Category: News

COVID-19: Part the Seventh

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In a non-COVID world we’d be in Spain right now. Probably Barcelona, or Valencia. Or maybe San Sebastian. Enjoying the weather (it was 21 degrees in Barcelona today). Drinking Albarino and Jerez. Eating pintxos. Maybe watching some flamenco. Then on to Madrid. Instead I opened a 2001 Rioja.

Still, could be much worse. We remain: home, healthy, gainfully employed (and/or schooled, as the case may be), and well-stocked.

We closed off another busy week with some ill-advised delivery from an Italian place, a nice little walk for me concluding in a pickup at Boxcar Social (which has become a bottle shop for the time being), some online hangout time with our friend Sarah, and a chat with my parents today.

I finished The Plot Against America (imdb | rotten tomatoes) this week. Bit of a twist vs. the book, but not a bad one. Well-handled by Simon and Burns, I thought.

Cover photo from the CBC

Portapique

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I’m still having trouble getting my head around what happened in my home province on Sunday.

Death toll from Nova Scotia gunman’s rampage climbs to 19

That it happened at all in Nova Scotia is hard to believe. That it happened in a place which occupies a hazily-familiar spot in my childhood memories, and where some members of my extended family currently live, is surreal.

We used to have family reunions at my aunt and uncle’s place in Great Village, the next community down the road. We’ve driven that way countless times, as it used to be the primary way to get to Halifax. It’s a name as built into my kid brain as how my dad used to gleefully mispronounce it every time we drove through, as dads do.

My family all seem to be okay, but I imagine they — like the rest of the province — are in shock. Not that. Not there. Not now.

.:.

Cover photo from the CBC

COVID-19: Part the Sixth

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In a non-COVID world I’d be walking around New York City right now, part of a few extra days I planned to tack on to a work trip. Maybe having a pint at Blind Tiger or Ginger Man. Maybe going over to Brooklyn. Maybe hitting a museum. Maybe just walking around Manhattan.

As it is I’m still here in Toronto, but we’re still healthy, still well-fed, still stocked with wine and gin and whisk(e)y, and still working through a backlog of shows and movies and books. We’ve started watching Community — I’d see it in bits and pieces over the years, but never straight through.

I’ve also ordered Pandemic: Legacy, because I am a sick puppy.

COVID-19: Part the Fifth

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The sameness of these days make it difficult to distinguish this week’s post from last week’s. Once again, work was busy. Once again, we did very little else. Yesterday being a holiday I managed to do absolutely no work, and did little else other than finish season 2 of Dirty Money, take a 1-hour walk, and make two meals.

If the world were still normal, at this point I’d be getting ready to head to New York for the latter part of next week. Alas.

COVID-19: part the fourth

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

This was a busy week work-wise. A lot of meetings. A lot of late-night work. Lots of stuff to do, but not much ability to focus. A bunch of people posted something this week that said, “You’re not working from home. You’re at home, during a crisis, trying to work.” This week felt like that.

This was not a busy week in any other way. We went outside only a few times for short walks. I had a Google Hangout with my brothers back in Nova Scotia, which was nice. We made lots of meals (Well, Lindsay did; I tend to be on cleanup duty) and finished Bojack Horseman (imdb | rotten tomatoes) and Tiger King (imdb | rotten tomatoes).

Still healthy. Still saying sane. But I needed this weekend.

COVID-19: Part the third

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

This was my first full week working from home. Except for some short walks around the building, and one quick trip to Blackbird for some bread, I haven’t been out at all. Until this afternoon, when I took an hour walk outside, stopping along the way at Reid’s Distillery for some gin and hand sanitizer.

I did start the week feeling sick, but just with cold-not-covid symptoms. And it’s pretty typical for my body to have a quick little sick right after I push myself hard for a few weeks, just as I start to relax. And I did, so it did. But by Tuesday morning I felt fine and have since.

I’m an introvert by nature so staying inside and not talking to people in person is fine with me. So far.

I’ve been replenishing the wine & gin supply with online orders from local wineries and distilleries, and so far have had more than enough groceries and delivery options. So: still feeling awfully lucky.

COVID-19: Part the Second

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Wednesday was my last day at work. It was a pretty crazy sprint, but now I (like most of my company, and most of the people who can) am working from home. Wondering how to move to 100% e-commerce. Trying to figure out how to share an open loft with someone who has very different approaches to work. Thinking longingly of cancelled trips to Spain, London, New York, and Montreal. And eminently grateful that those are the least of my concerns, personally.

I’m exceptionally thankful for so much, of course. My employer is continuing to pay everyone, and I’m able to work effectively from home. I have no physical challenges with looking after myself/us, and am not especially concerned about my immune system. My family is safe, after a bit of an international adventure. I worry about my parents, especially with my mom having so recently endured cancer treatment, but being isolated on a remote farm might now come in handy. My cat seems to be thriving with both his parents around. My wine collection is coming in handy, and I’ve been ordering from local wineries to restock it. (And pre-paying a tab at Chez Nous for when this whole thing breaks.)

And so: the long haul.

COVID-19: Part the First

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So yeah. I haven’t written that much about COVID-19…goodness knows there’s enough news & discourse about it already. We are, for now, fine. Or feel fine, anyway. Lindsay’s classes have been moved online. Work has been a series of sprints for me over the past week or so; most people are working from home now, and I reckon I’ll follow once I can. I was actually meant to be in the UK right now for a conference, but all my spring travel plans (which had been centered around work events) are cancelled.

Lots of panic-buying here in Toronto, certainly, which is disheartening and scary for people not physically or financially able to hoard shit. I don’t know why people think a country as heavily-forested as Canada is about to run out of toilet paper, but there were fights breaking out over it in a nearby Loblaws Friday. So there’s that.

So we’ll hunker down, be thankful for our wine collection, and do our best to avoid cabin fever.

I guess this might curtail our Pandemic playing though. 😐