Fairly certain it’s Wednesday…

Posted on May 13, 2020 by A Dreamer

If nothing else, it’s definitely a weekday.

Tuesdays are now grocery pickup day. Giant/Peapod has been great, if a little wonky. If you put something in your basket and it goes out of stock before you your final checkout, you used to get a popup saying they’d taken it out of the basket. That popup doesn’t seem to be happening anymore, so there is the added challenge now of trying to figure out what isn’t on the list anymore when I open the app, LOL.

After pickup yesterday, I hit Starbucks since they’ve reopened for grab & go. OH MY GOD IT TASTED SO GOOD. And it was so nice to see the folks there and they were all “CINDY!!” and they’re all doing OK and it was just very nice. Given it was midday there wasn’t anyone else there, so it was easy, but I’m not really sure how they’re handling this in the mornings when it’s usually busy, but they do have areas marked off outside and boxes taped off on the ground, so there is some kind of plan. May make a treat run Saturday when I have time to just kinda stand by my car and watch and figure out how it’s working.

We had another department meeting yesterday, and I’ll give them credit, they’re saying the right words. Don’t know if I believe them because I have become a cynical bastard in my old age. And today they announced they’re bringing in a motivational speaker for a couple webinars which kinda blew it all. In the midst of cost cutting, I don’t even want to know what we spent on that, cause I don’t think this dude is doing these for free. It will be interesting to see how eyeroll inducing these are.

But, hey, I’m here, you’re here, so hey, it’s not all bad.

Posted in COVID19, Good Things, Working | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Watching the UK this morning

Posted on May 11, 2020 by A Dreamer

Boris Johnson is trying to open things up and the rest of UK leadership is responding with “Fuck that noise.” (Seriously, “stay alert” – what the hell?)

Northern Virginia appears to be taking the same route with regards to Virginia’s reopening, as are the Maryland suburbs on the other side of the river. That being said, the pronouncements so far have been a bit mealy mouthed and I’d really like to see something more forceful from my county.

In healthy coping mechanism news, I did a virtual 5K yesterday for the Friends of the Fairfax County Animal Shelter! I walked it, but damn I am slow even taking that into account! :) Maybe next year we can have a real one.

In “of course” news, Politico is reporting that the US supply chain is basically shit for vaccines. Made worse by our ridiculous refusal to work with the world community on a vaccine. Of. Fucking. Course. So, given our track record so far, sounds like vaccines will be available the way testing has been – the NBA will be fully vaccinated while the rest of us will be sitting for god knows how long around trying to figure out how not to get infected before we can get vaccinated – as government and employers force people out and about saying, “there’s a vaccine”.

It’s interesting to watch the BBC in the mornings. The folks in the UK are tired and frustrated and scared, just like everyone else. But, they’re not running about protesting staying home. Parents are ready to get the kids out of the house and back to school, but not ready to do it at the risk of folks health. Well, it’s pretty much like every other country outside the US – folks actually giving a shit about their fellow humans. And here, we have assholes running around having their white supremacist gun rallies ranting about “freedom”.

America has always been seriously problematic to put it mildly, and I guess I shouldn’t have expected better when we really needed to look out for our citizens, especially with this administration.

OK, time to go keep the economy going.

You have a good day, OK?

Posted in COVID19 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Well, past time to start yoga again.

Posted on May 10, 2020 by A Dreamer

Thanks to the LilyMonster. She’s been quite protective of me at night lately, which is lovely and sweet, but this also manifests as her starting the night down by my knees and slowly moving up the bed over the course of the night and me unconsciously scooting out of her way. I started last night taking up a regular amount of space and woke up this morning having access to only the top 1/4 of the bed and laying damn near sideways but with my head not really making the adjustment for this.

There was quite a lot of stretching just to get out of bed. This on top of very odd dreams involving the news that Dr. Fauci had to be in quarantine.

Speaking of the White House hotspot – it hit me that I am very, very sure that 45 looks at testing positive as some sort of personal/moral failure. In his ramblings about testing, I was surprised he didn’t blurt out, “Everything was great until Katie went and got herself infected.” (Also, he’s just a fucking idiot.)

