First and foremost, if you have Apple products, update them NOW. There are two zero day exploits out there you don’t want any part of that.

I’ve got today off, yay! (I know what you’re thinking – does she ever work a full 5 day workweek? Yes, occasionally, and it’s so depressing.) But, the reality is just that my PTO kicked up this year, and then with essentially 13 extra days off with our half-day Fridays every other week – I have PTO to burn. It’s very weird.

After a post-baseball followup negative Covid test yesterday, outdoor concert last night! I really just got the tickets for Los Straitjackets, cause they’re awesome and I’ve never seen/heard them live. Sadly, they were the backing band for Nick Lowe, and only played two songs on their own. But they were still fantastic and Lowe seemed to truly appreciate that he had a banger of a band backing him up. Elvis Costello was the big act – and he’s still a legend. Though, in my minds eye, he’ll always be in his mid-to-late 30s and it was a bit jarring to see a 67 year old man up there. Couldn’t help but think “when the hell did he get old?” – and realized it was probably around the same time I turned 50. He probably looks out at the audience wondering, “Why are there so many olds out there?”

Wolf Trap: Where you see your favorite bands and wonder how the hell they got grey hair. I will say Los Straitjackets has avoided this whole problem by performing in luchadora masks.

Also got myself a ridiculously overpriced hoodie, cause despite wearing mid-weight summer pants and a long sleeve shirt, as soon as the sun went down, I was freaking cold. But, hey, supporting the arts and parks! And it’s a good mid-weight hoodie. My brother said he was totally sure I was gonna roast when he saw what I was wearing before we left, ROFL.

Now it’s time to hermit up again until mid-September when our little arts & crafts fair comes back around again – that will be so fun after being canceled for 2 years! Then the Del Ray art festival at the start of October, and then it’s a biiiiig dry spell of outdoor stuff until next year, *sob*.

I’ve tried hard this year to embrace as many outdoor activities as I can, cause while I am a really good hermit, I also like going places other than Starbucks and the grocery store.

Our case counts are dropping nicely and theoretically at this rate, we’d be back to “moderate” transmission by mid-September. That being said, school starts Monday with zero structural mitigation so I am not particularly confident that the trend will hold.

Still incredibly annoyed that through all of 2022, our case counts have been higher than in 20-freaking-20. It’s like structural mitigation actually works or something, but freedom or some shit.

Someday I’ll be able to eat in a restaurant whenever I want and not have to do a risk assessment beforehand, but I suspect 2022 is not going to be that year.

But regardless, you have a great Friday, stay safe and get your Apple stuff updated!