Take a break from *waves hands everywhere* with Maureen and Dan, as they shelter in place WITH YOU.
Greetings from a medically safe distance, SaysWhovia! It’s been A WEEK, right?
Like, what did we even think other weeks were before this week? It is, to put it mildly, a lot to take in. Which is why we’re here, to bring some sunshine to your earholes!
Or something.
We’re bringing something.
Dan is getting help with the recording. Maureen just wants you to stop eating the carpet. Both are here to talk coping, doing good, and the unreasonable demands of fish.
SaysWhovia: a sunny place for you to visit whenever you need. *squirts you with hand sanitizer*
Dan:
This episode of Says Who is brought to you by you. Through your support of our Patreon @patreon.com/sayswho, your support at all levels is incredibly helpful in us getting this out to you every week. And it gets you stuff including bonus content. There's a ton there and there'll be more coming. patreon.com/sayswho
Maureen:
We got a lot to do, but nowhere to be.
Dan:
It's true.
Maureen:
Hey, it's your old pal Maureen. Have you heard about books? Well, they're going to be all the rage and you should get some. Hey, don't eat that. Don't eat that. Come here. Don't eat that. Hey, are you in a bedroom with your dog recording a podcast because your partner has taken over the living room with four monitors and four computers. Maybe you need some books. Hey, look you really ... this is the time to get into it. You want to invest the time in a series. You want to get in there and let me just say this, independent bookstores need you now. A lot of them are ... some physical stores are open, some physical stores are not, but they will ship you books and it will cost a dollar or two more. But they need the m... And I know money is going to be an issue, but money Jeff Bezos has enough and they do not ...
Maureen:
Also they are deals happening where you can buy audio books with them and that's a huge benefit. And I saw at least one bookstore this morning that's also operating as an official food bank. So check out to see if you have a local bookstore and they ... Some of them are even doing home drop off. And your library system, if the physical libraries are closed, may have ... New York definitely does ... a lot of places do really robust eBorrowing. I mean it's great. You don't have to do anything. You can just get free eBooks. It's fantastic. Use your library's resources and that's what they're there for. This is the time and book ... I mean, I've written some books. You don't have to read my books. If you want to read ...Do not eat the carpet. Do not eat. Hold on. Someone's eating the carpet. No, don't eat the carpet. God damn it. This is going to be rough.
Dan:
Books don't eat the carpet.
Maureen:
Oh boy. You're going to hear me moving around a lot.
Dan:
And if you would like, pick up some Says Who merchandise including the ... Unfortunately appropriate, these aren't smart guys and things got out of hand, three quarter sleeve tee. You can go to merch.sayswhopodcast.com, things are still getting made and being shipped. So you can load up on some good things. T-Shirts, they meet you with the Haunted Mansion fanny pack. You might need that to think about a goal for later. All sorts of good stuff coming to you. Merche, M-E-R-C-H. .sayswhopodcast.com
Maureen:
Merche. It's some stuff that if you want it. Is that a good ad?
Dan:
Yes. That was a great ad. All right, Maureen, are you ready? Are you ready to record?
Maureen:
I sure am. I've got the-
Dan:
It's a little bit crowded in here.
Maureen:
Hey Dan, have you started the laundry yet.
Dan:
Yeah, I got that going a little bit earlier.
14-year-old:
Hey, pop. What have you seen my sweat?
Dan:
I think it was up in your room.
14-year-old:
Okay.
Dan:
I don't know though, but aren't you supposed to be doing school work right now?
14-year-old:
My computer died. Do you have a charger?
Dan:
I don't know. Hold on. Maureen, it's a little bit crazy around here.
Maureen:
Yeah.
4-year-old:
Pop?
Dan:
What?
4-year-old:
Can you play You Know with me?
Dan:
I can't play You Know right now I got to record with Maureen.
Janice:
Dan the dog is crying at the door. Can you take her out?
Dan:
I can't walk the dog right now.
Janice:
Okay.
Dan:
Could you ... 14 year old. Could you do the deck?
14-year-old:
Yeah I can do that.
Dan:
All right. We got to do the show?
4-year-old:
I have to go poop Pop.
Dan:
Oh, all right. I'm going to hand him off.
Maureen:
Oh boy.
Dan:
All right. Welcome to Says Who? The podcast that isn't a podcast.
Maureen:
It's a quarantine strategy. I'm Maureen Johnson.
Dan:
And I am Dan Sinker. Maureen, I have been hearing podcast after podcast and radio show after radio show this week going to remote recording. And we were ahead of that curve three and a half years.
Maureen:
Suckers. Remember when I was in a closet?
Dan:
Yeah, not anymore.
Maureen:
Suckers. Not anymore.
Dan:
Now we're just in ... You're a little bit ... you are in the bedroom today, right?
Maureen:
Yeah. You hear me moving around because I am in here ... Come here, chew this, come here chew this ... with the dog because Oscar has taken over the living room, that's his office now. On Friday, he said ... He called me around 5:00 and said I'm coming in. And he had to take a Lyft. not just a normal car, but one of those Lincoln Navigator size ones.
Dan:
Oh wow. Yeah.
Maureen:
Because he brought home four monitors, three computers and two giant plastic bins of his entire desk, and all the wires plus another several boxes of new networking things. a mesh network and it just ... and then we rearranged our living room. So our IPR, our table.
Dan:
Are you all just TV trays for the rest of quarantine now?
Maureen:
Look Dan, I'm not going to lie to you. We were doing that long before, we don't eat at the table, we're not people. We use the table for sorting things and playing games and whenever we have people over. But for a New York apartment, we have a big table. It's eight foot or so. It's one of, it's ...
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
It's big.
Dan:
They showed me a photo of it with all the monitors and I was like, "Oh, did you give up your dining room?" And you were like, "Low, low, low. This is New York."
