Day 17 #StayHome

I got up first this morning! Before you pat me on the back, you should know it was almost 9am. That means I ground the beans and made the coffee. I also cleaned the kitchen. The time it takes for coffee to brew seems to be just the right amount of time to clean the kitchen 😀. When it needs it that is. Jim usually leaves the kitchen clean before he goes to bed at night. Yes ladies, you heard me right, my husband not only does all the cooking but most of the cleaning as well. The kitchen is his domain. I'm a lucky girl!

Yesterday was my most slothful day so far in this isolation time, and it worries me. Doing nothing, drinking, napping, watching Netflix is ok periodically, but I worry about my lazy tendencies. A while back I discovered a YouTube exercise video for 7 minute workouts and I thought I'd be doing that every day now. I haven't done it once. Today I did 👍. Ok, you can pat me on the back now.

Multi tasking: listening to a webinar while exercising to the video

I know the routine so I didn't need the sound, just the video that demonstrates the exercise to do. I put on the video with no sounds, then also played another video about something I wanted to learn. The learning video had the volume up high so I could do the exercises and still learn! Brilliant, exercising and learning. Multitasking.

At 2pm we had a zoom meeting scheduled with our GeeksOnTour members. Wow. 65 people showed up and stayed for 1.5 hours. Each one had the opportunity to practice with zoom and say hello, then we were able to answer a few questions about zoom.

What it looks like to have 65 people over to your house during quarantine.

After our meeting we relaxed in the hot tub. The reason for a photo of an empty hot tub should be self explanatory :-)

My writing medium of choice is this blog. Jim gravitates more toward Facebook. I just read what he wrote and saw the picture - guess what! It was exactly what I was going to post here - so I'll be lazy and just copy his Facebook post.

If you don't know about the musical duo Victor and Penny, here's their live Facebook concert - they are unique and wonderful. We didn't go for a walk today because it was raining after dinner. Maybe tomorrow.

Bad News

USA Coronavirus cases: 330,605  USA Coronavirus Deaths 9,445

5:30 pm from Worldometer

Good News

When we were meeting with our GeeksOnTour.com members, it was so surprising, and heartwarming to hear how many of them are now using Zoom meetings to get together with family - virtual happy hours. One participant said when their family got together this week on Zoom they were all able to meet the new baby that just came into the family. We are just gobsmacked at how good Zoom is. (isn't that a great word? gobsmacked? - I think we picked that up in New Zealand) Even though they've gone from 10 million daily users to 200 million daily users, and they are under attack by spammers, they still are providing us all with high quality, easy, online meetings. Thank you Zoom! I think this is a trend will continue after the pandemic is over. Now that people have been introduced to it and see just how good and easy it is, why stop? Check out this YouTube video by Martin Brossman where we joined him to discuss the possible silver linings in this pandemic.

Day 16 #StayHome

Waking up to the sound of the coffee grinder. We get custom ground beans from Lazy Lyon coffee. That's Bob Lyon, Jimmy Lyon's brother. Jimmy is Jim's oldest dive buddy and lives in Long Beach Island new Jersey.

Because of  Lazy Lyon coffee, we've discovered our favorite is Guatemalan gold. Burundi is a close second. Bob is always experimenting with different beans and different roasting techniques. I've had a long history with coffee, 

1. rejecting it altogether as a young adult, 
2. needing it for law school studies
3. using it as an excuse to load my cup with cream and sugar
4. drinking it black as the only allowed treat during a weight loss diet
5. adopting it as my daily routine - still drinking it black
6. joining the hunt for the best gourmet coffee from Lazy Lyon

After waiting a sufficient amount of time for the coffee to brew, I rolled out of bed and made my way downstairs. I take my coffee to the computer, look at emails, browse the news etc. Jim and I discuss what we're going to talk about when we join Martin via Zoom at 11:30. I finish editing another article for the current Geeks on Tour newsletter.

Then comes time to get on our zoom call with Martin and we talked about the silver lining of this pandemic. I ended the meeting with advice that it was ok to sit it out. I quoted my Tao of Abundance book from the "Leisure" chapter. 

