About a month ago, my 20-year-old (Stephen) son made a quick trip to NYC to rescue my 33-year-old son (Nick) and his two cats (Tango and Cash) from COVID-19 infested NYC. I let him take my Raptor F-150 (450 HP) and he made the round trip in 26 hours. No tickets that I know of!
Steve is the model citizen and VP of sales for our company, while Nick was my wild child and the kid from hell. His mom died when he was 9 and he has never gotten over that. He left home when he was 18 and moved to San Francisco to be in the film business. After a few years, he moved to Brooklyn, NY and is in the filmmakers union. He is a Steadicam operator and makes $200,000 to $300,000 a year, but can’t afford a car and pays $3,500 a month for a 700 sq/ft apartment.
He was wise enough to cut off all contact with locals about a week before Steve brought him back. The film industry is totally shut down and he has still not been able to sign up for unemployment benefits because New Yorks’s unemployment site has crashed. He always knew he could come back home and he did 15 years later.
Anyway, Nick grew up around my business and I did not realize how much he has absorbed. We set him up with his own office and he is doing the manuals for our one All-American Reverse Osmosis Systems – the only drinking water system that is 100% Made in America… not China, which we are launching next Wednesday.
He is also helping his little brother with his house (that he bought when he was 18 and hopes to move into by August because I have another grandkid on the way). It has been really great to see them bond again and work together, side-by-side and I am reminded (by them) every day how I helped train them. I have never asked that they call me “Sir” but they do. We are all living together in this pandemic and we are all going to the office every day.
We are an essential business and I cannot ask people to work at the office if I don’t. We have about 20% of our workforce working from home, but we have to ship stuff and build stuff and we do. Water is life and we treat water.
Yes, it’s stressful. I am 66… and while I am pretty sure I can beat this if I get it… I don’t really know. I am cautious, but life goes one. I used to be Superman… I’m not anymore, but I am still here and still hopeful.
These are times we will never forget… good and bad experiences, I am sure, but enjoy the time you have with your loved ones. I certainly am doing just that.
I am not certain that we will even have a baseball season. Andrew Cuomo said it best: “It’s like watching a slow-moving hurricane across the country, where you know the path that it’s taking.” We just can’t see the damage it will do as yet!
Stay safe, my friends and remember to hydrate properly.
Great work MT… I’m proud that us black sheep can rebound and make the family happy.. I wandered thru a haze for years and came back to help my brothers take care of the folks…
Thanks for the R&R music, I was beginning to think…
Terrific story of family love! Stay safe.
We are all spread out. Younger son Jamie has a landscaping company in Truro about two hours from here.
http://www.landsbestfriendlandscaping.com/portfolio.html
Daughter Elanya, more at risk, works in the intensive care unit at the Izaak Walton Killam Children’s Hospital in Halifax about an hour from here.
Older son Jay lives on the west coast in Campbell River, British Columbia, having retired from the air force.
I need to hire Jamie… I like his work!
You must be a proud Papa! Three healthy, successful, productive children.
I might need parenting tips…
Watching a video on “no sew” masks. Simple enough. Just for shopping they will work fine.
One kid in Hawaii one in Northern California. Our governor, not one of the morons, was quick to issue stay at home (all should have done that over a month ago) so curve in California was slowed, but it’s still coming. So far me and mine are hunkered and fine.
While masks are fine, they tend to offer a false sense of security. People should maintain social distancing and wash hands often. That from Dr. Birx.
Regarding the MLB season, there are leaks here and there that suggest how and when the season will resume, how the playoffs will be handled etc. Since parts of the country are being hit differently and will recover accordingly, it would seem to make sense that baseball being played in places like New York may prove difficult. A World Series played in Los Angeles? That’s apparently one option.
Any thoughts?
“While masks are fine, they tend to offer a false sense of security. People should maintain social distancing and wash hands often. “
Agree. But we may be under a mask order soon. Just getting prepared in case.
Regarding when the season may start… I’m still saying 2021 They may try something crowd free later this summer but spread projections for this thing are all over the map, including a Round II sometime late fall/winter. We just don’t know where this is going so I’m taking the under on games this summer. I’m prepared to be wrong.
New York is where it’s starting and they haven’t even begun to see the full force of this yet. Then we have the rest of the country to follow. It’s going to be like a slow moving tsunami and it’s all going to take far more time than we’ve been lead to believe. Months not weeks.
I will be absolutely astonished if there is a 2020 MLB season.
Sure, they could try to play in empty stadiums but do you have the players sit 6 feet away from each other in the dugouts, buses and planes? And of course no one is sure that at 6 feet you’re safe. All it takes is for one player to contract the virus (even if the curve has flattened) and then what do you do?