Maureen:
Yeah. I mean, I have to say I'm very lucky that for New York I have a big apartment.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
It's very spacious. But that that table is, so we have a big living room area. I mean, suburbanites are going to think it's small, but it's big enough, it's pretty big. But we had to take everything off of it, push it against the wall and then he set up ... and it barely holds all the stuff. I can't photograph the table anymore because it has a proprietary-
Dan:
Like an NDA around the table.
Maureen:
Dan, I'm not even joking. He's like, "You may have to sign an NDA." Because, he has some kind of fancy dev kit on there that I don't even know. I can't ... I'm not going to violate it.
Dan:
I didn't know Oscar worked for the CIA. I thought he was a Game Dev.
Maureen:
Well, yeah. But it turns out, I think that some of the game development equipment is worth more than a lot of stuff that government has.
Dan:
That would do it.
Maureen:
But I'm jealous of him and his four monitors and he basically sits there with a big old headset with one of those little microphone arms coming around to his mouth. And he's hilariously trying to mimic his work schedule precisely. So he gets up at the same time. What does ... again, one day of this, but I think he will do this. He literally puts on his work hat, which he keeps on the desk and it says the name of the game on it. And when he's wearing his work hat it means he's wearing his work hat. And then he puts the headphones with the little microphone arm over it, and then he has a schedule of meetings. So he has a schedule monitor and a meeting monitor and it's all very efficient looking. He's doing things like, at noon I have my sandwich, so he gets up and he has the sandwich and he said, at this time I have a cup of tea and even brought his work mug with him.
Dan:
That's awesome. So as someone, I have worked from home for nine years now in one capacity or another. And only recently as a freelancer. Before that, it was part of a large kind of tech nonprofit, and then spinning out my own journalism nonprofit. But with a team and all of that. But when I started way back for the tech nonprofit, that kind of thing, the work hat and all of that was actually super important. For me to get into that sense of, Oh, I'm doing work. I had clothes that I would change into for work.
Dan:
So that it was my own mindset. Because it's hard to adapt now. It's like I've done it long enough, I can work through almost anything happening around me. Plus I do have a basement. It is conducive to being able to do this kind of thing or to get away from people. It's not conducive to a lot of things because it's weird and dark and this ceiling is very low, I can touch it without even extending my arm. But that sort of thing, folks who are doing this for the first time being more rigid than you think giving yourself, Oh, I need to take a shower. Oh, this is the type of thing that I would do during the day. And certainly these are my work clothes and these are my home clothes. That stuff super helps.
Maureen:
Yeah. As two people who work from home always like ... Hey, don't push the computer with your big feet What are you doing? What are you doing? Don't push the computer with your big feet. Oh boy. She's stretching and I feel like I'm trying to steer a ship against a wave. We can give you a lot of tips. But Dan, I guess the headline of all this is, there's a thing going on, the podcast we recorded last week was in a different space. Remember last week? Last week we were talking about-
Dan:
I'm sorry, go back to what you were saying.
Maureen:
Well that's, I mean I think that's a pretty-
Dan:
I've just heard this whole thing about how, Oh no, I work from home. It's no problem. I'm very distracted.
Maureen:
Well, I think that's very much the point of all of this. Is that it's a very, very distracting time.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
And the last couple of days, I didn't get any work done last week work-wise. Pretty much not zero, but too close to zero, much closer to zero than it should have been. And because I was getting things ready because I had to physically kind of go out. I don't have a car and shopping here, it was things were already pretty picked over, and I didn't want to overbuy. Just had to kind of go from place to place, put a couple things in this little cart, bring it back, drop it off, go back out again. I was hunter gathering a little bit. And then I closed up all the bins. Luckily I started about a week and a half ago. So I got there before ... I went to some of the stores that near the end and there were just lines throughout Trader Joe's, But I'm getting ahead of myself. This is what it's like. It's very, jump ahead, jump ahead. I'm in New York city where they declared a state of emergency on Friday, which is pretty much the moment everyone descended on the stores. And as of today that ... I guess last night restaurants here bars are closed-
Dan:
Same here.
Maureen:
And it's takeout or delivery only. And the thing that I guess is different about here is that, New York is a very, very takeout restaurant centered city. It's where a lot of New Yorkers food comes from. I think we may do it more than anywhere else. So-
Dan:
Without a doubt.
Maureen:
Yeah. Take out will thrive. And last night I made sure to get take out from our local diner that we get food from a lot. Just to ... I'm like, "We're just going to get take out as much as we can to keep pumping money into them." And I'm also vegetables, vegetables, vegetables, vegetables. Just, I'm all about eating the fresh vegetables. And so we find our ... I guess what I'm not surprised, but the suddenness of the changes I think is what stunned me into a kind of fog. It's not ... it's just a fog. It's just like there's a haze over my thoughts.
Dan:
I was on a work call yesterday and we were going to sort of trying to troubleshoot what happens next with this program that I'm involved in. And I had to be like, "It was this call last week that ..." It's a call of five people and last week, I was the one being like, "I think things might get real wild this week and make change real fast." And everyone else is like, "Do you think?" And it was like last ... then we were suddenly on a call yesterday and everyone was like, "Oh my kids are home and everything's ..." Things are moving remarkably fast, just wild fast. And if it is taking you a while to adjust, yes, that would make sense. Everything is upside down right now. And I think that's especially true if you work in food service, if you ... I mean there are all sorts of things where you are scrambling to figure out what's happening. And it is okay to feel confused right now, and to have hard time focusing and to have a hard time concentrating.
Maureen:
Well, we're not here to bring you down.
Dan:
We're not.
Maureen:
No. I got to take part in something Dan, that I have to conceal some of the details of. But I got to be on a video call with a pandemic specialist who talked to a bunch of writers and frankly, we're like randos. It felt like, you ever see the Arista development with the picture of the Magicians Guild and it's just a picture of a bunch of stage magicians and a wizard with a sign that says, "We demand to be taken seriously." That's what the audience felt like, being in for this pandemic specialist. But it actually really reassured me. It did, it was very sensible calming. I found it really calming. it's just-
Dan:
That is good.
