COVID-19 Stuff

[Rune Lai]

Mar 20, 2020 16:56:56 GMT -5 Roas said:

So, again, I apologize for obviously offending you since you are a Disney employee, which means you have a right to fire back at me.

But I will hold to my belief that Disney has become a blight on entertainment.

They own too much. Control too much.

Apology accepted. And that's a legitimate opinion to have. I know you're given to ranting, which is why I didn't say anything during previous Disney/Marvel/Star Wars rants, but that particular jab hit close to home since taken literally, I was in the crosshairs, and I spoke up mostly because I'd like you to keep your stabbing towards the execs or the movie directors and not those of us much farther down the totem pole. Most of us rank and file are just doing our jobs as best we can.

Mar 21, 2020 13:10:47 GMT -5 Solana said:

Hey, Rune, I didn't realize you work for Disney. That's pretty cool. I see that they're doing more publishing things, and as a contributor to getting one of my favorite series (The Waterfire Saga) to me, I thank you most heartily for that.

I totally did not work on that at all. >.> (I was previously in games, but am currently in the services arm working with translators on mobile apps.) But if that is the series where the slang "merl" is used, I know an editor I can forward your gratitude too.

Back to COVID-19 stuff, California's got locked down further. We're not supposed to go outside for anything other than essentials, and testing is largely being halted for anyone other than medical staff or patients whose treatment would change if identified as COVID-19 positive. Basically, they've given up one trying to identify people for quarantine because there are just too many cases. Even if they knew who all had it, the ones able to ride it out at home are going to be told to do that, and the people in medical distress (COVID-19 or no) need to go to the hospital. (Obviously staff still need to be tested though, so infected doctors and nurses don't spread it.) So everyone's more or less mandatory stay at home now.

I'm still all right, living off my stored food. Casserole is mostly gone at this point, but I made some biscuits with a mix I'd had sitting around for a while and they were still good. Probably will use up the last of my fresh veggies with scrambled egg muffins tomorrow. I still have frozen and canned greens though, so I'm not out entirely. It occurs to me that I also have jello packets leftover from my operation last year, when I couldn't eat solid food, and it might be worth making some for snacks.

Work continued to be busy all through the end of the week. Honestly, if it wasn't for sheltering at home and the constant stream of pandemic news it could have been a normal week. My writing group even got together using Google hangouts since we couldn't meet in person.

[Solana]

Mar 21, 2020 22:40:22 GMT -5 Rune Lai said:

Mar 21, 2020 13:10:47 GMT -5 Solana said:

Hey, Rune, I didn't realize you work for Disney. That's pretty cool. I see that they're doing more publishing things, and as a contributor to getting one of my favorite series (The Waterfire Saga) to me, I thank you most heartily for that.

I totally did not work on that at all. >.> (I was previously in games, but am currently in the services arm working with translators on mobile apps.) But if that is the series where the slang "merl" is used, I know an editor I can forward your gratitude too.

Yes, that is where that came from! Oh, please, please do forward that gratitude. I re-read that series a few times a year and love it. (Especially with all the ocean puns. So many delightful ocean puns.)

My sister-in-law works at a hospital and was even wondering if she should come visit us due to the risk. (She's the type that would be as anal as me about PPE, so we said of course. I work in biohazard every day, after all.)

Even our local Metro is asking people not to use it for non-essential travel, and it's been really clean lately. (Technically I can hoof it between the parking lot and building, but I work in a really bad area of the city where there had been a rise in attacks.)

[Solana]

My university is working on three separate clinical trials involving this, in addition to new types of ventilators to fill the need. (One of my friends got a huge shock when he was checking the mice in someone's room and there were cages marked for a coronavirus trial. No, they hadn't been infected yet, but he hadn't realized that right away.) Our state also instigated a two week lock down, and I'll need a letter in my car as an essential employee.

I take a lot of pride working somewhere that's trying to figure this out and contributing in my way. The lab animal attendants are as important as any name on a research paper. (One researcher told me that we were actually "more".)

[Rune Lai]

Hopefully you guys get some good information from your trials! My work doesn't have any plan for returning yet and my management team is just setting up biweekly conference calls under the assumption this is gonna last well into next month (no one's openly talking about longer, but we'll see).

I'm probably going to venture out sometime in the next few days just to make sure my car gets some exercise (don't want the battery to die on me from non-activity). Since I don't want to drive just for the sake of driving I'll probably go to the grocery store and dip in and out really quick for some fresh food. I've still got a good store of frozen/dried stuff.

[Solana]

I'll pass on what I find out. We're getting hazard pay, and next week will switch over to half staff weeks. (Half of us in one week, then the other half, and so on.) To my delight, the weekend schedules are done with. The work we do can be brutal, and nine hours just wasn't working for me, so I cheered at that.

Atlantis is closing through my trip. I'm disappointed, and also have to think up a suitable new bribe for my future minions (rum treats for my grasping of power via a training role), but I wouldn't want to get sick/get someone down there sick.

Besides, I have a plan. Delta uses Atlanta as a layover on the way to Nassau. Reschedule when it's safe, spend two days in Atlanta and visit the Georgia Aquarium, the Western Hemisphere's largest, and then on to my beloved Atlantis! I shall see ALL the cute fish in one trip and save the airfare to just Georgia. THEY HAVE WHALE SHARKS!!!

