Coronvirus update 4/9: Switch Boxing

So, it's been awhile since the last post and I thought I might as well do an update.

By now most places of work in Virginia have voluntarily shutdown or done work from home where possible.  Our household is fortunate to be in the work from home camp; we don't seem to be in the same immediate danger that so many other Americans are in.  So, count our blessings I guess.

One of our first world problems though is the closure of gyms.  Not a huge problem, I essentially only go to our apartment complex's gym to use the heavy bag, but it's starting to wear.

So, I ordered Fitness Boxing on the Nintendo Switch.  

It is...okay.  It's basically taebo, for those of us who remember Taebo.  You use the two joycons to move your hands.  You have free workouts and daily workouts.  The daily workout is based upon your history, weight, etc.

It'll make you sweat, which is better than just sitting and doing nothing.  The problem is, just like with Wii Sports of yore, if you really wanted to you could sit and do nothing.  The feedback seems to be based on how hard you can jerk the joycon. 

Certain aspects are immensely frustrating, I gave up on trying full body ducks/sways and now just jerk the joycons in that direction when it comes up on the feed.  The process does not reward moving your whole body; you keep on missing it if you try said full body ducking.

Is it worth it?  Well, I basically measure video games the same way I measure movies.  If I end up putting the same number of hours into a video game that I would have in going to the movie theater, it's a good deal, and I've hit it.  Do I think I'll continue to do this daily once the gym opens up again?

No, I don't.  This has been useful for exercise other than rucking around the wilds of suburban Northern Virginia, but that's pretty much it.  Glad I got it, well past the "hours spent" cost, but this seems like only a little above shovelware, especially given the price.  This should have been part of a Wii Sports-like bundle.

Coronavirus Commentary: Store situation March 1 2020

Having hiked and camped a great deal in the past, there is a good amount of overlap in stuff I have and "prepping" material needed in an extended emergency.  That said, despite the amount of batteries, hiking stoves, water purification etc. with the ongoing emergency I opt to hit Home Depot, REI, and the supermarket last week to add some cushion.

I headed to Home Depot on Thursday, picking one I knew to be relatively slow.  I had a few goals in mind:

• 5 gal buckets for storage
• Contractor bags
• Disposable gloves
• sanitation wipes
• safety googles
• N95 masks(filed under "would be nice", I already had a box in the closet)

The store was about as empty as I expected it to be on a weekday afternoon, which is good because it's exactly the reason why I picked it; there were a couple 5 miles or so away that always seemed slammed.  The mask/respirator aisle was essentially bare; folks had worked though it beforehand obviously.  Everything else was easy to find, although it looked as if folks had been raiding goggles as well.

Out of curiosity I went over and it looked as if all the tyvek suits had been bought.


After Home Depot I swung by the vet to buy up some kibble for the animals, it was still well stocked.  Then I headed to Safeway.  The goals at Safeway were:

• Rice
• beans
• lentils
• crackers
• multivitamins
• more toilet paper
• (generic)sudafed
• knorr packs 
• dehydrated mash potatoes

The last two are sort of an influence of planning for long distance section hiking; cheap easy to make calorie dense food.  I was able to get everything but Sudafed there.  I also got some kielbasa and stuck it in the back of the freezer.  Interestingly, the rice and beans in the regular "white people" section has clearly been worked over, but not on the international foods aisle.

All of this was done on Thursday, and the places were fairly empty of customers.  

At REI the list was shorter; 

• Butane
• water storage

We were able to get both.  We also ended up getting a Harmony house backpacker's kit as well, think a mix of dehydrated veggies you can toss in Ramen or something to add to it. While the place was empty of customers at the time and fairly well stocked, the cashier reported that there had been a steady flow of folks buying in preparation of a pandemic. We then proceeded to the ABC store, which was about as busy as you would excpect on a Friday.

Today(Sunday) we went to Harris Teeter and, again, it was about what we expected for a mid-Sunday afternoon.  The rice & beans had been really worked over, interestingly the bottom shelf of 5+lbs bags were the least touched. I went ahead and grabbed another bag and more mash potatoes, as well as some dehydrated beef & chicken bouillon and instant ramen.

The main take away is that, in the DC area, regular supermarkets do not seem to be seeing the traffic the news is reporting on the West Coast or at plkaces like CostCo.  That isn't to say people aren't doing anything about it; we saw evidence that more dried goods were being grabbed than usual,  but it may be we're in a spot where not as many people are yet panicking.

At home out our "quarantine pack" looks something like this:



Not very Doomsday Prepperish, but just fine if there is a two week quarantine.

A lot of people are finding even this to be crazy talk, which I find odd.  If you can afford it, a few hundred bucks now is better than dealing with it later.  Don't forget your animal friends in your prepping.