Covid-19 #3: It's More Personal Than Ever

[DireWolfSpirit]

I'm now hearing marketing for wand style uv ray light devices that can potentially add protection from covid. Also storage cases that have uv light that can also potentially protect items that may have had contacted surfaces where the virus may be or have been.

Might be useful for putting a lunchbox or backpack into such a container though I'm not sure of the dimensions and the advertisement was on radio so I'd have to investigate what size container they are referrring to?

Eta: my current habit is to wipe down my lunchbox with alcohol wipes when I get home in the evening.

[Fury Resurrected]

1 minute ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

I'm now hearing marketing for wand style uv ray light devices that can potentially add protection from covid. Also storage cases that have uv light that can also potentially protect items that may have had contacted surfaces where the virus may be or have been.

Might be useful for putting a lunchbox or backpack into such a container though I'm not sure of the dimensions and the advertisement was on radio so I'd have to investigate what size container they are referrring to?

I’ve seen them pre COVID, for using on your phone. So, not very big, I’d imagine

[DireWolfSpirit]

Maybe that's what Travolta and Jackson had in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction?

[Guest]

FIVE DAYS! That's how fucking long the wait time is for COVID testing in my area! 

Drive-in testing my lily-white fucking ass!

[HoodedCrow]

Glad to here lady narcissa is negative. 
 

we were talking elsewhere about Marin Luther King Jr.

It seems this thread is best?

one of my first glimmerings of politics was watching funerals for MLK and Bobby Kennedy. I was horrified and affected by civil rights video.

From my suburban bunker in multiethnic Canada, I thought at least some of it was amended. I never heard a bigoted word in my family. Mom is very left my dad is teachers union.

Flashforward, my Latin teacher was black. There was an awkward moment when he was teaching us  the Latin word for black. It rhymes with “digger”. We froze in shock for a few beats, and then he moved onto the next color. He was originally from Barbados, (his accent was mine, Canadian) ,so it was not someone with the American experience.  Of course, there were more, but I had people categorized by friendly or not, context, birthplace if interesting. Only when I came to the U.S. did I think about race as a thing other than filling out a form.

i had some vaguely unusual reactions from black people here. I scratched my head. I think it was mild happiness and surprise to meet someone like me?

I lie. I do think about skin color. I used to do some portrait painting. I think about how to mix it and undertones. Otherwise, it seems so unimportant and illogical, except now I really understand how they still are harassed, beaten, denied and shot. By the way, all black people are not the same! I’m catching on:)

The Mountaintop speech says a lot. It’s wonderful. From pain, beauty.

[Zorral]

16 hours ago, ANNALISVETH said:

I usually do not participate in any online responses, chatting, commenting, etc. I have been long absence from this forum as well.  I work in a Funeral Home, I live in Miami.  (hotspot), I was a Bernie Sanders supporter. Then obviously, I became a Hillary supported. I came today to this Forum because I wanted to avoid current situations, I am extremely busy, and reading, during my free time is therapeutic. 

I'm certain my heart isn't the only one going out to you in these terrible days. Do you have family, a loved one, someone who can provide a certain amount of emotional support?

18 hours ago, Fury Resurrected said:

ONE OF MY CLIENTS IS DYING OF COVID AND HIS SON IS TAKING HIS APPOINTMENT TO GET THE SAME TATTOO HE HAD SCHEDULED INSTEAD. This is real fucking life

Thank goodness to learn further down the client and father haven't been recently in contact; yah, that's sad for you.  Your profession is more personal than many, but it really is now. Woo.

 

7 hours ago, lessthanluke said:

Luckily we've just acquired a new unit which means we have extra doors so can have a dedicated entrance/exit and better ventilation as well as far easier to maintain social distancing. 

That's heartening to see.

 

[Teng Ai Hui]

Last night, the movie theater near my house opened up for the first time since January.  The family and I went to see Dolittle, which wasn't bad, but it was fun to be back in the theater.

