Category: covid-19

The First Wave Continues

I stopped logging COVID-19 numbers on June 20th. Things were improving rapidly and I just didn’t want to be bothered keeping to the schedule anymore. One month later I started keeping track again. I’ve heard people refer to the current spike in the numbers as a new wave. I don’t think it’s a second, or third, or anything wave. I think we have done such a colossally terrible job as a nation of respecting our neighbors that we’re still very much in the first wave. It looked better for a minute there, but it was a ruse.

Massachusetts doesn’t post numbers on the weekends anymore so I can only track the national counts.

In the last 24 hours there have been 164,776 new COVID-19 cases in the United States. The vaccine has been available for free for months and months and we had over 100,000 cases today.

Again, I say this to all Americans who have not yet taken the free and effective vaccine: Fuck You.

Oh, Good

Check out what the Commonwealth of Massachusetts just announced in an article titled:

Massachusetts Department of Public Health releases updated face covering advisory

BOSTON — Today, the Department of Public Health (DPH) released updated guidance regarding the use of face coverings and cloth masks by individuals who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. 

This week, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated guidance that continues to state that individuals who are fully vaccinated may, as a general matter, resume many of the activities that they engaged in prior to the pandemic without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart, except where otherwise required by federal, state, or local laws, rules or regulations.  In response to the recent spread of the Delta variant, however, the CDC’s updated guidance does recommend that even fully vaccinated persons wear masks or face coverings when indoors if other risk factors are present.

In light of the information provided by the CDC, and in order to maximize protection of vulnerable individuals from the Delta variant, the Department of Public Health released updated guidance today that recommends that a fully vaccinated person wear a mask or face covering when indoors (and not in your own home) if you have a weakened immune system, or if you are at increased risk for severe disease because of your age or an underlying medical condition, or if someone in your household has a weakened immune system, is at increased risk for severe disease, or is unvaccinated. 

All people in Massachusetts (regardless of vaccination status) are required to continue wearing face coverings in certain settings, including transportation and health care facilities. Please see www.mass.gov/maskrules for a complete list of venues where face coverings remain mandatory as of May 29, 2021.

See the full DPH guidance.

https://www.mass.gov/news/massachusetts-department-of-public-health-releases-updated-face-covering-advisory

Allow me to take a moment to respond. Here is my prepared statement….

To all of the people refusing to take the vaccine, I say this:

FUCK YOU.

As the World Continues to Fall Apart

When did Disney World become my personal Covid canary in the coalmine? I don’t know, but what I do know is that they have reinstituted their indoor mask requirement regardless of vaccination status.

Yippee. Why is this necessary? Because half the people in this country are fucking garbage who have no concern for their fellow citizens. That’s why. They make up 100 fake reasons for not getting vaccinated that all boil down to a simple I-don’t-wanna-be-inconvenienced. Fuck them. Fuck them in their eye and then fuck them in their other eye.*

Today is my parents’ 54th anniversary. My sister was able to take my mother in to the rehab hospital to see my father. I’m sure that helped both of their mental states. You know what else would help their mental states? Everyone getting vaccinated and stop being little spoiled fucking brats.

I wasn’t planning on writing a pissed off post about the slime living in my country. I’m just feeling angry about it all. Angry enough that I completely forgot what I was planning to write about.

Get the fucking vaccine, you fucking mental midgets.

*Thank you to South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for that little nugget from their musical, The Book of Mormon. Sometimes a phrase just fits the occasion, you know?

The Stir Crazy Files – Episode 78: Tone Deaf

I might have snapped… finally.

This morning as we were getting ready for work Jen made an off hand comment about the health of one of the plants in the bedroom. She said it was looking a little dead.

Given that we are still up to our necks in a pandemic, and that all signs are pointing to things getting worse again, my response was incredibly tone deaf.

Upon hearing the word “dead” a song leaped to the front of my brain and lodged itself there. Two hours later it is still insisting that I sing it to myself constantly. At the time, it insisted that I sing it out loud and I did.

A lovely little ditty from the South Park Christmas album called “Dead, Dead, Dead.”

Dead, dead, dead,
Someday we’ll be dead.
Dead, dead, dead,
Someday we’ll all be dead.

Are you effing kidding me Robert? Read the friggin’ room! And by room I mean the entire friggin’ human race!

Asshole.

Tone deaf asshole.

Get the Damn Vaccine

I mentioned my mother’s ears are blocked. That means she has the volume on the television cranked. It is literally as far away from me as it can be while both of us are still in the house and it sounds like it’s scotch taped to my head.

She’s watching the morning news. They are interviewing people who are not taking the Covid-19 vaccine because reasons. All of the reasons are false and total bullshit, but reasons.

