Sledgstone

I mentioned it to Strider in a status update.. apparently the stimulus package gives everyone on unemployment an extra $600 a week for up to 4 months. https://www.businessinsider.com/stimulus-package-unemployment-benefits-increase-2020-3 That seems like alot of money. I'm guessing its so people can get the COBRA insurance and be able to afford health insurance. I'm guessing alot of people wont do that and will bank the money instead. I know unemployment doesn't pay your full amount of your normal weekly pay, but damn.. I bet alot of people on unemployment will be making more money than what they were getting just for working. Its like Andrew Yang's plan of giving everyone money every month is getting kicked up a notch and is being tested right now. Between the $1200 for everyone and unemployment bonus, the government will be passing out cash left and right.

I think people aren't taking it serious yet because of politics. (Beginning rant) Texas has alot of republican people. I mention it because alot of republican people watch Fox News.. and for the first 2-3 months of coronavirus Fox News basically told everyone it was either a hoax, a common cold, nothing to be taken seriously, etc (echoing what Trump's opinion of it at the time except more embellished). Only recently have they actually given a shit and reported the actual news and severity of it (because Trump did as well). And of course people say "the impeachment distracted Trump and the media from emphasizing how severe this is"... ah sure.. Trump was so distracted he still golfed like 20 days and had time to plan a superbowl party. And yes, all the cable news talked about nothing but the impeachment shit, but thats why people have to watch and read actual news. AP, Reuters & NPR and others have been reporting on this since day one. (End rant) I think the other thing is that theory about "we already had it in January"... I'm really starting to doubt that especially now since there is 300+ local cases and another person in my county died last night bringing it up to 3 and a second Centro bus driver and some farmers the next county over have now been diagnosed with it which means alot of people have already been exposed all over the area.. Thats alot of sick people simultaneously in roughly a 2-3 week span for something we all got back in January. And I've read where people say that face masks wont necessarily help you from catching it.. true.. buts its good at preventing others from catching it from you... well if thats the case, we should all wear face masks because we don't know who is asymptomatic or not. If we all have a mask on then the guy shopping at walmart near me who has it but not showing symptoms won't spread it to me.. or if I get it and don't know, I could help others by having a mask on. *puts on face mask* Oh, and Lady's dad is getting out of the nursing home this weekend, he had knee surgery and had to be in a nursing home for recovery. Hes a prime target for Covid19. If he gets this, theres a damn strong chance it'll kill him. He gets hospitalized by the flu or phenomena once a year, I don't see how he could survive this.

Yeah she had some medical issues that definitely did not help her overall health fighting the flu. No real changes here still an overall lockdown with no end date set. Schools have been closed for weeks now, all non essential businesses are all still closed. Any restaurants still open are all drive through only or curbside pickup, but more restaurants are laying everyone completely off and closing weekly. Theres a local plastic manufacturing plant that has new contracts to mass produce face shields for hospitals so they seem ok, we have great hospitals in this area so there's only been 2 deaths so far here, over 300 cases as of right now in my local county. It sounds like NYC is a night and day difference to the rest of the state, they sound screwed. Everyone is finally starting to wear face masks and old people seem to finally be staying at home. The restrictions on purchases at the stores does seem to work out. Still limited selections at Walmart and you can only buy 1 package of toilet paper, but it's actually in stock (only 4 packs there earlier today on all those empty shelves but it was there) because they're forcing ppl to not hoard purchase. I think once everyone gets a stimulus check/direct deposit the stores will be a mad house again. Theres no curfew but it's like everyone is doing it on their own here. I bought fast food tonight for dinner and the parking lot for burger king, arbys, and 15 other stores and restaurants around 6:30pm only had about 15 total cars out of an area that would normally be packed with hundreds. It was a bit unsettling. All the local schools have been delivering school breakfast and lunches to families with kids so all the bus drivers are still working. They go to all their normal stops but instead of picking up kids, a parent comes out to the bus and takes their food package that's sitting at the door. And it's for all kids not just kids on low income. And all the kids now have chrome books and the teachers are doing lesson plans over the internet. And any kids without internet got discounted and/or temporary free high speed internet until this passes. For an unexpected epidemic I think this state is handling it pretty well for the most part. And while I haven't/wont always agree with governor Cuomo's ideas and actions (political stuff, nothing at all with what he's doing right now during all this though), he's done a damn good job of keeping everyone in the state well informed.

