With WFH looking like it's going to take off, is there any way you can leverage that into helping companies expand their VPN and network infrastructure?

I failed. I ignored the mask advice, continued working, hugged my mom, kissed my wife. Pretty much didn’t participate in the pandemic.

these viena sausages aren't gonna eat themselves

No real issues so far.  Never ran short of anything.  Never wore a mask, have not gotten a shot.  Not sick a day, and zero symptoms.  No real problems going out and about.  
I have had some problems seeing my doctors, but nothing I could not work around.

We did fine. Never closed my business. I did not lose any staff to the free money disease. I have sufficient reserves to give them limited hours (home schooling, caring for others, etc.) while keeping their compensation the same.

I have been in preparation mode since I joined the site. I didn't have mortal combat over toilet paper, water, etc. Its so amazing that Floridians that deal with hurricanes on a regular basis still lack the foresight to keep stuff on hand.

Had I not turned on the news or the web, I really wouldn't have known much was going on. Rural communities are great in that respect. As are conservative governors.

Pretty much this.  I shut the news off over a year ago and the pandemic went away.

I would rate my preps as "better than adequate" with one exception-water. I'd be lying if I said that my lot in life wasn't hugely improved with the gift of a few items from my best friend as well as water barrels and a generator he sold me that he had just picked up for himself. Another friend helped me immensely by arranging a last minute purchase of batteries for my solar power. More on all that in the reply below.


When Covid hit we had about 2 weeks for things to get serious at work. I knew that sooner than later I would be laid off so when the first wave came it wasn't a shock-getting laid off in the drivethru lane for the ATM on the way home from work on a friday the next week was a new one on me though.

Not knowing how serious it would be or how long it would go, my GF (now fiance) and I decided to pack up and head to my rural cabin. It took several days to cross all my T's and dot my I's in between securing things I thought I needed, taking care of friends before I left, and packing up a minivan, SUV, and an enclosed 2 bike trailer. One lesson learned was about the guns and ammo..... you really can have too much. I had to hide most of my guns and ammo around the house because I couldn't take all of it..... that was heart-wrenching as I didn't know if I'd be back in a month or next year and find a squatter in my house. Fortunately, most of my food preps were already at my cabin but I had to bring water to drink-2 55 gallon drums worth...

My cabin is not finished inside, and did not have any power prior to Corona. I had always planned to go solar and have had the panels for years and was piecing everything together-Corona forced my hand and I had to build up everything to use 4 235W panels of the 14 I have for the cabin before I could leave. Suffice to say, it was a hugely busy week with lots of trips to hardware stores and things like spare gas cans were really hard to find. I didn't want to drive 3 hours up and not be able to buy gas so I bought an extra set of gas cans (and kerosene cans when gas cans were OOS everywhere) to double my vehicle's range.

We cleaned out the freezers and filled up coolers, emptied out the pantry, packed up the dog food, chain saws, extra clothes, every thing we thought we would need plus the things we were given. It took a good day to get everything unpacked once there and luckily we had snow drifts in low lying areas that we could refill the coolers with. It was two weeks before we even ventured into town, and we ate like kings compared to being at home.

What did work:

1)The coleman stove that my friend gave me and the coleman oven for it I had were absolute godsends in terms of making it easy to prepare meals. We heat with wood but it isn't nearly as convenient as the coleman stove when it comes to meal prep. In fact, we barely cooked on the wood stove at all for the time we were there.

2) The solar power. When I left, I didn't have any batteries at all and a board with all of my charge controllers mounted to bus bars done the week prior to leaving. I figured I would have to try to run direct off of sunlight and mostly use the panels for charging portable electronics. Once I got there, a friend came thru in a big way for me and arranged for delivery of batteries at another location-I almost missed the window for a month by one day. The 4 panels weren't quite like being on the grid on cloudy days, but I could run a microwave here and there if needed and I were smart about it.

3) her "CoolPad"...... I can't get a reliable cell phone connection at my property, but her little cell based wireless hot-spot was a godsend. It worked as well as being at home on a cable wifi system. It really made the stay 'normal'.

4) the cabin was warm and comfortable, even though unfinished inside.

