Hey, it’s Jer. And it’s Friday!
Here’s what I’m thinking about around town. Some serious, some fun. This will be a weekend with the dogs and maybe a run to Target?
Anyway, let’s get started.
First, pandemic stuff.
Below are today’s numbers from the State of Michigan.
If we keep this pace up (and we probably will) sometime next week we will hit 10,000 Coronavirus deaths in Michigan. COVIDACTNOW lists us as in their brand-new category, "Severe Outbreak." A number of hospitals are filling up in our area, led by Macomb County.
Thinking about how to handle this, there’s a piece by friend of the podcast Brenna Houck in Eater that’s worth a read around restaurant indoor dining closures (which, I’d note, even the Andiamo guy backed down on his call to defy Governor Gretchen Whitmer).
Brenna makes a really solid point here, IMO:
Instead of wasting our energy on petty social media bickering and taking stands that won’t actually improve the lives of small-business owners and their employees long term, we should be focusing our attention on demanding the relief that everyone deserves. We could be contacting our lawmakers and people in the federal government and urging them to take care of our neighbors. Michigan can continue to keep dining rooms closed and support the people and individuals who are trying their best to keep us safe. We can also push for our state legislature to pass the temporary relief that this crisis demands and the mask mandate that our exhausted health experts believe would help. And we should push them to demand the same from our federal government. Our nation and our state will be better off in 12 months’ time if it invests in saving the places we have and the people who work in them now.
So please, be safe and smart out there. Between the people I’ve known and lost from it and the conversations I’ve had on the show with Dr. Paul Thomas, getting COVID sucks.
Second? Booze.
The holiday spirit for some is helped with spirits. There are a ton of local options. Me, Randy and Devon get into those over here on the podcast.
You know what a simple but excellent way to level up your at-home drink game? Large ice cubes. There are multiple ways to make them. I have a silicone tray which isn’t perfect but gets me the size so it melts slower. Or, you can be perfect with these that my friend Engineer Randy likes from King Cubes.
And for an option that can go non-alcoholic or with alcohol, the cool cats over at Castalia do these take-home ice cubes. Just add spirit or mixer. They even have mocktails to go.
Third, GM Is All-In On Electric.
General Motors over the last couple weeks have made some big moves.
They’ve pulled out of a lawsuit to stop California setting their own emissions standards, announced an all-electric portfolio of vehicles going forward, and walked away from an ownership stake in embattled startup Nikola.
General Motors is one of Metro Detroit’s most important companies, and so what they do and how they see the future matters.
To help unpack it, I called up Michelle Krebs from Autotrader. She’s been on the show a couple times before and has some great insight.
It’s going to take awhile but the days of the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) are clearly numbered.
Fourth, Doing Some Good.
I’m from the east side and so I have memories of Chandler Park. It’s been around for a century, and there are old photos of my family hanging out there. I was there this year a couple times, and it has big wide paths to bike through.
Chandler Park Conservancy head Alex Allen told me about their plans for a new skatepark. It has more of a beginner setup with some harder elements, but Chandler supports a lot of families. Here’s what it would look like:
Thanks for reading.
I’m gonna try and write more. Making sure the daily show gets out is a lot for our little band.
These are hard times for lots of people. Even if you’re fortunate enough to be working on something you like, sometimes not everything gets done as quick as you’d want. And that happens. It’s a global pandemic. Cut yourself a little slack. This all is hard.
Carry on,
-Jer
p.s. - My one bit of shameless commerce: If you wanna support what we’re doing, join us as a member. It really helps keep what we’re doing going. A bunch of people joined this month. You’re awesome. And thanks.
