Category Archives: COVID19

08/18/20

College Basketball — Carolina Tar Heels v Duke Blue Devils — A Modest Proposal

If you are like me, you are still wondering when the 2019-2020 NCAA Tournament, March Madness, is going to start.

Alas, we are well and truly fucked, amigo. It is never going to happen. Which brings me to the quandary of what to do with college basketball come November.

So, I make bold to make a modest proposal. Read to the end before you judge me. Keep an open mind.

The Modest Proposal

I propose that in order to avoid any COVID infection risk, rivalry schools, like the Carolina Tar Heels and the Duke Blue Devils, enter into a series of games which will approximate their season whilst mining the enthusiasm of these critical rivalries and providing loyal fans with the necessary juju and mojo they need to stabilize their lives.

It goes without saying that it will be a welcome diversion from the COVID.

Somebody may make a buck along the way, but, hey, that’s capitalism, right?

 1. The Carolina v Duke rivalry in basketball is the gold standard by which all other rivalries are measured.

Carolina, a public school founded in 1789, and Duke, a private school founded in 1838, have played each other in the noble contest of basketball for a century this year. First game was 1920, UNC 38 – Duke 25.

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08/1/20

COVID19 Divorce

It is 2 August 2020 and I report to you that I am getting a divorce. Do not beg me to reconsider.  My mind is set.

COVID19 (actually COVID16 because it was a mild case) came into my life in early July with a seductive appeal that left me hot and bothered, unable to sleep whilst thinking of her, that funny butterfly feeling a new love puts in your gut, my body ached for her, she wracked my body with chills when I was with her, and a head ache.

She was beguiling and I fell into her spell. She is a unwavering temptress without equal who will come upon you without warning.

I had every symptom, except for the loss of taste. I never had any taste to begin with.

I threw in with her. I promised to pay attention. At first, she was a passionate partner, but then things began to deteriorate. COVID began to keep company with others. I stayed home and she went out. Every night.

Which brings to me to the real news. We are getting a divorce. I’ve had a few clear headed days while she has been tramping around to think about it and I have decided it just won’t work.

I don’t get that same feverish feeling when I think about her. My bowels are steady, my stomach is settled, I no longer ache for her. I am not having any problem sleeping.

It’s time to face the music. It was a good run, but we’re just not suited for each other. I have to admit it was all a physical relationship. I never respected her and I think the slut just used me for her own purposes.

It may sound like it’s me kicking her to the curb, but it’s a mutual thing. I could be a gentleman and wish her well, but to be honest, I hope she dies a lonely, quiet, desperate death, and is eradicated from the earth itself. I would threaten to piss on her grave, but I hate lines.

The divorce is final as of 2 August 2020 and I am very grateful that I have finally realized that she is no good for me.

Be well, my friends. Don’t make the mistake I made and keep company with this tramp. As the sage Linda Ronstadt said, “She’s no good, she’s no good, she’s no good, she’s no good for you.” Trust me on this one.

07/23/20

Operation Warp Speed

It takes 6-10 years to develop a new vaccine from scratch.

Ebola broke out in 2014. Vaccine development commenced. The vaccine was approved in December 2019.

Comes now Operation Warp Speed in which the Trump admin is trying to use advanced management techniques (and some risk tolerance) to urge the private sector to develop a vaccine for COVID19.

The usual cast of characters came out of the woodwork and said, “Can’t be done. Will take at least five years.”

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07/16/20

COVID19 and Me

Brother Rat (what we call classmates at VMI, a very sacred term) of mine asks, “Do you know anybody who has actually had COVID19?”

“Well as it turns out,” I say,” I do. Me.”

I’m in about Day #7 of COVID19 and doing fine.

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05/26/20

Fear V Danger — Perspective

Fear is an emotion. Scary things create fear. How we deal with fear and scary things is within our control. Sometimes, it takes real will power to control fear and to  deal with scary things.

Dealing with scary things is part of adulting. Not everybody is good at adulting. Not everybody wants to be good at adulting. Life is a swirl of choices. One of those choices is to be an adult about scary things.

Danger is a measure of risk. What is dangerous to one person — jumping out of an airplane, as an example — is not dangerous to another person. It is an acquired sense. You can mitigate danger through prudent action.

If you are a startup CEO/founder on your first company, everything is dangerous, risky, scary, and fills you with dread — fear. Sorry, that is normal.

If you are a startup CEO/founder on your sixth company, you are perfectly comfortable with the danger — yawn, been there, done that, hold my beer, on second thought go get me another beer — whilst it is not nearly as risky on No 6 as No 1, and it is not scary and you have no sense of fear.

You have learned how to deal with these two impostors — hat tip to Rudyard Kipling and that beauty of a poem, IF. Well played, Rudyard.

Glad I could be of service, Big Red Car, you lyrical bastard.

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05/12/20

Georgia And COVID19

Comes now the State of Georgia which re-opened for business in late April at the order of its Governor, Brian Kemp. At the time, it was a very controversial decision. How has it fared, you ask?

You will recall that Dr Fauci said of the idea at the time:

“If I were advising the Governor, I would tell him he should be careful. Going ahead and leapfrogging into phases where you should not be … I would advise him not to do that.”

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05/11/20

Unemployment, A Few Words

Today we are facing monumental COVID19 unemployment that is initially tracked by the weekly number of new applications for unemployment payments — remember this is an insurance policy for which you have paid for years.

By that measure we are at 15% unemployment (those without jobs actively looking for a job which is known by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as U-3 Unemployment, the most common measure referred to by the media).

We are likely headed to 20-25% unemployment before the trend is reversed.

But, we are dealing with a situation that is entirely different than the traditional manner in which we assess these numbers over a long period of time.

Traditionally, we look at these numbers as a means of tracking a trend line to establish the expansion or contraction of the economy. They are trend numbers.

Before the advent of COVID19, the USA was at record high employment.

These numbers subsume — incorporate — people who technically meet the criteria, but who are really “furloughed” rather than classically unemployed.

By using the word furloughed, I am suggesting that their jobs are waiting for them whenever that business re-opens.

They are not “looking for a new job;” they are waiting for the business that formerly employed them to re-open.

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05/10/20

CEO Shoptalk — Fear v Fearful

A leader is always operating on the edge. Talking to you: entrepreneurs, founders, CEOs, C-suite denizens, departmental leaders, and students of leadership.

When I was in those positions, I never thought it was lonely at the top, but when people say it is — this is what they are talking about. Being alone with your thoughts, your duties, your responsibilities, your decisions — good ones, bad ones.

Today it is perfectly fine to feel the press of fear. I would be surprised if you didn’t feel fear today. We are facing monumental changes and the fellow traveler of change is fear.

Fear is an emotion. It is an instant in time. It is fleeting. We can banish it. It does not define us.

As a leader, you can feel fear, but you cannot run your organization on it.

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