COVID is getting worse

[ajax18]

It makes me wonder how things are going to turn out for Australia and New Zealand. They've kept Covid out of their country and are paying a heavy economic price for it. Will they ever join the rest of the world and open up for business again? What's going to happen then?

The thought that we're going to keep shutting down this country and even large portions of the world every flu season for decades is about as depressing as it gets for me. I need to start finding a way to make money that is shutdown resistant. I'm not sure if that's possible. I didn't do so well this last shutdown.

[Jersey Girl]

There is now a COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool. An interactive map shows breaks down by county and size of gathering, and shows what the chances are of someone infected with Covid-19 being present at the event. There is a slider bar at the bottom where you select the number of people at the gathering.

I think I saw that. I dropped the hammer on Thanksgiving over here. The whole family is separating.

[canpakes]

The thought that we're going to keep shutting down this country and even large portions of the world every flu season for decades is about as depressing as it gets for me. I need to start finding a way to make money that is shutdown resistant. I'm not sure if that's possible. I didn't do so well this last shutdown.

Sell coffins.

[Res Ipsa]

It makes me wonder how things are going to turn out for Australia and New Zealand. They've kept Covid out of their country and are paying a heavy economic price for it. Will they ever join the rest of the world and open up for business again? What's going to happen then?

The thought that we're going to keep shutting down this country and even large portions of the world every flu season for decades is about as depressing as it gets for me. I need to start finding a way to make money that is shutdown resistant. I'm not sure if that's possible. I didn't do so well this last shutdown.

Read this for some tools to reduce your anxiety: https://www.headspace.com/articles/how-to-stop-worrying The website has lots of free stuff, so no need to pay unless you really get into it.

Take all that energy that you are now spending catastrophizing, and focus it on your immediate problem: what will I do if my business is shut down in the near future. Make a plan. Cut expenses now so you have a cushion. Start investigating temporary jobs now. My solo practice was sputtering before the pandemic, and it was clear the pandemic would finish it off. I applied for a census job to make sure i'd be able to keep my family fed. I took every payment deferral my bank offered: mortgage, business credit card, etc. As things were closing down, I went out and took a job with a downtown firm where I am underpaid for my experience level, but we're back to where we're not worried about affording food or paying the mortgage. I'm making it month to month, paying down debt, and feeling pretty damn optimistic that, come what may, my family and I will be okay.

My 85 year old father in Phoenix ended up with an unexpected tax bill this spring. He did Door Dash -- 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week for the summer. He had a problem that he needed to fix, and he figure out what he needed to do to fix it.

So, learn how how let go of your anxiety about Australia and New Zealand and about next winter. Does "didn't do so good" during the last shutdown" mean you are at risk of losing your house or apartment or not being able to feed your family if there is another in the next few weeks? If it does, then you have a problem to solve. If you have to do Door Dash or Uber or any of the crappy gig jobs out there for a few weeks to make it -- do it.

In the meantime, if you can't teach yourself how to let go of anxiety about things over which you have zero control, think about at least talking with a therapist. Tele-health kind of sucks for therapy, but it can help you keep anxiety from becoming crippling.

Oh, and maybe try watching this every day until it sinks in: https://www.headspace.com/blog/2014/09/ ... animation/

[Res Ipsa]

I’m not non-partisan, but I expect more from Democratic Congressional leadership. Republicans are doing the same thing, but I’ve come to expect that.

Good news: The bathroom is pristine.

Bad news: There are front line medical personnel working in Covid floors who have to isolate themselves from their own families. Some of them are living in campers in their own yards because they can't go inside the house. There are other asymptomatic front line medical personnel who are working on Covid floors who have tested positive for Covid themselves and have got permission to work.

What's 80 year old Nancy doing? She's getting her hair done, putting on her party dress and hosting a [vulgarity] dinner party.

I hate to be mean. I don't wish harm to anyone. But I tell you this as sure as I'm sitting here if she or anyone in attendance contracts Covid they deserve whatever vent they get put on.

