Long, Weird Trip
It's been a strange week for me, which began Tuesday of last week and runs at least through this morning. I say at least because it might get even stranger since our governor here in Oregon has just issued yet another executive order clamping down on more things she hadn't specifically clamped down on (but were basically limited in scope already) thanks to the coronavirus outbreak.
In the meantime, I've been told officially that I am laid off from work. I was told the possibility of it last week, after a previous governor's executive order basically mandated that all bars and restaurants stop providing dining in services (dining out still allowed, even now), and all other places were to limit the amount of people in them at any given time to 25 or less.
Aside from the aforementioned restaurants and bars, essential services (which I assume to be health services, police and fire and maybe a few others), offices will be allowed to remain open, but most employees are supposed to work from home starting today.
That's basically it.
Everything else is more or less being shut down.
My job can't be done remotely, thus the layoff. Kind of hard to fill or fix a machine long distance.
For the time being, no more trying to figure out how to fix things like this. I might actually miss it.
We're Okay
Fortunately (which is kind of odd for me to say) my wife still works. As part of the housekeeping staff in the local hospital, I believe she's a part of the essential crews (even more so, since disinfecting and cleaning are vital to protecting everyone from getting anything, including the current coronavirus), so we will muddle through.
I checked on unemployment after I was told about the layoff. Since I've only worked for nine months, trying to claim this week would result in a weekly UI check of... zero. That's right. Not enough quarters worked to create a claim. The website suggested I wait until March 29 or after to file a claim, because then there would be another quarter to include. If I do that, then the weekly payment jumps up to $192 USD, based on the amounts I entered.
Since no one really knows how long this will last (meaning, when the governor will rescind her orders), I may end up trying to find other employment. I've been told that I am wanted back as soon as things return to normal, and in reality, I'd prefer to go back, even if my wife wants me to find a job that pays more and provides health benefits.
I'd rather not. Truth be told, I'd rather that HIVE just take off (and since I still have STEEM stake, it going up wouldn't be so bad, either, at least until I can buy more HIVE with it), and then maybe I could justify my posting/commenting/curating time a little more. It doesn't need to be an extravagant amount, either. Around $5 USD would at least allow me to bring it up without my wife rolling her eyes at me.
Besides, The Government Will Save Me
As I write this post, the US Congress has yet to agree on a roughly $1 trillion bill stimulus package of some kind, with some amount supposedly earmarked directly for households, rather than just business bailouts and beefing up governmental services.
I'm not really in favor of it—though if it ends up being more than a few hundred dollars, it might actually be helpful for the short term—because it's not free. Even if that's implied, it's not. At some point, someone (meaning taxpayers) will have to pay that back, along with all the rest of the debt and unpaid liabilities the US government has incurred and continues to rack up. Meanwhile, the government will keep on borrowing to do this stimulus package.
At any rate, I think we're in good shape for a few months if nothing changes from its current status. Better when I can get some UI. We've practiced being as debt free as we can (no car payments, low house payment). We can stand to be a bit more frugal with what discretionary spending we have, but as I try to tell my wife, if we don't do something fun once in a while, what's the point of living? All work makes for a dreary and dull existence, and whatever you do manage to retain doesn't go with you when you die.
So, it's not an eat, drink and be merry attitude. It's a take a few opportunities here and there to keep sane and happy kind of deal.
In The Meantime
It would be nice to spend more time on HIVE, and maybe some on STEEM, before it becomes whatever it's going to turn into.
It would be nice to get into some kind of rhythm again. I've been kind of derailed with everything happening in my life, along with the STEEM drama. So far, for me, 2020 is worse than 2019 ever was. And we've still got more than nine months left.
Here's hoping that turns around quickly, on as many fronts as possible. Normalcy and routine can be boring, but they can also be quietly reassuring.
I wouldn't mind some of that right now.
Image courtesy of Glen Anthony Albrethsen
I won't pretend to say I understand what you're going to, nor will I try to give you advice. What I'm doing myself is selling my STEEM stake, and holding on to HIVE, but I don't think right now is a good time to invest in something that will take 3 months to power down. Keep your investments liquid, as much as possible. I hope the community will pull through and get you some help. I don't have any stake in HIVE yet as I can't power up because there is no wallet, but I genuinely hope that you get a few votes that will keep you afloat for the time being. I wish you the best of luck and hope we'll laugh about this by the time summer rolls around.
