From the (Home) Business Desk ... One month and counting

I reached a milestone last week.

I began working at home March 17, which meant Friday was my one-month anniversary of "home officing" as I avoid as much physical contact as possible with the outside world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Everything I've written and all the interviews I've done via email and on my cellphone over the past month have all taken place in what was once my youngest daughter's bedroom.

My wife has her own makeshift office a few feet away from mine in a room that doubles as our "craft" room. We see each other several times a day like when we break for lunch or when she retrieves a document from our shared printer, which is next to my desk.

Most of my colleagues from the Missourian's newsroom are also working from their respective homes, each of us accessing the Missourian's computer system from our laptops or desktop PCs. These days we only see each other during our morning video conference calls on Zoom and we periodically text one another throughout the day with story updates.

For the most part, the only voices I hear in my "office" are those of Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer. Anderson Cooper and other news anchors on a small flat-screen TV a few feet from me that is typically tuned to CNN throughout the day (I've resisted the temptation to watch daytime soaps and shows like "Maury Povich," "Judge Judy" and "The Price Is Right."

A few observations from my first four weeks in the "Wolz Office Complex":

• My "commute" from my bedroom to my desk is exactly 39 steps, which each day reminds me of "The 39 Steps," a 1935 Alfred Hitchcock classic. When I think of Alfred Hitchcock, I start humming "Funeral March of a Marionette," the theme music from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," his anthology television program that aired from 1955 to 1965. Like "Baby Shark" and "It's a Small World After All," it's one of those tunes that can get stuck in your head if you're not careful.
• Every morning, my dog looks at me with a quizzical expression on his face as if to say "Why are you still here? Are you ever going to leave?"
• I keep track of my hours, but it's on the "honor system." There's no one here making sure I'm actually "working" here at home (but, of course, if I weren't, we might have blank spaces on some of our pages).
• The custodial staff at my home office hasn't emptied my trash in more than a week. Oh, wait ... I forgot, I'M the custodian!
• Casual Friday has pretty much lost its meaning as EVERY day is casual. I've not yet worked in my bathrobe, but I've started a "coronavirus beard" and my next haircut has to wait until barbershops reopen.

In all seriousness, my wife and I consider ourselves fortunate to still be working, albeit from home.

Millions of others aren't as fortunate.

As you have probably heard by now, 22 million Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance between March 16 and April 10 because their jobs have disappeared due to the coronavirus outbreak.

In Missouri, 336,208 first-time unemployment claims were filed during the four weeks between March 16 and April 10, according to the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. That works out to an average of just over 84,000 a week. By comparison, Missourians filed between 3,000 and 6,000 claims in a typical week in the months prior to March. The Department of Labor has not released the number of March unemployment claims in Cape Girardeau County, but there is no doubt the number will be exponentially higher than the 139 first-time claims filed in Cape County in February.

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I've been asked several times recently about several AT&T cellular installations underway in the Cape Girardeau area.

Mark Giga, AT&T's lead public relations manager who handles media relations for the company in Missouri and Kansas, told me last week the AT&T installations are "small cells," light weight, low power transmitters covering a radius of up to 1,400 feet and are used in locations where customers are prone to experience connectivity issues as well as heavily populated areas that need more network capacity.

"We consistently look for ways to improve the wireless experience for our customers and small cell sites are another way we're accomplishing this in the Cape Girardeau area," Giga told me. AT&T reported in December it had invested more than $15 million since 2016 to boost network connectivity in the Cape Girardeau area.

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It appears 180 Fitness won't be moving anytime soon.

Melissa Stickel, executive director of Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri, assumed ownership of the fitness facility Jan. 1. At that time, she announced plans to move it from its current location, 2530 William St., to a vacant building she planned to renovate at 18 N. Sprigg St.

However, the cost to renovate the North Sprigg Street location was roughly twice what Stickel expected, so for now, 180 Fitness, formerly known as SNAP Fitness, will stay where it's at.

Meanwhile, Stickel told me last week she is keeping her eyes open for alternate locations in the downtown area that could accommodate the fitness facility.

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Procter & Gamble is donating three 50-gallon drums of hand sanitizer this week to the United Way of Southeast Missouri, which will, in turn, make it available -- in smaller containers -- to its partner agencies.

P&G is giving a fourth barrel of hand sanitizer to Ameren in exchange for picking up the other three barrels at the P&G plant and delivering them to the United Way's distribution point.

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