Heading out to a Sierras Airbnb Thursday-Sunday. Hospitals aren't full anymore, so I feel comfortable spending some time on the freeway. It's a county with especially low case rates, but also low population so that can change quickly. And a large majority Trump county, so no idea what practices are like.
I'm scheduled for my first vaccine shot tomorrow; my wife got her first last week. Once CA unkinked supply and got it to Kaiser, they seem to be on it -- appointments every 5 minutes throughout the week.
It feels more honest to be contacted by our doctors than to try to find loopholes -- for those of us in big employer operated insurance/HMOs, at least. I was slightly resentful of peers and coworkers who were bending rules and definitions for early appointments... I'm just very happy that my "virtue" of waiting until my number was called didn't cost me months against people spending lots of time hunting for appointments and bending the truth.
2: Interesting. Kaiser actively emailed you based on conditions in your medical record or something?
3: We did that very early for transplant patients. We were even vaccinating our out-of-state transplant patients. For everyone else whether you get invited to schedule with us is kind of random with some weighting for those in zip codes that are supposed to reflect social vulnerability.
Tim qualifies based on occupation so I have no idea. When he would be able to get it from his doctor.
Oh man, you guys. I have a student who is open about struggling a lot with depression. The student is extremely worried about failing. They grasp the material reasonably well.
We just met in office hours, and are planning on meeting more regularly. The depressed affect of the student is just significantly extreme. To the point where it's hindering conversation because of the length of the pauses and the tininess of their whispers. We moved at a snail's pace.
The students has significant anxiety and conviction that they aren't capable of understanding any of this, and is very quick to shut down. It's becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy for sure. I'm willing to meet with them regularly and go over the material, but I'm not sure I can actually get them over the obstacle of their depressed state.
Just needed to vent. The student is so underwater in affect that it is easy to feel the pull underwater just emotively. Yikes.
By " I'm not sure I can actually get them over the obstacle of their depressed state" I don't mean I'm trying to cure their depression. I'm just saying I don't know if we'll be able to keep the depression from wrecking their grade.
5/6: Commiserations. Do they have access to clinical help?
I just tried to sign up for one for next Tuesday at a local integrated medical group that's not on the state,s main website, and they all disappeared as I was entering Mt he insurance info.n Argh. Shot is free, but they bill insurance for the administration.
I believe insurance isn't allowed to charge any copay whatsoever for covax, btw.
On Sunday they vaccinated a lot of teachers in the state and on Monday enough teachers had gotten reactions from the vaccine that schools had to close for lack of staff. There was some unfounded speculation that it was a union sickout, which it was not, and that has not gone over well.
7: I've stopped just short of asking directly, because she's being blunt enough, often enough, that it feels like something she discussing openly in her life? She's not treating me like a confidante.
No they are not allowed to charge a co-pay, but providers are supposed to bill the administration fee. If you are not insured the State is footing our hefty admin fee ($90), but they prefer to offload that on to insurers.
It turns out that when I called about setting up a profile and saving it so that we could get through the system faster, a nice person told me that their system was acting up and offered some appointments tomorrow or next week. We snagged the one tomorrow.
11: Did they make you get a test?
12: I think in this situation I would make a direct suggestion to consider counseling, if they're not already doing it, together with the on-campus resources. Think of it not as you being a confidant, as you recommending resources on campus to help. If they needed more writing help then you could give you would explicitly suggest that they go to the writing center. You don't need to ask whether they're doing anything about it, just suggest that they do if they're not already doing so. I've done this several times with students now (it wasn't something I did until I'd been to counseling) and although I don't know how successful those suggestions have been, I have yet to regret doing so. If it were me I'd also try to state your opinion that it seems like their understanding of the material is not the primary issue, and that you think that their anxiety seems to be the bigger issue. I'm less confident about this second suggestion.
12: I think if you're matter-of-fact about it and say that a lot of people struggle with these issues, and you don't want to see them affect her performance, then that's fine. Treat it like diabetes in the sense that you convey to her that the sensible thing is to address it head on.
If that worries her, you could mention the medication is almost certainly cheaper than insulin.
