance reasons.” He said a bunch of other impolite things but generally made it clear that he didn’t like the folks in our neighborhood because – he’s convinced – someone reported him when he didn’t close immediately the day after the order came out. We said we would pass the word to our neighborhood, and we did. But that was another case where there wasn’t anything I was going to say that would make him my friend. Not that I would want that anyway!
This stay at home time is a good opportunity to do important but easy to overlook things like confirming insurance coverages, reviewing wills, cleaning out old tax return documents, etc. Kathy & I have been doing that in earnest, and it’s amazing how much stuff can accumulate. And it’s interesting to see how much things have changed, even when you don’t think they have changed!
Public service announcement: The IRS has established a website (all the search engines know where it is) that you can use to find the status of your stimulus check (aka Trump Dividend). In typical government fashion, the website says that if you have filed a tax return in the last two years and have provided your banking information that you will receive your payment electronically. Of course, it takes a while to get to the page where you can check, and once I got there it told me that they didn’t have my information, even though they took my payment just yesterday! I read elsewhere that if you had only owed tax and haven’t gotten a refund they couldn’t use your info, but if you had gotten a refund they could. We’ve done both but they still didn’t have it, so that information may be false. I entered my information yesterday and this morning it says they have it, that my check will be sent electronically and that the page will be updated with a status once it has been scheduled. So check it out. We might as well get our dough sooner rather than later, and I don’t really need King Donald’s autograph on a check! 😉
One of our most recurring topics of conversation is “when will we be able to travel again?” Of course we could be stubborn and head off now, provided we were able to navigate the various states’ rules for entry from our of state, rules about quarantine, etc., and as long as we were willing to carry grocery store food in coolers and eat carryout. But nothing is open, so it would be “travel for travel’s sake.” Instead we’re making ourselves be content with sticking at home and taking care of all those endless things that we’ve been putting off until “some day.” It seems like “some day” might be here.
The cruise industry has gotten a lot of press recently because of all the reports of ships full of sick people, etc. The cruise lines are unfortunate symbols of what happens when you put a bunch of people from different places in one space for a week or more. All kinds of interesting things can happen, and the media loves reporting on cruise ships because when things go wrong they make for great headlines.
It’s no secret that Kathy & I love to cruise. We have a cruise booked for October to celebrate our 40th anniversary. The cruise lines say that they intend to sail again soon. And they might, provided they can convince the CDC and Coast Guard to allow the ships to dock. The big question is: when will the cruising public be confident enough to book a cruise? That’s the question we find ourselves asking: even if the ship sails, how do we feel about being on it? Certainly by October a lot of this will have blown over, we reason. And we don’t have to put the rest of our money down until early July. Will we know by then? We’re holding off until then to make a decision. It will be interesting to see how things look in another 3 months.
I read an article this morning about hair stylists doing “virtual haircuts” over video. Kathy & I were very fortunate to have gotten haircuts just before the shutdown, but our next appointments were supposed to be for this week. So far so good, but our next appointments aren’t until mid-May. Things may start looking a little shaggy by then! I’ve always wondered how I would look with a buzz cut, this might be the time! 😉 I’ve said many times that birthdays and haircuts are two things I won’t complain about, even I have to wait a while for the haircut!
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!