Jim Styro's COVID-19 Update, 2020-03-29

Didja miss me?

We've completed Week 2 of The New Normal - and nothing seems close to returning to normalcy.

Staying at home (except for food acquisition)?  Check!  [Full disclosure: I stopped at Redbox to rent movies - but cleaned them thoroughly with a Clorox wipe.  No human contact involved.]

Physical distancing?  Check!

Wrapping myself in a body condom?  Uhhh, OK - I did NOT do that.  [Full disclosure:  I don't believe this was ever recommended by the CDC.]

But I did do other stuff, like -

• Bought even cheaper gas ($1.39) at Costco than the previous week ($1.65).  

• Tried to keep active with walking & exercise.  While my walking streak was halted at 10 straight days (3/14 - 3/23). I did complete my two-mile walking route on Wednesday and again today [I have provided the screenshot from MapMyWalk below as evidence].  I also spent 40+ minutes (and the equivalent of over 12 miles according to the digital display) on Friday morning using my recumbent exercise bike.  [Full disclosure:  I have no screenshot evidence from the exercise bike.  It is a low tech device - but a quiet way to pedal away some fat.  And it is easier on my lower back.]

• Participated in 6 video conferences/chats within 24 hours (6pm Friday to 6pm Saturday).  I met with church leaders on Friday night (Zoom); my sister, Sarah (FaceTime); Olivia from church (Zoom again, to discuss slides for on-line worship service); Music Night planning with Chuck and Pat (Google Hangouts); my dad (FaceTime again); and virtual happy hour with the Burks (Hangouts again). This was in addition to multiple church group video conferences earlier in the week and VBN (Virtual Bar Night) with the Spinners earlier in the week.

Oh - and I had all my usual conference calls during work hours too.

I thought this thing was supposed provide an opportunity for me to be bored and binge watching Netflix...

I have also engaged in some "cabin fever" on-line shopping - but the most expensive item was less than $16 (a CD/ BlurayAudio set from XTC in their guise as the psychedelic throwback rockers, The Dukes of the Stratosphear) - so it shouldn't leave me destitute.  [Full disclosure:  Other items were - CD/DVD slim cases, card stock for CD package use, and CDs from David Byrne, Miles Davis & the American Hustle soundtrack.]

I have made no purchases (yet) from biologyproducts.com.  Although their uncut Sheep Heart looks like a bargain at $3.30.  [Full disclosure:  It is (you guessed it) "not alive nor is it edible".  Which - while not a surprise - may be disappointing to some.]

I have been able to remain light-hearted through the pandemic so far.  I hope I'm not becoming light-headed.

Take care everyone.

Jim Styro's COVID-19 Update, 2020-03-22

Week One of the COVID-19 "New Normal" is in the books - and all in my household remain disease-free (to the best of our knowledge).  We are asymptomatic at least - but (for the most part) trying to behave as though we have been diagnosed with the virus in order to minimize any spread.

Below are some additional things I have thought and done during the past week -

• On Tuesday, I bought gas after shopping at Costco.  The price?  $1.65 a gallon.  Never thought I'd see gas prices like THAT again.  It makes me wish I had someplace to go...
• I wrote about Glenn W. Levey Middle school the other day - but I don't know who Glenn W. Levey is/was.  (Full disclosure:  I assume he's dead.  Don't they mostly name buildings after dead people?)  I did some Google checks for Glenn - but came up empty.  I did pay closer attention to the sign in front of the school during my walk on Friday - and confirmed my earlier suspicion that being an "Exemplary School" and a "Blue Ribbon School" are the same thing.

• Speaking of walking, yesterday was my eighth straight day of walking my 2-mile route.  I have started to see more people out strolling the past couple days.  Physical (not "social")  distancing protocols were observed in all cases.  
• I was advised yesterday - and subsequently confirmed through other sources - that "physical distancing" (rather than "social distancing") is now the preferred nomenclature.  The intention is to emphasize the need for maintaining physical distance to avoid the spread of COVID-19 - but acknowledge the need that social interaction (which can be done while maintaining physical distance) is very much needed during these stressful times.
• You cannot kill the COVID-19 virus with a hair dryer.  I had a conference call for work mid-week where a lady told us otherwise - and that she expected to see people buying up all the hair dryers to blow dry their way to health.  The misinformation that heat will kill COVID-19 has been going around for a while.  Thank goodness Snopes knows better.
• Donated double red cells at the Red Cross in Livonia yesterday.  My blood pressure was a little higher than normal (I wonder why?) although I haven't detected feeling emotionally stressed.  I do know that even after 78 donations (according to my profile at the Red Cross website), I still don't like needles or the sight of blood (Imagine that!  Since so many of us love both needles and blood.)  I don't know how many years their records cover - but I estimate having given regularly for about 40 years.
• Here's the thing - my blood type is O Negative.  Only about 7% of the population have that blood type.  While it is not the rarest blood type, it is much desired by the Red Cross - because patients of all blood types can receive O Negative blood.  In the lingo, I am a "Universal Donor" - which makes me extremely popular in the blood biz.  I have already scheduled my next donation for August 15 in the hope it will forestall many emails and phone calls from the Red Cross in the meantime.  But I don't hold out much hope this tactic will work.  I'll keep you posted.
• No new items to share from biologyproducts.com.  But you haven't heard the last of them.

