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Friday, July 10, 2020
Thursday, July 09, 2020
Ellipses...
Thursday nights all I do is think about lunch on Friday. But I guess that means it is working a little. Maybe... I knew I was going to have to find a way to dispose of LPs from my folks house. I hadn't anticipated offloading box after box of books from their house and from our house, but since they've been in storage for months - some for years - and we haven't missed them, maybe it is time for them to live with someone else... I bought this bike, weeks ago. It is still in the box it came in. I should do something about that... As always I think the court victories today were not as exciting as the folks on MSNBC are making them sound... We got a Pikachu mask for Gib5on. He seems thrilled. Gonna need a lot of masks that thrill toddlers if we're going to have school any time soon... I got formal approval to add the three adjuncts we've been developing and at almost the same time all three of the people we were scouting said they were interested. I love it when a plan comes together... Last week I told the dentists that cut our lawn that we should skip a week. Really I could make the same call this week too: no rain, no growth... The President is running a terror ad about defunding the Police on MSNBC - it might just be on TuneIn. This ad is changing zero minds in this position... The finish out on the laundry room really does make the space look a lot nicer. Sometimes the utility of changes is unclear. This isn't one of those times... The COVID cases in Allegheny County were finally down today. Here's hoping it is a trend rather than a blip... I did a PowerPoint for class today in which I committed a chart I have been drawing on chalkboards for 20 years to a digital slide. Feels like some kind of milestone. Probably won't be the last time I feel that way... Our first generation Echo seems like it is showing some age. It is occasionally just incapable of playing music. Another certain 21st century problem. I wish I could remember what we did before we had the device. Oh, I remember: nothing... Mrs. TANBI and I are looking for new show recommendations. We recently finished this season of Top Chef and have nearly worked our way through current episodes of The Profit. Something with a story would be nice... It seems pretty likely that COVID has taken Sabian out of infant daycare for good. Gib5on's school is talking about coming back in August, but we're hearing it will only be two days/week. I'm not sure I see the utility of two days/week...
Wednesday, July 08, 2020
Wear a Mask
We've had a mask order here in PA for a while now. Even though the day over day new cases have been increasing for more than two weeks now compliance with the mask order is still spotty. It did seem a little better yesterday and today than the days previous, but a trip around the neighborhood will still yield quite a few people without masks.
That day over day total? In the past two weeks is up more than 1000%. Mid June we were looking at 20 new cases per day. This week in Allegheny County we're seeing more than 200 new cases each day. The trend is going the wrong way and we're not doing enough to turn the trend around.
The administration screwed up the mask instructions right from the start. In what must have been an effort to stretch the national mask supply we were told that we shouldn't wear masks - that they weren't necessary. Really what they were saying was "the case trend is such that it is a better use of scarce masks to get them to medical personnel." That's not the same as "it doesn't help." Aside from that they could have delivered the message that "face coverings" were a good idea whereby masks shouldn't be diverted from hospitals. There's nobody in a hospital that wants to wear a neck gaiter to protect themselves, but that works reasonably for someone walking their dog.
And we can leave aside conversation that they should have been in there early sourcing more masks. My understanding is that although consumer grade masks are readily available presently that we're about to head into another period where N95 masks are going to be scarce again. Well done USA.
Poor execution and lousy initial messaging aside it is well past time to get this behavior in place. If there are people upset about wearing a mask to run through the grocery they are going to be right put out once we go back to work. Those people working at the grocery? They are wearing their mask for 8 hours straight or longer. What we are required to do in terms of masks right now is nothing.
If Gib5on has in person school in the fall he is going to have to wear a mask for the entire day. If I go back to work teaching on campus I will have to wear a mask from the moment I step onto campus. I will have to wear a mask sitting alone in my office. People are griping about wearing a mask for 20-30 minutes? Less than 6 weeks from now we will have to wear masks 8-10 hours/day.
Get over it.
I get it, there's a Libertarian argument - you can't make me; it's like making me wear a seat-belt. I remember when seat-belt laws started and there was push-back there too. But there's a difference: your not wearing your seat-belt isn't going to kill me. Your not wearing a mask absolutely could. You wear your mask for the safety of the people around you as much as or more than for yourself. We need to make this sacrifice of individual liberty for the greater good of the whole. If you want to reserve your right to spew germs, do it in your own home.
If you go out, wear a mask. Don't carry a mask. Don't put the mask around your neck. When you walk out the door cover your nose and mouth and leave the mask on until you get home. If it is uncomfortable buy a different mask. If you think it is restricting your oxygen, find any one of the videos online that shows definitively that that isn't happening. The way to get over the feeling that the mask is confining is to get used to wearing the mask. The longer you wear it around your neck or under your nose the longer it is going to take to build the tolerance to wear it in such a way that you will be able to return to work or for your children to return to school.
