Blog of Sam Fox

(Not page 3, popstar, politician, pornstar, or phoenix professional)

Category

New York

NYC coronavirus lockdown

Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games

  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases
Rush hour but roads are completely empty
Roads at rush hour near midtown Manhattan

A busy day of meetings so not much time to get outside. It was also pouring with rain all day. Talking to the team there’s a clear theme to how people are keeping busy and the different stages we’re all going through. Building/buying more furniture (chairs, desks – we have two chairs on the way as well) and playing games on video conference (Jackbox, House Party, Cards against Humanity, Settlers of Catan).

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Game night as the pause begins

  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

New York “paused” at 8pm tonight. All non-essential businesses (somehow wine and spirit shops included in this category) must close or have employees work remote. Before then we took a walk down to Soho to drop off the Spectrum router. For the most everyone seemed to be social distancing and a lot of areas were very quiet. Although as we walked back through Madison Square Park the park was quite full, especially the dog park. It feels more and more that the only way to control social distancing is to enforce it.

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.

  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

Neither Danielle nor I had the best night sleep as a couple of mosquitoes decided to join us. Mid-March feels early for them and I read it can be attributed to global warming, which reminds me how I have been thinking this coronavirus is at least helpful for the planet if not the people.

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

First week, check

  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

Definite TGIF feeling today. Despite the weekend not bringing anything particular, still going to be home for most of it, it feels good. Treated ourselves to a bagel breakfast today, after a brisk walk around the block. Had a 30 minute break from calls this afternoon which we took advantage of for another walk. It’s been so nice outside, really feels like Spring. Shame it’s not lasting or that we can really enjoy it – socialising in a park, dinner outside? Out of the question.

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

COVID-19 Lock Down

  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

Each day I’m going to be posting an update from past 24 hours of my experiences living in New York City during the coronavirus lockdown. So far I’ve been working remote since Thursday 12th of March with NYC seemingly progressively shutting down.

[fullcalendar category=”nyc-coronavirus-lockdown”]

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Finding a pattern

  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

A week today was the first time I started working from home. In that time streets have definitely got emptier but not necessarily day over day, I think Monday was still the quietest. Started the day with a 9am call and yesterday was crazy at work as everyone seemed to start reacting to Coronavirus, so didn’t wake up early enough for a walk.

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Noticeable changes

  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

Took a longer walk this morning in really nice warm weather. Made one stop at UPS to drop off a parcel, one woman in there ahead of us talking with the man behind the counter. The man and woman were discussing one of the variations of the only real conversation point right now. Everyone’s got one thing on their mind, but conversation can split in a few different strands from the central topic.  This particular topic captured a couple – how quiet it is generally, and what do you do in the evening? After a while you start to go to bed early..

The walk was actually quite eventful, more so than expected. As we passed Trader Joe’s supermarket, there was a line wrapped half way around the block and then right down to the bottom of the avenue. It’s hard to judge how many people were in the line given people applying social distancing but I’ve never seen anything like that, much least at 9am on a Wednesday. I don’t really understand it, the initial panic buying proved needless and we went food shopping on Saturday without an issue. There had been suggestions from city mayor of a more rigorous lockdown but that was quickly dismissed by NY governor.

Line for Trader Joes wraps round the block and down the avenue (Trader Joes not in picture but top and left)

Work has been incredibly busy today. With my tech client, demand has clearly been there for laptops as people adjust to new working environments and styles. For the first time since starting to work remote we started doing video conferencing instead of audio only. This was helpful in adding a new dimension to the day.

Social highlight of the day? The walk in the morning and then a short walk in the evening to buy some beer and watch Survivor then Shark Tank. Wednesday evening is normally our ‘date night’  – we try and keep it free every week to hang and do something together. Since it is Wednesday we ordered food in, first time for not cooking this week. It’s a small thing but it’s about trying to keep routine as usual as possible – making Wednesday feel different from other days.

Tweet of the day:

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

New challenges with the remote working

  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

Danielle’s work was quiet today, which meant we had the TV on and a couple of laptops. Seemed to stretch the already dodgy internet beyond where it was happy. To solve for this I ordered a new router from Best Buy vs the crappy Spectrum provided. This in turn was the perfect lunchtime walk, a nice 20 minute stroll to Union Square.

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Finding routine in irregular times

  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

Trying to stick to usual routine. Got up at usual time, shaved. Enough time for a 30 minute walk before my first call of the day at 9.30. In less typical routine, practicing social distancing by making my own lunch today, for the first work day in probably years.

Managed to get another short walk in this afternoon in place of the usual lunchtime walk to get food. Cooked dinner for the second day in the row. Coming out of this quarantine I’m going to be a better cook!

Another walk after dinner- any way to keep active and avoid the apartment walls that are going to become all too familiar.

NY announced movie theatres, theatres, nightclubs (damn) and commercial gyms closed until further notice. All restaurants and bars are limited to takeout or delivery. During out evening walk we thought about how we’d continue to support local businesses – occasionally picking up or ordering food in from our favourite local restaurants.

Tweet of the day:

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Confirmation arrives, stocking up

  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

Took a shorter walk today given yesterday’s walk was ¬20K steps. First stop was Barnes and Noble in Union Square to pickup a couple of books since we’re likely going to be locked down for a while. The bookshop was almost dead.Then we stopped by Irving Farm for a coffee and brunch sandwich.

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