Maureen:
It's a thing. It can be dealt with in process. We just kind of have to follow the rules and be sensible and take care of each other. Truly.
Dan:
Yeah. I mean I got to say as someone that has worked from home for a while and who doesn't live in a ... I live just outside of Chicago and cook most of it. it is funny to me how little lifestyle change I am actually undergoing other than the fact that my kids are now here. Which is a big lifestyle change. In fact, the 14 year old is doing his eLearning down here so that the preschooler and Janice can do some preschool runaround stuff upstairs. But, that is a juggle. The everyone is here all the time. We have instituted multiple, we put schedules together yesterday. Because it was like we got to ... It's not every day is a weekend for sure. And we have multiple times that are just quiet time. We have what we call morning chill, which is after breakfast, before things get going.
Dan:
Because we live in ... for a home, and granted, that is a luxury for sure. We live in a very small home. We live in a two bedroom four people. Yesterday I was doing exercises, my favorite thing. And I think a lot of people are doing this right now is like "All right, this different. So now I'm going to change everything." And I was like, "I'm exercising at home every day." And I actually found a really great website, if you are looking to do something that called DAREBEE which is actually a nonprofit, which is great. But I printed out all these extra ... I mean I did them and I killed myself. But I'm doing exercises in the living room while the 14 year old is on his computer working on something. And Janice and the preschooler are like, "What?"... It was like, this is going to get tight for a while.
Maureen:
Honestly, you guys, I'm not making ... we have to embrace this as an adventure.
Dan:
Yes.
Maureen:
We've got to embrace it. I mean it's happening. So embrace it for the adventure it is. Embrace it for the change that it is.
Dan:
Hug it out. I mean I do think that there are-
Maureen:
Don't eat the carpet, stop eating the carpet. Oh boy.
Dan:
That's a general advice too.
Maureen:
A lot of this will be trying to get the dog not to eat the carpet.
Dan:
Yeah, I mean I having to envision getting into a small box to get the dog out that is hard for my brain to wrap around.
Maureen:
She's actually being really good. I think possibly because she's getting taken for ... Pandemic specialist says walking the dog's fine. As long as you keep your distance going outside, it's fine. Good. So walk it out. So she's going for these much longer walks instead of going to daycare or whatever. I think she's building a lot of confidence outside and that's reducing her anxiety a lot. Because she gets to hang out with us. Or it's I think more that she was developing a fear of weather ... and well I mean partially because it was winter and she was inside ... Stop eating ... You're going to hear me moving around ... eating my carpeting ...
Dan:
Our dog is also very anxious and she can tell something's weird. So she does a lot of sitting at the door with a very high pitched whine, which is ... that's fun. It's a lot of fun to have. Just that constantly.
Maureen:
And that's normally you Dan. That's your job.
Dan:
It is normally me. That is absolutely normally me, but not today. Not today.
Maureen:
I'm trying to detect-
Dan:
And so I cannot tell you Maureen, how much I kicked my own ass with exercises. I was like, "I'm doing ..." It was like, imagining Sarah Connor in Terminator 2 working and then now, I'm just like, "I'm a broken old man, I ache all over." It also doesn't help now that one of the symptoms is body aches and I'm like, Oh it's me. And then I'm like, Oh wait, that's just, from all the lunges I did in the living room.
Maureen:
Maybe taking the steps.
Dan:
Yeah. I am now realizing I need to slow that down a little bit.
Maureen:
I am still attempting to do that Couch to 5K program and I was doing the run the other day and I got a charley horse in my calf that was so bananas that it has taken ... It's still a little bit in there, but it took two days to resolve. I still went out the next day with it and I did my first trial outdoor and I learned the lesson that going out running outdoors is much different from running on a treadmill inside.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
Oh boy did I learn that. So I had to back step a little bit and not do some of the even ... Again, I'm at the beginning of a Couch to 5K so that's where I run a minute, I can walk to the end of the earth. I'm from New York, I walk everywhere all day long. But the running is just something I've never been good at. I also bought, Dan a folding bike. A folding exercise bike. Apparently it's really good in exercising.
Dan:
So not a folding commuter bike. A folding stationary size?
Maureen:
Yeah, it almost looks like a big ironing board when you fold it up. And it's not that expensive. And apparently it's really good, effective. it was 120 bucks and it folds up and you can stick it in the closet.
Dan:
That's amazing.
Maureen:
Right?
Dan:
That is amazing. So I didn't know of anything like that even existed.
Maureen:
Yeah, there's a lot of them. You can buy folding treadmills, but apparently the bikes are really good. Because they're basically just some pedals. And so you get a little seat, and little handles, and little pedals and you can have a little folding bike. I bought a folding ... I have to admit I bought a bunch of stuff because, I have to kind of create a little Robinson Crusoe set up. So I had to ... I bought a folding table. Yeah. Because we don't have a table. I'm like, "At some point we may want a table in the next couple of months, so I'm going buy this folding table and that if we ... and we can take it outside if we want. Drag my folding table outside, got a damn picnic. And we already have folding outdoor chairs so I can drag those out-
Dan:
There you go.
Maureen:
Sit outside. So, we have things like that. We have to embrace it. I also want to say Dan not for nothing that, my Srardew Farm is going to thrive.
Dan:
Oh yeah?
Maureen:
And I had started a new farm a couple of weeks ago and I have become a very, very good fisher person.
Dan:
It is a thing that feels impossible, and then becomes possible.
Maureen:
I have ... You want to know the trick is?
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
They have a training rod you can buy. When you buy the training rod, you actually learn how to do it. And now, I'm so good at fishing Dan. I've caught almost every fish.
Dan:
Wait, there's a training rod in Stardew Valley?