Let’s face it, this blog is going to be mostly music and water for the better part of a year. Or we could combine those topics with Handel’s Water Music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuw8YjSbKd4
Thanks Bums. Nothing like a little Baroque music to calm the soul.
We are already under a mask order in the city where I’m at in California. I’m sure the rest of the country will follow suit in the next few minutes. Our Mayor and Council is very aggressive.
So, Badger, if we do lose the season, will the Dodgers sign Mookie Betts? Looking at economics, this has got to shake up big contracts moving forward. Not sure how it plays out.
I’m not certain how it plays out either. Is this considered a “regular season”?
I think we’re under mask order too. Not sure. We’ll wear our home made masks and plastic gloves when we shop. Otherwise we just stay home and have for a few weeks now. OC has been behind the wave but the numbers are rising.
Nice job Mark. Good to see family’s pull together. Oldest daughter in a small town in Oregon, dealing with the health issues that come with an autistic child. She works in caring for the elderly. So far they are doing ok. My other daughter lives in Lake Isabella Ca. Her husband drives a sanitation truck, and my grand daughter Laycee, who is now 13 is being home schooled right now. My son lives in Denver. His job is programing A/C systems in industrial buildings. I saw him a couple of weeks ago when he came down to do some work on the Fremont County Jail. Grandkid’s are spread out too. Brandon is in Iowa driving a snow plow and a garbage truck for the city he lives in. Bree is in Phoenix working in the care of elderly people. And Char is taking care of her newborn daughter in Phoenix. Family is important. Outside of my foster family, I really have none. But I have been on my own so long that this process of keeping distance has not been that hard for me to handle. It will pass. None of us know exactly when. All we can do is keep doing what is asked. If there is no season, well, then that is what will happen. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it is not as bad as some say it will be.
Some noob posted a video for Into the Mystic yesterday.
This is a better video featuring a decent (not great) turntable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syIUmrSJWAU
Speaking of family:
If and when my kids get married, their intended’s had better appreciate this song.
This is what I think I know.
A mask will keep people from spraying others if they cough, sneeze, talk which basically keeps the wearer from spreading the virus that way. Add goggles and we won’t touch our eyes. One would think that all food workers would have to wear a mask. Only a special mask will stop us from breathing in the virus. So we can help protect others by wearing some sort of mask but that doesn’t necessarily protect us from those that don’t wear one.
If baseball returns we might see 6 game series like played often in the 50’s. Maybe cross country flights will be eliminated and only short flights or bus rides are used to play regional games. Fans could wear masks and limit attendance to 25% of capacity.
We would need 100% testing to bring back baseball.
I have three sons. My middle son works from home in WA and customizes software for manufacturing businesses. He was the first to work from home. My oldest son submitted his resignation letter years ago and moved from Boston to Golden, CO (Genessee) but his employer asked if he would stay on and work from CO. He has worked from home ever since. My youngest son is a civil engineer and IT Manager in NH and setup two offices to work from home and now works from home as well.
This is the future. Doing things today that were believed impossible not that long ago.
Between work-from-home and texting we may never have to have a live conversation with a human being again. I guarantee you somebody somewhere is working on a remote hug as I type this. You’ll actually be able to feel yourself being hugged or fist bumped or whatever. I might not live to see it, but if Mark would be so kind as to archive my prediction, you can bring it out at the appropriate time.
We have needed testing since January. We as a collective are not moving very efficiently with all that is needed. I have my own beliefs on why. Difficult to talk about my beliefs and the spread of the virus without talking about the politics of it.
The thing about a baseball blog that only allows talk about sports and water, accompanied by music, is that without sports we will quickly run out of interesting things to talk about. My personal take on music would no doubt be boring, and I was raised drinking out of a garden hose all summer and survived just fine, so I have nothing much to offer about water. I’ve watched a few Dodger re-runs and that gets old fast. I’m reading Path of the Masters again, and Man Without a Country. Just watched an episode of Off Camera with Sam Jones and a Joe Buck interview with John McEnroe. Yeah, I know, fascinating.
We are all trying to think of things to do. I have my music. There are plenty of places I can go on the internet to find things I need like lyrics from songs I either have not done in years, or want to do when we get back to some semblance of being normal. There is an interesting story on Yahoo about 2 Army General’s who’s quick actions stopped the virus from becoming a problem in their commands. One is the Commanding General in Korea, and the other is stationed in Italy, but is also the CIC for Africa too. They immediately closed Gyms, and restricted access. Would not allow their troops in towns close to the base which were having cases. In Korea the command immediately quarantined some personnel who had recently been to China. Both of those places so far have had only a couple of personnel come down with the virus. The command in Germany on the other hand has well over 60 cases so far. So there are some who have responded quickly and efficiently. I am not placing the blame on any one directly. That is easy to do after the fact, but the facts are that no one is ever really prepared for something like this. The CDC sure wasn’t. Lets just beat this thing. Quit trying to blame people and work together. Something this country should do much more often than it does.
