Nice.

My Sharona ... Bye Corona

See video at approx 1min and 3min. Not that great but cute I guess.

The Knack debut coronavirus-themed 'My Sharona' parody video

Too bad the singer died in 2010. Love that solo.

Misc musings ...

Saw a neighbor outside getting his grill ready. I wish I had picked up a Weber gas grill during the BF period. Maybe July 4 sales.

Did my grocery run from Kroger Saturday. Wife picked up from Walmart on Sun. So we are pretty stocked up again.

Ordered pick-up from a local Mediterranean place on Sat. Zapped the food.

Had a blueberry pie and ice cream tonight. A nice splurge and change of pace.

Not much on Netflix or Prime that I hadn't already passed on first time around. I'm kinda disappointed that streaming has greatly expanded their offerings. I am getting some free trial channels on Sling which are worthless.

Its been about 3 weeks since GA went stay-at-home. We were practicing it at least 2 weeks before so it's been 5 weeks like this now.

Grilling every chance I get. Just scheduled our pool guy to open up on May 9th. Cant wait to grill on the deck with the kids in the pool. Will almost feel normal

Today I have been infected with New Wave

My main symptomis that it makes me Shout.,..Shout...let it all out.,..

I'm doing quite well now - this week's family Zoom went better than expected and almost everyone was there, got most of the stuff I needed to do done on the vehicle for my new job (exhaust + battery + getting rid of all the junk I had in it) which it looks like I'll be starting middle-end next week, so I'm basically just anxious to be doing something more useful and only a few more days till that happens if all goes according to plan.

Tensions are still fairly high in my area, even among the more laid-back, apolitical people in normal times. It's going to be real interesting to see how people react to whatever happens closer to the end of the month.

Consult your physician.

;)

I tried...they threw me out for making so much noise...:(

Well, that isn't a situation where they can be too careful. Definitely can't have that spreading :lol:

Or maybe it was because when they asked for my symptoms I shouting "Doctor, Doctor, give me the news I got a bad case of loving you!"

Then I said "Doctor, Doctor, can't you see I'm burning burning..."

and they gave me a prescription for penicillun

Gas or charcoal? And what grill do you have?

I'm targetting a Weber e310 which has gotten down to $240 but more regularly on sale for like $350.

Its a gas. Weber Genesis Silver. Have had it for years.

I have been grilling all year. I never stop. Did Brats and hot dogs last night. Pork chops tonight.

I go a weber gas grill last Fathers day. Makes life so much easier and the taste is not much different than a charcoal, but it is so much easier.

Our plan for the summer was to put in an outdoor kitchen but we tabled that until next year. Probably won't be doing much entertaining

I am a charcoal snob. I would love to have an outdoor wood pit and wood-fire stove. The Green Eggs look interesting as well, but not for the money.

You could always get something like a Traeger.

Been tempted. There is a place near my work that sells out of stock/overstock/dented items, mostly outdoor stuff. They have had some pretty solid deals on some Traegers, and some Traeger like pellet grills. I have been tempted, but I just bought a barrel grill from there last year, and I can't justify the extravagance.

Im more tired and emotional than Ive ever been. Is it age or this virus. Im tearing up at the clap at 7 commercial for goodness sakes. I went to bed at 10 last night and could have slept until 9.

I did work hard yesterday filling in crack on my patio and walking 3 miles, but shoot, enen when Im not physically active Im tired.

But the tearing up shit is weird. This is a new.

Am I getting old?

I tend to wake up between 2 and 3 a.m., and my mind usually starts going on one thing or another (although usually not directly related to the virus situation). I've found that the way I can get back to sleep is to put on a YouTube video of a Sunday Night Football game. Listening to the announcers allows me to get away from whatever is on my mind and eventually fall back asleep.

Things are fucked up right now.

If you weren't having an emotional reaction, I'd consider it weird.

A couple of weeks ago, I looked at my 6th grader's school schedule (what he would have been doing this quarter) and started crying.

A) Obvious answer. Yes, you are getting older.

