The McNeills Stay Home 2020

Day 7: Fucking Shit News and Repeat News

The day started off well enough. Well, I think it was this morning that Duncan was up way too early - but then again I think that is every morning. This was like 6:30. They decided that they were going to go downstairs to play on the switch. This wasn't a bad thing since Isla had us up again last night. I ended up getting out of bed somewhere around 7:45 (shhhhhhh...)

After some initial work, I received some really shit news. A colleague of mine has it and is in critical condition. We taught together, were APs together at the same time and principals together as well. We spoke regularly - email, text and phone. And so I am having a bit of a hard time with this. So after that, I said fuck it, and went in the back and watched Rebels with Malcolm - who was very happy to do so.

We ate breakfast afterwards and then I jumped back in the saddle to try to do some more work. So, apparently, we are supposed to report any cases (I needed to report our teacher) to our reporting system, a DoE email and the DoH. I didn't get any clear response on exactly what I needed to do. So, I did what I thought I needed to do and when I called the DoH they told me I didn't have to because that would have already been done and that I was the second DoE person she spoke with. I informed her that this was the policy we were given and suggested that her people reach out to the DoE because why the fuck are any of us wasting each others time? In my email, I also complained to them that they were making repetitive work for us by notifying multiple sources and that they should have someone at central just be the liaison with the DoH. They are working on it.

After that I had had enough bullshit for one fucking day, so I took the boys in the yard to get some energy out. We played lacrosse and Duncs played with some trucks and went on his roller coaster. Malcolm's head broke and then Neil's flew off. Fucking really today?

There was more hammocking and Jess got Isla and Duncan to sleep while the rest of us had lunch. Then after lunch we went outside to play racquet ball on the street. That consisted of, at least early on of every just chasing the ball on to all the fucking neighbor's lawns. We should have called it lawn ball while getting out of the way of cars. It was the worst game since One-Legged Soccer.

Jess left us to go and bring some food to her friend who is not feeling great and whose husband has this shit. We she got back, I had already gotten Isla up and Duncs was still sleeping. I think when she got back, I headed to check on some work stuff and then she said to get ready because we were going to the beach.

Duncs is always ready for the beach,. Nothing says cool like sunglasses, tye-dye and no pants.

So - we headed to the beach. It was nice and sunny. A bit windy. Neil was mad and said we would only stay for like 15 minutes, And he was not wrong. Jess didn't last - so here are some shots...

There was soccer, kite flying, chase mommy and try to grab the kite - that's didn't go so well for mommy when her ankle rolled...

Your heroes in this story....

A few more...

The last time we were in Scotland, Neil had a little problem with the beaches that we were going to during the evenings on the west coast. He only had a problem once really. And you would think once was enough. You can read about that problem here. The pictures in the post are awesome and I think they include pictures of Glencoe and the Viaduct from Harry Potter.

If you look close enough - you can see that the score is now Ocean 2 - Neil nil.

He's not as wet as he was last time and he is definitely less naked than he was. And he has definitely NOT learned his lesson.

We came home and ate some meatloaf and the boys snuck back down afterwards to play more switch. We are not sure what Malcolm was doing, and we guess it doesn't mater because man does she love her Malcolm.

Kinda looked like a weird ritual with that thing on his head.

I think the evening ended as usual, getting them in and then off to bed time. Neil has been devouring books so I left him stay up a little longer to finish the one he was reading to me. Apparently someone got in on the story time with Gee and PawPaw...

So apparently, losing your sense of taste and smell is a symptom of this shit. I haven't really been able to taste or smell anything for a few days. Perhaps this is the start for me. I am not sure. I have a timeline for the person who was ill at our school but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Also doesn't mean I haven't had it prior. This whole not really knowing thing is a mess - not having symptoms, not being able to get tested to be sure. Isolation/no isolation. I feel like we are just sitting around waiting for something...and there is nothing that you are able to do about it. It's pretty fucked up.

Things that made me happy today (aside from my family): forsythia in my yard starting to bloom, the first rabbit spotting in the yard and the beach. It almost gave me a sense of normalcy.

But not really.

Day 6: Hammocks, Data, Exposure and Epstein Didn't Kill Himself

Everyone was up. Everyone - before seven. Fighting and arguing. We moved Malcolm into his bed because Neil was coughing. He was up first. He. and Duncan have a bed with a ladder and a slide. Not sure how he got down but regardless, I am sure he woke the others up.

A few minutes before seven, I could hear Neil yelling at Malcolm from the top of the steps that he woke him up (more on this later). Then, Duncan jumped down the stairs and woke Isla.

Neil has developed a horrible habit of correcting everyone. No matter what you say, he says the opposite. I won't say who he gets this from. Starting every sentence with "No..." is going to get you in trouble with me. Period.

