So this is a very new thing. Truman is not a cuddler by any means, but he’s up here purring away.
The New Normal.
I feel like we are in the midst of a societal ‘reset’. Much like back in 2001 during 9/11, I feel like some of the things we’re doing right now are going to result in permanent changes with the way we do things. Will the in person toll collectors come back to the Illinois Tollway? What restaurants will close permanently? Will bars here in Chicago end up serving to go drinks from now on? What societal changes will result from the measures we are taking to contain the COVID-19 virus?
The streets were quiet today when I went to the an FAA Airman Medical Examiner for my required medical exam today. When it was time to leave with my newly printed medical certificate I bumped elbows with the elderly doctor without a second thought. It’s how we exchange pleasantries tonight. Driving around Chicago is pretty easy at the moment. The idea of getting out to O’Hare without tapping the brakes at least once on the Kennedy Expressway is novel, but it’s the way we’re doing things right now.
With the restaurants closed except for take away of some sort, one restaurant/bar in the neighborhood just gave up the ghost and boarded up shop. Closed forever. To be fair, they were planning on doing so later this year when the building is ripped down for something newer with more residential occupancy, but they sped up their plans and left shop. Done.
People walk a wider berth on the sidewalks .We still smile at one another and exchange pleasantries, this is one of the things I love about living in this part of Chicago, but we do it with a little more space between us. Personal space is now a six foot radius from our vantage point.
Is this the new normal?
I was happy to see the marquee at one of the nearby venues to have a friendly message. It injects hope into the spirit of the neighborhood. This message is not alone; there are many marquees and the like in the area sharing positive vibes.
Positive vibes is what we need.
In some ways I hope we come out of this pandemic with a reduced frenetic pace. Take time to smile. Say hello.
Bump elbows.
Quiet.
There are a few comedy clubs and other venues in the neighborhood. This is the first time I’ve seen this marquee completely empty. The streets are somewhat quiet. Restaurants are getting ready to go into pick-up/delivery only mode. The numerous pubs are getting ready to close up shop for two weeks.
It’s such an odd time.
Firsts.
Both my grandfather and father were private pilots. Both flew homebuilt airplanes and both had their tailwheel endorsements. Both of them also preferred flying “low and slow” and they preferred the classic tailwheel configuration. I love flying low and slow like they do but I don’t have my tailwheel endorsement. I can do low and slow just fine in a Piper Cherokee 140. I’ll never build an airplane as I did not inherit that talent from that side of the family. I’m perfectly fine with that.
Today I started lessons to get my complex and high performance endorsements. Complex means I’m flying an airplane with retractable gear and high performance means the airplane is rated higher than 200 horsepower.
Today I flew a Cessna Skylane 182 RG. Built in 1978, this airplane has a six-cylinder engine rated at 250 horsepower. It can carry 1200 lbs. That’s a lot of fuel and an additional person.
I have a decent amount of hours in a Cessna 172 but before today I had never flown the heavier 182. I’m also more of a low-wing guy (don’t tell my grandfather or father) but having grown up in high-wings with Dad and flown my share of Cessnas, this configuration doesn’t particularly bother me. The high performance engine means things happen faster so I need to be a little more on my game, and after the initial climb out and getting to cruise I felt more comfortable than I thought I would before jumping into the airplane. I went up with instructor Callie and I did some turns and climbs and descents and just got a feel for the airplane before coming back to the airport to try some landings. Callie demonstrated the first landing and then shadowed me on the rest of the landings, providing verbal guidance and nudging the controls when necessary. For a first lesson in this airplane I walked away feeling great, and weather and virus willing, I’m hoping to go back up with her next week to continue the adventure.
I’m now officially doing something the previous pilots in my family have not done by flying a high performance airplane with retractable gear. I mentioned to my mom on the telephone the other day that I wanted to start taking my aviation career beyond where Dad and Gramps went with theirs, and in many respects I am. But I’m not really surpassing them in any way, I’m simply going in a different direction. I really wish I could talk to them about this experience because I’m sure they’d both be grinning ear to ear.
I know I am.
Shopping.
My husband and I walked down to the local Trader Joe’s in search of a loaf of rye bread. St. Patrick’s Day is Tuesday and we’re going to celebrate by enjoying a couple of reuben sandwiches. If we can find some Guinness we’ll have one or two at home, since all sit-down restaurants and bars are closed in Illinois until March 30.
There were a total of ten loaves of bread left and none of them rye. My husband said he can improvise with what was available and he picked up a loaf of bread.
There wasn’t much else to choose from. All canned goods, dairy, frozen foods, meat, and produce was gone. We did find a bag of potatoes, so we grabbed that and there was a decent amount of chocolate chip granola bars left.
As we checked out of Trader Joe’s, a person at the door thanked us for stopping by and offered us a rose. I appreciated the gesture.
I still don’t get the insane hoarding that’s been going on but I use the activity as a barometer for what the general American public is really like at the core. As I quipped on Twitter, imagine the reaction if extraterrestrials made their presence known.
People would really go crazy for toilet paper then.
Pi Day!
Today is Pi Day, at least in the way the U.S. and Canada write out the 14th of March, and there is much excitement to be had in our merry little household. For not only do we have multiple Raspberry Pis doing a ton of work for our electronic efforts, but also we are going to go searching for pie today. Because Pi and Pie!
Happy Pi Day!
Clickity Clack.
One of the most productive things my mother did for me was teach me how to type using the proper fingers at a very young age. I wasn’t even out of elementary school and I was typing on manual and electric typewriters at an amazing speed, especially for someone not even in their teen years. My mother’s theory was, “if you’re going to play with the typewriter, you’re going to do it the right way”. I took a typing class my senior year of high school just to dial in my technique and I’ve been typing away like a maniac ever since.