5) my relationship with the GF got better even with the cabin fever

6) my food preps coupled with the stuff we bought or brought from home were really reassuring-I knew that no matter what, we wouldn't go hungry

7) the wood stove-I had been using it wrong prior to this trip and didn't have a lot of time on it-once I learned how to use it, it did a great job keeping the place quite livable in 20 degree weather

8) panic selling extra guns to coworkers who don't plan ahead! That paid for my battery bank!

9)doing structured, withdrawals from the ATM vs. trying to get an appointment at the bank. Planning ahead and actually having that money meant the difference between that and not having any as the lobbies closed for months right before we left. Know when to start protecting yourself by pulling your money out and acting on it. I was pulling cash every day, $500 at a time.

10) travelling at night. It avoided interest from the locals as well as from neighbors who didn't even know we were up at the property for several weeks.

11) relationships with friends who helped me out-they are among the best preps you can have.

12) timing-see the last paragraph for more on this

What didn't work:

1) cold temperatures and open reflex sights-my fancy guns with MRDS's were worthless every time I would leave the cabin and it was humid out. They fogged immediately and were difficult to keep clear. In the week leading up to the trip, I visited a long time friend who does custom work on guns and got two of my guns fitted for Trijicon SRO's, which are RMR's for competition use. I'll never buy an open reflex sight from anyone ever again after this experience.

2) I was much more unprepared than I ever thought I would be before leaving. When you suddenly realize you have to get the fuck out of dodge and head to your bug out location the list of things you need gets huge when faced with actually having to do it vs. fantasizing about it in an intellectual exercise when times are good. I bought a lot of shit I normally wouldn't have for lack of choice and easier access and at higher prices. I managed to do a credible, last minute job of pulling that rabbit out of my ass, but it was expensive and not how some things were planned to work out.

3) access to my doctor for a prescription-I'm on Testosterone injections and was having to go into the doc every 3 weeks. When Covid hit, they didn't want anyone in the office for any reason, and I was written scripts for other forms of testosterone. I kept getting my RX refused at the Walmart 45 minutes from the cabin and couldn't get an explanation why.  This is a problem for people like me because once you go on testosterone, your body stops producing it and you go into Andropause..... You lose all drive, sex drive, and in my case my mild arthritis becomes quite severe despite being a very active 48 year old. The problems with the RX forced me to have to go home at the 1 month mark to sort it out. It turned out that they were refusing a nasal gel and pill form testosterone because they are 'convenience medications' compared to the injections I was getting.

4) communications with the unemployment call-in number to get paid and getting calls from my boss to give me updates about work

What would have been a problem sooner or later:

1) Water. As mentioned, we took 110 gallons of bleach treated water in the correct dosage. It lasted much longer than we expected and didn't get into the second barrel while we were there. I have the ability to filter water if needed to make it safe to drink but access to that water isn't easy or safe in a SHTF. Getting water from a nearby friend was also problematic with his parents being elderly and not wanting to be exposed to COVID by people that were from a populated area like we were. I also learned that bleached water ruins baked goods, but a fridge type water filter removes most of it.

2) Wood for heat. I would have had plenty of firewood if need be, as there is plenty of stuff fallen over on my property, but that's not the same as having to split and stack discretely after a SHTF. I didn't want my neighbors to know I was there and running chainsaws and axes is a really fucking hard thing to hide.



In all, my preps were pretty solid. I know that I don't post much here, but I used to be one of the cool kids on the forum who posted ever day and went to all of the SF campouts. At some point I decided to take it from hobby to real-deal, and this property and cabin are a result from adopting survival as a lifestyle. Not one that dominates every aspect of my life, but is always in the back of my mind with decisions made and in my plans. It had taken 13 years from the initial purchase of the land to get it to the point it could serve the purpose it was intended for-working on rural property is not fun or convenient at all when you have a day job and limited time. Some people have more resources and time than I do and are able to do more, but from what I can see it will always be a work in progress until I retire. At this point, I am well pleased at how things turned out but it wasn't possible without the help of some really good friends. They made the difference between going up and struggling a bit and being really comfortable-We'd have made out ok without the stove, batteries, drums of water, etc. but it made it more like a vacation than being laid off right before a potential SHTF.

