#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 14--Day 1 of week 3
Today felt so normal that I almost forgot that we are still living the "sheltered" life. The rain is gone. You can again enjoy the gorgeous California sun and balmy weather. Bumped into my neighbor during one of the walks. We chatted matter-of-factly--maintaining social distance, while the dogs played with each other in the middle of the empty road. Where is the angst?! Had a killer day professionally too. A doctor client of mine said the ventilator crisis is all but over other than at a few hot spots. And big companies and the scientific community are signing a pledge to make their protected intellectual property freely available for humanitarian use until the World Health Organization declares the coronavirus crisis to be over. (https://www.law360.com/…/businesses-urged-to-make-covid-19-…). What a day!
But I guess that's just today. Everything may change tomorrow. And looks like the world at large still needs peace and relaxation, as evidenced by meditation guru Deepak Chopra's live stream crashing midway because of overcrowding. Apparently a million people joined! Good for them. Keep doing whatever works for you as long as you test negative for the virus.
#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 15--Day 2 of week 3
Today is March 31, i.e. officially the last day of the Women's History Month. And what a month it has been! Women kept making history all over the world. In India, a medical diagnostics firm's research and development chief, Minal Dakhave Bhosale, spearheaded the rapid development of a coronavirus testing kit, which was delivered merely a week after she gave birth to a baby girl! (https://tinyurl.com/t7eswtj). In US, Dr. Deborah Birx (along with Dr. Anthony Fauci) has emerged as the voice of reason in her role as the head of the White House's Coronavirus Task Force.
But at the same time, women all over the world are also getting hit hard--maybe even harder then men--by this pandemic. Data shows that majority of the health care personnel working in the frontline are women. (https://tinyurl.com/sunpe9t).
Another area where women are suffering is closure of small businesses, which provide the livelihood for a lot of women. I'll give a concrete example. Our law firm had the tradition of "free lunch" every Wednesday to foster community eating at work. Individuals would select their lunches from a portal called the "Eat Club" and the company would pay the bills. Today we received an email, reminding us that though the office is inaccessible, we can still support the Eat Club chefs, many of whom are women, by ordering home delivery of food. A similar message came from the Cupertino city officials, urging the residents to order takeouts from their favorite local restaurants.
This unique time has taught me that even though ordering food might seem to be a lazy solution in these stay-at-home days, you might actually be doing a social service by channeling your hard-earned money to the female entrepreneurs in the food industry. We got this, girls!! #FemaleSolidarityInTheTimeOfCOVID
But at the same time, women all over the world are also getting hit hard--maybe even harder then men--by this pandemic. Data shows that majority of the health care personnel working in the frontline are women. (https://tinyurl.com/sunpe9t).
Another area where women are suffering is closure of small businesses, which provide the livelihood for a lot of women. I'll give a concrete example. Our law firm had the tradition of "free lunch" every Wednesday to foster community eating at work. Individuals would select their lunches from a portal called the "Eat Club" and the company would pay the bills. Today we received an email, reminding us that though the office is inaccessible, we can still support the Eat Club chefs, many of whom are women, by ordering home delivery of food. A similar message came from the Cupertino city officials, urging the residents to order takeouts from their favorite local restaurants.
This unique time has taught me that even though ordering food might seem to be a lazy solution in these stay-at-home days, you might actually be doing a social service by channeling your hard-earned money to the female entrepreneurs in the food industry. We got this, girls!! #FemaleSolidarityInTheTimeOfCOVID
#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 16--Day 3 of week 3
#AprilFoolsJoke #InspiredByATrueStory #TruthMayBeStrangerThanFiction
Day 16--Day 3 of week 3
#AprilFoolsJoke #InspiredByATrueStory #TruthMayBeStrangerThanFiction
Good morning, folks! The day started with this BREAKING NEWS.
CORONAVIRUS: LOCAL TENNIS COACHES, PLAYERS SUE BAY AREA OFFICIALS OVER 'NON-ESSENTIAL DESIGNATION
"A group of tennis coaches, local tennis players and fitness organizations, have filed a joint lawsuit against an equally long list of Bay Area public officials over the designation of tennis courts and gyms as non-essential businesses under the region’s shelter-in-place orders to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for Northern California, the lawsuit is centered on the claim that the shuttering of tennis courts by Bay Area counties is an unjust violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. It was filed the same day that a six-county Bay Area coalition extended the regional stay-at-home order to May 3, in which tennis courts were again not listed as essential businesses."
