Confessions of a Pro-Masker

I've been wearing a mask out in public since March, long before the mask mandate took effect. You could say I'm an early adopter, a true believer in the efficacy of wearing masks in reducing the spread of Covid-19. 

I'm definitely a pro-masker. It's difficult being a pro-masker in a state that is overwhelmingly anti-mask. Don't let the mask mandates fool you. Sure there's more people wearing masks here than before the mandate, but there's also a lot of holes in the system, a lot of breaches in the security. A lot of non-compliance, non-enforcement, and a lot of people wearing the masks either inconsistently, improperly, or who wear the wrong kinds of masks, such as neck gaiters and bandannas, bandannas being barely better than nothing, and neck gaiters having actually been proven to be worse than not wearing a mask at all. 

Where I live the people I see not wearing masks in public can be classified into three primary categories: they are typically either people under 30, Latinos of all ages, or what I would describe as white trash redneck, aka Trumpers who get all their Covid-19 information from Facebook and FOX. That's pretty much the anti-mask demographic where I live. 

I live in a state with over 200,000 cases of Covid and a high death rate per 100,000 people. I believe the state of Arizona is in the top ten for deaths per 100,000. Anyway, my state is sort of a hotspot with over 200,000 cases, though the numbers have definitely been falling. We've gone from at our worst 4,000 cases a day, to lately less than a thousand. It appears the mask mandate has been doing some good, but maybe not good enough, likely because of the reasons I've stated above. 

In other words, a mask mandate means nothing without consistent compliance or enforcement. 

What the fuck? I go to the grocery store last week and noticed a couple customers in the store not wearing masks. Since this is not something I've ever seen before at this particular store I decided to report it at their customer service counter. They sent the manager over and the people were really nasty and refused to comply, so apparently the police were called. 

I didn't stick around long enough to find out what ultimately happened but while I was waiting in line to check out I noticed a US postal worker in uniform had also entered the store without a mask. He came in to buy two jumbo cans of beer. Shows where his priorities are at. No one said a word to him. No one told him that masks were required. No one tried to stop him from entering the store without a mask. No one refused to do business with him. The customer service people, the cashiers, the cart attendants, they never said a word. I said something to the cashier. And she said she's not allowed to say anything. 

After I checked out I asked the cart attendant who was sanitizing carts outside the main entrance, who clearly sees everyone coming and going, I asked him if he's been given any directions of what to do when people enter the store without masks. He told me he's not allowed to do anything. He can't make contact with the people at all. Next thing I knew the manager comes outside to talk to me, to let me know that he spoke to the people I had reported, and that the authorities had been called because they were non-compliant. I proceeded to tell him about the mailman who wasn't wearing a mask who had already left. 

He confirmed that none of the employees are allowed to confront anyone not wearing a mask, out of regard to their own personal safety. The only person authorized to confront customers not wearing masks is a manager, but here's the most relevant piece of information, in that apparently the manager only confronts the people if a customer complains about it. If no one complains about it no one does anything. Sounds like not enforcing the mandate to me. 

I have no way of knowing, but I wouldn't be surprised if the cops never even showed up, because from what I've observed here in the city I live in the police aren't wearing masks either, neither are the paramedics, or firemen. Their all exempt. Which is fine and dandy when their working outside, but when such people are in close proximity to others indoors, they should be wearing a mask, and the fact that they aren't suggests to me that enforcement would be a low priority. I mean really how do you expect someone to enforce the mask mandate when they themselves aren't wearing a mask? 

Yes, I believe we are in big trouble. Wearing a mask is the single most effective strategy against Covid-19 when staying home, or socially distancing isn't possible. But people don't like wearing masks. They think they are uncomfortable and that it violates their freedom to be stupid. Yes, we are in big trouble. 

One last word in parting, I want to really emphasis this point. That when you have states that had long-term mask mandates, places like California and New Jersey and New York, but still had, and in the case of California still has, super high rates of infection, the anti-maskers love to entertain the possibility that masks really don't help. How else do you explain it they say, that even with the strictest COVID-19 restrictions in the country, mandatory masks, shelter-in-place, and the closing of non-essential businesses, why is it that these places still had the worst cases in the country in spite of it all? They conclude that it's because there was no stopping this disease, that it just has to run its course until enough people get infected and survive and develop so-called herd immunity, therefore the restrictions, including masks, are a waste of time and money. 

Okay, I'm obviously not an epidemiologist, so I'm not even going to try to go there to explain what's happening here on that level, other than that whose to say it wouldn't have been worse without the restrictions, we'll never know, or that maybe there was a more virulent strain of the virus that hit some places harder than others that infected enough people before the restrictions were implemented that there was no stopping it. Or the third possibility that I propose, which is happening right now in places like California and in my own state, is that despite the mask mandate and the requests to socially distance and to limit large gatherings, is largely going unheeded, or not consistently followed. Like I said, maybe people aren't allowed to officially gather in large groups, but whose to stop them doing so privately in their own backyards and homes?

I mean the point is just because there's a mask mandate doesn't mean people have been consistently following it. 