I type for a living. I actually do more than just type for a living, but I spend 9-10 hours in front of a computer for work and then a up to a few hours in front of a computing device of some sort for entertainment. Even though I crow about the wonders of the iPad and tablet computing, I’m still very dedicated to laptops and regular sized keyboard. And since I’m a bit of a typing aficionado, I tend to be quite picky about the keyboard I’m using.
As a Gen Xer I learned to type on the aforementioned manual and later electric typewriters. I’m used to a keyboard with some heft to it. I want to have a decent amount of travel with each keystroke, I like the positive response of each time I press a key, and I don’t mind a bit of noise while I’m doing so. My absolute favorite keyboard was made by Digital Equipment Corporation, a company I worked for in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The LK201 keyboard that came with a wide variety of their desktop offerings was amazing.
I also really enjoy the original IBM Model M keyboard. It’s the really loud keyboard that’s been around since the mid 1980s. They’re still made by Unicomp. I’ve had a few of them over the years and honestly, while I love the typing experience the noise can be a bit much, especially on conference calls.
The newest version of the Apple Magic Keyboard makes my wrists ache. I’m not a fan of the chicklet style keys with the butterfly switches; I don’t know how Earl types on his MacBook Pro every day. Thankfully I have an older MacBook Pro with the older style keyboard, but I’m not a huge fan of that either. It’s functional but nowhere near perfect. And don’t get me started on what happens with these Apple keyboards if you get a piece of dust stuck in a key or something.
Another thing I’m rather fussy about is the width of my keyboard. I want it to have full sized keys but I don’t want to reach way over to the right to find my mouse. A “tenkeyless” keyboard is a good layout for me; it’s a standard PC style keyboard but with the right hand grouping of keys chopped off. I still get a full sized keyboard experience, complete with the arrow keys in their traditional inverted “T” layout.
I found a damn-near perfect keyboard on Amazon earlier this week. It arrived today. Enter, the Velocifire TKL02.
This keyboard is amazing. It quite substantial in weight, has a very solid feel, and is backlit with white light that can rotate through various patterns. The keyboard features Cherry MX Brown Keys, so they have a decent amount of travel, a solid bump of response, but are not so overwhelmingly noisy to be annoying. The sound reminds me of mid 1980s Apple IIes or the TRS-80 Model II I wrote software for back in the day. It’s very comfortable and even after a few hours of use I feel very comfortable and efficient with the typing experience. I took a self typing test online earlier today and I was able to hit 112 Words Per Minute on this keyboard. I’m pleased with that result.
A louder, hefty keyboard like this isn’t for everyone, especially in this day and age of software keyboards on our phones and tablets. But I’m loving this keyboard and it is a great addition to the home office. In fact, I’m typing this blog entry using my work computer setup just so I can use this wonderful keyboard.
If you’re a keyboard aficionado like I am and you enjoy mechanical keyboards, you might want to give it a try.
Happy typing!
Worry.
It’s 4:30 AM and I’m awake with worry about a number of things. I’m usually good at slowing down my brain and getting a decent amount of sleep at night, but I just can’t get things to slow down today. If you’ve been paying attention to the news this week, and honestly, who hasn’t, you may be losing some sleep as well.
I’m trying not to be overly concerned about the Coronavirus concerns. I’m rather lucky: I work from home, I’m not one for huge gatherings any way, and I’ve been washing my hands regularly for over five decades. But I’m worried about the older people in my life and their susceptibility to the virus. Because the Trump Administration has been downplaying concerns about the virus so as not to mess up its electability I fear there’s a number of folks walking the streets that may be carrying the virus and not even know it.
I’m reminded of the AIDS crisis back when I was a young gay. I was prudent back then and I continue to be prudent today.
I think the hardest part of dealing with the Coronavirus is this concern is on top of everything else that’s been thrown our way since the last presidential election. Impeachments, stock market fluctuations, concern around illegal activities, not being able to trust anything Trump says, the fighting between parties, and most importantly to me, the fighting between friends and family members with differing political ideologies.
I’m really tired.
I’m concerned that not getting enough sleep from worry is going to lead me to being more susceptible to getting sick, even if it’s not the Coronavirus.
At the end of the day I just want everyone to be healthy and happy and appreciated and valued and recognized for their contribution to society, no matter how big or small that contribution may be.
Keep calm. Be prudent, not panicked. Be kind.
And wash your hands.
Da Schitt.
The four of us have been getting together on a regular basis to watch this last season of “Schitt’s Creek”. I discovered the series back when I had my last surgery to fix my plumbing a few years ago. Earl and I have been faithful followers since then and have always been excited to see new episodes on Pop!TV. Jamie and Chris recently binged the entire series to get to the latest episodes.
“Schitt’s Creek” is in its final season and the countdown of the last episodes has begun. I remarked to Earl last night that I’m actually going to be quite bummed when the series comes to an end in a few weeks. There is a certain simplicity in the complexities of the characters and the show. I mentioned that seeing these characters completely embrace who they are without hesitation, especially Dan Levy’s David, made me feel more comfortable about who I am.
It’s better when we just be.
The last three episodes of the series (thus far) felt rather touching in their quirky own way. There was even a flashback to an earlier episode.
I’m going to miss this show when it ends its run. It’s probably been my favorite show of the past year or two. I’ll be positively disconsolate when there’s no more adventure to be enjoyed.
Tired.
2020 is exhausting. I’m very tired. And I really don’t need to see another picture of a coronavirus or whatever it is. Gross.
