Tulip City Dispatch

It's been a full week since I posted about Unexplored Consequences , the article in which I shared a little bit about my unemployment journey, and the State's response in reaction to CoVid-19.  I'm happy to say that the State has indeed extended benefits to older Unemployment Insurance claims!  For this, I'd like to extend my gratitude towards our state government.  It means a lot knowing that my state representatives are busting their asses, staying on top of the whole health crisis, while balancing the needs and wants of the rest of the state.  I know I'm having a hard time staying on top of this, and I'm just some jerk on the internet.  I can't imagine the amount of data and information that our government has to filter through to make their informed decisions.

On Monday the 23rd, Governor Whitmer signed Executive Order 2020-21, which is known as the "Stay Home, Stay Safe" act.  It defines "essential" versus "nonessential" businesses, orders nonessential businesses closed, sets up legal repercussions for nonessential businesses that ignore these orders, and encourages citizens to act safely:  continuing social distancing by maintaining a 6-foot radius bubble around yourself if you need to go out, only journey out for necessary means (including things like food, gas, supplies, or for work if you're in an essential position).  The EO expires on April 13, and was presented as a last-ditch effort to "flatten the curve" of infection in our state.  The full text can be seen here:   https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/0,9309,7-387-90499_90705-522626--,00.html Gov. Whitmer set it up like this:  Michigan's population is roughly 10 million people.  If we take a 70% infection rate (which this virus has seen...

The reason I started this blog was a sudden surge in my free time - I was brought into a new job on a 6 month contract beginning in May 2019.  Due to some unforeseen circumstances throughout the summer and early fall, the company had to do some restructuring, and I was not retained when my contract expired at the end of October.  So, I took a few days, then began the whole unemployment/job hunt tango on Friday, November 1, 2019.  My educational background is in construction management, and my work background is in positions tangential to construction:  Permits, codes, and inspections; project management and contractor relations; and building maintenance and systems management.  I've been in positions to lead the State of Michigan in production, both in soil testing and in residential building permits.  I've been tasked with managing facilities in one of the first LEED-certified hotels in the nation.  I've managed home renovation projects valued upwards...

Calling this pandemic "Wuhan Virus" or "Chinese Virus" does nothing but further xenophobic attitudes, so I'll continue calling it CoVid19 (stylized like that for sciencey reasons that I either heard in a podcast or read in an Internet article). We're in this together, lads and lasses. Be respectful of one another, do your due diligence to limit your exposure as much as possible, for the love of your deity of choice don't hoard supplies that could prevent others from spreading this virus, and understand that our uniquely American tenacity means that we will pull through this. One of the things that made our country great was the ability to work together and compromise to overcome great odds. It's in direct conflict of our 21st century "fuck you, I've got mine" attitude, but it is in our best interest to work together as one nation and one world to defeat this disease. Anyway, enough of that soapboxing.  On Sunday, March 15, Holla...

Now is as prudent of a time as any to address CoVid19. While the pandemic is current events, it'll most certainly be history for the future, and being a history blog, I feel obligated to say something. Today, Friday, March 13, 2020, the President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump addressed the nation on the pandemic, outlining a plan to expedite treatment and care for those infected by the CoVid19 virus. There are partnerships with many nationwide retailers, including Walmart, Target, Walgreen's, and CVS, to maintain supplies in their stores, aided by cooperation with an alphabet soup of governmental organizations. News will be updated this following Sunday, the 15th.  Despite being assured by Pres. Trump that the country has half a million test kits ready, and the capacity for 1.4mil by month's end, local health departments are reporting incredibly low supplies, and that they're rationing test kits for only patients "showing heavy symptoms,...

Another week without a historical, informative post.  There's been a lot on my mind, as I'm still looking for work and coming up short.  It's frustrating, seeing lists like this, and reading how in-demand people with my background supposedly are.  The jobs clearly aren't within 25 miles of Holland. I'm still struggling to get this blog into search engines, but getting stymied by a lack of connectivity between this site and my Google account.  I think I figured it out, but it takes a day or two to get Google's analytics tool to respond properly. Take care!