Maybe they wear a mask when they go into a store, but as soon as they come out the mask comes off. And it wouldn't be a problem if it was just them, but not only do the masks come off, but they stay off when they talk to other people. They socialize with people they don't live with, they talk really close together, face-to-face, without wearing masks. And these are elderly and people with pre-existing conditions, too. I see it all the time where I live. They hug each other, they kiss each other, they shake hands. It's as if they think the pandemic is over. They say: "This is normal. I'm not going stop living my life and being social just because of some stupid virus. Only losers socially distance. Only weirdos wear masks." 

That's the mentality we're dealing with here. And that's why this virus is out of control. Not because of a virus running its natural course, but because most people are selfish and stupid. And like I said before in an earlier post, if washing hands with soap suddenly became legally mandated I'd be willing to bet money that some of these anti-maskers would surely out of defiance stop washing their hands with soap, because they are like selfishly stupid spoiled little children.

Disclaimer: This rant only pertains to areas with large incidences of Covid-19 where people are largely ignoring the guidelines. If you live in a location that has relatively low levels of Covid-19 then perhaps you are right not to wear a mask or to socially distance, but hopefully you are washing your hands with soap, for that there is no excuse. 

Commentary: Chris Gets Money

So, I just watched a short documentary film on Tubi TV and got the idea to do a series of blog posts about it. Basically I'll watch a documentary, maybe one a week, maybe three, and write something about it here.

What I will do in this series is to watch a documentary film, and use it as a writing prompt. I will say whatever comes to mind, in response to having watched the documentary, in 2,000 words or less. Yes, it will probably be much less, but I like to keep my possibilities open, while still being somewhat realistic.

Documentary #1: Chris Gets Money (2016) 46 minutes

Synopsis: "Comedian Chris Cubas has always been poor, until now. He's given 30 days to live like the 1 percent, infiltrate the elusive super-wealthy of Austin, Texas, and investigate why the poor stay poor and the rich keep getting richer."

OK, this documentary is only 46 minutes long, so I guess you shouldn't expect much from it. The only thing really going for it is that Chris is a fairly friendly and likable guy, who works as a comedian, among other things, and probably it would have worked out better as a series, with this being an introductory episode, rather than a stand-alone documentary, but we'll just have to judge it as is.

Anyway, what happens is that Chris is given $30,000 to spend in 30 days, simulating one months salary of a person making $360,000 a year, which in Austin, Texas is the lowest amount necessary to be considered part of the 1 percent in that region. He would attempt to use this money to embed himself into the lives of rich people by becoming their neighbor and joining one of their country clubs so he can talk to them face-to-face under the disguise of someone making $360,000 a year.

Well, in all honesty $30,000 is just a drop in the bucket, so you're not going to get a very realistic glimpse into the inner circle of the one-percent with that kind of money, but hey it is what it is, doesn't really matter what the wealthy have to say in this documentary because Chris does a good job of answering his own questions, and is the perfect case study into why the poor usually stay poor. Let's be honest here, we're not talking about the real poor, people who are legitimately undernourished and starving in third world countries, who don't have access to clean water and whose average life expectancy is only in their thirties, this documentary is not about that, we're talking about lower income spoiled Americans who think they are entitled to live like kings. That anyone who has more than them are somehow the bad guy, because their reasoning is that in a rich country everyone should be rich.

Chris is a perfect case study of why most poor people stay poor, or rather why most perceive themselves as poor, even when they have adequate food, water, and shelter, it's because they are thinking about wealth in the wrong way, and have cultivated a lifetime of poor habits, poor money management skills, and a victim mentality that does not take responsibility for the poor choices they have made and will continue to make.

The problem is I think greed and addiction to affluence. Greed is not just something that affects rich people, poor people can be extremely greedy too, in that they may not be able to afford every luxury they desire, but they covet more luxuries than they need, thinking they need a lot of expensive luxuries to be happy, and are resentful when they can't have them. Things like 4K TV, high end gaming laptop, a lot of consumer electronics, expensive sports car, watches, designer high end fashion, huge house, you know expensive toys that you don't really need, and I think they are artificially created wants people have been programmed to think they need from having watched too much television and addicted to following the lives of super wealthy celebrities who flaunt their wealth, and they want to be just like them, and if they don't have all that expensive stuff, too, then they feel like they have been cheated, and feel like they are victims of income inequality, because why are are some people making millions when I'm only making thousands and I'm broke after I pay all my bills?

That's the wrong way to think. So many people are broke after they pay all there bills because they are attempting to live beyond their means. They have a car they cannot afford. They are paying too much rent. They could downsize but they don't want to. How much money does a person really need? There's nothing inherently wrong with having a lot of money, but just because you're wealthy in money, doesn't mean you are wealthy in spirit. And just because you are poor in money doesn't make you poor in spirit either. There is a mental side to it. If you're poor, stop blaming other people. Do something about it. Very often a craving for material wealth, feeling that you don't have enough, even though you have adequate food, water and shelter, is very often a symptom that you may actually be suffering from a spiritual poverty, and in such a case as that, getting a lot of money at this time, might actually make your spiritual poverty, not better, but worse.

