20 Days in Captivity

Today is the 20th day that I've been stuck in the house. Working from home, not going out, not seeing friends and family. It's stinks! People keep calling this our "new normal" and I'm like "I hope not".  Life will definitely be different AFTER this crazy, but I hope this isn't our normal.

Billie sent me a funny text this week that made me smile. She said, "You know what's funny? Dad would be saying, "I told you so! This is why I hoard food.." He and mom would be so set for this." And you know what...she's totally right. Though Mom, god love her, would be Queen Hypochondriac with this.

Since I've been stuck at home I thought it a good opportunity to the a "Currently" review.

Loving: The fact that the weather has been so nice. Loving that spring is on it's way. I hope we can get out of the house by then!

Hating: This Virus! I hate it more than Brussels sprouts!

Eating: Not healthy that's for sure! I have felt the need for comfort food this week. Did a tator tot casserole and Hunter's Stew

Reading: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. It's our book club book this month. It's good. Amusing and well written. Looking for a quick read? This might be your book. Vines & Spines will be doing a virtual book club on Wednesday...first time ever. Should be interesting.

Watching: I just binged 9-1-1! I started watching 9-1-1 Lone Star and found I loved it, so figured I'd check out the original series. I love it too!! Back in the day Mom used to LOVE the show Emergency with Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe. That was the one night we were allowed to eat dinner in the "living room" (we were on base housing. There wasn't really any more rooms in the house besides bedrooms.).  Each episode of Emergency they'd find themselves saving someone and in crazy situations all the while calling...literally calling into Rampart Hospital.  Well 9-1-1 is the newest rendition of this type of show and I love it. I watched the first two seasons and am caught up in the 3rd meeting.

Listening: Nothing! The first time I've listened to music was during yesterday's Virtual Happy Hour for the company. About a dozen of us showed up and the theme was "What's your Job Theme Song?" I've known my theme song theme song since the second week on the job. It's never changed...Crazy Train by Ozzy Osborne.

Creating: Today I took the day off - not because work is busy - but because I just needed a break from the routine. I plan on being in the SB room all day. I tore up the San Diego 3Day last weekend and think I'll finish the Traveler's Notebook today. I'm trying to get as many 12X12s converted before I move - so I don't have to pack so many big 12X12 scrapbooks.

So that's it! These blogs are likely to become more boring than normal since I'm not actually doing anything. And guess what? I've got 4 more weeks of this. We're not going back to the office until the end of April!

COVID - what?

The world has learned a new word.... COVID-19. It's the ONLY thing people are talking about these days and it has the world, country, state, city, neighborhoods on edge.

COVID19 is a flu virus. A deadly, horrible flu virus. It started in China and found it's way to the US and the world now. Thousands have died and Seattle appears to be the epicenter of it in the US. We have a rehabilitation center for the elderly that has been hit the hardest and then it just exploded.

That was 2 weeks ago. Two weeks when the company told all of us to go home and WFH until the end of April. EIGHT WEEKS of WFH. Oh Lord...I am just not sure I can do that. I miss my work peeps.

The answer to stopping this flu is also a new term "social-distancing". The way to stop the spread is to not interact with people. Stay at home. Less likely to pass this along. Makes sense! Yet people are not getting it. So many people are out and about NOT practicing social-distancing.

The other weird thing that has been happening is hoarding of toilet paper. Why? No one is sure. It's not like this is a stomach flu and - well - you may need the TP. It's insane the amount of hoarding of TP and hand sanitizer has been going on.

For me, when this first started I didn't take it as serious as I am now. It felt like it was something that the media got all hyped up about and it moved on. Turns out, that's not been the case. Instead, it's getting worse before it gets better. I'm literally forcing myself to not be fearful, but be safe instead. It's easy to get anxious about this type of thing...the unknown. We do know that COVID19 is a bad flu - respiratory bad. Mostly elderly and folks with compromised immune systems are the most likely to get it and have the worse of it. The rest of us, if treated and paid attention to correctly, will survive it. 80% survive.

This will impact my trip in May too. 100% sure that Janet and I won't be traveling to Europe in May. In fact, we've talked about post poning until Sept / Oct - hoping this will be over by then.

Th economic impact of this is also significant. Restaurants are closed for dine-in. Many are still doing take out, many have closed all together. This will be a huge impact on several employees income. It makes me sad for small businesses and people who run them. And this economic impact will last for a year or more easily. The stock market is low, and crashing all the time. This feels like a HUGE recession on our way again. Oh goody.

So...the world has learned some new terms and are slowly learning a new way of life during these social-distancing days. I'm not a fan. But I'm also not a fan of being sick, or passing on any germs so I'm being diligent at keeping myself at home.

Oh March...

Maybe I should make an annual goal of writing in the block at least once a month. That seems to be my speed these days, so it's a goal I'd hit for sure.

I'm feeling a bit meh today. Yesterday I didn't feel great - felt like maybe a cold was coming on.  Today I just feel exhausted. I'm wondering if it's more allergies now than a cold.  At any rate, I know it's NOT the corona virus.

Since I wasn't feeling overly energetic today I decided it was a good day to start research on my next big trip in May. Sister in Law and I are going on a Viking Rhine River cruise and we're starting in Lugano, Switzerland - home of the boarding school I attended - TASIS.

Before every trip I feel obligated to research and learn of all the things we may or may not see. The history of the country we're visiting, the history and what not of each town, the churches in the town, the politics etc. I find it prepares me for what I'm going to experience. Some people think it takes the surprise out of the trip, but I'm not one for surprises on a trip. I have an overwhelming feeling of missing something, that I can't help myself but to be prepared.

And so today I reviewed all the excursions on this cruise. Viking includes an excursion at each port of call. They also have "extra" ones - many of which are at the same time as the included ones. When I first looked I thought there may be some extras I wanted to go on, but today I found that I'd be happy with the included ones.

Day 1: Breisach Germany - The Black Forest
I've been through the black forest after graduation in 1987 as we traveled up to visit our foreign exchange student in Muchengladbach.

Day 2: Strasbourg France - Highlights tour
These are always my favorites. You have minimal time in one location and a highlight tour really does a good job showing you just that.

Day 3: Speyer, German - Walking tour
Gotta get my exercise somehow. Why not walk through the old town and see things up close.
Speyer is home to the largest of the three Romanesque imperial cathedrals. And I love me some cathedrals.

Day 4: Koblenz, Germany - The Fortress of Ehrenbreitstein
Koblenz is what's known as the middle rhine. It's where you start to really see castle after castle. I'm 100% sure we drove through, past or around this area in 1987 since I have a photo of one of the castles. At any rate, the included excursion is a fortress and this is like a castle.

Day 5: Cologne, German - Walking tour
Something tells me a 2 hour walking tour isn't going to be enough here.

Day 6: Kinderdijk, the Netherlands - Kinderdijk Windmills
If Don Quixote wasn't from Spain...he'd battle his giants here. These beauties are iconic and I cannot wait to see them.

We're still figuring out what we're going to do in Lugano. We have a walking tour booked and know we want to, obviously, see the school. We've got time, we'll figure it out.

We'll also be spending two days in Basel - which is where the cruise begins. They have some walking tours and a hop on hop off type of bus tour...

I'm getting excited for this and it's only a mere 70 days away. Which reminds me, I'd better get to the gym more often than once a week so I can keep up with the SIL.