“The CDC sure wasn’t”
No kidding. It was disbanded and scattered to the wind along with the NSC in 2018.
But you’re right Bear, time to rally and fight this thing together. We can point that finger later.
Have the checks been mailed yet? Anybody admitted to those hospital ships yet? Did Putin’s plane with supplies land yet?
According to reports there are only 20 patients on the hospital ship in NY. Most people will get the stimulus by direct deposit. Checks from Treasury should be mailed sometime in the next 10 days or so. CDC is alive and kicking Badger. Still operates out of Atlanta Ga. Annual budget 11.1 Billion dollars.
You’re right. My mistake. It was tried, but congress prevented it. About 600 jobs were lost, including the leading pandemic specialist. It was the pandemic unit at the NSC that was disbanded. Pandemic Preparedness. Gone.
I wonder why the CDC response has been so inadequate. Any ideas?
I can tell the strain is getting to some. I talked with a friend in Arizona who is definitely feeling the effects. He has no car and has to use senior transportation where ever he goes, even the market. Another friend is trying to install a new router and is really having problems with it. I hope we all can come through this better people and with some satisfaction that we weathered a very tough test.
I don’t discuss music much either. This is a baseball blog and anyway, I only listen to jazz or classical music so most of what I would discuss would bore the others here.
I was SO jazzed about the 2020 season and the Dodgers’ chances for success. While baseball is a small matter compared to the life and death of our current public health crisis, it plays a huge part in my daily life for at least 6 months in the year (really closer to all year ’round), so going from having the season almost ready to start to – well, nothing is painful. But really, there isn’t much baseball to talk about – at least not the current stuff.
We have our historians here who can talk of players or teams in the past and that’s great.
But will we have a season in 2020 and if so, what is it going to look like (and how will it disadvantage the Dodgers?)?
So, what’s your take on what happens if there is no season?
Betts did not reach free agency (technically).
Cody Bellinger is not one year closer and Corey has two more years?
How will it shake out?
I know what the union will want, but what will actually happen?
“Betts did not reach free agency (technically)”
That’s an interesting point. So if there is no season he’s still ours in ‘21?
According to the language in the CBA, Service Time is counted as each day a player is on the roster during the regular season. The way it reads is this: “Each Major League regular season consists of 187 days and each day spent on the active roster earns a player one day of service time”. Is this a regular season? The lawyers are likely to grind each other on this issue.
the players union and owners have already decided this issue. If there is no 2020, Betts and every other player whose contracts expire after 2020 will become free agents.
So yes, Mookie could technically never play for us and Verdugo/Wong/Downs will not be returned to us.
Just read it. Seems terribly unfair. If there is no compensation, shouldn’t these deals be undone?
I believe they will do all they can to try and have a season, but it will be based on whether they get this thing under control or not. If there is a decrease in cases and it seems to be slowing down, the chances for a season improve. If not, well maybe there will not be baseball in 2020. All we can do as fans is hope for the best.
Unless there is a vaccine and bats become extinct the odds of not playing in 2020 are the same for 2021….
Although WAR is not perfect, I would like players be paid a multiple of their WAR with a $600,000 bottom. Every team would use the same multiplier. Union and Owners would have to agree on how WAR was calculated and what the multiplier would be.
Never will happen.
Feel bad for the free agents who havent signed such as Puig. Hopefully he has not blown all his cash.
Also the players with incentives such as Kenta who will have to survive on 3 million base pay although there are probably better examples than Kenta for hardship.
Sorry, I do not feel sorry for guys who sign for millions of dollars and not taking care to have something put away. As for Puig, he is a victim of his own ego. Had he done what the coaches said years ago, and played the game the way the Dodgers wanted him too, he probably would not have been traded. Guy has a ton of talent. Got a 45 million dollar deal, and I am supposed to feel sorry because he has no job? Try being out of work when you are making minimum wage. The minor leaguers who make about 1000 bucks a month are the ones really taking it on the chin. Older free agents with diminishing skills are a dime a dozen. Russell Martin, who was a valuable piece last year is still out there. No, it is the ticket takers, the ushers, security guards, janitors peanut vendors, and all the little people who are missing what is a seasonal job for them, those are the ones who are really hurt by this. Even the minor league towns are going to take a huge hit. Me, I retired years ago, and have learned to get by with what SSA pays me. I stay home 65 percent of the time anyway, so this is easy. And I feel for the family’s who have lost members and loved ones because the country was slow to respond. People like professional athletes are less likely to die from Covid-19. They just are not in the high risk group. Because of my age, and the fact that I have diabetes, I am at the higher risk end of the spectrum. But there have been very few cases here. At last count, only 1 in Fremont county. So be safe all. Don’t worry about the millionaires. They are getting their money.