Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female.

Day 5 of testing positive, I keep reading it can average around 10 days, so I’m REALLY hoping this is the halfway mark.  I’d been trying to avoid Covid because I didn’t want to get sick, or make anyone else sick.  

What I did not consider was HOW FUCKING ANNOYING THIS IS.  I don’t like isolation, I don’t like masking in the house (not gonna give my brother Covid) and I’m not enjoying trying to keep my body as calm as freaking possible in an attempt to ward off Long Covid. 

You should absolutely avoid Covid cause getting sick sucks, getting other people sick sucks, nobody wants Long Covid, but also – seriously consider the annoyance and inconvenience factors, too, cause damn, I did not ever anticipate those and they are making me very stabby.

My symptoms resolved in under 48 hours, yay, and per the CDC, I can just go all face-naked Wednesday, because they tossed the 5/10 day isolation guidance out the window in March and it’s all about symptoms and vibes apparently.  (I will not be going face-naked anytime soon.)

Been seeing two camps on Covid lately.  One is surprised that they know a bunch of people who have picked up Covid recently, and the other is astonished and really angry that people seem to not know better.

If you’re not Terminally Online and actively seeking out Covid info – honestly, I can understand why you’d think things were OK and just go about your business like all was well.  Because if it was still dangerous out there, the government would do something, right?

I can’t remember the last time I heard about Covid in a meaningful way in any mainstream media.  No structural mitigations since mid-2021.  Health departments aren’t really talking about it*, and the only data we seem to have anymore is wastewater surveillance, & you have to go looking for that.  (And at least for my county’s health department, that wastewater dashboard is not particularly helpful.  It’s out of date and only says if things are up/down/static.)

Federal, State & Local governments just acquiesced to industry and right wing psychos the moment the vaccines came out and just said “welp, good luck” and that was it.  

The fact that the President caught Covid last month and it didn’t even spark the tiniest of official public health discussions?  The whole thing was a blip on the radar at best.  Not a mitigation in sight at the Olympics?  Of course folks will think things are OK.

Hell, anywhere I have a mask on these days, it is rare that I see anyone else with a mask on.  When like 95% of folks aren’t taking precautions, you can’t slip up *at all* – and boy do I know – and if it was flipped and we were back in a majority of folks masking situation, we could all fuck up every now and then and it would be OK.

I am 99% sure I know exactly where I let my guard down and fucked up Covid-wise.  I had masks on my trip, and I used them, and I got distracted and forgot once, and welp, here we are.  Maybe if I’d looked around and everyone else was wearing a mask, I would have had that “what am I forgetting?” thought, IDK.

I’m not mad at whoever had it – I’m betting they didn’t even know it and if their symptoms were anything like mine, it may not have even occurred to them as a possibility.  I genuinely hope they’re doing OK.

My symptoms were genuinely mild, and resolved in under 48 hours.  Thursday morning, no symptoms, but still positive.  If I’d not tested on Wednesday, I might have written it all off to just being overtired and just gone on with life.**

I understand the people in the “angry that folks don’t know better camp” but that anger is misdirected.  This has been a public health failure on multiple fronts from the start.  You cannot make managing something as big as Covid an individual responsibility with zero support, which is exactly what has happened.  

There is no good data being pushed out, tests aren’t covered by insurance anymore, masks aren’t covered by insurance, the CDC says a “Core Prevention Strategy” is vaccination, but current vaccines don’t prevent transmission (ASK ME HOW I KNOW,) strains are changing faster than we get vaccines out, a year seems to be a big stretch on vaccine efficacy, and masking is just a “Additional Strategy”…  

We fucking *know* masking is the best, easiest, and cheapest damn method for preventing transmission – every agency even tangentially involved with public health should still be screaming it from the rooftops 24/7.  But it’s crickets, because, fuck if I know anymore.

Fucking terrified of what H5N1 avian flu is gonna do given the sorry state of public health in this country.

* I checked my county health departments Twitter account.  6 mentions of Covid in 2024.  That account has 14,000 followers.  There are over 880,000 people over the age of 18 in the county.  They only have 22,000 followers on FB, and about as many Covid mentions.
** Yes, I still took sick leave for two days, because I know a critical factor in recovery is rest, and I am not resting when I’m working, even if it is a laptop job.  HR can fight me on this if they want.

Yep, I tested positive for Covid yesterday, and yes, I am kicking myself up down and sideways over it, but what’s done is done.

Tuesday night after I wrangled two cats who don’t like confined spaces into crates, then the vet visit, then more cats-into-crates wrangling – I was fucking tired, but didn’t think anything of it, because, cat wrangling.

Yesterday morning, scratchy throat, bit achy, took a test, and DAMMIT ALL TO HELL it was positive.

Let the vet’s office know (I had an N95 on the whole time at least) and the vet called me back to check on me and told me not to worry it would all be OK.  So very kind, cause I felt like a jackass.

