Hey there Internet! How are you?
I am feeling a bit worn down today; and it’s not because the weather is all grey and rainy today. Truthfully I like weather like today, it’s perfect for drinking hot tea or coffee, and the smell from the rain in the air is always refreshing. But that’s not what I want to talk about today — I’m feeling a bit worn down because of work.
In the past two weeks, the number of COVID-19 coronavirus cases in Nebraska has gone from 1 to about 30. Just this past week we got our first travel-related case in my county (a man in his 50s who went on a cruise and was in California), and more cases are popping up — mostly travel-related. There are cases in about five counties. City hall and courthouse operations in town are basically shut down; local medical personnel are emphasizing social distancing (as is my work, since we have to stay well to report on all this mess); Wal-Mart has adjusted its’ hours to accommodate everyone buying the crap out of everything.
You have to understand — the number of deaths in the entire United States (as of this moment, 10:06 am CT on 3/19/20) is less than 200, there are no deaths in Nebraska, there are only two cases of COVID-19 community spread. I’m not saying this is something we shouldn’t be concerned about, especially considering it’s economic and social impacts on the world at large, but every morning my show is exactly the same. My entire show is designed to update people on what’s happening in town and around the world — which contain the following:
Community shutdowns. Local schools cancelling classes and closing schools to avoid large gatherings of people. The governor declaring a state emergency and asking everyone to gather in groups of 10 or less people. Local and government officials recommending social distancing. The DOW dropping thousands of points. The Senate and House passing a virus aid bill to help with food supply, unemployment benefits, paid leave, etc. Stores and retailers are closing and shutting down. People finally leaving quarantine from over a month ago.
This basically means the virus has affected nearly every block in my show (local news updates, national, foreign, health, consumer). And don’t get me wrong, I know this is an ongoing, prominent, local thing (which contains many, many news values) but I feel like I’m starting to get COVID-19 burnout. I’m going to start saying it in my sleep, I know I am. But to be honest, there isn’t terribly much I can do about that. As a reporter, producer and anchor, I can’t just ignore what’s going on in the world, you know? It’s going to affect our local community for awhile. I guess for awhile all myself and my coworkers can do it keep taking care of ourselves, making sure we don’t get sick (I honestly have the best chance since I’m a homebody and I only work with one person in an empty office), and keep on top of this thing.
In fact, NP has been posting a lot of press conferences recently (which have been happening when I’m at home, but I’m been watching the live and live-tweeting them for fun). These have been with the mayor, local health professionals, etc. about the confirmed positive case in our county and how they are trying to stop the virus from spreading (hence everything being shut down: city hall, the courthouse, the library, etc.). There’s one tomorrow at 10 a.m. about the future of NP education — schools have been closed all this week and we don’t know when classes will start up again or what the school year looks like. Some schools in the state are extending the school year and cancelling things like prom; UNC back in Colorado are now doing online classes only and is still discussing their future. I do plan to live-tweet that one too and watch it live — since I’m honestly kind of invested in this now. I don’t think anyone I know (personally or professionally) knows I live-tweet, but it’s just something fun to do that is exactly work-required, you know?
Besides, as much as I’m getting sick of saying “coronavirus” and “COVID-19,” I am basically a spectator here — just watching all this and thinking, “Wow. . . I wonder where this is going to go from here.” It’s funny. . .in December this was something small I wold put in my foreign news segment, and not it’s my entire A block.
You can read all my work tweets and my live-tweeting at my professional handle: @Erika News2
But, that’s more work news. Well . . .work and life news. This is affecting my life every though it isn’t directly affecting my life. I’m not sick, nobody in town is sick (though there was a scare at Applebees), but still.
Now. . .onto more fun news!