On timing: While the week it took from the time we decided to leave until actually being on the road was a lot longer than I ever thought it would take to bug out and not all of that was due to me getting ready, I was happy that making the decision to leave my home and possessions was an easy one to make. It's just stuff. That worked out in retrospect not only for the fact that I got out of Detroit before it got bad and before people panic bought the stores clean, but also because I made it up to my property before our Cunt Governor restricted travel for residents like me to our rural properties under the guise of 'stopping the spread'. Coming back to sort out the prescription issue might have meant that I'd run into trouble on the way back, but I knew I'd have somewhere worth going. In the end it didn't matter because I was called back to work 2 days after returning home.



I hope to never have to do it again, and was happy to get a few lessons learned but not in a hurry to do it again.

Sounds like you need a freeze drier. I was given one on a long term loan about 6 months ago and it has really been a shot in the arm to my food preps and I get to decide what I eat, not a corporation.

Aren't they $$$$$?

All I did was buy a pack of toilet paper when I ran across one in a store I was already at when I saw the media actively trying to create panic shortages and a little extra meat to throw in the freezer "just in case" they were more successful than I thought.  I'm still working on the toilet paper, and the meat is still in the freezer.

I wish I would have bought stock at the bottom of the market.  I don't do the stock market at all outside of my TSP, so I was unprepared and missed it.  The much prophesied second dips never happened.

Luckily the only issue I had was delivering several quarters of beef to some friends in Colorado, delayed about 2 months.
Living and working in the middle of nowhere in Southwest Kansas requires a certain level of preparation. As well growing a vegetable garden plus raising beef cattle kept things comfortable.

They are, but it’s totally worth it.

Aside from the fact that you get to dictate how your food is seasoned and what goes in it ( salt, mushrooms, olives, etc), I just bought pork chops for .79 a pound. 11 pounds +$1.50 in electricity netted me about $80 in freeze dried product packed in the bags vs buying in cans.

Not only was it cheaper, but I charcoal grilled them first and seasoned them how I wanted before they were dried. It filled 3 trays and I filled the 4th with frozen corn from the store. You can mix and match most things as long as onion isn’t involved or strong spices.... I have made BBQ flavored strawberry ice cream before... it’s as bad as it sounds.

Even if crap never hits the fan, chicken on sale today will always be much cheaper than in 20-30 years when retired and on a fixed income...


When I have to give this back, I’ll replace it with another mid sized unit just like it and get the oilless vacuum pump option.

The cheapest home-unit I could find is $2200.  Ouch.  Our big prep money this year is going into a propane tank, concrete pad, and installation for the 12 KW whole house generator + transfer switch we just got, so for now I'll stock up on bags frozen veggies whenever they go on sale.  At least bags of frozen peas and corn pack the voids between odd-shaped pieces of meat in the chest freezer.

Also this isn't a COVID response so much as a "reaction to the government's reaction to COVID" response, but I've added substantially to my "buy extras of these things when they go on sale" list for the grocery store.  In past years where I might throw one item in the cart, just because it was on sale, I'll grab 2-3, with the goal of keeping a 12 month supply on hand.

Those are valid prep investments-I'll be honest, I 'never got around to' buying one of these driers and doubt I would have it right now if it wasn't on long term loan-kinda hoping he keeps it in mind when he comes to my wedding this august. Like you, I have other fish to fry-like finishing up my cabin, putting a well in, etc. but knowing what I know now I would have made it happen. My food preps have always been to have enough food I like to eat for quite a while, but having enough filler (beans, rice, wheat for bread and oatmeal, flour) to not be hungry. This FD has made a serious improvement in our total volume of stored food over what was about 2 years for 2 people in just 6 months of using it half of the time if could be up and running.

Keep it in mind-if you have other preps that make more sense for your situation, don't reprioritize for that if you have enough food.

