How are you making yourself happy during the COVID-19 virus era?

Basically, I know you’re washing your hands, wearing a mask when going out, social distancing and all that, but how are you making yourself happy during the COVID-19 virus era?

Happiness might be considered a form of selfishness, but during these times, I think it’s critical to your own self-survival to have some happiness in your life during these unusual times.

Copyright by Pam Spano 2020 All rights reserved

What brought this to my mind, was when I was looking for something to wear one morning.  I came across a t-shirt that my daughter found for me while on a trip to Kohl’s.  It wasn’t my size, but it was on clearance for $6.00!  She knows I like shirts with bicycles on it and immediately showed it to me.  I bought it and I’ve worn it numerous times since.

This  particular morning, as I looked for something to wear, I spotted it and instantly smiled.  It made me happy.  Not sure why.  Like I said, I like shirts with bicycles on them and I have many.  Some are much more elaborate than this one.  I wore it that day with my “good” yoga pants (women will understand this), some pretty jewelry and I felt good all day.  Doesn’t take much.

Think about what makes you happy.  Maybe it’s a book you’ve been wanting for a long time and put it off because you didn’t have the time to read.  Your local bookstore could use the business.  Maybe it’s the new restaurant that opened up that you never got around to trying.  They would appreciate your order.  Maybe a donation to your church or local food pantry would make you happy.  Both would appreciate that.

Or maybe reach out to someone who’s been on your mind for a while.  Give them a call (don’t text or email!) and let them hear your voice.  Listen to theirs.  Have a long conversation.  It’ll make you both happy.

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy.

Or maybe it’s wearing that favorite t-shirt that you happened to see in your closet.  Whatever it is, indulge a little.  Make yourself happy and perhaps someone else, too.

When this is over, say a prayer in gratitude for those little things that made you happy during this pandemic.

Stay healthy and be blessed!

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In mid-March Pulsenomics and Zillow published the results of their 1st Quarter 2020 Home Price Expectations survey of over 100 real estate experts. I’m assuming that the data was gathered prior to the beginning of March when we still only had a handful of coronavirus cases in the US and nobody knew what was about to hit the fan because the home price forecast was actually a bit more optimistic than it was in the 4th quarter of 2019.

Strangely, there was no press release with this survey. I’m thinking that maybe by the time they released it they already knew it was obsolete because of the scourge that was attacking the globe and they didn’t want to draw too much attention to it. I’ve got the graph below.

Real estate experts were actually a bit more optimistic about home price appreciation than they were 3 months earlier.

As you can see they were projecting 15.9% cumulative home price appreciation from 2019 – 2024. That compares to 14.9% projected appreciation in the 4th quarter of last year. 15.9% works out to 3.0% per year.

Chicago Area Home Price Outlook

As I normally do I went to John Dolan, the market maker for Case Shiller home price futures, to find out what the outlook was for Chicago area home prices. He’s actually one of the real estate experts that Pulsenomics surveys. He provided me with the graph below last week. It’s uglier than a baboon’s ass. Not the graph itself but the story the graph tells us.

These are the prices for February futures contracts for the Chicago Case Shiller home price index that was at 142.4 for January. The green and red lines were the values back on February 21 and April 3. Then all hell broke loose by the time John produced this graph for me. The red crosses are asking prices while the light blue Xs are bids. The worst spot on the graph if for the February expiration in 2021. The bid is only 107, which represents almost a 25% decline in home prices from January, and the ask is 127, which is about an 11% decline.

Take this with a grain of salt. Although I use this to get a sense of where Chicago area home prices are heading it’s not the same thing as the actual housing market. These are prices for financial instruments and they reflect the prices that somebody is willing to sell their contract for and somebody else is willing to buy them for. Obviously there is a spread wide enough to fit a house through. But, nonetheless, if someone is trying to hedge a home sale or a home purchase this is where they would have to get that hedge done. I think it’s safe to say that the outlook is not good.

