Cindy, I must've skipped over any updates you gave regarding your son - how is he doing? In general, not just a Covid19 update.

Strix, I hope all will improve from now on, for you and your mother and your sister.

Steph, lots of health and quick-recovery~ma to your friend.

Strix, so glad it went well.

NILLY! Thank you so much for the well-wishes. It is so good to see your font around here. You have been missed.

Despite all of the changes online and in our personal lives, this place feels like home. It's the first place I check when the shit hits the fan. I'm glad we still have this.

My sister and I are getting so frustrated at our parents. My mom has lots of health issues. My dad does not, but he's still 72. Their "social distancing" plan is that my dad goes out to get whatever they need. My sister finally yelled at my dad enough to convince him to make coffee at home rather than going out to Dunkin every morning. Neither parent seemed to have considered that, every time he goes out, he's not only putting himself in danger (and that being 72 years old is being in a high-risk group, even if he is healthier than a lot of other people his age), and that he's also bringing germs back into the house where my mom could be exposed.

I mean. I'm under 40, and I have asthma, and I'm on an immunosuppressant, and I'm not going anywhere. Why are parents not doing this?

This is one time I'm thankful for my mom being a fussbudget. Her losing sleep to anxiety over the pandemic and repeatedly nagginggiving me helpful tips about social distancing and hand washing (thanks Mom, but I've got this one covered already!) means that she's hopefully NOT taking any unnecessary chances or thinking the virus magically can't be transmitted by people she regularly comes into contact with.

Yikes Hil! My parents can be frustrating but they're at least taking this seriously (even if that involves texting my sister and me while we were traveling yesterday and suggesting that we wear masks and if we didn't have masks (we didn't) that we use....underwear. Wtf??)

Also Matt that place looks great and now is probably a great time to buy with the mortgage rates...and I'm gasping at that price! Wow! I figure we are entering a recession and my place will definitely loose value, but for that price how can you go wrong??

ltc is mad about everything, and I'm anxious about everything. So, she's watching muppet babies, and I'm taking a short break in my room under a weighted blanket.

How frustrating, Hil! I'm grateful my parents are being sensible.

HR clarified our clarification - anyone whose workcan be done from home *can* work from home for the next two weeks, we can still go into the office if we want to for now. Which I may do some of the time, everything is harder working from home. We'll see.

{ { sj } }

from Facebook this morning, from Eliza Rubenstein.

I am the very model of effective social distancing!
I listen to the experts on the topic of resistance-ing;
I know that brunch and yoga class aren't nearly as imperative
As doing what I can to change the nation's viral narrative.

I'm very well acquainted, too, with living solitarily
And confident that everyone can do it temporarily:
Go take a walk, or ride a bike, or dig into an unread book;
Avoid the bars and restaurants and carry out, or learn to cook.

There's lots of stuff to watch online while keeping safe from sinus ills
(In this case, it's far better to enjoy your Netflix MINUS chills)!
Adopt a pet, compose a ballad, write some earnest doggerel,
And help demolish Trump before our next event inaugural.

Pandemics are alarming, but they aren't insurmountable
If everybody pitches in to hold ourselves accountable.
In short, please do your part to practice prudent co-existence-ing,
And be the very model of effective social distancing!