Maureen:
You can buy it from the fishing guy.
Dan:
I think that might be new.
Maureen:
Yeah, it's really, really good.
Dan:
That's a good feature.
Maureen:
I think they realized that nobody could fish and so they fixed it so people could fish. And now, I'm really, really real ... I'm very smug about my fishing abilities. And I got a fish pond, so I raise fish in my fish pond. And the thing about the fish pond is, only one type of fish can be in there and that it's really good. But every once in a while a little note appears that the fish want to talk to you. And the fish are very polite. They say things like, "We would really like three pieces of driftwood please." And then you go and you give them three pieces of driftwood and they're like, "Yay." And they jump up and they multiply. But the other day Dan, I got this rainbow trout pond and I got a message that my fish wanted to talk to me. And the fish were like, "We'd feel a lot more comfortable with two emeralds please." Like, "What the fuck fish. What the fuck?" What kind of fish needs two emeralds?"
Dan:
I think the salmon asks you for a diamond.
Maureen:
Are you kidding me?
Dan:
No. But then you can ... if you take the salmon eggs and put it into the same pot that you make jam with, you will get a caviar.
Maureen:
I've been pickling all my fish eggs. Are you ... what you think I abhor?
Dan:
Very specifically, you get ... Versus the other ones. You get a caviar, which then helps with that. The final, the Joja Mart basket that you need to fill.
Maureen:
Well see, I've never gotten that far. But I feel like I'm really beginning-
Dan:
Love people. Stardew Valley for those of you that don't know is, a great thing to be playing right now. You'll get a little idyllic farm in a town that's both a normal and weird, and you should go back and listen to our Stardew Cast that we did ... what, two years ago?
Maureen:
But occasionally, your fucking fish will ask for emeralds and that's weird. Also-
Dan:
Anyway, they have updated it recently with a whole bunch of other stuff. So if you played it and kind of finished it, it is almost an entirely a new game.
Maureen:
Yeah. They've put some good stuff in. Either, I will tell you I continue ... One of the big things is learning about everybody in the town. Meeting our neighbors, giving them gifts. And I continue to do it. Ignore the fuck out of everybody in the town, just like I did before. So every once in a while I give them surprise gifts of things that they largely don't want. So I just give them my weird things and they're like, "What? Why did you do this?" I also go throw their trash at night. Always. I'm constantly going through my neighbor's garbage.
Dan:
That's my 14 year old, does the same thing. When you get caught doing it though, you lose hearts with people.
Maureen:
I know they don't like it when you go through their trash. I'm like, I got to go through your trash-
Dan:
For which reason?
Maureen:
My fish need emeralds.
Dan:
I love Stardew Valley. We ... me and Janice and the 14 year old have a shared farm that we all play together now and then the preschooler sits between us and kind of tells us all what to do as we go.
Maureen:
I think that we're all evolving into this situation and it's ... you don't have to figure out immediately how you're going to do it. It's going to be one of those things that don't expect on day one that you're like, "I know exactly how I'm going to do all of this. This, it's just like anything else. You learn as you go. And you can just kind of have an idea, ease into it. It's a chance to kind of develop some good new habits that you've been meaning to take up.
Dan:
Yeah. I mean, as we have said in relation to other things on this podcast over time, it is a marathon, not a sprint right now. So you sure don't have to get everything right on day one. And you also don't have to blow through every single activity and thing you think about all in one shot.
Maureen:
Oh yeah, don't do that. Give yourself time.
Dan:
I saw so many people baking 40 things this weekend and I was like, "What are you doing on Monday?
Maureen:
Yeah, you've got time. Stretch out a little bit. Sleep in, don't sleep in or sleep in. I don't care. Do what you want.
Dan:
Do what you want.
Maureen:
Literally there will be ... reading is just one of those things you can really, really get into. Lots out in the world.
Dan:
I made, what did not seem like a mistake at the time, Maureen. But I got new glasses ahead of all of this and they are progressive lens glasses so that I can read better. But it turns out I can't read at all with them. So that's awesome.
Maureen:
All right.
Dan:
I can read a computer screen from a normal computer screen distance, but a book, I can't do it. And now I'm stuck.
Maureen:
Can you get some readers?
Dan:
So that's great. I mean, they're supposed to be built into these glasses. That was the whole point. But mistakes were made. It's all right. I'll get through it.
Maureen:
And mistakes will continue to be made, but that's okay.
Dan:
Yes. Well, I'll be making a lot of mistakes.
Maureen:
I hope ... How else can we kind of reassure everybody out there and Says Whovians?
Dan:
I mean, I think the main thing is, it's a thing that I think is actually kind of amazing to witness. Is how many people have gotten creative and generous and started doing really interesting things in an incredibly short amount of time. We were last night kind of ... Janice and I were thinking about stuff to kind of plunk the preschooler in front of today. And discovered that Mo Willems who is a children's book author wrote, Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus! And that sort of thing is now doing a daily stream at noon where he doodles and talks about drawing and it's like kind of has this almost Mr. Rogers Esc presence.
Dan:
I've seen multiple artists hosting drawing sessions and my friend Mike Monteiro has stood up this thing called The Quarantine Book Club, which is bringing authors on to Zoom to hang out with ... I'm actually doing one on Friday at 11 Central. Go to quarantinebookclub.com and get a ticket. He is ... the tickets are cheap, but they do help both the design firm that he runs and any author that's on it gets a little bit. But yeah, come hang out on Friday, but they're just to me, as someone that often stands up things quick and doesn't quite know what they are going to be. It is really fun to see so many people trying that right now and I think that we'll only see that more in time.
