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From the Publisher

Appell Pie September 2020

By September 28, 2020No Comments

Appell Pie

September 2020

What are you doing?

 

The beginning of September marks the sixth month of the “lockdown” caused by the COVID19 Pandemic. I find myself doing things now that was not in my normal routine before the virus.

My sleep pattern has been altered as some days I wake up at four or five in the morning and can’t go back to sleep because like all people who own, operate or manage a business I review the list of things I need to do the following day. I fight with myself to stay in bed and not get up to begin my day. Technology has made it easier to do things but I have more things to do now and many more hours to do them. Remote working conditions allow me to work longer hours and work when I can. The virus has seen to that.

Scheduling has been thrown out the window and new habits have been formed. Being in a business like Today’s Restaurant News and all of the additional services we provide tends to keep me on a monthly and weekly schedule. Getting each month’s issue out on time has stabilized that feeling of the unknown many of us have had to live with.

My day now begins with watching the news at seven to see if the world is still intact and then beginning my work day of emails, phone calls and Zoom meetings. I happen to like virtual meetings when the platform works properly. Around ten I stop for breakfast and check the news on TV again. Back to work by ten thirty until one PM and break for lunch and TV news again. By this time I’m full of political fury and ready to take on the balance of the work day.

Without sports on TV and the summer television rerun schedules it’s been rough to keep myself entertained at night but one night scrolling through hundreds of cable channels with nothing of interest to me, I came upon Me TV which re broadcasts old series from the sixties and seventies. With my DVR box at the ready I began recording black and white episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and the private eye series from the early seventies, Mannix. The Hitchcock hour is basically a “who done it” story and it’s really amazing to watch and see how the word has changed so drastically. No cell phones, computers, or Social Media to speed life up. How simple life was back then. Not really just slower communication and different ideals.

Mannix on the other hand is a cool private eye, Joe Mannix, with contacts in the police department of Los Angeles and the underbelly of society. He drives cool cars and has a different plaid sports jacket for each scene. I had a jacket and car that looked like his. In every episode he either gets hit in the head and falls unconscious or is shot at by the bad guys with no ability to hit the target. He never gets a concussion though. It’s pure escapism that I watch until one AM and then I pass out.

Why am I telling you all about my day? I thought instead of thinking about the virus and hearing about politics you might enjoy hearing that other people are going through the same things you are. If it gives you any comfort to know you’re not alone in this crazy world and we will get over this period together, I’m glad I wrote it.