My anxiety has spiked like crazy and I'm learning I'm not alone. I work for a construction company, so a lot of my coworkers are not people to readily admit issues like anxiety. I brought up today that I'm having crazy psychosomatic responses all week (keep thinking my throat is sore or my chest is tight) only to realize a few hours later it was nothing. Most of the 12 people on the conference call said they were having the same issue...

The cruelly ironic part is that weed is legal here now and my girlfriend has a jar full of gummies, but my job tests for marijuana so I can't take the edge off really. I can have a drink or two but booze makes me so groggy.

I went to school in North Carolina. At that time, Durham County was completely dry as far as hard liquor was concerned (beer and wine sales were allowed). There were still speakeasys.

Then I lived a long time in Florida. Florida allows liquor stores but not sales in stores that also sell groceries. So some of the gorcery stores have 2 entrances--one for liquor/beer/wine and one for everything else.

Many different state laws.

California gas is always expensive. Towns separated only by the Colorado River will have gas prices $1/gal more on the California side.

It's because CA requires a special low-polluting gas formula and only refineries in CA make it so they can't bring in the gas the rest of the country uses by pipeline. Basically crude oil comes from Alaska and the Middle east by ship ((and some from CA oil wells) to CA refineries which turn it into gasoline sold only in CA . . . for a lot more.

Yeah once I had to fill up a Tahoe in Cathedral City in 2011

Gas was over 4$ and that was 9 years ago :(

Nice little 110$ tank of gas

If anything, weed might help spike your anxiety.

Maybe tune into youtube breathing and meditation videos.

Good luck, and take it easy, my friend!

following california and new york's lead, illinois' governor will announce a state-wide lockdown starting tomorrow.

these things work like dominoes.

I'm wondering about "non-essential businesses."

My parents have a gardener mow their lawn; I wonder if they're still allowed to do that? I wouldn't mind mowing their lawn for them...

^ i wouldn't think that gardening/lawn mowing would be considered "essential", but it is outdoors and able to be done without getting too close to other people, so who knows?


related to that, our cleaning lady was supposed to come today, but she's an older woman in her 60s with some underlying health issues, and she has to take transit to get around to boot, so my wife told her her to stay home and that we'd send a check to her anyway. hopefully her other clients will do likewise.

And the damage they are doing to everyone are like dominoes too.

The lock-down idea seems to be desperate to me. I hope these states plan to fund everyone for the next 2-8 weeks otherwise they are about to have states of economic ruin.

It is desperate but needed. People don't know enough to stay home on their own. My family lives in NY and they're saying idiots are still out doing stupid things. That state is on the brink.

These lock downs will do way more damage to the world and it’s people than this virus could ever do. My gf for example is a contractor in Ohio for oil and gas. If they shut down the state then she’ll lose her job and get no unemployment. For whatever stupid reason her company won’t allow her to take work computers home. Guarantee they’re about to shut the state down in about ten minutes as that’s when the governor of Ohio is talking. They already shut everything down in PA. Although they deemed oil and gas jobs as life sustaining so perhaps she’ll be able to keep working.

perhaps, but other states will follow.

it's only a matter of time.

like i said, dominoes, once one goes...........




you can either pre-emptively lockdown and end up with a wrecked economy and hope that your healthcare system can hold on for dear life.

or you can do the italy thing and lockdown too late and end up with a wrecked economy AND a guaranteed wrecked healthcare system.


the economy is going to get wrecked either way.

i'm afraid that ship has sailed, my friend.

it's all about crisis mitigation now.

Are you not following what is happening in Italy? Do you realize there are not enough ICU beds for all the severe cases they are experiencing? Are you suggesting that not treating these patients is the better solution?

Rightly or wrongly the vast majority of people cant be at home not working for this much time.

Of course I am. Closing down restaurants etc is a good idea. But shutting down every single job is not a good idea in my opinion. Italy is also a different scenario as most families live with their grandparents and that’s why the death rate is so high.

However everyone is still spreading this to everyone at grocery stores...

What is your proposed solution that would keep jobs going but minimizing transmission of the virus?

True. I have two brothers up there out of work since what they do is deemed no essential. It's bad.

Doesn't California give a break to its gas vendors in border areas where motorists can easily skip across the state line buy cheaper gas?

Here in Quebec we tend to have higher gas prices than our neighbours (Canadian provinces and U.S. states NY-NH-VT-ME) but gas stations close to the border get a break on taxes that is lower closest to the borders, and then decreases gradually and eventually disappears as you move further into Quebec.

At least in comparison to Ontario (closest border to me - only 10 minutes away) the tax break only rarely brings the price down lower than over the bridge. (Though sometimes it does.)

So we always tend to be at least a bit higher, but for most people it at least takes away the incentive to cross over *just* to buy gas.

The CDC has information projected onto the Times Square electronic billboards.

I'm checking the cams, and the aholes that sell their crappy rap cd's are out. I guess they didn't get the message.

Nobody is going to enforce this. And what are they supposed to do; put you in jail (which is going to become almost as much a hotbed of COVID-19 disease as a nursing home)?

If your gardener is willing to do it, nobody is going to stop him. The order, so far as I can tell, even still encourages solitary outdoor activities like dog walking and exercise jogging/bike riding. Lawn mowing is no more dangerous if the mower doesn't come into your house. Maybe Venmo his pay though.