Its recommended 37.5 grams of sugar per day for men!? According to my macros I'm eating 47-50 grams per day. I use too much sugar in my coffee. I'm glad I don't drink soda along with my 5 cups of coffee a day or I'd be blowing that number up inside my body. My doctor and just about every other doctor around here recommends vitamin D supplements. Winter is half the year here and we all wear coats and multiple layers. Half the year only our faces are exposed to actual sunlight and only in small amounts. x_x

Yeah, no way I'll be waiting in a line with a bunch of sick people to get tested. X_x About that flu test though... I think they might be faulty. My brothers sister in law that was getting tested for covid19 did not test positive for the flu for the first 2 tests. She was tested weekly. First 2 weeks negative for flu, when they took her in to the hospital she was on deaths door. Took 24 hours to stabilize her. They tested her for covid19 and it came back negative, but a third test for flu came back positive. Wtf. The flu can be just as deadly as covid19, all depends on the person's health. The doctors think she had the flu the entire time.

He does make a good point though. Everyone nowadays eats up negativity like its a buffet meal with endless steak and fried food. Its like that with everything, tho, cable news, etc. Everyone either hate watches or watches someone that hates something they agree with hating. I was watching a cinemassacre video the other day, it was one of the James and Mike play ones.. maybe the wheel of fortune ep? If I feel up to it I'll check. They actually talked about it like a week ago about how their negative videos do much better and they joked about making all new videos have horrible negative sounding titles for click bait because thats what youtube is now.

You stay safe too slippers! I heard about that theory that corona has been here for a while now. I will say tho, it was in early January I was horrible sick. Lasted a solid two weeks with 4 of those days I was mostly bedridden with weakness and asthma issues. I figured it must have been a strong ass flu. I still think thats probably what it was tho. Seems odd that if its been going around for that long already, NYC is only now getting slammed with it just in the last couple weeks. Honestly, I hope that is what we had so we don't have to worry about it now. 😕

ewwww. I did have a coworker once that loved mayo as a dipping sauce for french fries. I'd see her pound down an order of steak fries with like an entire cup of mayo. Somehow she was skinny as hell. I went out Saturday to buy some cigarettes from the natives and I was shocked at how many people were driving all over the place. wtf. Everywhere is closed except Walmart and Lowes in that area and there was easily as much traffic as a typical Saturday. These people need to stay the fuck at home. x_x btw, I don't smoke but Lady does. and NY tax on cigarettes is bullshit. 1 carton of 10 cigarette packs will cost you $100 at a gas station because the tax is more than the cost of the product. But if you go to a native store and buy their brand its $32 a carton. Huge price difference. Needless to say the natives were slamming with business. The one super large shop I usually go to was closed because they kept having lines of vehicles stretching out onto the highway so the state had to shut them down. The other natives run their smoke shop out of a gas station so its an "essential business". Drive through only and that line stretched around the building and down the road. I was in line for a solid hour. wtf. I bought her a 1 1/2 month supply just so I won't have to go there again. If I have to go again I'll take a day off and go in the morning on a weekday to beat the rush. Never going there on a weekend again. Oh and the natives around here don't technically have to follow any quarantine restrictions, since they are on their own sovereign lands. But because of the one shop having lines stretching out onto the state highway they had to shut down.. the different nations are also following the guidelines too and they did shut down the Turning Stone casino and canceled all concerts and events a while back. I went out Sunday around 5:30 for some fast food because its been almost 3 weeks since we had any and we wanted a break from cooking. Turns out that same area wasn't nearly as busy. I'm guessing Saturday was the last pay day check rush for a while. At least until everyone gets a stimulus check.