Maureen:
That was my first thought. Is to do a live stream thing and that is what I plan on doing as a kind of daily or semi or ... I'm working out the schedule, Auntie MJ's Schoolhouse where you can come hang out with me every day. I'm setting that up in my office. So that's part of my plan too. And just the way people have been coming together and being generous and ... You find out a lot about who people are ... And I think we should just mention the T word. For even people that thought he was smart, Trump is now being pretty clearly exposed.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
Because, not to be too blunt about this, but the people that will suffer the most are Trump voters. Right? If they followed his lead, they're going to suffer. And the people that are most vulnerable tend to be the same demographic that are his voters. Like the chickens have come home to roost.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
So I think there's going to be ... because you know what? Did you even think about the Democratic Primary this week Dan? Did you?
Dan:
Well funny you should mention that Maureen. Because, I was supposed to be an election judge in the Democratic Primary in Illinois that is happening today. Right now. I was supposed to be a poll worker. I was supposed to be handing people their voting cards and collecting ballots and all of that sort of thing. And last week, after zero communication whatsoever from the County clerk, I realized that I was carrying an incredible amount of anxiety around the idea of spending 12 hours in a enclosed church rec room with, people filing in and out all day. Handing them things, and them handing me things. And I realized I couldn't do that.
Dan:
I did not feel good about it, but I canceled. And it is still happening today. Believe it or not. We mail voted. In fact, we have to walk over and put our ballots in the postbox today. But yeah, I mean it is, things are moving so quickly. Ohio actually last night there was a lot of drama, but the governor of Ohio who has been a remarkable kind of ahead of the curve leader in all of this. If you are not paying attention to the moves that the state of Ohio is made, it seems like almost every other state does whatever they did the next day. But he canceled or he delayed the Primary till June. And there was actually quite a bit of court wrangling last night to make that happen. But Illinois there, it's polls are open. But I don't think it's going very well in part because of people like me. Unfortunately I feel quite guilty about it.
Maureen:
No, I think you made the right call.
Dan:
I mean, I did, but it's also was ... It's an impossible situation, right? I think that, that is one of the things that is so wild about right now is how many things are moving so quickly that the ... and there is no leadership from on top that it is all improvised. Every government, every governor is improvising right now. Even within States. Right?
Maureen:
Well it's a lot of foreseen-
Dan:
Northern California is locked down. Southern California is only mildly locked. It's like, what?
Maureen:
Local leadership. Local leadership, I have to say in our community here in New York, there's been fantastic local leadership, not from the Mayor, but from-
Dan:
He went to the gym yesterday. Right?
Maureen:
Look, our mayor is a magical man. He's something. Our response in New York when people were going to ... I mean, because we're ... So, it's March today's St Patrick's day as we record. One of my least favorite holidays. It is the Santa condom spring, it is terrible day to be in New York. And one of my silver linings is those assholes are home. So I take what I can get. But people in New York were shouting at people at brunch like, "Go the fuck home, it's not worth brunch."
Dan:
Oh, that's amazing.
Maureen:
Yeah. People were shouting from windows, go the fuck home at people who are brunching. Or people that were out running, had banners on their back that as they ran by it flapped the winds said go the fuck home. I mean, that's how we deal with this shit. It's really locally really good leadership in terms of transparency, good messaging, good protocols-
Dan:
I have to say in Illinois, we elected a billionaire governor in the last gubernatorial election, and he has been remarkable actually. He has been a very, very good leader through this. He is at the podium every day for daily updates and has been for since I believe, 10 days or so at this point. He, shut down schools a little quicker than others. He shut down, bars and all of that. After St Patrick's Day reveling happened over the weekend, he got pissed and shut it down. He got on Twitter and started swearing at the president, which is always appreciated. After they instituted new screening policies for international travelers and the waits at O'Hare Airport turned to five, six hours.
Maureen:
That wasn't great. The O'Hare stuff.
Dan:
No, but it was every airport that had it. And that was the federal government. He was like, "This is customs. We got no control over customs." So-
Maureen:
I didn't mean it's his fault. I meant the whole, let's drag everybody home all at once without a plan.
Dan:
Yeah. Weird right? I mean it has been great to see how many local leaders at all sorts of different levels have stepped up. But they are stepping up to fill a void that is and should never have existed.
Maureen:
Right. But local government can be ... I think we're really going to see the importance of local races. You're going to get to know your local politicians and maybe we'll get more engagement with that. Just because we ... I mean, here's something I can remember as a new Yorker on 9/11. For 72 hours or a week, Rudy Giuliani, that guy did a good job. He really did.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
I have to say, people have their moments. And he took the moment and he was firm and clear and I'm not making any excuses for Rudy Giuliani ... You know how I feel about Rudy Giuliani?
Dan:
You know how we feel about Rudy Giuliani.
Maureen:
But he got ... That morning when everything was shit, was going down, he tried to get to the command center. It blew up, they basically axe their way into a fire station, set up a remote comms unit and gave a speech with clear directions. Because, people just really need directions. Wrap your face, walk uptown. That was it basically it was like you just need to walk up town. It was here's what's going to happen here. And people, you'll see what people can do and what people can put ... And truly, I think we're going to see amazing networks of people working together. Because you know what? Also all of the policies that are being proposed in the Progressive Policy, the Warrens, the Bernies, etc, you're going to see what these policies, why they exist and why they're good.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
Like why we need better medical network.
Dan:
I mean we are in real time experiencing what the fuck it means to have your healthcare attached to your employment.
Maureen:
Yup.
Dan:
Which has always been insane.
Maureen:
It's always been insane.
Dan:
It's always just unconscionable at a moment where the job losses and job pauses and all of this stuff that we're seeing unfold. I mean, it's just, it does feel like we have an opportunity here for designing a better thing on the other side of this.
Maureen:
All the pieces I've thrown up in the air, everything's on the table now. We can rearrange them.
Dan:
Yeah. The same way that I am like, "I need to get in better shape than I am in right now." That same thing is true for civic life, for government, for all of that.