B) The epidemic is a thing that probably should affect all of us emotionally in the short term if not the long term.

I've literally gone through two full sleep cycles during this shit. What I mean is that it's "normal" for me to get my sleep turned around (days become nights & vice versa) when the kid is home.

For decades now my sleep tends to be in phases with a 1-2 hr "nap" somewhere in a 24 hr span, then a 4'ish hour "sleep". I've now wrapped around the clock with where those fall twice.

Last night was "early" full sleep at like 330a-8a, so I'm now dying for a nap while waiting for the Instacart delivery.

These are all typical symptoms of depression, FWIW.

Well, I guess my gig is up. I'm the psychological oddball.

I've been more or less feeling like this is summer, only I've been teleworking.

1. Son is home, and he is back to his schedule of sleeping until 4PM most days then staying up until 4-5AM, spending most of that time on the computer.

2. My daughter has "school" but it's her senior year and three out of four classes are filler anyway. Calc is the only real one, that's pass/fail, and she's already into college. So, essentially summer.

3. My wife is still working three nights a week.

We seldom went to church (everybody's schedules, differing beliefs). Don't do much with neighbors, don't really have local friends. (My wife is part of a ladies' group and I have band booster duties, but honestly skipping those for both of us is a relief.)

If anything, I feel like everyone is making out like they have all this bonus free time and outside of not having to commute, I'm not seeing that. But, I'm still gainfully employed so I'll take it.

I'll say though, I think I will quite enjoy retirement. Lots of stuff I'd like to do. Mostly by myself.


edit: Right, family. Dad's in Thailand, haven't seen for ten years and will probably never see again. Mom's in PA, see her a couple times a year. See my brother every few years. A couple of aunts and a cousin and that's pretty much it. Wife's folks are in FL, I've skipped the last couple of trips down there (fewer vaca days at this job, less will to want to sit through Fox News). Sister lives in NoVa, but they're busy and their kids are grown.

Essentially, other than work I've been living with in-person social isolation for 20 years. Probably why I'm so dogged with sticking around online forums.

Aside from the work part, you did a helluva job describing my life through this awfully well.

Especially #1 (except we're seeing daybreak most 'nights') and the "in-person social isolation (I see actual people during HS football season but that's mostly the only time)

So, if nothing else, you're definitely not alone.

I'm doing good. Wish it was over and we're able to travel, shop etc. Many have it worse than me so can't complain.

Heard some job/group related news. Based on what was said, I won't have to worry about losing my job anytime soon. I wasn't really worried but good to get some reaffirmation.

GA is opening up. We'll stay with the stay-at-home for at least a couple more weeks and see how it goes (I don't need a haircut that bad). Nevertheless, I am glad to see some action in the right direction, I hope it doesn't cause a spike.

School is almost done for my wife (teacher) and senior daughter. Having them start the "summer" will reduce some stress levels in the house.

Got my stimulus check. Got an okay from wife to spend it on a new laptop so waiting for new models to show up and planning on the July 4 sales.

Two weekends ago, I went to Kroger and found pretty much everything except for hand sanitizer. There was toilet paper, paper towels, bread flour etc. This past Sun, I went a 8am and again found everything except for hand sanitizer. So my sense is the supply chain is catching up (but am slightly worried about recent news about meat places closing up).

And finally, although deaths are still in the 1,000+ they have come down from the 2,000+ just a week or so ago. So some optimism there.

I'm a bit like this. Since we moved away from Chicago to Connecticut 12ish years ago, all of my college friends live in other parts of the country. I'm no longer in contact with any high school or earlier friends, aside from very occasional Facebook interaction. I have no local friends, aside from my wife's family and my coworkers (who I'm friendly with but who I don't do anything with outside of work). Turns out it is hard to make friends as an adult introvert. So, yeah, FOFC represents most of my male interaction in life.

God you sound exactly like me.

