How's everyone doing?

SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hiya all

Firstly, big appreciation to all the regulars for continuing to help out, it's really appreciated 🥰

I just wondered how everyone is coping with their isolation?

Me, I'm lucky enough to be working from home.

To keep myself busy outside of work, I've been mainly frequenting my favorite forums, this one is the primary of course, then I'm on a couple of audio forums also.

With little in the way of travelling expenses and food booked in online deliveries for the next two months, I'm "wasting" an awful lot of money on records and audio gear and games! I bought Doom as who the hell wouldn't, but haven't got around to playing it yet. I've bought a few great records off some amazing sellers on my favorite record marketplace, Discogs, and came across an incredible deal on eBay for a pair of Hifiman Sundara Planar Magnetic headphones, the box had been opened but the headphones haven't been touched. The seller, who is a very highly regarded audio shop and website listed them at a starting price of half price. I put one bid on for the starting price thinking it would invariably be outbid fairly quickly as a bidding war ensued, but lo, to my surprise, NO OTHER BIDS! So got an absolute steal on an amazing set of cans!

I live with my elderly parents who are both high risk, so have been extra cautious. I've been isolating since the week before last. I'm not so concerned about myself, but they come first! The only need to go out is going for a long walk at a local national trust park about 10 minutes drive away which we do each morning together to get some exercise and fresh air. Also, my father and I are tending to the garden which is in need of a lot of TLC after a particularly odd winter.

I hope everyone is well and staying safe.

Lots of love and keep those PC's churning 😇
 
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Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
I also live my parents, both 80+ but we found a simple was of isolating, they went to visit family in Australia a couple of months ago and are now there for the foreseeable future. Luckily they like it there and are next to a big park in Perth so have some nice walks. They also have no worries about getting a visa extension or sorting their medications as they have done it before - they were there when the volcano erupted and grounded flights everywhere.

They also have a good memory of getting the visas sorted. They had the standard three month visitor one and went to the office, a nice lady asked to see their passports and chatted away for a couple of minutes then handed them back. Dad asked what they had to do next and she smiled and said come back in three months if you are still here, it's all sorted.

Apart from rambling on on here I am indulging in a favourite hobby of cooking and getting the, most likely, final newsletter of the season for the Football Club I follow together and, as usual, listening to music almost non-stop. The last time I looked at the bottom line on Rhythmbox, I had about 389 days of music in the library. Still got some vinyl not on hard drive yet to do.

I took out a subscription to the Berliner Philharmoniker as soon as we had decent speed broadband and it was well worth it, 150€ a year for regular live streams and an archive of more than 1,000 works. Their last live stream was surreal, Berlin was already stopping large gatherings but they were allowed to play with a well spaced orchestra but no audience. Sir Simon Rattle conducted and gave a short talk before the start, including saying that when they played some modern music the audience was "shall we say select" but this was the first time to an empty house.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Stephen M said:
I also live my parents, both 80+ but we found a simple was of isolating, they went to visit family in Australia a couple of months ago and are now there for the foreseeable future. Luckily they like it there and are next to a big park in Perth so have some nice walks. They also have no worries about getting a visa extension or sorting their medications as they have done it before - they were there when the volcano erupted and grounded flights everywhere.

They also have a good memory of getting the visas sorted. They had the standard three month visitor one and went to the office, a nice lady asked to see their passports and chatted away for a couple of minutes then handed them back. Dad asked what they had to do next and she smiled and said come back in three months if you are still here, it's all sorted.

Apart from rambling on on here I am indulging in a favourite hobby of cooking and getting the, most likely, final newsletter of the season for the Football Club I follow together and, as usual, listening to music almost non-stop. The last time I looked at the bottom line on Rhythmbox, I had about 389 days of music in the library. Still got some vinyl not on hard drive yet to do.

I took out a subscription to the Berliner Philharmoniker as soon as we had decent speed broadband and it was well worth it, 150€ a year for regular live streams and an archive of more than 1,000 works. Their last live stream was surreal, Berlin was already stopping large gatherings but they were allowed to play with a well spaced orchestra but no audience. Sir Simon Rattle conducted and gave a short talk before the start, including saying that when they played some modern music the audience was "shall we say select" but this was the first time to an empty house.
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That's great for your parents, and the temperature is becoming more manageable over there now, should be pretty lovely. My sister and her family live in Brisbane, was going to go out there later this year, but not sure that's going to be possible now.

Glad you're well :)
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
On the front line... doing you all proud!

Until tomorrow when I'm off and then working from home next week!

Can't wait for Risky Business..... Ole time Rock & Roll in my boxers!
 
Rakk

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
I'm enjoying my 'isolation' :)
As an introvert isolation is good :)

But yeah 95+% of my company has been working from home since last Tuesday, so I'm still busy working (you can see I'm working hard right now huh :))

The main problem I'm having is that I am classed as a higher risk person (I do get free flu jabs every year, got a bonus pneumonia one a month ago), but am not in the vulnerable list so although I should try and stay away from everyone really I don't get any help with deliveries and stuff - so I had to brave going to Asda this morning (was running out of diet coke and eggs!) - took ages, so slightly frustrated.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Rakk said:
so I had to brave going to Asda this morning (was running out of diet coke and eggs!) - took ages, so slightly frustrated.
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I’ve popped to our local sainsburies a couple of times, I’ve found if you go around 6pm, it’s a lot quieter and they’ve had a chance to restock the shelves. Avoid the mornings, it’s just crazy, even with the lockdown.
 
