How to Shelter in Place

Yesterday I got the news that all of my coworkers in the Bay Area are being asked to shelter in place because of COVID-19. I have been working in Salt Lake for the past week with indications that this might happen. Fortunately I don't have the same restrictions and so I can still leave my home. There is not much to do as all of the public places are closing down, including the ski resorts. I do have the option of backcountry skiing where I can hike up a mountain and then ski down it. I did that this morning before work and it is helping save my sanity.

I looked into what it means to shelter in place and discovered that you can still take your dog on a walk or go for a hike. There is a restriction to stay 6 feet away from anyone else while you hike but you are not stuck in the house for the next 3 weeks. It kind of cracks me up because you will need your spouse to leave the house and then you can follow at 6 feet or be subject to a misdemeanor infraction. Never mind that you are welcome to sleep in the same bed once at home. At least it is not like France where they have banned family get togethers.

So how can you pass the time during the shelter-in-place restrictions? Well I work for a video game company and am hoping that a lot of people will resort to playing video games. Who knew that being a nerd is the perfect solution to this difficult time in world history? Just remember to buy them online instead of from a physical store. If you prefer to own the disk for the game, you can always order online. It is my understanding that shipping company employees are exempt from the shelter-in-place restrictions.

Ok moving past the shameless plug for video games, what else can one do? I just got an e-mail from one of the national movie theater chains letting me know they are shutting down all theaters across the country. Fortunately NBC/Universal announced that they are making all of their upcoming movies available on a number of streaming services. Personally I would much rather view a new movie in the comfort of my own home instead of at a movie theater where I always seem to get the seat in front of a kid that insists on kicking mine throughout the entire movie. Sure it will cost something like $20 instead of the usual $5, but as long as you have someone to watch it with, that beats the cost of movie tickets. You also can pop your own popcorn, assuming you have any.

If you are having trouble coming up with ways to spend your time at home, just think about doing your taxes. My daughter has been busy with work at the ski resort. Since the resort is shut down, she got on the computer this afternoon and got taxes taken care of. It seemed that a lot of things got in the way of her filing her taxes and the loss of her job gave enough of a nudge to get it taken care of.

How you spend the next 3 weeks is completely up to you. I plan to spend more time with my wife, practice guitar, and hike up mountains to ski down as long as I can.