"Everyone knows how useful it is to be useful. No one seems to know how useful it is to be useless." Chuang Tzu

I summed it up saying you don't have to save the world, or use this time to be productive, it's OK to do nothing.

Turns out I'm really good at taking my own advice, I did nothing for the rest of the day! I watched 2 more episodes of Homeland, I read my book a little bit, I took a nap, then I watched a couple of Ted talks. That felt good. This one gave a lot of good detail on the Corona Virus in China. 

Jim cooked dinner and we emptied a couple bottles of wine. Then we took a walk around the neighborhood. Very few people out tonight, one wearing a face mask. Beautiful evening. 

The Frangipani is blooming

Bad news

USA CoronaVirus cases: 308,812  Deaths: 8,407

Good News:

It appears that the pandemic may be just about over in China - where it started. There are possibilities of a second wave, hopefully that won't happen.

   

Day 15 #StayHome

We look forward to Friday mornings. For about 6 years now, we've been meeting online with a small group of people to share information and opinions about technology. We've gotten to know them quite well, even though we may have never met in person. Today was Friday, and Jim and I were sitting at his computer, logged in to Zoom, ready to go at 8:30.

We always chat about a variety of things, but today we focused on the Zoom technology. This is the group we can practice with because everyone wants to learn. Today we practiced with breakout rooms. How cool. When you teach a group, and you want to break them up into smaller groups and give them an assignment to bring back to the whole meeting - Zoom gives us Breakout rooms. It's really cool.

After the meeting, we had our breakfast apple, then retired to our respective computers. I finally got my show notes emailed out to our 8,000+ mailing list - Weekly Tech Tip: how to get your slides into Google Photos. Then I got to work on an article for our newsletter that needs to get out: Practical tips for running a Zoom meeting.

At 4pm I had a zoom webinar  on my calendar from Elliott Masie. I always love Elliott's big picture perspective, and this meeting was no different. He discussed the importance of empathy in dangerous times like these. He has produced several Broadway plays, and he had actors and singers on the webinar who performed and brought tears to my eyes.  

So, we never left the house at all today. It was another gorgeous day. We did take a break for a little hot tub soak.

Oh - Jim just said, "Let's take a walk" 

OK, it's 6:15 pm. and it is really beautiful out there. Gotta go

Bad news:

Total US CoronaVirus cases: 274,987

Total US CoronaVirus deaths: 7,065

Good News:

Italy's lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic is not only keeping people safe, but it's giving the outdoors — which is typically flooded with tourists — a chance to recharge. This from a March 20 article from Travel and Leisure

Day 14 stay home

It was 2 weeks ago today that we went out to Denny's for our Earlybird Toastmasters club and ended up bringing 2 people back to our house. Since that day it's been just Jim and me and occasionally Jim's son Devon would come over.

The alarm rang at 6:15 this morning to wake is up for our toastmasters meeting ... Online this time. We love our Earlybird toastmasters group. It's been going for over 30 years and Jim and I have been members for well over 20 of those. We always look forward to seeing each other while enjoying breakfast, and we are thrilled with how well they've all made the transition to the online world, using Zoom

We meet for an hour and a half. 3 people give prepared speeches. Several people give short, impromptu speeches and we all fill the room with camaraderie. In some ways it's better than meeting in person. For example, Pam moved away some time ago and we've missed her terribly. She was there this morning. Aleta was a member 30 years ago and has maintained her membership over all those years even though she lives in Pennsylvania. Jose is Ana's brother and he lives in Spain. He has visited our club whenever he is in town visiting his sister, but now he can be with us every week.
I don't like getting up at 6:15, but I love meeting with these people.
Ana always writes up a "recap" of the meeting and, if you haven't decided this is a great group after reading my paragraphs above, you will after reading her recap:
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Dear Members and Guests,

TopicMaster Carmine zoomed us off with kitchen utensils.  It became real clear, real quick, that female members of EarlyBirds don’t even know where their kitchen is located in the home – let alone their kitchen utensils! Besides that, we learned that… 

• DTM Mary Helen wistfully misses the good ole days when instead of a fancy silicone baster, she resorted to used paintbrushes stored in her garage for basting the turkey.  As a result, her children developed second-to-none immune systems.  This comes in handy today… 

• Returning TM Mildred praised the versatility of the kitchen spoon, which included effective disciplinary action used against unruly children when she was growing up.• Former EarlyBird member Victoria lauded the multi-tasking features of the slotted spoon – doubling up as a toilet plunger and subsequently becoming a garden dirt mover (the virtual room virtually sighed with relief that it didn’t go back to hanging with the other kitchen utensils)…. Pfiuuuu…. 

