Tag: social distance

Monday Morning, Again

The bad news is, it’s Monday again. The good news is, thanks to Independence Day it’s only a four day work week. Bliss.

I did some car singing today. June Music is done, 50/90 doesn’t start until Saturday. What did I do? The Great Re-Recording Project. Actually, in my mind I still think of it as The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project because that’s what I originally called it. The old name doesn’t quite work anymore.

Anyway, I worked on vocals for two songs. I spent a little more than an hour. When I do album in a month or demo projects like I’ve been doing I don’t mind copying and pasting vocal tracks. If a song has two choruses I sing it once and paste it everywhere else. I don’t want to do that on The Great Re-Recording Project so it takes a lot more time to finish a song. I want each note played by a human to be unique. I did copy and paste the MIDI instruments. Drums I can’t really help because it’s the GarageBand Session drummer. I might do a unique tweak to each section. Bass… I’m really thinking about redoing all of the bass parts so that I don’t copy or paste anything. We’ll see.

Anyway, I did two songs. They both sound a smidge better than the scratch tracks I already had, so it was worth it. It was, however, definitely stressful. There were a lot of people around. No one actually close, but I was most certainly not alone. I pulled into a spot at around 7:30 and there was a “work” crew two sections away. I put work in quotes because they weren’t actually working. They were just hanging out and they were pretty clearly watching me. Could they hear me? Doubtful, but I was belting as loud as my meager voice can get. Maybe? Doubtful. I think they were on the 8:00 shift with the grounds crew and were just early. There were a lot of additional people on the crew wandering around and there were cars and trucks (and a crane?) driving in and out.

A second work crew showed up at 8:00. Three cars, four or five people. They were in the same lot I was in, but on the opposite end. They were much closer than the not-working peanut gallery, but they only stayed outside for a few minutes before moving into the movie theater. Still too close for comfort though. There was probably enough time, battery, and bladder capacity for me to start working on a third song, but I bailed. There were just too many people. When I pulled out of my spot I saw a third cheering section. Two cats in an SUV only two rows behind me. Way too close for singing comfort. They were okay by social distance standards but what the hell guys, there’s a whole string of parking lots. Pick one of your own.

I’m thinking I need a new parking lot for morning singing. Either that or I have to leave the house 60-90 minutes earlier. On the way home I went to another spot to check it out. I drove up to the Tenney Castle grounds. It was mostly quiet (one jogger in the middle of the driveway with headphones on who couldn’t hear my nearly silent Hybrid car until I beeped. It was pretty funny), but I had actually forgotten that there isn’t a parking lot there. The driveway ends in a rotary. Bummer. Maybe early mornings at the library? They have a pretty remote overflow parking lot there. Maybe.

Anything else going on today? UPS? My amp is back in Out for Delivery Status with a date/time of today by 9:00pm. Should I hold my breath? Look at me. I’m totally holding my breath. Wow, I might actually turn blue from all of this holding my breath.

We did some minor furniture rearranging in some of the bed rooms last week. Over the weekend we spent some time planning for future changes as well. Nothing to report yet, but discussions are being had. Maybe the quarantinie life might lead to a slightly rearranged house. Maybe not. We’ll see. We did add a bunch of new smart light bulbs to a lot of the rooms. Most of the house already had some. Now we have more. The Internet of Things and all that. Groovy. Just don’t hack my lights, dude. M’kay?

Welp, it’s 9:00am on a Monday morning. Enough of my yappin’, let’s boogie… and by boogie I mean start the work day.

Talk to you all later.

Mondays Suck

Hello and welcome to the start of Quarantine Work Week #15. I have been working from home for roughly 27.4% of a calendar year and I still for the life of me cannot keep my damn glasses clean.

(Pause to clean glasses, once again)

I’m tired, both literally and figuratively. I had two excellent nights sleep in a row followed by a less than stellar night last night. I’m probably going to need to pack it in early tonight. I’m starting to really feel like I need a get away. In a normal, non-COVID universe, I would pack up the wife and the kids and go spend a day or two in New York, or hiding in the mountains, or something. That’s not happening now. We tried driving over to the ocean this weekend but didn’t make it. We got detoured. We weren’t planning to get out of the car, but at least we were going to see it, you know? It was still great to go for a drive with all four of us.