March games are still available at the moment. Shadow of the Colossus and Sonic Forces April games:

So true. Definitely how it works in USA. Check out this pic on this link, hard to see because the quality is crap. But there's Bush signing that $700+ billion stimulus last time and right behind him is Pelosi and McConnell with big ass grins on their faces. I can practically hear them thinking "these banks and corporations are going to owe us huge!" And looks like they're still doing fine for themselves and their campaigns all these years later, yeah. And they'll probably be in another pic with Trump signing this stimulus package to. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/02/20080213-3.html And yeah I didn't know about that IV bag thing either until the other day. I think it was mentioned in that Joe Rogan episode.. or some other video I watched. Flipping crazy to have that all sourced from one location only. And it turns out China makes the majority of our countries medicine and our country has like no significant national stockpiles of meds or medical equipment.. wtf.

This entire stimulus is based off the last republican stimulus and bail out packages that Bush and everyone passed in 2008. Bush bailed out the banks, the auto industry and sent everyone checks. But because it was happening during an election year and Obama was very popular at that point doing multiple interviews and being asked about it repeatedly, people ended up associating the entire massive bailout with him. It was all Bush, Obama and others actually praised Bush for parts of it. Theres alot of interview videos with Bush about it on youtube, most with hardly any views. I got a $300 check from the government that year once Bush signed it into effect. Everybody that was a taxpayer got checks sent out to them. They sent the checks out to the same addresses on file that everyone got their tax refunds sent to. I remember we didn't have to do any paperwork or anything. Just wait for a check to come in the mail like a bonus tax refund. Thats probably why they sent the checks out like they did.. simple, easy, all those taxpayers with addresses already on file and no need to hire a government agency to oversee it. Back in 2008 everyone was hoarding whatever cash they had in case they lost their jobs. So to boost the economy they sent the checks out and sure enough quite a few people spent that money. But with how the economy is now, them sending out money to everyone should also help because its money that will be spent, either on rent, mortgages, bills, etc. And people that didn't loose their jobs will most likely spend it too on extra stuff around their local businesses. I'd say they should do a separate stimulus that focuses on small business's, but I don't think they can filter out who actually needs the help or not without having it get abused to all hell. I can't find the video off hand, but it was like a 5 years ago I remember watching a Bush interview on tv where the person asked him about it all again and how he feels about Obama getting credit for it. He was like "It was all me. I bailed them out." he was disappointed he wasn't getting acknowledged for it. I will say though, I think over half the republicans at the time didn't like the bailout. Thats probably why they were able to get public opinion to shift this over to being associated with Obama. The news was manipulative as all hell back then just like it is today.

I'm glad so many companies are now doing work from home. The company I work for has been doing it for years already. I'm happy with my job, but it'll be nice to see new potential job offerings in the future that actually have telecommuting as an option because it'll open up the workforce across the country instead of only hiring locally. The potential for higher paying jobs will be available to more people in more diverse locations as long as employers keep their work from home options available. Its actually cheaper for the employers too because they don't have to pay for offices, computers, software licenses, power, etc. since all that falls on the home employee. Assuming the workflow stays the same to justify the work from home option. I think that will be the real test for alot of these companies doing this for the first time. Not everyone is suited with the mentality for working from home. It is alot of self isolation and full of potential distractions. I'm a bit anti-social so its never bothered me. But I know some people that went a bit nuts and craved human interaction so bad they either had to quit or go out to a store or something every single lunch break just to see people and start a random conversation with a stranger. It takes a while, but that going crazy from isolation feeling kicks in for people after about a month. In other news: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-lt-gov-dan-patrick-suggests-he-other-seniors-willing-n1167341 I have a feeling Trump and others will lift the quarantine within 2 weeks instead of a month, because the economy and stocks are more important that old people's lives. And the coronavirus stimulus package that could send money out to people sounds like a shit show. Republican version wants all citizens taxpayers to get a one time check for roughly $1200 but corporations gets massive bailouts with no real oversight. Meanwhile the democrats must be smoking a shit ton of medicinal marijuana because some are wanting their version of the stimulus to waive up to $30,000 off everyone's student loans. Like that would ever pass. If theres money for getting student loans paid off, why not waive my credit card debt too dems? Or maybe my brother's medical debt? wtf. Or maybe they could make it so all that student loan debt is now zero percent finance and put that bailout money towards medical products or food stamps for the needy that are all freshly unemployed. Meanwhile everyone thats losing their jobs from this are losing their health insurance at the same time because they'll always be connected together in this country because its how our health insurance industry is set up. I wonder how long rural hospitals / doctor offices will be able to stay open when a large chunk of people don't have insurance to pay for their visits. Those places will have to take the hit while they send out past due notices to patients that might never pay them. One of my local doctor's offices already closed for the foreseeable future. They have one employee working 4 hours a day over the phone only, basically doing refills and telling anyone with an issue to go to an urgent care facility instead. Apparently it made more sense for them to lay off the entire staff and close up shop and fully re-open in 2-3 months instead of actually helping during this situation. Thankfully this isn't the doctor I go to. Also, turns out one of my specialist doctor's I've seen in the past is now offering video appointments. I like that some doctor's are actually coping with the situation instead of just denying their services.