Social distancing rules were in place.  Everyone had to have 3 empty seats between them.  Yellow and black tape was on the seats that had to be left empty.

[HexMachina]

55 minutes ago, Teng Ai Hui said:

Last night, the movie theater near my house opened up for the first time since January.  The family and I went to see Dolittle, which wasn't bad, but it was fun to be back in the theater.

Social distancing rules were in place.  Everyone had to have 3 empty seats between them.  Yellow and black tape was on the seats that had to be left empty.

This sounds wonderful to me as i generally go to the cinema alone and hate when someone sits beside me...

[S John]

I think I’ve posted before about how I’ve been pleasantly surprised about mask compliance in my area.  It remains near 100% in zones where it’s supposed to be required. Almost everyone I see in public indoors is doing it and I have to think that has at least helped somewhat at keeping local cases relatively low.  It’s not zero, the virus has been steadily present, but we haven’t experienced a huge spike like a lot of places have.  

Anyway, today I went to Petco to get some dog supplies and ran into a live one.  I gather my items and go over to get into the checkout line.  One dude in front of me. Older guy, boomer, overweight. I notice the back of his shirt has an eagle on it and says “America. Live It. Love it. Or get the HELL out!” and that he’s open carrying a 1911 on his hip. I can already tell from the shirt, this guy definitely thinks he’s a badass, but I am pretty confident that a reasonably agile human being approaching from his blind spot could have disarmed this guy - whose training regimen obviously consists of more milk and cookies than pull-ups - before he could do much of anything about it. I’m honestly not worried about this guy having the gun, I’m familiar with his type. Its that he’s carrying it in such a way that I’m thinking, dude any actual criminal worth their salt could easily get that from you - or just straight up shoot you first - and now the bad guys have two guns. Great job.

Of course he’s also not wearing a mask. Only person in the building not wearing one, so he’s potentially brought two ways to irresponsibly get people killed into the store. Finally he turns my way ever so slightly and I see that, yes, his hat is indeed a Trump 2020 hat.  Of course. Wow. There it is. I just got MAGA Bingo today from seeing this one guy. Literally hit every square. 

This guys’ look just had it all. The irresponsible firearm display, the aggressively patriotic shirt, the Trump hat, his age and body composition, the no mask realness. I don’t know if I have ever seen anyone in my entire life who was a more perfect caricature of themselves. Nothing was left to the imagination. Just amazing.  100%, A+, no room for improvement - completely nailed it and stuck the landing.

 

[BigFatCoward]

1 hour ago, S John said:

I think I’ve posted before about how I’ve been pleasantly surprised about mask compliance in my area.  It remains near 100% in zones where it’s supposed to be required. Almost everyone I see in public indoors is doing it and I have to think that has at least helped somewhat at keeping local cases relatively low.  It’s not zero, the virus has been steadily present, but we haven’t experienced a huge spike like a lot of places have.  

Anyway, today I went to Petco to get some dog supplies and ran into a live one.  I gather my items and go over to get into the checkout line.  One dude in front of me. Older guy, boomer, overweight. I notice the back of his shirt has an eagle on it and says “America. Live It. Love it. Or get the HELL out!” and that he’s open carrying a 1911 on his hip. I can already tell from the shirt, this guy definitely thinks he’s a badass, but I am pretty confident that a reasonably agile human being approaching from his blind spot could have disarmed this guy - whose training regimen obviously consists of more milk and cookies than pull-ups - before he could do much of anything about it. I’m honestly not worried about this guy having the gun, I’m familiar with his type. Its that he’s carrying it in such a way that I’m thinking, dude any actual criminal worth their salt could easily get that from you - or just straight up shoot you first - and now the bad guys have two guns. Great job.

Of course he’s also not wearing a mask. Only person in the building not wearing one, so he’s potentially brought two ways to irresponsibly get people killed into the store. Finally he turns my way ever so slightly and I see that, yes, his hat is indeed a Trump 2020 hat.  Of course. Wow. There it is. I just got MAGA Bingo today from seeing this one guy. Literally hit every square. 