I've gone as far as to ask if students wanted me to help them make an appointment with the Counseling Center right then and there in my office. A professor did that for me my freshman year (which I also tell them), and that was exactly the push I needed.
15- I have to get one weekly for work and to go back to the office after I went out of state.
Vaccine acquired! No paperwork, nothing. So easy. Cases are spiking here, so feels like not a moment too soon.
Texas is opening up all vaccines to anyone over 16 on the 29th. Probably for the best?
For the best. This business where 40 year old have to wait a week after 45 year olds is dumb.
I'm trying to tell myself the fact that local demand means that it's still an insane game to get an appointment for a shot (if you qualify, which I don't for another few weeks) is a good sign and we'll be appreciating it in four months when we're ten points more fully-vaccinated than elsewhere, or something.
But right now it's deeply aggravating.
We're also opening up to everyone next week. I'm frustrated that my mother in PA is 64.8 years old but won't be able to get a shot until May because PA is stupid.
Have you talked to her about sneaking into Ohio?
26: May? 60 and up is April 5 here. April 19 is wide open.
PA never goes to 60+. It's 65+, health conditions, and essential workers in some complicated order, and then everyone. The announced day for everyone is May 1.
We're at 65 and up plus 2 health conditions plus teachers. Teachers got in earlier than they were supposed to, because it was too confusing to have them eligible at locations like CVS which were following federal rules and not the state supplied sites.
March 22 - essential workers
April 5 - 60 up and folks with 1 health condition.
April 19 - wide open
My guess is that Pennsylvania opens to all before May 1 because they have trouble keeping the vaccination centers busy.
I have found a truly mineshaftian research paper in the process of converting a hoard of onenote things into markdown -- a discovery which could wreck the entire measurement system based on mouse orgasms, although at present it works only in rats
Abstract
Precise spatiotemporal control of physiological processes by optogenetic devices inspired by synthetic biology may provide novel treatment opportunities for gene‐ and cell‐based therapies. An erectile optogenetic stimulator (EROS), a synthetic designer guanylate cyclase producing a blue‐light‐inducible surge of the second messenger cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) in mammalian cells, enabled blue‐light‐dependent penile erection associated with occasional ejaculation after illumination of EROS‐transfected corpus cavernosum in male rats. Photostimulated short‐circuiting of complex psychological, neural, vascular, and endocrine factors to stimulate penile erection in the absence of sexual arousal may foster novel advances in the treatment of erectile dysfunction.
That's only for orgasms in male rats. We want all the rats to get off.
Anyway, the UK variant is confirmed at Pitt. I blame basketball and St. Patrick's Day.
I have a lot of anger toward organized sports with respect to the covid.
2: Yes, they sent a message Saturday within their secure message system, which dumps a notification out in email. The only condition that I have that seems likely to bump my priority is asthma, but that doesn't seem to be on the CDC accelerated vaccination checklist.
I showed up just before 8 and they were getting up and running; maybe 6-9 in the room getting shots, then maybe 50 in the "wait 15 minutes" room, before we were dismissed. I got Pfizer today, my wife Moderna a week ago, so we're officially mixed vaccination household. ;)
Listening during check in, it sounds like they've had a few people leave when they found out that there was no Johnson & Johnson shot on a specific day. That seems hard to imagine -- you're already there!
37: I dunno, the NBA literally is what made the US start taking COVID somewhat seriously.
as an asthmatic kaiser member, i am happy for you mking but suuuuuuper frustrated that my own kaiser doc is blowing off my questions. anecdotally, i may be the only asthmatic in my age group in sf who hasn't had doctor support to book an appointment. and as kaiser is running all the sites i would have access to, i'm kind of stymied. i've checked the pharmacies, and non in sf seem to have any lists you get put yourself on for last-minute end of day doses (how my sister and bil got vaccinated). my brother seems to have scored as a veteran. i'm so happy for all of them, at the same time not doing great with the delay.
re: the state guidelines, the counties are allowed to exercise discretion to expand the list of qualifying med criteria. asthma seems to be a common additionally qualifying criteria, at least if you rely on steroids to control flare ups. but not for sf kaiser!