[Rune Lai]

Wait, they can fit whale sharks in an aquarium?

That's too bad about your trip, but at least you're able to come up with a workaround for a future vacation.

My writing conference is being moved virtually so it can keep the same dates, but they're allowing people to change their tickets to 2021 if they want to attend the next in person event instead, and to keep travel logistics similar, they're going to use the same hotel, same city (since it otherwise moves every two years). I think I'm going to move to the 2021 date, since a big part of the conference to me is attending in person. The virtual stuff is all right, but I primarily go to meet and make friends. The panels, while educational, are a secondary benefit.

[Solana]

AH, I didn't know you could go swimming with them! Yes, they have three, and were showing on an episode of the show trying to do a blood draw on one. Shark blood clots very quickly, so they needed two tries. Then they had to give the sweetheart some steroids to clear up some inflammation.

A friend of mine at work is making cloth masks, and I'm bringing in extra elastic for her and paying for materials for two for me, two for my favorite researcher. (Liming has respiratory issues and has been reusing disposable masks.) I want them to protect my lungs against dust from bedding and food when filling cages, and from the cleaning spray I use on the walls in biohazard.

[Rune Lai]

I was going to do a food run to the Chinese bakery today, but digestive track had other thoughts last night, so I'm restricting my diet to simple foods for a while. Thankfully, I've got canned chicken noodle, plain old chicken broth, and frozen chicken all in stock at home so I can do simple. Kinda wish I had some plain bread, but don't want to chance driving until I feel better.

Got news that my city is now offering grocery deliveries to senior citizens, those with disabilities, and people with underlying health conditions so they don't have to go out and brave the stores. Each package comes with several pounds of food along with soap, disinfectant, and toilet paper. Makes me really happy to see my local government isn't being idle. (I'm only in L.A. county, not the city of.)

[Solana]

Well, PETA made a complaint about us about how things are going down in the university during this pandemic. As usual, they got their information wrong and can shove it.

One supervisor was showing mine the article. I was going to flip off the screen, then mentioned that I probably shouldn't do that while trying to get a promotion, and told them I was doing it mentally instead. With both hands.

[Rune Lai]

I'm being furloughed. But the execs are biting the bullet too. Everyone in my business unit from executive on down is going to be twiddling their thumbs in two weeks if they're not essential staff (like I imagine the security guards are still working to make sure no one vandalizes the campus while we're gone).

Being furloughed means you're still employed, but your employer is not paying you. Normally you can't collect unemployment during this time, but because of the emergency covid legislation that went through, I'll be able to do that. And part of the emergency legislation is supposed to add another $600/week on top of unemployment, so this means that most people being furloughed will continue to be paid a decent percent of their salaries as if they were still working (unless you're making gobs of money, in which case you likely don't need it). Doing rough napkin map for myself, I think I'll be getting around 90%. I was on medical leave part of last year though, so I'm concerned the state will look at that and think I earn less than I do.

Even if it doesn't, it still kinda sucks, but because we're not actually being laid off, we'll keep our health insurance and other benefits, and I suspect this is mostly happening now because the legislation is allowing for it. As intended, it's easing the burden on businesses by allowing them to temporarily stop paying their staff, but also pays the employees a decent amount so they can support themselves until things get better and they can go back to work.

[Rune Lai]

Follow-up after a staff meeting yesterday. I might not be furloughed. They're still trying to decide who is essential staff, and the thing is some parts of the company are still able to function. (Obviously not the parks, but online streaming services for example.) So staff needed to maintain those functions will be kept working since they're bringing in revenue for the company when the rest of it is hurting. I'm in a support arm of the business unit, and my boss is hopeful that means our department will suffer relatively low impact. But we're still waiting for word from higher up than his pay grade to make the call. So I probably won't actually know anything until later next week.

[Solana]

Good luck, Rune!

We switched to an alternating schedule with half the staff on one week, half the next. With no trainer, I've been stepping in to get the newbies taught on things like filling IVC bottles, starting clean side, and getting the tunnel washer started. (Poor Kebede. Our manager was late due to traffic and we had no one over there, so I grabbed the one newbie available, dragged him over there, and gave him a tutorial on getting the machine cleaned and started.)

I also had a good moment. One of the goals I gave myself was to get better at catching malocclusions in mice. When their teeth don't quite line up, they'll overgrow instead of being worn down, and they can starve to death. I spotted a mouse that was skinny and undersized, and it was caught early enough to get a trim, some injected fluids, and some moistened feed.

My youngest brother's hours have been cut in half, and there have been cases in my sister-in-law's hospital. My nephews miss my parents, and my younger brother isn't quite wanting to go with the social distancing, but there's no choice. My nephews are so young, my parents are just in the range of being high risk, and with my fibro it would probably kick my ass. A cold or bronchitis knocks me down.

Who else is planning one hell of a reunion party when things are safe?

[Rune Lai]

I made it! The furlough notifications came down today and I managed to dodge it. Phew. Most of my department did as well, though not everyone.

I definitely would like a reunion party with my family once this is over. My dad's birthday is coming up. Obviously that's gonna have to be postponed, but having a belated one would be the perfect reason to get the family together again.

[Solana]

YAY!!!!

[skylark]

Nice! Glad things worked out for you.