This guys’ look just had it all. The irresponsible firearm display, the aggressively patriotic shirt, the Trump hat, his age and body composition, the no mask realness. I don’t know if I have ever seen anyone in my entire life who was a more perfect caricature of themselves. Nothing was left to the imagination. Just amazing.  100%, A+, no room for improvement - completely nailed it and stuck the landing.

 

Maybe he was on his way to a fancy dress party as a twat. 

[A True Kaniggit]

2 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Maybe he was on his way to a fancy dress party as a twat. 

Halloween is still a ways away. 

Edit: Huh. Now I wonder if years down the road, the MAGA costume could become a Halloween thing. 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Halloween is still a ways away. 

Edit: Huh. Now I wonder if years down the road, the MAGA costume could become a Halloween thing. 

Shit, give it about 9 months after he leaves office, and I bet Ironic Trump Supporter will be the best-selling costume in 2021.

[Whitestripe]

A good COVID thing... my sister and I finally got our parents on Zoom today.  My mom is a dementia patient (she still lives at home) and my dad is a very not tech savvy 86. They resisted Zoom because they thought it would be too hard to figure out or needed special equipment. I had to send my mom the invitation then call her on the phone and walk her through getting on. It took another 30 minutes before we could get her camera to work. But then in utter delight she starts saying “Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! There you are! I can see you! Can you see me, too?! Wait! Don’t go anywhere while I get your father. Oh! Oh! This is so wonderful!! Then the grandkids came on. If I live to be 100, I will always remember how excited she was.  

[Larry of the Lawn]

On 7/24/2020 at 12:53 PM, DireWolfSpirit said:

I'm now hearing marketing for wand style uv ray light devices that can potentially add protection from covid. Also storage cases that have uv light that can also potentially protect items that may have had contacted surfaces where the virus may be or have been.

Might be useful for putting a lunchbox or backpack into such a container though I'm not sure of the dimensions and the advertisement was on radio so I'd have to investigate what size container they are referrring to?

Eta: my current habit is to wipe down my lunchbox with alcohol wipes when I get home in the evening.

The UV wand (steripen?) looked ready to replace water treatment drops until it was overtaken by the nanofilters (lifestraw, squeeze) for non-chemical contaminents in water treatment.  It was pretty cool, fill up your water bottle from a stream, turn on the UV light, swish it around for 30 seconds and drink. 

[Ormond]

As some of you know my mother died on April 2 and I flew to Nashville from Omaha on March 31 to be with her in her last illness.

My sister decided to have an internment service for Mother tomorrow (July 29) at the cemetery in the small mountain town of Covington, Virginia where my father's ashes are placed. (They met while they were both going to high school in Covington years ago and three of mother's sisters and their husbands are in the same cemetery.) 

Having heard Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN say that if you did not need to stay more than one night in a motel on the way, driving was safer than flying, I drove to Roanoke, Virginia from Omaha over the last two days. Thought I'd report on what it was liked driving over a thousand miles in a pandemic.

Interstate 80 in Iowa wasn't as busy as usual in the summer but still had regular traffic. At my stop at a rest area the other two men in the restroom were obviously practicing social distancing. (Iowa seems to have more rest areas than average, there being one about every 35 miles along I-80.)

I got gas at the very small town of Andover, Illinois. A woman coming out of the convenience store at the gas station along with a small child was not wearing a mask, but at the pump I was way more than six feet from her.

There was off and on construction all along I-74 in Illinois. The rest stop I used in Illinois was almost empty.

I stayed at a Days Inn on the east side of Indianapolis last night. It was one of the worst motels I've stayed at in years -- the clerk was behind a plastic screen but the next morning I saw him along the walkway where my 2nd floor room was knocking on another room's door and not wearing a mask. I had reserved a first floor room but when I got to the motel was told the only one available did not have its air conditioning working which is why I was put on the 2nd floor. I will not be staying at the motel on Thursday night when I drive back to Omaha. (The room itself, especially the bathroom, did seem very well cleaned, though.)