So, I just got a Pennsylvania appointment for the Pfizer vaccine. It's at a rural pharmacy that can't fill its appointments. Now I don't have to sneak into Ohio. But it's still a one hour drive.
Got shot, it was Moderna. No side effects five hours in. They automatically scheduled next appointment precisely 672 hours later, except we're going to be on vacation on The Vineyard so I either have to cancel the appointment and find one there or get the second shot a few days late. Supposedly if you say you need a second shot it's easier to get an appointment.
Finally got my mom an appointment in Chicago somewhere she's willing to go, tomorrow. Really hope it goes smoothly. So relieved, I feel like I got a new neck and shoulders from relaxing.
Tim got Moderna at Harvard Vanguard today. SP - I'll send you an e-mail with what I know about vaccines on the Vineyard.
Thanks BG!
Did anyone else get directed to register at vsafe.cdc.gov? My wife didn't two+ weeks ago so wondering if it's recent or just certain providers.
dq, I got my shot by walking into a Rite-Aid and asking to be put on a stand-by list. Told her I lived down the street and I'd be there in minutes if a slot came open. She had a handwritten list for those and I got vaccinated the next day, when she got a cancellation. If there's a place close to you (CVS, Safeway, Rite-Aid, Walgreens), I'd go in person and speak directly to a person.
40: That does sound frustrating. I wonder if Covid vaccine denial is lesser enough in SF that they're not having to relax their requirements to work through their supplies. There's a lot more denial, "muh freedoms", and vaccine skepticism locally, so they might be running through the high risk groups faster here.
My wife had one of the CDC factors, so she got invited to make an appointment about 2 weeks before I was. So it seems like they're broadening it in waves -- perhaps as they work through tiers of risk. Or, it might just be that my home zip is in one of the undeserved communities that CA is trying to save 40% of the vaccine for.
45: I think everyone is supposed too. It was in my packet which did not look like a regular vaccine administration sheet. I would have signed up if it was web based, but I am protective of my cell phone and don't like getting texts from people I don't know.
45. I signed up for the vsafe thing. You get one reminder daily for a week, then one a week for some amount of time, then supposedly a yearly status check for ?? years. So seven reminders then none the next day (I didn't read the fine print until later) and sure enough on day eight I actually had a (mild) side effect to report: red rash around the injection site, went away with antihistamine. I had to wait until the next weekly ping to report it.
45: never heard of it. Just got a little card.
It's not the same as the v-safe chastity belt?
Is that the one where someone hacked it and locked up a guy's dick?
Whoa, that second shot is a doozy. I felt fine after getting it yesterday, but this morning I woke up with muscle aches all over and a mild fever alternating with chills. I had to call in sick from work and I didn't get up until 2 pm. I'm feeling a bit better now but still somewhat sore.
56: Moderna or Pfizer? Tim got Moderna, and I'm worried he's gonna get knocked out. I got Pfizer and am hoping it won't be as bad.
Amadea had Pfizer and was also knocked out a bit by the second shot, but not as bad as I was.
The pharmacist today recommended seriously hydrating starting a day before the second shot. Drink Gatorade frequently starting 24 hours before.
I guess it's not like donating blood so that you can get drunk with less alcohol because you have less blood.
thank you, megan! tried at the pharmacies near us & they haven't had doses in weeks. just need to continue hunkering down and stay as unagitated as poss.
partner had a solid day of bed rest following the 2nd dose, i cannot recall which one. it's a sign of a good immune response, be happy! take the day off, nap, drink tea, watch some movies, etc.
Huh. Washington state isn't even predicting its stages past the next one, and the next one is congregate living, and restaurant workers, and 60+, or two conditions. They *think* that stage opens March 31.
I was hoping this means we have high take-up for everyone eligible but actually we look middlish of the pack for vaccinations.
The mess at K-Mart was something else.
Moby, what's the local wisdom around getting 'leftover' vaccines in/around Allegheny County, if one doesn't qualify by official criteria? As a newcomer I'm not plugged into the local tips and tricks.
There's a Facebook group called Getting Pittsburgh Vaccinated (Covid 19 tip page). Opportunities appear there and get filled up pretty quickly (37,000 members). The appointment I got was supposedly one of 800 and those were all gone shortly after I got mine. It's a private group, but not secret (been in the paper). The key is you got to watch it.
