Grocery Store Clothing

I bought shirts from Aldi last week. That's right. I bought clothing from the grocery store. I was in line (maintaining my designated 6-feet distance from other shoppers) and noticed a twin pack of camisoles on the shelf. I bought that pack of camis and they're very nice. I read an article recently where a clothing store owner in Alabama was complaining because his store wasn't allowed to be open due to the COVID-19 situation, yet Walmart was allowed to be open and sell clothing. This man seemed to overlook the fact that Walmart sells food in addition to clothing. If the complaining shop owner also sold meat, eggs, bread, milk, etc., I'm sure he'd be allowed to open also, but selling just shirts and pants doesn't cut it. Yes, we need clothes, but no one is going to die because they can't go shopping for a new shirt or a new pair of pants. People will die if they can't eat!

During this quarantine, I've thought a lot about what a return to the office might mean for me personally. My day job has a pretty open floor plan with no real dividers to keep you from reaching out and touching the person sitting next to you, in front of you, or behind you. There are no high cubicle walls. This is a problem if you're concerned about someone else breathing on you. And what about the ventilation? If COVID-19 can be circulated through an air conditioning system (like Legionnaire's disease), how can workers be assured that they won't ingest droplets or whatever from infected people? And what about the common workplace spaces like restrooms and kitchens? How can companies deal with possible transmissions when you have so many people touching the same stuff? It's one thing to keep your own workstation clean, but that's nearly impossible when dealing with community work spaces. Maybe we'll all end up wearing Hazmat suits in the future.

Stress Baking

As we start yet another week under home arrest, I have to confess I did some stress baking over the weekend. I made a 7-Up cake cake that turned out quite well. (When the only cake pan that you have is a Bundt cake pan, you made a Bundt cake!) I'm glad I had a small bag of flour I bought the last time I made a cake that I could use because I sure couldn't find any at the grocery store. Clearly I'm not the only person stress baking right now. I had all of the ingredients and was ready to go yesterday when I realized I didn't have any 7-Up! (It's not something that I normally drink and have on hand.) I had to go out and buy a small bottle just to make the cake.

I'm trying to focus on the positive aspects of this crisis. With so many places closed, I'm certainly saving money by not being able to buy much more than groceries, so that's good. The weather is turning nicer here (although we did have snow last week), but on the warmer days, I've been able to get out and do some walking to get exercise since the local Y is closed for business, and that's great. (Sitting around eating cake and watching trash like "Tiger King" isn't helping me to keep the weight off, so I need all the exercise I can get!) My next goal is to walk my bike to the gas station and get the tires pumped up so I can ride around the neighborhood. Gas has fallen below $2 a gallon around where I live so that's a plus (even though I'm not doing much driving these days). The money from the government helped. So many people are out of work right now, so getting those funds hopefully helped to ease some of the financial burdens some people are facing.

I wish I could say I'm getting a lot of writing done, but that's not happening. I've been dragging my feet on a story I've been working on for some time now and I'm about ready to throw in the towel on it, but not yet. I keep thinking I can salvage it, but at some point I'll have to move forward or call it a day.

Where'd You Get That?

My last post was titled "The New Normal" about our new normal situation dealing with COVID-19. As part of this new normal of social distancing, you might get a question like I did today as I was leaving a local grocery store. A man stopped to ask me where I'd gotten the face mask I was wearing. I told him I bought it online (Etsy, to be specific) and as I drove home I thought what a sad conversation that had been. We're discussing where we get facial masks now? Yes, we are. I also wonder where a lot of folks are getting face masks from these days because they seem to be hard to find (at least around the Chicago area where I live). I had to order my masks online because I didn't know where else to find them locally. I got a pack of three and I'd glad to have them. I hand wash them each time I wear them, hang them up to dry, and then iron them (because these are the kinds of things I do when I'm stuck at home all day every day). If I knew how to sew so I could make my own masks!

The New Normal

I was excited to get a three-pack of face masks in the mail today. Woo hoo! How sad is that? Getting face masks in the mail was the highlight of my day. I guess this is the new normal. Wearing face masks when you go out, only going to and from the grocery store or pharmacy, making sure to maintain six feet of distance between yourself and others if you go out of the house. I'm doing what I need to do to try and stay safe these days and I hope everyone else is also. I wonder if we'll ever get back to having group gatherings like concerts or sports events. I assume we will, but it's hard to imagine such a venue now with everything going on. I cringe when I think about getting on the L again to commute to and from my day job. Just the thought of being squished up in a train car grosses me out. There's no way to maintain social distancing under those circumstances.

There are so many people out there doing what they can to try and make life better for the rest of us these days and those folks deserve a hand and thanks for their service. The medical workers, the postal carriers, delivery folks, fast-food service workers. They're all working to get us through this and often putting their own health on the line to serve the public. They should be commended.

RIP Ellis Marsalis

Well, the Rona claims another victim. This time it's legendary jazz musician Ellis Marsalis. I read about Ellis's death early this morning on my phone during a bout of insomnia. I was fortunate to be able to see Ellis perform in Philadelphia many years ago with his sons Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason and the show was excellent. That show also convinced me that Ellis is far more talented than any of his extremely talented children. I have the CD the family put out when they did that tour. I need to dig that out. I posted a message on the NY Times comments section (that I hope gets posted) about Ellis's passing and I wrote that if you want to hear the master at work, listen to his piano solo on Harry Connick, Jr.'s version of "Stardust." It's so great. I'm getting a shiver up my spine just thinking about it.

RIP, Mr. Marsalis. You and your music will be missed.

Trenton Ain't Making and the World Ain't Taking!

When I lived in Philly and Jersey, I'd drive between both states on I-95 and see the bridge right before you get to Trenton that says "Trenton Makes, the World Takes." Well, right now I don't think Trenton or any other city in the US is making much that the world is taking since we barely have any manufacturing in our country anymore.

Every time I watch the news and there's talk about how there aren't enough ventilators or masks for medical personnel in our hospitals, I find myself asking, Why not? With as much money as we have in the United States, why don't we have enough basic goods for our doctors, nurses, nursing home workers, and other medical personnel? I understand not having enough items on hand for this pandemic that really struck fast, but why aren't we able to simply make more of these items? Is it because we rely too much on overseas manufacturing? Because we're too dependent on cheaper products made in China? If this Coronavirus pandemic isn't a wake up call for the country, it should be. We really have to get back to manufacturing products in our own country. We need to make our own masks, ventilators, gloves, face shields, whatever so we can get these items distributed quickly when needed without having to rely on overseas manufacturers or the charity of other countries. The United States generates a lot of money. It's time we started putting more of that money to work in our own country. Of course it costs more to make things domestically, but so what. Again, we're not exactly a country that doesn't have money. Plus, we can and should pay people decent wages for work like this. We used to make things, we used to manufacture items, and now we don't and it's coming back to bite us in the ass.