Fairly major outbreak at the library. The staff are in revolt because of the completely fucked up way higher management have (mis)handled this. I have an exemption to going in to the library because of asthma, but I can come in if necessary. I was supposed to come in today to meet with some curators from a museum here who wanted to look at some maps for an upcoming exhibition there. Yesterday I heard from a friend of mine at the library that she had tested positive and that others in my special collections unit had been exposed. I contacted my line manager about this and she totally backed me up. I told her and our director that there was no way I would come in today. I wrote the head of HR and said that I was very upset that I had to hear this from a fellow cow-orker about the situation but I'd heard nothing from higher management. She had the temerity to say that since I was exempt from coming in because of my health situation (primarily asthma) it was on me. Also that they had to respect the privacy/confidentiality of staff who had been infected-a complete red herring, I don't need to know names but I should be informed if staff in my section were exposed. Trust has further been eroded because higher management is not compliant about masking, a lot of nose-masking or even no masking. Upshot is a total revolt in special collections here. Many emails sent to head of HR here and also cc'd to entire department objecting to the cavalier attitude of management toward our health just to be met with bullshit boilerplate from HR.
Someone described their experience of trying to sign up for the vaccine as like trying to score Brittany Spears tickets. I am now eligible and that is exactly the experience so far. Details too tedious and infuriating to write out.
Added bonus of ongoing (but relatively low-level) disagreement* with my wife om degree of effort I should be putting into checking website right after midnight and the like.
*One of the times when our side-by-sdie computer arrangement is less good.
So, my wife got a text update that new slots opened for vaccination yesterday, but she was out and couldn't get to a computer so she made me try to sign up her parents. I went to the site and clicked on the days that were just posted. I managed to get an appointment (two weeks away) for my mother-in-law, but all the slots for all days were filled by that time, so I got nothing for my father-in-law.
Jammies got his first dose. Teachers aren't eligible according to Gov Abbott, but the district sent out an email to teachers telling them to sign up for slots to be given at the high school, and instructing them to say they were "over 65/chronic condition". I guess teaching is a chronic condition?
Anyway, Jammies felt EXTREMELY guilty about the way it went down, but got one anyway to appease me. But also, given that they're requiring teachers be face-to-face, and not providing anywhere close to proper PPE that health care workers get, and also putting full numbers back in the classrooms, I think it's ethically fine to jump in line despite Abbott's rules.
So, go to here. Find the "alerts" thing and sign up for an alert. If it is like my experience, you have less ten minutes after the text before all the slots are gone. The last text came at the end of the work day, not midnight.
6: Yes I am signed up for that. Failed to get one , however. But got to put in a bunch of info a number of times.
It's on the wrong side of the tunnel anyway.
6: The last text came at the end of the work day, not midnight.
The only person I know who got in on that one. They did it by refreshing the website, and the new links appeared some time before the alert went out (my wife got the alert--she is not eligible ye).
8: I also missed one through a small pharmacy on Mt. Washington but they were being given way out in Peters Twp.
And I no do tunnel to Monroeville.
And I no do tunnel to Monroeville.
Our state is shit at this, with extra irony because the developer of one of the vaccines is right down the street. We are just getting around to 75+ eligibility starting next week while other states are already at 65+. Supposedly teachers and 65+ will be mid Feb but I bet it's March. There are stories in the paper that say the state is stopping shipment to some sites because they have an excess in the freezer due to low uptake while at the same time they're saying there's a shortage of shipments from the feds.
In NY my EMT brother already had two shots and my parents are getting the second shot in a couple weeks.
We signed up our kids for 12-17 Moderna trials but haven't heard if they were accepted.
2: Barry, that really sucks, and I'm sorry you have to deal with that.
14: Fauci was on WBUR saying Baker was doing a great job at this, and I thought, "I really respect you, but, no." There have been some good articles in the Globe on this.
I think some frontline health care workers have been slow to take it - mostly the non doctors and nurses. My system had leftover and got permission to vaccinate 100% remote workers and transplant patients. I haven't signed up, because I think I can wait. Home healthcare workers need it more.
My dentist told me that the Mass Dental Society had been shut out of the discussions with the state which was prioritizing the big healthcare systems.
She got a call from her internist at the last minute because of an unused dose, and her staff are now able to go to Gillette, but dentists should have been higher on the priority list.
Also, there are way more opportunities to get vaccinated in Newton or Needham compared to Chelsea and Everett, both of which have been hit much harder.
