Just a quickie today. The Professor decided that it was a day to go through stuff. I did not have that on my list of things to do today, but went along with it since one of my resolutions is to get rid of a certain amount each month. I can now check January off, and any more I do this month is gravy.
More importantly, going through some things on my own before The Professor's proclamation,
I found my Kindle!!!
Happy New Year! Broken any resolutions yet? While I haven't made a pie or used the Instant Pot, I have decided on a fitness goal for January. It turns out I was wrong on what I thought the challenge set by my Apple watch would be, and the new, corrected one is doable. It's rack up 820 minutes of exercise in the month, or 26 per day. Now the watch times some activities better than others. If I swim, it gives pretty much the same time I get using the poolside timer. For walking, though, it seems to get confused by how fast I'm walking or where, and the time that shows up is not the actual number of minutes I was walking. I can put up with that and may even end up walking more one day.
The US surpassed 20 million covid-19 cases in December which just happened to be the deadliest and most infectious month yet. The stated goal for vaccinations given before the end of 2020 was 20 million. Attaining that would have been impossible since only 14 million doses were distributed. Only 2.1 million people were actually vaccinated, and states handled their vaccination programs very differently. Florida, for example, said they would vaccinate anyone over the age of 65, first-come, first-served. People showed up at ungodly early times, and the lines stretched so far people needed the chairs they'd brought with them. To add insult to injury, one person who waited all day in line said she would not be surprised if the wait in line ended up being a superspreader event.
Should the government be handling vaccinations at the national level? I'm not sure that would have been better given that the level of detail required to set up specific programs is probably better handled at the state or local level. Whereas at one point I was anxious about vaccinations, worrying how I would document my underlying conditions, I'm now more they'll get to me when they get to me. They may have worked most of the wrinkles out of things by then.
It's not clear whether the Olympic Games will happen in Tokyo this summer. They're getting the same surge in infections being seen elsewhere. In response to the new variant strain of coronavirus, they've now banned all non-resident arrivals. I know the Games would not be until July, but there likely are a number of details that would have to be set well in advance. I can't say I'd miss them if they weren't held. I actually find the Winter Games to be more interesting.
Less than three weeks from Inauguration Day, the Secret Service is swapping out members of the detail that guards Uncle Joe and Dr. Biden. Evidently, some of those agents may be more in favor of The Lame Duck than desired. In some cases, agents have discouraged mask-wearing by people around the Bidens. The new agents being assigned to them are mostly senior agents many of whom were in the Bidens' detail when Uncle Joe was Vice President.
It's been a quiet start to the new year. I did a wee bit of organizing and sorting. I copied about 20 posts from the blog view to a Word file. I figured finding something specific would be easier that way. That document is now over 300 pages long and contains more than 180,000 words. I don't think I'll ever print it out given how much paper it would take. I don't want to kill more trees than absolutely necessary. I can't use the excuse that I'm not doing much because we stayed up too late last night. We headed to bed at the normal 9:00 so as to get close to eight hours of sleep before the alarm at 5:00.
We interrupt this irregularly scheduled pandemic for a public service announcement on New Year's resolutions, past and present. I'm not even going to try to assess how I did on each and every one of last year's (2020) resolutions given that several were achieved under the influence of the novel coronavirus. Not using plastic straws in particular and using as few single-use plastic items as possible were almost too easy. Not eating out meant not having to refuse a plastic straw and draw out one of my personal metal ones. Much of my single-use plastic items were water bottles, and if I used any it was only a couple and likely on my February trip to Texas. One item on the list was "make good art." In my dreams maybe. I certainly did not foresee living in the basement guest room for six months, emptying and refilling the house in terms of "stuff." But enough of 2020; what did I come up with for 2021?
I had more trouble than usual coming up with ones for next year (2021). The ones for 2020 in retrospect seemed too nebulous or touchy-feely. When I started doing formal resolutions, I tried to make them quantitative, such as "work out so many days each week." Even after deciding to return to some quantitative degree, I struggled a bit. I've been in a bit of a funky mood the last day or two which may have been the reason. I found some notes I'd made on other occasions and came up with the following:
Yesterday we set another new record for the number of Americans dying of covid-19 in one day: 3,275. It's only going to get worse as 2021 sets in. It's three weeks until the inauguration given that there is no Wednesday surprise on January 6 when the House accepts the Electoral College results. January 20 could be our first day over 5,000 deaths. Republican Congressman-Elect Luke Letlow from Louisiana, who was to have been sworn in on Sunday, died yesterday of covid. Father of two young children, he was only 41 and had no underlying conditions.
Google released data on things we googled during 2020. Excluding "coronavirus" and "election," the largest search of any single event was Kobe Bryant's death. The total number of searches for "coronavirus" over the entire year was more than 10 times the Kobe searches. And the spike in searches for "election" around November 3 was higher than any single "coronavirus" spike. My initial reaction to that was how could the death of a sports idol be more important than ... than ... I couldn't think of any other single event that might have competed with "coronavirus" or "election." It was a pretty weird year.
