(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Project Manager: You don't seem to be that worried about the virus unlike some people, but much like myself. You would not believe the loopy loops I've gone through.
Me: Yeah, well, I can't do anything about it. I live in the city, so I'm basically doomed.

I am worried though. I've become obsessed with cleaning my hands at work. Also weirdly at home. I know why - I'm inundated with the messages. They announce it on the subway, on the train, on the news, and everywhere at work. Also, I have a highly social job in a work place with a lot of direct person to person contact. And I have a highly social commute - I'm going in and out of the Jamaica Air Train building on a daily basis.

But I'm less worried about catching the thing - then being shut up in my apartment. Actually that's what everyone is worried about - the quarantine. New Yorkers do not like to be home bound. It's not a city that is really conducive to staying home.
And it's economy relies on people constantly going out. So, New Yorkers are basically scared of the city going into lock down. We do not want New York to go the way Italy did.

Anyhow - the travel size hand sanitizers came today. Two of them. Purell. Nifty.
Because the one's I made myself - don't work that well. I used one on the train and squirted my face, bag and the ceiling of the train with it. Thankfully, no one appeared to notice or care. My cousin thinks we could use toothpaste, aftershave, or mouthwash. I don't know...toothpaste seems a tad on the sticky side.

Uncle in Kalamazoo, Michigan - posted that we were all overreacting, and being silly, there were plenty of these things available where he lived. I hid his post from myself. The temptation to respond that "that's because you live in Kalamazoo, Michigan, you dope." Mother informed me over the phone that said Uncle has hip replacement surgery in April. Okay. He's buried his head in the sand to deal. Got it.

Niece is feeling better - no longer suffering from Mono, thankfully. She was well enough to have a picnic with a friend.

They shut off the electricity in my building today, which for some reason caused me to lose internet access or wifi. My network disappeared. So I called Optimum, and I think they might be outsourcing to India? I couldn't understand the woman. Very thick Indian accent. Or she's just an immigrant - could be Pakistani or Bengali.
She wasn't very good at any rate -- took her forever to figure out what was going on. She kept putting me on hold or just on mute and disappearing. Took me an hour to get it fixed.

Negotiation went well - there was a lot of shouting, but it was over the phone. I left the room at one stage. Came back, and we had managed to resolve the issue.
At any rate - managed to negotiate a savings of over 100K, not bad.

Have site tour tomorrow...which involves giving a speech, coordinating and facilitating the tour. Taking attendance. Asking questions. Etc. The good news is it won't be that many people. I will forgo the hand shaking that we generally do at these things. (I'm fine with that, I hate shaking hands. I'm not a hugger or a hand shaker by nature. Now I have an excuse to forgo it.]

Anyhow..the cases in the US have no surpassed a 1000, with most of the states affected. NY has surpassed California now with 213 cases to California's 197.

I'm hoping they figure out a way to contain this thing soon. They've started slashing prices on Broadway because of the virus.

Plus side, Harvey Weinstein got sentenced to 25 years, apparently all those media spots by Weinstein's defense attorney didn't win him any favors. They were pleading for leniency. Weinstein wanted five years with probation, with the view that he's very ill and will most likely die before then anyhow. The court was not lenient.

Hmmm...maybe he can help them make hand sanitizers?

Comments

[cactuswatcher]

Re our discussion yesterday: KU shut down its in-person classes today as did Missouri. Missouri is suspending them all till next week, when classes may be resumed on-line, presuming they can be set up to do that.

My great nephew was telling me on Monday that he was taking one class on-line this term and one in the classroom at the University of Arizona. He said their on-line system didn't work very well. Since the U of A has joined the shut down in-person club, I guess he'll have to deal with two classes on-line now!

[shadowkat]

It's become a problem, according to the NYT, for kids who basically use the campus as their home and don't really have anywhere to go. There's a lot of low-income kids, and people from other countries - who can't go home if the school campus shuts down. My niece has several friends at her school (which is a combo high school/college) - that are from China. They can't go home.

[jesuswasbatman]

Don't think mouthwash or toothpaste will work as they say only things guaranteed to kill this are bleach, peroxide, or alcohol at 60%+.

[shadowkat]

Apparently soap and water kills it or removes it from the outer layer of skin. But if you want to do it without water and soap, you need 60% alcohol. Bleach will harm your hands, but is good for certain hard surfaces. Lysol and various disinfectants have a high enough alcohol content to kill it too according to the CDC.

[shadowkat]

I know more than most - because of where I work. One of the guys on my site tour is heavily involved with the virus issue. And we get information daily. With posters everywhere about soap and water or a hand sanitizer with 60% alcohol. Limit social contact. (Which is impossible in cubical land).