Coronavirus Part 2

As I wrote my initial coronavirus blog post nearly a month ago, I contemplated whether I should refer to it as the Coronavirus or COVID-19. Those seem to be the two official names that I see in use the most often, but I do wonder which will succeed as the legacy name of the virus that caused the world to stop in 2020. Maybe it doesn't matter, or maybe it's a sign that I've moved past the question of my last post about whether this will be a major or minor event in my lifetime.

As it stands today, it's definitely a major event, but whether it's a 6 month or 2 year event is still hard to say. It's not as bad as many predicted a month ago, but at the same time the death toll and economic toll has been substantial but not not to the point where cities are being wiped out of people and jobs.  At this point it seems that were on the other side of the initial hump, but there are quite a few more humps to go before this is over, and while this one was supposed to be the biggest one... who really knows?

On a personal front, it really hasn't been bad for us. So far we have no first degree connections that are infected. We've been following the stay-at-home order and limiting our contact outside the house. We've begun wearing masks on our trips outside the house, but the past 2 weeks have been overcast and rainy so we've mostly been inside. Besides a trip to the doctor for a 6 month check-up and a Costco run, we haven't really left much.

I've been working from home for the past 5 weeks. It's been really nice. I get to sleep in a bit more and eat lunch with the family. It's been nice to be able to help out and change a diaper or grab some fresh air in the backyard while I'm on a call. It's probably not a great thing for my health that I'm working at our breakfast nook with easy access to the pantry, but it's a good set-up.

We've been cooking more at home, and even making more food from scratch. We've been doing homemade pizza every Friday, and even made some homemade pasta. The other night we decided to do enchiladas but didn't have any enchilada sauce - so we looked up a recipe and it was super easy to make at home. We typically get takeout 1-2 times a week, and while most restaurants are still open for take-out, we've been trying to limit take-out to lower our risk. I've started thinking about what I want once we can go out to eat again. So far Chicken Wings, Sushi and BBQ are at the top of the cravings list. 

Our house and yard are about as clean as they've been since we've had kids. It's really nice getting to spend the weekends just hanging out and playing instead of being busy with projects and errands. So far we haven't been significantly negatively impacted by it. There are a few things we can't do that we would like to, but really we have all we need at our house and I'm not minding the isolation.

The Week Coronavirus Hit

There are decades where nothing happens, and then there are weeks where decades happen. 

-V.I. Lenin

At the beginning of 2020 I had a conversation with my wife about how I felt like we were overdue for a global/national calamity. I told her how it felt like we had been on a long run of peace and prosperity in the world and that I wondered if there would be some global economic downturn or world war in the 2020s. I didn't realize that the global calamity would happen sooner than I thought.

Despite it being in the news since early January, like most things Coronavirus happened gradually and then suddenly. I recall being in the Seoul airport in mid-January and reading about how the first cases in South Korea were thought to have passed through the airport just days before. Then we were in Hawaii in February and hearing about a Japanese tourist who spent a week in Waikiki before testing positive. Still more cases popped up in DC as I was there for a work trip in early March. Despite these little overlaps it seemed like something that very likely wouldn't impact my life.

As early March progressed into mid-March it started getting more and more attention -  from both the media and me. Then all of the sudden it exploded in a 24 hour period a week ago. It seems much has changed since then.

The day it all seemed to come to a head was Wednesday the 11th. Over the previous few days it became increasingly clear that the virus was spreading throughout the country, and spreading fast. That evening in the course of about 30 minutes the following happened: 1) The NBA postponed their season, 2) The president announced a travel ban on all personnel coming from Europe, 3) Tom Hanks announced he had tested positive. I think any of those things would have made it feel more real to me, but all three happening at once was a total shock.

The next day more universities cancelled classes, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament was cancelled and more and more companies announced they would be sending their employees home. That afternoon when I got home from work my wife went to Costco to stock up on some essentials. She reported that it was a madhouse and the biggest shortage was - oddly enough - Toilet Paper.

On Friday morning we got word that our daughter's school would be closing at the end of the day for three weeks. I prepared to begin teleworking starting the next week, and all of the sudden it seemed like every event was being cancelled.

During the weekend we made a few more runs to the store for more essentials (booze & spaghetti) and we planned for what we would do if we were stuck it our house for awhile. Our house guests for the following two weekends both cancelled their trips. Since then we've barely left the house besides for walks around the neighborhood. I've teleworked the past few days, and so far we've handled the isolation pretty well.

