DAMN, flea! (That was re: the work situation, not your sister's awesomeness, though it could apply to both.)

bennett, yeah, the Austin offices for Jim's company are shut and staying that way for the foreseeable.

Evidently Florida State University has told parents working remotely they can't take care of their kids while working remotely starting Aug 7.

At work we put up signs saying masks are needed to enter the building but we can't actually enforce it. There was some kind of issue with a customer who got in a verbal alteration with a dept manager. Don't know the details but they had to call mall security.

Glad to hear it, flea! Tell her we miss her on DW? And here, of course!

. . . aaaaaaaaand the Seattle Symphony has officially announced that the season opener in September, IF it goes ahead, will be livestreamed for free.

This has gotten to me. Jim and I have been doing season subscriptions for years now, since we moved to Washington, and this year we've decided to give it a miss - we're still in credit for three concerts that were cancelled last season. The typical audience is 55+, Benaroya Hall holds about 2500, even with spacing and masks and cleaning that's a lot of people to be sharing indoor air with for two hours.

This has gotten to me. Jim and I have been doing season subscriptions for years now, since we moved to Washington, and this year we've decided to give it a miss

We've seen a lot more live music since 2017 than we ever had before (our last show was Elvis Costello, in November, who we saw with flea and Mr. flea), and I'm really missing it. The flip side of that, though, is that I've seen a fair handful of musicians who I love who are livestreaming performances -- some with a ticket price (well deserved) and some who are performing free just for the hell of it. I've seen Lyle Lovett twice, once with John Hiatt and once with Robert Earl Keen, and I know I wouldn't have been able to see Lyle Lovett perform live in person twice in one year (much less twice in one month). So I miss live music, but I've also seen a lot more since March than I would ever have seen in person in 4 months.

t edit Anyone who's a Morgan James fan (or even if you don't know who she is but you love excellent singers), she's doing a free live show on YouTube at 5 p.m. Eastern today.

Jeez flea, that sucks. (But yay hearing about Nutty—miss her!)

Suela, that makes way more sense—though I was hoping maybe you had read some new hopeful article I hadn't yet!

In other good news, the Trader Joe's a block away has reopened after almost 3 weeks! Whew!

I had a chat with our CEO* when we were both in the office Monday packing up for the office move, and he isn't going to force anyone to come back to the office before we feel safe regardless of what the official corporate guidelines say.

*of our subsidiary, not Bezos

I have found a manga for Teppy.

[link]

As expected the dipshits in Madison (Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald) have decided to let the counties take the lead on COVID precautions. Which means a patchwork of barely enforced rules.

And with the added perk of a state supreme court ruling against our state health administrator and the democratic governor, not to mention a powerful tavern/bar owners lobby, we are royally fucked.

The only nod to safety we are getting locally is that our city government building requires masks to enter and they passed a temporary open container statute for downtown.

I have found a manga for Teppy.

Oh my god, that is AWESOME.

Joss trending on Twitter - Justice League actor saying he was awful and abusive on set. So there's that.