EDIT: Wait a minute! I can still send you some HIVE. I know 50 is not much but I hope it will help at least a tiny bit! I suggest you use Keychain to check your balances if you aren't already.
EDIT2: Sent, really hope it helps :)
EDIT3: Not sure if the transaction went through. Maybe try to check on your end and let me know? Thank you!
Hey, @thecryptosociety.
I don't see anything in the wallet as far as keychain or peakd.com are concerned but that's okay. No need to send anything. As I mentioned, we're doing fine and will be for the foreseeable future. We try to be prepared for things like this, and I went six years without a job, so this will be much shorter in comparison, or life will be so different it might not matter. :)
I definitely appreciate the gesture, though. Very kind.
I am currently powering down my STEEM stake with the intent of buying HIVE when that becomes possible. I will probably wait to make any purchases to see how things unfold first, though.
I'm using the Keychain extension and while I sent HIVE with it a couple of days ago I don't know why this time around it didn't work - no error either. Anyways, I know times are hard, and I'm genuinely glad to hear that you're ready for rocky times.
As far as STEEM goes, I think the sooner you move it into Bitcoin, the better. HIVE can wait, just my honest opinion. Take care man, and wish you all the best!
Thank you. You, too. And thanks for the crypto advice, too. :)
Sorry to hear it, but glad to hear you’re in otherwise good health and solid financial health as well. I’m with you in feeling the crush of both the real world & blockchain world craziness at the same time...
I’m fortunate to have good job security at the moment, as I work at Costco. My department is shut down, but there’s still work to go around. My finances are not in as good of shape as yours, so it’s my goal to come out the other side of this stronger, by hopefully being able to work and invest throughout the downturn. And yeah, a solid Hive price would sure be nice in making that a reality!
Hey, @bryan-imhoff.
There's a department closed at Costco? What kind of work do you do for them? I would guess the stores/warehouses have as many people on deck as they can with all the buying that's been going on. At least in our neck of the woods.
I think there are some opportunities to do some things at this time, so I hope your plan works out.
It's been kind of stressful, for sure. No where to really unwind. I did go out and fly my drone for a while, but I might be illegal depending on its weight, so there's that, too. :)
I’m an Optician, so the Optical department is considered non-essential, and the amount of close contact needed for proper measurements, fittings, & adjustments is deemed unsafe. I’ve been off the past six days, I had a trip planned but cancelled and have just stayed home. The huge rush had already started to ease when I left, as our area had the most early cases and lots of non essential businesses were already shutting and folks were hunkering down. I hear it’s actually quite a bit quieter now, but I’m curious to see for myself tomorrow.
Optician. Okay. I should have figured that since I've bought glasses through Costco before.
re: quieter.
Well, that might be since they started forming lines at our Costco the last few days. Before that, they were still letting everyone into the store as they showed up. My wife was there on Saturday and waited several minutes in line to go in.
I'd like to know what you find when you do go back. :)
Is that what She said? Even if there is not a lot of change or price difference between steem and hive, you pretty much doubled your investment over the last couple of days, that is something.
At least a little bit more time available for the blocks, and the pop, and the kid, if you don't get busted on the way to do welfare checks.
Hey, @bashadow.
As far as nine months go, I'm just talking about how 2020 is going so far. As far my wife, she's not really been keen on STEEM or blogging, or my writing/creating in general. Funny thing is, she didn't really like the newspaper that much either, until it started making quite a bit of money. Then, she was okay with it. :)
I shouldn't make her out to be the villain, though. She only wants what's best, and if she doesn't know how something works, or sees the value in it, then she lets me know. And it's hard to blame her. If there's no results, only the potential or vague promise, it's not really cash in hand.
It's true, though, at least for the time being, with the way things are valued internally on both STEEM and HIVE, I have doubled my investment. I guess we take it anyway we can get it. :)
I'm hoping to avoid the welfare checks. :) Don't think I would qualify anyway, the way it works here (unless the criteria has changed drastically). UI is a little different since you have to pay in to get any. It would be nice if this all just burns itself out here in short order.
I was looking at the nine month thing as in what is going to be birthed at the end of the cycle.
Welfare checks I meant as in having time to check in on your dad and your kids and their family. Phone time might be needed when people start to get bored stiff with not much to do. Kids staying at home, and those first few months of almost forced retirement if it goes that long, lets hope not.
Some times typing can be hard. I do hope that things work out for you and your family, Things may escalate a little bit, but keeping healthy is the number one priority right now.
re: nine months and welfare checks
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. :) Sorry. I worked for the welfare department in two states, so that's where my brain went. :)
Staying healthy is important. Can't do much without it.
