Us, May 10, 2020: Roy, John, Leo, Shadow, Ondine
Us, May 10, 2020: Roy, John, Leo, Shadow, Ondine
Pandemic mode is quite comfortable for some of us, who are quite happy to have an excuse not to leave the house or see anyone in person or have anyone over, thank you very much. Others of us are getting stir crazy. Did you know all our pandemic journals are collected on our Archives page?
Almost every day now we hear park rangers on their loudspeakers telling people to get off the trails on Cowles Mountain, which remains closed. Over the long weekend, normally the mountain would be crawling with people; it's still a little funny to see it empty but also very nice to not have the traffic and parked cars.
The Memorial Day weekend saw crowds at the beaches, but apparently most people observed social distancing rules. We stayed home and grilled a bit, cleared out a bit, worked on various personal projects, and streamed TV.
Ondine enjoys watching The Durrells in Corfu, based on Gerald Durrell's trilogy/memoirs; Leo likes Monk and, oddly, old black and white episodes of The Saint; John likes Time Team; and we all enjoy the Star Wars movies. We're up to Episode Four, the original. We also got the kids into DCI Banks. John tunes into the filmed live theatre productions available online from The Globe and the National Theatre.
Coronavirus update: The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracker shows that COVID-19 has been confirmed in over 5.5 million people worldwide, and has claimed over 348,500 lives. That's over 350,000 more cases and over 8,600 more deaths since Saturday. The U.S. now has over 1,676,400 confirmed cases and over 98,700 deaths, up over 65,400 cases and another 2,300 deaths since Saturday. In San Diego, our local toll rose to 6,797 cases with 249 deaths.
California barbershops and salons have the OK to open this week, with restrictions, as do houses of worship. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll all open; some may have problems meeting the guidelines and others don't feel it is safe yet.
Leo and Ondine made milk bread Monday. Yum! Leo is thinking of doing a one-month online course from music producer/YouTube star Andrew Huang via LearnMonthly.com. That would require a 30-day commitment starting June 1 because there are deadlines and live feedback. He's also looking into summer music courses through the San Diego Community College District. His Patrick Henry high school graduation will be marked with a drive-by "send-off" next week with a parade of cars through the campus visiting various stations, including a graduation portrait session in front of the PHAME building. The school district still hopes to hold in-person graduation ceremonies in July or August.
Roy went to Danielle's house Monday afternoon. He looked into a PMP certification in Project Management through the Project Management Institute, and is now looking for ways to get the knowledge without taking the actual course. There are separate charges for the course and the test, and apparently PMI doesn't require one to take their course in order to take their test and, if one passes, receive their certification. Either way, this'll be his summer education activity. It doesn't count as academic credit, but the knowledge will be useful and the accredited certification is professionally relevant.
Ondine had Monday off for Memorial Day. She did some baking with Leo, and edited her novel. She also made a pocket for the sweater she knitted. And, she canceled our flight to Boston and found that the AirB&B place had already automatically canceled our reservation. Alaska Airlines didn't offer a refund, only credit for a future flight. She still hopes to take some time off this summer, but a physical getaway is looking unlikely. She has plans to get together virtually with some of the people she'd hoped to see in Boston via Zoom.
John is enrolled at City College in an online Physical Anthropology class that starts in July. And, he's now enrolled in a three-course certificate program in Exploring Culture and Heritage, from the European University Institute via FutureLearn. He'll probably pay for the annual FutureLearn upgrade, which would cover certificates for all three courses plus the course on Forensic Archaeology he just completed, all of which is heading toward doing something in Anthropology, possibly Cultural Resource Management.
Neighborhood gas prices are about $3.09 per gallon, and the stock market is sitting at about 24,995 after the holiday weekend.
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