Getting back to the documentary, this guy says he has always been poor, and yet he is morbidly obese, appears to be a happy-go-lucky sort of guy,  claims to work 50 hours a week, and has never had more than $2,000 to his name. 50 hours a week and he doesn't have any money? Sounds to me like he's suffering from a money management problem. Sounds to me like he must be living beyond his means. Sounds to me like maybe he ought to go on a diet and maybe cut out the booze. You think? Totally.

I make less than $24,000 a year, which I guess sort of qualifies me as being on the poorer side in my country, and yet I don't feel poor at all, nor do I feel like a victim of income inequality, nor do I feel angry at rich people or envious or jealous of their wealth. Why would I? I have everything I need. I know how to budget my money and I live within my means. Everyone has to make their own lives. If you want more money, figure out what you need to do to make more money. If you can't increase your income maybe you can decrease your expenses, both are effective methods of increasing wealth. Everything has its price. Some people have to work really hard for their money, they have a lot of money, but not a lot of time, others have gotten lucky, where they've gotten a lot of money without having to do a lot of work, but who knows what other problems they may have that all the money in the world couldn't solve? Nobody knows what is going on in the private lives of people. A person could be living in a $100 million dollar mansion and be clinically depressed.

The mistake I think a lot of poor people make is thinking that all there problems come from being poor and if only they were rich it would solve all their problems, but in reality, while it solves some problems, it creates entirely new problems, because guess what problems are a fact of life. You're always going to have problems, that's not going to change just because your net worth has increased. Life is not perfect. Even if your life is going really well for you right now, and you're experiencing prosperity at all levels of your life, it won't last forever. Sickness, old age, or just plain bad luck, have a way of creeping up on people when they least expect it. It happens to everybody. Becoming rich is not a panacea for your problems, but many poor people think it is.

Chris says he's complaining about income inequality. But I think he's really complaining about the fact that he wishes he could be rich without having to work for it. It's clear though that Chris will likely never become rich because the first thing he does when he gets some extra money is to spend it, and no one will ever get rich spending more money than they save.

It doesn't matter how much money you make, whether you make a hundred dollars a week or a hundred thousand, if you never save any money you will never be rich in a monetary sense, nor will you ever have financial security. Even if you make a million dollars a year but spend every penny you make, if you suddenly lost your job, with no savings in the bank, you could become a penniless bum overnight. But even a person making a modest living who saves a portion of their check every week, could build up a nice little nest egg over time, and could actually end up more prosperous than the millionaire who never saved a dime.

Pros and Cons of Working From Home

I've been working from home four months now and while there have been a few negatives to it, the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. Just thought I'd take some time to talk about some of the pros and cons I've experienced firsthand since working from home.

Pros

1. Increased Time (10+ hours a week)

a. The biggest benefit so far is the amount of time I'm freeing up in my day by not having to commute to and from work. I ride my bicycle to work and so there are multiple factors that contribute to the total travel time. For one thing, I have to leave early in case I get a flat tire so I wouldn't be late for work. Then there's the actual travel time spent on my bike, and time spent locking up my bike, and there's also time spent changing into and out of my cycling attire. I live in a hot climate, so I can't wear my work clothes on my bike commute, because it would get all sweated up. So there's time spent changing into cycling clothing, and packing work attire, and changing into it once I get there. And if the weather is poor there could also be extra time spent cleaning my bike, wiping down the frame, cleaning the brakes and chain; things that need to be regularly done when commuting on a daily basis.

b. There's time saved by not having to get "as ready" for work. While I don't work in my pajamas, this time of year when it's hot and I have my AC set for 82 degrees, compared to the 108 outside, I'm most comfortable working barefoot and in shorts and sleeveless shirt, something that I would never do if I were going into the office. I also save time by not having to pack a lunch and snacks, or getting water bottles or thermoses packed. I also can sleep a little later or have my meal a little later before I start. Not having to get dressed up for work also means that I don't have to do as much laundry, because I usually work from home wearing quick dry athletic apparel that can be easily washed out by hand. So I'm saving a lot of time and money on not having to do as much laundry as well.

c. I can often do double duty, and get more personal projects done in between calls, on break, etc. that I would never be able to get done in the office, so I can accomplish more in a day working from home than I can working in the office.

2. Improved Quality of Life

a. Calmer more relaxing work conditions. There's no place like home. My own decorations, familiar sights and sounds, the therapy of my cat sitting on my lap, the use of my own computer, keyboard and mouse, my own furniture, my own bathroom, which is just a few feet away from my workstation, which makes bathroom breaks so much faster and more convenient, everything about it is just so much cleaner and more comfortable and relaxing than you'd ever find at any publicly shared workspace.

b. No more migraine headaches. Back at the center I was getting headaches nearly every week. Since I've been working at home I've had only one headache in the last four months. I blame the headaches on eyestrain, caused by the bright lights and the computer monitor used in my center, but it also could have been fatigue from cycling to and from work in extremely hot and polluted air, as well as allergic reactions to smells in the center, like people's perfume or cleaning chemicals. The center I work at is brightly lit with florescent lights and maybe the monitors are not designed to reduce eyestrain. At home I use a special eye care monitor that reduces eyestrain, and I also work in natural light conditions during the daytime, and low level light at night. So even though I'm looking at screens just as much, I'm no longer getting as much eyestrain.  In fact, most of my recurring sinus problems I've been suffering from over the last few years have cleared up since working from home. So that's a huge improvement.

