Jack's Diary
- Thread starter jackbenimble
- Start date
Petal001
New member
Hi Jack some places are more proactive than others . It took a week for my work to even mention it . For now as I have my own office and I don't interact with clients I am allowed to turn up and isolate in my office. Visitors won't be welcome .
Your mum might be very independent but she needs to be careful. I can see why you are concerned not just from the point she may become ill . My mother in law is also doing her own shopping because she can but my sister in law has implored her on all the precautions to take. Tbh she is vulnerable as has health issues and the reality is if she becomes ill it becomes a problem as well as everything else so she needs to not be so stubborn. I at the moment cannot drop everything to care for her as I have daughter doing major exams and work and her own daughter has babies and lives the other side of the country.
Hope things get sorted workwise for you Jack
Your mum might be very independent but she needs to be careful. I can see why you are concerned not just from the point she may become ill . My mother in law is also doing her own shopping because she can but my sister in law has implored her on all the precautions to take. Tbh she is vulnerable as has health issues and the reality is if she becomes ill it becomes a problem as well as everything else so she needs to not be so stubborn. I at the moment cannot drop everything to care for her as I have daughter doing major exams and work and her own daughter has babies and lives the other side of the country.
Hope things get sorted workwise for you Jack
jackbenimble
New member
I admire your Mum's sassiness. It's her choice, Jack. She didn't get to 92 by taking crazy risks & maybe she thinks that she has had a good long life & what will be, will be. I think I like your Mum
Lol, Cate, you're right. Actually, she is such a sweetheart that you wouldn't expect her to necessarily be so brimstone and fire on anything. But I guess when you get to that point in life, you have a kind of devil-may-care, living-on-borrowed time attitude anyway.
jackbenimble
New member
Yeah, I see the problem, Petal. I guess shopping is a big deal for older people. They can get out, do something useful, be out and about. Shopping might not be so bad, hopefully. It's really contact with an infected person.
Rudy Golbert of the NBA seems to be the typhoid Mary of covid-19 right now. It turns out a third player (from another team) and two kids who got autographs may have got infected by him as well.
jackbenimble
New member
Did a little work this morning getting ready for tomorrow's storm. The problem with being a help-desk (which is effectively what I am at this point, despite being titled as an application engineer) is that that as soon as you whack one mole, another crops up. And some people are just complainers. I'm starting to know who they are at this point.
I had to get back into programming a little bit for one of them, and it felt like coming home. I kind of got myself into this situation by going for the help-desk job when they terminated my programming contract last year. It was probably the right move. I got income for the rest of the year and a nice-paying part-time job for potentially the entire year this year, depending.
I wish they had pulled me into the programming group, but they have cheap offshore help. I suppose if I had been impressive enough, they would have pulled me in, but it wasn't a contract-to-hire and they made that clear at the beginning. Plus, I'm not super-fond of the guy in charge of the group - he's a little crazy.
I'm thinking about finishing this online course on unit-testing, and doing some kind of program in my spare time where I incorporate that. It's not great that I don't have that on my resume. It's a thing most developers are doing now, but I managed to avoid. It's not that big of a deal. I just need to finish that course, and then do my program.
Wait, wasn't I supposed to be retiring?
I had to get back into programming a little bit for one of them, and it felt like coming home. I kind of got myself into this situation by going for the help-desk job when they terminated my programming contract last year. It was probably the right move. I got income for the rest of the year and a nice-paying part-time job for potentially the entire year this year, depending.
I wish they had pulled me into the programming group, but they have cheap offshore help. I suppose if I had been impressive enough, they would have pulled me in, but it wasn't a contract-to-hire and they made that clear at the beginning. Plus, I'm not super-fond of the guy in charge of the group - he's a little crazy.
I'm thinking about finishing this online course on unit-testing, and doing some kind of program in my spare time where I incorporate that. It's not great that I don't have that on my resume. It's a thing most developers are doing now, but I managed to avoid. It's not that big of a deal. I just need to finish that course, and then do my program.
Wait, wasn't I supposed to be retiring?
jackbenimble
New member
Wow, it's already 11. Well, I took a sleeping pill last night, as I went to be too early. I haven't been doing that much recently.
I'm trying to figure out if I should postpone my doctor's appt this week. I want to get a referral to an orthopedist to take another look at my knee, but that can wait. She does need to see me to refill my sleeping-pill prescription, but maybe either do it over the phone or just wait.
