At home, I work on a single screen. At my office I use a dual screen and probably could expand to three screens. At home, I use Libre Office and Okular instead of Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat. Rather than the scanner in our office copy machine, I use the scanner in my home copy machine. One big issue that I solved was to sort out how to deal with the situation in which the printer has a glitch. For a while, my laptop computer would pause and I could not figure out how to reset it into action. But now I know where to find the proper resume in CUPS, the Linux-friendly printing software. I never appreciated the daily use of thumb drives so much as now. I also am thankful for Nextcloud and Firefox Send.
I still use a huge Envision monitor on my desktop computer, on which I create most of my music using Peppermint OS and a number of programs which work with the software WINE. I must have had the Envision monitor for more than 15 or 20 years.
I've gotten used to lunches which are either a deli chicken or turkey on wheat toast or a bun, or a can of a healthy something or other by Amy's Organics.
i always wondered what a bird-watching year would be like if, instead of visiting numerous parks in my area, I focused on a very few, and in particular on the two nearest our home. In effect, my wondering is rewarded by the current situation. I do a lot of visits to Glendover Park, Green Park, Story Park and Allen Station Park in my town of Allen. Each is chosen for the simplest reason--each has sections and walkable areas in which one can stay 10' away from anyone else. That's better for bird-watching anyway.
Last night my wife and I walked the Cottonwood Creek Trail about a mile from our home for 90 minutes. There were only a few others on the trail, mostly on bicycle. But we encountered our first set of determined scoffaws. A group of perhaps 6 young teenage girls, each perhaps about 13, walked together in close proximity to one another with a kind of determined gaggle-ing approach. I hope that they are spared, and that their conduct does not spread infection from 1 family to 3 or 6.
Our local county had consistently diminishing outbreaks of the virus. But this week a couple of days spiked up to 26 or then to 30. Our red-state-favoring county originally implemented a very non-robust form of lock-down (exempting most businesses, and hence not a lock-down much at all), The governor wisely put in a state-wide order to implement a mild but much more effective form of stay-at-home.
The first variances were announced last week--re-opening the state parks and allowing non-essential businesses to practice "stay-in-your-car" retail sales. But Monday we are to hear of a new opening-up. I hope that he resists the somewhat cavalier approach of our lieutenant governor, who has given talks to Fox News saying things that imply that old people should risk death for the good of the economy. My hope is that the governor instead uses baby steps properly calibrated to address the situation. But we'll see. As one might expect in Texas, most urban areas are harder hit than rural counties which experience less county-to-county travel. But some rural counties are very palpable exceptions--a few in the Texas Panhandle near the Oklahoma border are very hard-hit if we measure that on a per capita basis. So we need a sound approach focused on the science as well as the immediate dollars. I hope we get it. I am not confident in our county officials in Collin County.
I prefer doctors to politicians. I always have and always will.
Some things are going to come out of this that will result in things I will miss. I believe that handshakes should be abolished, though I like hand-shakes. I believe that hugs should be exchanged only with one's closest companions and family. I will not miss hugs with strangers or casual friends.
.
When the churches re-open, I hope that shared communion cups and hand-shake greetings fade away. I will not miss being crowded into flights like sardines, and I assume from my reading that new seating configurations will be developed.
We ate dinner we picked up from Papa Lopez last night--two orders of Tex-Mex chicken enchiladas with tomatillo sauce. It was great.
I walked in Story Park this morning, sighting my 71st species in Collin County this year, the Chimney Swift. Then I walked in Green Park, where I saw yet another Franklin's Gull.
Our neighbor Jeanette, who is very nice, asked me to ID a bird from an audio recording. "Carolina Wren", I texted back, after checking to make sure I was right.
from Dreamwidth, because two posts of the same text are twice as nice