New Shoes in the Rain

It's Tuesday, everyone.  And I almost said it was MONDAY. Just a few random thoughts about the world in general, as seen through our current state of seclusion. YES, I had a marvelous long weekend, as I added an extra day to it, but NO, I still wasn't ready to return to work today. YES, I managed to play a socially distant round of golf with friends on Friday, and NO, I'm not sore anymore because of it. YES, I'm a little tired of being at home this much of the time, but NO, I'm not that anxious to go out to a crowded restaurant or bar. YES, we're running out of decent things to watch, but NO, we aren't watching a lot of the absolute garbage that resides on Netflix, Amazon Prime and elsewhere. YES, we're enjoying cooking and eating at home, but NO, our trips to the grocery for supplies are still not complete, as there is invariably something we need/want that is out of stock. YES, we're ordering more things online, but NO, we...

Good morning, friends.  Hope you and yours are well. The title of my thoughts today refers to a recent estimate by researchers at Columbia University.  They have studies the coronavirus spread in the United States and have determined that if our country had instituted a national program of social distancing a WEEK earlier, this many lives could potentially have been saved. I was fairly sure that we would see information of this type come to light, but didn't think it would be quite this soon.  Still jarring, regardless of the timing. While I regret the limitations we're still under, I agree with them for the most part.  Not eager to rush out to eat in restaurants, or to shop at the local mall.  I said to my wife yesterday that this is a little like being concerned about driving in bad weather---it's not me that I worry about, it's everyone else.  And we know that a large number of people have or have had coronavirus without even knowing it. I'm fort...

For those of you who may have lost track, today is Wednesday.  It is early afternoon in the Eastern time zone. Kidding, of course.  I hope that you and yours are safe and well at this writing, and that you all continue to be. Because I'm trying to be a model citizen and spend the vast majority of my time in my home, where I also work, I'm trying to take note of things that have given me at least a few minutes of satisfaction in the midst of what we're facing.  Here goes: So many of the guests who appear on news programs are doing so from their homes (logically).  I have taken an inordinate amount of amusement seeing the surroundings of so many of the guests who are not using background supplied by Zoom or their employers (I'll come back to something else about Zoom shortly).  My wife, too, joins in this occasionally, commenting at how dark someone's space is, or how sparsely furnished it might be.  Yesterday's Senate hearings on the coronavirus and th...