My dad has had pretty much the experience alluded to in 4. After a day refreshing the state website, he finally got an early February appointment which involves driving from Tucson to Phoenix in the middle of the night and getting a shot at 3:40 am, and he feels lucky to have scored it.
It turns out that she didn't want to be vaccinated without her husband, but other relatives persuaded her to not cancel by pointing out other relatives currently hospitalized with Covid
Our state is shit at this
I believe we are, as well.
I think most states are doing poorly. There was a good story recently about some reasons why -- among them, that the Federal Government is forecasting supply and allowing signups week to week, instead of committing to a long term schedule so that local departments and states can plan ahead.
The other screw-up, which I fear was intentional in the waning days of Trump, was the feds pushing the "everyone over 65 can vaccinate" message right in the middle of most states still working on 75+. That shift in the rules jumbled what would have been a smooth expansion of vaccination when you've just about completed your current pool, to having to turn almost everyone down in both the critical (over 75) and next in line (over 65) populations.
Oh, that's all too plausible. My dad's in the 65-75 population and reports crazy mixed messaging on eligibility.
Possible side effects of the vaccine include fever, chills, aching all over, and other flu-like symptoms, but I'd be a really asshole to complain about that.
My mom got her second vaccination shot today. She said she hasn't had any side effects yet.
What are the impossible side effects?
You eliminate them to prove that the improbable side effects are true.
I was in DC during the spring of 2000, and there was some campaign all over the metro cars for some sort of health care thing, and the slogan was "Impossible means I'm-possible."
First I could not get over how nonsensical that was. Then my brain tic took over and for the next year, I would automatically think "improving means I'M PROVING", "impatient means I'M PATIENT", "important means I'M PORTANT" etc etc etc. I may have driven people crazy with my inability to let it go. "IMANNOYING means I'm annoying." Etc etc.
Virginia, or maybe CDC, recently reclassified people 16 to 64 with high risk conditions (so, me) from phase 1c to 1b. The state is currently in 1b. But this means that around 50% of the population is now eigible. There are not nearly enough doses or facilities to handle this demand. The frustration of being eligible and yet unable to use that eligibility will make fit some interesting times.
My dentist's office did all get vaccinated. I guess that Virginia sees them as healthcare providers. Though, I also wouldn't be surprised if the dentist finagled it. He serms the type who might. Then again, I recently noticed that his practice has OAN on in all the treatment rooms. This makes me think less well of him, and he's said stuff to be that had already given me doubts.
There's no way that could get old.
27.2: Oh, no, you infected me! Imposter means I'm poster! Immaculate means I'm maculate! Imperial means I'm perial!
fwiw almost every American state is doing better than almost every Canadian province. According the the FTFNYT Missouri is currently the state with the worst rate at 4.3%. In Canada only PEI has vaccinated more than 4% (of a population of 160k). Ontario is at 2%. Quebec is at 2.6% but hasn't given anyone a 2nd dose yet. Nova Scotia is at 1.2%, though they also had no new cases reported yesterday.
Anyway, I'm sure that many states are screwing this up in dramatic ways, but your screwups look good from this side of the (closed) border.
30 made me laugh. Infected means YOU'RE fected.
On the moving to 65 too early, I do agree. Part of why I am being a little less aggressive about it than my wife would like. I can control being around other people quite well. (and she is not yet eligible.)
So the Brittany Spears ticket thing is annoying in part because I would be fine with a more orderly but slower rollout.
Didn't Canada approve it later so is a few weeks behind?
I've already gained back a lot of weight from the pandemic- I got to my adult low last Feb but now I'm back to where I was a couple years ago- so ironically if I gain a few more pounds I'll be eligible sooner under some risk guidelines.
31: I was just thinking how nice it was not to worry about vaccinating - only 12 cases in the province after 4 new ones announced today (all close contact of previous cases). Our mask wearing is really good in public places although I'm guessing our private wear is shit.
We're among the most conservative in regards to COVID (due to US ties, including B's uncle dying, and too much stats knowledge) but we're having unrelated/not in our pod people over for dinner over the weekend.
38: It's not my birthday. In fact imalmostfortythree.
29: Yes, because it would be strangled first.
I'm new and I'm proved!
As human resources helpfully reminded me, I turn 50 this year and can contribute more to my 401k than I was allowed to before.
"Now that the Democrats are back in office, it's time to consider that you might live to a ripe old age."
Old and busted: cock jokes.
New hotness: early bird special.
Hello, it's your friendly neighborhood unexpectedly trans commenter again. Things have been personally pretty fine around here, as against the national disasters. I'm now dressing mostly femme at home, by way of online orders and castoffs - a family friend/covid podmember who identifies as nonbinary showed up with like five bags of women's clothes they no longer felt attached to, and we had this massive dress-up party with kids running in and out and offering color commentary. The kids are great, actually. Ours has much more important things to worry about than whether dad's wearing a skirt.
Less fun: dysphoria that you do recognize turns out to be pretty different from dysphoria that you don't, and gets all enmeshed with those toxic beauty standards by which being a woman in her early forties is unlike being a man. I know this isn't a news flash to anyone who's lived five minutes as a woman in this society, but it's new to me from this side and I never had a chance to be a younger woman, so I guess I just have to grieve not looking like AOC along with everyone else who doesn't look like AOC. I had a few stupid days of thinking I should get eyelid surgery.
I have no idea what to do about leaving the house, for values of "leaving" that include Twitter or whatever; there are harms I'm afraid of suffering and harms I'm afraid of inflicting. I waffle back and forth between thinking I'M POSING and I'M PERTINENT. Getting rid of body hair, though, is an unmitigated good.
I waffle back and forth between thinking I'M POSING and I'M PERTINENT.
heh.
In all seriousness, I remember hearing other transitioning women describe similar stages - the joy of adolescent-esque discovery and painting one's nails, the angst of expectations and crash of external world. It's a whole lot of change, at a minimum.
I'm enjoying the updates, though!
27: my own PORTANT experience is trying to book an aged and vulnerable French relative's vaccination. yes, they've adopted the Britney method, with a website that might have been adequate for picking which doctor you want to remove your skin tag and is literally named to sound like a ridesharing service. Seriously it's like those politicians from 2006-2007 who read US marketing material and said things like "nutraceuticals" were resurrected from the dustbin of history. look, this is the time for utterly standardized mass provision!
(the British version of this is to call and write to everyone in each priority group and book them in. if you want universality it's a push model of delivery you need.)
Has anyone here ever contacted a House Rep or Senator for Constituent services, i.e., assistance with a Federal agency? I sent an e-mail to the Casework e-mail for one of my Senators asking for help with the Department of Education and haven't heard anything, not even an automatic bounce back acknowledging receipt. I was thinking of calling in a week, but I wondered if anyone had any experiences they can relate.
51: Cassandane is a former Congressional staffer. She says to contact both your Senators and your Representative. The email should work. But there are some staff changes right now and it may not have been read.
51: I've heard Reps tend to be a bit better since they have fewer constituents. AJ's family needed some help years ago with something unusual but not too rare and got it by calling their Rep's local office.
48: Trust me, there is no more womanly experience possible than feeling like you don't measure up to beauty standards.
48: Surely there are friendlier places to venture out (funky small coffee shop is what comes to my mind). Maybe not the hardware store. Being a middle aged woman means you're virtually invisible in public anyway.
I like the updates, too. Thanks for letting me read along.
Whoa whoa, my mom just got the vaccine! Apparently the university where she adjuncts is doing it right. Yay, universities vaccinating elderly adjunct faculty! What unexpected happy news.
54 is exactly right.
Alaska is actually doing quite well at vaccination; we have the highest rate of any state at this point (~12%). Part of that is that the state wisely chose to get its allocation in monthly rather than weekly installments, which makes planning for distribution a lot easier, especially here where the logistical challenges are insane. Another part is that the military, VA, and IHS systems get their own allocations separate from the state one and are rolling them out aggressively. In some villages they're just vaccinating everybody as soon as they can.
Back hair is nice because now that it is grey, I'm a silverback.
54: Thanks, I know it. My spouse has been really sweet about helping me feel cute.
55: You are right! A very specific coffee shop comes to mind, and I devoutly hope they make it through the lean months remaining.
Impotent means I'm potent.
Relatedly, NMM to Cloris Leachman.
I really should see Young Frankenstein.
You should see Young Frankenstein. American Gods is a disappointment, but Cloris Leachman was very good in it.
She was good in Lake Placid 2, but couldn't carry the movie.
My parents got their first Moderna jab today.
52 and 53: Thanks. I didn't think to send it to all three, because I thought that might result in people from different offices doing redundant work. I sent it to Warren's office, because the Department of Ed's mismanagement of the PSLF process has been one of her issues. But I can e-mail Markey and Clark too.
65: That must be a real relief given how cavalier your brother has been about precautions.
