There’s a lot of bad news and angst in the world right now. Looking back at the last several months  though, I’ve done a ton of things I never would have made time for if I had stayed in my usual routines. Have you taken advantage of a global pandemic to make your life better or more interesting lately?

Here’s my list: In the last 3 months, I have...

-Tried cooking sous vide (absolutely amazing steaks!)
-Eaten a lot of home-made yogurt and cream cheese
-Tried selling stuff on new-to-me e-commerce platforms other than Amazon, and paid off a credit card with the side-business’ proceeds
-experimented with weighted sling pouches
-taken high-speed videos to measure the rotational velocity of a tennis ball exiting several types of slings
-watched my youngest son take his first steps
-learned how to hand-stitch leather (and paracord eyelets)
-invented a few electronic gadgets
-dusted off my 3D printer to make face masks.
-refurbished four different 3D printers for my next-door neighbor
-learned a little bit of Spanish
-spent a lot of time playing the Nintendo Wii with my 5 y.o.
-written 3 chapters of a book.

That's awesome! I've heard a lot of people have used the lockdown time to reassess, reenergize, reorganize and a lot of other re's.

Aside from the accelerating us towards the complete collapse of our economy I actually quite enjoyed the shutdown. I would see many whole families walking down the street. People would go to the parks and enjoy the sunshine and frankly everything was much more peaceful. And I know I’m not the only one that felt that way. If only we could recapture some of that without all the people struggling to get by.

Unlike you I did not become more productive. Actually I became less so since I am not in school now which is a great feeling.

I moved a stone staircase out of my hill. Decent sized stones ( about a dozen stones 18x36x8 in about) my kids were running up and down around them and it was a matter of time before stitches happened. I'm glad I got it out before that happened.

Gotten some yard work done but the homeschooling and housework have eaten most of my time. I did finish the fusion knotting book from the Tying It All Together channel. It took a while but it was a good discipline to tie all of them.

I did tear down and replace the o-rings on an airgun that was fascinating.

Nothing changed for me. I work kn a grocery store, all i got was overtime for a couple weeks. I got a good  amount saved. Thats about it.

    This may sound disturbingly pessimistic. I've used the time to arm my household and stock up for Armageddon.  Morphy mentioned the collapse of our economy.  Though it's not a given that this will happen, it's certainly a possibility.  No one really knows where this is going.  Will there be a second and even third wave of Covid 19?  Will it mutate into something worse?  What will be the overall effect on a world economy that's already reeling?  Starving would suck.  I don't plan to do so.  I'm not a hard core prepper but I take this seriously.  It's the Boy Scout in me... be prepared.
    Of course I've also used the time to troll tRump on Facebook. 

@RM, I went through a prepper phase almost a decade ago, and when Covid-19 hit, I was really glad I still had a decent stock of shelf stable foods to fall back on when the grocery store shelves were nearly empty. I definitely plan to refresh my supplies again.

@Morphy, I don’t think I can say I was more productive... just differently productive. I didn’t mention the piles of laundry and dishes or the yard that all need to be worked on :)

... oh!  One accomplishment I forgot to mention:

My A/C went out on Labor Day weekend. After some desperate pleas, I paid 2x what a new blower motor was worth to get one immediately off a repairman’s truck, then I installed it myself. Probably saved $500 even after paying too much for the part, and my house is nice and cool again.

Rat Man wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2020 at 4:06pm:

This may sound disturbingly pessimistic, I've used the time to arm my household and stock up for Armageddon.  Morphy mentioned the collapse of our economy.  Though it's not a given that this will happen, it's certainly a possibility.  No one really knows where this is going.  Will there be a second and even third wave of Covid 19?  Will it mutate into something worse?  What will be the overall effect on a world economy that's already reeling?  Starving would suck.  I don't plan to do so.  I'm not a hard core prepper but I take this seriously.  It's the Boy Scout in me... be prepared.     Of course I've also used the time to troll tRump on Facebook.

