Yeah, this is already brutal for all kinds of vulnerable people.

I, on the other hand, think this is the perfect time to book conference travel for June because the prices are cheap! (So even if my job ends up being out the $$, it's just a couple hundred dollars...)

Ugh, poor Nashville and community. Every time I look the number goes up.

Scary night in Nashville last night, but we are fine, and Liese is too. We're about a mile from where there was major damage in our neighborhood. I'm still waiting to hear from a friend whose house is closer to see if she's OK, so any ~ma you have to spare on that front would be appreciated.

Thanks for checking in.

Thank for posting, Kate. All the ~ma for your friends and neighbors.

Sending ~ma, Kate. Very glad you are ok

So good to see your pixels, Kate, and I'm so glad you and your family and Liese are okay. ~ma to your friend.

(((Cash, Cash's brother, Cash's dad, Cash's whole family))) This country, dammit.

Cashmere, that's horrible, I'm so sorry for all of you! May your family get everything they need to heal.

My coworkers showed up at the ELI (Educause Learning Initiative) conference in Seattle this weekend only to be told it was canceled. We live in NC, so it was a bit of a hike for a conference that didn't happen.

Sunday my sister flew from Virginia to Denver for a conference only to find when she landed that it was cancelled. Getting home was kind of a nightmare, but she said she was just as glad not to have to sit for four days amongst people from everywhere and all their germs.

Travel~ma for your DH, Laura. Such a sad reason to go to a beautiful place.

Wow, Chris Matthews just quit on air.

I heard that he was "out" and wasn't surprised, then found out he basically flounced off ON AIR and... wow.

Talked to my cousin who lives in Virginia and works at Costco. She says everyone is flipping out over the Coronavirus, wearing masks and are lined up all the way to the back of the store buying up all the bottled water and toilet paper.

Where is she in VA? I was in a Food Lion in Charlottesville yesterday and everything seemed calm and normal. I was surprised, given how people here raid the stores when there's snow in the forecast.

A coworker just got back from Denver, where she'd gone with her husband who had a conference. Something to do with physics. Anyway, that conference has been canceled, too.

That was undoubtedly my sister's conference that got cancelled. AIP, American Institute of Physics.

I have a freelance editing job with API, American Petroleum Institute, and I keep getting the acronyms mixed up with AIP, for which my former-brother-in-law works.

Glad you and Leise and all are okay, Kate. I've finally heard from all my friends in Nashville and everyone's okay, thank goodness. Tornadoes are fucking terrifying.

Welp, my parent company just canceled all non-essential travel and now a whole bunch of people who had tacked ECCC plans onto their business trips don't have flights out to Seattle.

I finally saw on FB that my friend is OK (though a tree fell on their house!), thank god. Now I just have to plan to wait in line for 1-2 hours to vote on my way home -- several polling stations are affected, so four or five precincts are all being funneled into one community center to vote.