In an alternate universe

Posted on June 11, 2020 by A Dreamer

I’d be excited about Phase II starting tomorrow, because it would mean we’d really effectively dealt with Covid19, with metric fucktons of testing, tracking and quarantining.

But, on a federal level, we appear to have forgotten there is a pandemic at all – as we hit two million cases. On a state level, we’re still not where we should be on testing, and that testing is largely self-selecting to boot.

Yes, our county cases are dropping – but the week through yesterday, we had 1150 new cases, and 1150 cases is not exactly nothing, especially when the highest weekly count has been 1906 cases. We’re only 60% off the high.

It’s just too damn soon.

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It’s. Only. Wednesday.

Posted on June 10, 2020 by A Dreamer

And I need a month off, I swear.

Two days of micro disasters around the house. Two instances “We’re gonna do a FUN THING!” at work, neither of which I would categorize as fun. (Thank god, for real voluntary, but the time to determine “is this voluntary” was filled with dread and stress.)

Weird assed dreams this morning. OK, brain, I totally understand “going to a conference” dreams. But “in Baghdad, with helicopter crashing in park next to hotel” is a bit much.

And the LilyMonster deciding this morning that she is just going to stomp around and yell at the top of her tiny lungs, despite having food, water, and treats at her disposal. Thankfully, a good brushing session seems to have made her happy. (She never really cared about being brushed before, I have no idea when that changed.)

And Northern Virginia goes to Phase 2 on Friday. You’re still not getting me indoors anywhere for more than 15 minutes. While New Zealand is opening without restrictions. Yes, I am VERY jealous.

It’s 8:30 AM, and I need a nap.

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A less terrible Tuesday

Posted on June 9, 2020 by A Dreamer

We still have a pandemic and society is barely holding it together, but the cat is fine and the toilet is fixed.

So, our Lee statue in Richmond is coming down, but there’s a 10 day injunction.

The temporary injunction order issued Monday says the state is a party to a deed recorded in March 1890 in which it accepted the statue, pedestal and ground they sit on and agreed to “faithfully guard” and “affectionately protect” them.

We can guard and protect it in a warehouse just fine, thanks. The guy suing is a descendant of one of the deed signatories, which I’m not sure how it gives him standing to sue, but hopefully the judge will see that keeping the damn thing up is not in the public interest.

I’m not gonna lie, every dead white guy statue looks the same to me – but if there was a guy that fucked over my family for generations, you can damn well bet I wouldn’t want a statue of him sitting around.

And the morning news is fretting about cancel culture cause folks are getting called out for racism. Crossfit was shit anyway, spare me the pearl clutching.

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Oh FFS

Posted on June 8, 2020 by A Dreamer

Because life really does go on and boy howdy is it a Monday already. We’ve got a plague, a societal breaking point due to police brutality, a fucking toilet that refuses to fill with water and a cat deciding to barf everywhere all at the same time.

Any one of these is bad, but jesus fucking christ, I cannot do all at once.

The cat & toilet literally happened simultaneously in the last 15 minutes.

We have replacement guts for the toilet, and it’s not leaking, and the cat wasn’t puking blood or anything, but I just cannot at 7 AM on a Monday.

The cat is now yelling for food, and my brother is going to try and fix the toilet today and if he can’t, we’ll get the plumbers in.

But no one needs this first thing in the fucking morning.

Oh, and the cable is fucked again and half the channels are out.

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Some lighter notes

Posted on June 7, 2020 by A Dreamer

Because life does continue.

This week has been adventures in owning an old, but very loved car. An intermittent oil pressure light. Given that there was no puddle of oil in the driveway or smell of burned oil while driving, I hoped for a dying sensor – but given the shitshow that 2020 has been so far, I was ready for the shop to say, “Didn’t you notice the oil pan falling out in the middle of the road?” So I take her in for the light and a road trip check, because I am still under the delusion I may go on vacation this year.

DYING SENSOR FTW! But, a small coolant leak at the thermostat… So, a new sensor and a new thermostat and gasket. Still, not bad for a car that is 17 years old.

Drop off Wednesday, pick up Thursday, and Friday…she starts overheating. Look, I’m no car expert, but I know it shouldn’t do this less than 24 hours after the thermostat has ben replaced. Back to shop – new thermostat was defective… Oops.

While the car was back in the shop for another new thermostat, I get an auto-text from them “How was the service?” I just responded, “All good!” cause…defective parts happen and it’s not anyone’s fault.

And in keeping myself entertained news… I discovered that Amazon Prime’s* streaming service has a PBS Masterpiece channel. HOLY SHIT IT HAS SO MUCH OF THE STUFF I LOVE. LOVEJOY! WOLF HALL! LEWIS!

And my brother finally busted out and hung out with one of his best buds for the first time in almost 3 months – they’ve both been following all the rules, so risk is minimal, and frankly, it’s really good for their collective mental health, so that makes me happy.

And I remembered to refill the birdfeeder with all the seed I’ve acquired and the birds are happy and Lily has been enjoying cat TV.

