Seventy one days ago, the most of the nation’s economy was shutdown, including Texas’ economy. If Texas was a stand alone country; the Texas economy would be among the largest of all countries in the world. The shutdown was meant to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. I believe that in the beginning the shutdown was driven by good intentions. The shutdown was expected to last for 15 days; instead it has lasted for months, and we are still in the midst of it.
The reopening of Texas, after the shutdown, is a major point of interest around the world because the size of our economy and the size and diversity of our economy. The interest is furthered by the fact that the Texas governor and lieutenant governor have been very vocal in their drive to reopen the state’s economy, and they have engaged in a public battle with Harris Country leadership over the authority to “make the rules”, regarding the shutdown. The governor has won, and we have began to reopen, despite Harris County leadership’s continued “stay at home order”.
I am not sure how Tomball’s small business would have survived if the governor had not prevailed. Many business are still not going to survive because of the shutdown. While geographically removed from Houston, we fall in Harris County along with the city of Houston.
We have a long way to go, businesses are allowed to open at most at 50% with many types of businesses still at 25%. Major sports have not returned, except for golf and NASCAR without fans. Every conference of every nature for the conceivable future is cancelled. Everyone is wondering if the schools will be open in the fall.
I believe that the next 30 days are hugely critical. I like the newscaster this morning that speculates that no matter what, we will not move the other direction and shutdown again. I admire the protesters across the nation that are demanding an immediate, full reopening. That said, there is still huge uncertainty and the threat of a second wave of the virus driving a second shutdown is very real, so we will take this one day at a time.
For the next 30 days, the mindset will be one positive minded day at a time, figuratively embracing the “break in the clouds after a months of a rain storm.” I picked a good day to shift my mindset. The market is on a big rally, up about 2.5%. The biggest dog in my stock portfolio, American Airlines, is likely to break even with my purchase price today. I plan to get out if it does.
For our little family the next major hurdle is getting Brainy Bird registered for the SAT in August, and getting him registered to take PE over the summer. He does not have room in his schedule to take all of the advanced classes that he wants to take and complete PE, so the plan has always been to take it over the summer. On the SAT front, we are supposed to get an email this week on the registration process for those that had their tests cancelled at the start of the shutdown. Little Chirp’s main goal, pardon the pun, is his working on his basketball skills.
Right now they are both enjoying a little taste of summer break. School wrapped up last week, and I let them stay up late and play video games last night. Both of them are still sleeping. Given that Little Chirp has money in his pocket from the two full days of unpacking over the weekend, my guess is they will be up in about an hour and that Little Chirp will be asking Brainy Bird for a ride to our favorite, locally owned donut shop. They will then head to their dad’s house for their first week of summer break.
I got a new coffee maker. Wow! My life is exciting. I am starting to buy into the idea that the oil in the coffee from the French press brewing method negatively impacts cholesterol. Who knows? I purchased a plastic free model for little money, and my coffee came out perfectly this morning. I like that the pot keeps the coffee warm for hours. The French press pot only stays warm for about a half hour.
Good coffee is going to be a key part of my week as I have two major work deliverables due this week. It is going to be a long four day work week, but we will make the deadline. It is incredible what we have accomplished over the past few months from a work perspective. I am proud to be a part of the company that I work for. It is time to get back to work.
One positive minded day at a time.