ScottSevener.com

Two thoughts that I’ve been mulling about recently that I wanted to share…

Assume Positive Intent – This is a perspective that I stumbled upon from Automattic’s CEO and it’s something that I think offers a lot of value for a reluctantly cynical person like myself. It’s so easy to expect the worst from people, and sure, sometimes it’s what you get, but sometimes it’s not and let’s be honest, which one is a happier state of mind to maintain?

Stop Looking at Things as Absolutes – This one is really an attempt to counter a lot of the hoax-based mentality that more and more people are grappling onto lately whenever they see the slightest thing that tilts COVID-19 arguments in their favor. For example:

• “Hospitals are classifying any death as COVID-19, so all of the data is garbage!”
• “The virus is smaller than the holes in your mask, so masks are useless!”

Of course, the reality for both of these arguments is that it simply doesn’t work like that.

The reporting data is going to have flaws, but it doesn’t mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater and forgo any sort of measure of the virus’s progress whatsoever!

And sure, the microscopic virus particles themselves are super small, but the main way that we’re concerned about them spreading is through saliva, which is definitely big enough for a mask or even just a bandana to slow down!

From another angle, myself I’ve been kind of trying to combine both of these two ideas as I encounter others out and about who may not be taking the exact same precautions as I am…

For starters, tonight when I ran to the store, I had Christopher try wearing a mask, too, so that he could start to get used to it for when Sara finishes the ones that she’s making for our whole family. He didn’t wear it the whole time, and sometimes he wore it under his nose, and he touched his face a bit, but it’s something, and he’s a kid, and he’s learning.

Likewise, we encountered several people who either weren’t wearing masks or were walking the wrong way down the aisles. My first instinct was to get upset, but then I noticed that a family that had gone the wrong way down the aisle in front of me was in fact wearing masks … so at least they were trying. 

Even the ridiculous cashier I had a few days ago who wore her mask underneath her nose because otherwise it was hard for her to breathe … at least she was doing something, and sometimes I think we’re pushing so hard and we’re so stressed out that we don’t want to stop and give ourselves or others credit simply for trying.

Sure, those masks weren’t as effective as they could’ve been, but the people wearing them had positive intent and I think that should count for something.

I know that when I’m doing my best and still slipping up, I’d much rather people pay attention to the good rather than my mistakes… 😛

I know that this virus has been tough on people financially in a variety of ways, so I wanted to share a handful of discounts that we’ve stumbled upon recently to help put a little cash back in our pockets…

Verizon – Monthly Discount for Nurses
Their verification app was a little clunky, but after looking up and providing Sara’s state license #, the next day Verizon confirmed we’d be getting $25/month off of our cell phone bill … plus next month it’ll be $50 because they didn’t have time to do it for this bill cycle!

Progressive Auto Insurance – Free Meal +20% Off
A couple of weeks ago I was surprised to find an email in my inbox with a $50 Uber Eats coupon, also because my wife is a nurse. This one was triggered automatically, I assume because I listed our professions when I signed us up. They’re also supposed to be giving everyone 20% off their auto premiums for April and May, though I haven’t seen anything on this one for April yet…

(I believe Geico and USAA and some others are offering premium discounts, too…)

Electric Co-Op – Capital Credit Refund
Now this one may be unique to us but because our electric company is a co-op, they issue a refund each year for the excess profits that they collected. This normally comes around Christmastime, however they decided to do it early this year due to COVID and as a result, our next bill has a $60 credit on it!

Student Loans – Refinancing for Deferred Payments & Interest
This last one is a doozy, and it’s still up in the air because I won’t fully believe it until I see it, but long story short – Sara’s student loans didn’t qualify for the interest and payment waivers from the CARES Act because apparently her loans aren’t technically owned by the US Department of Education.

…even though they started out that way…

Regardless, a few weeks ago we started the process of consolidating them, which in theory should move them back under the Dept. of Education and basically put everything on hold until Sept. 30, That’s five months of no student loan payments or interest, so if it works, that’s definitely the biggest savings opportunity currently on our plate!

