Category: covid-19

Lunch Break

Lunch break on a Wednesday. We’ve been talking about the desks in our new building today. March 13, 2020 was the last day at our desks in the Waltham building. Two months ago the Waltham building was sold. Now we have desks in another building but prior to this morning none of us had gone to check it out. One guy went today and reported back that none of our stuff from Waltham has made it to the new desks yet. Uh oh. The upside is that some of us might be getting new monitors out of the deal. I had two when we left. They were both old and less than good. This could work out for me.

Wait… didn’t I write something about not talking about work?

The AC folks have come and gone. The window for their arrival was between 7:00 and 11:00. They knocked on the door at 10:50. His first question was, would you like me to wear a mask? Yes, yes I would. Thanks. It was just a routine cleaning and the AC in the wall in the bedroom clearly benefitted from it because it’s working like crazy now. It’s actually cold in here. I haven’t spent much time in the rest of the house yet so I don’t have any news from that front yet.

The tech said the wall unit in the bedroom was pretty old. Huh? It was installed three years ago. How is that old? Was it sitting on some warehouse shelf for a decade before it was installed in our house? Worse… was it used?

My father is in the hospital again. Day two. My brother is with him. The idea is to move him back into a rehab so that he can get back to a point where he can take care of himself better than he can now… which he can’t. He asked to have some of his more common aches and pains looked at while he was in there. Good idea. No real news on any front yet. Hopefully he’ll be in a new rehab quickly and he can get back to working on getting better. I am scared and worried and stressed and wracked with guilt and I am just overwhelmed with it all… and I’m not the one in the hospital bed. I can’t even begin to imagine how he feels. I hate this. I want my dad to be better again.

So Covid is over, right? The world is opened up again, right? People are still getting sick and people are still dying, but it’s all over, right? I’m thinking about things that I can do that were put on hold. Vacations would be first on that list but we have two college kids now and we are out of money. I already had a haircut, but I need another one because my hair grows faster than light. I need to get my eyes checked. Jen has done that already but see the previous sentence regarding money. I may have to ride out my old glasses for a little while longer. There is a guitar and an amplifier that I’d like to trade in. It depends on how much I can get for each item, but if I can get a used ’68 Deluxe Reverb or a used Les Paul Junior in exchange, I might. I don’t know how that will go.

Okay, time to clean up my lunch and get back to work. The hope is we will be watching episode two of Loki by 6:00pm. Four hours or so from now. Fingers crossed.

Wish my dad good luck, okay? Thanks.

I’m Tired

I am really tired tonight but we’re going to hang out in the living room for a while and watch the tube.

Is it weird that the last two programs I watched, Fear the Walking Dead and an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 whose name I didn’t catch, both ended with a nuclear warhead detonating over American soil? Is that an omen or some shit? I keep trying to figure out what the “nuclear option” is for my parents’ healthcare. Now I’m watching bombs go off in the good ol’ USA.

Coincidence?

I need to make some music. I need my band to get back together. I don’t know if it’s possible. Covid-19 done fudged everything up.

Stupid global pandemic.

Put the Damn Mask On

I just had a door to door salesman ring my doorbell without a mask on. What the fuck is wrong with people? Even if you’re vaccinated, how do you know I am? How do you know my family is? Act like a responsible fucking human who at least acknowledges other humans and put the fucking mask on your fucking face.

The Pandemic is Over, I Guess

Just went to a Hallmark store to pick up a graduation card. Probably 20 people in the store, including staff. Guess how many masks.

Go on, guess.

One.

Guess which customer was wearing it.

Me.

So Covid-19 really is over then. We must be imagining all of the daily cases then. Weird, huh?

Random Stuff at Lunch Time

Epically busy day today. Sneaking in a short post during a short lunch break. What’s going on, Robert?

When the Covid-19 lock down started I had to grab a webcam so that I could join in on the video conferencing fun. Last week I was on a Google Meet meeting and my camera started flipping out like a crazy person. I tried a couple of USB ports and it was a problem in more than one, but eventually it stabilized itself. That leads me to think there is something breaking loose within the cable. This morning I was on a Zoom meeting and my camera kept shutting off. Turns out it was basically the same issue. I ended up opening up my clam shelled laptop and using the built in camera. It’s working. Folks can see my mug when I am speaking.

Still… a Covid-19 specific tech gadget purchase failed to outlive the lock down. I’m probably going to replace it someday so that I can go back to clam shell. When I go back to the office (which is imminent) I won’t have my gigantic monitor and I’ll have the lappy open anyway, so a replacement camera will just be a home office guy.

I don’t know why but I redid my Spotify Mood Music playlist. I put this together ages ago with the intent being I would update it all the time. Any time I was drawn to a new band or song or whatever I would add something to the playlist. I kept that up for about a minute. Maybe this time I’ll stay active. I don’t use Spotify but it’s easy to share on the blog so that’s why I do it. Whatever.