Talk about tone deaf, dumb, and blind. Do as I say not as I do. Let them eat cake. I despise hypocrisy in all forms.

Good sense prevailed. The dinner was changed to grab and go -- no group dining.

[Jersey Girl]

Good sense prevailed. The dinner was changed to grab and go -- no group dining.

Probably because she caught so much well deserved flack for it. How nice they get grab and go fine dining while a significant number of American's are food insecure and waiting for a stimulus check. Happy holidays America!

Again, tone deaf.

I find myself more and more, looking away from news reports like that since the election was called. I might read a couple of sentences about DJT then tune out entirely. I've had quite enough of it all.

[ajax18]

If you have to do Door Dash or Uber or any of the crappy gig jobs out there for a few weeks to make it -- do it.

I filled out online applications for all kinds of crappy jobs. I'd get an email saying to come in for an interview. I'd click on it and then it would cycle me back to enter in the same application. That's what 45% unemployment is like. No I didn't lose my house. Yet it amazes me that the American people essentially voted to shut the country down again by electing Biden/Harris. I guess if you're deemed an essential worker, or able to work from home or working for pay under the table anyway a shutdown order doesn't matter to much.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Utah has about 3.5% unemployment. Quit whining and move yourself to where the work is at, otherwise you’re just being lazy. That’s the Conservative way.

- Doc

[Jersey Girl]

If you have to do Door Dash or Uber or any of the crappy gig jobs out there for a few weeks to make it -- do it.

I filled out online applications for all kinds of crappy jobs. I'd get an email saying to come in for an interview. I'd click on it and then it would cycle me back to enter in the same application. That's what 45% unemployment is like. No I didn't lose my house. Yet it amazes me that the American people essentially voted to shut the country down again by electing Biden/Harris. I guess if you're deemed an essential worker, or able to work from home or working for pay under the table anyway a shutdown order doesn't matter to much.

So what you're saying is that you filled out online applications (multiple/plural) for all kinds of crappy jobs then you'd get an email to come for a interview, and the system would cycle you back to the same application.

For every single position you applied for? The email to come for an interview had no contact numbers?

You're joking.

Don't tell me there were no contact numbers/addresses in those return emails. I can't and won't believe that you didn't know the places you applied for, where they were located, and their contact information.

[Res Ipsa]

If you have to do Door Dash or Uber or any of the crappy gig jobs out there for a few weeks to make it -- do it.

I filled out online applications for all kinds of crappy jobs. I'd get an email saying to come in for an interview. I'd click on it and then it would cycle me back to enter in the same application. That's what 45% unemployment is like. No I didn't lose my house. Yet it amazes me that the American people essentially voted to shut the country down again by electing Biden/Harris. I guess if you're deemed an essential worker, or able to work from home or working for pay under the table anyway a shutdown order doesn't matter to much.

I’d make sure you aren’t talking about operator error. The unemployment rate is 8.1% in your state. I just got recruited for the post office, which is looking to fill all kinds of positions. You’re throwing obstacles in your own path.

If you aren’t in danger of losing your house or not being able to feed your family, then why are you so insistent on clinging to misery.

Maybe you won’t listen to me, but how about this guy:

25 (DZ)“Therefore I tell you, (EA)do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 (EB)Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. (EC)Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his (ED)span of life?[p] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, (EE)even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, (EF)O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For (EG)the Gentiles seek after all these things, and (EH)your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But (EI)seek first (EJ)the kingdom of God and his righteousness, (EK)and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6: 25-33 ESV

I’m not going as far as that guy. I’m just saying, if a shut down isn’t a threat to your family’s need for food and shelter, why are you putting so much energy into being miserable. Is there someone in your ward who needs help? How about your neighborhood? Food bank? Find some outlet for all that energy you are now spending to worry about what you cannot control and to cling to misery.

You can do that, and there are tons of folks who will help you if you don’t know how to start.