I end up talking to my Dad by phone anyway, so that won't change, and my eldest (the one who doesn't live with us) and his family were just here, and as far as we can tell, they're still permitted to come over, so we'll see how that goes.
I understand the idea of boredom. It's mostly psychological though. When suddenly you can't do something you probably normally wouldn't do anyway, you want to go and do it. It's strange, but when options are suddenly limited, you miss the things you never did, anyway, because now you can't. :)
I feel your pain/ optimism - I'm out of work for 2 months, but I'm self employed so the kick-start will be easy enough to get back into.
It's odd, I'm VERY happy not working this week - right now I should be on a train to Birmingham to deliver day 2 of a training course, am I sad I'm not, NO - I'd much rather be here!
I know what you mean about HIVE - and Steem - wouldn't it be great if a nice PUMP kept the Steem price at 2500 satoshis for just a few more weeks!
Here's to a productive couple of months and then a smooth reboot.
Oh, the other thing I'm doing with the next two months is prepping to move to an eco-village, enough with this fiat dependency!
Hey, @revisesociology.
I'm sure there are plenty of us who are already unemployed/underemployed, etc., or who are on the cusp of being so. It certainly doesn't take long, and those businesses who are looking to survive will need to do something in the interim. Temporary layoffs could be the saving grace, or it could be the tip of the iceberg.
It was clear to me before, now I'm just painfully aware of it, that this crypto experiment we're in is essential to the ongoing survival of humanity. The only thing is, as long as actual governments and borders exist, there's nowhere in the outside world for this digital world to actually thrive and succeed. Those all need to come down, and I don't think they will without a huge fight. Rather, they seem to be heading in the opposite direction entirely.
I should also say I wish you well with your self-employment and your eco-village move. I've had a desire for decades now to do something fairly similar—more like homesteading—but I couldn't really convince my wife of it. Now, we're both getting old enough where the idea of starting over and putting in a lot of physical hard work is pretty daunting. :)
Good luck. My wife was supposed to be in Oregon right now, today was going to be the wedding of her best friend and she was going to be the maid of honor. The wedding was cancelled of course with the ban on gatherings. My wife is taking it pretty hard that she doesn't get to see friends and family in Oregon, but of course her friend with the cancelled wedding is the one who is really taking it hard. I hope your wife stays safe and healthy, that occupation sounds pretty scary right about now.
Hey, @carlgnash.
I'm sorry to here about your wife and her friend. I'm sure they were both looking forward to the wedding very much. I hope it all gets back on track very soon.
These series of executive orders have been messing up a lot of things, and causing a level of tension to hysteria that really is unfounded. I've been watching the number of confirmed cases creep up here, realizing that testing didn't really get rolling until over a week ago when the 'bans' started, but also realizing that for the most part, the counties hardest hit are the ones that are highest populated. Except for Lane County. Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas, along with Marion and Linn Counties (which is mainly due to a veteran's home in Lebanon) have the vast majority of the relatively small number of cases (154 of 191) of positively tested people.
More than half the counties don't even have a case yet, which means the virus wasn't spreading that much before the lockdown in the lower urban areas.
So, anyway. We'll see what this week brings I guess. Can't shut it down too much more than what we have. Locking us in our homes and having armed guards patrolling the streets is about the only recourse left.
That sucks.
These are strange times indeed. The streets today were even emptier than on Sunday. I really hope this does not drag on for more than a month. Most seem to be in some kind of intermediate state between home office and vacation.
It feels unreal.
Hey, @bluerobo.
Yes, it does. Until I was told this morning that I was definitely laid off for the time being, it was far worse. I didn't know if I needed to go to work, where I would go, for how long. It's kind of hard to plan around that kind of thing, and getting started on any kind of project just to get interrupted doesn't motivate me a whole lot.
It would be great if things were over within the next week or so. The surgeon general is warning this will be the worst week for coronavirus thus far, and if that's true, I'm also hoping that means it's the worst period, and we can get back to our lives. However, there's predictions out there that it will take nine months or more to run its course, but I'm not sure if that means we're in a state of lockdown for that period of time. That would be completely insane.
It seems to me, though, that it's a deal where some of it will be prolonged regardless by the decisions that are being made on both ends of the spectrum—those who might actually be ignoring it completely, and those who want to shut down the entire world. Would be nice to have some kind of happy medium, but we can't ever seem to get there. :)
While that money printer goes BRRRRRR, what better time to earn some crypto, eh?