Jen spoke to Harry a little bit today. He has had his first graduation practice session! We got the details on the ceremony. Masks optional and no socially distant seating. Oh good. The pandemic is over, folks. You made it through! I guess the 11,277 new cases and 245 new deaths yesterday were imagined.

Sorry. This is not a bitch about Covid thing. This is a Harry is a Legend who is graduating from High School in three days post!

Legen…

Wait for it…

We get a new Marvel show on Disney Plus starting tomorrow. Loki. Wednesdays instead of Fridays, that’s new. I think I liked Fridays better in general, but Wednesdays work too. While watching WandaVision we got into the groove of having burgers and fries for dinner while we watched the new episodes. That carried on through The Falcon and The Winter Soldier too. It will continue with Loki. I have no idea what this show is going to be like. I just know that all of us are psyched. Come on, Marvel. Live up to the hype, people! Bring it!

…dary! Legendary!

It’s All Over

Well it was fun while it lasted, but it’s all over now. It’s May 29, 2021 and that means all of the Covid-19 restrictions in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have been lifted.

Now we just have to wait 10-14 days and see if the numbers spike again. The antici……..

……..pation is just killing me.

Happy Covid-19 is over day, Massachusetts. I guess.

Crazy Long Weekend

I’m 67 minutes away from a long weekend. Lots going on, and I am going to miss almost all of it.

I’m Nana sitting tonight so I will be at my mom’s house until dinner time tomorrow. That means I will miss out on Massachusetts declaring that the global pandemic over and opening up the entire state. Bad move? Likely.

Sunday I will be home for most of the day, which is good because it’s our wedding anniversary. 12 years. 12 wonderful, happy years. Sure 2020 and the first half of 2021 have licked balls, but marriage wise it’s still been incredible. The kids are at their dad’s this weekend, but we’re going to steal them for a while so they can help us celebrate. We’re not doing anything special, just being together. I’m willing to bet that at some point later in the year we will do something more substantial to celebrate. Covid has pretty much taken two anniversaries from us, so we need to do something significant to make up for it.

As for Sunday night and the holiday on Monday, I am Nana sitting again. But wait, Robert. Isn’t that a day early? Why yes, yes it is. Me covering Sunday night/Monday lets my brother go to my niece’s soccer games and it lets me do something on Tuesday. But Robert, Tuesday isn’t a day off, it’s a three day weekend not a four day weekend, isn’t it?

I booked a vacation day for Tuesday so that I can drive back up to Vermont to help my Step Daughter move into her first apartment. Pardon me, I’ve got something in my eye. No, I’m not crying, you’re crying.

I still need to pack up some stuff for tonight and tomorrow, including my MacBook. I want to mix a song or two or three tonight or tomorrow. I want to wrap up May’s Record Every Month entry. I also have an episode of That Pedal Show to watch. I don’t have a Star Wars The Bad Batch to watch because I picked that off before work this morning. I might try to watch some MST3K because I’ve been kinda in the mood for that lately. Mostly though I’ll just be missing Jen and the kids like crazy, because that’s what I mostly do while I’m at my parents. Le Sigh.

The Stir Crazy Files – Episode 77: The Candle Race Continues

I lit two of the same size Yankee Candles for the first time at the same time a couple of weeks ago and challenged them to a race. Who will burn out first, the Blueish candle or the Redish candle? I put my money on Blueish…

…and redish is in the lead by a country mile. Come on, Big Blue, burn faster!

Lunch Time Again

Coming to the end of another lunch break. It has only been half a work day since my last post, but it feels like it’s been a long day. You know how that is?

It’s 89 degrees outside here in the Tewksbury. The air conditioner is on in the next room, and my little USB fan is running on low about 12 inches away from me. That little fan has been a big hit. I’m loving the stupid thing, and last night when I talked to my brother he said he’s loving it too. It’s just a cheap plastic thing so it will likely burn down, fall over, and sink into the swamp* any minute now. Until then…

At some point tonight the Bruins may know who their second round opponent will be. If the Islanders beat the Penguins they will advance to the second round where they will meet the Bruins. If the Penguins win, then they go to a game seven. I’m kind of rooting for that game seven.

It’s not quite time to start really getting excited for this**, but we are starting to get information on Harry’s High School Graduation. We have a date and time, we have parking passes (or we will once he brings them home from school today), and we know how many people can attend. It’s going to be weird in that we will likely follow all of the Covid rules, while the school likely won’t. I mean, come on Rob, haven’t you heard? The pandemic is over. Right. Sure.

Okay, this is just a quick post. Time to get back to work.

(*) You didn’t expect that Monty Python reference. (pause while we wait for the Spanish Inquisition punchline)

(**) It’s too early for me and Jen to get excited, but it’s not too early for Harry. Senioritis is in full effect.

This is a Thing Now?

I took my wife to get her hair cut. I’m hanging in the parking lot watching Solar Opposites on my phone. I got out of the car to stretch my legs and saw this:

There are two discarded masks on the left side of the car, and one on the right. So this is a thing now?