c. No longer sharing public restrooms, work spaces and amenities with co-workers/strangers with bad hygiene. My job is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and employs almost a thousand people at my center alone, and there always hiring. So it's not the kind of job that you know everybody you work with. There's too many shared surfaces and no assigned seating.  Every time I'd come in I'd sit somewhere different, use a different computer, a different keyboard and mouse, and a different chair. It's a recipe for getting sick a lot. I rarely got sick before I worked at this company. The only time I got sick was if I drank too much beer, which is something I no longer do. Other than that I hadn't been sick in years. Now since I've worked there I'd get headaches every week, and would be sick in bed for two or three days at least 3 or 4 times a year. In the four months I've been working from home I've only had one headache and haven't been sick otherwise at all.

A few months ago with
terrible migraine headache.

A few days ago without headache
and feeling 100% better.

Cons

1. Lack of Social Interaction

This is probably the biggest con working from home for most people, is not seeing and interacting face-to-face with your co-workers on a daily basis. Even if you don't actually talk to anybody socially at your job, just seeing people around you is often a positive for most people, in that if nothing else at least you're not alone. But for me I never really cared about that, at least at the job I'm at now, where it's all about the money, the culture of the place I work at is completely irrelevant to me. And I'm not saying that because I'm an introvert, it's just the nature of the job. My job is a weird job, never had anything like it, it's the only job I've had that doesn't involve interacting with my co-workers. It's a call center where everybody sits isolated in a cubicle, taking calls alone their entire shift, with no mingling or socializing on the call floor, work is completely self-directed and done independently, and most communication with other employees or your manager is conducted via email and instant messaging, with the occasional face-to-face meeting going over the quality of your work and anything that needs improvement. All training is done remotely via video presentation and chat and basically all questions can be answered in an email. And because people are working all different shifts, literally 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, most working part-time, and breaks are scheduled at different times everyday, there isn't a whole lot of opportunity to get to know the people you work with, and I'm fine with that. But in most other jobs, even most other call center jobs, there's probably a lot more daily interaction and I can see people may miss that working from home.

2. Lack of Structure

Sometimes having somewhere to go that gets you outside everyday and gives you a reason to get dressed up and to do your hair and to smell good and to look your best and to make a good impression on people helps to enhance the quality of your life. Picture this: A person is completely self-quarantining, working from home, hardly talking to anybody, hardly leaving their home, working in their pajamas, maybe not styling their hair in the morning, maybe not showering as much, and everyday is pretty much the same, the same old same old, with no separation from work and play, where you live and where you sleep and where you work it's all in the same space. That could get depressing after awhile. It doesn't have to. Just because you're working from home doesn't mean you have to let yourself go, and it doesn't mean you have to become a complete hermit either. But this lack of structure of getting out everyday and leaving your house and going to work and seeing and interacting with other people at work and on the way to and from work can take a tow on people after awhile, especially if you are more socially inclined to begin with but even to some extent if you're not. Sometimes it's helpful to have a routine that also includes changing scenery and getting out of your comfort zone, something that is very difficult to do when you are working from home during a pandemic and a heat wave on top of it. There's a double whammy if I ever saw one. It's been 105-110 for weeks and it's the first week in 4 months that I've had 2 days off and it's too hot to go anywhere!  What will I do with myself?

So there you have it. There's pros and cons to working from home, but which is better really comes down to your individual circumstances. It depends on the type of work you do, and the quality of your life outside of work regardless of whether you're working from home or not. But in my case at least, despite the negatives I still say working from home is the clear winner. It keeps me out of the heat and I'm not getting migraine headaches anymore, for those two things alone it's worth it. But I wonder how long it will last? The rest of the year? Into the next year? Will there be a second wave? Will there be a new crisis? The eruption of Yellowstone Super Volcano, a nuclear war, the invasion of hostile extraterrestrials? Who knows? But honestly nothing would surprise me at this point. Whatever it is, it is what it is.

Stress in the Age of Covid

So, although you could say I benefited from Covid-19, in that I got two things I wanted from it, namely an increase in wealth and the freedom to work from home, at the same time I wouldn't say that things have been perfect either, or that I didn't suffer an increase in stress.

Stress Number 1: The Uncertainty of My Future

I failed to elaborate in my last post about the psychic strain I have been under as a direct result of this Covid situation. For one thing I don't like not knowing what's going to happen. I mean I like to have control over what happens. I hate chaos. I hate uncertainty. I hate not being given a deadline, a time frame, for what's going on with my job. I'm still working from home and the way things are going I'm assuming it will continue for the rest of the month, but I have not been given any definite time frame of how long it will last. I mean yeah they could give a speculative day and always change it, but I haven't been given anything, other then that management will let all work-from-home people know when they want us back. So like it could be next week, it could be next month, or it could be next year. I have no idea, and I hate not knowing. I really was hoping that they would make work from home a permanent option, but as it stands they've made it clear it's only temporary. So that's a source of stress because working from home is really working out for me, and is not at all hurting my job performance, if anything I think I'm doing a better job, and it clearly is a job that can be done from home, so makes no sense why it can't be permanent.