You cannot exist in the year 2021 and be so stupid that you choose to not take this vaccine. You simply cannot be that stupid.

Take the fucking vaccine.

So Much for That

I hate it when your musical heroes say the private part out loud, you know?

I think it was around the time that the pandemic was starting, I told Jen that my musical hero, Eric Clapton, had developed some neurological issues that affected his ability to play guitar and as a result I wanted to see him live one more time while I still could. Even if that meant traveling to see him, the way we used to travel to see Rush.

Click the image and read the article. I’ll wait…..

(have you finished the article?)

Now?

Fucking douche.

Things I Forgot About

It has been 482 days since I last worked in the office. March 13, 2020 to July 8, 2021. Thanks, Covid-19 (you prick).

I just wanted to make a quick note of some of the things I’ve forgotten about over that time, and a couple of things that changed without my consent.

  1. The noise level. We work in an open concept space. There are only 6-8 people within sight right now, but there are probably four times that many desks, at least. We don’t have walls between us. It’s nice when you have a bunch of people on the same team within earshot of each other so if staff member #1 is talking about an issue, staff member #2 sitting 15-20 desks away can hear the issue and chime in to help. It’s nice, right? Today though, there are two of the four members of my group here, and three more off in the distance who work on the same application. The rest of the people are unrelated and some of them have been on conference calls all day. I forgot what that felt like. If Jen’s on a call while we’re both at home we just close the doors. Problem solved. Not so in the open concept workspace. I hear everyone’s everything whether it affects me or not.
  2. This one is simple. Locking your computer. Get up to the to the bathroom while working from home? No problem. Just do it. Get up to go to the bathroom while working in the office? Lock your computer. The first time I had to walk away from my desk I forgot. I surprised myself. I’m usually much more vigilant about such things.
  3. Diet Coke. Oh yeah. My company is awesome about the soda machines. We only pay the deposit, $0.05. It’s wonderful. Unfortunately when it comes to diet soda I am a Diet Pepsi guy and we’re a Coca~Cola shop. For every other soda I prefer the Coke product. Diet soda? The one thing I will let myself drink? Pepsi. Damn it. I forgot about that.

I’m sure there are others, but those are the stand outs. Honorable mention goes to the VPN. It was downright odd to not connect to the VPN today. I’ll probably forget when I’m at home tomorrow.

Now, a couple of things that changed while I was away.

  1. I’ve mentioned this a bunch of times before but it is such a huge thing that I feel the need to mention it again. My building is gone. Sold. History. I worked for this company for a decade before I was able to have a desk in a building that is North of the Mass Pike (pardon the super local nature of that statement, but fellow Merrimack Valley folks will know of what I speak). This morning as I drove to work I could see that building from the highway as I cruised on by. They sold our building a few months ago and I’ve been moved to another building. We have a little two building complex right off of route 128. I used to work in building #2. For a few years at least. Now I’m in building #1. At the very least it’s the next closest building to home now that the closest building has been sold.
  2. Trash cans. A few years ago one of our buildings started a pilot program where all of the little trash barrels at everyone’s desks were removed in favor of a few centrally located barrels. There was a reason for it but it wasn’t my building so I more or less forgot it happened. When I was unpacking my stuff this morning I noticed none of the desks had barrels, and there were a few centrally located barrels around the space. Aw shit. They took our buckets away. Damn it.

Once again, I am sure there are other things but I can’t think of them right now. We don’t have a cafeteria. Well, we do still have the cafeteria room and all, but we don’t have a catering company selling us lunch anymore. We knew that though. That’s a Covid-19 casualty that will probably come back eventually. No big deal, I want to brown bag it anyway.

I’ll probably write follow up posts as I think of more stuff to write. Suffice to say, being back in the office building is weird. Very weird.

Eye Doctor

I have an eye doctor appointment scheduled for about an hour from now. I have my insurance card at the ready, I need to stop for gas on the way, but otherwise I’m all set.

And I am freaking out. This isn’t the first time I am voluntarily letting someone get right up close to me, but in the Covid-19 world (note, I did not say post-Covid-19 world) I am just not comfortable with it yet. I don’t know if I will ever feel comfortable with it again. I hope so. I can’t handle this extra stress piled on top of all of the other extra stress. I’m tired of this. Additionally, if you allow me to quote the great Roger Murtaugh, I’m too old for this shit.

I’m hoping to get a pair of general use glasses and a pair of sitting at the computer all day working glasses. We’ll see.

What is Commute?

I just updated the Waze app with my new work address. Do I really have a morning commute today? This is so weird. 15 months ago not having a commute was the weirdest thing ever. Now it’s the opposite.

Wish me luck, everyone. Traffic nightmare ahead.