Edmund Schweppe

As of 4PM this afternoon, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is reporting 110 more deaths from COVID-19 (for a total of 5,592 to date), 1,239 new cases (for a total of 83,421) and 11,318 more tests reported (for a total of 435,679).

Governor Baker announced a one-day extension of his business closure order, which will now expire at midnight on Monday, after the "reopening advisory board" makes its first report.
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As of 5:30PM today, the town of Acton is reporting "145 cumulative cases of COVID-19 in Acton with 74 individuals in isolation, 62 recovered and nine fatalities (seven from congregate care facilities)." The reporting of deaths in town is a significant change from their previous practice; the town says they'll be announcing "positive cases, active cases, recovered cases and fatalities" on an ongoing basis.

As the death toll from COVID-19 rises to 9 in Massachusetts (and the number of confirmed cases rises to 777, Governor Baker issued a "stay-at-home advisory" and ordered all "non-essential" businesses in the Commonwealth to close their physical locations:

All businesses and other organizations that do not provide COVID-19 Essential Services shall close their physical workplaces and facilities ("brick-and-mortar premises") to workers, customers and the public as of 12:00 noon on March 24, 2020 and shall not re-open to workers, customers or the public before 12:00 noon on April 7, 2020. Churches, temples, mosques, and other places of worship shall not be required to close their brick and mortar premises to workers or the public; provided, however, that such institutions shall be required to comply with all limitations on gatherings established in section 3 below.

Businesses and other organizations that do not provide COVID-19 Essential Services are encouraged to continue operations where they are able to operate through remote means that do not require workers, customers, or the public to enter or appear at the brick-and-mortar premises closed by this Order.

He also changed the limit on how many people can gather in one place to ten (down from 25 in his March 15 order.)

Now, the list of "essential services" is pretty broad, and specifically includes grocery stores. It also specifically includes "restaurants, bars and other retail establishments that sell food and beverage products to the public," but the prohibition on on-premises consumption remains. (Takeout and delivery remain permitted.)

I suspect my upcoming Current Paying Gig will qualify as "essential services"; that's likely to be a moot point, though, as last I heard they were already in full-remote-work mode.

The town has yet to post its "daily" update.

Meanwhile, the latest COVID-19 relief package is stalling in the US Senate, as the Republicans appear to insist on a half-trillion-dollar loan fund to be disbursed solely under the discretionary authority of the Treasury Secretary; unsurprisingly, the Democratic members of the Senate think that's a Bad Idea. The stock markets (Donald Trump's favorite "metric") are now lower than they were prior to Trump's inauguration back on January 20, 2017.

Full text of the latest order: https://www.mass.gov/doc/march-23-2020-essential-services-and-revised-gatherings-order/download

My Current Paying Gig is in downtown Boston, in a building with no on-site parking but within an easy walk of North Station; thus, I normally take the train in to work. This usually involves having to get out of the house at way-too-goddamn-early o'clock, because there are only a couple of hundred parking spaces available and they're generally full by seven AM. Coming home in the afternoon, there are usually more than a handful of cars parked on the grass, or on the sidewalk, or in the striped-off areas; the only places not full are the handicapped-accessible ones, for which I suppose we should be grateful.

Today, the office was closed because the building has shut the water off for repairs, and I thus am working remotely. I went out to get some groceries at lunchtime and drove past the train station.

The lot was only half full.

Clearly many, many people are deciding to not risk the MBTA under the circumstances. I cannot blame any of them.

The third big nor'easter of March is blowing through. I was in the heavy/pasty snow zone for the last one and lost power for most of the day as a result. This time around my snow is supposed to be on the fluffy side, so the odds are better that the lights stay on. (Although you never know, given how many trees are still damaged from last week's storm.)

The MBTA has gone into hunker-down mode as well; for the first time ever, the commuter rail is running what they call the Extremely Reduced Schedule. (Which looks suspiciously like a Saturday schedule.) Fortunately, this Current Paying Gig supports working from home in situations like this.

It's Pi day (3/14) and we've got a blizzard! Or at least warnings thereof:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Taunton MA
719 AM EDT Tue Mar 14 2017

CTZ002>004-MAZ002>012-026-RIZ001-141930-
/O.CON.KBOX.BZ.W.0003.170314T1200Z-170315T0000Z/
Hartford CT-Tolland CT-Windham CT-Western Franklin MA-
Eastern Franklin MA-Northern Worcester MA-Central Middlesex MA-
Western Essex MA-Eastern Essex MA-Western Hampshire MA-
Western Hampden MA-Eastern Hampshire MA-Eastern Hampden MA-
Southern Worcester MA-Northern Middlesex MA-
Northwest Providence RI-
Including the cities of Hartford, Windsor Locks, Union, Vernon,
Putnam, Willimantic, Charlemont, Greenfield, Orange, Barre,
Fitchburg, Framingham, Lowell, Lawrence, Gloucester,
Chesterfield, Blandford, Amherst, Northampton, Springfield,
Milford, Worcester, Ayer, Foster, and Smithfield
719 AM EDT Tue Mar 14 2017

...BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS
EVENING...