When you go out, wear a mask. When you walk your dog, wear a mask. When you go out for a run, wear a mask. Walking from your door to your street parked car? Wear a mask.
If you want for less people to be sick tomorrow than today so we can go back to work and school and parks and restaurants and concerts and movies: wear a mask.
Monday, July 06, 2020
Ellipses...
COVID cases, day over day, in Allegheny County are up 1000% in the last two weeks. We're doing it wrong. I hope we figure it out soon. Wear a mask... Gib5on has expanded his Pokemon obsession to Pokemon GO. We still haven't figured out how to make the social aspects of the games work for him. That probably isn't a bad thing... As the person often bemoaning the last of room for humor in many of today's discussions I am being remarkably snappish on Facebook to people trying to be funny. Oops... It has been really hot out the last few days, so I set up a portable shade on our front porch. We're anticipating being contacted by the realtor from the house next door any day now... Some things are proving very difficult to buy these days, although they are real 21st century problems. But if you've got any basil, Mrs. TANBI would like some, and let me know if you see any Sodastream Diet Cola syrup (bonus points for caffeine free)... One of my Facebook friends posed an Amazon listing for a face-mask featuring the President's name arranged in a Swastika. That's not something I would have expected to have ever seen... It sounds like the Popular Vote Compact got a big boost today. I guess that's a good thing. A unanimous Supreme Court ruling is somewhat striking these days... It hasn't been very long, and I don't want to jinx it, but it looks like my weight is creeping down again. That'd be a good thing if it is real... My boss, who was going to retire at the end of next spring, decided to move up his timetable and leave at the end of September... My wife has this cousin that posts some really vacuous stuff online. I don't know why, but I can't help but engage. I don't think there's any room for a change of mind, but I feel compelled to call him out... It has been like three weeks now and I still haven't opened the box my bike came in. I hope it is in there. It will be embarrassing if I drag my feet long enough to not be able to resolve problems if I find them. Maybe this weekend... Tomorrow is the first day of teaching for me this summer in the abridged summer program. Since we're on Zoom I had to convert an outline I first made 20 years ago into a PowerPoint. Here's hoping it goes well in that format... Our 4th was uneventful. No fireworks. Honestly I don't remember the last time we went to a fireworks display. We spent the evening watching Hamilton. Maybe there's a tradition to be had there... Between the two of us my wife and I have more than 5 online calendars. Getting them all to work together requires an IT manager... More and more I am becoming concerned that the November election might be in peril. I have this recurring vision of villains twirling the ends of their mustaches declaring we won't even know what hit us. Keep your head on a swivel... Sabian is now one year old... PPS is saying there will be in person public school at the end of August (that's the end of next month - see the first line of this entry)...
Sunday, July 05, 2020
Worth a Look
Here are a few posts from last weeks Greenpage that might be worth your time...
Dear Hollywood: We Don’t Want to “Go Back to Normal." Normal Wasn’t Working.
optimizeyourself.me: Dear Hollywood, I have something I desperately need to share with you. You might find it surprising coming from a 20-year veteran who owes his livelihood to you. But it needs to be said. I apologize if this upsets you (actually…sorry not sorry).
Your shows are not worth dying for.
The Solution to Exploitation in the Theater: Join a Union
medium.com/@mferraro678: In recent weeks, a topic that has long simmered under the surface of the theater industry has once again come to the fore — the exploitation of non-union actors by theater companies. One prominent company in New York City that I’ve seen a lot written about is the Flea Theater, whose resident company of “BATS” did many years of unpaid work. The theater cried poverty, only to subsequently open a new multi-million dollar space, while the administrators and directors of the company were, themselves, making decent (if not extravagant) salaries and enjoying the power and perks of high-level jobs in New York theater.
IATSE Leaders, Acknowledging Union’s Own Role In Perpetuating “Systemic Racism” In Legit Theater, Call For Industrywide Action
Deadline: Leaders of IATSE, which represents thousands of theatrical stage workers across the country, today acknowledged the union’s role in failing to upend “systemic racism in the arts and entertainment industry.” Calling for industrywide action, they vowed to do the “hard work” needed to “create real, lasting change.”
Are the Blue Men ever coming back? Chicago’s commercial theaters are in serious trouble.
Chicago Tribune: Indoor gatherings of more than 50 people remain banned in Illinois and there is still no discernible, let alone bankable, timeline for the return of large-scale live entertainment. COVID-19 has created a world of pain for all sectors of the Chicago theater.
Notably, the city’s commercial, for-profit operations are showing the most immediate and visible stress.