Chicago home price futures paint a pretty bleak picture of our real estate market

#RealEstate #ChicagoRealEstate #Coronavirus

Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service real estate brokerage that offers home buyer rebates and discount commissions. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market or get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry you can Subscribe to Getting Real by Email using the form below. Please be sure to verify your email address when you receive the verification notice.

ENTREPRENEURS PARTNER DIGITALLY IN A TIME OF SOCIAL DISTANCING WHILE SHOWING VALUE IN COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS

Quendole “Que” Johnson Founder of 529 Management LLC and Stacey Lynn Emerson Founder of HER Treasures online boutique have one thing in common and it’s their love for people. Although they operate in two different industries collaboration was effortless.

Que Johnson, The Brand Surgeon has methods that are unique, nontraditional and unconventional   which makes her lifestyle branding and brand management company stand out from the rest. She never allows anyone to put herself or her clients in a box and is committed to bringing value to the ones she serves. Stacey Lynn Emerson, Celebrity Wardrobe Stylist knows how important it is to look your best at all times. Her mission is to empower women to be proud to be HER by being bold, confident and classy. Her idea of fashion is beyond societal classifications of style keeping every woman covered and classy.

The two women recently came together on the launch of The Brand Surgeon’s T-shirt Line called “My Brand is Bae”  The graphic statement serve as an intentional call to action to remind you why you fell in Love with your Brand in its beginning stages and why you need to fall in love with our Brand all over again.  

In a time where the world is temporarily closed and small businesses are suffering, collaboration is key for learning, growth and offering mutual value to each other and those around you. Together Que and Stacey are using their digital platforms to educate by providing tips and tools you can use for successful and profitable collaborations. This business practice for the two is not optional, but vital for entrepreneurs alike to assist in our economic downfall creating stronger business communities.

To learn more about 529 Management LLC visit http://www.529management.com/

Michael Jordan, famously not one to do interviews, sat down with Robin Roberts this morning on “Good Morning America” to preview ESPN’s upcoming documentary “The Last Dance.”

The first episode of “The Last Dance” premieres on Sunday, April 19.

More Michael Jordan lookback content:

NBA lookback: Why Michael Jordan needed to go play baseball

NBA lookback: Michael Jordan’s ‘The Shot’ over Craig Ehlo

NBA lookback: Michael Jordan sets double figures scoring record

NBA lookback: Michael Jordan makes his NBA debut

Yesterday Chicago was introduced to its new Police Superintendent, the 60th top Cop in Chicago’s long history since 1837 when Oremus Morrison was sworn in. David Brown the former Police Chief of Dallas takes over from Interim Superintendent Charlie Beck. Since Oremus Morrison back in 1837, they have been called various titles ranging from City Marshall, General Superintendents, to Commissioner, the last of which was Timothy O’Connor in 1964.

Immediately after O’Connor’s corruption-tainted run, the title of Superintendent was introduced when O.W. Wilson was introduced as Chicago’s new reform Top Cop. Since Wilson’s retirement, there have been 9 Superintendents beginning in 1967 with James Conlisk and now, of course, David Brown. Superintendent Brown will soon find out what he has in common with all of Chicago’s top cops with the exception O.W. Wilson. He’s not in charge. Decades of blaming the Police when it’s convenient, Chicago’s Politicians who are actually responsible for the Police have conveniently escaped criticism. ( see Emanuel’s handling of a Clueless McCarthy)  Emanuel withholds a controversial video and McCarthy gets run under the Mayoral bus.

The first thing Wilson did as the new Superintendent was to move Police Headquarters out of City Hall and into a separate building located at 1121 S. State Street.   O.W. promptly began to not only change the image of the Department from a corrupt, inept, politically driven haven for politics and corruption he changed the very appearance. Uniform colors changed, the patrol cars changed colors, the archaic communications system was upgraded to one of the best worldwide and were copied for decades by other departments across the country and beyond.

