I made this post as an entry to 
On Friday, March 13th I was supposed to be starting holidays for the March break. At the start of that week, my boss asked me to begin to stager my employees, essentially asking that half my team work-from-home for the time being. Just being cautious, not a problem. Most of my team work from home a couple of days a week anyhow. Beats spending an hour or two commuting.
Over the week the news about coronavirus continued to intensify. On Thursday, March 12th my boss instructed me to initiate our work-from-home plan for 100% of my team, effective immediately.
So, starting on Friday it was work-from-home for me. From my perspective, it was not much of a change. I would have to be in touch with my team more regularly and ask them to keep me updated on project status. I'm well set up in my basement lab, although it's a bit of a mess - add that to the list of TO DO's.
The next isolation puzzle fell into place that same evening. The Premier of our province announced that schools would be closed from the start of the March break until April 5th.
Ontario to close all publicly funded schools for 2 weeks after March break due to COVID-19 - CTV News
For us, that meant that my wife (
After the March break, Q started to lament about not being able to see his friends. He was down. We suggested that he set aside a specific time to play online with them and maybe even facetime or group chat. He was sceptical about it but decided to try. For the past week he's been going up to his room to gab with his buddies. He sits up there and shoots the shit with them for an hour or so.
We've gotten into a rhythm with him now; super, he goes to his room to gab, my wife and I watch a TV episode (we have not had the opportunity to sit and watched this much TV in years,) then he'll come down and get online with the same group of friends and play for a couple of hours. Complete turn around in his mood and outlook. Parenting win!
Ah, right. I have two older boys in University. They are home. Campus is shut. Through all of this, they have been up in their rooms, still studying for exams and completing assignments. Their University retooled over the March break to continue their studies online. We see them about as much as we saw them before the isolation. Except our food bill has doubled.
My oldest son is in the right field for the future. He's in his last year and currently studying medical virology, molecular virology and genomics. We have great diner conversations however, he's no help in reducing my wife's stress level.
We tried something new. We actually made a Sunday night diner and sat down to eat as a family. Many of you, with younger families, will scoff at this... trust me, coordinating 4 adult's schedules and a teenager is a feat in logistics.
We added my brother-in-law, residing in Chicago, to our table via Facetime. He sat and had his diner with us. It was great and we plan to do it a few more times. It was a good pick-me-up for everyone.
Having a family diner was made more poignant as my country's Armed Forces prepare a domestic response to assist with COVID-19. I'm a member of the Canadian Forces reserves and as such am ready to help when called on.
Canadian military preparing for possible pandemic deployment
24,000 Canadian military members ready to respond — if asked — to COVID-19 crisis
My bags are packed...
We happen to live in a rural community and things seem to be running normally. Everyone is in isolation or practising social distancing, for the most part. I'm happy to see that but there are a few knuckleheads that need a reminder.
The trails are closed, the parks are closed and there are reminders up all around to social distance. Oh, right. I'm supposed to use "physical distancing." People seem to be having trouble extrapolating social distancing to mean #staythefuckapart, is that the hash-tag?
At least our local government knows how to connect with the plebs.
Practice good physical distancing
-two metres apart or about the length of a hockey stick.
Click, the sound of most Canadians going - "Oh, that's the distance, got it."
Anyhow, that's what it's been like for me and my family during the isolation or quarantine period so far. Let's hope everyone you know stays safe and stays healthy.
Remember, it's a hockey stick apart.
Stay Safe, Stay Healthy.
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