TALK TO YOUR BANKS
One other thing I’ll note that isn’t really a discount, but if you’re really struggling because maybe you’re out of work or have reduced hours or additional expenses, I’d strongly recommend getting a hold of your bank(s) … mortgage, credit cards, car loan … anyone who loans you money, and ask what options they have for forbearance.

We did this during a hurricane where we evacuated a few years ago. I made a list of everyone we made payments to and many of them had info right on their websites about what to expect. Because most of our banking is with one bank, with one somewhat long phone call, I think I temporarily eliminated over a grand out of our monthly budget by getting credit card payments and other loan payments waived.

You definitely need to read all of the terms to understand whether you’ll owe a lump sum at the end or if payments are just tacked onto the end of your loans (I think this was more common), but most businesses are willing to work with you if they’re aware that you’re struggling and otherwise just might not pay them!

I think today was the first day that I actually set foot inside of a restaurant for more than like 30 seconds, and it was very uncomfortable and weird.

I decided to grab lunch from Firehouse Subs, but their app wasn’t working so I had to go inside to place my order. The place looked as if they were getting ready to tear up the floors – all of the tables and chairs had been piled in the corners except for a single row of tiny two-seaters against the wall opposite the counter. A table with cups and lids was setup in front of the drink station so that no one would have to hand you your cup. And a stack of high chairs served as a barricade to provide extra distance between customers and the cashier.

There were a couple of X’s in tape on the floor to indicate where people were supposed to wait, but there was only one other guy sitting at a table by himself eating his lunch, so it didn’t really matter.

Surprisingly, there were like four or five employees on the other side of the counter, which seemed excessive, but I suppose it was later in the afternoon so maybe it was busier earlier.

For the last month and a half, I’ve pretty much exclusively gotten my food through drive-thrus and curbside service, and even Panera the other day brought my food out to me instead of me going in just to grab it off of their takeout shelf.

The other day I drove through the mall and admittedly it was very strange to drive past restaurants and see tables full of people, even spaced far apart.

I’d imagine it’s even more uncomfortable for the employees working at these places.

I’ll be honest – all of this talk about Reopening America™ makes me very uncomfortable.

It’s like everyone agreed that this phased approach with gradual openings based on a downward trajectory of cases made sense, and then a few days later they decided to just skip the data part and go right to putting things back the way that they were!

I mean, yesterday we just had our second-worst day of new cases ever at 36,007, so how are we even talking about this right now?!

I just look at places like Jacksonville where they reopened the beaches and people claimed that they were acting responsibly and social distancing, even though a lot of them weren’t. I’ll admit that even just walking around Walmart, it can be hard to do when there’s just a ton of people and you need to grab a box of Frosted Flakes that this lady has been standing in front of for the last five minutes.

I worry that things are going to go back to normal, and people will basically ignore that Coronavirus ever existed … and then cases and deaths will spike like we never could’ve imagined in the last month and a half that we tried to keep this under control.

Yes, I get that we can’t just live inside forever and that a lot of businesses are hurting from not being able to be opened right now, but this disease isn’t something that’s just going to go away because Americans got bored with it and Trump needed our economy to rebound for his reelection campaign.

One of the arguments I’ve heard is, “You can stay inside if you want, but let the rest of us do what we want…” and there’s a part of me that would be ok with that if there was any sense that the people saying it would still follow the guidelines and keep safe distances from each other and generally take COVID-19 seriously. Yet instead when they do go out, they gather in huge crowds and wave semi-automatic weapons on the capital lawn and rant about how awful vaccines are … and I just can’t.

Right now as I write this, we’re finally at the high-water mark of the 65,000 deaths caused by the last flu season … two months into COVID-19 … and with no actual sign of it slowing down anytime soon.

There’s a good chance that by the end of June, we’ll be over 100,000 deaths and 1.5M cases, and I fear that the more lax we get about reopening the country, the more we’re just going to blow right past those figures like the first couple of months were nothing.