The change was so dramatic that many old-timers retired as fast as they could, to the delight of Superintendent Wilson. New fresh young officers were hired with a priority for college-educated officers who were willing to grasp the new ways of Wilson’s leadership.

Through all this change the one thing that went unnoticed, is he had a free hand in almost everything he wanted without any undue influence of City Hall. Mayor Richard J. Daley never interfered with Wilson’s sweeping changes. I personally can attest to that because I was his driver for many months on weekends and he confided at how much the elder Daley gave him complete autonomy over department matters.

Never was City Hall’s meddling illustrated more than when Superintendent  Garry McCarthy was fired by Rahm Emanuel in 2016. McCarthy complained openly to the press that City Hall was constantly meddling into police affairs to the point of interference. When asked by reporters why he did not resist he stated, “HE LIKED HIS JOB AND WANTED TO KEEP IT.” As long as a sitting mayor has the authority to fire a top cop, politics will always triumph over a sitting superintendent’s tenure. Jim Rochford who was Chicago’s top cop from 1974- 1977, once told me that being Chicago’s Police Superintendent was like walking under a guillotine. A smart admission from a very smart man. I admit at the time I did not quite understand what he meant, but it’s clear now for sure.

There has been a lot of rhetoric tossed around the last five or six years in regards to the cops and the communities they serve. You often hear the theme that cops have to gain the trust of the community in order to function at a high level to be successful in fighting violent crime. In turn, the cops are thinking how much trust can you have in a community where its citizens are shooting and killing each other at epidemic like proportions and nobody is willing to come forward and testify. Indeed it’s awful easy to blame the cops for that so-called called trust not being there, but also one would have to be very cautious cooperating with the cops when the neighborhood gangs are such a power and the Cook County Court system is considered by many to be a boomerang system where arrested criminals are soon right back out into the neighborhoods they were arrested for terrorizing, some as quickly as the same day.

Last September 11, I wrote about a courageous 18-year-old named Treja Kelly, in a ChicagoNow post.  Treja, testified in June against the man who killed her cousin back in 2016. He was found guilty of murder and faces life in prison. A few months later Treja, who was 18 at the time and pregnant was ambushed as she walked home from work and shot five times, killing her and her unborn child. Prior to this she was worried about retaliation but was not offered any type of help by the States Attorneys office and she essentially was on her own. Anyone who missed the significance of this was not paying attention. Her killer was finally caught a few weeks ago.. See photo below

A community member comes forward and testifies, she expresses fear of retaliation, the entire community is watching, hard to lay that one off on the cops. Total silence until the beginning of the month when 18-year-old gang thug Kaviarian Rogers confess to police he NAILED Treja for 5 thousand dollars. The question now is who put up the 5 thousand dollars. Total silence again. It just seems simpler to keep blaming the police, and any other convenient scapegoat that comes along. In my opinion, if you keep telling folks its not their fault they will start to believe it.

David Brown is on the record saying the police have to gain the trust of the community.  However,  like his predecessors the last 7 Superintendents I have not heard one word about the community and their responsibility. These numbers are harsh to look at but they are hard to ignore, or indeed make excuses for. In the last 8.5 years, Chicago has averaged 562 souls being murdered and over 2,840  wounded with 37 mass shootings where multiple people are gunned down at one time.

Does Chicago have a new Superintendent that continues along and says the right things?  Can he resist the political forces that so many before him failed to do? Does Chicago have the stomach for what it’s going to take to defeat the gang thugs, that are so emboldened they can offer 5 thousand dollars to have someone NAILED who testifies against one of their own?  David Brown has to realize that same fight the City is putting up to take on the Coronavirus has to continue to fight Chicago’s other killer. Gang Violence is killing as sure as the Virus and it’s not getting any better. Even with a total stay at home order the thugs are thumbing their noses and the killing is escalating. God speed David Brown, learning from the past is the best teacher. Unchallenged crime spreads and kills like a virus. Best wishes.

An ancient currency, now little valued.

