I wonder if the Harris family ever made it out of Target.
They really should stay at home -- that's just what the Harris family needed.
I sent in my check a couple weeks ago; the government needs their $200+ more than we do.
Over the weekend, I realized I needed to switch from thinking about the situation as a short-term thing to something longer term. Because while I can work until midnight every night for a week, I can't do it for a month. (Shocking, right?!) So I'm trying to actually do some things for myself; the other night after dinner I did 45 minutes of barre courtesy of the Dutch National Ballet. Afterward, I felt more like myself than I had in weeks.
Anyone else finding new things to do/new routines to help keep you sane?
I did work out last night on my elliptical. Felt good. I have had to work some nights even when work has been slower than normal due to the interruptions with kids during the day. I've also been updating my website again and playing comforting video games from my childhood.
Trying not to check Twitter/CNN, etc after 10 pm. Going to bed angry/depressed doesn't help much
No running because Achilles, so I've been trying to and get out and walk. However, with the insanity of the day, I usually can't get outside until 11pm or so. I don't mind the lateness, but can't walk as long as I'd like unless I want even later bedtimes.
ETA: I can sometimes negotiate with Jane to get out while everyone is still up, but our whole day is some unholy chimera of working, teaching, and child care that I hate to add any more to her plate because I know how I'd feel if she asked to boogie out for an hour in the middle of all that.
I'd love to get outside, but even mowing the lawn is killing me because allergies. Got another couple weeks of confinement at least.
I spent most of the day outside on Saturday doing yard work and rehabbing an old bed frame - wirebrush on the grinder to remove old paint, 2 coats of primer, got started on the topcoats - in a tshirt and it was GLORIOUS. To wake up to snow on Sunday after that was a bummer, to say the least.
We dragged the boys to Elm Creek on Saturday and despite all the whining on the way, they had a great time. And then . . . the snow.
The peperoncino cried yesterday because he misses going outside. Yet, he also told me he refuses to go out until the the snow is gone. 🙄
You Newbish is utterly furious with the snow. Each of the last few mornings, the first thing he's done upon waking up is peering out his window and sighing in disgust.
Give him a fist bump for me.
Mine have been loving this last blast of snow (it'd better be the last one...). They probably made more snow sculptures this storm than the rest of the winter combined.
We've had no snow in the forecast for the last three days, and it's snowed every day.
Can you take the baby out in the stroller so that you're walking while technically also taking care of a kid?
Strollers have become an unacceptable option. At least not if I'd like a peaceful walk without a Hannibal like strapping down.
Your baby is canceled.
He's got a lot of time on his hands, so he's spent his days becoming more and more efficient at maneuvering the household, and in that little sneaky bastard toddler way. He spends all day just probing the perimeter. There's barely any way we can keep him out of anything anymore.
May I suggest to you a bicycle? I had bad achilles for like two years until I finally got back on my bike. No more constant pain.
Bicycling is the best exercise I can think of, it's done wonders for my knees. I only got a few rides in before this last round of snow, but as soon as it warms back up I'm on the road again, probably this weekend.
We bought a stationary recumbent with all the money we won't be spending on gym membership fees.
Other than a miserable couple of hours assembling the thing (including stripping one bolt due to cross-threading, grrrr), so far, so good. The Mrs needed an alternative to walking because she was getting foot problems.
I have taken what is a unique opportunity to spend a lot of time with my daughter. My focus has been on teaching her how to do as many things as I can think of. She is engaged (!) with this and has been a willing worker. At the beginning of the lockdown, she was laying around all day and I think becoming depressed. I've been really focused on getting her going and her mood has improved tremendously!
She knows less about household work than I did when I was her age, but I'm working on closing that gap.
Our dogs are getting a lot of walks these days, the larger one is absolutely exhausted at the end of the night.
This week is a rough one, lots of work to get done on a deadline and my most productive hours to hunker down are before 8a and after 8p...not great. I've mentioned before that iRacing (computer auto racing sim) has been a great release for me since it requires pretty much my entire focus. Everything else just kind of melts away for a little while, but it doesn't look like I'll have the time to set aside for it until tomorrow at the earliest.
Went to visit our friend's kid at the psych ward yesterday. On the plus side, they just opened the new children's psychological hospital here in New Orleans, and on the other hand it's still a psychological hospital.