• TM BeckyJo vividly described wildly waving a wooden fork during a passionate self-righteous argument with a spouse and breaking off its prongs, slowly, slowly and one-at- a-time for emphasis.  It truly gets your point across – try it!  She Won Best Table Topics Award. 

• Returning TM Lisa, for lack of the word “spatula” in her culinary vocabulary,  kept calling the utensil a “cake batter spoon”.  Everyone is invited to her home for a cake-battered-spoon cake when sequestration is over.And then we zoomed on to the prepared speeches…. 

• TM Tom recounted his virgin Court appearance representing a client who called her husband by her boyfriend’s name “in the spur of the moment” – or shall we say “in the sperm of the moment”?  He Won Most Improved Speaker Award. 

• TM Aleta – loyal member in good standing rejoining us for the first time since she left Florida in the 80s- told us about her lucky breaks in life, where she currently gardens a multi-acre property in Paradise and works as a Labor Mediator, a profession she absolutely adores.  As TM Marie said,  all these years (to some of us) you were only an enigmatic name in the Club Roster!!  And paradoxically, now you are virtually real!!  

• Former EarlyBird TM and lasting friend – my brother Jose– delighted us with a speech about his 60th birthday party – celebrated twice, in Madrid and also in Fort Lauderdale.  Picture slides from the occasion brought us all hope for good parties still to come.  He Won Best Speaker AwardAs for evaluations… 

• TM Lisa applauded TM Tom for his engaging speech which had humor, the element of surprise, and a good reminder that cheating doesn’t pay if you can’t get their names straight. 

• TM Joe applauded TM Aleta for her uplifting speech which exuded optimism and positivity in a spirit of gratitude. 

• TM Jeff praised Jose for his charisma and his ability to use technology to make his speech more vivid and descriptive.  He Won Best Evaluator Award. 

The Word of the Day wasSEQUESTER, noun1.      Isolate or hide away2.      General cut in government spending 

We had a delightfully varied attendance made up of former EarlyBirds who are freed from the rigors of commuting in traffic, friends of Jose, family of Jose, fans of Jose.  Let’s keep it going!  Guests, keep coming back, we love having you!Next Thursday, same time, same Zoom id.  And, once again, thank you to our Tech Wizards for making it all possible.Virtually yours,Ana

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After our Toastmaster meeting, Jim and I ate our breakfast apple and went back to our computers with a last cup of coffee to answer emails and do a little browsing. When it came time for a break we took off our clothes and jumped in the hot tub ... aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

Ok, back to work.
I am way behind on my computer work. The most pressing thing on my agenda is to finish the show notes for last Sunday's Episode 188 of our YouTube show "What Does This Button Do?" It takes me several hours to complete this task. Sometimes I breeze thru it and sometimes it's like pulling teeth. Today was somewhere in between, but I got it done. Episode 188 - How to get your slides into Google Photos  The notes are only available to our premium members.

Jim made me lunch - a tuna melt sandwich. He is the sandwich king! And I love toasted sandwiches.
OK, now I need to get the notes into .pdf format and send an email blast to all our members that it is ready. But first ... hey, we're sequestered right? We have lots of time on our hands right? We can binge watch any number of shows on Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or HBO. I've been watching Homeland and I think I deserve a break to watch a couple episodes this afternoon. Damn that show is intense!

Jim spent a little time with Devon today. He showed him the newly rearranged studio room and how it is now ready for carpeting. Maybe they can get some carpeting, watch a few YouTube how-to videos and we'd pay Devon to do the work. That would be great since Devon's work has all been cancelled for the foreseeable future.

