Took it out and played with it over the weekend (the F-Type).

I am fortunate to have a consulting practice that caters to things that are considered by the government to be essential so am staying busy. Hope everyone and their families stay well.

 

The amount of business that are going to close that will likely never be able to open again is very sad. Our hotel owners are long haul people, so we should be able to re-open, no matter how long this goes.
My neighbor is an ER nurse, and as mentioned bro in law a flight medic and nurse in an ER, and they're just shocked how unprepared this admin was. It's chaos.
I feel so bad for them.

The markets aren't at their low. Watching exponential climb in cases (partly due to testing finally happening) it does appear we'll be worse than italy, per capita.
Sucks to say something like this, but the opportunity out there when things bottom out is as unreal as one could imagine.

 

for those that want to send that clip around, here's a tweet:

my goodness that was excellent.

Here's a relevant clip from Cheers, a show that has been remastered, is on Netflix, and this show is still charming and truly relevant!

 

Well, it's been interesting to deal with the dealership in California these last 2 weeks. It's strange talking to the sales manager about the daily struggles for California compared to Minnesota. Here, I have no problem finding food and most essential items. I have yet to see any lines. Can't seem to find TP or cleaning supplies, but I'm not hoarding and don't need to. It's a different story in California. I feel sorry for small towns that have one grocery store, but I think those people are sometimes more prepared than us city slickers.

So far so good up here in the Frozen Tundra. It's nice that everyone is being so flexible here. I normally don't work from home, so it is taking me some time to adjust to it. I do see A LOT of people outside now. It's nice.

 

• My first question: Is going to your off-site wine storage considered essential?

--- It's in a national park in a old cement artillery bunker, and no one is there. It's the best social club or network in history. 15 minutes from my house. Zero human exposure. SO YES DEAR GOD YES

• My second (and I don't expect an answer, as it's really not anyone's business but your own): How well are you set if this goes on?

--- There will be some consulting opportunity, and we're savers, and without being too on the nose I am really, really worried about a lot more people than ourselves. We've been responsible and the market will have some opportunity. We have low overhead and aren't materialists or consumers, really, so with low expenses we'll weather this for some time. Just worried about everyone else. Interesting how much money you save when you have nothing to spend it on but TP. Here's another funny re: TP.

and this:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/o...ronavirus.html

I will not be opening up and looking at my 401K for about 5 years (ha), but my retirement contribution this year in mid Feb didn't get deployed and sat as cash LOL Good luck there. sheesh


THANKS FOR THE MINUTEMEN! fun. I also wonder when someone does a My Sharona parody... MY CORONA!

If all that's left is art and humor and driving, maybe that's okay.

 

Unhingd.... the projects around the house thing is the DREAM. My pop and mom are locked down and he's cleaned the garage, he's making sauerkraut, planting his garden too early, scanning his dad's old scrapbooks, making curry for some neighbors that they will leave at the door, excercisin, fixing things, etc. It's unreal. It's like a forced retirement he didn't know he wanted.

I need a tech pause. Shutting down hotels is complex, and that's taken a lot of work and comms, my industry is over-communicating. In fact, we didn't send out an email blast, b/c we contacted guests with rez, and seeing everyone else do it, it's just spam. Chris D'elia confirmed this with absolute utter hilarity:
But now with all my professional friends, and many, many personal friends, out of jobs, everyone has time to check in and chat, and I just need to log off and read a book, finish a project, play a puzzle, but tech doesn't really want you to do that. Watching the news once a day, PBS Newshour, and limiting as much as possible, but I close my browser or turn phone down to work on a spreadsheet or something, and people think I am in crisis. LOL It's too much.

Also DJS... he's doing his traeger and cooking more meat than he should lol That Delirium is AWESOME. All of those are. I was in Boulder during the microbrew revolution, and am well versed in beers but my liver wants fermented grapes or clear liquor. lol or doesn't. Actually, I've been working out and eating well, but my liver needs a break. ha

JacksonvilleJag - That's wild. Non-politically I would like to see more of those sort of laws here, to help people take it seriously. I figure making a picnic, going for a drive, eating the picnic in the car, isn't breaking quarantine as long as you never get out, and is fine? I've not heard that driving should be disallowed, but that a mandatory curfew is on is amazing. Thanks for sharing.

