I drove on the highway during the morning rush hour today. That was the first time in just over a year. I wasn’t going to work. I just had to drive to Tewksbury for a quick errand. Still… it was weird. The traffic was light for a rainy Thursday so maybe the pandemic is still happening. That being said, there was a lot of traffic for a state that’s should be shut down. We’re open, just not 100% yet. Foolish mortals.
Note, the pictures were taken on the way home so I was moving in the traffic-free direction.
I was just reading posts from one year ago today, like you do. Just trying to see how the beginning of the covid clusterfuck was comparing to the current covid clusterfuck. There was a post where I was talking about how everything was different but how it hadn’t sunk in yet. Mostly I was talking about work, but I also got personal a bit. I challenged myself to do something and reading it today I realized that I have failed in that personal challenge many times. This is what I wrote:
I can’t lose my temper… ever. The stress level world wide right now is insanely high and am nervous that my temper’s fuse is now really short. I cannot cannot cannot lose it. I have to pay close attention not only to what I say to people, but how I say it. I can’t snap. I can’t sound pissy. I can’t be anything other than cool and supportive.
Okay… well… I think I’ve lived up to that more often than not, but there have been many times… many times where I have let something get under my skin that under normal world circumstances wouldn’t have bothered me at all and I’ve turned into a snapping prick and just lost my cool completely.
So allow me to take a moment to apologize to any and all people who have seen me lose my temper. I should have been a better person than I was and I am sorry.
Maybe as things start getting back to a more 2019 flavor of normal I might be able to be less of a dick when things get stressy. Here’s hoping.
On March 17, 2020 Massachusetts had 218 Covid-19 cases and no one in the state had died. The United States as a whole had 6,135 cases and 79 deaths.
On March 17, 2021 (today) Massachusetts has had 608,377 cases and 16,732 deaths. The United States as a whole has had 29,585,015 cases and 537,583 deaths.
I guess today is technically the anniversary of the first day of lock down for me as it’s the first day I didn’t go to work. I think I focus on yesterday’s date for two reasons. First, 3/14/20 was a Saturday so I wasn’t going to work anyway. Second, 3/13/20 was a Friday the 13th and that just seems more fitting.
So what did I do last year? I posted about a couple of things. I mentioned what a crappy guitar player and songwriter I am. I was working on the March album in a month and apparently had a bad couple of days. I had two posts about setting up my desk. I took my work PC home with me the day before and spent some time with Jen rigging things so that I could add it to the setup on my desk without unplugging anything else. At the time I had this MacBook that I’m on right now, the Windows laptop I had been using for telecommuting, and the work desktop. Now I have the MacBook and a new work laptop running into one monitor and the old windows pre-covid work from home laptop is on the desk but not hooked into anything. One year ago I was setup to have the same mouse and keyboard for all three machines, but now I have a big clickity clackity mechanical keyboard and a nice gaming mouse for the work machine and wireless Apple keyboard and MagicPads for the Macbook. When I change machines I just change the input on the monitor and use the different keyboard and mouse. It’s not the neatest setup but it’s working great for me.
The only really important post from this day last year had to do with some errands. I got the Mazda inspected. Doing the math, that means I have to get it inspected again this month. I remember it feeling really weird being inside the garage’s waiting room. I sat as far away from the rest of the customers as I could. It also mentions that I went to a supermarket. I remember that pretty clearly. We usually go to a Market Basket in Salem which is probably a mile or so away from home. Both of the kids used to work there. They had not yet implemented any social distance measures and stuff was flying off the shelves as people started getting scared. We decided to try alternate super market choices and I went to a Shaws in Windham which is about a 15 minute drive away. I went there because the crowds were tiny and they hadn’t started running out of stuff yet. Over the first couple of weeks of lock down we went to that store and the Salem Market Bucket a couple of times each and it was stressful every time. Then Jen started using Instacart which let us shell out some extra money to avoid the stress. The folks doing the shopping for Instacart (and similar services) are among the true heroes of the pandemic. Thank you. All of you.
And that is a summary of what I was up to on the first full day of my coronavirus lock down.
One year ago today I left the office for a two week work from home, flatten the curve, pandemic safety stuff thing.
365 days later, that two weeks is still going… and going… and going…
I wanted to write something profound to commemorate the occasion, but I gots nuttin.
I took this in the parking garage on the way in to the building on that last day. That final Friday the 13th.
On this day last year Massachusetts had 123 cases. As of last night we had 598,859. On this day last year the United Stats had 2,204 cases. As of right now we have 29,348,298.
So much for all of that curve flattening shit, right?
On the plus side, at least we have a President now who actually understands that pandemics are bad and not political statements. We have vaccines now and folks are starting to get shots. The daily infection rates are dropping steadily. There actually appears to be an honest to goodness end in sight.
I’ve been staring at this post for about an hour now. Just trying to think of something interesting to write about. Still nothing coming to me. 365 days worth of covid lock down. The next covid-versary is March 21st. I believe that was the last time I was in a store, with the exception of the time we went to get a flu shot.
I’m tired of covid. I’m tired of coronavirus. I’m tired of lock down. I want this shit to end. Pretty please?
I just looked back through the blog posts from one year ago today. There were five of them and all were Covid related.
One was about how Disney World closed.
One was about the NHL shutting down.
One was about me looking up numbers on a CDC map.
One was about my company announcing the move to full time telecommuting.
The last one was the only mildly concerning one. It was about going to CVS to stock up on some diabetes supplies and not being able to find any alcohol wipes. Harry wasn’t actually low on his supply, but we were just thinking about the future and wanted to top off the stock.
Yup… as anniversaries go, this one blows chunks. It blows chunky gravy all over its clothes and furniture and pets and friends and family and neighbors. Like, it blows chunks literally everywhere.
When the shut down began last year I started keeping track of the daily COVID-19 statistics for the city, the state, and the country. It was depressing but I did it almost every day. On February 28th I stopped. I just chose not to look up the numbers and that was it. I had my state and US spreadsheets (the city had stopped regular updates long before) open on my desktop for almost a year and I closed them. That was it. I don’t know why, but that’s what I did.
I opened them up again today. I don’t know why I did this either, I just felt I needed to. The pandemic is funny that way, I guess.
597073 cases in Massachusetts. 16551 deaths. 29286650 cases in the United States. 530829 deaths.
The temperature today hit 72 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s like… spring.
Of course the downside is when I took out the trash, stepped on the lawn, and sank into the swamp like mud field.
It’ll be so worth it once the effin’ snow is gone.
I’m exhausted, my eyes are so tired that they are making my head hurt. First thing I do once this Covid shit is over is get new glasses. Second is get my Les Paul fixed up like new. Okay, maybe not second.
Inside the Red Head's Head 