The View from the Hermitage, Day 197

Fortunately, the day got better after its beginning. The husband logged on to his email first thing to find a message thread from his department about one of the grad student lab instructors having tested positive for covid-19. Apparently, the student had recently had a meeting with the other three lab instructors, and the university would not test them. Also, these instructors teach the physics majors lab class, the only lab class being offered in-person. The husband got in on this since he is the faculty member responsible for assigning and overseeing the teaching assistants, which includes lab instructors. There were several directions this incident might take. By mid-morning, it was clear there was no real panic. The university would not test the other grad students because they were not together with the  one testing positive for more than 15 minutes. That appears to be, at least to the folks in charge here, a critical length of time. The lab sessions will be done via video for the next two weeks, just in case one of the other instructors develops covid-19. Before lunchtime, the husband said everything was hunky and dory, and all was well. 

Also on the covid-19 front, HWSNBN's new favorite advisor has been pushing for the US to go the same route as Sweden and try to hit herd immunity. Other more knowledgeable doctors are noting that because it has been demonstrated that people can get reinfected with covid-19, herd immunity cannot be attained. Does that matter to HWSNBN? Probably not a snowball's chance in hell.

We will not be watching the presidential debate tomorrow evening. It does not start until 9:00, which is when we're usually heading to bed. I have various friends planning debate bingo or some form of a debate drinking game. I suggested they take a shot of whisky every time HWSNBN misleads or lies. Several people said the problem was that they'd pass out before much of substance had happened. We will read about the debate Wednesday morning and discuss it with older son as we walk the family dog. That's about as close to the debate as I want to get. 

Last night, The New York Times began a series on HWSNBN's tax returns. In 2016 and 2017, he supposedly paid only $750 in federal income tax. He claims that that is an indication of how great a businessman he is; I would say it shows how much he's manipulating the system. It was heartening, though, to read that he has loans totaling in the hundreds of million dollars coming due in the next several years, all of which he personally guaranteed. In other words, if his businesses aren't generating enough income, the payments will come out of his own pocket if indeed there is enough spare change there. 

There was a photograph of the Bidens as a couple along with one of HWSNBN and his wife. HWSNBN was sitting on the bench of a grand piano dressed formally. Mrs. HWSNBN was lying seductively posed on the top of the piano, one leg raised, and wearing a formal gown. The Bidens were sitting on a garden bench with their two dogs sitting in front of them. I commented that what sealed the deal for me was that HWSNBN has no pets. That says a lot about his character, in my humble opinion.

I made a bit more progress unpacking and putting away. I think I have all my knitting, felting, and weaving books gathered and on shelves which likely means that this weekend, I will discover another box with enough books to require total reorganization. I have yet to find even one of the three more staplers I know we had. I still have not found certain t-shirts and sweaters. They may have been packed together in one box, but I don't recall for sure. It's probably more likely that the pandemic will pass than I finish the unpacking. Right now, finding one of the missing staplers would be golden.