Almeida - what a story, and indicative of just how weird this all is. hurry up and wait for the onrushing wave. Watching the numbers, it seems obvious that this is not panic. I wish you the best, and all the luck and professionalism of your peers.

FuzzySquid - it is funny how they've called liquor stores essential services in some areas. It seems instacart is the go to for liquor deliveries to your home. Sucks that all these apps who take cuts of brick and mortar restaurants and stores will now be anchored in our daily lives. The way all of this will change the entire landscape of human patterns is hard to imagine. The world is being terraformed. Back to normal with a vaccine, but behaviors changed forever.

Dogbreath - trust that supply chain! it seems to be working well for now, but as someone else said, down the road if it's locked down for a long time, shortages begin in a lot of weird ways. But for now, things seem stocked. =) But my dad was a farmer and big gardener now, and I've open space I live in, and am thinking of what gardening I can do. And the stocks.. man. I'll lay out so many in a few if we want to go there, but divorce spike and baby boom NAILS it.

Rummy - My wife is out of work, but has worked from home for years, and I am often not at my office or a hotel, and so we've been doing this for a long time. The house has gotten slightly smaller, but no stir crazy on day 14! being kind, having fun, going in and out of shock, but it's great. As an introvert, my wife says she has been training for this for years! No more getting asked out for drinks or me asking what concerts she would go to with me. lol

BurtGummer - depends on how the virus acts in heat, but this first surge isn't the problem. Like the 1918 influenza, surge one killed many, but the next fall/winter was what went really bad. The vaccine is fast tracked, and this is the first time in history private and government labs all over the world are real time communicating and sharing data plainly and transparently. It's amazing, and I've hope in that, and hope in the supply chain. If nothing else I will look fantastic if all goes south, and lose those extra last pounds I wanted to lose. LOL I agree with this report, that says 18 months of social distancing, which would then lend itself to 18 months of relative isolation. That would mean our businesses likely won't open for that long.
Modeling study suggests 18 months of COVID-19 social distancing, much disruption | CIDRAP
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imp...16-03-2020.pdf

I know some people are saying this is all panic, but have been watching the numbers and spread, and if you like data and facts, it seems pretty obvious what's coming. We'll know in about two weeks, and we'll know if the lockdowns helped. We'll see obvious data from the 6 counties around SF, having done it first, and how that flattens the curve, as they say, vs other places. Panic and fear are worthless, but I am not sure I want to invest in too many cans of black beans. <-- will let you know when I regret that last statement. I do wonder if this will proportiantely impact populations differently, science/data driven folk locking down, vs people saying "panic and conspiracy". I know the Italians spread fast because they greet with kisses, and so many men smoke (so with China), but I also know people were breaking quarantine to go to freaking mass, so [shrug].

However, China is getting back to normal, and it's "young people getting back to life, vulnerable populations need to stay in: https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...es-coronavirus

16fnrbrg - the ability to spend time on personal projects, be with people you love, do art, read, relax, etc... it might be a wellness vacation where you discover new things and try new things. I hope people don't waste this, but part of it is getting offline, which I am planning to do for the rest of the day. I am not even a tech nut, but hard to not feed from the digital firehose spraying all this info, etc. And, until our gov shutdown parks and beaches, our windy roads were so crowded with bikers and walkers, etc it was hard for those speedy and safe drives. Now it's a ghost town.

pcar2jag - our open space by our house had a load (until gov explained you can't social distance in crowds) about 10x in one day what it usually has in 2 weeks. CRAZY, but there's something warm and human and lovely in seeing all these people just enjoying nature, being together, etc. It is really nice to see. The rain cleared a lot of it out too, so I can go and breathe deep. =)

This is great. keep the jokes coming. keep us posted. someone above mentioned that we all have these cars which puts us in a club, but for different reasons and we are different people with different thoughts, etc. It's actually pretty cool to use this as a sample of how this spreads and impacts varied communities, etc. Like I said, out of work, vaccine is coming, and we should be able to weather this for some time, and hopefully with enough funds to get into that market. People not considering it our going to lose out on one of the biggest wealth making moments in history.