Teladoc said Paloxvid wouldn’t really be beneficial (reasonable, my symptoms aren’t bad at all) but also said “just treat it like a cold” – uh, we’re gonna take a little more care than *that* thankyouverymuch.

I’ve read multiple articles that antihistamines can block mast cell responses and basically stop your body from overreacting to Covid (best way I can explain it) so I took a Benadryl before bed last night. Mind you, correlation does not equal causation, but damn, I felt way better this morning. (I would only put yesterday at “vaguely crappy” to start with but hey, better is better.) I’m gonna keep that Benadryl habit going for a few more days to be sure. (If nothing else, it makes me sleep well.)

All I’ve taken today is a Halls drop cause my throat is scratchy, because when I wear a mask, I mouth breathe, LOL. (Happens *every* time I have a mask on for more than like, 20 minutes.)

This really shows how easy it is to *not* realize you have Covid, though – my two days of mild symptoms could easily be written off to just being overtired, especially since I felt pretty decent this morning. If I’d not tested yesterday, I don’t know that I would have today.

Taste & smell are fine, but I’ve not been super hungry. (Though in the last hour I’ve really wanted fettucine alfredo, which I do not have sitting around the house, dammit.)

Isolation guidelines are still a mess, especially when you know folks are just gonna do whatever anyway.  5 days, 10 days, do you have symptoms, are you testing negative, is there a full moon or is Mercury in retrograde? My brother is still negative and I want to keep it that way, so I’m masking up in the house everywhere but my room (with windows open) and I guess I’ll just keep doing that until I get 3 days of negative tests.

Now, at work, I am somehow so caught up on everything that I have literally no work to do until Monday. And I have sick leave. So, I am taking today & tomorrow off – everything I’ve read says that rest is paramount – and even a laptop job is *not* resting. So it’s resting time.

This is still all annoying AF though – not being able to go anywhere is driving me a little nuts. But my brother ran errands for me, and I didn’t have any specific food wants, so he got me cheese & crackers, ginger ale, and M&Ms. All winners.

Even though everything is *very* mild for me, zero stars, do not recommend.

What a wonderful pair of kitties. You never know what you’ll get when you adopt cats, especially adult cats who have Been Through It like Sean & Jorge. But they’re just truly great cats.

Jorge continues to be an adorable lovebug.  He has discovered that the back of the sofa is a kitty spot.  (I’m so hosed on replacing this sofa.)  He is officially allowed in the basement now and is disappointed that it really is no different than when he snuck down there before.

And Sean – wow, what a difference a week makes.  I’d said maybe he was a cat that just wanted a good meal and a safe place to sleep and nothing more.  Oh, he is not that cat.  He follows me all around, but doesn’t have to be glued to me.  He talks SO MUCH.  When my brother comes up from the basement, he runs to him to say hi.  He routinely sleeps upside down.

Since these two came home, I’ve been on the lookout for any behavior issues so we can address them right away and make sure everyone is happy & healthy.  But I am just not really seeing anything.

They’re calm.  Affectionate. Confident. They aren’t picky eaters.  They’re not particularly nocturnal and like a good night’s sleep.  If Jorge is trying to get into something he shouldn’t, I just tell him no and he stops.  They don’t try to eat things they shouldn’t.  No litterbox issues.  They haven’t tried to eat or knock over the plants.  

If Jorge gets overstimulated, he can get a bit punchy – but he also just bounds away and calms down on his own.  It’s pretty normal for cats anyway and we’ve put the catnip away and are just mindful of it.

Jorge can open cabinets. We have secured them.

Jorge forgets there are two food dishes. We pick him up and move him to his bowl.

Sean likes to splash in the water dish. We own towels.

Sean has the itchybritches and we’ll be working with the vet on that.

They are both a little too interested in the side door, so we’re just extra careful coming & going.  

That’s it.  Those “issues” are just nothing.  I cannot fathom why someone would dump them the way they did.  I understand there are many valid reasons someone can’t keep a pet.  But to just ditch them so cruelly – I don’t understand.  Had someone not found them, there is no way they would have survived outside.

We know they were found together, but not totally sure if they were put out together given that Jorge was already neutered but Sean wasn’t. So, they might not be a super bonded pair, but Sean certainly needed Jorge to get through the shelter time. While they aren’t glued to each other, they happily share the bed and sofa, and certainly don’t mind each other at all. I’ve even seen a bit of play out of them.

Right now, I’m just hoping they are somewhat calm at their upcoming vet appointment, so I’m standing there going, “No, really, I swear, they are awesome and chill as fuck!” as they try to climb the walls or something like that.

I don’t know how we got so lucky, but I am so happy we did.

It is amazing to me how one little bad file absolutely fucked shit up worldwide. I cannot wait to see the post mortem on this one, and I really think they’re going to have to make it public given the widespread effects. Also – quite the lesson in “maybe monopolies aren’t great!” (A lesson we will absolutely NOT learn.)

