Thoughts on Sheltering IN

My younger son's college has gone to 100% remote instruction, so he's home now. But we still need to retrieve some of his possessions from campus.

My older son, who graduated college in May 2019, had a 3.5 month contract in Chicago that ended in mid-March. He was supposed to move back to New York City, but decided against it after discussing the move with friends who are there. So he's sheltering in place with his girlfriend's family in Illinois, right near the Iowa border. Smart call on his part.

I'm fortunate that I can work remotely, and that the bio-pharmaceutical company that I consult to is pretty stable.
 
I teach all my university courses via online instruction from our home. It is safer this way.
 
yes, for my wife and me it can apply, more or less. At a certain age you start to think that "something" could happen and prepare yourself, your house to be cosy enough to have a decent level of life even if you cannot go out.

Of course we didn't imagine somehting so bad...

Technolgy helps a lot to keep contact with friends, skype, phones, internet and RFF are a good way to interact!

Book, online newspapers and magazine are available to be informed.

We are adapting...
 
Home to Read

Home to Read

I have a recording studio at home, so that hasn't changed, but the wife writes cozy mystery novels for Kindle sold through Amazon.
She's sold a quarter million copies of her books! The stay at home thing is great for her!
 
I wonder how we will look back at this crisis. Will we have learned anything? Will we have a different (or better) perspective of humankind's existence on this fragile planet?......Ah....could you refill my glass of whiskey?.....Now where was I?
 
For my wife and myself, leaving the house is only for groceries and RX's. Lots of reading, forum browsing and some TV. And for me, a few short walks around a neighboring farm/hemp field with a camera kit.
 
that's what you normally do anyway

Same for me. My wife retires at the end of this year!

Lots of folks can work from home if your work has you using a portable computer.

I’m ordering dinner more frequently now as some restaurants offer take out. I know they need the business and I want to see them stay in business.
 
Untitled

Wouldn’t it be nice
To say in one word
What others say in ten
To keep the chatter to
A minimum
And just quietly smile at
A friend

If Mona Lisa had been
A wordy broad
If Van Gough had listened
With both ears
What would be of
This world of ours
Probably no different in the end

Mike
 
What Rhymes With Booze?

Me and that bottle of whiskey
Were getting along just fine
Last night
And the more I was drinking
The more everything was going
To be alright

When I got up this morning
The wife and kids were not
There
And as the fog was lifting
My memory kicked in
What a nightmare

That was enough for me
I’ll pour out what whiskey
Is left
I found the bottle was empty
Dang it, yet another case of
Alcohol theft?

One would think by now
I would have learned
My lesson
The lord knows me well
I spent enough time in church
My sins confessing

So, this was the last time
I’ve damn well had enough
Booze
It’s just too bad it took so long
Because as I look around, there’s
Nothing left to lose

Mike
 
Me and myself

A fella with problems is,
A fella like me
And when the two of us,
Get together
We'll be stinkin’ up the air
Just wait and see

We glide through the smoke
On mirrors of ice
We weave truth into a
Basket of lies
Drinks are slishing and sloshing
Oh how we be a talkin’

And yet...

I’m getting tired of myself
With this fella of woes
The two of us steppin’
On each others toes
It’s frightening to see me
And the other fella knows

Mike
 
I don't get out too much as it is, I live outside of a smallish American city in the desert, and I have few reasons to go into town besides mail and groceries. Staying home has been fine with me, though I miss seeing my nieces.

My spouse and I go walking in the desert every day, and that helps too.

Photography needed a break from me. I had spent the last year planning photography in relation to travel, and without the prospect of travel I had trouble working on photographs without feeling somewhat sad. So, I have been working on a novel I've been working on for the past year instead. It's good to keep your mind engaged with something.
 
So do I. It works surprisingly well, I'd say.

I have been teaching graduate courses with distance learning since over 10 years now. I used to teach courses at UWF where some students were sitting in the classroom while others were logged in from a distance. The only change now is having the face to face students to also log in from a distance, and I am in our home.
 
All this forced time at home has really got me into gear catching up on the things I've let pile up. Having to restock the pantry notified me of all the out of date foodstuffs I had. And I've finally tackled those piles of papers that need to be filed. I only wish that all the places I was going to send the items I have determined to be excess were open so I could make some more room in the apartment, but at least the consolidation of everything will create some space.


PF
 
I teach all my university courses via online instruction from our home. It is safer this way.

After my university started panicking about what to do, last Friday they finally decided to have all courses taught online this semester. Nobody has any experience with it and I need to find a solution for one of my experimental classes. I am also worried about the data volume required for online sessions, one lesson is 90 minutes and undergraduate students have 15 lessons or so per week. Most of them only have mobile contracts with limited data volumes or are still in their home country so coming to the campus to use free university WiFi is not an option for those. Maybe best thing is to hand out the PPTs as I usual do and write some additional notes, information etc. and ask for reports and homework.
 
Bad dreams

Sometimes dreams aren't
Everything you want
Sometimes dreams are
Old acquaintances you
You’d liked to forgot

Go to sleep hoping for
A new tomorrow
Wake up up in a world filled
With pain and sorrow
That’s what it is, that’s what it is

I got feelings, I got time
I got a wife who loves me
We got our lives
We got to hide in our house
Thank God we got wine

Sometimes dreams aren't
Everything you want
An empty bottle at the end of
The night
That’s not what we want

But that’s what we got.

All the best
Mike
 
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