Anyway, it's stressful being in a situation where in one sense I'm happy, but in another sense I'm apprehensive knowing this situation will end sooner then I'd like, and I'll have to go back, and I don't want to go back. If I go back I'll probably get Covid. And I don't want to get Covid. There's just no way you can have three hundred plus people all sitting in a room together in a cubicle farm all breathing the same air, and everybody is talking, because it's a call center and that's the nature of the job, and they made it clear that you can't wear a mask in the cubicle, and meanwhile there's no assigned seating and everyone is sharing the same chairs and using the same keyboards, and touching the same door handles, because there is no way to open the doors without touching the handles, it's just a recipe for disaster. Not everyone is working from home, only about half, and looks like most of the people still going into the center are people under the age of 30, who probably think their immune, and are the ones most likely to be asymptomatic and not to be social distancing and not wearing masks and still going out to restaurants and parties as if its "just a little flu" and they've got nothing to worry about.

So, in one sense I'm happy with my current work situation, happy to be working from home, but at the same time I'm worried and can't relax because I don't have control over my future. If I'm told to go back I only have two choices, go back and risk getting Covid, or quit my job and look for another, but it's not exactly a great time to be unemployed and job hunting either, when the job I have is really secure, with virtually zero chance of closing or of being laid off. So I got ultimate job security, and it's perfect if I can work from home, but the prospect of going back is about as appealing as being sent to prison.

Stress Number 2: The Anti-Maskers and Living in a Hostile Land

Another source of stress is that, in addition to living in a major Covid-19 hotspot, which is on track to seeing an increase of 100,000 new cases a month, I'm living around a bunch of anti-mask Trumpers. I'm not kidding. I don't understand how they've made this political. It's not political, it's science, but I guess the Trumpers are anti-science. You know, I've been wearing a mask since March. I didn't wait for a mandate, because I see wearing a mask as the smart thing to do. But really, unless you're wearing an n95 respiratory, most masks only offer minimal protection for yourself, it's more so about protecting the other person. It acts as a barrier to block your water droplets, the saliva that you imperceptibly spit out of your mouth when to talk, or when you cough or sneeze without covering your mouth, or when you breath with your mouth open. So they work best if everyone is wearing one.

We've got a mask mandate in our city now, but I can tell you, while most people are wearing the masks in the stores, most people around where I live are not wearing them outdoors in public. People are congregating in small groups, letting their children run wild, having little barbecues, old men sitting together neck and neck smoking cigarettes, lounging at the community pool, and doing their little neighborhood meet and greets as if there isn't a deadly virus running rampant among us. It's really annoying. And I don't even consider myself a Liberal Democrat, more of an Independent, but I'm no Trumper either, that's for sure, and I feel like an alien living in enemy territory. My aunt moved to Delaware, maybe she's got the right idea, to get the hell out of this fucked up red state. Honestly I never liked it here, only moved here to escape the cold winters of my home state, no other reason then that, really only like the desert scenery and being in nature far away from people, the city and the culture, not so much.

I know I've said it all before. Will I be complaining about where I live all my life? No. There's good reasons why I haven't left. I'll leave when the time is right. And I sometimes need to vent. It's not all bad. I'm sure there's good and bad to be found in all places. But in this particular case, I am living in hostile territory. That is not my imagination. The anti-maskers are going strong in the states with the worst cases of Covid, go figure, I guess they won't believe it until it kills them, or their loved ones, and maybe it's for the best.

The Comparison of Masks with Seat Belts and Helmets

Problem is though, they're not just hurting themselves, the people not wearing masks are like suicide bombers taking out a whole bunch of people with them. So the choice not to wear a mask can't really be compared to the choice not to wear a seat belt or a motorcycle helmet,  because if you get into an accident and aren't wearing a helmet or seat belt, no one else dies because of it, but if you have Covid and don't know it and you're not wearing a mask you can give it to someone else and it may end up killing them, that had you worn a mask there's a strong chance they wouldn't have gotten it, especially if their wearing a mask, too.

It's really simple, but these dumb fucks they are so ignorant they can't even grasp a simple concept, or they don't believe it, that they think it's some kind of a conspiracy to take away their rights. Ironically, they think the mask wearers have been brainwashed. They really do. I know this for a fact. It's crazy, but true. They think the mask wearers are non-thinking conformists being brainwashed to obey authority, and yet, maybe it is the anti-maskers who are being subliminally programmed by some hypnotic suggestion being sent via Mr. Trumpet himself, who in ushering in his final Judgement, needs x amount of sheep for his sacrificial slaughter. I know, that's crazy, too, it goes both ways, the conspiracy for masks or against, but in this case a mask actually has scientific evidence supporting it, and really it's just plain stupid not to. It's like I wonder if these anti-maskers would stop washing their hands, too, if hand washing suddenly became mandated, and people started getting ticketed for not washing their hands in public after using the toilet. They're like spoiled little children throwing tantrums, "You can't tell ME what to do!" It's so pathetic. I am not proud to be an American right now. I tell you that much. Welcome to the idiocracy! It's finally here! Trump has ushered in not the age of Aquarius, but the age of selfish stupidity.