Went nothing like I thought it was going to. Other than the low hanging fruit like TP and some food shortages - which were somewhat predictable based on past SHTF events, like hurricanes and such.
For me it was all business related. Wife and I own 2 businesses, 1 light manufacturing, and as of Jan 1st, 2020 a retail store. The manufacturing is for non-essential widgets mostly sold online, and the retail is somewhat essential - local appliance sales/service and such. We figured we'd be shutting down the manufacturing and be busy with the retail in a SHTF (at least, changing the manufacturing plan to making something more essential). Wrong.
We had about 2-3 weeks of zero business in April 2020, 4 months after spending our entire life's savings on a stupid store, and just accepted the fact that we were financially fucked. Completed a bunch of gun builds that I had planned on doing over the next several years. Watched Tiger King. Slept a lot. Etc.
Well, all of a sudden the manufacturing took off. Record sales. Things dreams are made of. Had to buy a warehouse to help meet the demand. Everyone now at home, bored, and online shopping.
The retail store on the other hand, looking back, we should've just closed the damn place for good. Even making payments on it with insurance and utilities and leaving it empty to rot, we would've lost less money. But we cared pretty deeply about keeping it going and employees employed. Total flip flop of what we thought was going to happen. It has still not recovered. On Jan 1st, 2020, my biggest fear was taking on a retail store during an election year and in no way in 1000 years could've I have imagined this.
Having bought the business the first of the year, and putting it all under 1 LLC (hindsight...) for PPP purposes it looked like we doubled our business and gained employees, so we were not eligible for anything. Was a deep, sinking feeling after having spent deep into the 6 figures of all our personal wealth to throw down on a down payment of another business just to have the world turn to freaking shit.
But it all worked out. We're even more prepared now, and feel like that was just a teaser for what's to come.
The damdest thing though, is besides those few weeks in April/May of 2020 when we locked ourselves away after all the reports of Chinese welding citizens in apartments and such, and then relaxing once we heard it wasn't that bad, we haven't done anything to protect ourselves. Continued to go to bars, go out to eat, go to customers homes and do installs (we'd wear masks to protect the elderly), shop local without ever wearing masks. All of our employees had it as well as subcontractors and customers that told us they had it afterwards when we were with them.
And now, on about the 1 year anniversary of locking down, did I finally get the covee. And it's far less annoying than the last major time I got sick which was swine flu about 3 years ago. Mostly fatigue, a day of stomach troubles, some coughing and never once got a fever or lost sense of taste/smell.
From the beginning of the Plandemic, should've just locked every old person away with their caretakers, and the rest of the USA just have one big ass COVID party and get herd immunity and be done with this BS.
Oh well, wasn't my decision to make. And now wife and I are going to be like cockroaches during the next real SHTF event while we watch the world who obviously learned nothing from this past year constantly freak out about TP shortages again (and worse yet to come).
Otherwise, life has been pretty normal the past year and if it weren't for the news, not many would know anything was even going on.

I did just fine, it did make me see a few things I need to have more of.

I work for our County Emergency Management Agency.  I’ve been busy as can be up until recently.  We are the hub for the county PPE and early on I was getting deliveries from the state and delivering to every firehouse, police station and hospital.  Then it was full speed into testing.  Spent 4 days a week freezing my ass off at our drive through testing site.  When testing demand finally dropped we changed into vaccination mode.  Set up four drive through bays at the local fairgrounds. I spent four days a week freezing my ass off monitoring people who got the shot. Called the ambulance about twice a week, had at least three adverse reactions every day we vaccinated.  I talked to 1000 people a week during that time.  Heard every excuse in the world why “I didn't want the vaccine but...”.   Demands dropped to near zero for those wanting vaccinated, so we’re demobilizing the vaccination clinic.  

At the county level we opened up the Emergency Operations Center ( Fire, Law, Health, EMA, Hospital, prison, long term care, etc.  all had decision making representatives there) very early on to coordinate the response and make sure everyone had the necessary PPE and procedures in place.  My biggest challenge was spending all the money in the time allotted on things we needed for the rest of the response. I bought pallet racks, a walk behind fork truck, tents, heaters, lights, generators, pallets of gloves, gowns, masks, face shields and hand sanitizer.  All in all I would say we did a very effective job taking care of the citizens of the county.  I now have to spend the next round of stimulus money. Our tax dollars at work.

On a personal level, nothing really changed. Wife started working from home, I couldn’t go visit dad in his assisted living facility every day.   Had a whole hog and a half a beef in the freezer.  Plenty of toilet paper.  Kind of a nothing burger. My wife was mostly on board with prepping before, she’s fully engaged now, probably more from the election than covid.  Our Mag got more organized, we talk and meet more regularly and with more purpose.  

I’ve never been tested, refuse to get the vaccine, and don’t wear a mask unless I’m at work.  My biggest frustration is what absolute sheep most of the population is and how using the facts to make a decision is lost in the face of the “experts “ opinion.    Sorry for the rambling..