Take care.

Jim Styro's COVID-19 Update, 2020-03-19

Maybe you thought I would leave you alone.
Maybe you thought my previous update was an anomaly.
Maybe you thought I had better things to do.

Wrong on all counts.

The first week of COVID Closure (aka "The New Normal" - schools being closed, church being closed, restaurants & bars being closed or reduced to carry out) is nearly over.  Below are some additional things I have done & thought about -

• Completed my 2-mile walking route three more times.  On Tuesday (Day 4), I finally encountered someone else out walking.  [Full disclosure:  We failed to observe proper social distancing since we only moved to opposite sides of the sidewalk.  There's no way we stayed 6 feet apart at all times.  But we didn't cough or sneeze on each other - just a polite greeting.]

• It was raining yesterday evening, so I had to use my golf umbrella while walking on Day 5.  My shoes and socks were VERY wet by the time I got home.  Once again, I saw another person out walking.  [Full disclosure:  We observed proper social distancing - because they were on the north side of Nine Mile Road and I was on the south side.]

• It rained again today (Day 6) while I was walking.  Sneaky rain.  The kind of rain where - it's not raining at all when you leave the house - but before you get a block away, it starts to rain, so you open up the umbrella.  It's not raining very hard.  Looks like your shoes aren't going to get all wet this time.  But then, when you're a mile away from home (half-way through, at your FARTHEST point away from home), it starts to rainy pretty hard.  And then the wind starts to blow.  But there's no short cut now.  No way.  You just have to persevere and walk home.  My shoes and socks were VERY wet again today when I got home. [Full disclosure:  Nobody else was dumb enough to be out walking today.  But I did see someone taking out their garbage.  Proper social distancing was observed.]

• I walk by Glenn W. Levey Middle School on my walk each day. Over the main entrance to the school are the words,  "An Exemplary School".  The sign out front also indicates that Levey Middle School is a "Blue Ribbon School".  I felt good about living so close to school that is both "Exemplary" and "Blue Ribbon-y".  Subsequent research has revealed that both parts of the signage at Levey refer to its designation as a National Blue Ribbon school for the school year 1999-2000.  [Full disclosure:  There is an Exemplary School Designation awarded by the Arts Schools Network - but there is no indication that Levey Middle School ever received it.  But Interlochen Arts Academy did from 2012-2016.]

• One more day and I will have completed a full week of my new 2-mile walking regimen.  [Full disclosure:  I really hope it doesn't rain tomorrow.]

• I have a Double-Red blood donation set up for Saturday morning in Livonia.  [Full disclosure:  'Cause that's how I roll.]

• You CANNOT purchase a Large Plain Bat at biologyproducts.com.  But you can purchase a Bat Skelton for only $40.  [Full disclosure:  The site states that "Our Skeleton Specimens are real animal bones, cleaned and specially treated" - but makes no mention of whether the product is alive or edible.]

• Full disclosure:  I don't think I can keep up this "full disclosure" thing much longer.  [Additional disclosure:  But I'm not making any promises.]

Hope you are all taking care of yourselves and those about you.  

Take care.

Jim Styro's COVID-19 Update, 2020-03-17

Just when you thought I'd never post again...here I am.

OK - I know you weren't thinking about me (posting or otherwise).  But I've got to start somewhere.

If you (or your significant other – using your email address rather than their own) make regular on-line purchases, I expect that you are receiving multiple emails every day from businesses, organizations, government entities – all wanting to tell you about the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  I, for one, think that MY experiences & insights on this matter are equally valid and noteworthy – so I have decided to victimi post my musings here.