In closing, this is the reality, this is the truth: 

Whether or not you think Covid-19 is serious, being blown out of proportion, or even a hoax, the fact remains that masks do help prevent or mitigate the transmission of disease. To wear a mask is actually a charitable act grounded in kindness and selflessness. It means you're not just looking out for yourself, you're considering the welfare of other people, too. Whereas to refuse to wear a mask is actually very selfish, and is basically a giant "fuck you" to everybody else, saying "I don't care if you get the disease, I'll do as I please".

So, you think about that. When someone is living in a disease outbreak hotspot and refuses to wear a mask because they think it's a hoax, or for whatever reason, unless they fit that tiny percentage of people who have some underlying medical condition that exempts them from wearing a mask, I'm pretty sure these people aren't just stupid, they're probably assholes, too, and wouldn't wear a mask for anything. Even if it wasn't Covid but let's say they are 100% certain they have the flu, and the mask will prevent other people from getting it, these anti-maskers don't care, because their assholes, and that's how assholes act.

At this point the only solution to this problem I feel would be to really step up the enforcement of masks by the issuing of citations, without that, there's no hope, and until that happens, mandatory masks and widespread enforcement, involving giving out "actual fines", and not just "education", and the mandatory firing of any officer or sheriff that refuses to enforce such mandates, this outbreak is going to continue for a long time and it's only going to get worse from here.

Covid-19: Underlying Psychology: The Believers vs. Disbelievers

I'm seeing now primarily two major conflicting points of view concerning Covid-19 and its perceived level of danger or threat to human life.

People that are for wearing masks, people that are against wearing masks. People that are for social distancing, and people against social distancing. People for staying home, people against staying home. People for closing non-essential businesses, people against closing non-essential businesses. You get the idea.

However, I think the most significant opposing viewpoint is between those who think Covid-19 is a serious deadly disease capable of killing millions of people, and those who don't and who think it's being blown way out of proportion, that really it's no big deal, no worse than the flu, or maybe even less severe than the flu -- a threat only to a rather small percentage of the population, primarily the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

Personally, I'm of the viewpoint that Covid-19 is very serious, is very real, isn't being exaggerated, and is a serious threat to all human life with the potential of killing millions. But I'm not a scientist. I'm not an epidemiologist. I'm not a statistician. I'm not even a college graduate. So certainly I'm no expert, nor have I ever claimed to be one. I'm just a blogger with an opinion.

I read a few blogs, and lately I've encountered some that I've been reading for years, that have a completely opposite viewpoint on this subject than I do. Reading their posts made me angry. I felt like commenting, getting into a big debate, but realized it would be a waste of time and energy. I feel so passionate about the subject though, that I'll probably just stop reading their blogs, because I don't find reading ignorant viewpoints enjoyable.

Anyway, I could be wrong about Covid-19. Maybe their right. Only time will tell. But what I noticed reading these opposing viewpoints that there's another notable difference between people's position on Covid-19, and I think it stems from how their lives have been personally affected by it, in terms of personal finances and personal psychology.

For instance, using myself as example, I myself have benefited substantially from the pandemic. My life has not been negatively affected in the least bit. Not only have I not lost my  job, but I've actually made more money, in the form of extra hours and bonuses and so-called hazard pay, plus a stimulus check, that I'm actually better off financially then I was before the pandemic.

Plus, I've been working from home, something that I've always wanted to do. And although it's only temporarily, it's been a big gain for me personally that never would have happened in my current job had this pandemic never happened. I'll elaborate on exactly what these gains have been in another post.

Plus, I'm an introvert and was already social distancing long before this, so no major life change or inconvenience there. I also don't go to restaurants or bars or movie theaters or nail salons or night clubs or gyms or concerts or public sporting events. I pretty much stay away from people as much as I can. So closing those businesses does not in any way negatively effect my life.

In other words, people that don't mind staying home, staying away from people, who have the option of working from home and like it, or that have plenty of financial security to weather the storm for years to come without working, will be least resistant to social distancing, the wearing of masks, the closing of non-essential businesses, and sheltering in place.

On the opposite spectrum of this viewpoint, I'm finding that the people that are more likely to be against the social distancing and the sheltering in place and the closing of non-essential businesses and even the wearing of masks, are more likely going to be people who have either faced financial hardship because of the restrictions, in the form of lost jobs and businesses, or people who are extremely extroverted sociable people who can't stand the idea of not enjoying their favorite social activities with others, like going to restaurants, bars, clubs, concerts, sporting events, etc.

