The View from the Hermitage, Day 162

The Republican National Convention starts today. I think HWSNBN has already been formally nominated. Tonight starts the all-Trump, all-the-time part of the convention. (I use the surname since I'm referring to family members of HWSNBN and not himself). I do not recall seeing Eric's name on the RNC schedule I briefly scanned, but his wife Laura was listed for later in the week. Barron was not listed, though if the GOP decide they need a counterpart to the teenage stutterer who spoke to the DNC, there's always Barron. Melania speaks tomorrow, and more ears than mine will be listening to see how much of Michelle Obama's DNC address she might "borrow." 

It appears as if Kellyanne Conway will still speak on Wednesday night. She's not leaving the White House until next week. Kudos to her 15-year-old daughter Claudia for motivating both parents to get back to being parents by suing or threatening to sue for emancipation. I wonder how much sibling child care she was being expected to perform. I must admit that when there is a woman in a high-level, White House position, I usually wonder what she is doing about her children. That may be sexist, but it's also realistic, and I sometimes wonder the same about a man in a similar position. Leaving for work before the kids are awake and getting home after they've gone to bed is no way to raise a family.

On a completely different note, the husband just yelled down that he's starting to tape Wednesday's first-class-of-the-semester lecture. I said I'd do my best not to yell "fuck" in any context. At least he's doing his taping in his upstairs office now. I don't have to tiptoe around the kitchen because he's taping in the living room within easy earshot. I hope he can keep to his planned schedule of having each week's three lectures taped by each Monday. Fifty-minute lectures are a bit easier than the two-hour ones he had to tape for summer school.

The local university is requiring incoming students to submit results of a covid-19 test. The university is paying but only for one test. So far, 13,000 tests have been submitted of which 36 were positive. It did not sound from what I read as if the students who tested positive would have to submit results of a second test taken at their own expense. They are supposed to isolate for 10 days and be without fever for a certain amount of time. The local paper published photos taken at various points on and around campus over the weekend. Not everyone was masked and there were people closer together than six feet, though they could have been roommates. There were no photos of social gatherings of more than 15 students. We're not out of the woods yet, though. Assuming the university goes ahead with having students move into dorms September 3-6 for in-person classes starting on September 8, the weekend of September 4-6 (Friday to Sunday) will be a good time to see just how serious students are about following the rules.

There has been no action on the refrigerator front. Keeping with the theme of 2020 sucking royally, the small fridge that older son brought over for us to use on a temporary basis is tripping circuit breakers as soon as it is turned on. The technical minds of the husband and older son have not yet solved the issue. The husband says not to worry since we have the dorm-sized fridge in the basement, to which I say yeah, right. Older son has said that I can email him a list in the evening of what I want for the next day's meals and he'll bring the food with him first thing in the morning. We may be doing that before too much longer. With classes starting up, I haven't wanted to bother the husband about his disinterest in the situation, but it would not work for me to pick something out that he has not inspected, read reviews for, and so on. My prediction? I might be able to get him to focus by Labor Day weekend especially if there are appliance sales then. Please, please let there be appliance sales then.