Workers are removing the parade reviewing stand that had been constructed in from of the White House. Uncle Joe will be sworn in outside, but it sounds as if there won't be the traditional inaugural parade and walk to the White House from the Capitol. It's going to be a mostly virtual day. I'm sure there will be complaints, but not from here. So much of Inauguration Day is for show, and this may not be the time for that. Still, I hope he and Aunt Jill, er, that is, Dr. Biden get to relax a bit and savor the day. I wonder if the couch in the family part of the White House is big enough for both of them as well as Champ and Major.
Argentina has legalized abortion up to 14 weeks in a pregnancy. I did not see that coming. And it's nice to see even if I don't expect many other predominantly Catholic countries to follow suit. I have not looked up how Pope Francis feels about this but probably well eventually.
We're taking down all the Christmas things tomorrow. Normally we do it on New Year's Day, but I'm in such a hurry to bid 2020 a not-so-fond farewell that I want Christmas 2020 over and done with before 2021 steps in. This means I need to get serious if I'm going to make any formal resolutions for the new year. Something other than get my hair cut and highlighted, call the hand clinic about my thumb and/or wrist issues, reschedule Monday's cancelled otolaryngology appointment, go to the dentist, and so on. The life things put on hold for the months of the pandemic do not equal resolutions for the new year.
Remember from a day or two ago that one in every thousand Americans has died of covid-19? Here's another one for you: one out of 17 Americans has tested positive for covid-19. I know I do know 17 Americans, and since my mom tested positive, that's my one. Coming up with another 17 might be dicey. There's a reason I haven't really minded hermitting: I am more than a bit introverted.
Continuing with news of the novel coronavirus, new figures released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control reveal that the infection rate in Wuhan could have been 10 times higher than the official figure. Not to be outdone, Russia has admitted that their covid-19 death toll is more than triple the official number. Are they trying to keep up with or outdo us (the US) when it comes to covid numbers? They have a ways to go.
Finally, almost 1.3 million people passed through airports on Sunday, suggesting that Dr. Fauci's prediction of a surge upon a surge may indeed come to pass. Perhaps I should be thankful that neither I nor The Professor come from a family so tightly knit that holidays cannot be passed in nuclear family pods.
Moving on from the pandemic, someone in the business organization named for The Lame Duck has conceded that he will not, in fact, be inaugurated for a second term. The Washington, DC International Hotel bearing the surname of The Lame Duck has released the rooms it was holding for January 16-20, presumably for Duck supporters to attend the inauguration.
The week between Christmas and New Year's Day is always a slow one, but it seems especially slow this year. In several years, this has been the week in which The Professor and I journeyed to the north--Iceland or Norway--in search of the Northern Lights. Last year's visit to Newport News, Virginia, in search of its downtown was an aberration, but one planned because we would be traveling to three of the 'Stans in May. This year, neither Iceland nor Norway would be particularly welcoming, and even Canada is out of the question. (One year we do plan to search for the aurora in Yellowknife in Canada's Northwest Territories.)
I have been thinking about those pesky New Year's resolutions I always make. I never seem to get very far with many of them, though I am still doing the first one I consciously set some decades ago, which is to put the laundry away every night. Interesting how that keeps piles of folded clothes from multiplying in one's bedroom space. For many years, I set goals for working out a certain number of days each year. I think I succeeded at all of those, but when I think of such resolutions now, my aging joints remind me of just how old they are. I am, fingers crossed, about to make it through 2020 without major joint surgery. My major joints and even-numbered years share a history. In 2014, I had my torn right rotator cuff and labrum fixed. In 2016, it was the same on my left side. In 2018, I had my right knee replaced. I vowed then that the left knee was not to be done in 2020. Treating my right knee the way they advised me to after the replacement has taken strain off the left knee. It hurts less now than it did before the replacement.
I did start on a new creative venture last night, though I have no idea what it will end up being. Several years ago, The Professor gave me a set of kimono pockets obtained from Kyoto Kimono. A friend who went to her brother's wedding in Japan send me some silk pieces she bought there. The pockets were in most cases pieces sewn together with an opening, probably why they were called "pockets." I'm ripping the seams and making them all flat pieces, some of one fabric but most of two. I have a general idea what I might do with them, but I want to get them all flattened before I decide for sure. I expect I'll be back on this topic before the pandemic ends, so enlightenment may await.
How to avoid not writing until 7:00 in the evening? Write at 1:30 in the afternoon. Last night, I tempted readers with mention of an exploding coffee carafe. When Son #1's company closed their local office, Son #1, one of two local staff members, had to empty the office of everything. Son #1 ended up with two coffee makers. We thought there might be a problem with our coffee maker, so Son #1 brought the two extra ones out. The Mr. Coffee was missing its carafe, and the handle on the thermal Krup carafe was broken. The Professor never gets rid of anything he thinks he might be able to fix and decided to try to repair the handle using epoxy. He got everything glued and taped into place and set the carafe aside. A while later, there was a rather loud explosion. Even with a hearing aid for one ear, I cannot localize sound, but I thought the explosion came from the kitchen. So did The Professor who was at the kitchen sink washing some dishes. My first thought was the microwave, but we hadn't been using it. No explosion there, nor was there one apparent anywhere. There were a number of gunshots outside, probably hunters breaking in their new guns, but the explosion seemed too loud to be from outside. Oh well.