So, if you're an extrovert who lost your livelihood and you can't hang out with your friends and are told to stay indoors by yourself with no income coming in, yeah I can see those people are going to be pissed off by this. Not only are they going to be pissed, their going to do everything in their power to get things back to normal, even if it's far from normal and completely premature, they will look for rationalizations for ending all the restrictions and for downplaying the severity of the pandemic in order to to re-salvage their lives, with no more social distancing, no more masks, going back to work, back to normal, back to business, full-swing, full speed ahead as if nothing is wrong.

It's called living in denial and not facing reality. Meanwhile, if this disease is real, and it's really deadly, not just for the sick and the elderly, but for everybody, it's not going to work out in their favor, and it's not going to be pretty. It's as simple as that.

Wear a Mask!

So, I've been surfing the apocalypse for exactly three months now, or rather it's been three months to the day since I first posted about life in the age of Covid-19. Back on that day, March 27, 2020, there were 102 cases of Covid-19 in my city, now there's over 7000. And my state is now considered a hotspot. We've had an increase of 50,000 new cases in the last 30 days. We're seeing over 3000 new cases a day. Every day seems to be breaking a new record, and I predict that by the end of July the state of Arizona will have well over a 100,000 cases.

What is fueling this increase? It's not just an increase of testing. I'll tell you what it is, it's a bunch of selfish dumb fucks acting like there's nothing wrong, gallivanting about without a care in the world, acting like there's no pandemic, or like it's blown out of proportion and no more serious than the common cold. People in the state of Arizona have not been taking this seriously, they have not been wearing masks and they have not been social distancing. That is what is fueling the outbreak.

Newsflash! Covid-19 is not the flu, nor is it the common cold, it's worse! Earlier on some people loved to downplay the virus, talking about how more people die from the flu every year than the coronavirus, so therefore the coronavirus is not as serious. Well, guess what, that was only true during a very small window of time at the beginning of this crisis, but it's not true anymore. This thing is just getting started. If you hear anybody telling you that the flu is worse, their spouting obsolete inaccurate information, disinformation, and their probably not wearing a mask. It's best you avoid people like that, they're dangerous to your health.

I've never lived around so many stupid people in my life. This resistance to wearing a mask is completely mind boggling to me. I say that because I've been wearing a mask in public since March and only now three months later is it finally being mandated, but not by our dumb fuck ice creme parlor poseur governor, but by our cities mayor, who is now facing death threats and a crowd of angry protesters outside her home everyday ready to lynch her, all because she's requiring people wear masks in public, something that should have been done months ago, because it's the only method that really works.

Oh, these poor pathetic people think it's violating their constitutional rights. They equate wearing a mask with being gagged, with having their freedoms taken away, and enslaved under the bondage of communism. Oh, really, what about my freedom to be safe and healthy, and you not wearing a mask is posing a direct threat to my health and safety.

I'm so fortunate that I have a job that has been allowing me to work from home. I don't know how much longer it's going to last, but I wish it could be forever. Unfortunately, my job normally doesn't allow work from home, and has only enabled this option on a temporary basis, so eventually I'll have to go back and I'm dreading it. As it stands now, I'm only approved to work from home for the month of June, but in light of the outbreak, I suspect it will be extended, but I won't know for sure until next week.

I don't think this virus is going away anytime soon. I suspect it will be with us for at least another year. Things probably won't get back to normal again until 2022, but maybe they'll never get back to normal again. I suspect that we've only seen the beginning of what this virus can do. I predict that hundreds of millions of people will be infected, and the death toll will eventually eclipse what we've ever seen before in modern times.

I predict that it's worse than we thought. That the damage is worse than we thought. It's not just respiratory, but causes damage to the heart and the blood vessels, and now their finding it damages the liver and the pancreas. Who know what else they'll find. And even younger people who only had mild symptoms, may learn that they suffered permanent damage to their health, and there may even be the possibility that people could get it more than once.

No, this virus is far from gone. It's just the beginning. This is still the first wave. Just wait and see what happens when the hospitals are at full capacity, and the health care workers are too sick to do their job, people will be dropping like flies.

So, what can we do? Wear a mask in public! Close all businesses that are impossible to wear a mask, such as restaurants and bars, or only offer take-out. Yeah, people are going to lose their jobs, but our world will survive without restaurants and bars, time to find yourself an essential job, a job that actually matters!

Covid-19 Reference Links

https://covidtracking.com/
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases
https://www.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

Why I've Gotten Slower and How I Can Get Faster

I was wondering how did I go from running a 9 minute mile to an 11 minute mile over the course of four years?

I haven't gotten fat. I don't smoke. I don't use drugs. I have a pretty healthy diet. It could be better I guess, but overall I've been eating healthy for years. I actually drink less beer now then I did then, but I still do drink, so maybe that's a factor, but I drank back then too, so it can't be the primary factor.

As far as I know I don't have any health problems. I feel okay. I've been riding my bike to and from work everyday, six miles round trip, for the last four years. I thought I was in shape. But running an eleven minute mile is not that good, even for my age. So what is the problem?

It just occurred to me. I know why. Or at least I know the probable reason why. Maybe it was obvious to anyone else who has been reading my blog for any extended period of time, if there is even anyone left, but for me, I must be a little slow, because only now did the light bulb in my brain illuminate for me to see, to understand the underlying factor explaining why after four years I am running a mile two minutes slower. 