Maureen:
And if you're really trying to get your fishing together in Stardew this is really your time to get to know the guy that runs the fish shop. To investigate different types of rides and actually really actually learn to use some of the sinkers and the bobby things and the ... which is spinney finney's and different types of baits. And really get out there and try to catch your own puffer fish.
Dan:
I have taken my ... In our Stardew Farm Maureen, Janice is the miner, I'm the farmer, and the 14 year old tends to run around and give everyone gifts. And I have taken my farming into real life now. I planted a little victory garden in our dining room with the preschooler. We were growing some lettuce we've got ... which I think you would DM me. He was like, "I'm trying to figure out if I can grow some lettuce." But yeah, I ordered some seeds.
Maureen:
Can I say something about that?
Dan:
Yes.
Maureen:
My birthday, two years ago, my mother bought me one of those Aero-Pot hydroponic garden sheets.
Dan:
Nice.
Maureen:
Which I put back in the closet and I whipped that thing out and I was like, "I'm growing lettuce in my office, motherfuckers." I order a whole bunch of pots and I'm going to grow some mother fucking lettuce in my motherfucking little machine thing.
Dan:
We've got lettuce planted. We have some ... we have a couple of spices planted. I think it was actually Helen Rosner.
Maureen:
Herbs.
Dan:
Yes. Herbs. Thank you.
Maureen:
You're not-
Dan:
I don't know anything Maureen. Herbs. Yeah, we planted some herbs. Helen Rosner actually was the one that was like, "Plant some herbs, in a couple months you'll have something delicious in your food." I even ordered a few more pots to be delivered. And can I just say, as I'm talking about ordering things, God bless delivery drivers and postal employees like-
Maureen:
Grocery store workers.
Dan:
Yeah. They have always been ... and good Lord health workers that are listening, all the love to you. But it is interesting to see what the backbone really it's what our systems really look like. And being able to still open a computer and place an order and get some things to the front of my house that I can then wipe down and open is incredible and incredibly lucky. And thanks to all of the systems that are in place to make that still happen.
Maureen:
Yeah. I mean, we can't thank everybody enough for who ... and all the helpers.
Dan:
Yeah. And to that end, I want to give a little bit of a shout out to the Says Whovian group on Facebook. Who have been incredible helpers to each other. But very specifically, there's been a whole thread by Says Whovians that work at grocery stores and who had been kind of talking about their experience has been incredible. Including giving advice on kind of how best to do it there. They're big proponents of delivery. But I mean y'all are doing amazing stuff and generally speaking, there just been great things. I loved ... Janice's the moderator of the Facebook group, and so she shows me stuff as it comes in. One was somebody set up their coping shelf so they just have a little shelf of things and they can kind of concentrate and look at and sort of meditate on those things.
Maureen:
Yes.
Dan:
There actually is, a running group that has formed. A little group of Says Whovians including Janice's in it. That have been doing running or walking 5K's and logging, when they do it. There've been a bunch of people doing-
Maureen:
I've got to join.
Dan:
You do got to join, get in there. People giving tips on how to work from home or giving tips on educational resources for parents that are suddenly trying to figure it out. It has been-
Maureen:
Is there a dog farting group Dan? Is there a group on coping with dog farting?
Dan:
I don't know if there's a group that's coping with dog farting, but there are a lot of pet photos and that sort of thing going around. Including these two hamsters that are just are Guinea pigs. I think they are amazing.
Maureen:
And if there's anything that we could do to help. For example, bonus content you want to hear or ways that people need to help. Like if you need help, you personally need some help ways that we can set up to help each other.
Dan:
Yeah, I mean it's a great community. And it is thankfully a community that has been around for a while. But I would highly recommend if you're a listener and you want to connect with some people that are doing really great things for each other. Facebook/groups/SaysWhovians is a real nice place to be for sure. And a shout out to Janice I have to say, who is working and working to change that place.
Maureen:
Absolutely.
Dan:
And it is a private group. You do have to request to join, but she approves all requests. It is not like you've got to apply or, and it's-
Maureen:
Don't cost nothing.
Dan:
No. Don't cost nothing. It's just private so that you can talk and your family that follows you on Facebook is not getting blasted with that.
Maureen:
Right. Can I tell you about something cool Dan?
Dan:
I love cool things Maureen.
Maureen:
It's called boardgamearena.com.
Dan:
What?
Maureen:
Yup. Boardgamearena.com and hopefully even more services like this will open up. You can play games like board games online with your friends. Straight up.
Dan:
How? What? I've never heard of this. That's awesome.
Maureen:
Boardgamearena.com they have Carcassone, they have King Domino, they have loads and loads of board games-
Dan:
It's like virtual versions?
Maureen:
Yup. And they're good. I sampled it to see if it was any good because I was like, "Eh." Because some of those online versions are terrible. No, it's the shit, the Carcassone was for real. I was having a little ... it was a little fiddly on my screen so I might do it. I might try it again just to figure out how best to view it because-
Dan:
I think you got four monitors in your living room at the moment.
Maureen:
I'm not allowed to. Now I have ... Dan, you know what, I have monitor envy now. I'm not even kidding. I was sitting there watching them and I was like, "I need to buy another monitor because I can't keep ..." Everything's on this one little thing. I'm like, "If I could have ..." I don't use Slack because I'm like, "Who wants to flip back and forth between that shit?" If I had another monitor, I could ... I think that might not be a terrible idea right now because a lot of stuff will be done like that.
Dan:
Yeah, one of the best bits of bossing that I have witnessed in this past week is, I know a lot of folks that work in news and all of them are now trying to run news rooms out of everyone's home. And I saw somebody that I follow tweet a picture of their work setup, which I think was on their kitchen counter. And they were like ... and a tiny little laptop. And they were like, "God, I really wish I hadn't gotten rid of that monitor. The last time I moved." And their boss jumped in and responded, order one inexpensive and it's like, "That is awesome." That is good bossing right there. If you are a manager or a boss right now and your people are working at home, make sure they have the things they need. And if your organization can afford it, absolutely order it inexpensive. But yeah, a second monitor for your laptop is a good thing. And the last time I bought a monitor, which I use when we're recording and when I'm editing, I was shocked at how inexpensive they were.
