Virus Blog

5/17/20

Thought Lull. I sit down to write an update every morning. Sometimes I come back two or three times later in the day to update the morning's efforts. As I sit down I rarely have a plan and just ask myself what have I been thinking about. It's taken until Day 65, but I have no thoughts today. Did Anne Frank take a day off? It seems to me that she had less input from the outside world, but still managed to fill us with her thoughts. I just learned that Anne heard a BBC report where an exiled Dutch minister asked people to keep a written record of what was happening for after the war. Anne, who wanted to be a writer took this to heart and rewrote large sections of her diary with more of an eye toward history. Apparently she was a little kinder to her mother and a little more careful about declaring her love interests. For the record, I've done no rewriting. And I'm never careful.

Creaky Door Sound Effect. There are signs of opening. I no longer have accept my neighbor's charity to cut the front lawn as gardeners have returned in full force. I'm told that the housecleaners will return next week thus robbing me of the only hint of aerobic exercise that I get. There was live sports on TV albeit NASCAR and golf. But maybe of most consequence is that son Scott is returning to "the lab" which sits in a medical hospital which is where the virus likes to hangs out. I'm certainly pro distancing, pro face masks and pro stay at home, but the pull to normalcy is a gravity that seems to have a cumulative effect. And yet I don't plan to go anywhere any time soon.

If I think about how much time I've spent on airplanes and in hotel rooms the last year, the contrast to the new normal is sharp. I still have a my Global Entry interview high on my To Do List and something I've been working on since last August. And now it seems like something virtually useless. Shaving is now an occasional activity. Shirts with collars are gathering dust. I'm sleeping longer and rarely feel rushed. The ritual of putting myself in a tin car and sitting in a room with lots of people seems foreign. So while others are starting to open up, in order for this to work, many more of us have to continue to self-isolate.

Quick Takes

It's Raining. It's raining. I've round that rain makes confinement a little easier but it also makes it a little more depressing.
KBO. I watched a Korean baseball game. It did nothing for me.
I'm a painter. With so much success from the two online painting classes we took, I decided to go it alone. I ordered a complete beginner's collection of supplies. They are all here. I suspect that my next entry will discuss that painting is much harder than it sounds and the fact that I have zero actual drawing skills will impact my ability to be an artist. In my head, I'm an amazingly creative artist with only a few little flaws. The reality may be harsh.

5/18/20

Stock Market. I don't think the recovery will be even. Some companies are likely to be hammered for years while others will weather the storm without issue. I bought Facebook in March but dumped it again in May after it climbed about 40%. No need to be greedy. I held my Chinese eCommerce stock which I originally purchased in 2018 and now is up 65% over my cost (I'm only sharing the winners). Last week after my fascination with needing a hobby (I'm a painter you know), I found that Michaels is not an eCommerce powerhouse but has done some fundamental things right. That's up 12% in less than a week. Overall today the stock market climbed about 4% which is a huge one-day move. And yet this seems largely based on states "opening up." So, here's the big question, as we open this week, are we exactly two weeks away from seeing a spike in cases and a corresponding market downturn? If the bet is "yes" or "no", then I'll take "yes."

Quick Takes.

I'm not a painter...yet. I tried. I took a You Tube class and then went to paint. Mine looked nothing like the instructor's. I came back and watched the lesson a second time. I'll try again next weekend but definitely not a painter yet.
Retirement. A neighbor told me that today was the first day of his wife's retirement. I'm fascinated by the transition from working to retirement, not convinced that I will do a good job of transitioning, and so I asked, "What's she doing?" She got up as usual at 6:30 and instead of quietly leaving she was enjoying her retirement (and waking her husband up earlier than normal) but I was amused by her first order of business--a morning hot tub soak. Good for her!

Next Blog Entry

Virus Blog