And be prepared to drive. Mine is 90 minutes each way. But I'm told that nearly all the things posted are still about 1A.
I checked and I don't think I can transfer my Ohio one.
Thanks! I'm not going to try super hard because I'm low-risk and feel like others should get the vaccine if supply is low, but the FB group might help when the curve starts to turn.
54: Lorena Bobbitt didn't lock it up, she threw it away.
I guess because this state is dedicated to codding rural assholes and because rural assholes aren't as interested in being vaccinated as city-folk, things are much easier in the rural areas.
71: I usually don't feel sorry for cops doing their job, but they guy the sent out to a vacant lot with a bag of ice and instructions to find and return with a penis deserves some sympathy.
If you email me, I will let you know if I hear anything else.
70: Not heard of any walk-up success among people we know. Not local, but some have had success with this website: https://www.findashot.org/
At this point for Western PA under 65 it is mostly a quick way to find various appointments in Ohio without going to individual websites. (Curious if the place Moby found would have appeared on it---some places block their bot.)
Hooray for everyone getting their vax appointments
75: The link in 75 may be valuable in other places. (Probably just as a convenient aggregator.)
They will probably lag the non-public sector in availability for lower age groups but you might both want to sign up for the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) alerts on their website and follow them on Twitter (if you do that). Ultimately it was by those mechanisms that my wife and I found our appointments (in both cases then cancelling rural/Ohio appointments further afield).
There was a site I signed up for that texted cvs availability. I got one text from them, and it was gone quickly.
There's also this website which texts you about spare doses, and it's tied to your eligibility.
I just got Pfizer-ed. We're supposed to wait fifteen minutes before we go.
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Interesting morning at the US Supreme Court. Two cases, both on really basic issues.
First, what is a "seizure," for Fourth Amendment purposes? Answer: not just what you think -- officer shoots at fleeing person to stop her from fleeing, she's hit but gets away. Then they catch her in the hospital. The acting of shooting her constitutes a seizure, for purposes of deciding whether he violated her constitutional rights when he did so, even though she got away. Roberts wrote, Gorsuch is boggled. As are Thomas and Alito.
The second case is boring for you folks, but the kind of thing I have to think about in case after case (including one I'm just starting on next week): when can an out-of-stater be sued? Woman buys a Ford in state A, ends up living in state B, in which she's killed in an accident for which her estate holds Ford partly responsible. Sues Ford in state B. The answer in the case is totally obvious, but the corporate lawyers thought they had figured out a loophole: see, Ford isn't 'at home' is state B, so general personal jurisdiction isn't going to work, and while Ford has a massive presence in state B, the actual conduct linking the Ford Motor Company to the accident -- design, manufacture, sale -- all took place elsewhere, which, they say, takes out specific personal jurisdiction. In legalese, it's conceded that Ford has purposely availed itself of the protections of the laws of state B, but the liability doesn't arise from any conduct comprising this availment. Answer: oh come on, she can sue Ford in state B. Kagan wrote it; Gorsuch offers an interesting essay on this area of law, ending the case, he says, with more questions than when he started. Alito is more like 'why are you people so worked up? we don't have to figure out all the answers to every possible case solve this one.'
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Mine: Person 1 and person 2 live in state A. Person 3 lives in state B, and owns an LLC set up in state C. Person 1 has a corporation set up in state D. There's a dispute between persons 1 and 2 about control of the corporation, with cases pending in states A and C, and E -- a state where vehicles owned either by person 1 or the corporation have been titled (vehicle have never been in state E, but taxes are low there), and all three have enjoined sale of assets. Early in the dispute, allegedly before the injunctions, person 1 sells a car to person 3 (or the LLC -- it's not clear), for cash, both of them present in state B at the time. Car and person 3 are in state B at this moment. Person 2 has commenced a new suit against person 3 and the LLC in state E (rather than B) to void the sale.