My wife wants me to come to a dinner with her musical friends on April 5, but I told her no and was surprised she wanted to go. But it's an important networking thing for her, actually. They let her sing a solo every year at their concert. It's good for them because they don't really have other singers, and good for my wife because getting solos is tough. She has videos of them and she can send them out as recent examples of her work.
It's probably 12 to 15 people, and aren't we supposed to be minimizing social contact? Heck, I'm even skipping a party at my mom's house today. Maybe I am overreacting? I'm surprised my wife's friends are going ahead with the party. It seems kinda rude, doesn't it?
I'm trying to figure out if I should postpone my doctor's appt this week. I want to get a referral to an orthopedist to take another look at my knee, but that can wait. She does need to see me to refill my sleeping-pill prescription, but maybe either do it over the phone or just wait.
My wife wants me to come to a dinner with her musical friends on April 5, but I told her no and was surprised she wanted to go. But it's an important networking thing for her, actually. They let her sing a solo every year at their concert. It's good for them because they don't really have other singers, and good for my wife because getting solos is tough. She has videos of them and she can send them out as recent examples of her work.
It's probably 12 to 15 people, and aren't we supposed to be minimizing social contact? Heck, I'm even skipping a party at my mom's house today. Maybe I am overreacting? I'm surprised my wife's friends are going ahead with the party. It seems kinda rude, doesn't it?
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jackbenimble
New member
No word from work on not coming in. Hard to believe when the CDC guy is saying the country should shut down. I figure I'm ok, since I'm still barely in the at-risk group at 62, and my doctor says I'm "so darn healthy" - I think she means no health issues. But do we want a repeat of Italy? We know that the virus is going to infect roughly 20 to 60% of the population according to computer models. That means the number of really sick/dying people is going to far exceed our hospitals' capacity to handle them. The lower we can keep that percentage, the better it is. That seems patently obvious, but I guess the powers that be seem to have other ideas.
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jackbenimble
New member
I was at 165 again today. Nice. I've started doing pushups again, say 50 a day, and the knee-to-elbow abdomen crunches. I was surprised how quickly my arms started to get bigger, plus there is a nice little contour under my pecs now. I think that 3 pounds makes a real difference. I like how my t-shit hangs straight down from my chest without getting interfered with by the belly-bump (just barely, but still).
But I don't have much of anything going on in the way of a six-pack yet. Maybe the upper half of a one-pack, but that's not much to brag about. I'll need to lose a couple more pounds for that. I dunno if I can really do it.
But I don't have much of anything going on in the way of a six-pack yet. Maybe the upper half of a one-pack, but that's not much to brag about. I'll need to lose a couple more pounds for that. I dunno if I can really do it.
Cate
Long term member
That made me laugh as I had been thinking the same thing!
Well done on getting down to 165 Jack
Time for citizen-led action. And actually, with something like this, no matter what a government says, unless the people are behind the restrictions/precautions, they won't work anyway.
alligatorob
Respected Member
Good for you Jack, that is impressive, the weight and the exercises. I have just started to try and do some pushups, I think it will be a long while before I could get to 50 a day.
jackbenimble
New member
That made me laugh as I had been thinking the same thing!
Well done on getting down to 165 Jack
Cate, I'm very glad right now I didn't retire with the market down so hard. The part-time job is plenty to keep the cash rolling in. I hope it lasts until this thing turns around!
jackbenimble
New member
Aiminglow - well they finally acted with a vengeance on Monday and everyone's working from home now. That said, I've been at work every day except Monday because some of my work involves creating images for PCs, and you kind of need to have your hands on to test those. I did lug them home today (two plus my own PC that I had lent to P), so now it feels more like working from home for real.
jackbenimble
New member
Rob - you are doing fantastic. Don't worry about the pushups - do one or two or 5, whatever easy to do without straining. It's a great exercise, and they've always been easy for me. One of the few advantages to having short arms, I guess :/
I wish I was more motivated though, as I haven't done them for the last couple of days. Thanks for the motivational note, though. I will surely get my 50 in today.
Petal001
New member
Hard to be motivated with all going on Jack. I find weekends good for my walks harder during the week for now. Find life should be slower with this covid but I feel busier for now. Think that will change if we have lockdown. Full house here now so I suppose it's more active with chatting and cooking and washing etc etc .
