Tag Archives: COVID19

12/14/20

The Nightmare Recedes

As I write, Americans are being vaccinated against the COVID19 virus within the same zip code in which I sit. It began four hours ago.

For some reason it reminds me of D-Day, the radio reports wherein our countrymen listened with anticipation:

“This morning, under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces supported by strong air forces began landing Allied armies on the northern coast of France.”

Within five days, more than 326,000 Allied troops would have landed with more than 100,000 tons of equipment and Paris would be liberated two and a half months later with the Germans destroyed within a year.

I wish the same fate to COVID.

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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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07/10/20

Breathing Life Back Into A Company

If you are the CEO of a startup, a small business, or a medium business, you are currently dealing with a unique situation — how do you re-invigorate an enterprise that has been rocked by three distinct issues:

 1. COVID19 on a personal, human scale;

 2. Externally imposed economic and workplace restrictions and impacts based on COVID19; and,

 3. The public backlash from racial issues related to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. I will call this last one the Black Lives Matter issue.

These things taken together are likely to have created a negative impact on your company at the individual, granular level and at a business survival level.

There are a few companies who have prospered in the COVID19 environment, but who are still impacted by the BLM impact.

I think that most CEOs would agree that there will be changes, perhaps huge changes, on the other side of these impacts. That is, of course, if y’all survive to emerge on the other side.

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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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05/3/20

COVID19 Reopening Facts

Long ago, I opined that the United States was facing 50 individual fights as it relates to COVID19.

Fifty Fights — COVID19 War

Now, I opine there will be a like number of “re-openings.” They will be guided by the facts. Let me use a couple of examples.

These numbers are for the time period 2-1-2010 to 5-1-2020. This is three months. These are CDC numbers comparing New York City versus the State of Texas.

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04/29/20

Japan Abandons China

Relations between Japan and China have always been dicey since before World War II, so a new development between them is not a huge surprise.

The nature of the development in this instance is.

Japan has funded a program — as part of its COVID19 economic stimulus package — to financially support companies who move their manufacturing from China back to Japan.

In addition, the program also supports companies who move their manufacturing from China to another Asian country whose main qualification is — Not Made In China.

This comes on the heels of a very simple impetus — the realization of how much Japanese manufacturing had moved from Japan to China.

Why did they move in the first place you ask? Cheap labor. Cheap cost of finished goods because of the cheap labor, prison labor, child labor, lower environmental standards (if any at all), and cheaper materials.

Japan acted pretty damn quick. No wasted time.

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