Since this is my first post in several years, I’ll start with the basics –

• I do not currently have COVID-19.  [Full disclosure:  I have not been tested for COVID-19.]
• I feel better than James Brown.  [Full disclosure:  James Brown died on Christmas Day 2006.]
• For the past 3 days, I have walked two miles each day.  [Full disclosure:  In those two hours of walking, I only saw one other human outside.  I maintained appropriate social distancing.]
• I haven’t been able to find toilet paper in stock at the Livonia (MI) Costco in two weeks.  [Full disclosure:  My son-in-law, Derrick, was able to find some at the Target on Grand River in Farmington Hills, MI.]
• You can purchase a Large Plain Rabbit at biologyproducts.com for only $29.  [Full disclosure:  As the site warns, “Product is not alive nor is it edible."]

 Since my Music Night workload has been greatly reduced, I completed a personal music collection which I’m calling “All Over The Place.”  I’ll be working on the lyric notes prior to distribution. 

That’s all I have for today.  In the words of Sgt. Phil Esterhaus, “Let’s be careful out there.”  Or as I always say...

Take care.

Whatever happened to the greatest guy you never heard of?

Steve Ward returns with a new band after a ten-year hiatus – A review in three parts

To save time and effort for anyone who recognizes the names "Cherry Twister" or "Steve Ward":
Run - don't walk, RUN - out and buy the new album by a band called Fauna Flora.

For the rest of humanity:

Thirteen months ago, a new band out of southeastern Pennsylvania, Fauna Flora, released its debut album with little fanfare. Even pop-music lovers who might recognize the names from paragraph one were most likely unaware that the best-kept secret in singer-songwriters since Sixto Rodriguez had released his first new music in over ten years. Released in April 2014, Fauna Flora features 11 new songs written and produced by Ward and featuring a group of supporting players whose names will be familiar to those happy few in possession of his solo albums and earlier work as Cherry Twister. With Paul Murr (drums & percussion) and Matt Thomas (keyboards), who appeared on the solo albums in 2000 & 2003, as well as Joe Pisapia (bass & pedal steel guitars, backing vocals - his work with Steve goes back to the first Cherry Twister record in 1993), Fauna Flora doesn't sound or feel like a debut album - but the work of a maturing artist supported by a rock-solid team.

Fauna Flora is infectious pop music with memorable melodies and delicious harmonies tinged with just enough sweet melancholy to give the whole package some emotional heft.  Ward’s guitar work remains top notch, never flashy but always serving the song, and his voice, though retaining a beautifully delicate quality, has grown stronger and more assured over time.  After repeated listening, the vocals reminded me more and more of one of pop music’s finest tenors – Art Garfunkel.  Run – don’t walk, RUN – out and buy Fauna Flora’s debut album.

For that portion of humanity that would like to read more about Fauna Flora before buying the album:

Although the temptation is strong to speculate on the life behind the work when a musician disappears from the scene for such an extended period, Fauna Flora seems a very natural progression from Ward's most recent solo work, See and Be Seen, in 2003. Perhaps the phrase "disappears from the scene" isn't appropriate for a musician that has not yet penetrated the popular consciousness - but this is music deserving of greater attention. The guy who had to deal with a duplicitous paramour in "Kid Yourself", the devastating closer from that fine album, has seemingly taken up residence with the object of his affections - but the course of true love remains uneven. "The Mansard Roof and the Maple Tree" opens the new album with a lovely acoustic guitar figure and Ward's high tenor setting the scene and foretelling the future all at once: "I made my home west of Lancaster / on the road that took me far from her."   “The Belle of Blue Road” seems to again reference this lost lover (“Everything that’s beautiful, she understands” harkens back to the line from “Kid Yourself” – “She only wants her beautiful”).

Ward’s songwriting has a quality indispensable to pop music – he seems unable to write a song without something interesting going on, either musically or lyrically – and usually both.  “Happy Hour” is a mournful look at Miller Time, with Our Hero seemingly back in circulation on the dating scene – with both mixed emotions and results.  “I contend that tonight could end in a terrible mess”, sings Ward during the song’s bridge and the concluding “We’re so happy now” is delivered like a man who knows how to find the blue lining in every silver cloud.

In the digital age, albums don’t have two sides anymore – but I imagine Fauna Flora’s first 6 tracks as the Partly Cloudy side and the final 5 as the Partly Sunny side.  “The Arms of Winter” describes the ups and downs of a romance which seems to be growing colder along with the temperatures.  Chris Carmichael’s string arrangements here and throughout the record add a lushness and oftentimes drama into the mix.  And Ward adds a new chill to the relationship struggle in the word play of the song’s closing line:  “But we’re confident as killers, when we bear the arms of winter.”  I guess all IS fair in love and war.

