Virus Blog

5/21/20

V Shaped Curve. I bought stock in a Chinese eCommerce company a few years ago. It immediately went down, so I bought more. I followed it down until I had way too much exposure in any one company. I wouldn't sell it. Not because I was still 100% convinced it was a good investment, but because I'm stubborn I held it. Two years later the virus hit and eCommerce became a place to invest your money. The stock took off. I wanted to lock in my profits so I set a Stop Limit. Yesterday this very volatile stock hit that limit and I was instantly out of the stock. I started to have a little bit of remorse and sure enough after I sold it the stock went up. As a passing thought I put in an order to buy it again if it dropped $1.40 below what I sold it for. And then it went down. It hit my limit price, I was back in and then went on to show a tiny daily gain. What was otherwise a lackluster day proved to be quite profitable. I was a day trader. That was exciting. I think I will quit while I'm ahead.

Quick Takes

We Work. Our shared office environment has come under some increasing pressure of late. There's the fight for internet bandwidth, the volume speech and at inappropriate hours that has created some initial tension but it just got worse. I went for a stroll in the warm sun and upon my return I walked into the communal area where a business call was transpiring. I think we we have rooms for that kind of thing. Will bring this up with the management.
Presidential Logic. Less than two weeks ago one of the president's personal staff tested positive. It apparently concerned him enough to ask his doctor about taking an experimental drug. Today he is visiting the Ford plan and is willfully violating local orders to wear a mask in public. He is ignoring the expressed and explicit request of the Ford Company. He is apparently the ONLY person in the factory without a mask. In his head he must see wearing a mask as a political liability. He must worry that it makes him look defeated by the virus. He must fear that wearing a mask is a sign of weakness. Here's what I see. I see a person that has had significant contact exposure, is not beyond the incubation period, interacts with lots of people every day and he's taken the personal privilege of expelling his germs to the entire factory while they all wear masks to protect each other, he is defeating that. Maybe he will never look weak, but he certainly looks like a selfish jerk.

5/22/20

Ten Weeks. Well that's 10 weeks in the books. Somehow it seemed harder early on. I'm getting the hang of this. I'm not missing the outside world as much as I was before. Memories of my past life fading just a tiny bit. We got new guidance yesterday that suggests that "surfaces" are likely not as risky as breath. Breath...a little more risky than we first thought (is six feet enough) and maybe we can stop leaving our mail to age for three days before bringing it into the house. We are heading into a three day weekend but I'm not sure I want three days of vacation. Not sure what I'll do for a full three days. There will be painting. I got a "make your own mochi" kit. The maids are coming back so my weekend of aerobic vacuuming. Thankful to still have a job when 25% of the population is out of work. Imagine filling every day without a job to do? That's a lot more than three days. I need more hobbies.

Quick Takes

Numbers. The CDC reports that 35% of total infections are asymptomatic (a word we may not have known before but now we are all clear that it means no symptoms) and that overall the death rate is 4 out of 1,000 who feels sick and get infected. That's one out of 250.They estimate that 40% of transmissions happen before any symptoms are present. These numbers were immediately challenged as looking too rosey.

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