We intentionally did not buy toilet paper because people were being effing stupid with overbuying it.  Our stock was low, but we did not buy it until around September and even then it was not a paper bag or leaf for TP levels!!  

Needed very little, but did need to substitute products that were just not around.  Other than that, we were not bad at all.  

Bill

I'm really proud of the way I handled it.  I saw it coming and spent a lot of money on preps about a week before everything went nuts.  I managed to cover everything that was in short supply this time last year, and we didn't want for anything.  This was something I had always planned to do anyway, but had never gotten around to.  I bought cases of toilet paper from my wholesale supplier and gave away over 500 rolls last spring.  I was manufacturing sanitizer in my lab and gave away over 300 gallons to first responders and nursing homes.  I started hunting again, and really changed the way I handle keeping food on hand.  I learned to make all kinds of things that I would have bought before, and grow all kinds of food I never would have attempted.  During the lockdowns I read books, learned to play the guitar, and generally spent a lot of time making myself a better person.

I did what I could for my family, for my community and for myself.  It all worked out.  I would venture to say that 2020 was one of the best years of my life.  I took on everything that came my way and overcame it all, and I'm a better person on this side of it.

A+

Never got sick, never ran low on food, even during the worst part, last March and April, I was ahead of everyone else. Hell, even when they started rationing meat I was still fine. I added a deep freeze, a second refrigerator and a vacuum sealer to my preps. I did great.

Where did they ration meat?

Some of my local grocery stores did also, especially for sale items.

That said, I was glad on several occasions to have a chest freezer because larger/less processed cuts of meat became common when the restaurants shut down.  Things like whole pork loin or whole beef brisket got cheap, and I was happy to buy them, take them home, cut them down to the sizes I wanted, and repackage them before freezing.

We did well IMHO. The last year included the recent  brutal cold spell in TX which caused some big issues. If the "covid" did anything it served as a great reason to test our resources. All in all the one thing that caught us by surprise was that we DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH WATER on hand. Rest assured that has been resolved. Continuing as a problem is how to keep enough of my meds in inventory. I'll talk to my Doc about that next week. Hopefully I can simply "buy" a supply without going through my insurance. Our brief but damaging winter tested us moreso than covid mainly because we're very rural and covid exposure risk was low I suspect.

Moving beyond I sold a piece of land and avoided being without a chair when the music stops. Money is not an issue fortunately but I see some SEVERE inflation coming. We had planned on buying a new motorhome but the supply chain issues in that industry have made us have second thoughts. Downsizing from our present home is almost a sure bet and we are about 80% done getting it ready to go on the market. At my age it's time to stop burdening myself with an ever increasing labor cost. We'll do fine in a smaller place much closer to my son. Wife wants an "RV" garage  style home and I want to never have to work around the yard again.

We've built many times before and building this type of home is an easy task. Looking forward to it!

By June here in DFW, they were rationing meat. Sam's was limiting you to one pack of beef and one pack of Chicken or pork. Costco was the same. Albertson's and Tom Thumb were limiting you to one pack per day, beef, chicken or pork.

Very similar here.  It seems that I had too much faith in my fellow men.  Although I knew that the average man is a coward, I overestimated the number of those I thought were above average.  Other than that, I didn't change anything but add a home gym.

In the beginning, I took it as a joke, then got super serious.

I did my best with every piece of info I got my hands on.

However, by last summer, I realized that the virus was no where near as deadly as claimed.

I calmed a great deal.

Now I am back to where I was pre-scamdemic.

Stores in RI, CT, NH and ma

I had everyone set up to work remotely.
We had 1-2 people manning the office every day.  My day was Friday.  At the end of the day each week I hosed the entire office down with virucide.
I wore a mask.
I practiced social distancing, which was easy, since I hate people.
I got the Pfizer vaccine.

That's about it.

The only thing about this I disagreed with was the massive shutdowns - and of course Cuomo murdering old people.  I kind of understand the shutdowns though, because people are idiots.

That was us.  Luckily we  keep a ton of hand  sanitizer around anyway, so I was using that stuff like I had just arrested a bleeding junking with AIDs everywhere I went.

We stocked up on food, but we ate it all, so that zeroed out.

They won't fool me again.