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Here in Kakania, Iberian Fury and I are probably not getting vaccinated until June or July. And our awful prime minister made us a continental laughingstock by trying to claim that it was somehow unfair and outrageous that his own officials decided to save money and forego the more expensive BioNTech etc vaccines, which meant that other countries could buy our share of them instead. This strategy was already penny-wise/pound-foolish ex-ante; it turned into an epic disaster ex-post due to A-Z manufacturing delays.
Everything COVID here is just so depressingly inept. I know the differences between the best and worst European countries, and even with USA & UK thrown in, are tiny compared to how badly they all failed the COVID test compared to S/E/SE Asia & Oceania, but arrrrggggh. We're now back at the "top" of the charts for incidence these days, especially in younger cohorts, only 15 shots per 100 people so far, and all that was decided in a series of meetings the last few days was ... an "easter pause": 6 days when a) shops are closed (instead the 2 they'd be closed anyway), b) general "only go out for one of 5 reasons", after which c) mask requirement generally indoors, and d) distance learning again in schools.
C and D are great, A is probably not a big deal one way or another (the extra crowding before/after might well outweigh the benefits during), B is stupid because we should be ENCOURAGING people to go outside. Which gets the my real ARRRRGH, which is that Kakania has still not at all recognized the whole #COVIDisAirborne thing in either its public messaging or policies. There's basically NOTHING about ventilation or filtration, and policy is in no way structured around OUTSIDE GOOD, INSIDE BAD. Ever since the first hard lockdown, we've just pretended that workplaces are magically free of infection.
On top of that, I'm drinking at 6pm because the Infanta threw up at the playground. In hindsight it was really stupid to feed her two fruit purees right before putting her on a merry go round! In hindsight her almost eerie calm demeanor while spinning around was clearly her being nauseous and not knowing how to process it! Trying to clean up a merry go round with wet wipes while 3 other kids & their parents wait for it to be made usable again, while also judging you for not properly comforting your crying child first, is really stressful. Ok, cracking open another pint.
I got a first shot of the Pfizer vaccine on Saturday, through a waitlist for unused vaccine appointments. I'm excited and still not quite sure what to make of it. I very deliberately decided, "I'll assume that the wait-list won't go anywhere" because I didn't want to get too invested, but then I got a shot and it felt unexpected, and I'm not sure if just cut in line.
X, I know it's hard to know this in a landlocked country, but the sun is generally over the yardarm by 11 am. Best of luck with everything.
(Actually, there's enough shipping on that big river that you could probably head down for an observation. Is scientific experimentation one of the 5 reasons for leaving your house?)
The best vomiting my son did in public was on a Southwest flight after they had everyone seated and belted for landing. Whatever he had made you violently ill for like two days and then nothing. He must have spread it to everyone who sat in that row for the next week.
82: Maybe Curevac will get approved in Europe.
It looks like Novavax is coming, and they should be able to churn out a lot. Only 50% efficacious against 1.351, but 96% against classic corona wild type and pretty great against 117.
Every time the local government here makes any kind of announcement COVID-related, I just feel contempt. Just shut up, resign, and never darken our doors again you fatuous motherfuckers.
That's where we are with our inexplicably Republican governor. Our school had three cases this week, resulting in two classrooms being shut down. One school in the state had dozens of teachers and students infected. But they're still forcing all schools back in person in a couple weeks and reopened restaurants with no capacity limits. Numbers are going up 3-5% per day. Then today he says, "Don't let your guard down." Unspoken end of the sentence is "Because I sure did."
88: Except I read in the Globe that some schools were getting exemptions.
The restaurant thing is killing me. His entire plan is vaccination. I want everyone to get vaccinated, but that can not be the only thing we do. We still need testing and VENTILATION.
I was still feeling pretty bad (though not nearly as bad as yesterday) when I woke up so I took today off too, but in retrospect that probably wasn't necessary. I feel pretty close to normal now, just a little bit of aching. I'm sure I'll be able to work tomorrow.
Whoa, Jessica Walter died? That's a shame.
Is she the woman who pays too much for bananas?
I don't remember my kid vomiting in public once after she was past the baby-spitting-up age. Unless car sickness counts? We were on the highway. The small was so bad while we were cleaning up that it made Cassandane throw up. Outside the car, fortunately. That was a fun trip.
