Author: LT

Day 48 Tuition Insurance

It’s May 1st and if your children attend private school (high school or college) today first payments for the 2020-21 school year are due. Some schools require tuition insurance, but surprising many don’t. As a result of COVID-19, many families discovered that some schools do not have an obligation to return money for room/board or any other charges/fees. I have heard that some private schools offered families without insurance a partial reimbursement of tuition and fees as a credit towards the upcoming school year. Take a moment to review your children’s school contract and confirm what their policies are. I was surprised when I re-read the contracts how they both listed in the event of a “Pandemic”. Some schools automatically require (and apply) tuition insurance for families who are making monthly payments, so confirm it. This year, I will not be making any lump sum payments. A $300 (est) tuition insurance plan can protect a significant amount of your investment, especially of you have two kids.

Day 47 A Day Off From Watching the News

Aside from being exhausted from being stuck at home, I am definitely done with the news. I was stuck on a 24×7 consumption of COVID-19 news for the last 50 + Days, so I took the day off. I think I was driven to take a break when I saw a report about 100 bodies found in U-Haul trucks outside of a funeral home in New York. My heart goes out to the families who’s loved ones were treated this way. There is no excuse.

To all of the essential workers, I applaud all of you for keeping the rest of safe and keeping the lights on.

Day 46 Planning for Next Year

In 2011, for my 40th birthday I took a Mancation to the Gran Prix of Monaco. It was am amazing trip. My friend Claude came up with the idea one night during a cigar session at Club Macanudo. A few drinks later we were planning a trip. Everyone at the table was onboard and ready to go. By April only Claude and I had plane tickets. It worked out just fine. Claude’s network was strong in Monaco, and we had access. We drank, ate, and socialized. It was an incredible 4 days of non-stop fun in the sun.

My plan is to be back in Monaco for the Gran Prix in 2021 with my old pal Claude, and this time maybe a few of the guys will come along. They must be tired of hearing about our first trip by now.

Day 45 Over 3 Million Infections Worldwide

While still reporting deaths in the hundreds, New York and New Jersey are eyeing May 15th as a target date for reopening parts of their respective states. I’m not sure how bowling alley’s will fair, but I suspect that the Jersey shore crowd is ready to hit the beach. As for me, I think I am going to hold off on my next haircut.

Day 44 Still Cleaning My Attic

It’s raining and I am back cleaning up my attic. Today’s chore, going through a box of documents from 1999. What a wonderful trip down memory lane of the early part of my career. I scanned in the notes from the CEO congratulating me on a job well done, the performance reviews, awards and bonus letters. Someday, my grand kids may stumble upon old grandpa’s digital war chest and they will get a glimpse of the person I was.

Global COVID-19 cases are nearing 3 Million and the U.S. is closing in on the 1 Million mark for infections. Over 16,673 New Yorker’s have passed away due to COVID-19 as of 2 p.m. Sunday. New Jersey COVID-19 related deaths rose to 5,938 people.

Day 43 It’s Not Raining Today

It’s finally time to break out the lawn mower. The grass definitely needs to get trimmed, but I need a workout. I have the mower charging. Yes, I have a cordless mower, which I love. Its super quiet and environment friendly. Whether you are a “treehugger” or not carbon dioxide is a “bad” thing for you and the environment. The are so many new choices for electric mowers and battery options increase their range. One new mower has made the short list for my next purchase, Robotic Lawn Mowers. These robots are a little pricey, but they may save my back! And anyone who has hurt their back can tell you, that makes it priceless.

The U.S. nears 1 Million infections

Day 42 Cleaning Out the Attic

After 42 days, I have finally reached the clean out phase. Today, is attack the attic day. At a quick glance, I see car seats, toys and more toys, random house ware, etc. My kids are older now, so I will let them sift through toys and let them select a few special items. But the rest will go in to the trash. Normally, small appliances, toys, sport equipment would find its way into the next garage sale, but I don’t see those happening in the near future.

My goal is to toss at least two large bags of “STUFF”.

Day 40 What is a Pandemic?

It seems like the world was caught off guard by the first modern day pandemic to spread to every corner of the world. COVID-19 was identified as a Pandemic on March 11th (https://72inapart.com/its-a-pandemic/) by the World Health Organization (WHO).

This made me think what is a Pandemic? and What was COVID-19 prior to being classified as a Pandemic?

So, what is a Pandemic? A pandemic is used to describe a disease that has spread across many countries and affects a large number of people. The data scientist in me needs to quantify what “many countries” and “a large number of people” means. How many countries need to have a disease before it becomes a global emergency? 5, 10, 25, 50 … Is a large number of people 100, 1,000, 10,000 ? I couldn’t find the answers, the CDC nor the WHO specify how many countries or how many people need to be affected in order for something to be declared a pandemic.

March 11th 2020

When the WHO declared COVID-19 a Pandemic on March 11th, there were 126,000+ COVID-19 infections globally and 114 affected countries. So maybe the answers to what qualifies as a Pandemic are when a disease spreads to greater than 100 countries and greater than 120k people (infected).

According to the CDC, here are the stages diseases travel on their way to being labeled a Pandemic.

  • Sporadic, Where a disease is happening infrequently and irregularly.
  • Endemic, Due to the geographic location the disease is constantly present.
  • Epidemic, Sudden increase in number of cases and is more than what’s expected for an area.
  • And Pandemic, A disease that has gone Global = COVID-19.

I am not sure which classifications were applied to COVID-19 prior to becoming a Pandemic or whether were applied.

2.6 Million Infected – +800k in the U.S.

Day 39 What Else Now

So, you were thinking what else is going to happen…
The US is monitoring intelligence that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, is in grave danger after a surgery. Most interesting, I discovered that Kim is only 37 years-old, which made me feel pretty good about my fitness level.