This isn't a recession (it's in there a bit tho, of course), and it's not an economic crisis. It's a health crisis, and a human crisis, and a panic. So acting like this is a financial crisis or just a recession is not framing it right. The market hasn't had a chance to act like this in a long time.

 

Hi,
We live in the Netherlands, W-Europe. Since we life a bit out of the way [ small village in the east ], we are remote from the 'epicentres' around the denser populated parts.

Our eldest daughter is in Ithaca for her second master in Law. She hesitated if it was better to head back here about two weeks ago, but the dean said she'd not get back in and so would not be able to finish the year.
She planned to do her bar exam and already found a place in St. Louis to do the voluntary legal aid period. Now this all has been cancelled. She has a flat mate, also an exchange student and they start having online classes april 1st.

My wife convinced me to go to the USA after all for graduation. So we planned and booked it all to leave may 6th stay just north of NYC and drive to Ithaca the day after. Spend some days there and then some days with our daughter in NYC.
We will wait until mid april but I am quite certain we have to cancel all and stay here. Our daughter will not do the bar exam, not get 'reall marks' only 'pass' so the investment of 80 grand goes down the tubes [ she saved for it, worked, took loans and we and grandparents chipped in].

Our second daughter almost graduates to be a secondary school teacher. She stays home since all schools are closed untill june 1st. She also has some online classes.

Our third child [ son ] took a leap year after highschool to get more specific schooling in maths since he starts at Delft University in august. This year he started his own computer service business and also worked in local companies to earn some cash for his portfolio [ he dabbles in shares ].

My wife and I just plot along. She is bizzy with her vegy garden and the managing the home. I am retired and look after the two pony's our daughters used to ride when they were younger. The pony's are now retired too and very efficient lawnmowers..

I planned to go to the UK in june to visit some family and some elderly friends that used to live near our home in the Algarve . They sold up and moved back to the UK some years ago [ almost 80 yrs old now ], we sold last year since the house was hardly used now the kids do not come along.

The F-Type stands on the drive and we can not do our usual trips for lunches or walks. All restaurants and bars are closed and also parks and reserves. Also the 'encore' we planned for june to drive the Alpine passes that were still closed for avalanche risks last year in may is unlikely to happen.

The F-Pace is just finished [ bespoke wood interior like the F-Type ] and we can not go for trips with this either. Tomorrow though we give it a try and head for the nearest flower bulb area and eat some fresh fish from the fisherman village of Urk, a former island. They sell fish from a stand,
this is outside and the only 'eating out' possible at the moment.

So relatively little to complain about, except for our daughter who is really disappointed.

Stay safe and get well if you already caught the bug...

 

My wife works at a financial institution, so she still goes in to work even though the lobby is closed to the public. Business can still be done by phone and email. Thank goodness because that's my source of funding for my R Coupe!

Twas a sad day for a family on my block, though. Their house caught on fire yesterday, and no one got hurt that I know of. Thankfully, we have some good neighbors that went around today and collected whatever money they could get for the displaced family. I can't imagine going through that trauma, let alone trying to figure things out with his pandemic. I know displaced families from house fires are an everyday tragedy, but the current environment is even tougher.

I believe in the goodness and kindness of people. Call me naive, but I believe it. Whatever we can do for our fellow human beings, no matter how small we think it may be, is still going to make a huge difference in someone's life. I personally know it can be worse for me and my family, but I am thankful for my friends and family and how we look out for each other.

 

@Pcar2Jag
So people do not insure their homes in the USA ? In the Netherlands [ certainly is you have a mortgage], one is obliged to insure against 'major events' . Premium is 0,5% of the (re-)building costs, quite affordable since
I think 80% of the families have such an insurance. Weiredly it does not cover flooding by seawater. Probably since 80% is a meter or more below seal evel...

