Jim Styro's COVID-19 Update - Easter Sunday Edition, 2020-04-12

Oh man - I have so much to tell you...and so much time available to tell it.

Actually, that may be more true for you than it is for me.  It seems that I am an "essential employee" - or, at least, I am able to do whatever it is that I do from home.  So my schedule has not been adjusted much - at least not during U.S. business hours.

I had every intention of sneaking in a blog post last week on Palm Sunday.  But I decided that I would only post if I had completed ANY of my annual reviews beforehand.  As you can see, that motivational technique was...ineffectual.

Motivation - Round #2 was based on the same restriction (no blogging until the review were fully complete - since the deadline was midnight tonight, Easter Sunday) - but with much better results.  I actually finished and posted all the reviews last night, so I was able to sleep with a sense of accomplishment.

But now I'm starting to get ahead of myself.  Let's go back in time and review Weeks 3 and 4 of the New Normal -

• Family photos - The Girl (my daughter) and her husband, Derrick, are currently residing with my bride (The Middle Aged Woman) and I.  The Boy (my son) is living in our previous residence in Redford, MI.  Two Fridays back now, The Boy came over for dinner and we watched Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time...in Hollywood".  But before the movie, I wanted to get a family photo that would reflect appropriate physical distancing in these harrowing times.  Below is the youngest to oldest version (Boy, Girl, Derrick, MAW, me) 

• I found out during Week 3 that Jackson Browne tested positive for COVID-19 - but based on this article from the LA Times, he should be fully recovered by now.  [If the link doesn't work, I can send a PDF of article - just leave a request in the Comments.]
• Exercise update:  Until the weather turned cold and damp this past Thursday and Friday, I have been on an eight-day exercise streak (4/1-4/8) - either walking 2 miles or doing the equivalent of 12-14 miles on my recumbent stationary bike.  Started what I hope will be a new streak on Saturday walking with MAW.  And today I did double duty - did 14 miles on the recumbent bike this morning before church and walked 2 miles before dinner this evening.

• This Week(s) in Video Conferencing:  Had a bunch more video conferences during the past two weeks - for church, with friends, and with family.  My single biggest video partner has been my Dad as I helped get him get prepared to join the on-line worship at my church for Palm Sunday (he joined us again for Easter this morning), use Google Hangouts for video calls, and play the World Golf Tour (computer golf) with me on-line.  And just today, I was able to show my Mom how to receive a call from me in Google Hangouts on her computer.  I am clearly ON FIRE providing tech support to retirees.
• This Week in Entertainment:  No Redbox rentals the past couple weekends - but I did watch -
• Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (mentioned above; apart from about 3 minutes of completely over-the-top violence, this is arguably his best movie)
• Yesterday (if you love the Beatles, I highly recommend this flick)  The basic premise is: what if there is only one musician left on earth that remembers the Beatles' songs?  A world in which that band never existed.  A great "wish fulfillment" scene toward the end of the movie is almost worth the price of admission (I mean, rental).
• Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (for Kevin Smith fans only.  I'm glad I watched it.)
• Finished making CD for my Mom with selections from the Purdue University Choir and Varsity Glee Club (with appearances from the Morehouse College Glee Club as well).
• Al Kaline:  Where have you gone, Albert William?  A sad day in the midst of many such.  One of the greatest players that I can say I saw live and in-person.  May be THE greatest.
• Michigan - Top 5 with a bullet:  There are some contests that you just don't want to win.  One of those is - State with the most COVID-19 cases and/or deaths.  It seems unlikely that we will shoot past NewYork or New Orleans (in deaths per 100K population) - but it seems like we are solidly in the Top 5 - and moving up.
• Braving Costco (or "The return of toilet paper and donuts"):  For a solid month or more, I have been unable to purchase toilet paper from my usual toilet paper vendor, Costco.  But this past Wednesday, I made a trip in the mid-afternoon and was able to sip from the sweet cup of victory.  Even better, I cruised by my favorite donut shop (which had been closed previously due to the governor's Stay At Home order) and found they have reopened.  (On a person note, I have always felt that donut-making was an essential job.  Without certain things, life just isn't worth living.)  Needless to say, the transaction was conducted at a distance (yelling my donut selections into the store) and I tipped big. 

I was going to post a picture that I call "The Easter Without Pants" - but I chickened out.  It's probably all for the best.  I will post another "Family Portrait in the Era of Physical Distancing" instead.

Hope you are staying home and staying safe.  Happy Easter!

Take care.

I Love My Mom*

I know that half the bloggers on the planet may do the same thing - but I'm going to write about my Mom for Mother's Day. And if you think that's hackneyed, get a load of this: I'm going to do a post about my Dad on Father's Day and my wife on her birthday/our anniversary (which are -conveniently - the same day). I may even write about my kids on their birthdays! And there's nothing you can do to stop me!!