Yesterday’s attempts at productivity were…less than optimal. I attempted a color treatment on my hair that pretty much did nothing, and I made dinner.

Today’s big accomplishment has been calling the cable company – they kicked things on their end, I rebooted yet again, I have BBC News again!

I think the next big thing on tap for today will be…a nap.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Up too early for a Saturday yet again.

Posted on May 9, 2020 by A Dreamer

Seriously, my ass rolled out of bed at 9:30 this morning. IT’S SATURDAY, I’M ALLOWED TO SLEEP TIL WHENEVER. Whenever is not supposed to be 9:30! My brother was up even earlier than I was, so we at least avoided the now normal traffic jam at the coffee pot, and bonus, the kettle was still warm so I got my coffee a little quicker. (I’m starting to think that when I replaced the old kettle, I should have gotten an electric one. Why I didn’t see a pandemic & massive quantities of at home coffee via french press coming 3 years ago is beyond me.)

Yes, his totally fucked up sleep schedule has somehow righted itself in this pandemic and we routinely crash into each other in the kitchen in the mornings. Lily is VERY confused by this turn of events. There is a lot of “IS HE ALLOWED IN HERE RIGHT NOW?” yelling in the mornings.

Speaking of her furry highness, she is AGHAST at the weather. It’s May 9th and 43º outside and that is simply unacceptable in her little golden eyes. I’m not thrilled with it either. It’s MAY for fucks sake! We shouldn’t still be having freeze warnings! With pollen alerts at the same time!

In an attempt to stay positive, I have booked Lily in for her week at the pet resort in July. The beach is two months off and the go/no-go decision is probably going to be very last minute, so might as well hope for the best. Maybe it will all be takeaway dinners and in house cocktails and sitting on the porch drinking beer and watching the turtles – there are far worse ways to spend a week. We can social distance there as easily as we can here, but with some salt air and turtles.

In other being good and staying home news, I did NOT go to Starbucks this morning, even though they are open for grab & go. I cannot say that I will be as good Tuesday afternoon after I pick up the groceries. (They’re in the same shopping center.)

Now, time to figure out what to do with myself with the rest of the day. All kinds of options…clean, read, stitch, take a walk, or, just sit my ass on the couch and watch Netflix, LOL.

Lily, a black & orange tortoiseshell cat, curled up on a red & white pillow

This weather is bullshit.

Posted in Lily, Miscellany, Photos | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Of course…

Posted on May 8, 2020 by A Dreamer

No sooner did I make a larger than normal order of coffee beans, and more syrups, I find out that my local Starbucks is open again for grab & go service.

Spent part of my afternoon off listening to the Gov’s presser (I am just too exciting for my own good.) We’re apparently still doing Phase I starting next Friday…

It’s incremental, reasonable, rational, and yet I am still very: 

picture (4).gif

The good news (we’re using good news very loosely these days) – localities can go stricter than this. I’m looking at you, Fairfax County. Arlington is already saying they’ll be holding as is for the time being.

If you need me, I’ll be here letting my roots grow out, watching numbers, and slowly losing my mind from rage over how it didn’t have to be this way.

Posted in COVID19, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

We made it to another Friday

Posted on May 8, 2020 by A Dreamer

Day 57 of all this and Happy VE Day! The BBC is interviewing a historian about women in the war and she talked about how women were doing all kinds of war related work and then taking care of everything at home on top of it. Sounds oddly familiar, doesn’t it?

She also said that they knowing what they were doing made a difference made the work easier. I think that is what makes the current lockdown stuff hard – it doesn’t feel like it makes a difference when you watch the numbers continue to climb and Governors deciding to just open shit up anyway.

And now they are interviewing a couple who must be in their 90s – who moved in together at the start of the lockdown. OMG, she’s saying they’re “very close friends” and he’s saying “Oh yes, very close!” with a hella twinkle in his eye, and they’re giggling like teenagers and I don’t think I’ve seen anything as freaking adorable in a while.