It feels a bit surreal. But we have no idea how long this might last, and while we've stocked up on food, the stores are still open and have plenty of food. Hell, we can still order a pizza for delivery. So it's not like things are dire by any means, but we're trying to be a cautious as we can. After all, I do have the ass-mar.

I wonder how this will play out and how this is remembered. If the social distancing works and it fizzles out quickly will people look back on the stockpiling and TP hoarding as a major overreaction like we do with the people who built fallout shelters before Y2K or will these be days that future generations ask us about as they study it in school. If it's the latter, it's why I blog.

10 Years of Birthday Posts

I first started tracking my birthday facebook posts in 2011 due to a fluke. I was two years out of college and had moved across the country. Many of my facebook friends were from college and I was no longer seeing them regularly and I was starting to realize how much smaller my social circle was as a young professional in semi-rural Washington state than it was in Ann Arbor. Then my birthday rolled around and almost no one wished me a happy birthday on facebook (except my family) which only confirmed my suspicion that I went from being someone with lots of friends to someone with no friends.

What I didn't know when I created the initial post about how I was a friendless loser, was that I had inadvertently hidden my birthday on Facebook. The following year I was in DC for my birthday, and although I had gone out for drinks with some people from work, I found myself alone that evening and decided to blog about my birthday, but I didn't even include a chart that year (but that was the year that I started tracking my first non-FB post stat - Mr. Ray). What I failed to mention is that my numbers rebounded back to my average from college. Year three is when things really solidified into place for the annual birthday post tradition.

Year 5 was a big year. It's the first year I started tracking some of numbers-behind-the-numbers (total facebook friends, fartface, and double Rachel Morgans). In year 6 I started adding non-facebook messages received to the chart going back to 2014. Year 7 was my thirtieth birthday, so I added my total number of facebook friends line to the chart. Year 8 was bittersweet getting the coveted Double Rachel Morgan, but for the first (and last) time since meeting her I didn't get called a fartface by my friend Beth. Last year was year 9, and I totally revamped my chart for optimal tracking.

It's been a wild ride. So now here we are in 2020, my 10th birthday post and 15 years worth of facebook happy birthday data:

For those who may not remember:

- My friend Beth normally wishes me happy birthday fartface so there is an icon for that. 
- My goal of getting both former Rachel Morgans to wish me a happy birthday fell one Rachel Morgan short. A full Rachel Morgan meter is a very rare feat. Perhaps in 2021.
-Ray Smith is a guy who facebook friended my after we had a 20 minute conversation in 2008. He then wished my a happy birthday pretty regularly until he suddenly ceased in 2017. Since he was the first thing I really tracked I feel obligated to put him on the chart. I tried to use his face for the icon, but he has deleted his facebook account, which likely means no more happy birthday messages from Ray. So without his picture I was forced to use that of Ray Smith the Welsh actor who played the tough-talking police chief, Detective Superintendent Gordon Spikings from the British television series Dempsey and Makepeace.

As for the analysis, I'll keep it brief. My numbers are up this year, and the 6 year decline has ceased. I'm back at 2018 numbers. It's still a long ways to go, but my group texts continue to be a growth area for me.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of self-absorption and pettiness. I guess I'll keep on doing this every year until either I die or facebook ceases to exist.

Blogging in 3 Decades!

Hello blog readers!

It's my first post of 2020, which means this blog is now a teenager, and also means I've now been blogging across three decades!

So what's there to talk about so far in the year 2020? Donald Trump was impeached but will likely not be removed from office. We came pretty close to going to war with Iran. There is a deadly virus called the Coronavirus starting to spread across the world. The massive wildfires devastating Australia have been put out. Basketball great Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter accident yesterday. Billie Eilish and Lizzo took home plenty of awards at the Grammy's last night. Overall, not a great start to the new decade (with the exception of Lizzo winning awards). I say we check-in on these stories in 2030. 

Of all of them, the one we might be talking about the most in a decade, as a major turning point for world history, could be the climate change that brought about the wildfires in Australia. I suspect that this decade could bring about worse and worse natural disasters as a result of climate change. People may look back at those wildfires more than anything else and see them as the inflection point where climate change was truly perceived as a harbinger for more ruinous natural disasters.

With climate change in mind, I've recently grown more cognizant of the amount of waste I've personally been responsible for generating or that has been generated on my behalf. I've started taking some small steps to reduce the environmental impact I've had on the world. The tricky part is know what decision is best. Everyone knows disposable diapers are terrible for the environment, but what's the environmental impact of manufacturing reusable diapers and then the energy, soap and water it takes to clean them?

Other times it's hard to know if the scale of impact is even relevant. How many times would I have to chose to walk someplace instead of drive for it to counteract the carbon footprint of flying to Guam last week?

It's hard to know what is best sometimes, but other times it's pretty easy. I'm trying to avoid single use plastics whenever possible, and I no longer buy novelty things that I know are just going to end up in the trash in a week. I'm not sure the impact these changes will have, but I'm starting with the 'low-hanging fruit' as they say at work. I'd be willing to take some more drastic lifestyle changes if that's what is needed, but I'd want to know they will have a positive impact before I do.

I'm betting I find out in the next decade.

Family Life

Avid readers may have noticed that I don't often write much about my family. I think that's because this blog predates them and the focus of the blog has mostly been my exploits and achievements. Blogging about being a husband and dad has never seemed to fit into the theme of the blog. Part of why I still maintain this dumb blog is because I do want to document periods of my life for future reference.

This fall my second child was born. It's been an adjustment for us, but not nearly as big as the adjustment of having the first child. The one thing that has really struck me is how much additional energy it takes to care for an infant and toddler.

Up until child #2 one parent was always free to do something, but with two young children it gets tricky. After watching both of them by myself for an evening, I was completely wiped out. Then waking up a few times in the middle of the night, and working all day, it's left me with very little time and energy to do much else. Despite the exhaustion there are always plenty of joys of parenthood, but there are times that I would seriously contemplate being able to hit the fast forward button on a few months. It always seems like things will be getting easier when the kids hit the next stage, but the truth is that while the nature of the challenges change, kids always take a lot of work.

I can see why it seems like all the parents I know are stopping at two kids. I seriously wonder how these large families that were so common a few generations ago did it. I imagine it got easier once the oldest were able to help with the little ones, but I couldn't imagine having 5 kids under the age of 10. 

For us I think these two are proving pretty manageable, but it is certainly leaving me with less time and energy for personal pursuits such as blogging.

The Pizza Post

I really like pizza. I figure I've eaten an entire football field worth of pizza in my life. That's a lot of pizza.

When I'm at home I eat pizza, when I travel I like to eat pizza. A couple weeks ago I was up in Seattle and drove an hour out of my way just for a slice from one of my all-time favorite pizza joints.

It's so hard to rank the best pizzas I've ever had. There have been so many, and like many things... context  matters. A $1 slice of backroom pizza is objectively not good pizza. But at 2 A.M. after stumbling out of The Brown Jug it seems like the tastiest pizza in the world. A slice of Giordano's deep dish after a long day walking around Chicago is hard to beat. Even eating a cold slice over the sink on the way out the door to work has it's time & place (specifically in the morning & over the sink).

I can objectively recall the worst pizza I've ever had. It was a ham pizza from a place called Habib's in Florianopolis, Brazil. The crust was floury cardboard, the sauce was the sauce from a can of spaghetti-o's, the ham was gross, and the cheese was a melted Munster-like cheese and Philadelphia cream cheese. It was atrocious. It was so bad, that I mentioned it in my post about going to Brazil. I was able to find a picture of it on their website.

I know this looks bad, but the actual pizza was much, much worse.

So instead of trying to figure out the best pizza I've had, I present the top 5 pizza places by amount I've consumed over the past 30 years.

1 - Cottage Inn Pizza - Ann Arbor, MI

When I was in school there was a Cottage Inn Pizza two blocks away. They had a $5.99 large carry-out special that would be $6.35 after taxes. I probably ordered 200 large pepperoni pizzas from Cottage Inn over the course of three years. Factor in the CIAYCELBs (Cottage-Inn-All-You-Can-Eat-Lunch-Buffet) that we would routinely frequent, and I've eaten a significant amount of Cottage Inn Pizza.

2 - Woodstock's Pizza - San Diego, CA

When we decided to buy a house in San Diego my now-wife got really excited that there was a Woodstock's Pizza nearby. I was unfamiliar with the pizza chain that exists in several university towns in California. My wife grew up eating at the one near UC Davis, and now we routinely frequent the one nearby our house that serves SDSU. Woodstock's makes a great pizza, but it's their specialty pies that really put them over the top. The only downside is that it's a bit pricy, but it's well worth it for the best pizza within city limits.

3 - Central Market Pizza - Poulsbo, WA

Central Market is a grocery store that I used to live by. They have a take-out pizza operation. Their pizza is the best pizza on this list. I long for Central Market Pizza. Their crust is downright perfect. If you're ever in Poulsbo, make a stop at central market for a slice of the Central Market Swiss and the Buffalo Chicken.

Zola is seen here enjoying a CIAYCELB with me in June 2013

4 - Costco Pizza - Nationwide

Not the best pizza, but everywhere I've been we've had Costco Pizza. There was a Costco a few miles from my high school and we used to go there often as seniors when we had open lunch. It's hard to beat the blend of quality, quantity and value from Costco Pizza. Even now, I'll sometimes head to the Costco down the street from my office to grab a slice for lunch.

5 - Hungry Howie's - Detroit Metro Area

My mom liked Hungry Howie's because they would do flavored crusts. This would actually get us as kids to eat our crusts and they were decent, albeit slightly greasy pizzas. I have fond memories of those yellow boxes of hot above-average pizza.

Honorable Mentions:

Little Caesars (The Hot & Ready was a game changer in my development as a man)

Pizza Hut (Haven't been to one in years but in my younger days I could take down their lunch buffet with ease)

Totino's Pepperoni Pizza (not a pizza place, but I've housed plenty in high school & college)

If you have a pizza place you think I should try then mail me one of their pizzas and I will eat it.

The Dvorak Post

I've been using the Dvorak keyboard layout since 2006 and to be honest I'm surprised I've never blogged about it except in passing. For many years I was a fervent pro-Dvorakian, although in recent times I've tempered my outward passion for more efficient keyboard layouts.

I first heard of the Dvorak layout the summer after my Freshman year of college. I was living in Ann Arbor and spring term classes had just wrapped up so I had plenty of free time to learn a new keyboard layout. I don't recall how I first heard about it, but when I realized the benefits of the Dvorak layout, and realized that I was probably going to use a keyboard the rest of my life I knew I had to learn it. 

The QWERTY layout is the standard keyboard layout for nearly all modern devices, and one that I spent many hours practicing on in my youth with the help of Mavis Beacon. It was patented in 1878 for use on the typewriter. One of the issues with early typewriters was that if you typed too fast the keys would jam. So the QWERTY layout was developed to minimize jams by limiting the speed at which one could type. I mean, just look at your keyboard. The most valuable real estate is under your right index finger, and it's occupied by 'J'. J!!!!. The letter that's worth 8 points in scrabble gets top billing on QWERTY. Not to mention the reserved spot on the home row for the semi-colon. Clearly such a high-usage punctuation deserves a better spot than the comma or period key right? 

By the 1910's typewriter technology had evolved to the point where jams were no longer a serious issue, but the layout had become the dominate keyboard layout. August Dvorak set out to use science to design a better layout. Through his research he found that people typed fastest alternating letters between the hands and that it was easier to reach up for a letter than down, and he spent a long time researching letter frequencies in text. Like 20 years later he came up with this:

The Dvorak Layout

The Dvorak Keyboard Layout solved the biggest issues with QWERTY by putting all the major vowels on the left home row, and the major consonants on the right home row with the remainder going above the right hand. Above the left hand was reserved for the apostrophe, comma and period. It just makes sense intuitively. 

Pros of using Dvorak
- Faster typing
- Less fatigue
- 70% of keystrokes are done on the home row, compared to just 32% on QWERTY
- Harder for people to steal your password. Alternatively you make make a really easy to type password in Dvorak that looks very complex in QWERTY
- In Windows you can switch between the two seamlessly.
- Adds to your mystique
- Confuses your enemies & Robert the IT guy at work

Cons of using Dvorak
- Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, are no longer next to each other.
- Sometimes you sit down and start typing in Dvorak but it's still in QWERTY. That's annoying.
- If you can't touch type it can be hard when trying to use a laptop or something else
- Gotta switch back when playing games that require WASD. Unless you have very nimble fingers.

It took me about two weeks to learn the basics of Dvorak and I had to print out a sample keyboard layout to refer to. Within a month I was equally as fast at Dvorak as I was at QWERTY. For many years afterwards I would use Dvorak at home and QWERTY at school/work. It wasn't hard to switch between the two, similarly to someone speaking one language at home and another at work. It wasn't until maybe 2013 that I decided to switch over to using exclusively Dvorak, although I can still type decently on QWERTY when I need to. Whenever asked about my favorite obscure keyboard layout I always recommend it, although I've never been asked.

If there is one reason to keep blogging it's to call people sheep. And you all are sheep for continuing to use an outdated, poorly designed system that continues to be used due to societal inertia and a resistance to mass change. So break free and convert to the metric system Dvorak keyboard layout. I'm a wolf behind this keyboard, typing away at an incredible rate.