Get a good routine going with your work and build your push ups into that routine. Stay safe
Get a good routine going with your work and build your push ups into that routine. Stay safe
jackbenimble
New member
About getting busy, Petal - my wife thought she would have time to catch up on books and so forth but she's as busy as ever. It seems like she's got more work than ever from her gigs - three of them are teaching related in one way or another, so she's got planning to do etc. etc.
jackbenimble
New member
Well, I was in work 4 out of the 5 days this week, but at least there are way fewer people than last week. I work with PC images, and you kind of need the physical PC for that. Also, connecting to the devices means you have to go into work. So I've been lugging the PCs back and forth to an extent. I think we have a good image for [mega-retailer], although it didn't look good at first and kind of blew up toward the end of the week. It looks like we may have a couple of options with that.
jackbenimble
New member
I went to the Dr. this week, to keep a long-standing appt - basically to renew my prescription. I was tempted to cancel, but I didn't want to miss the chance. It was pretty empty, but as usual I was waiting for over 1/2 hour. I don't know why, but that's how it works.
The gave me a mask to wear, it was the first time I've worn one of them. I don't know how people can stand them - I could barely breathe for all the CO2, it fogged my glasses and felt uncomfortable against my skin. I stuck it out until the Dr. came in without wearing a mask, so I said if she doesn't wear one, why should I and took mine off.
She spent the whole time talking about her experience getting out of Asia in February, how she rerouted through Japan instead of Hong Kong. She doesn't think the virus is going to be that bad, expects less than 80k cases. Who knows? She said she would renew my prescription and scooted. I keep forgetting you get 5 minutes with her, then she's gone.
Oh, well. One thing I didn't like was my blood pressure seemed a little high, 132/80. So I took my blood pressure on the home kit my wife uses, and the first reading came in at 140/something. Whaaaat? I have an underlying condition???
But then I took it a few more times, and they call came in at 12x or less, with the lowest being 110/67. My pulse rate was under 60 though all the readings, too, so I think I'm good.
Weight-wise, I've been holding the fort at 165 pretty well, although a was up to 167.5 at one point briefly this week. after a little bit of late-night eating.
This morning was good - I did my pushups, leg-crunches, stretches, even got some mediation in there. Also a trip to the beach.
The gave me a mask to wear, it was the first time I've worn one of them. I don't know how people can stand them - I could barely breathe for all the CO2, it fogged my glasses and felt uncomfortable against my skin. I stuck it out until the Dr. came in without wearing a mask, so I said if she doesn't wear one, why should I and took mine off.
She spent the whole time talking about her experience getting out of Asia in February, how she rerouted through Japan instead of Hong Kong. She doesn't think the virus is going to be that bad, expects less than 80k cases. Who knows? She said she would renew my prescription and scooted. I keep forgetting you get 5 minutes with her, then she's gone.
Oh, well. One thing I didn't like was my blood pressure seemed a little high, 132/80. So I took my blood pressure on the home kit my wife uses, and the first reading came in at 140/something. Whaaaat? I have an underlying condition???
But then I took it a few more times, and they call came in at 12x or less, with the lowest being 110/67. My pulse rate was under 60 though all the readings, too, so I think I'm good.
Weight-wise, I've been holding the fort at 165 pretty well, although a was up to 167.5 at one point briefly this week. after a little bit of late-night eating.
This morning was good - I did my pushups, leg-crunches, stretches, even got some mediation in there. Also a trip to the beach.
jackbenimble
New member
I played a few desultory chess games against the computer at level 5 (the middling level) on chess.com. I have beaten it several times at that level, but it seems to lock in and the end game and finds sneak moves to either checkmate or get a surprise draw when up material. I'm not really trying as hard as I could, because that takes focus and concentration and energy. I'd rather deploy my resources elsewhere, but I'm kind of hooked.
I've been trying to get the lyrics going on for No Woman No Cry. The strumming and chords are no problem, but once I try to drop the lyrics in, my timing get fouled up. But I love that song and am going to stick it out to the bitter end. Well, we'll see. It's kind of a brick wall right now.
I've been trying to get the lyrics going on for No Woman No Cry. The strumming and chords are no problem, but once I try to drop the lyrics in, my timing get fouled up. But I love that song and am going to stick it out to the bitter end. Well, we'll see. It's kind of a brick wall right now.