This morning almost the entire length of I-70 in Indiana east of Indianapolis was under construction. At a rest stop on US 35 in southern Ohio the other man in the restroom (who looked to be no older than 30) was wearing a mask.

I brought enough food for lunch and dinner in the car with me yesterday so did not have to buy any. I bought a salad at a Wendy's drive through in the small town of Winfield, West Virginia for lunch and the young woman at the window was wearing a mask -- which impressed me since not all the fast food window employees in Omaha fast food places I've gone to the last month have been wearing masks. I put on my mask before I pull up to a fast food window to get my food.

I stopped at the West Virginia Welcome Center rest stop at the south end of the West Virginia turnpike -- a sign on the door said because of an order of the governor one could not enter the building without a mask. But there was a maskless young man in the restroom -- they don't seem to have anyone monitoring the restroom, so I don't see how they can really enforce the governor's mask rule. 

I am now at a Country Inn and Suites in Roanoke. They had signs up at the front door saying they would refuse service to those who were not wearing masks, and also saying that would not accept guests who lived closer than 50 miles away from Roanoke. Not quite sure what that rule has to do with the pandemic but it was obviously part of their safety precautions. There also was a sign saying they will not clean rooms during a guest's stay but only after one guest leaves before another arrives. 

I got take out from a Mexican restaurant that's right next door to the Country Inn here tonight. All the waiters were wearing masks -- the only sit down customers I saw were at a table on an outside patio. Also stopped at a rest area on I-81 in Virginia in-between Christiansburg and Roanoke -- another old man wore a mask but a young bearded man did not. 

So far I feel that things have been fairly safe. Mask wearing wasn't universal at rest stops but there were so few people in them social distancing was possible. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Sounds like you've had an interesting trip so far, @Ormond. Stay safe, and sorry again about the passing of your mother.

[Fragile Bird]

Take care, @Ormond, sounds like you’ve done well so far on your trip. I hope the service tomorrow brings you and your sister comfort and peace.

[lady narcissa]

Hope the rest of your journey is safe Ormond!  Thanks for sharing the details of the trip, it is interesting to read about people's experiences.

I have a travel story of my own to share.  The weekend I stayed home waiting for my test results was the weekend my dad and I were supposed to make our annual pilgrimage to a family cemetery in Michigan to tend to the family graves.  We normally do this in May but had been holding off on going this year.  So we went this weekend.

We stopped at a rest area on the toll road in Indiana and I was pleasantly surprised to see that everyone was wearing masks.  Being the paranoid and overly cautious sort that I am, I had packed a bag for restroom use at the rest area which contained a can of Lysol, Clorox wipes, and my own roll of toilet paper.  Plus I put disposable gloves on before I went in and took them off and threw them out upon exiting.  I felt pretty happy with my choice to do all this.

The hotel we stayed at required masks because apparently there is an order by the Michigan Governor requiring them.  The hotel signage was very apologetic about requiring masks and made it clear they were only requiring them because the Governor was making them do so!  The hotel room was sealed with a large sticker that was something like "CLEANED WITH LYSOL" and you had to break through the sticker to open the door.  Inside the room, it did smell like a can of Lysol!  Luckily the windows opened or we might have gotten an alternative Covid-19 lung ailment from the chemicals.  We rubbed down every surface in the room with our homemade wipes we had made with a bottle of Everclear.  We also stripped the beds and installed our own sheets.  This probably all sounds excessive but this is what I needed to do to feel safe on this trip.

All the restaurants and fast food places had curbside pickup if they didn't already have a drive through.  All workers we encountered were wearing masks.  I brought my own disposable utensils, straws, and napkins to use for our meals.  We wiped down every cup and wrapping before eating.  I had my first Dairy Queen Blizzard with Oreo of the summer and it tasted like liquid gold.