As we all wondered how this got out into the wild like it did, this post from Mastodon summed it up so well:

speaking as a tester; the test team were promised a week, then had it shortened to 3 days and ended up with three hours left to test.
After 2 hours of testing someone started the roll out.

Yep, I have 110% BEEN THERE. Nothing like going balls to the wall to get a test series done because someone needs the file yesterday, finishing up, and discovering the file had been sent out hours before. I also have to wonder if they are trying to use AI to design and execute tests.

I got lucky and did not get the Blue Screen Of Death on my work laptop, but our network was pretty hosed most of the day. Around 1PM, our “critical systems” were back online and that is how I discovered that the tools and systems I need to actually do my job are not considered critical, and still weren’t online when I bounced at 3PM.

Why they did not just say “Look, if you’re not getting the BSOD and don’t need IT for that, but all your other shit is broken and being worked on, just call it a day” is beyond me. I basically got paid to sit and stare lovingly at my cats all day. (Oh no.)

And the thing is – once I hit the halfway mark of the day, there was no way I was going to be able to get back into “work mode” even if they did get things back online before I left – my brain is GREAT at getting into work mode as soon as I put on my headphones and open my work laptop, but staying there is dependent on actually having work to do. The work mode ship sailed around noon.

One thing I realized last night – they had sent out emails saying “If you’re getting the BSOD, try rebooting, and call IT” – but if you’re getting the BSOD, you’re not going to be able to get to your email…

I had a hair appointment yesterday and realized that I had no idea if their payment systems would be working and that my “power outage cash stash*” was empty. Everything was broken at work, so I popped out to see if the ATMs were working (thankfully they were) and decided to hit up Starbucks as long as I was out.

Oh my gawd, the poor folks working at Starbucks. I did an mobile order and thought “great, things are working for them!” My first hint that something was amiss should have been that instead of saying “Your order will be ready at 8:45” it just said “Your order will be ready soon” – I just wrote that off to the fact that they recently upgraded their time estimate bit, and new things can glitch.

Oh no, not a glitch. “Soon” is how the app says “Fuck if we know!” There was a 10-15 minute delay in orders going from the app to the stores. The printers weren’t working, so they were having to transcribe the orders off the store iPads, and orders were just getting eaten by the system. (Mine was!) Plus I am sure they had extra volume from folks like me going “Welp, can’t work, might as well make a Starbucks run.” Bless them, they were working SO HARD and I was happy to see that later the online ordering was just shut off for their sake. (Same crew today and I left them a BIG tip, which I should have done yesterday, but I flaked big time on that.)

Seems like lots of things are back online today, which is good. I suspect the affected airlines are going to be messed up for a couple days more, because all the planes are in the wrong places.

Huge, HUGE props to all the IT folks all over the place trying to fix this. I hope you got paid overtime for it, or got some kind of good reward. And I hope everyone is sending invoices to Crowdstrike for this mess.

* A takeaway from the 2012 derecho. So many places could only take cash for days. The cash stash has been appropriately replenished.

They are 7 and 8 years old, and awesome. Will post more later, but here they are – Sean is the kitty in front.

You cannot adopt all 26 cats at the county shelter. That is OK. Your house is a nice size, but it is not 26 cats large.

Once you find the right one(s) – you won’t be letting down any of the cats you can’t adopt.

The cats at the county shelter DO get adopted – some not as quickly as others, but they get adopted. You saw this morning as a 4 year old creamsicle kitty was checked in and adopted out in under an hour. It’s not just kittens getting adopted quickly. Over the past week you’ve seen lots of grown kitties get to go to forever homes.

Remember how you tell everyone else, “Do what you can, when you can”? Adopting one or two cats absolutely qualifies as that, so listen to your own advice.

These people are going to be the death of me.

Get email that we have to order upgraded equipment because they were doing a software update. Get on support chat and order.

Turns out the support person didn’t know what we needed and just upgraded the whole damn account, seems to have sent us shit we didn’t need, bricked a DVR in the process and dropped half our channels, and I am still trying to get them to tell me what was actually needed – cause I think they didn’t actually send the one thing we DID need.

Livid does not even begin to describe where I am with this clusterfuck.

Note to self: Never, EVER use the chat option, even when they say “Oh, you can use chat!” Because the Tier 1 chat techs aren’t trained to do shit and won’t go off script. That’s not on the techs, that is on the cable company for absolute craptastic training and support policies. ASK ME HOW I KNOW ABOUT GOOD AND BAD SUPPORT POLICIES.

So, I’m waiting on an email to confirm that basically rather than saying “I have no idea what this software upgrade requires, let me get you to someone who knows what is going on” instead decided to go into sales mode and fuck everything up in the process.

GOOD TIMES.