She's alright, but she's also not alright. Maybe she'll be there for more than a week, maybe not. You can't hug or hold hands. You can't bring anything into the visiting space for obvious reasons, and when visiting hours are over they heard the kids out of the room in mass, like the closing of visiting hours for a minimum security prison, and that's pretty brutal. You stand there with other parents and loved ones just all trying to be happy that the kid is alive and has their physical health, but you're desperately wanting to do / say / hold and calm and reassure and .....
One of the toughest days I've had in this already crazy experience.
Yea, the psychological scars from this crisis are gonna be long-lasting and ugly.
Yup, for major and minor things. My grandparents hoarded everything due to the depression even when they were well-off. I wonder if we'll all be scrubbing down our groceries forty years from now.
Both of my daughters had friends who committed suicide. Doing everything you can to prevent it is the right thing to do, even when it feels bad.
Taxes...dragging my feet on those. No issue otherwise, but it looks like the stimulus deposit was based on 2018 return which has much higher income due to a house sale. Whoops. Not clear, but looks like it might wash out in the 2020 return, if I read things right.
I'm lucky enough that it doesn't matter (yet), but with unemployment skyrocketing it is really dumb to base anything for today based on what happened in 2018--especially when a one-time event like yours can throw off the calculation.
I still think they should have sent a check to everyone and taxed it back of those that end up having higher incomes in 2020. Would have been much simpler and effective.
Completely. My financial situation right now is uh, much less nice than it was in the 2018 tax filing season. With that being said, I haven't gotten my stimulus yet, and when using the tool online to inquire on it it tells me that they can't even tell me if I'm eligible. This is a bit of a bummer.
The stimulus will be nice for my family, but the bigger question for me is whether this Paycheck Protection Program is going to work as advertised. If it does, it will keep things running quite well for myself and my employee. If it doesn't, things are going to get a lot tighter.
I think the economy will recover a lot faster too if this program is working as it is designed.
I think the economy will recover a lot faster too if this program is working as it is designed.
I think the program needs to be a lot bigger, both for individuals and companies.
Retail sales fell 8.7% in March and the country was "open" for half of the month and grocery stores had an enormous surge. April will be much, much worse and who knows which companies--big and small--can make it to the end of the tunnel. Now isn't the time to err on the side of caution.
The sheer number of anecdotes I've seen of people either throwing this check in a rainy day fund or using it to pay rent or something tells me this is not going to "stimulate the economy" for 10 weeks. It absolutely needs to be bigger.
The wife and I still have both our jobs, and there's still no way this check is going anywhere but a bank account/rainy day fund. I don't think this is going to stimulate a thing.
The wife and I are also still being paid, which is good, but we're going to spend half it on hookers and booze and just waste the rest.
there's the economic boost we're all looking for!
You gotta good Astroturf dealer?
The sheer number of anecdotes I've seen of people either throwing this check in a rainy day fund
or donating to the local food bank
I agree with everything you're saying here. My thought re: recovery is simply that if PPP is effective that means a lot of people will have kept their jobs and their paychecks, and restarting the economy will be easier. Spending might not be where it was for a while, but ideally there won't be the same level of hiring lag.
I'm hoping the PPP works. A couple of my good friends run a wedding photography business and they're pretty stressed about this stuff, and it sounds like the PPP is kind of a wild west right now, so they have no idea if they can get the money. I'm crossing my fingers for them and you.
And certainly not for the g.d. hedge fund managers who are apparently applying for the money...
I know 4 people who have had their payments directly deposited already. I am also in the group who can't be told if eligible.
My folks and a friend who bank with the same institution as me got theirs today, as well as a couple I'm friends with who bank elsewhere. My brother gets his tax refund via check, and the system told him he's eligible and offered to take his bank info. I think my issue is maybe my unique tax filing situation (married filing jointly, spouse lives in another country)? I don't know but I'd sure like to know if, and when, I will receive that money since it would be very helpful.
you know 5. got mine today. and while my job I'm pretty sure is secure, my wife's is in a shrug emoji state right now, and I'm not really inclined to just start buying stuff. This check would cover a couple mortgage payments
We got our "stimulus" deposited into our account today. $145. That will stimulate me to buy a bottle of rye whiskey so I can sit in my garage and yell at the snowblower. Really. $145
I actually chuckled at the image of a dude yelling at his snowblower.
Nothing here so far, except a letter to my wife from unemployment saying she had zero earnings in the prior quarter and therefore was getting zero unemployment.
Umm, what?
There's a really weird wind line off the Atlantic coast right now.
