I still check in on the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 dashboard from time to time (but not at the twice-daily frequency I used to) and when I went to do that yesterday, I saw this message: JHU has stopped collecting data as of 03 / 10 / 2023After three years of around-the-clock tracking of COVID-19 data from around the world, Johns Hopkins has discontinued the Coronavirus Resource Center’s operations. The site’s two raw data repositories will remain accessible for information collected from 1/22/20 ...
Sick and tired of being sick and tired
I have been a grown-ass adult for decades now and I cannot remember a time where so many terrible events were happening in such rapid succession. There is no respite. It's all so heavy. Current events are terrible and I am sick about the mass murders of Black shoppers in Buffalo and schoolchildren in Texas. I have no coherent words to share, except for a very insightful idea from a TikTok that instead of using the term "Gun Control" we should be using "Gun Responsibility" and force ...
We caught Covid.
I didn't catch it from HersheyPark last August, or the indoor wedding that I was advised to skip in October, or from the Walt Disney World trip in January. Or from going to see a show in February, or going back to the office 1x/week starting in March*, or from going to TNP's giant conference in mostly-unmasked Tennessee. Not even the baseball game on Mother's Day. Or from the now-dozens of times I've eaten indoors in restaurants. I didn't catch it from any of those bad ...
Friday 5: Twenty-four months
Hello and happy Friday. Wanna know what I did yesterday? I WENT TO THE OFFICE for the first time since my laptop was acting up in October! I took the train and sat in the mostly empty office and had a frigging blast away from construction noises and lawnmowers and barking dog and delivery drivers and my monotonous, depressing, and isolating work from home life. We're still wearing masks at work, but at this point you could tie a smelly gym sock around my face and I'd still goofily grin at ...
Scaredy-Kim gets out there!
Friends, I had a delightful weekend. TNP's conference successfully wound down on Friday, and Mom delivered an Entenmann's chocolate cake to my door. VERY NICE. For dinner, I had some spaghetti with pesto I froze from last year alongside a glass of Merlot. I participated in Movie Night for the first time in an age (Weird Science, very problematic in an 80s way - I need to do another Movie Night roundup soon) and was so far past the point of exhaustion and, to be honest, emboldened by wine, that I ...
Pfizer COVID-19 VAX #2!
On Friday I received the 2nd of the 2 Pfizer vaccines, which means in 2 weeks I'll be protected from serious illness/death and mostly protected from catching and transmitting the original strains and possibly substantially protected from the newer variants? The news changes every day. The side effects of vaccine #2 are on a spectrum that ranges from nothing to two days of sickness. I ended up with a fever that lasted about 18 hours. Friday, 11:30am - I receive the vaccine and the nurse ...
Friday 5: Twelve Months
HI! This post is dark and sad and angry, okay? So if that would upset you (looks at family) maybe you should come back in a few days when I post pictures of my little seedlings, okay? If you're here for the Friday Five, scroll down.A year ago was my last Friday in the office. We were supposed to only be out for the remainder of March. The plan was to flatten the curve of people getting sick to a level that hospitals can manage. We failed. Today, more people are sick than there were back when the ...
Covid-19 journal – October 2020
This isn't a very fleshed out post, but I have to record that Donald Trump and a good number of influential Republicans have tested positive for Covid-19, just about a month out from the election. On one hand, it's not surprising because they've spent months trying to downplay this mess as a bad flu. On the other hand, sweet merciful crap! Trump is the one guy who could have had a billion safeguards in place against getting it, and still. We woke up at 3:30am Friday morning because Murphy ...
Rage and Helplessness in the Time of COVID-19
This is another attempt to journal about life through the USA's Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. It's rough and not pretty, but we're all original sources during this historic time. Maybe someday someone will benefit. For consistency's sake, I'm going to refer to the virus as COVID-19. It has been 6 months since I've been to my office, eaten at a restaurant, or seen any member of my extended family. Most summer activities that I enjoy -- summer festivals, outdoor concerts, etc -- were ...
Warcraft Escapism
Since it's the only "travel" I'll be doing in the near future, I may as well enjoy the scenery. As of this morning Leota Lyotta is 26, Kevashandia is 21, and I have a level 6 shaman named Vanderhoof. Lyotta's a solo creature like her creator. Keva has successfully healed Wailing Caverns twice so far. And Vanderhoof? Eh. He's pretty squishy and not fun to play. When I fly from town to town, I am reminded of better days. Hopefully there will be better days ahead. ...
Friday Movie Night
I am not a fan of movies. In fact, I used to have a blog category called I hate movies. I only went a handful of times as a child, and as I got older, I'd only go if it was part of a group outing or a date. My gripes with movies are plentiful - they are LONG, the audio is LOUD, the theaters are COLD, the food is EXPENSIVE (but so tasty), the seats were sticky and UNCOMFORTABLE, and there's always a chance you'll be seated near a group of jerks. But many people adore movies, and to that I say ...
What I Learned during the Pandemic (So far)
How to make refrigerator bread and butter pickles How to keep a sourdough starter alive and bake bread with it What Rt means with regards to an infectious disease How to make 14 common cocktails How to identify the birdcalls of blue jays, cardinals, robins, and nuthatches How to find Jupiter and its moons in the night sky with binoculars How to make mint liqueur How to make pancakes from scratch (using sourdough starter) How to watch the International Space ...
