robotech_master

And here I am again. I must confess, this "novel coronavirus" is quickly losing its novelty.

Still, work went pretty well. The downtown office complex is fully open again, so more people were on the phones—and four more people from my team were being dispatched to work-from-home effective immediately, so good to know that there will be more workforce on hand should the building need to be closed down again. I only hope none of them are already infected.

I'm probably using Grubhub more than I should, but I'm on a free trial of their $10/month program that provides free delivery as long as I order at least $12 in food. And it's nice not to have to go out, and some pretty decent restaurants are on it. If you want to help me defray my costs, and haven't tried GrubHub yourself yet, this referral link will get both you and me $5 off our next orders.

And incidentally, if you're looking for something fun to watch, CBS All Access just announced a 1-month-free promo. (It's pitched as a way to watch Picard for free, but you can watch Discovery and any other All Access show during the month.) Given that CBS had to know that a lot of people were just waiting for the show to be finished before signing up for one month to binge, they're undoubtedly foregoing a good chunk of revenue, which is nice when so many of us are stuck at home anyway due to the national virus crisis. But you do have to provide payment information to sign up, and remember to cancel before the month is up, as with any other free trial, so I guess there's that.

Our #StarTrekPicard season finale is Thursday, and starting today until 4/23, you can watch for free on @CBSAllAccess in the US with the code: GIFT. https://t.co/i2IfFQN3I8

It's felt good to bring Picard back. I can't wait to reunite with our cast and crew for Season 2. pic.twitter.com/lSmtMxgrN8

— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 24, 2020

Posted a couple more pieces to TeleRead: a story about how this is hitting comic shops last night, and a piece about distributor Ingram staying open despite the virus just now. So I guess this virus thing is moving me to write more in general after all. 

I'm still amazed at how fortunate I am, this one time in my life, to be working, from home, in a field that probably won't be harmed by the virus. At a time when so many of my friends are unemployed, or, worse, employed in "essential jobs" that involve public exposure, I'm safely sequestered at home with my cats, still earning a living. I really hope nothing happens to screw this up.

I am worried about the overall effects of the crisis, how it's going to affect people I know and care about. I wonder which one of my friends or family will be the first to come down with the virus, and whether any of them will die. My friends and I all mostly young enough that we'll probably pull through, but it's not a chance I want to take. And then there are the older generation. 

This is going to get much worse before it gets better. I desperately hope that at least some of the people responsible for the delays in imposing the universal restrictions we need get to enjoy the symptoms, at length.

Ran across an article suggesting people should keep a daily journal of life during the Coronavirus outbreak, as a matter of record to future historians. Well, okay, sure. Though given that everything we do these days is digitally logged anyway, it's not as if future historians will be lacking for information to reconstruct how we lived and what we did. Kind of like how I'm in one of the last generations not to be embarrassed by our parents posting phone-cam photos and videos of every embarrassing thing I ever did as a kid to their social media (and thank goodness for that).

But hey, it's not as if I've ever really needed an excuse to write about things. So, my life and welcome to it…

Posted a couple of entries to TeleRead inspired by Coronavirus-related matters, last night and today—one about Macmillan abruptly ending its 8-week window on library ebooks, and another about the changes to our society that I think Coronavirus might cause. Fascinating stuff. It's kind of funny, but in a way I'm actually not terribly frightened of Coronavirus. More like a little scared (mostly for other members of my family who might be less well-adapted to this or less cautious), a little curious, and a lot fascinated.

I guess it's because Corona largely hasn't disrupted my normal routine. I was already working from home, playing from home, largely eating at home, and not venturing out unless I absolutely had to. The only major change now is that I'm going out a little less. I still spend the majority of my day ensconced in my attic with my headset, my work computer, my play computer, my cats, and my minifridge full of booze. (Which, of course, I reserve for the times when I'm not working.) I already did almost all of my social interaction through the Internet, so it's not like I'm being suddenly cut off from anything. I feel sorry for all the people who suddenly have to accustom themselves to staying home from church, or not going out with their buddies. I especially feel sorry for a friend of mine who lost his job right before the epidemic hit, and now despairs of ever finding another job with the economy tanking. I sure hope life can prove his worries unfounded.

So for me, I guess the only major change for me personally is that for the time being I don't have to put up with people telling me I should get out more. Now I can tell them they should stay in more.

I do wish that they were doing more locally to lock things down. They've closed down the dine-in spaces in restaurants and bars; they've closed public libraries; school is closed locally until May 1. And they've even closed the office building where I used to work for the next few days for "cleaning," just to be safe (putting a little added pressure on those of us who work at home to carry the slack but oh well). But I look out my window and still see cars driving up and down the streets just as if it was a normal day. Don't they know there's a pandemic on? We need to be in total lockdown.

But then, I did get out of the house today for the first time myself since, I guess, Saturday or Sunday. Went over to Chicago Beef & Dogs for a carry-out burger for lunch. (Per government orders, they're only open for delivery and carry-out, no dining-in—but this isn't a change for me either, as when I do get lunch there, I carry it home anyway.) Was glad to see the proprietor seems to be doing well. (I feel bad I've never bothered to learn his name. I just kind of think of him as "The Dude," the character from The Big Lebowski who he rather resembles.) Was a good burger. I may order something from Grubhub delivery for dinner tonight, since I get paid tomorrow and I'm still trying out their monthly-fee free delivery service. Mostly I'm eating frozen dinners I've stocked up on from the grocery store, but I need a little variety every now and then.

After work tonight I'll probably watch Picard and The Ready Room with my friend, then play some more City of Heroes: Homecoming. If any of you have been living under a rock and don't know about it yet, why yes, City of Heroes is back, and it's even better than before; instructions can be found via the link in the preceding sentence. And it's completely free, with a monthly donation window for server expenses available for those who want to kick in. I've got about 8 level 50 characters now; I could very easily have more if I wanted to take the trouble to figure out good builds for them. If you want to team up, I play on Torchbearer; my global handle is @ RobotechMaster. If you're just starting out, I'll be happy to give you a little seed Inf to get started on—but I may insist you read all the guides I wrote to find out the best ways to make use of it. 

So, for me, life goes on, the same as it usually does. I take calls from work. I noodle on the computer. I take cute photos of my cats. I wonder when will my life begin…