The lows and highs are getting increasingly intense

posted by Jeff | Wednesday, April 15, 2020, 10:00 PM | comments: 0

What a great and terrible day. It feels like there's no middle ground anymore. Everything is amazing or horrible.

Simon and Diana didn't have a perfect day at "school," but they finished pretty early today, around 2, his rash is slightly better, and the kid even ate chicken for dinner. There was barely any shouting today!

For me, I woke up rested for a change, and work was really productive. My stakeholders are willing to use the project management system I've given them, my engineers seem to be on the same page as me, my boss is taking on things outside of my scope, and I feel like there's forward momentum with a team I barely know.

On the other hand, a long-time acquaintance is going to be on a ventilator is and is in pretty bad shape, infected with COVID-19 and pneumonia. The degrees of separation are now zero, and I don't want him to be a stat in the losses column. Meanwhile, the psychic weight of coworkers living in New York City, where they don't have the benefit of sprawling suburbs and McMansions, is I think taking a toll. Some were able to get out of the city, most were not. It's a bad scene.

The economic toll of non-work in our local economy is becoming apparent. Today I checked in with my hairstylist and a cast member that I've kind of vaguely kept in touch with after she was amazing to Simon a few years ago. It's not fair that they should suffer from all this.

I know a lot of people got a direct deposit hit from the feds today, which hopefully brightened some days. That's a weird thing for people who are still working, because it's not like they can go out and spend money when everything is closed and they can't travel. That's not going to stimulate the economy.

The politics are getting more absurd. The federal response has been an epic failure, and some people who defend the president are becoming more entrenched. On the plus side, those not joining the cult of personality have recognized that party affiliation is not indicative of ability to lead, as governors of both parties have shown extraordinary leadership, regardless of their normal policy positions.

We had a nice evening where we were able to relax on the patio after a little thunderstorm and vastly cooler temperatures (we've had near-record highs, again). I made a cocktail for dinner and sipped it.

These are such weird times.


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