Today was day 1 of COVID-19 induced work from home.

It’s interesting, i think I got more accomplished today than I expected. I am certain it was more than I would have done at work. So far so good! Getting an early win is important, since it might set the pace for the rest of the forced WFH time. Even had a chance to enjoy running and gunning in Warframe.

I did get an email to update our company site today. The word came down that unless you have to be in the office, you need to stay home. Specifically, the message reads “Office personnel in positions that do not require constant physical presence in the office will be working remotely.” I didn’t receive an email from the boss to this effect. Maybe the local managers are responsible for telling everyone. Doesn’t matter, I was out yesterday at COB.

We are still being allowed to move about freely, which is good. I had to go out to pick up a prescription for my wife, and I saw something that really drove home how different things have gotten. it’s only been a few days since Governor Pritzker shut down all the bars and restaurants to dine-in customers. So parking lots are empty. One such place is the fast-casual restaurant Portillo’s. Mostly they are a hotdog stand with delusions of grandeur. On a normal day, at about 5:00PM or so (when I went past), the drive-thru has maybe 20-30 cars, wrapped around the parking lot (which would also be full). Today?

Four. Four cars.

While it’s day 1 for me, it’s been 3 days since JB ordered all the bars & restaurants closed to dine-in customers. And the lack of people at Portillo’s is…weird. It, more than anything, drives home the changes we are living through.

About That Closing…

So, politics for a moment. I get the need to keep people apart to stop the spread of this virus. I do. But what I don’t get is the need for our governor to be a petulant child about it. Yes, he did the hard, likely needed, thing. But he did it because he felt slighted. Look, I get it, politicians are, broadly speaking, less stable or mature than actors. If we have Governor Pique Fit, this is going to go poorly in Illinois.