I can’t believe it. One year ago today Jen, Harry, and I landed in Florida for a week in Disney World.
Civilization has more or less collapsed since then. It’s amazing how much things have changed.
Will it ever go back to normal, or is the way things are today what normal will be from now on? Ugh… I hate waxing philosophic. Bite me, Socrates.
Well, this morning one of our smoke detectors started giving the low battery squawk. We needed a tried and true handy man to track it down, take it off the ceiling, change the batteries, and put it back on the ceiling. We needed a hero. Fortunately that hero was available and came through for us. That hero… was me.
Yes, Robert is so tall that when the low battery squawk starts his head is close enough to the ceiling that he can both track down the ailing unit and reach up to unscrew it from its perch. Yes, his skills are virtually endless. The biggest challenge though was getting the dying batteries out of the damm thing. Something about the model we have, they really stick those batteries in there good. I was, of course, able to prevail in that struggle, and all is well with our smoke detecting system once more.
Please, please, no applause. Just throw money.
Now if I could just figure out why my SleepWatch report from last night keeps disappearing (was it because my watch was on the charger?) and why I only managed an 8% sleeping heart rate dip last night. That is just not optimal! (On the report it labels 8% as “not optimal” so you see what I did there?)
I really need Covid to be over. Really.
Did you know that your dental health is a factor in your heart health? I sure didn’t. My father found out today when they took out some of his teeth in preparation for upcoming heart surgery. Who knew?
Subject change: Rush Limbaugh died. When I was a kid I was taught that if you don’t have anything nice to say you shouldn’t say anything at all. So there you go.
Subject change: We got the expected date of my step son’s high school graduation ceremony. Mid June. Please, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, get all of us our respective Covid-19 vaccinations by then. Please, Covid-19, don’t ruin this for him on top of everything else.
Subject change: I had a really crummy nights sleep last night. I went to bed about 10:30, woke up a little before midnight, and didn’t get back to sleep until after 2:00. Today is shaping up to be a rough one. I need a nap. A long nap.
Subject change: I’ve got nothing else to say right now. I read this morning that we’re supposed to get another snow storm later tomorrow. I want Spring. Now. I want my whole extended family, including everyone in my step kids’ other house, to get their vaccine shots. Now. I’m tired of all of this crap. I want my father’s medical ordeal to end. Now. I want everything to go back to pre-March 2020 normal. Now.
My mother got her first vaccine shot today. I think in the whole extended family including the co-parenting household, that is four people with the first shot. We still have way to many waiting for the first round, and everyone needs the second round. My mother has an appointment for the second shot, one month from today.
Happy Vaccining, everyone! Bring it on!
Thanks to that prick Covid, we can’t go to stores. All of our home goods needs are coming from The Amazon. (I’m thinking about referring to Amazon.com as The Amazon. I’m not sure if I like it, I’m just trying it on for size.) That includes stuff like ice melt for the driveway. I’ve bought a couple of three gallon tubs of it. The first tub ran out when I cleaned up the snow on Monday morning. I knew it was coming so I had a second tub ready to go.
It snowed last night. Just a little, barely enough to cover the driveway, but I went outside and shoveled it all anyway. Good doobie and all that shit. When the driveway, walkway, and fire hydrant were all clear I went to put some ice melt down for the instacart delivery folks who are going to be here this morning. I couldn’t do it though. The cover on the second, as yet still unopened, tub was defective. There is supposed to be a pull tab, but it was still molded into the plastic cover. I was quickly able to cut it out with my trusty Swiss Army Knife (the true hero of Covid in our house, so much so that Santa brought one for Jen and Harry) but it didn’t help. I could grab the pull tab but I couldn’t actually pull it. Defective all around.
I tried cutting the pull strip off but I couldn’t get it. My Swiss Army Knife’s first ever fail. I tried prying the cover off with a screw driver but it wouldn’t come. Finally I did what Emperor Palpatine is always telling me to do. I gave in to the hate. I channeled all of the slasher flicks I’d ever seen back in my horror movie watching 20’s and I took my knife and stabbed it through the top of the lid. I carved around the edge enough that I could pull it back to make an opening…
…and I poured the new tub into the old tub and carried on with my day.
I blame Covid. You should too.
We’re getting a minor snow storm today. Forecast is 1-4 inches of heavy, wet snow and as of now the forecast looks correct.
In the year of Covid, it has been a long time since I had to prove my New England Metal by driving in a snow storm. There haven’t been many this season, but with full time telecommuting I haven’t had to drive in any of them. A small part of me has been worried that I might lose my New England membership if I didn’t get out in at least one snow storm and prove I still have what it takes to drive like a maniac* in the worst possible conditions.
Proof has been provided. I drove in the snow today. In the immortal words of Bilbo Baggins, there and back again. Like a New Englander in Wintertime Boss.
*I did not drive like a maniac. Other people did, but not me. I drove like a smart person. Just so ya know.
I’ve been so out of touch with humanity the last week that I missed that the Bruins had two games postponed due to Covid-19. Saturday and Monday vs Buffalo are both postponed. I did the absolute minimum of research possible this morning and found that the blame lies with New Jersey. The Devils and the Sabers played a game this week while the Devils had positive cases. I don’t know the background. Did they know and play anyway? I hope not. That game lead to a couple of Buffalo players catching the coronavirus so they have a week’s worth of games pushed off. That means that after tonight’s game, the Bruins are off until Wednesday the 10th. Good for them to have a little extra rest. Bad for me who needs hockey, Bruins hockey.
I am mad at Massachusetts right now. Jen sent me this article which lists out the percentage of Covid-19 vaccine doses that have been distributed by each state.
Massachusetts is the heart of health care in the United States and somehow we rank 44th having only administered 54.09% of the vaccine doses we have available.
Massachusetts
Doses distributed to state: 1,156,375
Doses administered: 625,477
Percentage of distributed vaccines that have been administered: 54.09
How can we be that far behind? We have the best hospitals, the best health care staff, the best everything. How can we be so far behind on this? I don’t understand.
If life isn’t depressing enough, how’s this for a punch in the nut sack?
These pictures were taken the last time the band played together… one year ago today.
I am so sick of COVID.
One person I know has received the vaccine.
One person I know has a confirmed appointment to get the vaccine.
One person I know is likely going to go along to that appointment and also get the vaccine.
Two people I know are expecting phone calls to schedule their vaccine.
These are all first doses. No one I know has received a second dose, but has anyone?
Selfishly I have to add that none of the people listed above are me. I very much want to get vaccinated. I want to be able to go back into the world, even if it’s on a limited single-dose basis. I’ll still wear a mask and I’ll still social distance and all of that but that’s not really the point of this post. The point is, vaccination wise things are progressing enough that it’s starting to hit home. This pleases me and my over protective covid response greatly. Very greatly.
Inside the Red Head's Head 