More Tensosity

Ah, Alan, who coined that wonderful neologism, which somehow says things are worse than the word "tension" sounds like. Alan's gone and dead over a year now. I imagine him if he were alive -- holed up in his Grove Isle penthouse, last decorated in the late 80s, sitting in his recliner watching the races from around the country. That's  how he went out...

Anyway -- other than a quick pizza run last night, to DiNapoli, I haven't left the 'hood since last Thursday. This am I took a wonderful 2.5 mile walk.

It was cool. The sky was blue, with wispy clouds. I felt in the presence of the Big Man. I asked him for the good health of my family. I asked that the virus would pass.

Maybe He spoke to me, or my primitive brain just formed the thought, but it came through clear: "Schmuck. I could take you out just like that if I wanted. That palm tree you just passed under -- notice how the coconut stayed put and didn't fall and kill you? Ever heard the term 'bolt out of the blue?" Stuff happens like that all the time. "Pinecrest lawyer, 58, found electrocuted in the middle of SW 66 Avenue."  Less dramatically, I could drop you where you walk -- remember last February, and your neighbor Ben? Picture of health. Eco and natural food type. I dropped him as he ran -- he was just 60."

So the message was clear. We really are NOT in charge. I'm not religious, but I play at it enough to know the prayers my tribe recites on the Holiest Day,  -- the part of who shall live and who shall die...who by fire, and who by ice...or virus?

That said, Wifey and I and my family will be safe. Otherwise, we're like the putz in the joke about asking Hashem to finally let him win Lotto, so he wouldn't have to kill himself. He goes broke and does it, and asks why he was forsaken. The Big Man asks if maybe he should have bothered to buy a ticket?

So we plod through these crazy, crazy times. I spoke to D1 today, and she lamented she wasn't working. I reminded her virtually NO ONE was working. Her sister is a happy reception -- her online media company is soaring, as more people are home visiting the site...

Our housekeeper was just here. I paid her and sent her, and her assistant, home. Social distancing is social distancing. I do my own laundry, and don't really mind cleaning the toilets myself. I actually like using the Clorox cleaners -- the deep blue color soothes me.

I did get some good news from Mark, our personal CPA. We owe less than $2K to the government this year. I used up the last of the big losses Northern Trust caused me back in '01, so that was a funny milestone.  Just as I finished with those losses, I guess I can have a bunch of new ones THIS year.

My mother always loved to say that money (coins) is round. It rolls in, and rolls right out. And that's ok.

So not much more to do than hunker down, for now. Wifey and I watch a lot of film noir, and I prefer the documentaries, about air disasters, and how huge machines are build. I guess I'm still largely a 9 year old boy...

The special needs Spaniel, Bo, is the best nap partner in the history of canine nap partners. D1 protested that award -- saying HER spoiled Spaniel deserves that honor. But -- I pointed out that her Spaniel makes noises like she's eating bananas -- Bo is much quieter. So Bo keeps the honor.

I did read and distribute a rather hopeful article. A super genius, named Michael Levitt, thinks the pandemic will run its course sooner than we fear. He's a Nobel Prize winner, born in Pretoria, and raised in England. He's Israeli, American, and British. He teaches in Tel Aviv, and Stanford. He crunched the Chinese numbers and predicted the course of Covid 19 in China correctly. He is hopeful.

I am SO my father's son. Wealth and athletics didn't impress him -- education and smarts did. My Dad only followed baseball and football because I did -- he grew up literally in the shade of Yankee Stadium, and couldn't care less before I made him a Mets fan.

I researched this guy Levitt. He looks related to Bernie Madoff in his pictures. I couldn't even really understand what it is he won the Nobel for. But his numbers crunching explanation makes sense -- I hope he's right.

Please help us all, Big Man...