Monday, March 16
Day 4 of my Pandemic Lockdown was also, in a sense, Day 1 of the New Normal: the first weekday with the kids home from school, and me officially working from home for the foreseeable future — thanks to Sunday’s e-mails from my employer, which had flipped normal work-attendance practices on their head by indicating that I essentially needed permission to come to work, vs. needing permission to work from home.
I still had one co-worker watching me closely, though:
As I captioned that photo on Twitter:
(BTW, don’t worry, there’s nothing confidential in the photo. I double-checked.)
Meanwhile, the kids’ New Normal included expanding their daily allotment of “screen time” to functionally unlimited…
…while still requiring them to fulfill certain responsibilities, as a condition of keeping that privilege.
Apropos of which, here they are watching a Dude Perfect video at the dinner table. Family bonding FTW? 🙂 We also finally gave in to our 12-year-old’s longstanding desire to get an iPhone, replacing her not quite 2-year-old Samsung J3V with a used iPhone 7 (paid for mostly with her own money).
Not all of the kids’ activities Monday were screen-related, though. For instance, the 8-year-old helped Mommy plant some vegetables.
As I explained on social media:
While it felt too alarmist, sensationistic, and frankly a wee bit crazy to go into more detail than that, weeks later I would elaborate a bit on the object of that “caution”:
Speaking of which, here are some clips of our discussions of, and reactions to, various bits of news on Monday:
The overall gist of Monday’s news was perhaps best-conveyed by the lede of a New York Times front-page article titled “Crisis Shutting Down Commerce, Likely for Months,” which stated matter-of-factly:
In some places, public officials and private business owners moved with stunning speed. In others, paralyzing hesitancy, defiant bravado or blithe disregard dominated. But by Monday, it was clear everywhere that most of the American economy was grinding to an unparalleled halt and would remain that way for months.
, The New York Times, March 17, 2020
Here is the front page of Tuesday morning’s Times (discussing Monday’s news):
The day’s news, which included the first word of Imperial College death-toll estimates that caused both Donald Trump and Boris Johnson to suddenly change course in their approach to the crisis) was enough to spike your blood pressure — but at least I knew my blood-oxygen level was in the normal range, thanks to the PulseOx that I had bought off Amazon on Friday:
In the afternoon, Becky headed to work for a 3pm-3am shift, and got an N95 mask for the first time:
Less dramatically, I went out in the afternoon, too — to buy Acetaminophen. I hadn’t been able to find any online, but the local Walgreens app reported that our local store had some in stock, so I went there to buy some. Afterward, I tweeted:
(NOTE: I learned of the Ibuprofen evidence mentioned above from a John Campbell video. Campbell later clarified the issue further, and the science remains very unsettled on this point.)
I actually called my dad (in Connecticut) while en route to Walgreens, to make sure he and my mom — who are far more likely than us to need it — had adequate supply of Acetaminophen at home. If not, I would have bought two, and sent one to them, given the apparent shortage. But my dad reported that they had plenty, so I just bought one for us.
I also, IIRC, bought a couple of things from the rather depleted-looking snack aisle:
I made a second quick stop at the nearby supermarket, hoping to buy Monday’s New York Times. They were all out, though I was able to get a Denver Post.
Also there was a USA Today college basketball special, taunting me with the prospect of an NCAA Tournament that would never be. 🙁
In the evening, during the 8-year-old’s bedtime rituals, we had some fun with panorama mode on my phone:
That’s about it, in terms of photos from Day 4. But it was a big news day, so I’ll finish this post with a bunch of screenshots and embeds.
More after the jump…
Bipartisan rage at Trump and De Blasio:
But also some (temporary, as it would turn out) relief, re: Trump:
But also, a bit later… this:
Meanwhile, in Colorado:
That said…
And:
Finally, a few more miscellaneous tweets & screenshots of note:
