The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic

As I write this, it is late March, 2020. It’s been a while since I last shared my thoughts. And If the truth be told, it’s been a depressing few years, here in the desert. My life has taken some turns which I would not have wished for; the job I now have is not the one I was hired for, almost two years ago. Over the intervening span of time, it has been changed, tiny bit by tiny bit. The conditions under which I am required to perform it continue to become more demanding, and I have had to learn to live with the repeated threat of it being taken away from me if I do not find a way to do it both faster and more perfectly. Soon I expect I will be required to work from home. I have not had to do this before, and I resent being forced to allow my work to intrude into my home, my sanctuary, my retreat. This will make it even more difficult to do this job.

And yet, I name the Name of God, and try to live my life as my Master tells me to. I fail, of course, but I am forgiven. I have accepted this disappointing chapter in my life because it is a tenet of my faith that God is in control, and He has a plan for me. Since time began, He knew I would be working here, at this time in my life, at this time in the lives of those around me, and in the history of my country and my planet. And so my faith requires me to believe that, like Joseph and Paul and Daniel, I must walk the sometimes-difficult path which has been set before me by my King, and find a way to live as He commands, or as closely to it as I can manage, so that I may be obedient to Him and to bring him such glory as I am able. So I do my best to accept it, and pray every day for His Will to be done in me, and through me, and not my own will.

Some times, some very dark and very early mornings, that prayer is harder to pray in my heart than at other times, other brighter, sunnier afternoons.

I recently came to realize that as miserable as this job is, at least I still have one. Right now the Coronavirus Pandemic, CoVid-19, has gripped the world. It swirls invisibly around us, threatening us, intimidating us with it’s unknown aspect. Because of the nature of the infection, and because of the poor choices of our current President, Donald Trump, we have wasted 2 months of valuable time, and are just now beginning -beginning- to prepare for this test of our nation which is already upon us, and among us. We are being told to practice something entirely new: Social Distancing. I suspect as you read this in the weeks and months to come, you will be quite familiar with it, but right now, it’s new, and we are as a nation (and a world) grappling with how to wrap and bend and twist and wrench our lives around it. We are, many of us, finding ways to adapt to the idea of spending week after week after week, stretching into an unknown number of months ahead, physically separated from other human beings.

No gatherings of more than 50 people are allowed, and most recently even groups larger than 10 people are being discouraged – or simply prevented form occurring at all by police and authorities, depending on which city or state you happen to live in. This means no professional baseball, basketball, hockey, no March Madness, no audiences at TV shows, no evening news teams on the same set with each other. It means many, many radio and TV programs are being broadcast by formerly high-gloss hosts and anchors and reporters from their basements, or their living rooms, or their kitchen tables.  No schools, no high school proms, no graduations, no St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. In many states most places where people formerly gathered like bars, restaurants, stores, coffee shops and clubs are all but closed. Stores limit the number of patrons who can be inside to handfuls at a time. Restaurants and dining establishments offer drive-thru and pick-up orders only; their lobbies are locked, the tables and chairs stacked mutely in the corner, or out of sight entirely. Businesses large and small will go under. And the people who formerly staffed these places, stocked the storerooms, waited on customers, rang up their purchases, cleared their tables and cleaned their glasses…they don’t have jobs anymore. By the grace of God…I do.

But despite all of this….we have yet to see the full effects of the virus. Statistics guess that before the virus is through with us, maybe a month or more from now, perhaps as many as two-thirds or more of America will eventually become infected. Due to timing and luck, I am in one of the most at-risk categories: 60 or older, with underlying health issues. These same statistics estimate that the vast majority of folk in my group will survive. But approximately seventeen out of every hundred will not.

That’s a frightening percentage. The kind that can keep you awake at night.

I’m used to seeing odds expressed in chances of winning the contest as one in a million or a hundred million….not in seventeen out of every one hundred other humans just like me – gone.

No funerals, either.