68 It is indeed. I'm told he's been good about mask wearing but given that he's flying internationally and using my parents' house as a crashpad(and his oldest son contracted it a few months ago) I'd say that's pretty reckless.
The GameStop hedge fund thing is genuinely hilarious.
63. For American Gods read the damn book!
71: My favorite part is where the Masters of the Universe are taking their ball and going home.
Returns on capital are because you need to compensate for risk. But not that risk. That's cheating.
A short-squeeze is as American as apple juice in a pouch from a $300 machine.
The competition for dumbest take on the Gamestop thing promises to be intense, but NPR has already established an early lead. Apparently someone there compared this to ga/mer/ga/te, because of the "harassment" of hedge fund managers.
I'm incredibly irritable today so let me ask you, YOU, AcademicLurker, why do you so infrequently comment about things you actually like or respect? Give us one thing. I'm completely maxed out on idiocy. Share something worth reading. (And belatedly thank you for posting about the protein folding stuff -- that was cool.)
Just lost a ruling in a water rights case that I was really hoping to win. Occupational hazard.
Share something worth reading.
Tom Ziller expressing a lot of sympathy for Kyrie Irving (a player who I've always thought of a little "weird" but feeling more sympathetic for lately).
The most affecting moment was honestly one in which Kyrie didn't say anything at all, when Kristian Winfield from the New York Daily News (my old SB Nation colleague) asked if everything was OK and Kyrie simply nodded.
Also The Root on Irving.
79: hey thanks! Everything blurs in my head, apparently.
81:
I liked it so much that I immediately ordered 2 more of her books. I've been dipping into I Used to be Charming (a collection of nonfiction) and it's delightful so far.
And in defense of 76, the idea of the earnest middlebrows of NPR ringing their hands over "Won't someone think of the poor hedge fund managers?" is actually pretty wonderful.
https://nypost.com/2021/01/28/22-year-old-risked-parents-mortgage-on-gamestop-you-only-live-once/
You couldn't make this shit up.
Bet the bankers who approved this loan are enjoying finding about about it this way.
I can't decide how much amusement/schadenfreude I should feel because I don't know whether the hedge funds that were shorting Gamestop are managing pensions and other normal person interests, or whether they're exclusive places that only manage the money of rich assholes.
You only live once, but having a federal criminal conviction on your record for your entire adult life will make it seem longer.
86 I don't know anything of that world, but what kind of pension fund manager is letting a hedge fund play with any significant share of its assets? The kind that ought to be better regulated, certainly.
The good news: my parents (dad 90, mom 84) are scheduled to get their first jab of the Moderna vaccine on Sunday.
The bad news: two members of our wonderful installation staff tested positive in the past week. We'd divided their department up into teams that didn't have contact with one another to limit potential exposure, social distancing not being possible when you're holding a painting 50" wide with another person, but these two were on different teams. We're closed to the public but there's still a number of people working in person to some degree: photographer, installation, registration, conservators, security, and facilities. Not for the first time many of those in the building are wondering why the curators, who are all at home, are being allowed to make new acquisitions and initiate or push forward projects that mean that their colleagues in other departments must work in close contact and sometimes spend time inside trucks or storage spaces with shipping company employees who have had god knows how many contacts. There's a faculty member who wants to come in to photograph some objects and I'd have to babysit him if it were to happen, handle the objects for him, etc., all day in a modest sized room. The administration is saying we should cut out all non-essential work and this feels very much like a "want to" but not a "must do" thing. But then some people start to talk about how we want to cultivate this faculty member, or what a good project it is, or how we have to provide access and the faculty hate us, and I wonder what my health is worth to my colleagues.
84- the subject of that story claims he pranked the Post into printing it and that it's not true. In fact it appears the story is no longer at your link.
Still posted at Fox News though, alternate motto, "We don't let the truth get in the way of a good story."
This reminds me a lot of the early, heady days of the shitcoin industry.
Barry, how is it going at the library? "they had to respect the privacy/confidentiality of staff who had been infected" -- so in principle, do all HR orgs have a legal/contractual/whatever obligation not to assist in contact tracing efforts in a deadly pandemic? I agree that that sounds infuriating, but I'm glad you've been able to stay relatively safe...
87 is still a good quip, Charley...
94 They did contact tracing but there were those who had second hand exposure that they didn't contact. And those people were forced to come back in to the library. I was willing to go in once in a while for consulting with curators/readers, etc, but no more. They've eroded a lot of trust.