*I know, I know, Amazon is decidedly not good.

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Well, someone didn’t get the memo

Posted on June 7, 2020 by A Dreamer

I’d been saying how pleasantly surprised I was that Fairfax County PD had made itself rather small and invisible the past two weeks, rather than making things worse as many other departments had done.

The chief even put out a statement that at least said all the right things.

Then yesterday, one of the officers was arrested and charged with three counts of assault & battery after tasering a man in crisis.

The incident was Friday afternoon, charges were placed Saturday. Police shouldn’t be responding to folks in crisis in the first place, but the department and Commonwealth’s Attorney have done some things right in the aftermath:

– Criminal Charges
– Other officers involved removed from duty
– Body camera footage released
– Administrative review for the officer (ie, he’s getting fired, but they have to go through the steps)

Fairfax County literally **just** started body cam use in three districts at the beginning of May.

What would have happened without the footage? And how many of these incidents do we have no idea about, because there is no footage?

When the officer is fired, could we send the budget for his salary over to county mental health services?

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So, what do we do about the police unions?

Posted on June 6, 2020 by A Dreamer

As someone who is VERY pro-labor and pro-union, I think first we need to stop thinking of them as unions.

But mayors seem to be unwilling or unable to stand up to them – and when the union publishes the arrest information of your daughter – well, it just seems like a glorified protection racket. (And DeBlasio hasn’t exactly been a critic of the police through all this, and yet here we are.)

If the Mayor is the boss of the Police Chief and his officers are in charge of the safety of the Mayor – there seems to be an inherent conflict of interest here. Sure, if you have a department that is fiercely ethical, dedicated to the community, understands the issues confronting those living in that community, a community where social services are properly funded, etc, etc – then you probably don’t have an issue where the Mayor has to tell the Chief to get his folks in line.

But, if you have a department that’s been able to do whatever the fuck they want since the beginning of time, and a union that is backing up their right to do so, with the inherent threat of “nice life and town the Mayor has here, it would be a shame if something happened to it” – well, then there is a problem.

I just don’t know what the hell we do about it.

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Wasn’t quite prepared for that

Posted on June 5, 2020 by A Dreamer

So, my neighbors are black and I don’t know them terribly well, much in the same way I don’t know any of my neighbors terribly well – we just aren’t usually outside and the way the houses are laid out, you just don’t run into people during the day, and most folks get to know each other through their kids. Or we talk when we’re shoveling snow.

But, we’ve chatted more since we’re all outside more just to be the fuck out of the house, just about the mundane stuff you chat about when there is a pandemic and you can’t go anywhere. And they have kids, one of which is AJ, who is a 4 year old little dude who is the extrovert of the family.

When he is out on his teeny tiny bike, he uses our driveway to turn around and if I’m on the porch, he loves to stop and talk.

Yesterday he rolls up. “So, we talked about fire safety before.” (We did!) “Do you want to talk about police officers?”

Me:
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But, hey, fuck it, let’s do this – maybe he’s got questions, or wants to get something off his little chest and maybe he can tell Mom & Dad are stressed and doesn’t want to add to it.

“If you want to talk about police officers, we can talk about it!” (Fuck, where do we start, ACAB, defund them all, or that America has been an inherently unjust place for 400 years?)

“Did you know they have different kinds of cars?”

Thank you sweet baby jesus for kids being kids who are obsessed with cars and trucks. (Not gonna lie, cop *cars* are cool, lights and sirens and all kinds of whirlygigs. Right up there with fire trucks.)

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In case we forgot about the pandemic…

Posted on June 4, 2020 by A Dreamer

My bar has been open for takeaway and someone popped a positive…

To their credit, they immediately announced it, shut down, and everyone is on paid quarantine leave for 14 days.

2020 just isn’t going to give us a break on anything, is it?

And most of the state is moving to Phase 2 tomorrow. Gatherings of up to 50 people, and everything pretty much open with 30-50% capacity. (Thankfully my county will remain in Phase 1 for a little while longer.)

I’m very tired, and I’ve got a comparatively easy life. I know everyone else must be fucking exhausted by 2020.

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Fascist in Chief

Posted on June 2, 2020 by A Dreamer

I swear, there is no situation that man can’t make worse and now we have an occupying army in DC, and folks getting teargassed so he can have a fucking photo op at a church he doesn’t attend and doesn’t want him.

And bringing the military into DC is yet another reason they need statehood – he could do it because they don’t have a Governor to say NO.

Don’t tell me the cops across the country haven’t been emboldened by his rhetoric and acted accordingly this week.

And the Australian PM wants an investigation because one of their TV crews was attacked by cops in DC. Get in line, mate.

Find a bail fund. Find a mutual aid society. Find out how your town keeps control of its cops. There are many threads on Twitter on things you can do if you can’t be in the streets. (I thought I’d bookmarked them, but alas, you’ll need to do some searching.)

This is one hell of a way to get a pandemic off the front page.

Black Lives Matter. Pride was a riot. Be sad, but stay angry. All is not lost.

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