Part of me wonders what life will be like over the weeks and months to come, as Spring slowly turns to Summer, because that’s how I’m wired. I want to learn new things, to watch history unfold. How will our government adapt to this New Reality? How will we? What will go back to “normal”…and what will not? I’m on the front lines again, as I was for Watergate, and 9/11, and the dawn of computers and the Information Age. But part of me also longs for less – less details, less complexity, less fear. Simpler times where I can deal with what I want to, or am able to, and then let the rest go where it will. But -at least so far- I haven’t been offered that choice. So I continue with a job I dislike more each day, and at the end of the day I head home to watch the slow-motion train wreck that my nation and my world have become. And I will try and maintain my faith in God, that He is in control, that He has a plan for me, that He loves me and will not forsake me. May His Will be done.

Sedona, Arizona

There’s a very small town in north-central Arizona, with which you may not be familiar.  Blessed with a spectacular location, the town is called Sedona, and it’s an Arizona treasure. Let me tell you a bit about it.

It all begins with altitude.  The terrain and vegetation of Arizona reflect its varied elevations, which in turn are a result of the various geologies present in the state. Generally speaking, altitudes go up as one travels northward through the state, moving from lower deserts in the south upward onto a series of ever-higher plateaus to the north. The apex of this climb in Arizona is the 9,000-foot forests of the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, but we aren’t traveling that far. If one flies into the state’s capital and largest city, Phoenix, one would begin the journey at about the 1,200-foot mark. Not terribly far into the sky, but enough for the home ballpark of the local professional baseball team, the Diamondbacks, to claim the title of the second-highest home field in baseball.

Sedona sits nestled in the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon, named for the rivulet which tumbles off the Colorado Plateau, nearly half a mile above the town. The edge of this plateau forms the massive cliffs which surround Sedona to the north, and the spectacular rock formations which both inhabit and shelter the town. The rock itself is layered into bands of red and white; the red comes from rock with a high iron content, and which oxidizes when exposed to the elements.  The upper surface of the Colorado plateau (and the successive plateaus both above it and below it) is composed of a harder rock which provides a protective covering for the softer rock beneath it, which in the case of Sedona is sandstone. Cracks, opened by an earthquake or volcanic eruption (there are volcanic cinder cones a few dozen miles north of Sedona) allowed Oak Creek to begin eroding the sandstone.  Over the course of the next few million years the creek gradually washed away the soft stone, a process which continues today, and which has left behind the canyon and the small pocket of spectacular exposed red rock which cradles Sedona.  Although this banded sandstone layer is present along the entire southern edge of the Colorado plateau, it’s hidden below the surface.  Only near Sedona is it exposed to view.

Following the I-17 interstate highway north out of Phoenix for a couple of hours takes the traveler through several major changes in elevation, up nearly a quarter of a mile onto Black Mesa, back down into Verde Valley, and eventually to the nearly 4,500-foot elevation of Sedona. But getting up there is only part of the tale, and not the most interesting part.

Take the Route 89-A exit off the interstate, and you drive off into what seems like more of the same vacant desert scrub brush through which you’ve been passing for some time. But fairly quickly the brush gives way to scrub pines, subsisting on the increased rainfall forced out of the sky by the nearby hills. These pines grow taller and stronger as you go, afforded a more trustworthy grip on life by the hills which also continue to grow larger as you approach the southern edge of the plateau. Once you enter the Village of Oak Creek, you get a glimpse of the wonders to come with a view of Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte. But you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, trusting traveler.

These monoliths serve as the gateway to Sedona. 89-A passes a mere stone’s throw to the west of iconic Bell Rock, and once it sits in the rearview, the pine forests erupt in earnest.  The road you’re on becomes a thread, weaving in and out of a carpet of needled green, punctuated here and there by breathtaking monoliths of amber, cream and rust.  You swoop and dive, into and out of verdant arroyos and the closer to Sedona you get, the more you realize that you are passing from the real world into…somewhere else.  Sheer cliffs tower thousands of feet above the town, watching in silent guardianship as their youthful charges gather to hike, to paint, to swim and play, or sometimes to just contemplate.