I wonder if the Harris family ever made it out of Target.
They really should stay at home -- that's just what the Harris family needed.
I sent in my check a couple weeks ago; the government needs their $200+ more than we do.
Over the weekend, I realized I needed to switch from thinking about the situation as a short-term thing to something longer term. Because while I can work until midnight every night for a week, I can't do it for a month. (Shocking, right?!) So I'm trying to actually do some things for myself; the other night after dinner I did 45 minutes of barre courtesy of the Dutch National Ballet. Afterward, I felt more like myself than I had in weeks.
Anyone else finding new things to do/new routines to help keep you sane?
I did work out last night on my elliptical. Felt good. I have had to work some nights even when work has been slower than normal due to the interruptions with kids during the day. I've also been updating my website again and playing comforting video games from my childhood.
Trying not to check Twitter/CNN, etc after 10 pm. Going to bed angry/depressed doesn't help much
No running because Achilles, so I've been trying to and get out and walk. However, with the insanity of the day, I usually can't get outside until 11pm or so. I don't mind the lateness, but can't walk as long as I'd like unless I want even later bedtimes.
ETA: I can sometimes negotiate with Jane to get out while everyone is still up, but our whole day is some unholy chimera of working, teaching, and child care that I hate to add any more to her plate because I know how I'd feel if she asked to boogie out for an hour in the middle of all that.
I'd love to get outside, but even mowing the lawn is killing me because allergies. Got another couple weeks of confinement at least.
I spent most of the day outside on Saturday doing yard work and rehabbing an old bed frame - wirebrush on the grinder to remove old paint, 2 coats of primer, got started on the topcoats - in a tshirt and it was GLORIOUS. To wake up to snow on Sunday after that was a bummer, to say the least.
We dragged the boys to Elm Creek on Saturday and despite all the whining on the way, they had a great time. And then . . . the snow.
The peperoncino cried yesterday because he misses going outside. Yet, he also told me he refuses to go out until the the snow is gone. 🙄
You Newbish is utterly furious with the snow. Each of the last few mornings, the first thing he's done upon waking up is peering out his window and sighing in disgust.
Give him a fist bump for me.
Mine have been loving this last blast of snow (it'd better be the last one...). They probably made more snow sculptures this storm than the rest of the winter combined.
We've had no snow in the forecast for the last three days, and it's snowed every day.
Can you take the baby out in the stroller so that you're walking while technically also taking care of a kid?
Strollers have become an unacceptable option. At least not if I'd like a peaceful walk without a Hannibal like strapping down.
Your baby is canceled.
He's got a lot of time on his hands, so he's spent his days becoming more and more efficient at maneuvering the household, and in that little sneaky bastard toddler way. He spends all day just probing the perimeter. There's barely any way we can keep him out of anything anymore.
May I suggest to you a bicycle? I had bad achilles for like two years until I finally got back on my bike. No more constant pain.
Bicycling is the best exercise I can think of, it's done wonders for my knees. I only got a few rides in before this last round of snow, but as soon as it warms back up I'm on the road again, probably this weekend.
We bought a stationary recumbent with all the money we won't be spending on gym membership fees.
Other than a miserable couple of hours assembling the thing (including stripping one bolt due to cross-threading, grrrr), so far, so good. The Mrs needed an alternative to walking because she was getting foot problems.
I have taken what is a unique opportunity to spend a lot of time with my daughter. My focus has been on teaching her how to do as many things as I can think of. She is engaged (!) with this and has been a willing worker. At the beginning of the lockdown, she was laying around all day and I think becoming depressed. I've been really focused on getting her going and her mood has improved tremendously!
She knows less about household work than I did when I was her age, but I'm working on closing that gap.
Our dogs are getting a lot of walks these days, the larger one is absolutely exhausted at the end of the night.
This week is a rough one, lots of work to get done on a deadline and my most productive hours to hunker down are before 8a and after 8p...not great. I've mentioned before that iRacing (computer auto racing sim) has been a great release for me since it requires pretty much my entire focus. Everything else just kind of melts away for a little while, but it doesn't look like I'll have the time to set aside for it until tomorrow at the earliest.
Got 2 minutes? Watch this video
That was great
Went to visit our friend's kid at the psych ward yesterday. On the plus side, they just opened the new children's psychological hospital here in New Orleans, and on the other hand it's still a psychological hospital.