Glad to hear things are still okay for you; and health is more important than risking your life at work!
Hey, @namiks.
I hope to use as much time as possible to post. We'll see how that goes. :)
Thank you for the well-wishes. Greatly appreciate it, and I hope all is well with you, too. Health is important. My risk taking though didn't seem that much higher than normal, as I handle money quite a bit in all kinds of places so who knows what I may or may not be exposed to. Washing hands or using sanitizer has become a routine. So far, I've managed to fend things off since around Christmas, when I was last sick.
My son works for a local high school, though. Before that, he was at a middle school, and I think he was sick a lot. I know I got it from him at least twice. He's been sick for the last two weeks with something. Fortunately, no one else in our household has come down with it, and all schools in Oregon are off by governor decree until at least the end of April. So maybe I have a chance of not getting some kind of illness. :)
I've had all but two of the symptoms for over a week now, I'm 25 so definitely in the age group where it shouldn't be too much of an issue in the event that I have it, but fortunately whatever it is I do have hasn't been that bad. Most symptoms appear to be lessening in the last two days.
With others I've spoken to it certainly sounds the same, but yeah, really fortunate that whatever it is has been quite minor. I can say that whatever it is has been weaker than most colds I've had.
Hey, @namiks.
And since you're not in the that demographic where testing is allowed/permitted/encouraged—whatever the word is—we'll never know if it was the coronavirus or not.
And since it can't really be distinguished from a flu or cold without the testing (though breathing and something in the lungs is a pretty big indicator), millions could end up getting it and it won't show up in the statistics. So, I'm not even sure why they're keeping track, since it won't be an accurate reflection of who got it—just who died. That's it. Those who they count recovering from it will only be those who were counted as having it in the first place.
I hope you get better soon, though. Whatever it is, never fun to be ill.
Hi Glen,
Sorry to hear that you lost your job.
Yes, these are not the best of times. What with the raging virus and the changes in Steemit, many people are finding their lives derailed. But cope we must, and life must goes on. I, too, hope to get the rhythm and normalcy back as soon as I can. Like you said - "Normalcy and routine can be boring, but they can also be quietly reassuring." :-)
Hey, Vincent.
Yes, they can. Hard to appreciate until they're gone or restricted.
I hope all is well healthwise with you and yours. Life seems to go on with or without us, so we might as well go along for the ride for as long as we can.
I don't know how much the virus is raging compared to any other illness. I just know it's front and center and apparently inescapable as far as information and crackdowns go. We seem to be into the "at all costs" measures in order to stop it, short of locking people in their homes and jailing them or shooting them on sight if they come out. That would be far, far worse than the restrictions posed now, but I'd just as soon not have to shut down the state's economy, either.
Sorry to hear the news. Figured it was coming. I am working from home right now. Our big project must move forward. We are just over three months away from rollout and things are getting intense for the last 6 weeks or so with work and moving and the coronavirus. Hang in there buddy. Praying for $10 hive.
Hey, @bbrewer.
Thanks. $10 HIVE would be awesome! Especially if it lasts for more than a nanosecond. :)
I'm doing okay. It's kind of like a forced vacation where I can't go anywhere, but it does give me more time to post, comment and curate, something I've missed for the last nine months.
re: getting intense
Sounds like it. I guess you can't just do one thing at a time, right. It has to happen within a tight window under a 100-year pandemic. :)
I think I should probably tell you the same. Hang in there.
Damn, sorry to hear you were laid off, glad your wife still works, although of course in these times it's mixed feelings when you know your wife also takes more risk because she's working (and in a hospital!).
It will be tough times for many, but indeed, we have Hive, let's build this thing and hopefully it can soften the blow for us financially when needed.
I'm slowly selling my STEEM and hope to buy into HIVE when it falls lower.
Cheers and stay healthy above all else <3
Hey, @soyrosa.
Thank you.
Fortunately, while my wife is hired through the hospital network, she actually spends most of the week between two sleep centers, where they monitor patients for sleep disorders. So, she's a little safer there. She does generally go to the hospital once a week to help clean, but they've cleared a floor usually devoted to non-emergent surgeries in anticipation of the need for coronavirus patients. So they don't need as many people at the hospital right now and she's not slated to go.
As it is, we've only had 25 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in our county since this all began, and more than half of those are at a veterans home facility in a town 25 minutes away, and not in the larger town next to where I live.
Posh proof