Month: March 2020

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Happy St Patrick’s Day

Of course depending on where you are you might not have had the usual party.

Thankfully, there was more than enough beer and booze, a great meal and a nice small crowd.

But with bars & restaurants being closed it’s obvious that the celebration wasn’t quite to the extent that it normally is.

Gotta admit that I’ve not been a huge St Patricks’ day celebrator but it was nice to drink and laugh with nice people.

Today was kind of a day of little projects, Naturally the smallest project turned into one of those situations where pulling the thread was problematic.  It’s the nature of “small,” “simple” projects for them to a pain in the ass.

I’ll finish up those projects tomorrow, then head back on schedule, home. What awaits me there may be more chaotic that when I left. but the chaos is now nationwide. There’s no escape unless I find that mythical alien ship to “jack” and get offworld.

Since that’s not likely to happen, home to the mountain it is. It’s going to be a shock to my system, here it’s been in the low light 70s and wonderfully comfortable. Home has been in the 30’s so I’m going to be freezing, again.

It will be a long flight but perhaps this time it will be mostly empty. 

I’d thought about extending here but two factors prevent me from doing that. 1) is that I’m starting to be slightly concerned about not being able to get back. 2) I’m worried about contaminating my elderly relatives.

Mel Brooks and his son made a sortof cute PSA about it and they have a point.

I’ve got to plan to visit again soon. Perhaps when the Coronavirus is on the wane. 

 

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Okay Coronavirus is a big deal…

I said it was gonna be because China quarantining a huge area was a big deal.

But folks… 

Come on, how can you say you’re observing social distancing when you’re packed into CostCo, and virtually every other store thicker than sardines?

Look. Do your normal shopping. Get in, get out, and leave something behind on the shelves for the next folks.

I must say the folks in Northern FL are a lot calmer than the LA folks I left behind. Perhaps it’s a function of population density perhaps, it’s a function of pragmatism.

Thank God the bars are still open here. 

At this point it looks like I can still get home. But if I can’t well I’ll stay right here and if necessary try to locate some kind of job locally and adapt to the new reality.

Worst case scenario. I’l shave my head into a mohawk, outfit a car with steel plating and go “Mad Max” 

I don’t think it’s going to come to that. On the one hand it might be interesting. On the other hand I’m feeling more like Pooh, “Oh Bother!”

Let’s get smart, let’s be kind, let’s understand that this thing is going to do what it’s going to do. It’s not right, wrong, good, or evil, it simply is. 

Panicking isn’t helping. 

Take a breath. Turn off the news for a few hours, read a book. and calm down.

Trust me you can’t stay healthy in a blind panic 24/7.

Stream “The Martian”

Start by solving one problem at a time. Solve the most immediate problem first. Keep solving problems as they arise and we’ll all come through this. We may be forever changed, we’ll probably learn a lot, and the next time we’re presented with an emergency we’ll do better. 

This isn’t the time to play blame X, Y, or Z. Quoting Hillary Clinton, “At this point what does it matter anyway?”

Play the cards we’ve been dealt.

I’m not sure I could carry off the “Mad Max” look, and if I go “Mad Max” you’re not going to like me very much.

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It’s nice to be in my home state

IMG 1244My Brother’s place feels like home. It’s spartan. very little junk, and everything that’s here is something that my brother loves or which has obvious significance.

It’s strange that I feel so at home here, and did so instantly.

My sinuses lost their minds in the hours after landing here. They’ve calmed down considerably and now my skin is relaxing too, it’s the humidity here. 

Ibrothers.jpg.jpeg slept soundly once I fell asleep it took some time for my head to quite due to the  rigors of traveling. Once I went to sleep I slept well and deeply.

My memories of this area are surprisingly good. My brain automatically pointed out poison ivy. I wasn’t even aware that I was avoiding it until I went to reach for some of the berries, then I remembered and thought, “Huh” 

I’m in my home environment the world is right and I’m comfortable.

I’ve had a bit to drink after a day with my brother. Brother(s) actually, I got to spend time wIMG 1249ith the eldest sibling from my Father’s second marriage. he’s only 4 years older than me and looks very good.

I’m smiling a lot for no reason, and it’s not just from the booze. 

Okay, I’ve had too much to drink over the course of the day. But I don’t care.

Spending time with family is like the warmth of a fire on a cold night.

It’s comfortable and good. No-one is trying to outdo the others, we’re just laughing and enjoying being in each other’s presence.

I’ll admit that I was tense about this trip, but that tension was only about the flight and having to deal with the bullshit of security and close confines.

There’s joy in being here and in the company of people who generally think like I do, meaning in my family.