Maureen:
I have a little TV in my office that I never use, I wonder If that can just be a monitor?
Dan:
You can't, it's not. TVs, like a HDTV totally work as a monitor. They're not great for small text and things like that, they're a little bit fuzzier than you would think.
Maureen:
Let's look and see how much a monitor is. I want to know right now.
Dan:
You can get a 20 some odd inch monitor for under $100.
Maureen:
Monitor. Let's see here. Monitor. I want ... look at this curvy one. Now I'm just going to be that asshole. All right. I could get a HP 23 inch HD Monitor, 109?
Dan:
Yeah. I mean as somebody that used to run a small publishing company and had to buy a lot of monitors back in 2000, the idea that a monitor can cost $100 is amazing to me.
Maureen:
All right. Now I have a lot of monitoring around me. I also have to put another dog bed in my office because usually I close off my office to her, but I have to ... why am I telling you these things?
Dan:
I like it. If you're getting prepared, Maureen. You're getting prepared.
Maureen:
I got a folding bike. Well I'm going to try to encourage her to sleep in my office. Because she's busy and we have to move some stuff around. I'm going to pull out my phone and bike when it comes-
Dan:
And I would highly recommend folks and this is couched with the massive statement of if you have the means.
Maureen:
Yeah.
Dan:
But, right now is the time to be planning for what happens if where your living gets into a sheltering place situation like the Bay Area is right now. Because if you have some freedom of movement, if you have the ability to start thinking about what do I not have in my space right now that I would like to have? Or how do I need to rearrange it? Now's the time to do it for sure.
Maureen:
I mean, I sort of assume that's where we're heading here.
Dan:
Everyone will head there.
Maureen:
I mean, we're kind of there already. I don't know what the precise difference is between shelter in place and what we're doing now. Do you know what the precise difference is?
Dan:
So I also don't know the precise difference. I do know that all retail that is not considered sort of essential retail is shutdown. An essential retail is like grocery stores and pharmacies and hardware stores and that sort of thing. And the basic requirement is stay where you are. I believe that you are able to go out for exercise and things like that, but it is ... I have basically locked down it here, just to keep my family ... We're out of the mix. But in the Bay Area now for the next three weeks, that's where they're at. So think about that and think about what adjustments you would need to make if that is not where you're at right now. Because we may well be-
Maureen:
Yeah, I guess being in New York that we're kind of there and we're kind of not. I mean bars and restaurants have closed. I haven't actually looked to see if stores are open. I mean, I was in the pet store a week ago or like six days ago. So it might as well have been two years ago. So I don't know, but I assume that we're going to be there really, really soon. And also one thing I did in my building was, I printed out a sign that said, if you need someone to do your shopping for you, put a note at my door and I'll go and do it for you. And I think volunteering if you can, to do someone else's shopping is a big deal. Like if you have elderly neighbors and you can do their shopping for them, that's huge. So I'm trying to do that.
Dan:
I would also highly recommend if you can do your shopping virtually and get it delivered. That keeps ... and obviously tip like crazy, but that does keep the load of the grocery store lower. Which every grocery person I've heard says, "Please do delivery if you can, because we can manage the store better that way."
Maureen:
And I'm just ... because I looked on CNN to see what the shelter in placement. And I saw a great headline that said, this student created a network of shopping angels to help the elderly get groceries, which is the same thing I just said. Helping people get their groceries. I signed up for New York Cares a while ago, so I know they're going to start organizing Coronavirus teams to help shopping and getting food to people. And also a lot of people are going to be short on money and food. So this is what money was made for, times like this. So I'm definitely going to ... just money to food banks, just money to people. If people need me, I'm here, just ... And I'm going to put an envelope on my door with tips for the UPS delivery people, take the money. I know it's a lot and if you can't do it, then you can't do it and if people can help you, then it's all for us to go around in a circle now to help each other.
Dan:
Yup.
Maureen:
So, definitely if there's something that say as a group we can do, maybe let's see if we can help out each other on the Says Who group, just helping anybody out that that needs it. Community-wise.
Dan:
Yeah. I mean it's already started to happen in the Facebook group. One of the most poignant things that happened was somebody came into the group and basically said that they can't stock up because they don't have any money. And literally within moments, lots of Says Whovians were like, "Can I send you some money?"
Maureen:
Oh, I didn't see that.
Dan:
And multiple Says Whovians have now sent this person some money. Which is incredible. I mean, we're going to get through this, y'all. And we're going to be here alongside you as much as anyone is alongside anyone right now.
Maureen:
Oh yeah, we won't be close, we'll be distant. Distant but close in your ears.
Dan:
We've been in your ears for three years. We've been through a lot. We're going to be in your ears still. And part of that is because Says Who is brought to you by you through your support of our Patreon at patreon.com/sayswho. Our theme music is performed by Ted Leo. Our logo was designed by Darth, who continues to be a little space of wonder and joy on Twitter.
Maureen:
We love you Darth.
Dan:
You can contact us @Says Who Podcast on Twitter. You can email @hey, that is H-E-Y @sayswhopodcast.com. Join the discussion on Facebook for real, join it @/groups/Says Whovians. Our Facebook group is moderated by Janice Dillard. Thank you, Janice. You can spread the word, subscribe, and please leave stars and reviews on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen and you can join us next Wednesday March 25th. Weeks are long right now. Where will we be then for our next episode?
Maureen:
We'll be doing more bonus content.