Sedona is a collection of artists, eccentrics, the very wealthy and the very lucky.  With barely ten thousand inhabitants, it used to be simple and charming; it’s grown up since then, in the unfortunate way that a young girl does when she realizes that she’s beautiful.  But it’s still a wonderful place to spend time.  We’ve visited Sedona many times, and have discovered a number of special, favorite places.  Hidden amongst the Cottonwoods along Oak Creek is the captivating collection of artists’ shops called Tlaquepaque (“Ta-LAH-ka-PAH-key”), where local craftspeople sell jewelry, sculpture, paintings, and other original creations.  Slide Rock State Park allows visitors to do exactly that ~ slide with the flowing creek as it moves across broad stretches of flat rock.  But bring an extra pair of pants, because the rock is very tough on bottoms.  The Coffee Pot Restaurant serves breakfast so many different, delicious ways that it’s often difficult to even find a place to park there in the mornings.  Uptown Sedona is lush with tourist traps that hawk the usual kitsch, but also sell some things you just can’t purchase anywhere else in the world.  With it’s reclining seats, single screen, impressive interior design and intimate atmosphere, the Mary D. Fisher Theatre offers a unique, relaxing venue in which to watch the very best in motion pictures.  And no matter where you go or what places you visit, the savvy visitor will always keep a camera handy with a large memory card and lots of batteries, because there are few places on Earth more photogenic than Sedona, especially at sunset.

Speaking of sunset views, one of our favorite places to visit in Sedona is Shugrues Hillside Grill.  Located across the creek from Tlaquepaque, Shugrues offers one of the finest dining experiences in Sedona.  But it’s more than just a great place to enjoy a meal.  If your schedule permits, have dinner on their rear deck at sunset.  It overlooks uptown Sedona, and the view at dusk is sublime.  An excellent meal, a bottle of wine, a soothing breeze, and the opportunity to enjoy it all at your leisure, as you watch the last light from the setting sun paint the majestic red cliffs above the town with gold…  It’s a memory to last a lifetime.

There’s one formation just outside Sedona that you may already be familiar with.  It’s called Cathedral Rock.  These timeless stones tower a thousand feet over beautiful Oak Creek as it flows through Red Rock Crossing in the valley below.  They’re a staple of calendars, they’ve been featured in many Western movies, and are among the more photographed locations in Arizona.  That’s quite an achievement, when you consider that their competition includes the Grand Canyon.  You can visit the state park along the creek at it’s feet for a small fee, but the rocks’ grandeur can be enjoyed and photographed from anywhere in the vicinity.

You can enjoy Sunday champagne brunch at Enchantment in nearby Boynton Canyon, or take Airport Road up the side of the mesa for a lovely view of west Sedona and Coffee Pot Rock.  There are hiking trails throughout the area, and if the New Age movement interests you, there is a thriving community in Sedona.  You can continue northward on 89-A for a scenic drive up Oak Creek Canyon towards Flagstaff, up into the largest single stand of Ponderosa pine in the world, or take winding Schnebley Hill Road up onto the rim, past places where Jeep and Wrangler Jeans have photographed and filmed commercials.  But a word or two of warning; most of 89-A’s steep climb is at the very back of the canyon, and takes place along cliff faces and switchback turns.  Those with a fear of heights might wish to take another route.  And while Schnebley Hill Road isn’t nearly as steep or intimidating, it is a dirt road into back country, and depending on weather or conditions it can sometimes be rough.

If you find yourself in Arizona, attending a conference in Phoenix, or perhaps visiting the Grand Canyon, consider adding a trip to Sedona to your itinerary.  If there is beauty in your heart or poetry in your soul, I think you’ll find Sedona worth your time.

Just the Right Amount of Wrong

My wife and I recently had the opportunity to visit the new Cosmopolitan Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.   This post’s title reflects the Cosmopolitan’s new marketing slogan, and I think it’s witty, clever, and catchy.  If you have a few moments, I’d like to give you our impressions.  The quick version is, our visit was not without it’s stumbles, but on balance, we enjoyed our stay very much, and I would recommend staying at the Cosmopolitan if you get the chance.

