One of the most jarring things about moving from Washington D.C. to Dallas during a pandemic is how differently the cities approach the virus.
The social norms surrounding physical distancing and mask wearing are very different in Dallas. We’ve actually had neighbors say, “Oh, so you’re mask queens?” In the same condescending tone that you’d use with an anti-vaxxer.
This is perhaps the most Washington D.C. PSA ever. I’ve seen several of these COVID-19 safety PSAs in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, and agree that wearing a mask for Ruth Bader Ginsburg is totally worth it.
There were also less-successful PSAs about some dude named Ryan.
Washington DC COVID warning.
Just prior to shutdown, I was halfway through a modified version of the “75 Hard” exercise fad.
The gist my routine was that I worked out twice a day for a minimum of 45 minutes per session. It was a big commitment, but felt great (most of the time).
I never subscribed to some of the more arbitrary rules of the 75 Hard program — like the requirement that one session has to be outside, or that you can’t make-up missed sessions when work gets crazy. Even I understood that flexibility is needed for thunderstorms and client demands. I also wasn’t going to take 5 minute cold showers every day because that’s clearly nonsense.
The point of this fitness spurt was to train myself to understand that exercise is something to be prioritized. Scheduling two exercise sessions per day instead of just one also makes it very hard to skip working out altogether. In short — I was on a roll.
One of the most interesting things about the first days of the COVID-19 lock down was the effort people put into outlandish costumes.
The District’s stay-home order has done more than normalize telecommuting and transform buying cleaning supplies into a scavenger hunt. It also creates an incentive for me to frequent different businesses in Northeast D.C. for pickup and delivery.
My new favorite spots are typically within a 45 minute one-way walk from my apartment. This is the ideal distance for weekday dog walks before and after work. (This is also coincidentally the maximum safe distance from apartment toilet since most places are closed).
After about 2 months, the coronavirus restrictions still do not feel normal, but I’m getting used to things.
In the Netflix movie Bird Box, people walk outside with blindfolds because of the threat of invisible supernatural creatures that drive people to commit suicide. We find out quickly that some mentally disturbed individuals are immune from the creatures. These characters run around killing people by forcing them to take off their eye-coverings.
This means that Sandra Bullock spends two hours dodging invisible creatures and serial killers.
Although there aren’t serial killers stalking my neighborhood yet, things have taken on a Bird Box-like feel lately.
The Coronavirus spread rapidly across the country last week, so my firm announces Friday that we can work from home starting Monday.
I grab my equipment from the office over the weekend and start the “social distancing” experiment along with most of the city on Monday morning. Working from home reminds me of my prior gigs, but there are major differences this time, including unusually heavy email traffic and the inability to work from coffee shops.
However Monday turns out to have more than emails and bored dogs in store for me…