* LOCATIONS...Western Massachusetts and Hartford County in
Connecticut.

* HAZARD TYPES...Heavy snow with Blizzard Conditions.

* ACCUMULATIONS...Snow accumulation of 12 to 18 inches, with
localized 18 to 24 inch amounts possible across extreme
western Massachusetts.

* TIMING...Snow will overspread the region through 7 am this
morning. The snow will quickly become heavy by late morning
with 2 to 4 inch per hour snowfall rates possible at times
into the afternoon. The snow may end as a bit of sleet or
freezing rain across portions of northern CT into central MA
and northeast MA. The snow will taper off early this evening...
but lingering snow showers will remain possible especially
across far western MA.

* IMPACTS...The heavy snow and strong winds will result in
blizzard conditions and near zero visibility at times. Many
roads will become impassable and strong winds may result in
some tree damage and scattered power outages...especially
across northeast MA. Travel is not recommended.

* WINDS...Northeast 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 55 mph.

* VISIBILITIES...One quarter mile or less at times.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Blizzard Warning is issued when sustained winds or frequent
gusts over 35 mph are expected with considerable falling and/or
blowing snow. Visibilities will become poor with whiteout
conditions at times. Those venturing outdoors may become lost or
disoriented. So persons in the warning area are strongly advised
to stay indoors.


Given the forecast, I didn't bother trying to go into work this morning. The commuter rail is running on a "reduced" schedule, and walking through the teeth of a blizzard is ... not my idea of fun.

(Also, I think this is the first time I've reprinted a National Weather Service warning message since they abandoned their ALL-CAPS TELETYPE FORMAT. I kind of miss it.)

So tomorrow isn't the weekend, or a holiday, and nobody's predicting a Snowstorm of DOOOM. That means it's time to go back to work, right?

Well, that may depend on the MBTA. As-you-know-Bob, the T shut down completely on Sunday during the height of the blizzard; that was the second time in a week that they'd cancelled rail service. Today was President's Day, when the T normally runs commuter rail on a Saturday schedule, which for my line means eight round-trips instead of seventeen. Despite the reduced schedule, there were still an awful lot of cancellations and late trains showing up on the service updates pages and the @MBTA_CR Twitter feed.

They've now announced that Tuesday's commuter rail would be on a "modified weekday schedule". For the Fitchburg line, that's going to mean only eleven round trips (vice 17), only four of which (vice six) will be during rush hour. The odds of them actually meeting that schedule are ... miniscule at best. (Not that driving in would be an improvement, considering how many of the main roads into and around Boston still don't have all their travel lanes cleared.)

Oh, and we may be getting another inch or two of snow tomorrow. Because of course we need a fresh coat.

Okay, this is really, seriously, fucking bad. Everything the MBTA runs on rails? Shut down tomorrow:

All #MBTA Subway, Trolley, & @MBTA_CR service will be suspended from start to end of srvc on Tuesday Feb 10 #MAsnow http://t.co/b64qZOblgI

— MBTA (@MBTA) February 9, 2015

Guess who's not going into work tomorrow, either?

Not snowing at this moment. That's likely to change in the next couple of hours, according to the forecasts, which still have me in the 18-24 inch band by Monday night.

Meanwhile, no word from the Current Paying Gig if they're going to be open on Monday or not. And the MBTA commuter rail is having serious problems maintaining their Sunday schedule - so far, they've had three scheduled departures from Fitchburg and two of them have been reported as delayed. This bodes ill for the chances of working trains tomorrow, in the teeth of inch-an-hour snowfalls; even if the CPG is open, odds appear poor that I'll be able to make it in.

Joy.

Or mostly dug out, at least. It looks like I picked up about fourteen inches of fluffy snow from today's storm, which is hopefully finally abating.

I did not risk going into the Current Paying Gig, as that would have involved (a) driving on back roads (b) to the commuter rail parking lot, then (c) taking the train in and (d) walking from North Station to said Current Paying Gig. (a) would have been bad enough, but even if (b) had been properly plowed in the morning (no guarantee) it would have been socked in by nightfall. (c) would have been an "adventure", since almost every train was either seriously late or cancelled entirely (due to mechanical failures, frozen switches, etc) And (d) - well, Boston hadn't finished clearing sidewalks from the last snowpocalypse. Slogging a mile through a foot of snow would be just the thing for my not-yet-fully-functional knee. (Not.)

Tomorrow? We'll see; at least I'm dug out enough to have the option of going in.