Everyone's fine medically around here. I've got both shots, Cassandane has had her first. The kid lost her first baby tooth last week, so there's another milestone. Apparently Google says that $5 is reasonable from the tooth fairy.
The biggest problem for me these days is work. It's not stressful in a worrisome sense, people seem understanding enough about our limitations and there aren't too many firm deadlines, but there's just a ton of different things to keep up with and finishing anything is like shoveling the Augean stables. I'm going for a classical allusion because there's shit involved.
"There's no time to clean the stables today, there's a dressage event that we have to get just perfect coming up."
I once helped build a house on a property with a giant barn because the owners had a daughter was trying to get into the Olympics in dressage. The barn was really nice.
omfg, we spend so much of our life plunging the damn toilet. I personally plunge it 1-3x a day, on average. Our toilet is the worst, and kids are the worst, and I may take a sledgehammer to this particular toilet. Jammies and I have been taking turns on it for about 15 minutes.
You have to have a toilet, but legally you can shit in your own yard if the neighbors can't see your genitals while you do it.
Also, it's not hard to change a toilet. Usually.
There are a bunch of toilet demo videos on YouTube. It's impressive how much stuff they can handle. But can they handle the TP your kids put in? I dunno.
The first years of water saving toilets were bad. Some are still around.
Anyway, kids use toilet paper like they don't have to unclog the toilet.
102 is my theory, that we've got a particularly bad 90s low-flow toilet plus too many kids.
You can change it in a couple hours.
Then the kids could have a contest to see who gets to break in the new one.
If you get a new toilet, you can get one with a bidet option. Plus add a gently-closing lid. It's amazing how nice it is not hearing that SLAM.
104: That low flow to should be cut like an afro?
X, sympathy on everything above. That's so shitty to be trapped in a poor covid national response. Puking on everything was appropriate.
You should install a shatafa. Then you just use the toilet paper to dry your ass.
Cases have been rising at an alarming rate here, hit over 600 the other day, more than double what we were seeing in January, we're going into another lockdown.
Cases here are rising fast. It's crazy.
We went to get take out the other night and it turned out to be basically an open bar with the staff wearing masks.
Anyway, Biden is coming to Pittsburgh next week to start his infrastructure push. We do have some out of date infrastructure.
We are replacing two toilets. Turns out there is a pandemic-related toilet shortage because of manufacturing problems. Workers for our contractor asked for permission to keep the toilets we are having removed.
We did get our new toilets eventually. They are in boxes by the front door while we wait for other bathroom furnishings to arrive.
By that, you mean the plush cover for the toilet lid.
Anyway, I want to redo the bathroom here so maybe I'll go order a toilet right now.
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NMM to Larry McMurtry
Damn.
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I met with the wildly depressed student, and did ask if she was connected to professional resources, and if not I said that I'd like to connect her with campus resources. That they'd reach out to her, which can be easier than having to take action.
She said that she's already been in contact with the campus counseling services, and it did not work for her. So she's relying on her friends and venting. I encouraged her to seek professional help elsewhere, but I am pessimistic.
By open bar I assume you mean a bar that was open for business not that the drinks were free.
I went to cranch just the other night,
I saw a Scanner there, he was out of sight,
I asked a Haberman who he could be,
And he said that his friends just called him "Scanner 3"
Scan-ner three, c'mon and cranch with me,
C'mon, c'mon and cranch with me
First break-in at the new location, since we moved in 2019. Probably related to the shopping center no longer keeping an overnight watchman, which is itself likely related to the reduction in lease payments collected due to Covid.
Police were their normal lackadaisical selves, showing up 3 hours later to dust the abandoned pickax for prints (but they don't have much hope, since wood evidently doesn't take prints well). It looks like they were after just dice and playmats... which are among the cheaper things we sell. They'd loaded a shopping bag with a few dozen sets of dice and a pair of playmats, then abandoned the bag when it ripped and they fled. So, it netted out to vandalism, and the damage is too small to make an insurance claim. (And, since the last time we made a claim our insurance dropped us at the end of the term, we're not going to poke the bear reporting this. Just a waste and loss, and a sleepless night for my wife.)