Dan:
Yeah, we had a little huddle before we recorded and we were like, "We got to get some bonus stuff together. We know we've been a little slacking on that. It's been a busy couple of months between the impeachment and Maureen's book release. But now who's got anything but time right now? So we will get some bonus stuff up for all of you Patreon subscribers that are at that level, including just stuff straight up on the Patreon blogs. So you will get stuff for that as well. We are here-
Maureen:
And if you don't donate, maybe we'll throw up a couple of free bonus episodes as well. Just, because we don't want to make it a money thing.
Dan:
No, we want to help everyone get through.
Maureen:
Right. We want to give you something for those getting through ... we want to give support to people that support us. And also, if you can't then awesome more for you. We want to give ... this is all about giving 100%. We could only survive with each other and that is always true. This is not just true now. It has always been true. It's just more obvious now. None of this is new. It's just more obvious.
Dan:
Yeah. And to that end, you can catch me in person as much as anyone is in person at the Quarantine Book Club this Friday at 11 Central. Go to quarantinebookclub.com. You can get a ticket, within the ticket thing is a code for free. If you do not have the five bucks that it costs. But join, it's going to be via Zoom. We'll just talk. I don't actually have a book but you might hang out for an hour. It'll be fun. I'll do Maureen's book. Yes, it's dedicated to me. So it's basically like I wrote it. But quarantinebookclub.com, they have a bunch of great authors coming through as well. So that's Friday at 11:00 AM quarantinebookclub.com.
Maureen:
And when I get my shit together, Auntie MJ Schoolhouse.
Dan:
I love it.
Maureen:
I assume the next day or two I should have that shit together.
Dan:
Get your shit together, Maureen.
Maureen:
I have a puppet.
Dan:
Order a monitor and an external cam.
Maureen:
Well, an external cam?
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
What's an external cam?
Dan:
Like the one on your laptop. Like a little webcam.
Maureen:
Oh, don't ...I just-
Dan:
We'll talk.
Maureen:
Thought I was supposed to use my phone.
Dan:
What?
Maureen:
I don't know how anything works Dan.
Dan:
We'll figure this out. I will help you troubleshoot. It's easy. We'll get it done. And Auntie MJ schoolhouse coming to you soon. Quarantine Book Club already up and running. Thanks to Mike Monteiro and you will see us around the internet as we now see everyone. From my basement in Chicago, I am Dan Sinker.
Maureen:
Well, the puppy's fallen asleep finally. She always falls asleep at the end. She is like ... I don't know what this whole new thing is where ...
Dan:
It's like our listeners.
Maureen:
That's right. We love you guys. From my little nest in New York city where I look down on everyone with love, from a place of love, from a place of togetherness and where I see, the connections between this howling-
Dan:
Well this is the thing we could lose with this whole world-
Maureen:
And throughout each other, but also within each other. When we come together as separate but togetherness from a place of love dome. That's right. I'm back. Place of love and community. What does community mean? Commune plus an itty. What's an itty? I don't know. That's the whole point. I don't know.
Dan:
All right. Are you signing out?
Maureen:
No Dan, I'm signing in on humanity. I am opting in. As I retreat physically, I move forward spiritually and emotionally. I'm opting in. I'm signing in Dan.
Dan:
Cool. Perfect.
Maureen:
Yep. I'm going forward
Dan:
Great. Do the say your name part.
Maureen:
What does my name even matter Dan? My name is humanity and the entity that is-
Dan:
I'm pressing my face on the microphone at this point.
Maureen:
That Maureen is part of the larger mass of us. So I am signing in as us and out as Maureen. But in as us. So the in is more than the out.
Dan:
All right. just sign out however you want.
Maureen:
I'm not signing out. I'm signing in.
Dan:
Sign in, god damn it.
Maureen:
I'm signing in.
Dan:
Just ... okay. That's great.
Maureen:
The podcast has no-
Dan:
People have a lot of other podcasts to listen to. We need to move on.
Maureen:
But they got a lot of time to listen. So the longer this goes on, the better. Because you don't want to be too short right now. You want to more and more time.
Dan:
That isn't true. Just go on, and on, and on.
Maureen:
You know what I mean? Just like really bulk it out. You know what I'm saying? Like really bulk it out. You know what I'm saying? Really bulk it out. Bulk it out, and I'm making a face like Bulk it out it, and I'm like puffing out one cheek, bulk it out. You know what I'm saying Dan? Opt in, bulk it out. That's what I'm saying. You get it.
Dan:
Okay. That's great.
Maureen:
Do you want to talk for another two hours?
Dan:
No.
Maureen:
Do you want me to sing you a song?
Dan:
No. I will say that the scratchy back of my throat that I've been worried about all morning has gone away during the duration of this talk. So that is-
Maureen:
I got one.
Dan:
Things are looking up.
Maureen:
But I'm pretty sure it's-
Dan:
You got a scratchy throat?
Maureen:
It's allergy season and it's raining here and that March and allergy season-
Dan:
That's the thing.
Maureen:
It tickles the back of your throat.
Dan:
All right. Time to sign out.
Maureen:
Sign in.
Dan:
Sign off.
Maureen:
Sign in.
Dan:
It's time to just sign off of this podcast.
Maureen:
Signing on. I'm signing on to humanity.
Dan:
Oh boy.
Maureen:
Signing. You keep messing it up Dan. But there are no mistakes. Like you're not messing it up. You're doing it right. But I'm saying I'm signing in and on. People love this.
Dan:
This is great.
Maureen:
Because they're full of love.
Dan:
Well, I don't know about that.
Maureen:
All right.
Dan:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Maureen:
Signing in as us.
Dan:
Yeah. This has been Says Who.
Maureen:
But it continues to be safe. It has no border around it. It has no limit.
Dan:
Sure.
Maureen:
Has no edge.
Dan:
Thank you so much. Just ... All right, I'm pressing stop.
Maureen:
Press start Dan, it's time to start. Not stop. You know what I'm saying?
Dan:
We already started. We did it. We'd done it.
Maureen:
Yep. We're doing it.
Dan:
Says who?