How's 'that' situation going now?

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

1. How is the Coronavirus situation where you live? What's closed down? Have you gone out much? Are you (Oh, what's the trendy term now " Self-distancing "?) staying inside as a precaution or actually infected or is anyone else you know? I hope, if so, you're well. Let's...well, exchange comments.
2.   I am now in Portland, Oregon. The Govenor, and then, locally, Portland declared a state of emergency. I saw the comment made that Oregon was the furthest behind on dealing with CV of the 3 West Coast states.
3.   I went out yesterday ( Sun.), I am ill and had sleep to make up to-day (Mon.) and ended up not going out - I may go out across the street to a all-nite grocery tonite-early Tues. I have not heard of a regular medical appointment Tues. being cancelled.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I grow a beard almost every year. The "itchy phase" only lasts a week or so. Once you're through that, you won't even know it's there.

[Doctor Hmmm?]

Assuming you're a vampire, or never look in a reflective surface.

I've had a beard for over 30 years, and been reminded of it every day.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

I grow a beard almost every year. The "itchy phase" only lasts a week or so. Once you're through that, you won't even know it's there.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I shaved my beard off in the first couple days of isolation. But shaving didn't continue after that, and it's back now. 

[Philip Portelli]

By the time all this is over...

[David Warren]

Eternal question: Why doesn't Frank Beard have one?

Philip Portelli said:

By the time all this is over...

[Richard Willis]

Philip Portelli said:

Anyway, it appears that the mail service is slowing down so either there is less mail to deliver or less people to deliver it.

The U.S. Postal Service is open for business and, unless they are sick, everyone is working. I haven't noticed any slowdown. Maybe some of the companies that usually mail offers have cut back.

[Doctor Hmmm?]

Finally got out today after nearly a week indoors. Beautiful day for a walk in the woods. Bluebells as far as the eye can see. Allergies be damned, Virginia is beautiful in the Springtime.

[Philip Portelli]

Went grocery shopping today. Store said that it is not honoring its sale flyer after last week saying it will not issue rainchecks or do returns. And they're not taking coupons either. And they raised prices a lot despite getting trucks constantly.

[Richard Willis]

I just remembered. For the last 30 years cars have had computers that are always running. If you haven't run or at least started any car the battery will be dead after a period of time. I found this out the hard way several years ago.

[Captain Comics]

My beard didn't itch at all in my youth. I had a great beard, luxuriant and multi-colored: black, brown, red, blond and all colors in between. Very soft. Even girls, most of whom hate beards, didn't mind mine. (Or at least that's what they said.) But now in my dotage there's no melanin in my beard any more, so it's mostly white and as stiff as dry hay. And it DOES itch when it's short. And my skin is much thinner, and more sensitive, than it used to be. Man, I hate aging.

Which is an issue now, because I'm only shaving about once a week. Ish.

As for life here in Elvis Town, it's probably much like it is everywhere else in the Western world: shut down. "Non-essential" businesses are utterly closed, so I can't go to, for example, the Apple store. (NOw that I finally have time to do so.) But honestly, most of what I need is just fine. The grocery store is open, the pharmacy, the car dealership (getting a light fixed Monday), and so forth. Oh, and liquor stores. I don't know who decided liquor stores were "essential," but I'm on board with that.

For my comics needs, see my remarks on the "COVID-19 and comics" thread. I think I've spent MORE since the comics shop closed than normal. tl;dr, I'm buying a lot of collections/OGNs from the usual sources, who can't get new stuff but have enormous backlists -- well, aside from Amazon, which apparently CAN get new stuff.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I work at a "newspaper" -- it's online only, but has a bigger readership than the print one I used to work for -- and my wife is the PIO for the county health department, so we're both working harder and longer than ever. Which is weird, when so many other people are in dealing with enforced idleness. There are lots of articles online about dealing with having nothing to do, and with loneliness, and whatever. Geez, I'd love a little idleness!

OTOH, I love, love, LOVE what my "paper" is doing, distributing enormously important information, for free, at a critical time. This is the sort of thing I got into this business for, and I'm delighted to tie on my red cape and go to work with my fellow superheroes every day. I have never felt better about my career choice or, really, my day-to-day existence. I am living my best life.

And I genuinely don't miss going into the office. NOT going there has jettisoned the shit I hated -- the commute, the office politics, the meaningless chit-chat -- and instead I put all that extra time into doing my job, into doing my other jobs, into letting my dogs in and out when they need to go. This is AWESOME! I never want to go to the office again.

Or wear pants.

I know that this is a crisis, and I don't mean to make light of it. People are, literally, dying. The worst is yet to come. I know this is a terrible event that will mark us all, and isn't even half over.

But I will say that I've never been more productive, never gotten caught up on more work, never gotten fewer e-mails. Never felt better. Come on coronavirus, leave the rest of humanity alone. Let's you and me go, big guy. I'm feeling good about my chances.

[Richard Willis]

So far none of our friends or relatives have been infected, as far as I know. I hope it stays that way.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"My beard didn't itch at all in my youth."

Cap, you should try some beard oil. Different brands are probably similar, but I really like the one I use. (i'll have to double-check the name before I can specifically recommend it.)