She's alright, but she's also not alright. Maybe she'll be there for more than a week, maybe not. You can't hug or hold hands. You can't bring anything into the visiting space for obvious reasons, and when visiting hours are over they heard the kids out of the room in mass, like the closing of visiting hours for a minimum security prison, and that's pretty brutal. You stand there with other parents and loved ones just all trying to be happy that the kid is alive and has their physical health, but you're desperately wanting to do / say / hold and calm and reassure and .....
One of the toughest days I've had in this already crazy experience.
Yea, the psychological scars from this crisis are gonna be long-lasting and ugly.
Yup, for major and minor things. My grandparents hoarded everything due to the depression even when they were well-off. I wonder if we'll all be scrubbing down our groceries forty years from now.
Both of my daughters had friends who committed suicide. Doing everything you can to prevent it is the right thing to do, even when it feels bad.
Taxes...dragging my feet on those. No issue otherwise, but it looks like the stimulus deposit was based on 2018 return which has much higher income due to a house sale. Whoops. Not clear, but looks like it might wash out in the 2020 return, if I read things right.
I'm lucky enough that it doesn't matter (yet), but with unemployment skyrocketing it is really dumb to base anything for today based on what happened in 2018--especially when a one-time event like yours can throw off the calculation.
I still think they should have sent a check to everyone and taxed it back of those that end up having higher incomes in 2020. Would have been much simpler and effective.
Completely. My financial situation right now is uh, much less nice than it was in the 2018 tax filing season. With that being said, I haven't gotten my stimulus yet, and when using the tool online to inquire on it it tells me that they can't even tell me if I'm eligible. This is a bit of a bummer.
The stimulus will be nice for my family, but the bigger question for me is whether this Paycheck Protection Program is going to work as advertised. If it does, it will keep things running quite well for myself and my employee. If it doesn't, things are going to get a lot tighter.
I think the economy will recover a lot faster too if this program is working as it is designed.
I think the program needs to be a lot bigger, both for individuals and companies.
Retail sales fell 8.7% in March and the country was "open" for half of the month and grocery stores had an enormous surge. April will be much, much worse and who knows which companies--big and small--can make it to the end of the tunnel. Now isn't the time to err on the side of caution.
The sheer number of anecdotes I've seen of people either throwing this check in a rainy day fund or using it to pay rent or something tells me this is not going to "stimulate the economy" for 10 weeks. It absolutely needs to be bigger.
The wife and I still have both our jobs, and there's still no way this check is going anywhere but a bank account/rainy day fund. I don't think this is going to stimulate a thing.
The wife and I are also still being paid, which is good, but we're going to spend half it on hookers and booze and just waste the rest.
there's the economic boost we're all looking for!
You gotta good Astroturf dealer?
The sheer number of anecdotes I've seen of people either throwing this check in a rainy day fund
or donating to the local food bank
I agree with everything you're saying here. My thought re: recovery is simply that if PPP is effective that means a lot of people will have kept their jobs and their paychecks, and restarting the economy will be easier. Spending might not be where it was for a while, but ideally there won't be the same level of hiring lag.
I'm hoping the PPP works. A couple of my good friends run a wedding photography business and they're pretty stressed about this stuff, and it sounds like the PPP is kind of a wild west right now, so they have no idea if they can get the money. I'm crossing my fingers for them and you.
I know 4 people who have had their payments directly deposited already. I am also in the group who can't be told if eligible.
My folks and a friend who bank with the same institution as me got theirs today, as well as a couple I'm friends with who bank elsewhere. My brother gets his tax refund via check, and the system told him he's eligible and offered to take his bank info. I think my issue is maybe my unique tax filing situation (married filing jointly, spouse lives in another country)? I don't know but I'd sure like to know if, and when, I will receive that money since it would be very helpful.
you know 5. got mine today. and while my job I'm pretty sure is secure, my wife's is in a shrug emoji state right now, and I'm not really inclined to just start buying stuff. This check would cover a couple mortgage payments
We got our "stimulus" deposited into our account today. $145. That will stimulate me to buy a bottle of rye whiskey so I can sit in my garage and yell at the snowblower. Really. $145
I actually chuckled at the image of a dude yelling at his snowblower.
Nothing here so far, except a letter to my wife from unemployment saying she had zero earnings in the prior quarter and therefore was getting zero unemployment.
Umm, what?
There's a really weird wind line off the Atlantic coast right now.
Here's a fascinating little side story about COVID and baseball. Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium parking lots are full.
And a fascinating Jackie Robinson story with a Minnesota connection