The Cosmopolitan is located in the heart of the Strip.  The Bellagio with it’s famous fountains is next door to the north, and Caesars Palace with it’s Forum Shops is within walking distance just beyond. Across Las Vegas Boulevard (the proper name for The Strip, if you’re looking for it on a map) is Planet Hollywood and Paris, with it’s replica Eiffel Tower, and Bally’s is next to them.  The Flamingo, the Mirage and Treasure Island are all nearby.  To the south is City Center and the Aria, with it’s excellent buffet, and also the Monte Carlo.  A few blocks further south is the famous intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Boulevard, which at one time boasted more hotel rooms on it’s four corners than the entire city of San Francisco.  Located there are the MGM Grand, New York, New York, the Excalibur, and of course the Tropicana.  I mention all of this just to demonstrate that the Cosmopolitan is right in the middle of it all.  No need to rent a car when you visit; should you ever wish to venture out, everything is right there.

The Cosmopolitan has a very small ‘footprint’, which is a way of saying that it occupies a very modest amount of acreage on the ground.  So it takes it’s space from the sky, shooting up more than 70 stories into the arid desert air.  (It’s almost impossible to know exactly how many stories the hotel has without going outside, leaning way back and counting them.  In keeping with Las Vegas tradition, the floors are not numbered in strictly sequential order.)  The entrance to it’s parking garage is along the side, and not directly off the Strip.  If you do choose to drive, it’s garage also hides a wonderful feature; as you descend into it, a digital board tells you exactly how many spaces are currently available on each level, including how many handicapped spaces are available.  The information is updated in real time, and the Cosmopolitan can do this thanks to individual sensors above each parking place.  When a space is occupied, the sensor notes the proximity of a vehicle, and responds accordingly.  Once inside the garage, drivers can look down the rows of spaces and take note of tiny red or green LED lights at the front of each space.  Red means the space is occupied; green means it’s available.  With a glance you can see where the available spaces are.  I absolutely loved this service!

We live close enough to southern Nevada that we chose to drive there.  Once in the city, we used a phone app called White Pages to locate the hotel, and this is where we encountered our first hiccup.  The hotel just opened a few months before our visit, and the app still associated the address of the hotel’s talent and hiring center on Warm Springs Road with the name ‘Cosmopolitan Hotel & Casino’.  When we arrived (at the hotel!) I mentioned this oversight to the staff, and they assured me they would have it corrected shortly.  Once we checked in we were given a room on the 62nd floor, which required us to use a particular bank of elevators, and then to insert our room card into the elevator’s button panel before it would allow us access to that floor.  Call me a simple-minded old country boy, but I found myself impressed by that.  I felt somehow…elite, which is a nice trick for your hotelier to pull off.

The view from the Cosmopolitan Hotel & Casino

I am given to understand that the Cosmopolitan is the only major hotel in Las Vegas that has actual balconies.  When you combine location and elevation with the opportunity to step outside for a breath of fresh air, the result is a breathtaking view of one of the most visually magnificent cities in the world.  And that effect is only magnified when it’s night air.  The view is nothing short of…spectacular.  The Bellagio’s fountains thundered and danced at our feet every fifteen minutes from noon until midnight.  The Eiffel Tower rose to eye-level.  The vast twinkling star-field of metropolitan Las Vegas stretched out below us like a carpet for miles in every direction.  The view is an entertainment all by itself.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at our room (and I ran panting to the window) my wife noticed that the room wasn’t quite…right.  The bed was made, and nearly everything was in it’s place, but a few things were odd.  A bathrobe over a chair here, a few bed pillows on the sofa there, a shaker of Parmesan cheese on the counter (always a dead giveaway!)  So I called the front desk, and literally within seconds a representative from Housekeeping was knocking at our door.  She confirmed my wife’s opinion that the room was not the way it should be, and two minutes later two members of the staff arrived to attend to the room.  It turns out that the previous night’s guests, who had been scheduled to stay, had decided to check out suddenly, and while the room had been made up for their continued stay, it had not been ‘refreshed’ in preparation for new guests arriving.  The room had been turned over to us in error before it was really ready.  My wife tells me that the staff missed a few details like fresh soaps and glasses in the bathroom, but from my perspective the room was made perfectly presentable in a matter of minutes.  But as a courtesy for the oversight, the housekeeping staff arranged for us to enjoy a ‘Make It Right’ credit at the hotel.  This was in addition to a generous supply of ‘play money’ to use in the casino which came with our package.  In my opinion, mistakes happen, and the Cosmopolitan took appropriate steps to keep us happy.  In this effort they succeeded.

