My gym has suspended debiting monthly payments for those that pay that way, and is extending annual membership anniversaries by the number of weeks it will have been closed by. (They are also posting trainer videos online regularly. My favorite trainer is doing some online zoom classes, thank heavens, I’m one of those people who can easily slip into couch potato mode without some accountability so knowing I’m expected to actually show up helps!!)
There was an interesting article in the SF Chronicle on the different infection rates in different areas. I think this count as as a trustworthy source by cc rules? https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Charts-show-Bay-Area-crushing-the-curve-vs-15217396.php It seems New Orleans decision to go ahead with Mardi Gras had some serious consequences, while at the opposite end the bay area’s early shutdown has worked really well, so far at least (I’m hearing talk of nurses actually getting hours cut back now, and apparently some local hospitals are starting elective surgery again). NY obviously has the density/reliance on public transport issue.
I moved to the US about 5 1/2 years ago and have managed to not go to a Walmart yet, lol.
@sdl0625 I think there are going to be mixed perspectives for GA folks, depending on community. We’ve tried to support local businesses in the area safely, and Tuesday afternoon we picked up curbside from a non-chain restaurant in our Historic area. They expressed strongly that they do not want people sitting in their restaurant yet. Don’t want to mess with plates, and want to maintain the low touch aspect for a while longer. Also have two hair stylists who are delaying opening about 10 days to get things prepped properly and will reduce hours. I’m working with them to keep masks on hand for customers who don’t come in prepared. Have to balance income with keeping their families safe.
I don’t see returning to the office until closer to Independence Day.
Gym: The YMCA didn’t suspend charges, but I don’t have an issue with that.
D’s internship has gone virtual. The summer class she still wants to take will have it’s final the first week of the internship. She’s trying to get more details on both to see if she can swing it.
It has been nice having my Jeopardy and mystery movie partner back. We kind of leave each other alone except for specific activities.
@RightCoaster, I remember reading an economics piece written by an economist for non-economists that gave the following stats (all from better than a decade ago, so adjust in your head for inflation): Every car parked in a Walmart parking lot represented an average or median—can’t remember which—household income of $35k, every car in a Target parking lot $48k, and every car in a Costco parking lot $75k.
It then went on to talk about how those related to things ranging from store layout to product selection to lighting choices.
This was before Walmart made a concerted effort to, e.g., upgrade their produce selection, but from my observation the basic idea still holds, and still explains quite a lot.
TL;DR: I think somebody really needs to do the documentary you suggested.
These days we would probably be starving without free Walmart curbside groceries, as grocery deliveries cannot come on our base at all and other stores either don’t offer it or charge for it. I’ve always been a Walmart and a Target shopper. Growing up we had Kmart. One has never seemed better than the other to me.
D’s school sent home a survey about their dorm belongings today. The choices are come and pick it up when they tell you to, pay $200 plus shipping to have things mailed home or pay $200 plus storage fees to store it locally. None are very appealing at the moment since her stuff was never supposed to come home or go into storage. She would’ve packed most of it and taken it to my parents, but now she doesn’t have the things she would want/need at home… and it still is a very bad idea to have it all home (we are starting to pack for our family’s move). We also can’t afford all that money, nor can we go in person. Sighs.
They aren’t allowing anyone on campus that doesn’t need to be there until June, apparently. I’m guessing we will be going with the pack and store option. They also sent a message that they expect to be in person in the fall… but… they’ll announce any changes on August 1st. That’s such a late call date imo, and the first real off-note from them. They should’ve just stayed quiet until mid June like most schools will do- they’d have better info to base off of then. Now I’m left wondering if we should buy her a plane ticket to get to school, or wait and worry it’ll be too expensive when it’s closer. Heck, we don’t even know where we are moving yet with 100% certainty, so I won’t be buying any tickets yet for anything anyway.
That stinks. Those are pretty similar to the options my D17 has to get her stuff, although I do think they would let a friend pack for her. Even if they give her a date at the end of May, I’m not thrilled about the idea of flying her into NYC and traveling from Grand Central to school just to pack up things. However, she doesn’t have much of the stuff she wanted for the summer.
Wow, realizing how lucky we were that the college packed and shipped the left behind goods at its own expense. The boxes arrived a few weeks back - I was a little concerned the stuff from the kitchen would get mixed up, but she got all her stuff and no one else’s.
D19 registered for classes today and got the classes and times she wanted - we are planning as though fall will happen with in person classes, though of course we haven’t booked any flights yet.
Our much awaited June train trip to Chicago obviously looks in jeopardy at present…
I also would love that Target/WalMart documentary! I agree with all of the observations, but I do find the grocery prices at WalMart to be quite a bit lower than at Target.
We are also in the situation of still having stuff in the dorm. It’s drivable for us and in a relatively low-covid-rate area, so we are going to go and pick it up as late as possible (end of May). I have seen many families on our parent FB boards who are offering/asking people who are able to go in person to help pack and ship or pack and go to storage. There are also several companies offering that service, but prices look to be $500+. I’m having to do remote-pack and move for my other college student, so I’m glad I don’t have to pay those rates for both!!!