119: It's entirely possible that the campus resources suck. Is there a medical school or school of psychology near you? Getting in with a training clinic can be good and affordable.
Got my first shot! The whole thing was really smooth and well-run. It's really strange and nice to do something medical in the US without having insurance involved.
So, somebody is selling at 1953 Chris Craft. Does the classiness mean it does not look Trumpy?
I had to fix my sink. I guess we're in the really boring home repair part of the pandemic. Someday, when my grandchildren ask me about the pandemic, I can say "I had to fix my sink. And oh yeah, a lot of people died I guess. I wasn't paying that much attention."
I was supposed to fix the sink, but I could not get the shutoff to turn.
The toilet is broken here. The nice thing about staying at an AirBnB is that fixing it is someone else's problem.
My friend, the one with all the calamities, is now locked in a bitter struggle with her landlady which arose because the crazy landlady, who lives downstairs, insisted that the toilet was running, which constituted an "emergency," and so she had to enter my friend's apartment without permission when she wasn't home. Significant legal pressure is being applied to the landlady, who, in addition to retaliating by breaking a verbal agreement to renew my friend's lease, also TURNED THE FUCKING WATER OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. Like, what the actual fuck? Because the toilet was running? New toilet innards cost $20-$30 and it doesn't take longer than an hour or two to replace them. Any COMPETENT businessperson would call the handyman or DIY replace the toilet parts. I mean, sometimes you don't even need to replace, just adjust, but we'll assume for the sake of argument that she did, it's just not that big a deal. Landlords are always insane. I am glad our tenant/housemate moved out, because I don't like participating in that relationship from either side. And has my honorary niece not suffered enough in the last 3 years? How much more trauma is she going to be able to take before something really bad happens? Christ, I hope the lawyers really burn the landlady. I would already have been over there to help if it weren't for this damned pandemic. Fucking Trump. Just execute him already, this country has a LOOOOONNNNGGG history of hanging people for much less treasonous acts than his.
125: Tim definitely had to provide his insurance. They can't bill you and have to take you but they sure as hell try to get your insurer to cover the administration cost.
Just had my job interview. It went well!
WE had the funeral yesterday. It went well; I keep getting nice letters from people who watched on youtube. But, jesus, do I feel empty today.
WE had the funeral yesterday. It went well; I keep getting nice letters from people who watched on youtube. But, jesus, do I feel empty today.
Someone did actually watch it twice, the second time when her sister came home from work.
Good luck Teo.
When my mother's parents died after long slow terrible slides into dementia the funerals were full of people who hadn't seen them in 20 years, and remembered them as they had been. It was bitter, but heartening in a way. Hope you feel better soon.
My sympathy. It's not a good year for anything, with even the small comforts in loss interrupted.
Omfg, I am going to write out the weird scene that transpired, just to process it.
So, our friends have kids who are 3-9 years old. The mom raved about the show WandaVision, and said they'd watched it with their kids. So we started watching it with ours.
It is definitely on the upper bound of the suspense-edge that our kids can handle. But we watched the first three episodes last week, and we are watching the 4th today.
About five minutes from the end, there was a bit of a creepy visual, and Hawaii lost her fucking mind and screamed continuously for the next ten minutes. None of us heard the rest of the episode with the resolution. (She also was controlling the remote.) When she started screaming, the other kids all did too, like a pack of dogs who are all sure that at least one of them is barking for a good reason. After a little bit, Rascal was like, "Guys. Guys. It's not actually scary. You can watch now." Ace opened her eyes and stopped screaming, and was fine. Pokey was still rattled.
It was partly a control issue. She was legitimately freaked out at the beginning, and she sure as fuck wasn't going to let anyone cajole her into calming down. Plus maybe hungry and tired? (Although she has not stayed up late or had weird hours lately. And ate dinner.)
Anyway, she mostly stayed alternately crying and screaming until she fell asleep. The whole thing was mind-boggling. Jammies and I are good at not indulging but also not belittling these hysterics, so we firmly but kindly marched her to bed, which is truly the only solution in those moments. But afterwards it takes me a bit to shake it off.
Anyway, I recommend the show. It's a bit suspenseful for kids, though.
