Days 27-30 #StayHome - the new normal

Friday 4/17

Friday is the best day of the week. At 8:30 in the morning we have a zoom meeting with a small group of people who discuss technology news and we learn from each other. And, later in the day, since the Corona virus pandemic, Elliot Masie hosts a zoom based happy hour, called Empathy, with inspirational talks and performances from Broadway starts. It brings tears to my eyes and dance moves to my feet. Thank you Elliott.

Oh thank goodness, Jim has returned from venturing into the wild. He walked out the front door to take the garbage out and check the mail. I was so happy to they he returned safely. A touch of exaggeration here ,😮

Thursday 4/16

At 7am, we have our EarlyBird Toastmasters meetingon zoom, we had a guest from Paris who told us how pleasant it was that the French people were relaxed during this crisis, no sense of panic, no runs on toilet paper. We also had a guest from Moscow, and a member who lives in Spain. I am so loving this new way of having meetings!

We got our government stimulus payments. $1,200 each, showed up in our bank account today. We really don't need it, we're fine financially, so we gave 1200 to the Broward pantry. I just can't imagine not having money for food and so appreciate the work these food banks are doing.

I sewed today. Understand, that is just not something I do, but we decided to hang our T-Shirt memory quilt on the wall in Jim's office to soften the effect of that glaring green wall, and there was one T-Shirt that was completely disintegrated, leaving the upper right corner looking very ratty. I found another T-Shirt in the closet of "Defending the Caveman." This t-shirt has never been worn, but we would not throw it out because going to that play is such a strong memory for us. A perfect candidate for the memory quilt, but how to get it done? I hunted throughout the house and found a little packet with a needle and some thread, and set to work. I am SO proud of myself.

Our Work

Jim and I hug each other and whisper "We're so lucky" at least 10 times in any given day. We're lucky to have each other, we're lucky to have a wonderful home, we're lucky to be financially stable, and we're SO lucky to have work that we can do from home and that we are passionate about. We love doing our YouTube show, and filling our website with tutorials and articles. This is what we love to do whether it was our business or not. It feels extra good when we hear that people are getting value from our work. I want to share messages we got from two different GeeksOnTour members:

Russ Manhold: Your tutorials are really something I look forward to viewing on a regular basis.  Recently I've been enjoying learning how to use my SmartPhone to capture old photographs and slides, enhance them, add them to Google Albums, and finally view them on my television screen using Chromecast.

Michael Dorsey: A very BIG thank you for last week's Button show. I have shared my Google photo albums this week with family on Zoom and by links to my Google account. A great time to do it.

 Bad news

4/15 Day 27
Covid-19 cases in US: 652,196 Deaths 28,390

4/16 Day 28
Covid-19 cases in US: 675,243 Deaths 34,562

4/17 Day 29
Covid-19 cases in US: 692,169 Deaths 36,721

4/18 Day 30
Covid-19 cases in US: 723,729  Deaths 37,841

Even Worse News:

Back on April 1, I wrote about learning that a friend, Gary Bunzer, was in a Seattle area ICU with Covid-19. Today, Saturday April 18 we learned that he died. We knew Gary from being a fellow seminar presenter at RV rallies. He was known as the RV Doctor, and we sought his advice many times on RV issues. I attended a few of his seminars in the early days. I remember being impressed with the thoughtful seminar handouts he provided. You will never meet anyone as knowledgeable, helpful, genuine, kind, and fun as Gary. He was also a musician, an excellent guitarist. He and Jim would have animated discussions of sound and amplification systems.
We will so miss seeing his smiling face at RV Rallies - that is if there will be any more of them. All but one of the RV rallies that we usually attend have been cancelled through the end of the year.
We learned of Gary's passing from the RVTravel newsletter.
And, the FMCA also posted Remembering Gary Bunzer