I hear ya about the frozen food prices. Walmart definitely cannot be beat on those prices. I like making hot meals for dinners, but lunches or dinners in a pinch for me is deli sandwiches. Thankfully my local stores are pretty much the same prices if not cheaper when it comes to deli meat, bread, lettuce, tomatoes, and other produce. I can make a quick sahlen's ham sandwich with lettuce, tomato and some wishbone fat free italian dressing (I swear this tastes exactly like regular Italian dressing but only 15 calories a serving, it's my go to condiment for sandwiches and salads and tastes great) and have some chips on the side or an apple. Probably $6 for the ham, $2 for a loaf of bread, $2.50 for a bag of salad or $1 for a head of lettuce, $1 for a large tomato, $3 for a bag of apples or chips. $3 for the dressing (but that lasts like 4 months). I could get like 7 meals out of that for around $20 or less. It's definitely more expensive than walmart frozen food prices, but my local stores frozen food meal prices, depending on the size are like $1.50-2 a piece if not on sale. I think the deli sandwich route is a little more costly, but if I get wunderbar bologna or cheap store chopped ham, either for $2 a pound instead of getting the quality ham, it'd be roughly the same price at my local store. I mention all that because both of my local stores have not once run out of deli meat or produce during all this panic shopping and hoarding. Probably because deli meat only lasts in the fridge for 5-7 days max. But as long as I can get some american cheese slices I can make grilled cheese with all that extra bread for extra sandwiches. Or if bread is out if stock, I get tortillas to make wraps or quesadillas (if I can get shredded cheese instead of american slices). I'm glad the deli departments haven't been that affected because I'll eat deli meat at least 3 days a week, sometimes I'll eat just the meat in a couple slices as a snack. I definitely think the hoarding will come to an end soon, mostly because ppl wont have the money to keep doing it. But if those stimulus checks get sent out, I will buy up groceries a couple days before that because I'm sure everyone will hoard again. Edit: And I will definitely buy some bacon jerky next time I can find some at the store. I had no idea Jack's links made it either. Lol.

I have never heard of bacon jerky until right now. I need to try it. My brother's walmart has restrictions in place to limit how much everyone can buy. Good news is he said today was the first day they had stuff in stock at the end of his shift. He said they had toilet paper and paper towels in stock all day long for over 8 hours. He said the main key was to have the limit of 1 product per customer. Everyone was limited to buying only a single package of toilet paper regardless of the size of the package. In the the end it helped curb the hoarding. Every store I've been too in the last week and a half have all had a limit of 2 of anything in high demand. Maybe having that reduced to 1 of anything is what needs to happen at every store to curb the hoarding. My friend's buddy is one of those "don't let anything go to waste" people and he hunts.. so you don't know what you're missing until you've tried pickled venison heart chunks. It was ok, but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat it again. But I'd rather eat that than deer liver again. Just eww. Liver is a texture I don't think I'll ever enjoy.

This is a bit of a spoiler because its casting news for a character, but if they're already announcing it I guess its not a giant spoiler that this person will be in the show now.. *hyped*