Weather folks on the news were saying that this has been the snowiest single week in local history. Over three feet in Boston; over four feet in Worcester; over five feet in Leominster, about fifteen miles west of here.

And I still don't have a clever usericon. I do have continued progress towards a healed left knee, though, which is more important.

I'm doing well enough to not feel the need for a walking stick - on level, carpeted floors, at least. I'm not quite willing to risk the vast marbled halls of the Current Paying Gig's lobby (which are remarkably slippery even when dry) without having the stick at hand, let alone the Adventures in Frost Heaves which are downtown Boston sidewalks. OTOH, I can actually traverse said sidewalks - slowly, mind you - and walk between the MBTA stop of my choice and the Current Paying Gig. Shifting to the commuter rail instead of driving all the way downtown won't necessarily save time, but will save money and will usually save aggravation.

And next week, PT will start to include "gradual stairs" and "gentle incline". I'm certainly looking forward to being once again able to traverse such obstacles unaided.

And things are going reasonably well.

Not perfectly well, mind. The knee brace is being occasionally recalcitrant, sliding down my leg further than desired and thus not providing the support it's supposed to. And, of course, having to wear the thing at all is an irritant. It's particularly irritating to have to wear it to work, since the Current Paying Gig doesn't permit men to wear shorts and the brace does not fit under dress slacks. (OTOH, the knee brace is an effective conversation starter.)

Having to drive into downtown Boston on a daily basis is irritating, as well; rush hour traffic has not gotten any more fun since the last time I had a downtown gig. The long-term solution will be to take the commuter rail; however, that has to wait until (a) I can walk several blocks in reasonable comfort and (b) I don't have to keep working physical therapy appointments into my schedule. The short-term good news is that the outfit running the parking garage seems to have figured out that, yes, there are now people driving in who use the handicapped-accessible spaces; unlike the week before, I didn't once have to bug the attendants to unchain the accessible spots.

However, my range-of-motion is continuing to improve, as is the strength of my left quadriceps muscle (which basically had nothing at all to do for the whole month of July). Hopefully I'm still on track to get rid of the brace after my next followup (in a couple of weeks).

In which I use my "professional" blog to disagree with claims that Test Driven Development is dead:
http://www.edmundschweppe.com/2014/04/tdd-rip/

Another day, another snowstorm. The National Weather Service has put a Winter Storm Warning into effect from now until 8PM tomorrow, calling for 8-12 inches of snow (plus maybe a trace of ice) in my neck of the woods. No word yet from the Current Paying Gig as to whether or not they're going to ask folks to show up tomorrow morning.

So I guess I'll have a White Vernal Equinox. Not quite the same ring to it as a White Christmas, somehow.

Last week pretty much stank. Particularly at the Current Paying Gig, where one of my¹ units suddenly stopped working in production. It runs fine on my desktop, in the common development environment, and in the unit test environment. In production, though? Kaboom. I suspect the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned Microsoft Jet database drivers. However, there was plenty of other Bad Stuff going down elsewhere, including one of my fellow choristers being rushed to the hospital only to discover she had advanced leukemia. And let's not forget the folks on my friends list who are having issues of their own. Or the fact that the next episode of Shadow Unit was postponed "[d]ue to a personal emergency interference from the network relating to an ongoing news story in the public media."

The weekend, though, has been pretty darn good. Friday night, David Surette and Susie Burke played a gig at my church's coffeehouse, and I had a blast. Saturday night was the church services auction; the congregation made a boatload of money, and I bought a lot of seats at dinners over the next year. Plus, I got to be part of the impromptu group of folks leading the crowd in singing excerpts from The Pirates of Penzance while the auction volunteers tallied up the bills. Finally, today was a beautifully sunny and not-too-chilly day, which meant I had the moonroof open throughout my day's driving.

This upcoming work week may or may not contain suckitude. But this? Was a good weekend.

¹ It's mine until the Powers What Be find somebody I can turn it over to. Based on historical trends², the expected date for such turnover is somewhere around 2015.
² Over the last year, said PWB have graciously permitted me to hand one such unit off to somebody else.

When the latch on your bedroom door disassociates itself from the spindle that's supposed to pull it away from the jamb when you turn the knob, thus preventing you from opening said door without pulling the pins out of the hinges: that's a bad day.

When the module that's been happily generating that custom Excel spreadsheet in a couple of minutes suddenly decides to take seven hours to run: that's a bad day.

When you realize that you've been working on this one damn extract process for two freaking years and it's still not handling all the edge cases correctly: that's a bad day.

When you don't get to go into Boston to see matociquala at her book signing because you're still trying to fight the Crisis of the Week at ten o'clock at night: yeah, today is pretty much fired.

On the other hand, tomorrow has a low hurdle to overcome to not suck as much.