Song: “Runaway” by Thunderball (feat. Miss Jonnna M)
I wanted to give a brief update on things in The Nexus. I’m not going to bore you with what I ate for lunch or what color boxers I decided to wear on Thursday. 😉
First, I’m not infected with the Corona Virus (COVID-19).
Second, I’m not under any “Shelter In Place” order via my job shutting down. However, 1st and 2nd Shifts are running on a weird ‘separated split shift’:
- Usually, there are 4 Traffic Operators on 1st Shift: 1 to watch Northern KY (basically, the KY side of Metro Cincinnati) and 3 to watch Louisville, with each of the Louisville operators taking turns watching a new Tunnel and Bridge that approaches Indiana in the East End. 2nd Shift has a similar set up as 1st Shift, expect their 3rd Louisville spot is split between 2 part-timers, working 4 hours each
- There is also a 9-person IT/Engineering Staff: 3 that do physical Field Work for TEC (an Engineering firm) and 6 that do IT work
- Since the Corona Virus break out: 1 of the Louisville Operators on both shifts now works from our combined KYTC (KY Transportation Cabinet)/TRIMARC building, near the Tunnel, about 15 miles away; the 2nd Louisville and the NKY Operators are still at our Downtown Office; the 3rd Louisville Operator on 1st Shift is now not working (long story, not Corona-related), while the 3rd 2nd shift spot is down 1 part-timer (the 2nd one is training). We also are now separated by about 10 feet (on 1st shift). In addition, 1st and 2nd shifts aren’t filling in on weekends, expect for 2 Operators, unless absolutely necessary. Also, all but 1 IT staff member are working from home.
We – 1st Shift – have been lucky in that traffic is at the lightest levels we’ve seen for non-holidays. The downside is that it makes for boring mornings. I haven’t heard if we’ll be staying open next week.
At home, TARC (Public Transit system) is now only running on Weekend Schedules: ‘Saturday’ for Mon.-Sat., still ‘Sunday’ on Sunday. TARC is thoroughly cleaning their buses. Schedules don’t affect me getting to work too much: 10 minutes later getting there, about 15 minutes longer waiting to get home. Not terrible.
Cincinnati Tradition (CT) – and the rest of the Drum Corps world – cancelled all of their March camps and recruiting events, and at least the first half of the April events. The impact on me, since I hadn’t made a camp yet, was a recruiting event that was scheduled for today, that I volunteered for. If this goes deep into April, I think both major Drum & Bugle Corps circuits might have to start seriously think about cancelling the season, especially DCA, the circuit that CT belongs to.
I am behind in my articles for ‘Comicdom Wrecks’, mainly the ‘Saturday Morning Cartoon’ feature. I will try to catch up with that soon. The Podicus Wrecks podcast is almost caught, however. We’ve been recording via Skype; not the best way to discuss a comic series, but not a bad way to discuss video game news, movie reviews, and other odds and ends.
I’m going to use this weekend to try and get a little ahead in my Java Programming class, catch up in my Systems Analysis class, and to get started with “Code Louisville” pre-program work (which I have a month to get finished).
Supplies are decent – food levels are good, cleaning supplies should make it through the week, possibly the following week. I got 3 new books from a delivery program from a local book store (shout out to Carmichael’s Bookstore!) and there are plenty of video games to play. The big things with me are:
- With most everything shut down, can I get out of the apartment enough to avoid Cabin Fever, especially on weekends? The answer is probably ‘yes’, if I can get some walking time in, without my foot going haywire again or Louisville’s weather changing seasons in a 24-hour period.
- It wasn’t happening much when things were ‘normal’ but would it be possible to hang with one or a few few friends? Game Nights might still happen but Team Trivia is out; the D&D session that J.R. hosts is likely ‘off’ but we’ll see about the ones that Scotty host; platonic hugs/cuddling is slightly possible but doubtful, while cuddling/intimate contact hadn’t happened in years but would that even be possible now?
We’ll see what the next few things bring to The Nexus and me! If TRIMARC closes, that opens up time for book-reading and game-playing, which means more reviews and posts!
The Nexus 