No, it's not because I stopped running. Or that I'm four years older. Although it's probably part of it, but no that's not it. It's because I stopped going for long walks. I thought I was in better shape now because I've been putting more mileage on my bike. At least six miles a day, nearly everyday. But realistically, when I road my bike to work, it was a 15 minute ride. As you know cycling 3 miles is not equal to running three miles. And it's certainly not equal to walking three miles. Because it's not about distance. It's about time. 

If I walk three miles it will take me anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, versus 15 minutes via bicycle. So that means when you walk three miles your exercising your aerobic capacity for a longer period of time than you get from riding a bike. Same with running. The longer time you spend in an aerobic activity the more exercise you get from it. 

So, that's the factor. That's the difference. Four years ago I was an avid walker. Regularly walking almost everyday, probably because at the time I lived outside the city in a more rural area that had nicer scenery that made walking more enjoyable. It was therapeutic for me. But since I moved and started riding my bike to work, even though it wasn't a long ride, it was kind of stressful, with a lot of pollution from the traffic, combined with the extreme heat, I didn't make time for walking or running, figuring I got enough from the cycling, but really it wasn't enough. 

In my case, I obtained a greater cardiovascular benefit from walking than I did from my riding my bike, simply because I spent more time time walking than I did cycling. Which is why back then when I started running, my first mile running was significantly faster than it is now, because I had a stronger aerobic base from all that walking I had been doing. I could probably get the same benefit from cycling, but it would mean riding for a longer period of time than I have presently been doing. 

I guess that's why they say you should get at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day. Because less than that really isn't enough. And based on personal experience it's not enough to get 30 minutes a day broken up in smaller chunks, you know like 5 minutes here, ten minutes there, but rather you need to get 30 minutes of continuous exercise all at once to get the full benefit. 

Even if you don't become a full-time runner, but engage in other aerobic activities, like walking or cycling or swimming or whatever, doing a mile run at your fastest is probably the best test for gauging your basic cardiovascular fitness level.

How to get faster? Since I'm not quite there I can only speculate based on lessons learned from past experience, that spending more time exercising at a low to medium intensity is your best bet. When training in the lower heart rate zones, walking has the same benefit as running.

So, for me personally, unless your training for a marathon, it's silly to run super slow, particularly if you find that your running speed is actually slower than walking. Believe me, I've been there, and it's ridiculous. You'd be better off walking. Because, newsflash, if you want to run faster, you have to actually run faster.

Walking longer distances will increase your running speed by increasing your endurance, your ability to run further and faster without getting tired out, but when it's time to run, you must run. If your objective is to run faster, there is no substitute for running, walking will just slow you down.

So probably the best way to make it happen, to become a faster runner, is a combination of endurance and speed training. A combination of frequent, long, slow walks and jogs, and shorter, faster runs. 

Running Progress Update: Six Weeks

So, I've incorporated a regular running routine, running three to four days a week, which I've maintained for about six weeks now.

I've made a small amount of progress in that time, increasing my maximum speed by 30 seconds, and doubling my mileage, but with no change to my VO2 max.

The major obstacle has been the heat. I'm not a morning person, and am extremely sensitive to the sun, so have been running exclusively at night, usually running between the hours of nine and ten, but even then it's been really hot, like still in the upper eighties, so it's been more of challenge I guess because of that.

Anyway, since getting back into running again after a four year hiatus, six weeks ago, I ran my first mile in 11 minutes, which is probably the slowest mile I've ever run in my life. My long-term goal is to run a nine minute mile and to maintain that speed over the course of three miles. That's all I want. I don't care to run a marathon, or a half marathon. Running three miles, 4 or 5 days a week, is pretty much where I'd like to be at. If it's good enough for Bruce Lee, it's good enough for me.

So that's the long-term. The short-term goal is to run a 10 minute mile, and to run at least 30 minutes a day at least three days a week.

When I first started I was just running a mile, but my times weren't getting any better. The fastest I had gotten was a 10:30 second mile, but that was running all out near my maximum heart rate. So I learned that if I want to improve my speed I have to build up my endurance by running longer distances at slower speeds. So instead of running for distance, running a mile at maximum effort, I started running for time, running 30 minutes at slower speeds.

I've been experimenting with different techniques, particularly training in different heart rate zones. My latest experiment was to build my aerobic base running in zones 2 and 3. Up until last week I was running slow easy miles, and walking a lot, to keep my heart rate in zones two and three, but not really seeing much progress. I was getting kind of impatient with it actually, and was going to go back to training in zone 4 and 5 this week, when the shit hit the fan yet again.

This week, starting Sunday, I was going to do another mile run test, running all out at VO2 max, but my progress has since been hindered by my city instituting a mandatory curfew, due to the riots and looting, so I haven't run at all since last Friday. Plus we're having another major heat wave this week, hottest temperatures of year, with highs at 108 degrees, which means that even at 9 o'clock at night it will still probably be in the nineties.

So maybe the rest will do me good. Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, the curfew will be lifted next Monday, I'll get back to it, and will do another mile run test Monday night and post my progress in the coming weeks.