See that shiny round thing at the top of the heap? That is a coin. A dime, to be precise. I accidentally came across one in my dresser drawer this morning, reaching around in the dark for my earbuds. It was the first coin I have touched since COVID-19. Heck, it is the first coin I have touched since New Years’. And maybe the New Years before that.

Once upon a time, stretching through a couple of thousand years of history, coins had a purpose. You could collect them in little blue folders. You could use them in vending machines, in arcade games, to pay your tolls. You could even use them to buy things in a store. That was all back in the day. The last time I can recall looking for a couple of quarters was to turn on the air pump at the gas station down the road, the station too low-rent to have a credit card reader installed on the air supply.

Barb still uses coins for one thing. She carries a change purse loaded with quarters for mahjong. That is, she did until we were Covid’d. Now the mahj crowd is all on-line. Paid for electronically, of course.

Stores don’t want your coins anymore. Most of them don’t even want your cash. That doesn’t bother me at all. Instead of twenty-dollar bills from an ATM, my wallet bulges with plastic. I have the credit card that gets me points for travel (ok, not a real valuable reward right now.) I have the card that gets me free checked bags on United Airlines (also a current non-starter.) There is the one that gets me a chance to buy premium concert seats a week before everyone else (tell me quick, what is a concert?) and I have the only credit card that will let you buy toilet paper at my favorite aircraft carrier-sized grocery store, as long as the card reader is at least 6 feet from the cashier. I have a PayPal account too, but never think to use it for any of my online purchases or restaurant deliveries. Venmo and Zelle are still just at the fringe of my consciousness, things to investigate on a future day when I have more time on my hands. Hah!

If you read about coins on your favorite online newspaper, you are probably browsing an article about Bitcoin. I have no understanding of how cryptocurrency operates, but despite the name, I doubt it consists of discs inscribed with “E Pluribus Unum” or “In God We Trust.” At the moment one Bitcoin is worth $7012. That would be a pretty big stack of pennies.

With the demise of the coin, I fear we will also lose some of our treasured adages. Gone will be:

• A penny for your thoughts.
• Not worth a plugged nickel.
• Your dime, your dance floor. (Probably already gone. We miss you, Chet Coppock.)

*So what to do with the coins still rumbling around in my drawer, and probably in yours too? I have a suggestion. Count your coins. For each coin send a dollar to one of your favorite charities. (Today I am going to choose Northern Illinois Food Bank.) Send a little less if it is all you can afford. But send something. Make those coins make a difference.

Have you read COVID Haiku?

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Local Business Series: Whit Devereaux Enterprises

Whit Devereaux, is an Award Winning and Bestselling Author of “Not By My Own,”“Unraveling the Layers: Memoirs of a Wounded Soul,” and “There’s a Jewel in You, Volume 2.” She is also a Domestic Violence Survivor Advocate, Mentor, and Motivational Speaker. Additionally, Whit is the Founder and Executive Director of the 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization Not By My Own Community; helping survivors of domestic violence to rebuild their lives by giving them a safe place to experience a life of wholeness through Jesus Christ. The specific objectives and purpose of her organization are:

a) To provide a mentorship program to women survivors of domestic violence
1. Group and/or 1:1 coaching is available to all mentees to support and counsel them to wholeness
2. Through monthly challenges, masterclasses, book chats, courses with materials included etc. are offered to empower survivors to obtain their personal goals of healing.
b) To host bi annual and/or annual events where women survivors can network and receive helpful resources to help with rebuilding their lives post abuse e.g. mental health, legal, substance abuse resources and more.

Whit holds an Associate of Applied Science in Paralegal Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Behavioral Sciences. Her studies and experience include human behavior which she now has over a decade of experience working in the social services settings. Through her company, Whit Devereaux Enterprises, she assists Entrepreneurs with obtaining sponsorships and gaining the attention of their target audience through media exposure and local partnerships. Whit has been the cover story feature on the  Chicago Defender, in addition to being featured on the AC Green Show, Warriors Talk Radio on Urban Broadcast Media, The Kendall Moore Show on WVON, and is an active member of the Chicago Police Department District 006 Domestic Violence Subcommittee.