I went to Meijers (slightly nicer than a Walmart but just as large) at 11 PM and it was empty and I could blissfully wander the aisles to my hearts content.  I have not on a whole missed casual shopping/browsing but it was nice not feeling you had to rush and to just be able to wander and not worry about running into people.  The few people inside were all wearing masks.

Naturally we felt perfectly safe at the cemetery.

All in all it was a good weekend.  I got out of the city for the first time in 8 months.  This is the longest I have ever gone in my life without going somewhere!  It was nice to have a change of scenery and to be outside and in the country with no one around and to be able to take off my mask and breath some fresh air.

[Fragile Bird]

I haven't travelled anywhere, but with two people mentioning trips related to deceased family members, I may as well mention my story. My longest trips have been daily visits to water the flowers on the graves of family members. We've had an unusually long hot spell with very little rain, so the daily visits have been a break from the tedium of this shutdown. Basically speaking, you should water either in the morning before 10:30 or 11 or after 5:00 pm. Since traffic has gotten busier and busier, I've been going after 7:00 pm, and sometimes after 8:00. It's about 11 or 12 km away. 

I soon noticed that when I go just before dusk there are very few people there and the bunnies come out. The graves are near the western side of the cemetery, which borders on a creek, and there's a lot of wildlife living in the park system that follows all the rivers and creeks in the city.

Last week I pulled up to my usual spot, parked and took the watering can out of the truck of my car, filling it up at the tap. I then started walking over to the area where the graves are, and I stopped, and wondered why there was a huge dog sitting on the ground near their graves. There was no one in sight who could be the owner. All of a sudden I realized it had to be a coyote, and I backed up to the other side of my car and dumped the water on a couple of graves by the road and got in my car. Looking at the coyote I realized he was very busy with something. My guess he was eating something. Like a bunny.

I took a video and posted it on Facebook. I haven't seen it again, but I have seen scat (turds) in the grass and on the road, so the coyote is definitely a regular visitor. A couple of years ago I was driving through a large park, late at night, to catch some Pokemon, and the biggest coyote I had ever seen loped along the side of the road. Actually, I think it was the first coyote I had ever seen, and I was surprised at how big it was, because I always thought they were fairly small. This one was just as big.

My excitement for the summer...

[Fury Resurrected]

11 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

I haven't travelled anywhere, but with two people mentioning trips related to deceased family members, I may as well mention my story. My longest trips have been daily visits to water the flowers on the graves of family members. We've had an unusually long hot spell with very little rain, so the daily visits have been a break from the tedium of this shutdown. Basically speaking, you should water either in the morning before 10:30 or 11 or after 5:00 pm. Since traffic has gotten busier and busier, I've been going after 7:00 pm, and sometimes after 8:00. It's about 11 or 12 km away. 

I soon noticed that when I go just before dusk there are very few people there and the bunnies come out. The graves are near the western side of the cemetery, which borders on a creek, and there's a lot of wildlife living in the park system that follows all the rivers and creeks in the city.

Last week I pulled up to my usual spot, parked and took the watering can out of the truck of my car, filling it up at the tap. I then started walking over to the area where the graves are, and I stopped, and wondered why there was a huge dog sitting on the ground near their graves. There was no one in sight who could be the owner. All of a sudden I realized it had to be a coyote, and I backed up to the other side of my car and dumped the water on a couple of graves by the road and got in my car. Looking at the coyote I realized he was very busy with something. My guess he was eating something. Like a bunny.

I took a video and posted it on Facebook. I haven't seen it again, but I have seen scat (turds) in the grass and on the road, so the coyote is definitely a regular visitor. A couple of years ago I was driving through a large park, late at night, to catch some Pokemon, and the biggest coyote I had ever seen loped along the side of the road. Actually, I think it was the first coyote I had ever seen, and I was surprised at how big it was, because I always thought they were fairly small. This one was just as big.

My excitement for the summer...

Where you see bunnies, the coyotes will be there! Luckily if they have plenty of buns they are almost certainly going to run away from you. It sounds like a really nice place, despite the spooky coyotes