Years ago my wife and I had a good amount of food storage. Then I unexpectedly lost my job around the time the great recession was kicking in and we ended up dipping into it. And hey it kept us fed for free so it did what it was made for. And also showed us where our gaps were in food storage should we have a longer stint on it. It’s a great idea man. Also: powdered cheese, broccoli and potato soup mix by the bucketful. That’s my secret for food storage success. Lol

NooneOfConsequence wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2020 at 11:38pm:

@Morphy, I don’t think I can say I was more productive... just differently productive. I didn’t mention the piles of laundry and dishes or the yard that all need to be worked on :)

Selective production. Yes, I like that. I was extremely selectively productive.

I turned into a slug. 

Morphy wrote on Jun 4^th, 2020 at 8:20am:

Rat Man wrote on Jun 3rd, 2020 at 4:06pm:     This may sound disturbingly pessimistic, I've used the time to arm my household and stock up for Armageddon.  Morphy mentioned the collapse of our economy.  Though it's not a given that this will happen, it's certainly a possibility.  No one really knows where this is going.  Will there be a second and even third wave of Covid 19?  Will it mutate into something worse?  What will be the overall effect on a world economy that's already reeling?  Starving would suck.  I don't plan to do so.  I'm not a hard core prepper but I take this seriously.  It's the Boy Scout in me... be prepared.     Of course I've also used the time to troll tRump on Facebook.  Years ago my wife and I had a good amount of food storage. Then I unexpectedly lost my job around the time the great recession was kicking in and we ended up dipping into it. And hey it kept us fed for free so it did what it was made for. And also showed us where our gaps were in food storage should we have a longer stint on it. It’s a great idea man. Also: powdered cheese, broccoli and potato soup mix by the bucketful. That’s my secret for food storage success. Lol

Though I keep a good supply of many nonperishables, rice is my ace in the hole.  I generally keep over sixty pounds of it in.  That alone can keep one alive for many months.  Also, as I've mentioned in the past, I have a pretty good knowledge of edible wild plants. I can supplement my stocks with stuff growing outside. This time of year there are literally tons of stuff I can eat right outside my door.  I should have a vegetable garden.  I had one at my old house.  Honestly since I moved here I've just been too lazy to grow one.  I've made up my mind to plant one next year.

pretty much business as usual.

I've done a lot more queuing to get into shops - but that's pretty much it.

I guess if you have a normal job, things are a lot different.

Curious Aardvark wrote on Jun 8^th, 2020 at 7:54am:

pretty much business as usual. I've done a lot more queuing to get into shops - but that's pretty much it. I guess if you have a normal job, things are a lot different.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a normal job... at least not since I was a teenager, but that’s pretty much how I feel about my social life :)
I have two boys in diapers, another baby on the way, and my oldest hasn’t started school yet. Staying quarantined isn’t that difficult when I could barely ever get out of the house in normal times.

This crisis has killed my sedentary lifestyle and ever since it started I've been outdoors a lot more than ever.
Learning new things about outdoor life and primitive technology, every week or so I learn new things I previously didn't tbink I could do.
Also have started slinging more actively than in recent years, no longer letting other things disrupt my hobby.
I stopped following the news and been happier than ever!

I gave up on the things that I felt forced to do. And I started doing what I always really wanted to do.
I eliminated alot of the  'surrogate' activities from my life.

We can sometimes be so tied into artificial responsibilities. And it just kept piling up for me.
Throughout the years the urge grew stronger to just dump it.
This crisis was the catalyst. Now I can focus on the things that really matter.

AncientCraftwork wrote on Jun 9^th, 2020 at 10:46am:

This crisis has killed my sedentary lifestyle and ever since it started I've been outdoors a lot more than ever. Learning new things about outdoor life and primitive technology, every week or so I learn new things I previously didn't tbink I could do. Also have started slinging more actively than in recent years, no longer letting other things disrupt my hobby. I stopped following the news and been happier than ever! I gave up on the things that I felt forced to do. And I started doing what I always really wanted to do. I eliminated alot of the  'surrogate' activities from my life. We can sometimes be so tied into artificial responsibilities. And it just kept piling up for me. Throughout the years the urge grew stronger to just dump it. This crisis was the catalyst. Now I can focus on the things that really matter.

Right on! One of the most important skills in life is learning to say “no” to the unimportant things, and it’s most difficult when you have to say it to yourself.