Now Jim is looking up recipes for Chicken Marsala and my mouth is starting to water. I think I'll get that email blast to our members done and call it a day.

The bad news
Covid-19 cases today in the US: 240.120  Deaths: 5,794

The good news
People are walking and playing tennis! We have a wonderful circular walk around our neighborhood. At just over 1 mile, it's short enough to be easy and long enough to get some exercise. It was a spectacularly gorgeous day. We went for a walk just after an early dinner.

We have never seen anyone using these tennis courts before. This evening there were not one, but two, tennis games in process!

An April Fool's joke?

Today is day 13 of our home isolation. It was March 19 that we had a Toastmasters club meeting that we still hoped to be at Denny's. We got to Denny's and met with Kip and Tom but Denny's would not let us stay so we brought Kip and Tom back to our house and held the meeting remotely with Zoom. 

Since then, no one other than Jim and me, has been through our door. We do go out for walks around the neighborhood and, of course, to soak in the hot tub in the back yard. And Jim went to the grocery store on March 23. Here he is getting ready to go with plastic gloves (from the sewer dumping kit in the RV) and a face mask - actually a dive hood?

We've been rearranging things in the house. I cleaned out some file drawers in my office, and Jim completely rearranged his office - getting rid of lots of stuff and turning his desk around against a different wall. He really likes the new arrangement, but now it means we need to paint another green wall.

Chris' office with a stand-up desk and a file cabinet that can actually hold new files now.

.

Jim's newly rearranged office - the computer pit /video studio

My office even has enough room now that we could set up our slide projector and screen to get out all those old slides and look at them one last time. When we see a good one, I take its picture with my phone and, voila! it's in Google Photos. We think this is such a cool way to digitize photos, and a cool think to do with this isolation time, that we used it for the topic of our YouTube show, Episode 188: how to get your old slides into Google Photos.

Between walks around our beautiful neighborhood, time to rearrange and use our wonderful home, we're enjoying this #stayhome time. Jim decided he didn't even have to go to the grocery store anymore since Publix home delivery is working so well. Thank you Winston for your delivery service. Winston is the name of the young man who took on the gig of shopping for whatever you put on your online Publix shopping list, and driving it over to our house and dropping it off.  I even have my own private chef. Jim is such a good cook, and he actually enjoys it. So, all I have to do is sit back and tell him when I'm hungry - within the hour I have a delicious, healthy meal in front of me. I throw together an occasional salad, or cut up butternut squash to put in the air fryer.

Can life get any better?

Well, except for the people dying that is.

We watch the news and see field hospitals set up in New York's central park. I hear from my Italian friend, Paolo, that the local paper's obituaries take up over a dozen pages when the norm was less than one page. An assisted living facility just down the street has reported 4 deaths. This is the facility where Mom spent her first 5 years in an ALF. She's in another one now, and they are in lock-down mode. We hear from RVTravel.com that a friend, a fellow seminar presenter, Gary Bunzer, is in critical condition with Covid-19 and is in a Seattle area ICU. Gary is a bit younger than us (I think) and has always look quite fit.

According to the CDC, COVID-19 cases in the USA on March 19 (when we started our lockdown) numbered 15,291. As of March 30, that number is 165,539. On March 19, the death toll was 150, today it is 4,079 according to Our World in Data.
This is catastrophe. The zombie apocalypse come to life. The world is experiencing the medical disaster envisioned in the movie "Outbreak." It is an unthinkable horror, the end of the world as we know it.

So, how is it possible that life can be so good for us? We are lucky indeed, but it feels like more than that. It is surreal. It's an episode of the Twilight Zone. How can the world be in such danger when the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining? Don't they know it's the end of the world? (thank-you BeckyJo for this reference)
Maybe it's the 2020 version of War of the Worlds? Maybe when we wake up tomorrow, April 2, we will discover that it's all been some cruel April Fool's joke? One can only hope.

Meanwhile we can't panic. The most important thing we can do is to follow the guidelines for "social distancing" so we don't get infected, and don't infect others. If possible, enjoy yourself, spread loving thoughts. My favorite meme from this has been:

Our parents were asked to go to war. We're being asked to stay home on the couch.

We got this.