“As the Story Goes” finally delivers the goods on what’s really bothering Our Hero.  Over a bed of dirge-like organ, growling synthesizer and martial drumming, the opening lines pretty much tell the whole story:  “I’ve been thinking about the evening’s Christmas cheer / and your useless souvenirs / and the fact you’ve disappeared.”  There’s nothing quite like getting dumped over the holidays.  The drummer stops, the chord is held – as a listener, you almost hold your breath.  Then the chord changes and the song can proceed. 

Head of Fern is just your average great pop song concerning violent revolution on the part of vegetation.   Imagine that George Orwell had composed lyrics for Stevie Wonder's Secret Life of Plants and come up with the theme song for David Lynch's vision of the Apocalypse. Now imagine you can sing-along. “God rest the great pines.”  Such is Head of Fern.

As the album comes to a close, Ward’s lyrics begin to shake off regret and look ahead.  “The Ides of Spring” speaks of tempting fate, daring to fall in love again, in spite of the potential dangers (“A fable laid to waste” – what a lovely phrase).  The album’s closing track, “We’ve Got to Find The Light”, looks beyond the Christmas breakup to what lies ahead:  “Wounds to scars as the holiday dissolves / Greet the change with open arms and no alarm.”

For a guy who hadn’t released a new record in over ten years, it seems that Steve Ward hasn’t missed a beat.  Fauna Flora distills the pain of lost romance into sweet and mellow elixir.  Have a taste and I bet you will want to hear this artist’s earlier work.  And just in case you missed it the first two times…

Run - don't walk, RUN - out and buy the new album by a band called Fauna Flora. 

[You can make that purchase at  http://faunafloramusic.com/   or http://fauna-flora.bandcamp.com/album/fauna-flora]

Take care.

Things have a way of resolving themselves

One of the best friends I ever had - or expect to have - died early last Sunday morning.  He had not been sick for a long time - but long enough that his death was no surprise.  And still a shock.

One of the penalties of getting older (and there are several - though offset, I hope, by other benefits) is that people that you have known for a long time will pass away.  When my uncle died this past August, I realized that part of what I was losing with his death - apart from a loving uncle that would do ANYTHING for me - was one of the few people remaining on the planet who knew me before I knew myself.

With Len's death this week, I've lost another person in my life that I could count on - whatever the circumstance.  I've lost a man old enough to be my father - who treated me like a brother.  I will miss his wit, his eloquence, his precision, his warmth - his voice.

I will miss helping him get into the church on Sunday morning.  I will miss checking on him when a worship service ends.  His death is not real to me yet.  I  don't know when that moment will come.  Maybe it won't come all at once.  Maybe it will take a long time.  But - as Len often said to me - "These things have a way of resolving themselves."  Whenever I hear those words in my mind, it will be Len's voice that I hear.

I take comfort in memories of my friend.  Len was a man who knew that it took more effort and preparation to speak with brevity - and when he said "I will be brief," it was a promise you could count on.  I remember singing beside him for so many years - and with Gene Thompson and the late Phil Haddrill.  I learned how to sing beside these great men.  And I remember how Len would let his mischievous side show - making a comment in a stage whisper during rehearsal - perhaps one of the other sections stumbled or sang off-key - and when asked to repeat the comment, Len would cough and say "I was just clearing my throat".

Beyond my memories, the Lord has comforted me with these thoughts:  Knowing that Len and Maggie have been reunited after so long apart; That the pain and fear which Len experienced during his time in the hospital are over; That my good friend has now been able to hear his Lord speak to him those words that I still hope to hear someday - "Well done, my good and faithful servant".

I only hope that I can live out the remainder of my days in a way that would make Len proud.  And I hope that everyone who knew Len will find comfort in memories of him - having faith that the same God who allowed Len to be a part of their lives has not abandoned them in this time of sorrow.  Let us live as people who have hope of reunion with our father, brother and friend.

Take care.

Wind Direction

Some days the wind is at your back.  But if you turn around, it will be in your face.

It is the same wind.

How it affects you, the way that you perceive it, depends on the direction you are heading.

That doesn't necessarily mean you should change direction based on how the wind is blowing.  But don't assume that you are heading in the right direction, just because the wind is at your back.

Likewise, if you are confident in your direction, don't be turned around when the wind is in your face.  Because the wind will change direction.  That is the nature of the wind.

But if you feel that the wind is always in your face, perhaps it is time to examine your own nature.  You may be changing direction at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons.

Anyway, it's something to think about.

Take care.