The next morning, while Son #1 and I were out with The Family Dog, The Professor decided to check the repair on the handle of the carafe. When he unscrewed the lid to which the handle was attached, a mist of glass crystals followed the rising lid. The glass lining of the carafe had exploded. My theory is that the repair may have locked the lid tighter than it should have been, letting pressure build up, and boom! Do not try this at home, but it was an explosion worth hearing.
In The Guardian this morning, the UK's leading psychiatrist called the novel coronavirus the "greatest threat to mental health since the second world was." Its impact will be felt for years, and will include the time it takes to readjust once the virus is under control. The virus has also changed the social support networks of many people; those, too, will require time in which to readjust. The Washington Post this morning ran "Dreading and dreaming of returning to the office." More readjustment, especially for those who have embraced working from home. Having worked at home for most of what passed for my career, I can say that one does get a lot more work done without the coworker who stops by your desk to pass some time on her way to the ladies'.
The Guardian also contained an article on the "Trump era in 32 words and phrases." I agree with some of them more than others, and they left out two I would have included: covfefe and rino (Republican in name only). Some of the ones they got dead-on: alternative facts, American carnage, America first. bigly, Never Trumper, witch-hunt. And how dare I fail to include Javanka?
On a very different note, if you liked Spam, how would you feel about meat-free Spam? It's getting to be thing in Asia. I think I bought Spam once to show The Sons what I'd meant when I described my mom's serving Spam pizza. I don't think we artit once I'd opened the can, but I might be repressing the fact that we did.
And on another different note, scientists have discovered a new species of snake. Where did they find it? In the University of Kansas' Biodiversity Institute's collection of preserved specimens. One has never been photographed alive. In case you were worried, scientists say it is unlikely to be venomous.
If you have the interest and time, I highly recommend an upcoming issue of The New Yorker on "The Plague Years." It lays out three moments that the US missed in the early days of the novel coronavirus, one in January, one in February, and one in March. Had any one of them not been missed, we could be in a much better place today than we are. Hindsight is always 20-20. Parts may raise your blood pressure, and you may not want to read it all in one sitting, but it is worth reading.
This morning I cancelled a medical appointment I had scheduled for next Monday. It was to check the abutment screwed into my skull and into which my hearing aid fits. The appointment was supposed to be in October but got moved to January due to the doc's schedule. I figured I could move it due to mine. I told them I would call to schedule something after I'd been vaccinated. Forty-one weeks into being a hermit, I am not going to risk even one brief exposure. That's why I'm not getting my hair cut so that it will no longer fall to cover my eyes. I give it about six more weeks until it's long enough to stay behind my ears.
Will New Year's Eve and Day feel any different given that we're bidding adieu to a year like no other and hoping against hope that the coming one is less surprising or surprising in a positive way? As I typed that, I did think that any year is like no other. We carry each passing year with us as we felt it--the highs, the lows, the lost opportunities, and the found treasures. We each have different years of our own making. As for the coming year, it will be what it will be.
Forty-one weeks; can fifty-two be far off? I continue to wonder at times not just what day of the week it is but what month of the year. The Christmas tree reminds me that it is December until it is has been retired to the garage. I write so few checks that at least I won't have the "what year do I put in the date?" conundrum.
Here's a statistic to think about. One in every 1,000 Americans has died of covid-19. The Census Bureau says that in this last week of December 20202 the population is some 330,750,000. There have been some 311,116 deaths. The math works. One in every 1,000 Americans has died of covid-19. In the early days of the pandemic, people seemed to have no problem with schools being moved to remote learning, assorted businesses being shuttered, and people staying home. How much worse are things now? Considerably. So why can't we accept the same strategies we accepted early on? Why am I even asking? I should know better.
A non-time conundrum: an 82-year-old covid-19 patient was sharing a hospital room with a 37-year-old patient. When the 82-year-old began to pray, the 37-year-old bludgeoned him to death with an oxygen tank. So, will the 82-year-old's death be counted as from covid-19? Here's another stumper. In April, an 86-year-old woman became disoriented and grabbed another patient's IV stand for support. The other patient pushed her back for violating social distance protocols and the elderly patient died. One more death that could fit into one of two boxes.
The Virginia new case numbers have rebounded from the Christmas Day low. Situation normal except for the percent positivity of 12.2. The last time the percent positivity was 12.2, it was May 26 and reopening was still more of a concept than a practice.
So, not a very long post today. I could stretch it out by relating the story of the exploding coffee carafe, but I'll save that for a day on which I don't start writing until 7:00 pm.