There’s also joy in faith in people generally who might disagree, or potentially take you to task about your beliefs but if it comes to that. Southern politeness and decorum will be followed.

It’s nice to feel that I have freedom of speech again.

I suppose all of this is to say that it’s nice to feel like I belong.

Social rules are those that I remember. I know, perhaps this place isn’t as diverse as other places, but I have to ask… 

Is that so wrong?

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And there it is folks…

coronavirus.jpgThe WHO just declared the Coronavirus a pandemic.

The CDC is still downplaying it.

Many countries are restricting air travel from affected areas, and some are suspending air travel altogether.

In a bit of Irony today is also the day that the 1918 influenza virus was declared a pandemic. Symmetry is always so nice.

Oh, and we can thank China for its closed system and fear of political embarrassment for this. From the start I’ve thought that China wasn’t telling the WHO everything. Well now, the rest of the world is going to be able to collect real data and hopefully they’ll point at China and say, “LIAR”. I hope that someone has the balls to stand in the UN and speak the truth.

Diseases like this and others are not just the province of one country they can affect the whole planet. In a globalized society, everyone needs to be totally honest and forthcoming about rapidly spreading / evolving diseases. The minds of all scientists should be engaged without fear of embarrassment to tackle the problem.

My only hope is that there will not be panic in the streets. Although, over the weekend a plane in America apparently had to turn around because passengers became agitated over a single passenger who was coughing. Of course the passengers on the plane demanding that they turn around had already failed in their science check.

Once the plane exceeded 10,000 ft the air was being recycled so they were most likely already exposed to the contagion.  Again, too little too late, and failure to understand the way technologies work.  

Not to suggest that coronavirus is as contagious as fictional viruses from various movies but the point is still the same. What’s done is done.  

Turning around to expel a single passenger then taking the same plane to your destination without disinfection is probably not going to do much to limit your exposure. In fact if all the passengers had to deplane the exposure levels probably went up with all of them being huddled in the terminal together.

But common sense doesn’t seem to have much sway in the time of “I feel…”

The snake oil salesmen will be coming out of the woodwork now with holistic cures, crystals, salt, and other “Natural cures”. Yes there are a lot of plants and materials that do have antiviral/antibiotic properties. Most of Western medicine has it’s roots in the natural world. That being said, much as I hate to say it, big Phama may be the answer. 

Scientific research has in many cases taken the natural properties of plant & materials and enhanced it to the point that efficacy is well beyond the natural abilities of eating tons of the raw materials.

So for the time being wash your hands, don’t touch your faces, avoid crowded places, and pay attention to your health. A substantial percentage of folks get a little sick and recover. Thus far the problem seems to be older folks or folks that have underlying conditions.

Just remember you read it here first.

Jan 27th I wondered if the genie was already out of the bottle.

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Rainy Day

IMG 1240Woke up to rain on the roof this morning. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

There’s nothing I need to do outside. I suppose I could park the car outside for a free wash.

Nope, too much effort to get dressed.

I will get out of bed eventually, but right now it’s nice just sitting here listening. 

Something about rain is soothing. As long as I don’t have to drive in it with all the other people on the road, many of whom don’t have the skill to be driving, or the sense God gave a goose.

I’ve often wondered if putting a 21 day wait time on the purchase of a car would impart to people that cars are at least as dangerous to use as a gun.

In what universe does it make sense to fly up behind and sit on someones bumper who’s already doing 80? It make less sense to do that when you can see that the traffic ahead is coming to a stop. All it takes is a little common sense to realize that the person whose bumper you’re rinding is likely to hit their brakes.

That’s the situation I found myself in on Sunday afternoon on the I-15. The moron behind me was totally shocked when I hit my brakes to stop. The idiot locked their wheels and darted into the emergency lane to avoid hitting me (there was at least that mercy). I’d been slowing and tapping my brakes to accommodate the traffic in front of me. The woman riding my bumper was heedless, and I suspect distracted by her damn phone.

I figured that my car would be in the shop again, but no worries I’m going to be out of town and with luck my car would be repaired by the time I got back.

Thank goodness it was a clear sunny day and the roads were dry, otherwise the silly person would’ve spun and taken me and a bunch of other people out with her foolishness.

Maybe today in the rain she’ll cause the destruction she so narrowly missed causing Sunday.

Today I won’t worry about it. I’m going to be home, snug and warm listening to the rain on my roof. I could look at the live traffic maps and enjoy the mayhem vicariously.

Nope! For the next foreseeable hour or two, I’m turning off the tech and going back to sleep. 

If you’re out in the rain, drive carefully and try to take a moment to enjoy the sound of rain on a roof.