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Thursday, April 2, 2020

COVID19 User Guide




I thought I would compile a user guide based on my experiences in Ottawa during the pandemic, feel free to add comments, as long as they slavishly praise me Trump-style.

New Things I Tried and they Work

  • PCExpress grocery delivery and pickup from Massine YIG on Bank Street.  You can even talk to a real person about your order by calling the store.
  • Doordash restaurant delivery for Colonnade pizza. It comes from the restaurant in Carlingview, but its cheaper than Ubereats.
  • Foodora delivery from the LCBO on Isabella.  A limited selection of wine, beer, and spirits but in a pandemic, we recreational drug users should not be too picky.  Use the smartphone app as the website is temperamental.  It will not accept your address unless the postal code exactly matches the Google maps postal code (which is wrong for our building).
  • You can make your own hand sanitizer with rubbing alcohol and aloe vera gel from Amazon.ca.  3/4 alcohol, 1/4 gel.
  • The New York Times is offering free coverage of covid19.  Their competitor WSJ does not.
  • Nespresso online ordering is working.
  • Workouts using Facetime with our personal trainer Jamie Kelly.  An Ipad works best as the video is good, screen is large, and you can move it around as you exercise.
    • Workout videos from Youtube are also good.  Lots of variety for different ages and abilities.  I use a 6 minute workout from the NYT as my base exercises.
  • The instant pot is a great way to make soup with leftover meat, vegetables, broth, pasta.  
  • Farm Boy on Metcalfe is open from 7 to 8am for vulnerable shoppers (seniors etc.).  It is well stocked and there are only a few shoppers.

Things that Don't Work

  • Instacart Loblaws delivery is down.  Website won't even give you a delivery slot and the help lines are overloaded.
  • USA social security office in Ogdensburg is closed
  • BMO sends checks to our old address in Virginia from 3 years ago but sends statements to our correct address.  You have to go to a branch to fix this.
  • The QPP have blocked the bridges into Quebec from Ontario.  The police are better used to stop gatherings.  

Things That Work, but have Problems

  • Amazon canada is running low on stock and delivery times are long now.
  • Massine YIG grocery store makes people line up on Somerset at 2 meter intervals and lets them in slowly during peak demand.

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