 

If you have a mortgage (as most do), the bank will require you to have enough homeowner’s insurance to cover the loan. If you’re in a ‘flood plain’, the bank will require flood insurance too, which is different.

Otherwise, there’s no requirement to have homeowner’s insurance that I know of. But I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have it.

 

The real issue for a house fire is how much of the contents are covered by insurance, and the amount of time for the insurance company to actually ante up some funds for clothing and other day-to-day necessities.

 

@DJS It is impossible to insure against flooding. I really don't know what will happen is there is a storm surge with more then the 4m they calculate with and 1 million homes are submerged. I think the banks will submerge too..

If one owns a house 100%, it is not obliged. But most people still take insurance. When we owned a house in Portugal, we had a full insurance. It covered fires [ we had 7 major fires over 20 years, but hardly any damage since the
house was 100% stone and concrete, even the roof. And we had a perifery of 20m with no vegitation worth mentioning ], earthquakes [ about one every week, rarely above 3 Richter scale ], and flooding. This would have been
a serious flood since the house was 254m above sealevel on the top of a hill..

 

Here the insurance pays out about € 15.000 as an advance within a week. For maximum 3 months hotel costs or rent up to € 1500,- per month are covered. Then it mostly is settled in a few months time. Only it the fire marshal suspects arsen and an
inquest follows it could turn into many years. This is very rare. But if ones house burns down now, the biggest problem is : there are no vacant homes. On a population of 18 miljoen and 10 million households, we are short 600.000 homes...
Due to the crises 2008-2017 , hardly any rental homes were build. We had some big scandals about fraude by public rental home associations. And the government keeps a shortage of land for homes ongoing. And we don't have enough able workers.

This all resulted in a price hike of 30% in the last 4 years. Housing is unaffordable for starters on the market. Now youngsters stay with their parents until about 30yrs of age, [In Italy it used to be up to 35yrs ].

Now rents are insane. Social rent stops at € 725. Above its 'liberated' , meaning : the owner can ask what he wants. So there are people who own an apartment in a sougth after area, the pay off the mortgage with a personal loan. They rent the
appartment out for € 1500 per month and pay € 300 on their loan. They move to some warmer place and stop working.

Minimum wage for a person over 23yrs of age is € 1653,- before tax and health insurance. It boils down to needing two incomes to pay the rent and the bills and be able to eat and buy clothes. Nowadays this includes two phone subscriptions
and TV license as well, maybe a cheap holiday of two weeks. But the rule for private landlords is : your monthly family income must be more then 4x the monthly rent without charges.

So nurses, teachers, police, these people can not live there. Just like in California I guess.

 

Flood insurance is a tricky topic - it’s administered by the US Government (as I understand it), as the risk of regional flooding is too much for most private insurance companies. It’s controversial, as it allows houses to be built where they may not have been otherwise, or perhaps rebuild after a flood. On the other hand, the US has a lot of regions with serious flood potential (Houston, New Orleans, the huge Missouri/Mississippi River watershed, coastal plains...) My hometown in Michigan (and the while region) is suffering huge consequences from the record high level of Lake Michigan - much of it erosion damage (houses falling into the lake, or being demolished) rather than flooding per se.

Like many topics, this one is political too, which never ends well...

 

Dan, the people living in that house were renting. Most likely, the actual owner does have insurance to cover the house. The renters should have insurance for their belongings, but I doubt they had any. In any case, it's still crappy to have that happen and be forced to go find another home. I heard it will take a year to rebuild that house.

Looks like it's supposed to rain today, so I'll be surprised to see a lot of people outside. I think I'm going to try and beat the storm by going for a walk or jog.

 

I quit my job at the end of last year and the plan was to take a little time off before going on the hunt again, but with the current situation it's looking like I might have to look a lot harder than I would have before.

The good news is, I have enough booze to last me through at least another couple of weeks.

 

Makes me want to take a trip to Total Wine now.

 

I think after a couple of weeks, you’ll be both disinfected and preserved.

 

Sans liver!

 

What are you trying to say?