Massachusetts is supposed to be opening up restaurants today. What phase is that? Two? Three? Whatever. New Hampshire was already there so it’s not a big change to those of us who live on the state line. We talked about it yesterday. None of us feel comfortable going out to eat. We don’t even feel comfortable picking up take out. Even ice cream stands are out. This sucks.

Yesterday was Fathers Day. I have a tough time with that. I find it uncomfortable celebrating a day like that when the kids I’m celebrating with are some other guy’s kids. I feel like I am stealing from him. I know that’s not really how it works, but in my gut that’s how it feels. I did better than most years though. I called my dad in the morning and after that felt really depressed. Like… I just laid down on the bed and didn’t want to get up. Patches came over to see if I was okay, but all she did was show me her butt and smack me with her tail. It didn’t help.

Then my wife and the kids made me breakfast and that helped. I did spend some time alone bashing on the guitar and that helps, but not quite in the same way. That’s therapy for something else, and I can’t even put my finger on what. I checked with the kids to make sure they wished their father a happy Fathers Day. They did. That made me feel better too. They are really excellent people, those step kids of mine. I don’t think I screwed them up too much. At least whatever ways I screwed them up they were able to outgrow it and recover.

For the record, Step Parents Day is September 16th. I’m all in favor of celebrating that one, even though I share it with their step mother. That’s 100% A-Okay with me.

For the first few months of lock down we did a really good job not blowing money. It seemed very important to be ridiculously frugal. In the last week and a half, Jen and I both bought something. Neither was too expensive, but still expensive enough to take note of. It was easy. Too easy. It made us both temporarily feel good. Again, it was too easy. We need to get back to being frugal. I should be able to distract myself with the new guitar amplifier that is being delivered today. See what I mean? Way too easy.

It’s Monday. The first day of week #15. Wash your hands. Wear your mask. Black Lives Matter. Keep your head down and do the right thing.

Good luck.

New Stuff

They are gone. We can relax now. Well, now that everything has been thoroughly disinfected and all.

They used a couple of our pans to empty out the drain hose from the old washer. Those pans are now test driving the new dishwasher. They also told us that the metal rack in the microwave oven is safe because it’s a single, continuous piece of metal and there are no arc points. I’m sure that’s true, but I’m still removing it.

Not Freaking Out Yet

I’m not freaking out yet, but I will probably start to any minute now.

Why?

We’re getting a new dishwasher delivered today. In normal life, that would be something to be excited about. Instead we live in coronavirus world where the idea of having a team of delivery people (three are expected) coming into my house for literally any amount of time is panic inducing, never mind that they will be staying here long enough to remove our old dishwasher and then install and test the new one.

The delivery window is 7:00am to 1:00pm and we were told we are the first delivery. We were also told not to expect anything until after 9:00 as they have to make some stops to load up their truck before they come here.

It is currently 8:33am. I won’t begin the official freak out countdown until we get the phone call telling us they are 30 minutes out. Once that call comes I expect to start sweating and maybe getting chills and mild shivers.

Coronavirus can suck my fat ass.

One COVID-19 Number

I just looked up the COVID-19 numbers for Massachusetts for today. The state had less than 100 new cases. The last time we had less than 100 new cases in one day was March 20th. It’s been almost three months.

What does that mean? Likely nothing. In all the time we’ve been looking at the daily numbers, we’ve noticed that reports for Monday often feel on the low side. It’s almost like people chose to not go to the hospital on Sunday nights.

Still, caveats aside, it’s really nice to see a daily infection number that’s under 100. There were 87 new cases in the last 24 hours, and 23 deaths. The last time the death count was this low was April 5th. Rest in peace, my neighbors.

I really hope this downward trend continues. The national numbers are down today as well, but the overall trend is still up. Let’s hope those numbers turn around too… though we can pretty much guaranteed that they won’t. Too many states are opening up way too soon for that to happen.

Wash your hands and wear your masks and stay healthy.

AC15

Guitar Center has a used Vox AC15 amplifier on their website that is listed in great condition and listing for under $500. A few minutes ago I tricked my beloved wife into agreeing to let me buy it. Ain’t I a stinker?

