The Prodigal Son Returns

Sad to say, I haven't been blogging lately. Staying home during the recent quarantine(s) should have been the ideal time. What else was there to do?

As it turned out, reading and watching Netflix were more vital than blogging.

I've decided now to get back to it and update my three blogs - robertsimms.blogspot.com-sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken.blogspot.com-dumaguetewebsite.blogspot.com .

This post will be simultaneously published on all three blogs as a sort of welcoming back, as it were.

There had been snafus; sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken.blogspot.com had been banned from Facebook for going against "community standards". Anyone familiar with that blog knows I am not guilty of that. I won't mention names, but I believe someone I had a disagreement with (and unfriended on Facebook) may have sent a complaint to Facebook out of petty spite.

This bit of foolishness was gotten around by starting the new blog, robertsimms.blogspot.com. The person I suspect is unaware of this new blog and will never see links to it on Facebook.

The only minor problem I had was that the new blog could not immediately display adsense ads....a problem which should be cleared up soon.

I checked this morning, and the older blog is still banned from Facebook. So be it. I'll continue to add posts to my other two blogs and put links to those two on Facebook.

Fun With GIMP

No Via Crucis in 2020

Today is Good Friday, and normally in Philippines we'd be participating in a massive Via Crucis procession. This is my fifth Good Friday in Sibulan, and I've been looking forward to joining the procession again this year. This was to be my sixth Via Crucis in a row, and my seventh total. The first one I attended was during our visit in 2007.

Unfortunately, this year's Via Crucis was canceled due the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) brought about in response to the covid19 pandemic.

To my understanding, this is the first time the Via Crucis has been canceled nation wide. I don't know if even an isolated, local procession has ever been canceled, for that matter.

No Palm Sunday Masses; no Maundy Thursday observance. It's not been a typical Holy Week in Philippines.

Unless extended by the provincial Governor, the ECQ is scheduled to be over by the end of next week. It's unfortunate that the 14 days that the authorities believed was needed to stem the advance of the virus had to include Holy Week.

Let's hope life returns to normal soon, and we have a wonderful Holy Week in 2021.

Redirect

In order for my new blog to eventually qualify for Goole Adsense, I'm told I need to have unique content published on the blog. Of course, that's a relatively simple matter, but I'd also like to maintain some readers here as well.

I don't want to simply post the exact content onto both blogs. I can, however direct the readers here to the other blog by way of a link.

Today, I published a piece entitled Camus During COVID19 Days.

Here's hoping this will lead folks there.

My New Blog

I've been blogging since 2006. I've started, and finished a number of blogs, but the one I've used most consistently over the years is Sorry, All The Clever Names Are Taken.

I've been thinking that the name of that blog was just a bit too clever. It works with using a link, but it's cumbersome when telling the name to someone and expecting them to remember it. I've been lazy, and in spite of wanting to create a new blog with a easier name, I've been putting it off.

Circumstances have pushed me to finally follow through on the plan to create that new blog.

Due to the COVID19 causing havoc around the globe, the area where I'm living in Philippines has been placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and I wanted to begin writing about the situation and my experiences living under the ECQ. I wrote that post this morning, (ECQ Day One ) and attempted to put a link to that post onto my Facebook page.

Unfortunately, I was unable to post the link. Facebook said the blog was banned due it's not following community standards. I couldn't understand how or why that happened. I put the same post onto another of my blogs, and the link was accepted on Facebook. With all that, I've decided the time was right to create a new blog under an easier name to get across - hence, robertsimms.blogspot.com. Perhaps, one day, if the url is available, I'll use my name with a dot com or dot net.

This will mark the first post on the new blog. It will also be simultaneously posted on Sorry, All The Clever Names Are Taken.

ECQ Day One

Today is the first day of what we've been told will be a two week Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in an attempt by the Provincial Governor of Negros Oriental to stem the tide of the corona virus here.

We've been pretty much on a lock down status for a few weeks, but this will be Quarantine on Steroids.

Students and seniors, 65 and older had been ordered to stay at home a while back, and that rule remains in effect. We've all been under a 9:00PM to 5:00 AM curfew for weeks, however now the restrictions on everyone else in the province have gotten tighter.

Only one person from a household will be allowed outside the home, and that person is severely limited as to where and when he can go out. Each household has been issued a quarantine pass which must be presented at checkpoints. I've been told that the person going out must surrender his ID at the checkpoint and must return home through the same checkpoint within a certain time frame in order to retrieve the ID.

I'm pretty much a homebody, so the quarantine hasn't been a burden for me, although now it will be a little more complicated getting my money from the bank. That is my main complain now.

This call for an ECQ apparently comes a recent event at a port in Sibulan, Negros Oriental. The borders of the Province had been closed, with only cargo being allowed to enter. Out of humanitarian concerns, a passenger ferry was allowed to bring home stranded residents of Negros from Cebu island. Photos of the arriving passengers were posted onto social media. These photos showed that these passengers were not practicing "social distancing" and most were not wearing masks. None of these arriving passengers underwent any medical exam, we're told that the passengers were not instructed to self quarantine.

These photos sent the local medical community into a frenzy; generating a petition from front liners to the Governor demanding an ECQ.

I suspect this move by the Governor is based more on politics than on anything else.

The powers that be in our area are notorious for not enforcing laws and regulations. It remains to be seen how this will work out.

Enhanced Community Quarantine

In a few short days, our province will go under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in order to get a handle on the COVID19 virus currently terrorizing the planet.

Each household will be issued one pass in order for one member of the household to leave the home under certain circumstances.

Those being for medical emergencies, trips to pharmacies, banks and grocery stores, and a few others.

The first image shows the ins and outs of the ECQ. The second image is of actual passes. My understanding is that the ECQ will last 14 days, unless the Provincial Governor feels it should be extended.

We'll see how this plays out.