As for flights, it seems as if we are looking at a slow “reopening” so I would hope that flights would gradually fill up and the prices would remain low for a while. I checked and right now flights for my D in the short term (next 3 weeks) are at pre-COVID prices, then after 3 weeks drop down pretty low and stay there until August. I haven’t looked into the airline COVID change/cancel fee policies since early when we all were cancelling plans, are they still offering free changes for flights booked now? If so, it could be worth it to nab the low rate fare in August if it is changeable.
@milgymfam, perhaps you could explain to the school that the choices presented are not fiscally possible at the moment. They might have extra $$ set aside to help students in this situation, or be willing to waive the fee. I don’t think schools want to burden any kids with more financial stress during this time, so I would reach out and just present your case. Anyways, that situation stinks, sorry for the hassle.
I am also a Target and Walmart shoppe, 90% Target, 10% Walmart. Here in MA we have easy access to both, right down the road. I tend to go to Target more, I just find the store cleaner and more appealing. The Walmart has a full grocery and definitely more products, is probably a bit less expensive overall, but the physical store appearance is quite blah. I go to Walmart every few months to pick up a few things I use there.
When I am in Maine there is no Target only Walmart. That Walmart is a total opposite of the Walmart near me in MA. In Maine the whole place is filled with white dudes with beards in hunting gear 365 days a year, and some tourists that stick out like sore thumbs. That Walmart is pretty clean and has a better grocery and a big gardening center. I don’t mind shopping there, it’s a bit less chaotic feeling than the Walmart near me in MA. Maybe that’s just the people in Maine, more laidback.
I’ve never belonged to a Costco or anything like it.
@TS0104 check with each airline. JetBlue for example says “ We’ve waived all change and cancel fees for travel thru 6/30/20, regardless of when you purchased your ticket. And, there are no change or cancel fees on new flights booked thru 4/30/20.”. But, this kind of thing does get updated when it looks like it all drags on. Southwest always has no change or cancel fees of course.
Costco is very popular in my town - the actual Costco is a few towns over (well, two a few towns over in different directions). I drove past the parking lot of the one one day and just thought, no way. I am just not good at massive stores with many people. Target is about my limit. So to the horror of many of my friends and neighbors, I’ve never been to Costco yet either.
Well we have a few answers. We know now that we are moving to MN in July, and we also now know my D can ask for $$ assistance with the packing/storage. Now I’m gonna start looking at flight options. Thanks everyone!
@milgymfam - I was also thinking about asking the school for funds to help with the moving/storing costs. I think you already know about the federal funds being given to each college/university and it seems like Haverford is likely distributing that money to the high need students, so hopefully your D’s portion could be partially used to pay for storage. At least then it would be covered and her belongings would be close to campus for when she returns. Good luck figuring it out!
Well, D19’s first final was this morning at 5:00a. (Timezone problems—all sections of the class had their final at the same time, which is 8:00a Central, and of course that’s going to be perfectly and easily doable in an era of distributed course delivery, right?) Her finals week ends 29 April, which just seems kind of wrong to me for a semester calendar.
D19’s school (the New School) just eliminated its two “incomplete” grades, so now the only ones possible for the semester are A, A- and withdrew. They also just sent out a memo about the many, many budget cuts being made to try to fill part of what they expect will be a $125 million budget gap for 2020-21. Decision on whether to reopen campus for the fall will come in late May. D19 is plugging away conscientiously at her classes and assignments, which is both great to see and no surprise.
S22’s in-person school year is officially over, as Massachusetts made the call the other day. He had told us he was going to cut off his shaggy afro when the cancellation became official, and sure enough, he used my clippers to buzz himself down to a nice, neat cut. He looks older. Weird how enough time is passing in home confinement for notable changes.
We were supposed to be on vacation in Florida this week, a combination of relaxing and looking for my mom’s new home. Couldn’t have guessed when we booked that we’d be skipping the trip and my mom would be living with us! She’s doing much better, by the way – really the only obstacle to her going home is that it’s still a bad idea to send anyone into New York who’s not already there.
DW’s fortuitous luck with employment continues: Just a couple of weeks after her happy separation from her old corporate job, she has landed a new one with a large nonprofit. She’ll start remotely, of course. It’s based in New York, but they were very understanding about our promise to S22 that he wouldn’t have to change schools again before college after jumping from New York to London to Geneva to Boston in the past seven years. Once people are going to offices again, DW will spend most of the week in New York for the next couple of years, and then we’ll move down there in '22. My job would more naturally be there anyway, so it works out well. We’re excited about it all, which is a nice feeling amid the current crisis.
DS19 did not go off to college with the rest of his class and chose to attend prep school as a PG to play Hockey and Lacrosse. He applied to a wide spectrum of 15 colleges because we just werenʻt sure (he had a terrible concussion Sept of senior year and suffered the effects for months) who would accept him. He was accepted to St Lawrence with the Presidential Award, Hobart with the Deanʻs, South Carolina with a Capstone and UConn. We were thrilled! A couple of weeks later he received an admission to Lehigh. It was a top reach and was not expected.
Heʻll be attending Lehigh (hopefully) in the fall. One more kid to go!
Congrats @cleoforshort !
S19 will officially do summer research remotely, so that’s good. Right now he’s home but so busy with schoolwork we hardly see him, and he hasn’t been outside for weeks. I hope it’s going to be better in summer, and also that he can go back in the fall. I’m tired of cooking for two adult men who eat completely different food