As the mother of two, one of which she had as a teen mom, she enjoys taking family vacations, spending quality time with her daughters and showing them that with hard work, faith, and determination – nothing is impossible. You can connect with her via email at [email protected] or via the contact form on http://www.whitdevereaux.com/

In the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it is safe to say that everyone was on edge and angry that we had to be confined to our living quarters. As time goes on, speaking for myself, being in quarantine is making me a better person. I’m becoming a person with better patience. I’m learning to live with the situation as if I have no other choice.

I’ve always been a optimist. I don’t know who I’ve inherited that from because the majority of my family are impatient hot-heads. I like to think of myself as the smooth creamy filling that calms things down when they become outrageous in my immediate family. I have to take on this attitude because I have lupus and stress is my number one trigger in having a flare up.

Lupus is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system attacks itself, instead of fighting off invaders that would cause damage or potential damage to internal and external organ systems. I try my best daily to avoid stressful situations as my worst symptoms consists of joint and muscle pain, stiffness or weakness, or worse, the need for blood transfusions due to a diminished blood platelet count. Platelets are important in preventing the blood from clotting which can travel throughout the body.

I thought it was important to share this tidbit with you so you can see how important it is that a person with lupus or other chronic illness to be quarantined. We cannot afford to be sick with the coronavirus or any virus because of our already threatened immune system. On the flip side, I also understand that I cannot be paranoid not to talk to my family should I come in contact with them; I just have to make sure they are masked up and that everything is sanitized when they come in and out. Of course, limiting the amount of people you allow in your home is paramount to diminish any chance of unwanted germs which is why I have one sister who I allow to visit because she works as my homemaker. Anyone else, I’ll see them on social media.

Speaking of social media, this is another thing to be grateful for! We may be social distancing but at least we can communicate with each other on our phones, desktop computers or whatever technical gadgets we have that brings us comfort and ease to get through everyday life. You wanna know what can lift your spirits when you think about what a drag it is staying at home? Think back twenty or thirty years when we didn’t have these luxuries. Imagine if you didn’t have a home phone and had to go to the corner to use the pay phone. How disgusting would that be knowing the coronavirus is looming the air. Think about coming back into the house with the germs without a mask. Masks weren’t that freely available to us as they are now.

There is so much to do at home. We baby boomers get the drift. It’s just explaining it to these millennials who cannot get it through their thick skulls how good or should I say great of an advantage they have it, not to mention that they are saving their lives as well as others.

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If my private diary had categories the way this blog does, I think every year would have a category called I Never Thought of This Until Now. Tonight will have the first entry in that category for 2020.

I had to go to the bank for the first time since the public advisory to wear masks on our faces in public. It’s been a couple of weeks, but with little shopping, the main thing that drove me to the bank was the need to get quarters for the machines in the laundry room. So off to the bank it was, with a mask made of a soft pink-and-white bandanna and two ponytail holders to hold the fabric across my face.

The thought came to me on the bus: I was going to the bank to make a withdrawal, and I had a mask over my face in order to do it.

One of the bankers walking around the office — a big one, since my usual little branch is closed — said hello to me calmly and reacted with gentle concern when I said I had a question.

“Should I take my mask off before I go up to the teller window?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he said, and he gently encouraged me to look at the people in line for the tellers — six feet/two yards apart, but unmasked.

I released the pressure on my ears, stuffed the bandanna mask in my coat pocket, and smiled at the banker as I thanked him.

Everything went calmly at the window. I got only the money I asked for, no more, and walked over to the door of the bank.

I put the mask back over my face and walked away through the quiet mid-afternoon traffic.

Just another day in 2020.

Margaret Serious has a page on Facebook.

What next, 2020? How will we have words to express all this? Subscribe for help! Type your e-mail address in the box and click the “create subscription” button. My list is completely spam-free, and you can opt out at any time.