In other news, Senators Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey want to send 2K a month to pretty much everyone, retroactive to March, until 3 months after HHS says this is over. YES, YES, YES, especially considering that states like Texas and Ohio that are reopening far too soon and essentially forcing people into unsafe work environments by denying unemployment.

But, I am sure it will go nowhere, because the Republicans in the Senate & the administration will go, “But look, things are reopening, there will be jobs all over the place!” Plus that weird GOP thing of “dignity in work” and “if we give people money when they’re not working, they will never, ever, ever work EVER again.”

A) On the whole, work sucks, and B) So what if someone gets a UBI and can live within it and doesn’t work again? Or *GASP* it forces employers to be more competitive for employees because they have a fallback income? Can’t have that…

Speaking of work, today is our first half day Friday! Two very odd things about this (do not get me wrong, I LOVE IT) – one, they’re only planning on doing it until the offices reopen. Friday traffic will still suck for folks who do go back to the office, we should keep it up permanently. Also, they said in the announcement “some places call this ‘summer hours’, but we’re calling it ‘oddly company branded thing!'” Excuse me while I go propose “CompanyFlexiSched!” if branding is what makes it happen. Seriously – all the rules are out the window, we should be really looking st compressed/alternate schedules – who cares if your 80 hours happens in 8 days or 10 as long as you’re getting everything done? It might not work for every department, but we shouldn’t rule it out for everyone.

Posted in COVID19, Uncategorized, Working | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Throwback Thursday…

Posted on May 7, 2020 by A Dreamer

So, what was I doing a year ago today… Oh, whatever I wanted. What was that like again?

In some good news, it seems our pay cuts start with the first full pay period in May vs. the first paycheck in May. That, or I seriously hosed my withholding form, cause I’m no accountant, but I’m pretty sure when your gross pay goes down, your net pay should not go up. Oh wait, I am an accountant, it definitely shouldn’t do that.

My salon is really confident that the Governor will announce that Phase 1 that will start on 5/15 and they’re opening. They’ve got all kinds of precautions in place, everyone masked & gloved, no more than 10 in the salon, extra cleaning, etc, etc. Despite the fact that my roots are ridiculous, I’ll hold off, BECAUSE YOU CAN’T DISTANCE WHILE GETTING YOUR HAIR DONE. And I’m not going to put my stylist & wonderful shampoo gal at risk for highlights no one is going to see anyway.

In other Covid related news, the compiler that VDH has been using to tally all the numbers shit the bed night before last, so while I am sure they’ve tallied it up by hand for the Governor, the rest of us still are looking at numbers from 5/5. I am sure there are folks looking at this and seeing some conspiracy to hide numbers. I work for a software company – trust me, there is just some dev out there going, FUUUUUUUUUUCK. As a data junkie, I am very annoyed at no information, but my god I feel for whoever is trying to fix this.

Speaking of opening and such – NPR has a good article w/recommended benchmarks for states, and Virginia is just not there yet. We should be hitting 16K+ tests a day and a positive case rate of 10% or less. We’re not even averaging 5K tests a day yet and our positives are nowhere near 10%. I just can’t help but wonder what things would look like if the feds had actually HELPED with mass testing from the get-go, but instead the Cheeto in Chief is still blaming China instead of actually doing anything.

picture (3).gif

But hey, we’re still here and let’s all survive this out of sheer spite if nothing else.

Posted in COVID19, Miscellany | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Well, damnit

Posted on May 6, 2020 by A Dreamer

For a few minutes this morning, I thought it was Thursday. Alas, it is not. (For anyone that needs to know – it is Wednesday.)

Had my first “whoa, why isn’t anyone social distancing” moment in a dream last night. I suspect that won’t be the last one, and I’m kind of surprised it took this long to have one.

Ocean City’s beach & boardwalk is opening this weekend. Well, that’s stupid.

Adventures in grocery shopping… Yesterday got the message “your order will be ready for pickup at 2, here’s what you got” – clicked and milk was not there. Well, shit – milk hasn’t been an issue since plague panic Friday. But, determined to NOT let this derail my day (and trust me, that was an option,) I go to 7-11 first, grab a gallon, go do the pickup, they bring out the cart – and the milk is right there on top. Lesson learned: The “what you got” link only has what they’ve put in your cart so far and milk is the very last thing they put in. BUT BOY HOWDY DO WE HAVE MILK.

