Covid - 5

Things are starting to open up again. More stores are re-opening, including our local comic book store. We are both still working from home and have no word on when that might change.

People are encouraged to wear masks when out and about. Shan has bought a few online, and my mom made a set for us. You have to wash them every time that you use them. A lot of people are still not wearing masks – probably less than half.

With the movie theatres still being closed, we have kept our regular movie night, but are instead watching movies On Demand. With the commute being non-existent, and having no social obligations, we have managed to keep up with our PVR. Normally, at this time when the shows are ending their seasons, we are right on the buffer of our PVR. With the extra time, we currently have 100 hours available.
With not much scheduled to come back in the fall, we should be able to keep on top of it. We may even have time to watch all the Netflix Marvel shows that we missed. So far, we have only seen the first season of Daredevil.

With the extra money I have saved, and being inspired by actually getting some figures painted, I placed an order for the DC Universe miniature game, and The Crime Syndicate boxed set. I have the PDF of the first edition rules but have been putting off getting the hardcover until I had a few figures painted so we could actually play. The Crime Syndicate is a complete team of five figures that mirrors the Justice League.
As it would happen, the very next day after placing that order, Miniature Market had their daily deal for the Batman Miniature Game second edition Dark Knight starter for about half price. With more buildings, a Batman and police team, as well as a Bane and mercenary team, plus a Tumbler and Batpod, I snapped it up. Even with the move to third edition, this was too good a deal to pass up. It had been on my list but I could never justify the cost – even with the bundle pricing compared to getting the parts separately.

Figure Painting Total - April 2020

I had a week off before I started working from home. I finally finished the bases on some figures I had been working on. I finished them with a gloss coat, and then a matte coat on most of them.

Bought
Unmatched - Battle of Legends - 4

Painted
Unmatched - Robin Hood
Unmatched - Bigfoot
Unmatched - Bruce Lee
BM/DC Universe - Black Orchid
Marvel Universe - Emma Frost
Marvel Universe - Doctor Doom
Marvel Universe - Magneto
BM/DC Universe - Manta
BM/DC Universe - Huntress
BM/DC Universe - Deadshot
Spider-Man/Marvel Universe - Daredevil
Marvel Universe - Black Widow
Spider-Man/Marvel Universe - Punisher
Marvel Universe - Cyclops
Marvel Universe - Nova
Marvel Universe - Hulk (replacement)
Red Hulk (replacement as alternate for Marvel Universe)

April total - figures bought 4, figures painted 17
Running total 2020 – figures bought 15, figures painted 17

Books read - January to April 2020

Jan
The Book of Foam Armor by Svetlana Quindt
Gothic – A Dark Companion for In Her Majesty’s Name by Charles Murton & Craig Cartmell
Warhammer 40,000: Index: Xenos 1 (8th edition) by Games Workshop in Nottingham
Warhammer 40,000: Index: Imperium 1 by Games Workshop in Nottingham
Then That Happened by Jon Cryer
Warhammer 40,000: Death From Above (7th edition) by Games Workshop in Nottingham
Warhammer 40,000: Index: Imperium 2 (8th edition) by Games Workshop in Nottingham
Warhammer 40,000: Codex Traitor Legions (7th edition) by Games Workshop in Nottingham

Feb
Warhammer 40,000: Clan Raukaan Supplement (6th edition) by Games Workshop Design Studio
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
Warhammer 40,000: Codex Adeptus Astartes – Space Marines (8th edition) by Games Workshop in Nottingham
Warhammer 40,000: Codex Heretic Astartes – Chaos Space Marines (8th edition) by Games Workshop in Nottingham

Mar
Warhammer 40,000: Codex Adeptus Astartes – Grey Knights (8th edition) by Games Workshop in Nottingham
Every Tool’s a Hammer by Adam Savage
Warhammer 40,000: Chapter Approved 2017 by Games Workshop in Nottingham
Last Days: Zombie Apocalypse: Seasons by Ash Barker
Marvelocity – The Marvel Comic Art of Alec Ross by Chip Kidd + Geoff Spear
Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton
Blood Bowl 2018 Almanac! By Games Workshop Limited

Apr
Blood Bowl 2003 Annual
Rediscover The Saints by Matthew Kelly

Covid 19 - 4

I had a week off, mostly trying to stay out of the way of my wife, who was still working at home. I was able to get a bit more painting done.

The previous two weeks I have been working from home as well. The commute is much better, and it is nice being able to get a hot lunch. But I would rather be at work doing the regular work instead.

They are talking about starting to open services again. It seems a bit soon but we'll see how it goes. It will be unfortunate if they open up everything up, the virus spreads again, and then they have to close everything down again.

Covid - 3

They have now posted that in-class school has been cancelled indefinitely. If things radically change, they might bring them back, but otherwise they are not expected to go back before the end of the school year. This could mean that there is no graduation ceremony at the end of June as well.
I originally had to book that week as a holiday back in February in order to be able to get to go to her grad. If they end up moving the ceremony, I now may not be able to go.

For my wife, they are talking about bring one of them in each week to work in the office. Logistically, this would be messy, as she would have to take her laptop back in to work, and may have to bus home depending on my shift and where I am working.

I was still working at an alternate site. They are getting things ready to send us home, and have tried a few people to see how it will work. I had Thursday off and had to take my computer home when I left on Wednesday. I am off next week but then I log in from home.

We have further locked down the province. All non-essential services have now been closed as of April 1.

Figure Painting Total - March 2020

Before everything got locked down I was able to get a copy of Speed Freeks. It's expensive but I was able find a copy at the store even though it's no longer in print.
I had pinned and assembled all my Knight Models figures over the winter. I was abled to get outside and prime all of them as well earlier this month. I even started painting some of them before all of this shutdown started.

Speed Freeks - 8

Mar total - figures bought 8, figures painted 0
Running total 2020 – figures bought 11, figures painted 0

Canada Covid - week two

My daughter is off from school for the next three weeks. Two weeks are bracketing their regular spring break. So far, cabin fever hasn’t settled into her yet. Her grad is still up in the air. Her workplace at a children’s play center has been closed.

Shan is settling in to working from home.

I am working at an alternate site. We had too many people in the one building so they have moved some of us to allow us to spread out and to prevent the entire center from going down if infection should happen. They keep surveying us to see what our conditions are at home. It hasn’t happened yet, but they are looking deeper into what would be needed to send us home as required.

Grocery stores and gas stations are still open. With gas being the lowest it has been in decades, it’s actually not too bad. Churches have been closed through Easter. A lot of ‘non-essential’ services have been recommended to close.

Since we are both still considered ‘essential services’, my wife and are I still working, and still getting paid. Since we can’t go to movies, or out for restaurants, with traffic being light and gas being cheap, we are actually doing okay financially.

We realized how very lucky we are in this. I hope that it is not hitting too many of you too hardly.