It’s like we’re living the movie Jaws and I guess I just really don’t want anyone else to get eaten by this shark…

I know that it all seems like kind of a blur…

• 3/12 – 3/16 : Businesses across the country, including Florida’s entire tourism industry, ground to a halt. Public schools followed. My job announced remote work for employees in the USA. Toilet paper was surprisingly hard to find!
• 3/27 : A $2.2 trillion dollar stimulus package – the largest in US history – was passed by Congress; US surpassed Italy with 100,000 cases of COVID-19; healthcare workers struggle for PPE to protect themselves against the virus.
• 3/31 : Public schools began their crash course in virtual learning.
• 4/3 : The CDC advised everyone to start wearing masks in public to help further slow the spread.
• 4/6 : US total cases exceeded 350,000; death toll passed 10,000 people.
• 4/14 : US total cases exceeded 600,000; US death toll passed 25,000 people.
• 4/16 – 4/17 : Protests erupted in several states over social distancing measures. President Trump unveiled plans for reopening American economy, despite no discernible decline in in new cases or deaths.

In many ways, time feels like it’s standing still because it takes so much effort just to get from one day to the next, only to have it look pretty much like it did the day before.

Somebody should make a movie like that! Do you think that Bill Murray would be available???

It definitely concerns me to see so much restlessness in our country right now because looking at the numbers and the continuing struggles for medical supplies, I don’t really think we’re ready to be talking about starting up the country again already. I hope I’m wrong, but I feel like what’s going to happen is the most restless among us are going to force the issue until the segments impacting them re-open – like beaches, for example – which will result in a surge of new cases and deaths, but will be even more difficult to confront because people will be even less likely to accept social distancing measures again when they already balked at them once leading up to this.

And I know that we can’t just stay inside forever, but … there’s got to be a better answer because right now the talk makes it sound like “Back to business as usual!” is what the loudest protesters want, even if that’s admittedly not what’s even outlined in the plan of the guy who’s banner they were waiving on the capital steps!

It’s really amazing the impact that only a month can have on people’s heads.

I know that I’ve been really stressed, and admittedly in the grand scheme of things my own personal impact isn’t that bad.

Last week I saw a teenager complaining on Facebook about how this had been going on for months now, and regardless of your typical teenage melodrama, I can sort of appreciate the sentiment because I’m sure the folks who took to protesting last week felt the same way.

The idea that we’ll be extremely lucky if we have a vaccine in production this fall and can put it all behind us by Christmastime … which is still EIGHT MONTHS away … seems like too much for anyone to comprehend.

We all just want to go back to the way things used to be – kids in school where they belong while their parents begrudgingly go to work, nights out at restaurants and vacations at big, crowded theme parks and cruise ships, and not having the headlines every day dominated by this single issue from seeming every angle – political, scientific, and more unsubstantiated opinions than anyone should have to judge in their day.

But the thing is, we can’t just go back to the way things used to be.

We don’t have that luxury in the middle of a global pandemic.

To date 165,000 people around the world have died from this one communicable disease – a quarter of them Americans – and despite our best interests, we’ve yet to see any real evidence that we’re past the peak of it.

So if we want to start trying to grab back elements of normality in our otherwise chaotic lives, we have to be really smart about it. And that’s tough to do when we still have people walking among us, and some on television and in positions of power, who think the entire COVID-19 thing is some bizarre hoax.

I think that’s the most weary part of this for me because it’s really hard for me to try to balance everything all around me while I’m still encountering people who think that it’s all bullshit.

I mean, I don’t really care what they think, and I’m trying to get past the point where I care about trying to change their minds, but like most conspiracy theorists … sometimes it’s still scary just knowing they’re out there. People who think … like that.

All of that said, I do think that some pretty impressive things have also happened in the last month, which I think I’ll try to write about tomorrow because this blog post became longer than I was expecting as it is!

Stay safe, stay sane, and have hope for a brighter tomorrow. That’s really the best that we can do today.