I further read the listing and it says it will be shipped from it’s current location to a local Guitar Center store where it will be available for curb side pickup.

Oh.

Well.

You mean I’d actually have to go to a store and briefly interact with another human being? Yeah… maybe I’ll wait and see if I can get someplace to ship a used one to my house.

Thanks anyway.

Happy Quarantinaversary

Is this a thing now? Monthly quarantine anniversary posts?

Three months ago today was the day after my company told us not to come back to the office.

It’s normal now. We’ve reached the point where going back to the office is the strange thing. The previous 15 years worth of normal has become the scary unknown.

It’s not just work. Going to the store, visiting friends and family. It’s all scary now. It’s all freaky and weird.

Three months down, and we are expecting probably another three months at least. It depends on this “second wave” of course. For all the people who are seeing the states with infection counts climbing who are thinking this is the start of the second wave, you are wrong. The first wave never ended. Our selfish, disgusting neighbors just told themselves it did so that they could force other people to open their stores and restaurants and gyms and hair salons and service them. No, the first wave is still going.

Two million Americans infected. 115,000 Americans dead. Sure, let’s reopen all of the businesses.

Happy Quarantinaversary, everyone. Yippee.

Haircuts, or My Wife: My Hero

All those right wing scum bags arming themselves to the teeth and storming into their state houses like the terrorists they are, demanding their hair stylists risk their health and go back to work so that they can get their hair cut.

Screw those terrorist pricks.

Back on May 8th my hair was longer than it had ever been. It was so long in the front that it was funny as hell. My wife gave me a glorious birthday gift when she cut it for me.

Fast forward to today, the three month anniversary of my last day in the office before my company shut down the buildings, the love of my life gave me another haircut. This time there was no messing around. She lopped off the places that were too long and then buzzed it like you’ve read about. Amazing.

It’s not quite high and tight, but it’s as short as I’ve had it since I was a little kid. It’s perfect. Bring on the summer.

Thank you, my beloved Jen. I know you were nervous about it, but you did great and I appreciate it so much. I love you!!!

The Stir Crazy Files – Episode 47

This one is more of a pissed off rant than a stir crazy observation. I’m a little pissed and I need to vent.

We are signed up for an exterminator service. Our house is in the woods and there are bugs everywhere. We get ants (YOU WANT ANTS? ‘CAUSE THAT’S HOW YOU GET ANTS!*), we get bees, we get ticks, we get spiders. It’s wild freakin’ kingdom.

Once a month I get an email, a text, and a phone call all within a few minutes of each other saying that they are coming on such and such a day and please leave your gates open so they can access your property and whatever.

Last month when the service day came I had the windows open in the bedroom. The technician knocked on the door to ask me to close them. When I opened the door I was really surprised to see that he wasn’t wearing a mask. I didn’t have one handy so I stood as far back from the door as I could, but it is my house and I’m inside. It should not be on me to wear a mask, it should be on him. I get an email after each appointment where I have an opportunity to rate their service. I let them know how upset I was that their representative failed to wear a mask when he stood on my door step.

This morning was the first appointment we’ve had since I gave them a bad review. Just after I punched in to work the doorbell rang. What the hell? No open windows today. This time I put on a mask before I opened the door. There was a technician standing on my step. It was a different guy, but he too was maskless. Why did he ring the doorbell? To tell us he was here, and to introduce himself. Without a mask.

What. The. Fuck?

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ guidelines state that you should wear a mask when out in public. That guideline has been in place FOR MONTHS. What the hell kind of business allows their representatives to show up to a customer’s house without a fucking mask on his fucking face? How?

I don’t give a shit if you think COVID-19 and Coronavirus are a joke. I don’t care. I don’t think they are a joke. I take them very seriously. Very Seriously. That’s what matters. If you want to keep my business then you will at least give lip service to MY safety and PUT A FUCKING MASK ON YOUR FUCKING FACE.

I sent another bad review. Much worse than the last one. If I get any response less than an offer to orally service me, then I am cancelling my account with them.

I started this post in the hope that venting would make me feel better. It didn’t work. It’s had the exact opposite effect. Wear a fucking mask.

*If you’ve never watched the show Archer, go watch the show Archer. Now.