Mom

I am freaking out a little right now. The freaking out is 100% irrational but it’s there nonetheless.

My father just called me. The nursing home my mother is in called him to let him know that my mother has Covid-19.

She’s as vaccinated and boosted as a human can get and I am absolutely positive that she will beat it and recover… but I am still panicking right now. Shit shit shit, my mother has Covid.

Two Years and Seven Months

Two years and seven months ago today, at 5:30pm, my personal Covid-19 pandemic lock down began. 3/13/20 was our last day in the office. We are not particularly locked down at this point, but we’re pretty much still isolated. We’re going to stores, I’m visiting Mom regularly (and need to visit Dad more often), we’re just spending as much time as we can afford to away from everyone. We’re wearing masks and being good, virus-conscious humans.

I am so friggin’ sick of it. I miss my friends, I miss playing in the band, I miss my family. Granted, my step kids are both in Vermont so I would be missing them even without our personal lock down, but you get the point. I want to travel, though we can’t afford it, I want to do things.

I want to go to hockey games again. The Bruins won their opening game last night. They beat The Capitals 5-2. I listened to as much as I could on the radio. Probably not as much as I would have liked, but a nice chunk. UMass Lowell is currently 2-1, with all three games being non-conference games. They play in Michigan tonight and tomorrow, two more non-conference games. The first Hockey East games are next week. I have been able to catch at least a little of each game on the radio. I’m not sure if they cover road games on WUML Lowell 91.5 FM, but I think we’ll find out tonight. As for the kids’ school, University of Vermont… 0-4 with all games being in conference. Yeah… pretty grim. I haven’t tried to find them on the radio. It might not be worth it.

In closing, I watched She-Hulk while doing my walkies. Teeny Tiny Spoilers Ahead. It was season one episode nine, the first season finale. I did not realize that I so desperately needed to hear something like five seconds worth of Richard and Linda Thompson music in the MCU. I did need it though. I really, completely needed it. The episode was great, but at the end when they snuck in a few seconds of I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight just made my fucking week. Props to K.E.V.I.N. and the gang.

2.5 Years

I haven’t written one of these in a while. Today is September 13, 2022. Exactly 2.5 years ago we worked in the office. It was a Friday. The following Monday was the first day the whole company worked from home. That makes today the 2.5 year anniversary of the symbolic end of the pre-pandemic era.

2.5 years. Two and a half trips around the sun. Given that we were expecting it to last a couple of weeks, I would say that our expectations were off by a smidgen. We still have not had a case of Covid-19 in the house. We are still also mostly locked down. Coincidence? I have to go in to the office tomorrow afternoon, and all day on Thursday. Thursday is going to include an event with a pretty huge number of people. I am going to mask up and try to stay away from people. Hopefully that will be enough.

Working from home was something that I was pretty unsure of pre-pandemic. I heard of companies that had their staff 100% remote and I thought that was something that wouldn’t work for me. I had a day or two at home at various times in the past, but full time at home? That wasn’t for me.

Now? Now it’s indispensable. Now it’s a requirement. I have to spend a day and a half in the office this week? Outrageous (not really, I’m just being dramatic)! Working without wearing a t-shirt and sneakers? Blasphemy!

Full time(ish) remote hasn’t been without it’s difficulties though. One of the arms on Jen’s super swanky office chair broke today and now we may have to get another one. I gave her my super swanky office chair (which used to be hers anyway) and I am in a less than super swanky chair that is still perfectly fine. The point is, a new chair is an expense that we wouldn’t have to worry about if we were working in our respective company’s offices. That and, you know, electricity and ISP bills and stuff.

Still… working from home is pretty freakin’ sweet and I want to do it for the rest of my career. One upside of the lockdown, I guess.

Now if we could just get rid of the damn virus. We’ll be getting the Omicron specific vaccine as soon as we can.

Movies

We’re doing it. We’re going to the movies. Thor Love and Thunder. We’re going to mask up and go into a movie theater for the first time since the pandemic started. Sweet Christmas does this feel weird.

Am I nervous? Yes. Both Covid-Nervous and nervous that the movie won’t live up to the hype, but the real focus of this mini-discussion is the Covid-Nervous. I know it will be okay but it’s still stressful.

I did a simulated 5k walk this morning. I actually just finished. I figured if I did that then my legs would be so beat I wouldn’t be able to get up and run away if the theater fills up too much. I am kidding, of course.

Okay. Breakfast then flick. That’s the plan. Yikes!

Boost Me

Boost

I almost missed this, but the CDC (I think it was the CDC at least) came up with new guidelines covering a second booster shot. If your first booster was more than four months ago, and you are over 50 years old, go get yourself a second booster.

Hey… I am over 50, and my booster was a few days shy of six months ago. I qualify.

3:00pm at a CVS in Salem. Booster #2. Bring it.

Public

We dipped our toes into a non-locked down world. We went to a store. Not just any store but the biggest, roomiest, most social distance friendly store there is. We also went when we knew it would be as close to dead as it gets.

Still…

We went to IKEA.

Dig our crazy daring-do.

Non-Lunch Post

We’re coming to the end of another work day spent in the office. How many more will there be at this desk? I don’t know. A few, probably.

It’s been a hectic and stressed out day. I’m not sure how, but I managed to do everything right as far as the weight loss surgery prep steps are concerned. I’m up to date on my vitamins (still have one more to take with dinner), and I tracked all of my food, and I stopped drinking more than 15 minutes before eating, and I didn’t drink again for over an hour after eating.

My exercise ring is half closed. That’s due to the long walk from the car to my desk, and the long walk from my desk to the kitchenette and back, and the long walk from my desk to the bathroom and back. I think wearing a mask contributes to the increased heart rate as well, but I don’t have proof of that.

The building recently switched from masks required in all common areas to masks optional for vaccinated folks. I think it’s too soon for that, but I have to deal with it. My mask was on in all common areas but I was in the minority. Will peer pressure eventually remove my mask? I don’t think so but I can’t say for sure. The Covid numbers are way down for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I would like to take approximately 1/6,893,000th of the credit for that. At least that much. I kept my mask on and kept those around me safe from the virus that I don’t have. That’s not sarcasm. That’s honesty. Wear your effing mask.

Anyway, I was able to eat lunch today, but I was not really able to take a lunch break. That’s why there’s no lunch post from today, and that’s why I titled this post the way I did.

I might look into a new theme for this page. It might be time. Maybe something black and gloomy. Yeah, that would be cool. Black and gloomy is tight.

Now I need to get my exhausted ass home so I can eat dinner with the love of my life, check out how far the paint job got while I was out, watch the new episode of Star Trek Picard, and then finally get some of that sleep that I didn’t get any of last night.

Almost quittin’ time, babie!