#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 17--Day 4 of week 3
Day 17--Day 4 of week 3
Yesterday I decided to keep it light, and started the month of April with a non-cruel (at least in my opinion) tennis-themed April Fool's joke by tweaking a true story with an author's (or may be player's?) imagination. But today we the tennis people are back to being serious and channeled the pent up collective energy of not being able to play into something constructive. A few of us brainstormed on how to keep the tennis coaches' morale high when they are losing their livelihood and dealing with the uncertain future on a daily basis, because nobody knows when the sports center will reopen. Within a few hours, a GoFundMe page was created and everyone chipped in with equal enthusiasm. It was exhilarating! We need more days like this where we tap into the deep bonds of friendship and community feeling to fight the boredom and frustration that is bound to creep in from time to time.
#GoFindYourHappiness #GoFundMe
#GoFindYourHappiness #GoFundMe
#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 18--Day 5 of week 3
Yayyy!! We have made it through another work week! And while we are staying in, the animals are frolicking! So endearing to see this video of a baby deer’s first encounter with the ocean! A friend forwarded it to me---source unknown. But that does not matter. The coronavirus has taught the whole world the universal language of pure joy and sobering sorrow at the same time. Have a great weekend everyone and stay safe in there!
#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 19--Day 6 of week 3
Could not have been more proud of Santa Clara Law for pulling off an almost flawless Entrepreneurs’ Legal Advising Clinic via Zoom this Saturday morning. I talked to 5 clients, many of whom had questions related to the impact of the current coronavirus crisis on their small businesses. One client even had a question involving---believe it or not---his patent on a device to pick up balls easily from the ground! His son's pingpong center is closed due to the county mandate. And he wants to monetize his patent. Life imitating profession or the other way round? I cant tell anymore. But my sincere kudos to the indomitable Pamela Vavra and Jerry Rosenblum for roping me in to this pro bono clinic. And so proud of the student volunteers of Santa Clara Law for handling the logistics and legal research issues with so much poise!
Finally, I will be forever grateful to Pam for showing me how to change the background in a Zoom meeting. Many of the lawyers chose a beach theme as their background. Telltale signs, right? #SCULaw #LawyersWhoLead#LifeIsNotABeachRightNow #JustKeepHelping
Finally, I will be forever grateful to Pam for showing me how to change the background in a Zoom meeting. Many of the lawyers chose a beach theme as their background. Telltale signs, right? #SCULaw #LawyersWhoLead#LifeIsNotABeachRightNow #JustKeepHelping
#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 20--Day 7 of week 3
This morning my brother reminded me that I need to take my car for a spin once in a while to make sure that the battery is still functional. I have literally driven my car once since the "shelter-in-place" order became effective on March 17. So I took the car out and drove around the rain-drenched empty streets randomly. Drove past a gas station just out of curiosity (I have an electric car, so don't need to go to gas station even under normal circumstances). Never seen gas prices this low! Drove past our weekend tennis courts in the De Anza College campus. The entrance to the campus was taped off. Then I drove to the local pharmacy. Had to pick up my diabetes medication anyway. It was like a ghost town. Only two other customers were in the sprawling store. Shelves full of merchandise including the illusive toilet papers, but no takers! The masked pharmacist put my medication in a basket--fitted with hand sanitizer--and pushed it towards me. I took out my iphone to make a "touchless" apple payment. My iphone usually recognizes my face to authorize the payment. But today it could not, because, you guessed it--I was wearing a mask!! For the first time in my life!! Didn't use a mask even in the time of wildfires last year. But that was different. This time the government wants you to wear a mask not necessarily for your own safety, but for others' safety, because according to the most recent studies, even if you yourself are asymptomatic, you may be carrying the coronavirus and can spread it to others. So I obliged. Another day with the virus, another compromise.
#MaskedInTheTimeOfCOVID
#MaskedInTheTimeOfCOVID
P.S. Finished the audiobook "Love in the Time of Cholera" this morning. So probably the hashtag will retire too.
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