That isn’t to say that things were perfect from then on.  As is the case in many hotels these days, the small refrigerator was filled with a variety of items for our enjoyment, for which we would of course be charged if we so much as moved them.  (I must comment that I have occasionally wondered what the justification for such charges would be if someone were inclined to take the hotel to court over it.  What exactly would the hotel say has been ‘purchased’ by moving the item?  What value had been exchanged?  A losing argument on their part, I think.  But that’s just me.)  The problem with the Cosmopolitan’s particular arrangement was that the mini-fridge was so filled with items we couldn’t move that the only place available for us to use was the bottom shelf.  But as we found out the following morning, that area is the freezer.  So, effectively, guests had no useful access to the refrigerator (unless they wanted soda-sicles).  Another item that struck me as perhaps less than well thought out was the check-out procedure, which is made available through the room’s large flat-screen TVs (there were two).  At no point in the procedure is there any sort of accounting, or even apparently the option of viewing an accounting.  Guests merely figure out where the check-out option is, select it, and they become checked out.  An extremely streamlined procedure for those who want it, but perhaps concerning for anyone who would like to double-check what they have been charged for.  Traditional checkout procedures are of course available through a visit to the front desk for any who prefer it.

Some aspects of the televisions’ set-up were less than perfect.  While they were both large and beautiful to watch, they were a tad slow to respond to commands.  The menus were, on occasion, not completely clear, although we were able to figure them out with a little experimentation.  Also, no program information was available through the televisions.  The menu for the information was there, but during our stay, at least, no information was provided regarding what shows were on or coming on, nor was any information regarding specific programs and episodes made available.  A minor issue, but one we have been used to having available as a matter of course for many years.

Our room was extremely well-appointed.  Upon entering the room, two lighted buttons by the door offer the options of “Hello” and “Goodbye”, turning all the lights on or off.  The lights themselves, when lit or extinguished, did so gradually, over the course of perhaps a second or so, which sounds like no big deal but was an elegant touch in reality.  Several similar pairs of buttons were scattered throughout the room, and the lights could be individually turned on or off as well.  A half-wall separated the sofas and conversation area from the bedroom, which allowed the view to be appreciated from both areas.  This touch was extended into the cavernous bathroom, which included a large bathtub with an opening over it filled by a set of fabric blinds which could be raised and lowered, and turned to completely closed for privacy.  (The tiled shower was large enough to echo!)  There were plenty of convenient outlets to plug chargers into.  While the hotel offers a data port at the writing desk and internet access for laptops, it did not offer WiFi connectivity for phones and I-devices.

There are several shopping areas available, and the stores were almost all unique and unusual.  It’s worth noting that the Cosmopolitan prides itself on offering items and amenities not available elsewhere.  We found several unusual Coco-Cola aluminum ‘bottles’ that we were told are only offered in four cities around the country.  There were several restaurants also available, although our travel plans did not allow us to dine at the hotel.  There are several pools and at least one spa located on an upper floor, but our activities did not allow time us to visit them.  There was a minor glitch involving the use of our Cosmopolitan ‘Identity’ card in a blackjack machine, but again, it was remedied within a very few minutes by the attentive staff.  Which brings to mind the fact that no matter where we went in the hotel, there was always a staff member nearby to assist us with whatever we needed.  We felt very well taken care of.

So while there were issues here and there, the Cosmopolitan is still new, and to put it simply, stuff happens.  Most of the time, while we were there we were nestled comfortably in the lap of luxury, and were (and have been) the envy of family and friends.  Those few times when something came up, the hotel dealt with it in a smooth and efficient manner, and we never felt that an issue had been left unresolved, or resolved in a less-than-satisfactory manner.  As I said at the opening, we enjoyed our stay there, and I think you will, too.

And hey ~ it’s Vegas.  How can you not have a good time in Vegas?