I'm a deep/serious thoughtful friend person. I don't really go for lots of very loosely connected, superficial friends, and I've found myself pulling away from people who aren't willing to give me that. I've tried opening up to some new people and put myself out there, but something always ends up in the way and I get ghosted. So I don't really try anymore. I moved in highschool in my soph year. I have couple times a year contact with my best friend as a kid, but he's the only one from my first 13 years, and limited FB contact from my HS years, but no one close. No friends from college. My aviation friends are scattered to the wind and even the ones who live close are living their own lives on a different timeline. I vacillate between needing friends and pushing people away by doing my own thing. That does weigh on me at times.

Even with all this. At times it's been great. No responsibilities, our boys are nearly grown and can handle themselves. I'm still getting paid for now. But it's that last part that is weighing out the hardest. This week, with no notice, the company announced that the entire fleet of 757/767 across the company was grounded for May. Last minute. This is the ripple before the storm. Last night, we got word that the company is preparing for a years long restructuring and that it will be a smaller company going forward (meaning in no uncertain terms that people will be losing their jobs), and that entire fleets may disappear from the company. We're looking at multiple displacement bids (meaning that in a seniority based system, when a fleet gets removed, all those pilots bid for new seats at whatever their seniority will allow) and then it will shuffle down the ranks and people at the bottom will be unemployed. Those things can last for a few months to years, and just like that, the great aviation job shortage of 2020 and beyond just disappeared. The only silver lining here, that we didn't have previously was that there's a LOT of retirements on the schedule the next 10 years, and they will help the sooner they go. I'm guessing that the company will have some buyouts on the horizon for them to gtfo. I do have (nearly) 7 years of service under my belt and I'm sitting around the 30% percentile in seniority, which is (was?) nearly 4,000 pilots. That's a staggering amount, but I don't think it'll be enough to see me safe.

I head back to training in late-mid May and then who knows? As a commuter, there is no simple way for me to get to work anymore. As of earlier this year most days had between 7-9 direct flights to Newark a day to cover my schedule. Now, there are none. All flights to Newark now either go via Chicago, or DC. Meaning that even if I wanted, I can't get to Newark until about 3 in the afternoon. I don't know. It's really one of those things I have no control over right now, but it's still weighing heavily.

My Mom is still hanging in there. I've been video chatting with her at least once a week. She's not being productive at all, and she really should be. She does recognize that she's a very high risk and said she's going to be cautious even after things start to open back up again. She's taking the bad news about our cat really hard, especially after having had him there for 10 days pet sitting.

If you made it this far, thanks. I'm up and down, and all around. The time with my boys has been outstanding and tiring. I want to do things with them, but I miss having my own down time too. In a house with 5 adults who get along, we have managed very well to be together and give one another space. We're privileged enough to be able to have some of these amenities that make life easier for everyone here. The Mrs and I went on a picnic yesterday in the nice weather, just the two of us. We really needed to get away, if even only for a couple hours. The droning monotony of the day was actually hurting our relationship. We needed some time to connect again.

I'm sharing all this, mostly just to get it off my chest, but because I also know what a healthy life looks like (instead of my own, Ice Cream and French Onion Dip body). I don't mind listening if anyone else out there, just needs an ear. Besides, my therapist said she's not seeing anyone in person for a while, so there's that. LOL!

We are living in a time of great uncertainty. When you throw possible job implications into the picture, it makes it all the worse. Hang in there Pilotman.

My 15-year-old son is a total hermit playing games and watching TV alone in his cave downstairs. Now my 11-year-old daughter spends all her free time online with friends playing Roblox and stuff like that. Not much time left to do stuff with Dad. Which hurts, because I've always been her favorite. It sucks getting pushed out, especially when she has most of the workday to do stuff with her friends. Let's go throw the football around in the yard or work on our Lego Millennium Falcon, sweetie. The years left with you at home are quickly draining away...

Actually tearing up just typing that.

I hear ya.

Lots of Roblox happening here with my 7 and 10 year old. They will call friends on kids messenger then all play Roblux together. It is hilarious to listen to them play the hunger games or whatever.

I feel mostly ok. Miss arbitrary things like baseball, seeing friends, etc...but I also don't miss running around to gymnastics, karate, soccer, etc...We thankfully don't have to worry about job security. It has gotten eassy to get food etc..online.

