Guy and I recently finished our 14-day quarantine. But with the end of the coronavirus outbreak not yet in sight and in-fact the worst of this pandemic still to come, we are going to just keep counting.
We remain isolated, healthy and well-fed and continue to hope for the same for you and your loved ones.
Day 14 of our quarantine did come with some relief! We had both been worried about having been exposed to the virus and so it’s comforting to know that (at least up until now) we have not been.
And when we made it to day-14, Guy won a prize!
Her sons!
Michael and Chris both have their own apartments in New York City. As news of the City’s battle with coronavirus got worse, so did the crying! So, with gloves, masks and a full-bottle of hand sanitizer, Guy and I violated the stay-at-home order went on a covert mission:
Operation Butternut!
“Butternut” is Guy’s youngest son, Chris. Since his company went to “WFH” (work from home for us older folks) over three-weeks ago, he had been alone in his apartment; making it safe for him to join us.
And that’s exactly what Guy wanted him to do.
Butternut is a geek, one of the two Guy spawned. His company is as busy now as they always are and so he showed up with screens, laptops and wires and set himself up in Buck Wheat’s room. She’s still in Columbus for the time being so we have plenty of space. We’ll move him into my office when THE Buck stops here!
Between his full-time work schedule and his nearly full-time gaming schedule, the picture below is about the only view we get of Butternut.
Except at meal time of course!
Later in the week, we made a second trip into New York City to load up the refrigerator and freezer of Guy’s oldest son, Michael. Guy saw a picture of Michael's current fridge status and I had two choices. I could drive her into the city to deliver a trunk-load of food OR I could drive her into the city with a trunk-load of food with overflow into the back seat!
The 40 mile drive from Stamford to Michael's Chelsea apartment is usually so long we take the train! On Friday at 3 PM it was 45 minutes! I would have preferred the traffic.
Seeing New York like this was heartbreaking.
New York’s greatness has nothing to do with the big buildings or the flashing lights. It’s the people that make New York so special. Now, all those people are hidden away. Alone in their apartments sitting (laying, cowering) and waiting for the peak of the coronavirus’ fury to hit New York with its murderous rage; sometime in the next few weeks.
The sight of the streets without the accompanying sounds, makes New York is a sad place.
And quiet!
The type of quiet that confuses you! Your brain sees the streets of New York and expects the sounds with it!
It’s eerie.
The next two-weeks in New York are expected to be the two-weeks we all speak about for the rest of our lives. Over 1,400 New Yorkers have already died during this pandemic; but that’s just the deposit! As many as 20,000 New Yorkers are expected to die from the coronavirus. Most will die in the coming few weeks.
Most of the independent paint retailers I know in NYC are closed and have been for over a week. While legally allowed to operate during the outbreak due to their status as an essential service most are closed. Despite their legal status, to operate a paint store you still need people willing to work and a safe working environment before you can sell any paint.
Due to the high cost of rent in this area, most paint stores in New York City are sized to the rent rather than the sales volume. That makes every NYC paint store undersized to the need and so social distancing is just not a possibility.
Anyway, watching your neighbors carried out in body-bags can kill your paint-buying mojo! In New York right now if you’re not selling food, pharmaceuticals or other genuinely essential items….you’re not selling anything! And so it’s safer to be closed.
Dealers in New York are learning things about their businesses which until recently they never even knew they needed to know. For example, one of the topics that I’m hearing dealers ask about is how to prepare their tint machines for being closed of indeterminate amount of time. Soon, the need for this type of information will come to your town or city.
Podcasting.
I have been laying low on the podcasting scene recently due to other obligations, but it’s time to get back to work! In the coming weeks, you can expect to hear more podcasts from me on topics relevant to our new way of life. Later this week, I plan on starting with an episode on the tint machine topic from above since it’s likely to affect all dealers in the coming weeks and months.
Reopening your stores after a few weeks closed, only to find out that you need $5K worth of new pumps would be no fun!
Not that ANY of this is fun!
