My el cheapo DIY 20m dipole antenna made with scrap plexiglass and speaker wire has proven itself. During my first time using it I made contact with a guy in Japan, >6k miles. I’m going to order a few cheap parts to create a more weather proof version.
Home learning week 1: Both our kids seems to be doing fine. The teen’s work is graded daily but their have been no grades yet on our son’s work. Each has their own routine to keep themselves on track. They like sleeping in but I can tell they’re missing their school friends.
Home learning day #4: Our teen’s workload is quite light. She flies through her assignments in just a couple of hours. The 11 yo has about twice as much work.
The state confirmed home learning will count as school days so the threat of having school this summer is over. 👍🏼
Our daughter’s birthday fell earlier in our ‘shelter’ period. My wife is being pretty stict so we didn’t try to go get a birthday cake. I made brownies as a make-do solution and we stuck candles in it. We were lucky to have the makings as we don’t generally make desserts.
Sunrise and contrails showing hope is just down around the next corner.
📷 ☀️ ✈️
Taken while exercising early this morning. Quite a few people were out at the same time almost all distancing appropriately.
I’m a long term investor with a strategy based on portfolio asset allocation. This is a forward thinking approach focused on major changes rather than twitches in valuation.
Around the world, almost every asset class has taken a major hit this month which is of course stressful. But inflection points in markets are times of opportunity. So after spending time last week reducing our planned spending for this year I’ve switched gears. The past few days I’ve been thinking over my existing portfolio and the changes I should make to benefit from the eventual recovery.
But all that’s not the point of the post. In going through this process I’ve found thinking through something complex and in the future has really helped me cope with the stress of the pandemic. You may not be an investor but maybe you can find something similar that interests you and would be equally beneficial. The virus is our present but it is not our future.
Glimmers of positive news do exist UnitedHealth Group Study Clears Path for Self-Administered COVID-19 Test, Improving Testing Efficiency and Protecting Health Care Workers - Business Wire
Our dentist office called today. Three of us had appointments in April and they are all being canceled. The governor asked dentists to postpone all non-emergency work to free up masks & etc for the hospitals. I like the way he has handled things overall.👍🏼
COVID-19 puzzle #2 complete. Mainly by the wife and teen. It was a late night marathon session.
Our 11 yo has an iMac or MacBook Pro for home learning. But he uses his basic iPad with a Logitech keyboard instead. There is some productivity hit due to poor touch screen handling by the Google apps. On the plus side it’s easy to take photos of his work to send to the teachers.
The first blue sky day in nearly 2 weeks. The temperature was great as well so I spent some time working on the back porch. 📷 🌳
If you are interested in 3D printing the protective masks there is more design info in this YouTube video.
This is cool: A small company I purchase from has begun producing the clear plastic face shields using their 3D printers. They’re in NYC where they are seriously needed. The design is public domain, if you can help produce more YouTube video. 🚑
Wrapping day 1 of home learning: The systems settled down and the teen got through a good chunk of her week’s work. Our son enjoyed this kind of “home schooling” and I liked seeing videos his teacher’s recorded for the material. Never got to see them in action before. A good day!
Day 1 of “home learning”: Getting started for the teenager has been bumpy because of systems issues and the fact she was given an unstructured list of “get it done this week” work. Our 11 yo has had only minor tech issues and his work is structured for day-by-day. 🏫
It has rained 11 days in a row here which is highly unusual. I believe it has set a record for March. This kind of weather isn’t doing anything to help moods. 🌧 But the forecast calls for warmer weather and sunshine for most of the week. ☀️
Our local food pantry had to stop using volunteers and is doing it’s best to serve those in need with a handful of employees. Even if they were still accepting volunteers I don’t think it would have been wise for me to go. So now is the perfect time to help them financially.
I called my brother today. I always love talking with him but it felt especially great today. I was glad to hear they are doing fine and not stressed out. I think we will talk more often than usual until the situation starts to recover. ❤️
It is done. It was challenging but fun.
We searched the house and found several others we’ve never done. So puzzle #2 starts soon.
Our daughter’s 16th birthday falls into this crisis. We’re going to do our best but with social distancing it is going to be a total meh.
I have never seen so much bike riding taking place in our neighborhood. Apparently this is the ‘stir crazy’ activity of choice.
I picked up our son’s ‘home learning’ material from school first thing this morning. He carries a lot of his material in his backpack every day so he mainly needed the printed math books. I am a bit worried about keeping him supplied with books. He’s an avid & fast reader 📚
I’m feeling very very slightly hopeful in our corner of the world. Our county of over 1M people has only 2 hospitalizations vs 4 who have already recovered. Still early days of course 🦠
My wife had CNN on the TV for a bit this afternoon while I was in the den talking to her. I would blow my brains out if I had to watch CNN. Probably true of the other news channels as well. Such an unhealthy media. 🧠
The kids start ‘home learning’ on Monday and we’ve now agreed on a family-wide morning wake up time. We felt the need to set up a routine and ensure school comes first. The school gave our 11 yo 2.5 hours of work a day, plus specials. Still waiting for details on the teen. 👍🏼