One pattern I have fallen in to is wrapping up schooling around 1:00 then taking a nap around 2 while the kids play on ipads, etc..Often I am not even tired, I just feel like napping. Yesterday my wife woke me up at 6 wondering about dinner. I think it's maybe just my way of mentally shutting down for a while.

Hopefully somebody here will get a laugh out of this besides me. Those of you using shopping services, this is not how you do it.

My second delivery today was somebody who put in an address and phone number not their own. Since nobody is accepting returns, I just have a bunch of groceries now. Bacon, pork loins, onions, spaghetti, pasta sauce, eggs, milk, salad … almost all of it stuff that I will use. I'm not getting groceries for a while longer than I usually would. Normally it would just be a loss for the platform -- but the order was prepaid. Nobody, including the support system, can get ahold of them or figure out what's going on.

If you're going to scam somebody, you don't do it by paying for a fake order ahead of time. What do I do now, thank them for being an idiot? If you're going to scam somebody, do it right. Don't do it in a way that mostly just rips yourself off.

LOL.

I am trying to figure out what the scam is?

Somebody signed into an account that they use to order for multiple addresses choosing the wrong one? I have like 6 or 7 saved on my amazon account and I’ve accidentally ordered things to my mother in laws house on multiple platforms because we order her stuff all the time due to the fact she’s completely computer illiterate

You should watch John Krasinkis SGN. Always good stuff going on and he is doing a great job of highlighting them. Never fails to bring a tear to my eye.

Some days I feel like I am starting to flounder. Monday was a bad work day. A couple people being idiots within about 30 minutes of each other really fucked my day. I was swinging back and forth from mad to sad the rest of the day.

Wife cut my hair today with clippers & scissors she used on my son when he was a kid. Didn't turn out half bad.

The mall that has the hair salon I go to is supposed to open this Fri. I think I'll make an appt on May 16. Hopefully we'll know how things are trending with the GA experiment then.

A couple of activities that the family and I have been doing over the past couple of weeks to break things up and to do an activity together are putting together jigsaw puzzles from Springbok Puzzles and Architecture sets from Lego.

So far, we've done San Fran and Las Vegas with Lego and a 500 piece donut jigsaw puzzle, with a kitten puzzle and Paris on deck. The nice things about Springbok are they're based in KC, Missouri and their pieces are unique across the puzzle. Definitely was a change from the standard shapes most puzzle are cut in.

Not a good day today. Seven years to the day that I got the hired call for my company, my literal dream come true, I got the strongest signal yet that I'll be furloughed in October. The company announced bids today that result in a 30% reduction in staffing, effective the end of June. I sit at 71.2% company wide. There could be some early retirements, and guys who take voluntary leaves, but the company also said this is just the first round. So even if this one slips past me, the next one will not. I am simply numb today.

There are 3755 pilots between me and the back of the line, another 600 will retire in the next 18 months. But even with all that the numbers aren't there. They're talking about deeper cuts. Basically, whatever level of flying they can support, they'll cut to that level. So if it's half, they're prepared to dump half. More if necessary. That could take years and years to staff back up to where it was earlier this year. The company can only really train 1000 pilots a year off the street. Guys who were hired this year could be on the street who knows how long? I have no clue what's next.

Really sorry my friend

Genuinely sucks PilotMan, and I wish I had a clue of what to say that'd be worth a damn to improve it :(

Damn, that terrible PM. I'm sorry to hear it :(


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sorry to hear. Pretty shitty to have to deal with job worries in addition to all the other crap that is happening.

Sorry to hear PM Should I avoid flying because of this?

My friend got 12 bottles of (cheap)wine the other day. It's likely that the person ordered to the wrong address or something. free food is a great fringe benefit obviously.

Sorry to hear that PM.

Is the furlough scheme in the US similar to here, in that you are guaranteed a percentage of salary up, to a maximum level?

Sorry to hear this PM.

Wishing you the best of luck moving forward.