OK - I'm...feeling better since I got that off my chest.


My mom was the baby of her family and the only girl. To hear her surviving older brother, my Uncle Rodger, tell it - she got away with plenty as a kid. I can imagine that my grandparents might have spoiled their baby girl a bit. But I don't think she's been spoiled much since leaving her parent's home over 46 years ago. She doesn't act like a spoiled little girl - so whatever she got away with earlier in life hasn't seemed to trinkle down** to the present day.


[My mom was about 5 years old when this picture was taken with her father's mother, Grandma Knight.]



My mom was an ath-a-lete in high school. That stuff must skip a generation - since I grew up with the eye-t0-hand coordination of a drunken giraffe.*** [There's really no need to point out that my younger brother had plenty of athletic talent, thank-you-very-much!] Mom lettered in four different sports (basketball, floor hockey, swimming and tennis) as the photo at right attests. One of my Mom's uncles was a news photographer and got a number of great shots - some of which made it into the paper. And to think - my entry into the world was only a few short years away.



[The photo at left shows my Mom, Uncle Rodger, my Grandma, and my Aunt Diane (the wife of Mom's oldest brother, Bill, who died in a car accident before I was born).]


Other than my late-blooming athleticism (I'm still waiting for it), I share several different traits with my Mom.


Including:
- We're both quite loud (although I'm louder than she is)
- We both have a strong faith in God and are active members in our churches
- We like to golf
- Neither of us likes to talk on the phone that much
(I have a higher tolerance than Mom)

Because Mom is working tomorrow (I thought she had retired!), I took her out to dinner tonight for Mother's Day. We had a fine time chatting - and didn't get on each other's nerves even once! She wants all of her children to get together sometime this fall - and I said I would do whatever she wanted. We talked about her work for the Census Bureau and a Pickleball tournament**** she will compete in soon. She's still an aggressive competitor.

(Here's part of a conversation from tonight between me and my Mom.)

Styro: "So if you're playing in two-man teams, do you play one person up and one person back, like in tennis?"

Mom: "No. We mostly play up close to the net."

Styro: "And do you lob shots much to get behind the other team."

Mom: "No, I'm not very good at lobbing."
I know my Mom pretty well. I only had to think for a couple seconds.

Styro: "So, you mostly try to hit shots hard right at people so they can't return them."
It wasn't a question.

Mom: "Yep. In your face, baby!"

That's my Mom alright - and I love her.


Take care.



* Thanks to Suzzy Roche for the title.
** That's the way I both wrote and recorded it - so that's the way it stays. "Trickling" is for those without imagination.
*** The fact that this link exists is nearly conclusive proof that you can find anything on the Internet.
**** I'll bet you didn't even realize that there was a USA Pickleball Association!

Still Keeping It Real on Monday Moanin':

(or Why do people retire - and then get jobs?)

I found out today that my mom has a job with the Census Bureau. She bought a cell phone and ponied up for the GPS service so that her phone can give her driving directions to the destinations on her appointed rounds. After reaching age 65 and retiring from her job - now she works for the Census Bureau.

In between church and...church (that is, the Children's Concert held at my church - where I served as Master of Cermonies this afternoon), I showed Mom how to save names and numbers into the new phone, I downloaded and installed the GPS application on it, and walked her through the steps to enter a destination in the phone and get driving directions. She didn't do too badly for a former retiree.

It didn't really strike me while my Mom was visiting - now I'm wondering why she went back to work. I assume the pressures were financial - but she's only been retired for about six months. I don't believe her financial situation has changed that radically in so short a time (although she probably wouldn't tell me anyway - so that could be a poor assumption). More likely, she disliked her previous job to such an extent that she decided to retire at the first opportunity and deal with the fall-out if or when necessary. She may have even decided to take the job just to do something different.

My mom likes to dabble. I wonder how long she'll dabble with the Census Bureau.

I'm not planning on retiring or getting a new job anytime soon (although the MAW did suggest on Saturday that I arrange for our company to provide a full-time support person in the Boca Raton, Florida office - then get myself the job). But I do expect that this week will usher in a new phase of "nose to the grindstone" focus at work. I expect this phase will extend for at least two months - and, perhaps, to the end of summer. I need to get myself and my team to the middle of June intact - and I think things will proceed smoothly from there. The work will be like rolling a huge ball over a hill - we need to get it over the crest of the hill and then follow it down the other side (as it crushes everything in its path).

Maybe then I can retire. And, if and when I ever do, there is one thing you can count on.

I won't be going back to work six months later.

Take care.