This has been one of the two strangest times in my 44 years in the television news business. Covering 9/11 is the only other event that compares to the COVID-19 pandemic. That tragedy was also surreal.

Reporting on the terrorist attacks kept me away from home for up to 16 hours a day. Covering this crisis has mostly kept me working from home.

Here are seven things that have occupied most of my time:

1. Learning a lot of technical stuff. I am not technically oriented. I have learned how to record video interviews using Microsoft Teams and Zoom. It might be easy for you, but if you know me you know this is quite an accomplishment.
   
   
2. Binge-watched “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” on Amazon Prime. I realize I was a couple of years late to this party. I was curious about why this series has won 16 Emmys, including Best Comedy Series. Long before I watched all 26 episodes made to date, I realized why. There is great writing and acting, but also it’s unlike any comedic series I’ve seen. It’s like a musical farce with rapid-fire, intelligent dialogue. It probably helps that I’m Jewish, from Brooklyn and was growing up during the same period. But this is a memorable, original series. I watched “Maisel” during a free trial month of Amazon Prime. I don’t order much from Amazon, I don’t like how the company treats its employees. But I might buy the service in time for the series’ fourth season in December.
   
   
3. Walking our three rescue dogs. When I worked from the newsroom, I usually only took the dogs for their last walk of the day, at around 9 p.m. Working from home, I now also take them on at least a half-hour walk around the neighborhood during my one hour lunch break. It’s not only good exercise for the pooches and me, it’s relaxing.
   
   
4. Read a terrific book called “Into the Story” by journalist David Maraniss. He’s an associate editor for the Washington Post and won a Pulitzer in 1993 for his pieces on Bill Clinton. Maraniss also wrote several wonderful books, including biographies of Vince Lombardi and Roberto Clemente. “Into the Story” is a collection of pieces he’s written and it’s absorbing as hell. Maraniss was one of the authors scheduled to appear at the Tucson Festival of Books, as I was, and I looked forward to meeting him. Hopefully next year, when I will most likely be on an author’s panel.
   
   
5. Facebook. I have tried to avoid it but keep getting notifications. Most are friend requests or a nice comment about my book or people asking how they can order it. But inevitably after I reply I read posts and many of them get me angry. I don’t want to be that guy, you know, the one who turns every non-political thread into back and forth diatribes and personal attacks. This is a tough enough time without that. We need to be kinder to each other.
   
   
6. Wondered why politicians discussing health insurance never bring up the nutrition factor, about how eating healthy can prevent many diseases. They only talk about pills and procedures, like most doctors. They ignore the factors that lead to many diseases in the first place, including eating too much meat.
   
   
7. Read numerous articles about what might happen with the baseball season. I have really missed sports, especially March Madness and MLB. If baseball does have a season, I have wondered what it would be like. Playing in empty stadiums would be bizarre, but better than nothing. And safer.
   
   Regarding some options being discussed, I don’t like the possibility of playing a World Series in a warm-weather, neutral site. I think that would be unfair to the pennant-winning teams players and fans. I don’t think it would create much buzz among fans in the host city.
   
   I do like the idea proposed by Justin Turner of the Dodgers. If a game is tied after 10 innings, have a home run derby with three players from each team. Compressing a season into a few months would mean many doubleheaders and playing a lot of extra innings. That could cause travel issues and player fatigue. Purists will protest.
   
   But this isn’t your father’s two-hour game any more. And life as we knew it will never be the same.
   
   

But hopefully, if we continue to follow social distancing guidelines and stay home, things will return to a semblance of normalcy.

Stay healthy and safe.

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