We’ve Seen White American Theatre
HowlRound Theatre Commons: The debt that is owed to the Black artists, thinkers, and intellectuals by we non-Black Americans of color is so immense and multilayered it cannot be quantified. They have given us the language of revolution, integrated all-white institutions, and modeled how to rise to the apex of power in America. Overwhelmingly, Black pioneers have embraced and accepted other people of color as allies, all while knowing they bear the brunt of both microaggressions in artistic spaces and the murderous violence necessary to keep a racist society in place. Especially when we keep our little mouths shut.
Friday, July 03, 2020
DP Weekly Round Up
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Thursday, July 02, 2020
Goodbye Lois
July 1st is shaping up as one of the momentous days on the calendar in my life. Several years ago I lost my dad on July 1st. A couple years after that my daughter was born on July 1st (and the year before that my Brother-in-law's son was born on July 1st). This year I lost my Aunt Lois on July 1st.
Probably should make sure that I don't hang glide or bungee jump or have major surgery on a July 1st. Just makes sense to play the percentages.
My Aunt Lois was my mother's older sister. There were three sisters: Lois, Eileen, and Sari. They actually went in reverse order. Sari dies many years ago after a pretty troubled life. We lost my mother a little while back. Her mother actually went next, and now the last of the three sisters.
Aunt Lois and Uncle Phil lived in New York while my family and most of the extended family lived in Chicago. For most of my life we didn't have much of a relationship compared to the other cousins that lived locally. We saw Lois & Phil once a year maybe, sometimes a little more often. We would go to New York to stay with them or they would come to Chicago and stay with us or with other relatives.
Trips to New York were always a treat. There were two cousins Mark & Jeff that were older than me - the cool older cousins. The house they had while I was growing up had a great basement with a pinball machine, ping pong table, and bumper pool. They also had a small shop where I occasionally got to build models with one of my cousins.
Much later on I used to see them a little more often after I graduated from college and moved to New Haven. I would do holidays with the Seidens and even lived in their house for one summer while I worked at Hudson Scenic at Hunts Point.
For a while Lois and Phil were snowbirds, living in Florida during the winter in a beachside condo and back in New York during the rest of the year. Eventually she was in Florida full time and we made our way to visit her there occasionally.
Lois had this reputation in my family as being someone that didn't take no for an answer. If you wanted something and didn't know how to make it happen you would ask Lois and she'd lead you through it. I've always joked that Lois was someone that could get on a plane after the door was closed or someone that could get a boat to come back to the dock after it had departed. She just had a superpower.
We'd really only seen Lois a couple of times in the past couple of years. When Gib5on was one we were to Florida and stayed with Lois so she would get to see him. Maybe two years ago we got to see her briefly in New York when we were out visiting my sister. She went into a decline sometime prior to that. She was having a little trouble placing my face and clearly didn't know my son - reasonable enough since we weren't a regular part of her life.
She lead an amazing life. I'll miss her very much.
Wednesday, July 01, 2020
Ellipses...
All of a sudden it's the end of the day again... The TD cohort from work met tonight on Zoom. I gave them the scoop on what we're thinking for the fall. Now it has to work... We're starting to bring stuff back to the house from the storage unit. Really it seems like we should just take it to a dumpster... I still haven't put my bike together. Maybe this weekend... Gib5on has become obsessed with Pokemon GO. Just when you though there wasn't any more Pokemon to get obsessed about... Tomorrow is Sabian's first birthday. Not sure she'll know the difference... Debating shrinking the bubble in the wake of increased Allegheny Country COVID numbers. It is a bummer to have rewound all the way to April. I hope people enjoyed their time out of the house... This latest Russia story is awful, but I hope it doesn't do so much damage that we wind up with Pence running for President in the Fall... Not sure I understand people's objection to wearing a mask in public. It isn't too much of an imposition and it makes a big difference. Plus it is the right thing to do... When you keep an eye on everything the current administration is doing you wind up wishing maybe you hadn't... The basement is making good progress, which is good because under the new normal I spend an awful lot of time in the basement... Somehow I wound up with a full day of meetings tomorrow afternoon, plus a family Zoom at 7:30 AM. I feel like I'm in Clerks: I'm not even supposed to be here... Camp Corona is going pretty well. I have to make some more shirts... I teach a week from today. That's pretty soon. I should probably get some stuff together... We can't seem to grow grass on the lawn. No problem growing grass in the driveway though... We're supposed to see Hamilton in the Spring. Should we watch it online first? I mean, every day it seems somewhat less likely we'll be seeing it in a theatre in the Spring... The world has shut off travel from the US over our infection rate. We're supposed to be a world leader. I wonder what happened...
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