Nates Computer ServicesFollowing with Pandemic guidelines and following principles in my Datacommuting book, I met with my family virtually via Zoom.us video conference for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is nice of Zoom.us to allow extra free time for 2020 holidays.
This year has been as successful as expected for my business despite the pandemic. A large part because my business has been limiting the business to web based, telecommuting (Datacommuting) and picking up from customer services since 2015 and what my business does was also deemed essential. My business had been web based since the beginning in 1999. Although the pandemic affected me in different ways, it didn’t bring my business up or down much.
I also completed a different milestone. One the pandemic has helped me with. The last time I was on a bus was on December 2, 2019. That was the last time I was in a motorized street vehicle. I went months at a time without being in a motorized street vehicle in 2019. That doesn’t mean I don’t get around. I biked over 1000 miles in 2020 and worked in 4 different towns.
| Miles biked from home to | Aproximate Distance | Number of trips | Round trip | miles trip total | miles cumulative total |
| Pillager | 14 | 4 | 2 | 112 | 112 |
| Little falls | 32 | 4 | 2 | 256 | 368 |
| Nisswa | 16 | 3 | 2 | 96 | 464 |
| Pequot | 23 | 1 | 2 | 46 | 510 |
| Walker | 70 | 1 | 2 | 140 | 650 |
| Wesb | 0.9 | 46 | 2 | 82.8 | 732.8 |
| Baxter dr | 1.1 | 45 | 2 | 99 | 831.8 |
| Riverside | 0.6 | 19 | 2 | 22.8 | 854.6 |
| Community garden | 1 | 70 | 2 | 140 | 994.6 |
| Ymca | 0.8 | 15 | 2 | 24 | 1018.6 |
| Buffalo hills trail loop | 4.2 | 7 | 1 | 29.4 | 1048 |
That doesn’t mean I haven’t went through any hardships like most people this year.
The graduate and supplemental college courses I took did not go well. It was somewhat due to me being busy and my disability but that was only part of it. Although instructors and colleges weren’t prepared for the pandemic even for courses already online, instructors that had experience with online learning before did better and those that embraced online learning did better . Administrators made the right decision by getting students out of the physical classroom and closing physical schools avoiding more people from getting sick and saving lives. Luckily I didn’t have to deal with getting sick (other than something in January at very beginning of year and some building issues where I live not covid) and was only substitute teaching in a physical classroom 8 days. However the courses I took from NFHS Learn and a few other self guided and paced courses did go well.
I had a Grandma pass away at 96, her life may have been shortened due to lack of movement being confined to her apartment getting an infection. Although I consider her to have been a very successful person mom, grandma, great grandma, retired teacher, gardener, lefse and pickle maker, genealogy researcher and so much more.
I lost 2 jobs. gained 2. Still have 1 plus this business.
I have been recording a lot of videos and taking photos this year and plan on sharing more with you soon.
Thank you for making my business a success and helping me continue to reach my goals.
I hope people are enjoying their summer.
I am still available for online support by appointment.
As a reminder hardware repair and in person support is only limited to businesses on a service plan (this is not related to the pandemic, as this an essential service)
Web hosting and email services are still available and fully operational.
Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota added new online material for distance learning
http://www.bikemn.org/education/walk-bike-fun/walk-bike-fun-distancelearning
Every morning my door gets drenched with sanitizer and today there was a planned fighter jet fly by I didn’t know about until I heard it.
I like less traffic in streets but this stay at home order has not been good for me and my health.
We are reminded how intertwined we all are around the planet.
With shortages of supplies, we are reminded how to conserve these, the value of these items, the value of making them and those that make and grow them.
Crude oil in the United States monetary value is less than $0 (it has to be paid to be taken away). Traffic is down. Many types of pollution are down including noise and air pollution.
Datacommuting is being used more and more so we can still stay connected and conduct business that does not have need to be done in person. We are finding many new apps and methods that help meet this need as we stay at home whether it be for distance learning, having fun at home, seeing commercial news reports done from home, connecting with fitness class at home, for taking care of a rover on mars, or for office work.
We are reminded how important our time is outside. By missing some people we care about we remember how important they are.
We are reminded how important the people that take care of our recycling is. And those that take out garbage that we can’t find a way to recycle.
For more tips you can look at some of my past post going green
Every 10 years the United States does a census. Many people have got a letter in the mail or at their door . It gives a code to type in at www. my2020census.gov
some people may mistakenly think the letter is junk mail since no name is on it. If you accidentally through it away or didn’t get a letter there is still a way of entering without the code.
They say doing it online saves time and money for processing. They will send out paper survey for those not done online.
I have a book called Datacommuting. It is based on telecommuting and I call it Datacommuting since today it relies more on data communications than the telephone. I will be watching and see how everyone implements these things. I received an email that Education Minnesota has webpage https://educationminnesota.org/resources/in-the-classroom/Coronavirus/Educator-resources with apps to use. I will try to see if there are any reductions in pollution, traffic congestion, accidents and spread of disease. There will most likely be cost savings as well. I would like to see how much is counterproductive, such as efforts to close restaurants and have more deliveries- drive throughs, and kids going to childcare instead of schools. See if people are still able to get enough exercise.
Update April 14 2020: Information shared on https://mn.gov/covid19/ shows freeway traffic down. However fatal crashes have actually risen for this time period compared to other years. This is likely due to speeding. Please stay safe for essential travel.