Thursday, October 29, 2020

Some thoughts...

 We are all in this together.

I don't have anything to share with you that will be all that different from what you are doing, feeling, and coping with.

The good news is that all is still well.

Susan and I are fine, our kids are fine, our grandkids are fine.

My sisters are fine, and their families are fine.

Our friends are fine as well.

Susan and I are blessed with a very nice home, and I am blessed with the ability to work as much or as little as I want.

We can come and go as we please. The other day we were lucky to get high-dose flu shots. Imagine, feeling lucky and privileged to get an injection. I spent years and years of my life dreading needles and basically avoiding them at all costs.

By all accounts it doesn't get much better than this, now does it?

It seems though that a noose is slowly tightening, that the virus is very slowly closing in, step by step, stalking us ever so slowly. Case totals are rising.

I know this because I follow the news. I also know this because since the beginning of this craziness I have been tracking the disease for Canada, Ontario and British Columbia, daily in a spreadsheet.

I have graphs that paint an accurate daily picture of the spread of the disease. Graphs of my making. Graphs that I never see in the newspapers or on TV. I wonder why? it's not rocket science, after all. The data is readily available.

My spreadsheet and my graphs paint a very accurate picture. I knew when we hit the bottom of the first wave before I saw it in the news. I knew we were into a second wave when the folks on the TV were warning that a second wave might be coming. I knew that the first wave hadn't peaked when some people were announcing confidently that the peak had happened.

Having that data comforts me because it means I can see clearly, I can test what I am being told, I know who to trust, and who is untrustworthy. It's like being in a submarine with access to the periscope.

Right now, things are sobering and tense. When the ICUs fill up (not if), things will be considerably darker. It will get potentially much darker even than that. Alarm bells are ringing in Europe. We lag by several months.

I can't imagine how I will feel if the virus strikes one of us, how I will react, how I will cope.

In the meantime we are washing our hands, wearing our masks, keeping our distance. So far that's working for us and for our loved ones. There are no guarantees. That focuses my mind.

I try to find the humour in life. 

I have set some goals to achieve by next spring: so far so good. The real challenge other than staying well, is losing weight. We'll see how I make out with that one. So far I am exercising every weekday. That's a start.

I'm reading Atomic Habits by James Clear.  If that ends up helping me as much as I think it could, I just might be able to declare victory in the coming months.

Today I started cleaning stuff up.

I'm not a packrat, far from it. Susan and I are both disciplined and we don't accumulate things. I plan to cull my closet. It's time that the six or seven (eight?) suits I once rotated be trimmed to two, max. Same thing for anything that doesn't fit, or isn't comfortable. Shoes, shirts, underwear, sweaters... the lot, be gone.

The good news is that there's more than enough right here at home to keep us busy, and hopefully out of trouble.

The big prize waiting in the spring will be our Bromptons. Do you have any idea how many Brompton-related videos I have watched? It's shameful. I think that I know more about Bromptons than some folks who have actually owned one for years.

I am also working on a video about my new sit-stand desk. I have most of the clips edited and sequenced. Now to record the voice-over and mix the audio. It shouldn't take much longer. It's challenging and that's good.

This feels like it felt when I first started blogging. Kind of like being perched on a rock by the shore, looking out to sea. I hope this helps someone, if only by giving you a chance to peer into my mind, share my thoughts.

So long for now.

6 comments:

Massimo said...

Ahead of Brompton season, and assuming you and/or Susan have any interest in “spinning”, I would look into some “smart” spinning bikes if you’re looking for a way to stay healthy and sane in the coming months. Last April I bought myself a Schwinn IC4 and credit my sanity to it. I use it in tandem with the Peloton application. The Schwinn functions much the same way as a Peloton bike does, except that it costs a fraction of the price, and, unlike the Peloton, is compatible with various third party applications such as Rouvy and Zwift.

Due to high demand these bikes are hard to find at the moment. BestBuy stocks them periodically. If you’re on the market for one of these bikes, the Bowflex C6 is exactly the same as the Schwinn IC4. They are both manufactured by Nautilus, and beyond some branding stickers, are exactly identical.

Let me know if some spinning sessions are in your forecast, we could arrange for a virtual group class!

Canajun said...

It's a difficult time for all but, still, we are blessed to be in Canada where there is at least some degree of rationality among the majority of the population (and our politicians) when it comes to dealing with COVID. But COVID-fatigue is among us and I fear another major spike around Christmas. We'll see.

When it comes to any kind of tool, junk "I may be able to use someday", and books, I am an unabashed packrat. But, like you, I managed to get rid of several suits (I kept two - not sure why) and much of the trappings of a professional life. Now the same space is filled with golf shirts and Harley tee-shirts - not sure if that's an actual improvement or not.

Stay safe and may your days be filled with Brompton dreams.



David Masse said...

@ Massimo, If I had a Brompton, and a trainer stand for it, I would be saving my sanity pedalling with a VR headset on, likely somewhere in Japan. That's not going to happen a) because no Brompton, and b) because no room for that without crossing the Rubicon from clutter-free, to clutterville. We have a pretty spacious home, but no basement. I jokingly thought, in a moment of stupidity, that I could de-clutter the locker and pedal my way to fitness down there, but frankly that's a little too creepy.

David Masse said...

@David, thanks for those very kind words David, much appreciated.

SonjaM said...

Hi David, good to hear that you and your loved ones are still well, same here. The process of de-cluttering is something I do actually every spring (quite to Roland's regret), and with regards to our recent move I had been adamant at it pretty much since the the first lockdown. All closets are clean, nothing left to do. I plan on keeping mind and body as fit as I can at home (online courses, exercising). And I dare you in a weight loss challenge. I am working on losing 10 lbs over winter starting today ;-) Take care and say hi to Susan. Cheers Sonja

David Masse said...

@Sonja, Oooooohhh a dare!

I think you will succeed, and I may succeed but it will be a challenge close to the one when I managed to quit smoking for the last time. I can't tell you how many times I tried and failed.

I wish us much luck.

Glad to hear that all is well with you and Roland and your families.

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