I hear the train a comin', it's rolling round the bend
And I ain't seen unmasked faces since I don't know when
I'm stuck in Covid prison, “2 weeks” keeps draggin' on
But lockdown keeps a rollin' on and on and on
When I was just a baby, my mama told me "son,
"Always be a good boy, don't ever play with germs"
But I coughed on a man in Reno just to watch him die
And he’s still walking a year later, so I hang my head and sigh

Did just fine.  Nobody in the family caught it.  I work in a hospital, around multiple Covid patients, without taking any of the vaccines; just wore a (mandatory) mask and practiced good hand hygiene.

I think that, had it happened in a non-election year, the response would have been a collective shrug of the shoulders like flu is every year.

I agree with the supply chain and internet being a week point.  Doesn't take much for stores to run out of stuff and I doubt many can pick up a twisted pair and place an order the way everything operates this day in age.  Heck, most probably run VOIP phones.

Bought entirely too much canned chicken.

We did fine; pandemics are one of the things we geared up for years ago just in case.  We took it very seriously the first few months, but it really didn't take to long to decide it was being over-hyped and politicized.  Aside from the economic and social damage the reaction has led to, I'm afraid we've desensitized much of the population to the dangers a more serious disease outbreak could present.  Like the tornado sirens going off for every little passing thunderhead... people just start ignoring it all.  

It wouldn't surprise a bit if our real TEOTWAWKI is the result of a pandemic disease.

COVID Limbo by FredMan, on Flickr

My biggest shortcoming was not having the wherewithal to jump on the market in may 2020 i had the cash but hadnt gotten around to a brokerage account at the time.

we are lucky to still have some semblance of a free country.  The real casualty was our  Constitution.   My response from the beginning was one of distrust.  All levels of government conspired to seize power and exploit the panic they created.
I have not worn a mask, not worn gloves,  not gotten the fake vaccine.   I won't forget who the real domestic enemies are.

Went to 100% telework and had to adjust to that.  There is good and bad with telework.  Had to make some adjustments to my office/work station and get used to not seeing people at the office.  Saving lots of time, money, and stress not doing the commute.  Meals at home are cheaper and healthier.  I get plenty of sleep and my blood pressure has gone down.

N95 masks work.  I had enough N95's on hand and with light use the masks last around a month.  My N95's were out of date, but that didn't seem to be an issue.  N95 masks with valves are much more pleasant to wear and are now my go to.  

Wife needed her own N95's as the standard ones don't fit her well.  KN95's are decent for non-hospital use.  Even with significant exposure, proper procedures and PPE have kept us COVID free.  COVID doesn't survive in sunshine.

Get some masks that work now for the next bio-terror attack.  Since no-one has gone to jail or paid for all the deaths/damage you have to assume there will be a next time and next time could be worse.

I do miss all the concerts/sporting events/movies/travel that I was used to.  Made up for it by spending more time shooting/training/working on guns and reading.  Reading is better than movies and watching sports.  Concerts and travel are harder to replace.  We do more wilderness trips now which are nice.

One of my gyms closed and I stayed away from the other for over a year.  That and lack of entertainment has been the worst part.  Tried to stay active with hiking, daily walks, and workouts at home.  Overall I gained 2-to-4 pounds and lost some strength from not doing my regular lifts, but I'm moving in the right direction now getting back into swimming.

Snowmaggeddon was a good test of survival skills.  Snowmaggeddon went about as well as I could hope for.  Taking care of stubborn family was the biggest headache.  

Overall my survival skills are a lot more seasoned now.  I've been there, done that now for riots, snowstorms, and bio-terror.  I have a lot more guns and training and a lot less respect for the intelligence of the general public.  Looking in from the outside, this lady says it best:

North Korean defector says in America "People see things but they've just completely lost the ability to think critically" "North Koreans, we don't have Internet, we don't have access to any of these great thinkers, we don't know anything. But here, while having everything, people choose to be brainwashed. And they deny it."

ETA.  As far as ammo, by pre-purchasing components, reloading dies and saving all my brass since 2013, I have still been able to do lots of shooting and increase my ammo stock at the same time.

My wife and I did fine. Never ran out of anything. No change to our incomes. She is still working from home. I never worked from home.

That said, in NE Florida, we barely shut down. So it was easy to deal with logistically.

I followed the basic guidelines and was tested twice last year out of caution. Both tests were negative, and I kept moving merrily along with as normal a life as possible when most people around me were losing their shit over it.