My son seemed to be in actual physical pain once (age 12) when he couldn't leave a show until intermission and the predicament of the protagonist was impossible for him to watch.
I probably should have gone presidential. You're nicer than me.
Seems unlikely, since I was at one point acceptable to Nixon.
A family we know has a kid named Ford. I'm not sure if it's an homage to Built Ford Tough or Built Gerald Tough, but I'm pretty sure it isn't Built Douglas Adams Tough.
The Calabat was incapable of handling dramatic suspense of any kind when he was around 3 or 4. Pebbles, on the other hand, is fine with anything as long as it's animated. If there are real actors, she's out. We didn't make it past the opening scene of Star Wars because of the dead Rebel soldiers. Hook had Robin Williams' kids in a net and she was DONE. Stupid stupid Disney movie about a girl with a superhero squirrel friend? Not good. The people are in peril. We think the problem might be that she's not entirely certain that Star Wars isn't a documentary.
He's Ford Madox Ford-ish in literary depth.
My first cousin twice removed was named "Reagan" by her parents. I hope they overplayed their hand.
147: Eh, I'm not sure age matters as much as emotional sensitivity to drama. (And Pebbles is almost 5. Which is still not 12. ) What sets kids off is weird.
I did my first* 50km bike ride yesterday. I felt quite pleased. Big loop round south west and central London so slower and more traffic laden than if I was blasting along some country lanes.
Still, a legacy of the pandemic for me is much increased cardio fitness and knees that can handle it. Negative legacy, no gym going so much decreased 'moving bits of metal' strength.
* not literal first ever. I rode a fair bit when I was in my teens, but first in this period of bike riding and first in a couple of decades.
121: We approve. Heartily.
141- the guy with his forehead partly missing?
Anyway don't get into the metaphysics of the whole MCU with them- people who reappeared in the same place like the character at the beginning of that episode but were in planes when they disappeared?
141: That's the visual exactly! Oh well.
Anyway, they paid us back in spades by having both Ace and Pokey crowd in our bed with nightmares, rather early on, and they were both cranky about space-sharing, and Pokey's solution was to lay diagonally across the bottom of the bed but use my hips as a pillow, so I was trying to minimize how much I changed position, and it was boiling hot with four of us in a queen bed. Bleagh.
149: We've got several baby Reagans in our lives. I think the president is far enough removed that it's not actually their primary association. The one that surprised me most is a former student who is vocally liberal on social media but likely not super well-informed on Ronnie, beyond "the old Republican guy everybody liked before politics turned as awful as it is now".
I forgot to add the funny part! So, when we said we were going to try this new series, Hawaii immediately said, "Oh good! I watched the first few episodes already! ...at friend [B]'s house. At a sleepover. Before Covid."
Jammies and I rolled our eyes at the lie but didn't call her out on it. She's been maintaining this fiction, and the other kids believe it, and at the beginning of this particular episode she even referenced how "This is a good episode, I remember. From the sleepover."
I am kind of curious whether or not the other kids believe her lie at this point, if they've stopped to reflect on it.
151: this has also been my pandemic difference - vastly improved cardo fitness. even with the shortened swims over the winter i'm definitely stronger, the bike up the presidio hill post swim a big help. went for a late afternoon swim yesterday and those additional appx 2 deg f made all the difference for a longer swim, so woo hoo bring on the warmer early morning water! someday, apparently! post prolonged cold spring upwelling :( , damn it was still cold this morning. once i can swim longer though it'll be interesting to see whether i need to adjust caloric intake up a bit to preserve adequate personal flotation & heat preserving bioprene??? hmmmm ... is there enough nut butter in the *world*??? maybe just keep a vat of refried beans on tap, mmmm ...
but geez, i had no idea cold water swimming in sf bay was such an intensely gear heavy sport, worse than knitting! it isn't just the warm clothes for after & bike ride home, its optical goggles and the endless faffing about with anti fog patent remedies/conspiracy theories (decent sight much more important in open water than following a line in a pool), sand containment strategies to preserve familial harmony, drying kit against mildew-inducing headwinds of a damp climate, edwardian era domestic architecture and inadequate non-central heating. i honestly don't know how the wetsuit people maintain gainful employment/the will to live.