I went out last weekend with my coworkers! On Saturday we took a road trip to Grand Island (about 2 hours east of town). Myself, another reporter, Kaylie, and my meteorologist caught up on life and work on the drive down there — we hadn’t really talked with her in a long time. We ate lunch at Red Lobster (I had no idea how much I missed their cheddar biscuits, they are amazing, and I has a lovely amount of shrimp. Totally overate my calories for the day.) Kaylie actually hadn’t had their cheddar biscuits before so we all basically had a religious experience eating an absurd number of those yummy things.
Grand Island has so many stores and restaurants that I haven’t seen in a long time, I honestly wanted to eat everywhere and go everywhere. That was actually the farthest east I’ve been in Nebraska.
But anyway, then we went shopping at Gordon’s (a higher-end, second-hand store I had never been to before; I got two comfy shits and a mug), Khols and some other places; we stopped by a bar and said hello to Lorena. Lorena is the morning producer for the Grand Island station KSNB; I’ve talked to her over the phone and messaged her for work, but this was my first time meeting her in person. She is the sweetest person — everyone was telling me she was, and I totally agree. Sweetest woman ever. Love her. Then we stopped at a Taco Bell (I miss taco bell so much from college; I miss their Doritos tacos and it tasted so good to have one again) for dinner, and listened to two John Mulaney specials on Netflix on the drive back.
Kaylie was actually finishing work Saturday morning since she’s been working overtime (a reporter of ours is sick with a sore throat, possibly strep, and is basically under quarantine at home for that), and she seemed like she was having a really hard time. I told her I’d bake her anything at anything (to be nice and also becasue I love baking), and I actually did.
Well, first I made a batch of Dark Chocolate Banana Bread for fun; I wanted to try some and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to eat it all. So I basically made two loaves for my office (I made the second one after the first was popular; again becasue it is fun and I wanted to be nice) and wrapped each slice individually in tin foil for sanitation and easy eating. About 16 slices or so were gone within a day, and so I made more! In fact, when I came in the next morning (after making the second loaf), there was only one piece left and there were two notes waiting for me: the first from someone from the administration part of the office thanking me for the banana bread, and the second thanking me for always bringing in treats (the bread, the fudge, the cookies) signed by The Night Crew, which I believe is the evening-side 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. show people. Those were honestly really sweet to read and I have them pinned to the wall by the desk 🙂
But, then I also made Kaylie cookies! I decided rather quickly I was going to make her cookies to make her feel better, since she’s working a lot more and a lot harder recently, and also because she was happy about the prospect of cookies lol. So I made chocolate chip cookies and use a star-shaped cookie cutter to make them look cooler. I left them on her desk and she loved them! She sent me a very sweet thank you text and posted about them on her KNOP Facebook page:
I also on the side made Peanut Butter frozen yogurt; which is peanut butter, Greek yogurt, chocolate chips and bananas all mixed together and frozen. it tastes really good, and it’s basically like ice cream. I also made fried cauliflower again — since it is very delicious — but this time I made it with proper frying coating; the coating I want to use for vegetable tempura sometime soon.
And just yesterday I made Chickpea & Olive spread — it’s like a hummus or tapenade made of chickpeas, olives, olive oil and lemon juice that you eat with pita chips; now that I think about it I should’ve put garlic in it, but that was my first time making it. It’s yummy!
Oh! I should mention, the next Netflix and Swill episode will be postponed for a bit; I need to social distance for work and also I have a guest with me for a bit. Which I should also mention: Weekend Friend is visiting me! He is working from home (company’s orders due to the virus), and he is visiting me for a bit while doing so! Fun times!
But I think that’s all for now. I’ll post pictures in this post once I get the photos together. But yeah these are honestly some crazy times we’re in right now. WF and I have postponed our trip to New York until December due to museums closing and popular areas looking like ghost towns. This is for sure going to be around awhile, you have no idea. I mean, at first Nebraska was only in this becasue of the people in quarantine in Omaha; but that was in February. It is not mid-March, and we have 30 confirmed cases (travel-related, but still).
But that’s all for now folks. TTYL.