Rakk

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
SpyderTracks said:
I’ve popped to our local sainsburies a couple of times, I’ve found if you go around 6pm, it’s a lot quieter and they’ve had a chance to restock the shelves. Avoid the mornings, it’s just crazy, even with the lockdown.
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Ah but trying to work out when they restock the gluten free stuff can be a bit more of a challenge lol (thats why I have too go to the bigger store) - my Sainsburys local doesnt have much GF stuff
 
polycrac

polycrac

Super Star
I'm working from home, doing online classes and so on. Its kinda hard to remind yourself that you are still at work when you are in your home and dressing gown. My wife think it will all be fine but I'm more stressed. I'm in favour of boarding up the door and digging a warren under the house to live in for the next few years. I'm a bit anxious for my parents, they are both elderly and neither is good at doing what they are told. I'm getting some gaming done - mostly Neverwinter Nights, at the moment. May not be a great choice, no spoilers but the main campaign is a bit 'on the nose' right now.

I've got some time off booked for Easter and sadly nowhere to go, so I'm torn between going on a podcast binge and maybe getting onto Roll20 and sorting out an online tabletop game, since I can't play in person. I've been skyping friends most nights and I find that helps. I'm too out of date to help much on the forum but it is good to lurk a bit and take my mind of daily tickers of doom.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1470989553062527
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
SpyderTracks said:
When you say frontline, is that NHS?
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Hahaha no.... aerospace engineering.... apparently we are critical to keeping planes in the sky. Seems like a bit of a cop out to keep the doors open and keep the money flowing through.

I don't mind so much though, at least we all have a job :)

I'm off tomorrow and working from home next week. Our system cannot support all of us working from home (20k+) so we are in alternating teams, week about, and never the twain shall meet.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Scott said:
Hahaha no.... aerospace engineering.... apparently we are critical to keeping planes in the sky. Seems like a bit of a cop out to keep the doors open and keep the money flowing through.

I don't mind so much though, at least we all have a job :)

I'm off tomorrow and working from home next week. Our system cannot support all of us working from home (20k+) so we are in alternating teams, week about, and never the twain shall meet.
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Sorry, gotcha :) It's the same with a guy on another forum working in the Boeing Everett Building in the states, they're all still having to go in. Does seem a bit odd, I'm sure they could handle 2 weeks off from full production.
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Well over here in the cradle of civilisation it's hard to notice much of a difference. That said we're both retired so staying at home isn't so much of a trial. We're used to it here now, the bars, tavernas and cafes all closed here two weeks ago now and we've been in 'lockdown' for a week already. Everyone here is behaving very sensibly, there's no panic buying, the food shops and supermarkets are fully stocked (all other shops are closed) and people are queuing well apart waiting their turn to go into the (numbers limited) supermarkets.

One big difference here from the UK is that we have to get 'permission' to leave the home. There are six valid reasons, pretty much the same as yours, but we have to send a text to a special number with our name, address and a number from 1 to 6 to indicate our reason for being outside. You get a response which just echoes what you just sent but which is timestamped of course (as all texts are). You have to carry your phone and photo ID and the police are stopping people and checking. If the time you're out or the location where you're stopped doesn't match your reason for being out then it's a €150 on the spot fine. Dog walking and personal exercise are allowed (reason number 6) but you can't be more than 1.5km from your home.

I'm spending my time exploring the wealth of information in the Windows Management Interface (WMI) via PowerShell, most instructive. My wife is loving the free operas being streamed by the Metropolitan Opera in New York. They are streaming one full opera a day for free from their website https://www.metopera.org/ and have been since last week. I'm not much of an opera fan and certainly wouldn't pay the huge prices to see one live but I have enjoyed several of the ones they streamed last week. At the moment they're in the middle of the four-opera Ring Cycle by Wagner. It's Seigfried today (the third one), available until 6:30pm EST.

Greece is doing pretty well too, probably because they shut things down very quickly. As of right now there are 892 reported case and only 42 deaths, and that's from a population of 11 million. Here on Crete we have only 10 reported cases and one death (and he was a visiting German professor to the University of Crete who brought it with him from Italy).

So far so good......
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
I find Seigfreid can be hard going at times, it needs to be done really well but the other three are superb.

The determination of who is classed as vulnerable for shopping is a joke, I am but know of several people in a far worse state than me, one a cancer sufferer, who can not get deliveries.

What part of Brisbane Spydertracks. my Uncle used to live a bit further north near Oxenford on the Sunshine Coast.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Stephen M said:
I find Seigfreid can be hard going at times, it needs to be done really well but the other three are superb.

The determination of who is classed as vulnerable for shopping is a joke, I am but know of several people in a far worse state than me, one a cancer sufferer, who can not get deliveries.

What part of Brisbane Spydertracks. my Uncle used to live a bit further north near Oxenford on the Sunshine Coast.
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They’re quite close to there, North Lakes in a massive new estate, it’s really nice.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Nursemorph said:
Glad to hear everyone is keeping well and doing everything they can to remain healthy :)

For me, my life hasn't really changed despite everything. I have been unable to work for nearly 10 years and, as I cannot walk much further than the car park outside my block of flats, I tend to spend almost all my time in my flat (I go somewhere once every couple of months when my Mum drives me)...my routine hasn't actually altered at all. Luckily, I have been able to get plenty of food through a combination of Amazon, Tesco and my amazing Mum.

I spend most of my time either watching TV programmes (though I am gutted that most of the shows I watch will have truncated seasons due to the current issues :cry: ) or playing Forza Horizon 4 on my recently bought PCS system (I love my computer and the monitor I bought and am still amazed at the graphics every time I play the game). For the last 6 years I have been efffectively self-isolating (only really see my Mum once a week when she visits to bring shopping or help with housework) so I have just carried on as before.

Best wishes to everyone and hope you all keep safe x
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Big love going out to you and your mum! What shows are you into?
 
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