Might as well write a post for April First. No this won’t be a joke. It’s just some basic reportage.

I went out shopping on Tuesday at my local Costco to pick up my groceries and fill the tank on the Prius. Filling the tank required less than four gallons for about $6. The price for a gallon of gas at Costco on Tuesday was $1.65. What made the fill up interesting is it’s been six weeks (mid February) since the last fill up. That stands in sharp contrast to my commuting before I retired. I was burning about five gallons of gas per week. My local Costco is about 10 miles round trip, and it’s the longest trip I normally make. All my other places I need to travel to, such as doctors, the pharmacy and other local shops, are way less than half that. With no travel due to “social distancing” my gas consumption has dropped drastically to levels I haven’t seen since I bought my very first Honda Civic in 1978.

Costco has got its social distancing down pat. I arrived at 8am Tuesday because Costco now has set aside three days each week (Tuesday through Thursday) when seniors 65 and older can go in first to shop. I never thought I’d see the day where I though being 66 was actually helpful, but this is one of those rare times. When I got in the place was fairly well stocked, and I managed to find just about everything i needed. I found a 12 roll pack of Kirkland paper towels. They covered the whole back row. They had one pallet of toilet paper stacked high, but I didn’t need any, and haven’t for some time. I purchased my last two packs back in January before all the craziness started and they had them on sale. I purchased eggs (two dozen per container), chicken, fruits and vegetables, and other basic necessities I normally pick up. I noticed that there were no sanitizers anywhere. I’m assuming they’ve had a run on them too.

I did notice some changes in the store itself. The food court is shut down and all the benches were removed. The third-party sellers that created a gauntlet on the way out the door are all gone. Every cashier is behind a plexiglass shield that separates them from you. When you hold up your Costco card they just scan it (which they should have been doing all along anyway). On the way out the door you hold up your receipt and they then wave you through. Nothing is touched and then don’t linger over your purchases.

The whole idea now is get in, get your stuff, and get out.

I waited a full day before writing this because I didn’t want to “give away” the place was stocked before others might have a chance to buy. But regardless, who knows what it’s like now.

I’ve dropped all other purchases to either drive through (pharmacy and bank) only or else deliveries. For instance I ordered all the animal’s food through Amazon and it was delivered. I’ll do this until further notice. All my purchasing is down to absolute essentials, which is great for the home budget. I don’t watch TV that much, nor do I stream music, thus I have no desire to rent and stream a movie. I read a lot; there’s plenty I have to catch up on from when I was just buying dead tree books and then stacking them up until I got around to reading them. Well now I’m finally getting around to it.

I also have discovered I have no desire to write software any more. I can write it if I force myself to if I contrive of some application or tool. But I don’t care to waste my time writing software, then going through the process of compile/test/debug, no matter how fun it may look. I’m totally no longer into doing what I had to do in my job. I’m swerving off for a while, spending my time just enjoying retirement.