When Jess came down we started to discuss how they woke up and what the issues were and I say, "Neil said Malcolm woke him up with the TV," and he immediately responds with, "No, he made the TV too loud and it woke me it was his fault." Let's say there was some really loud yelling and someone was sent to their room until further notice. This might have been exacerbated by the fact that we put up a recommended daily schedule for students on Google Docs and parents were shared in on it - with editing capabilities. One parent decided to edit our document and use it for their class. Rename the document and I would assume get it ready for her students. Now, I do not mind sharing but what the fuck? 1. You ask. 2. You don't edit our document - you download it or make a copy and share it on your shit. The lack of understanding how to use technology is astounding - even among professionals. I have been using it for years so I don't understand how other people don't know. It's 20fucking20.

After some breakfast and looking at people in baby wrap hammocks, I headed upstairs to check attendance, and get things ready for work for the day.

Despite the technology, we are sometimes slow to respond. So if you don't have your phone on you, you miss messages or at least get them a little late. For example, a staff member at the school tested positive. So what exactly does this mean? Honestly, it doesn't mean anything. At this point, you're going to be exposed. You have already been exposed, multiple times. You may have already had it. A lot of us had some ridiculous cough that lasted a month or more in January and February and people tested negative for the flu and diagnosed with a nasty upper respiratory thing. The truth is, you may have already had it. My sister-in-law, who sees things very differently than me shared something from the NYTimes on the spread. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out because until there was no ban on travel, this shit got out and was here in December. People who didn't know they had it (and some who did) got on planes and traveled. And they infected others. Period. There is no getting around it. It's here - but China is not as easy to cut off economically and politically as are say African nations where there are outbreaks of Ebola. No one wants the fucking Ebola.

China has way too much power and on so many different levels that it cannot be isolated. We have allowed them too much power to buy up our debt, and control the means of supply and production. Additionally, if you factor in their dictatorial regime's grip on their people and its influence on world economy, you have to look real seriously at the numbers that are being reported there. Based solely on the law of averages, they have to be false.

Assuming that this website is accurate...

That's the current situation. World wide. Here is the breakdown by country:

China - been dealing with this since Dec. 81,000 cases. Yet if you look at the NYTimes infographic, nearly 7 out of 11 million people traveled out of Wuhan for Chinese New Year. Law of averages - there is no way that that could be it - despite the Chinese government locking everyone down. When you look at all the numbers and start to weigh them projected, they will not equal that 15% death rate. The virus is spreading fast but not the number of deaths. I am sure that people die more quickly of complications than people recover over time. Additionally, you cannot assume that every person who is in critical will die. So that. number will drop further.

This is not to say that people shouldn't be responsible and not social distance and stay away from each other so that they can slow the spread - but regardless, if you haven't had it, you're going to get it.

Then there is the fear mongering. It's constant. The media, people on facebook - etc. I get the concern that hospitals could become overwhelmed and we should all do our part - in the end, that would take the world being able to stand still - debt to accrue or be wiped out (which I. do not agree with) but am ok with deferments...etc. Ensuring there is a supply chain, with adequate food and resources and people being able to get to said resources. If not, we are talking about anarchy. Then, they will declare martial law.

We have had so many rights curtailed recently that this almost feels like a social. experiment - let's see what they will put up with.

Right to assembly, diminished
Free speech on websites and other media is limited (and I am not talking about being able to use hate speech)
Freedom of the press - is a joke. The press is so biased one way or the other that there is virtually NO middle of the road reporting on anything
Right to due process - in NY I believe that they may be hearing cases without a jury )of your peers, is that possible? Need to do more research)
Don't even get me started on bail reform and
They want guns....

I have been feeling kind of crappy and part of me thinks that it is connected to this - which it could be. My only concern is that everyone else doesn't get it. It comes and goes and seems to be fine when I am engaged in something, so that is a good thing. I think I probably had it in February with a cough that lasted forever. I also don't usually get a fever so I have been in and around 99, which is nothing. Let's hope it is nothing.

At some point, they made an angel food cake:

I held my first cabinet meeting using Google Meet - and that went well. It was nice to see everyone and get back to a little bit of "normalcy," though not really normal at all. Last night I told Jess I might need to go for a drive just to get out and feel normal - I'd probably have to go sit in traffic somewhere.

I felt a bit crappy in the afternoon so I threw on Return of the King and snoozed for a bit in the bar. Jess is a saint. She then took them out for bike rides.

I followed up on some more work because we have to be flexible and then when they got back, we had soup for dinner. There was parmesan cheese which Duncan called pirateboat cheese.

During dinner we played, "Open the Magic Door," on Alexa - you should give it a try. I just wish she wasn;'t such an ice bitch and had some inflection in her voice. Duncs was making faces like he was one of the little rascals.

This one thinks she's pretty funny - her personality is really starting to come out - that or she realizes that she needs to do more to grab our attention

Bed time was remarkably uneventful, except that Duncan is still up (9:21) and had raided Neil and Malcolm's "room," left their light on and stole all of Malcolm's Pokeballs, Belt and Pokemon glove and put them on in his room. I just caught him as he dropped half of them in the hallway. I took them all and told him that if he goes to sleep now, I wont tell Malcolm.

The Poké-thief...