With everyone staying home, guess what else is getting a little harder to find quickly? Coffee syrups. Realizing today that I need to schedule those reorders a little sooner than before. So many weird little adjustments. (Yes, I realize that as a society we have been utterly spoiled by availability and shipping speeds. I’m OK with that being redirected for health care purposes.)

Last night, Rachel Maddow went off on the meat processing industry (quite rightly) and it was satisfying. Seriously, how do you look around at what is going on and just…do nothing? You can’t process anything if all your workers are sick, dumbfucks.

In a good but weird turn – it seems my hands are starting to finally get used to the seemingly constant handwashing. Could be the slightly warmer weather, or my body has just gone, “send all the oils to the hands!” – but I am not feeling like I constantly need to dunk my hands in a vat of hand lotion. This may also be in part due to switching at least one bathroom to some of the inventory of fancy assed bar soaps I have on hand. (I used to think Softsoap was great, now I kinda hate it. My fancy soap habit may be paying off.)

Welp, go be your best socially distanced self today!

Posted in COVID19, Miscellany | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Hey, it’s Cinco de Mayo!

Posted on May 5, 2020 by A Dreamer

And guess who forgot to put Coronas and limes on the grocery list for today’s pickup?

So, my company has done a nice thing, for the next month and a half, we get to knock off early every other Friday. I do not at all understand their stated logic in getting there or the proposed end of it, but hey, they got there for a little while. Of course, I think it should be permanent, or at a minimum go as long as the pay cuts are in effect. Folks routinely turn themselves inside out for this company, giving back a few hours a pay period regularly would go a long way. (Or hell, just let us do modified schedules in general. I would gladly do a 9 hour day M-Th to knock off early every Friday.)

And in data modeling news…it seems the reason IHME’s models have been so wonky and basically garbage is that apparently they continually assumed everyone would stay the fuck home.

Virginia is slated to start “Phase I” next Friday.

The schedule is not set in stone, it’s reasonable and rational, and yet, it’s gonna be a long time before I re-enter society…

Dentist? That will hold. Eye doc emailed saying it’s time for my annual appointment – yeah, I can still see, we’re good for now. Hair salon? As disappointing as it is to watch my roots come in and not just be full grey, and the color depositing mask I bought doing *nothing* – I can wait a while.

I swear, if we don’t get the asshole in chief out of office this November… I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, I know it’s not healthy to be this perpetually filled with rage over the administrations non-response to all this. (On top of the rage over everything else they’ve done.)

But hey, it’s Cinco de Mayo – go have a quesadilla. :)

Posted in COVID19, Holidays, Miscellany, Working | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Oh No, Not Love Island!

Posted on May 4, 2020 by A Dreamer

There will be no 2020 season of Love Island. While I can’t say I ever watched this particular program, it does make me wonder how many other shows won’t be able to safely restart production this year. To the Love Island fans out there – I am sure this sucks for you.

Somehow it is Monday, AGAIN. I mean, it’s good that we made it here, but ugh, Monday, yet again. We really need a 4 day workweek. And not just because I’m a bit of a lazy ass who spent half her Sunday day drinking on the porch and then went straight to bed.

This week we get our first salary cut paychecks, combined with the new W4 forms being taken into account, and I still have no idea if I filled it out right, so that will be exciting. I’m a damn accountant, and I struggled with that new POS form. All I could tell for sure is the default W4 will result in massive over-withholding – we’ll see if the numbers I jammed in will be anything close to what they should be.

Our farmers markets are opening up here a couple weeks and they’re putting precautions in place for social distancing and such, including order ahead from vendors (YAY!) but I am still cringing a little over it. As much as I very much want to go – I’ll probably hold out for a while. I really am going to be the last person to re-enter society, aren’t I?

Well, time to go and pretend like I’m functioning and test some software. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! That should be good for a laugh if nothing else.

Posted in COVID19, Miscellany | Tagged , | 2 Comments