Lazy End Of Olympics Sunday

Posted on August 8, 2021 by A Dreamer

And since there isn’t much left in the way of coverage* I should probably do some of the housework that has been neglected over the last two weeks. HAHAHAHAHA.

Well, maybe some laundry since I’m wearing my last pair of clean jeans and, well, Lily broke them.

We have a game – she yells at me from the counter, I go to her and ask “what do you need?” – she jumps off the counter and runs to the side door, and I “chase” her, going, “I’m gonna get you!” and she cleverly circles back around me and heads to the living room where she flops over for belly rubs. I complied, squatted down for the belly rubs, and RIIIIIIIP.

After laundry, I do need to take a proper inventory of my jeans – I *think* I’m pretty well set for the time being, but this is also the time of year I usually have to make a pilgrimage to the outlet mall for restock. It’s not every year, but it always works out to be August-September. Though if I do need to resupply, it’s gonna be via online ordering this year… I can do a lot of vaxxed & masked stuff, not sure the outlet mall is one of them. (The outlet mall is a lot even without a pandemic. And I hate buying clothes, even when it’s just jeans where I know the exact style/size I need.)

And MetLife dental finally reimbursed me for a claim from mid-June and the bank’s mobile deposit doesn’t like the check, so I get to go to the bank tomorrow at lunch, wheeee. The bank used to have Sunday hours, but no more. :( Why MetLife can’t just do direct deposit is beyond me, but they can barely process claims, so… My dentist has to legit submit multiple times before MetLife will even acknowledge that the claim exists. On the health side, Aetna doesn’t have a great reputation, but at least when I get a prescription filled, it shows on their website within a few days. I mean, taking a month and a half this time vs. *four months* for the last one is an improvement, but sheesh.

You enjoy the rest of the weekend and aggressively relax – the laundry will still be there tomorrow, unless you’re out of underwear, then, you should probably make some time for that.

*Well, there is still water polo – there is always water polo. So. Much. Water. Polo.

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Oh, we are definitely doing THAT again!

Posted on August 7, 2021 by A Dreamer

I had my Indian food* adventure today and YUM!!

Beginner Indian, mind you, but Indian food nonetheless. I ended up going with the Chicken Tikka Masala, and it was DELICIOUS!

Couldn’t really tell you what the spices were in the sauce (a creamy tomato base) other than maybe a bit of curry and cumin in amongst all of it. It wasn’t spicy**, but very flavorful, and the chicken was fall apart tender. It came with a side of rice, and I don’t know if you’re supposed to serve the chicken over the rice or not – but I did anyway, and it was great.

And the naan. OH MY GOD. I’ve had naan from the grocery store and it just pales in comparison to naan that has just been made. I’m glad I got the “basket” with different kinds, cause I’ll be snacking on that all weekend.

Definitely going to go back again and try some other things. Still can’t figure out how it’s taken me this long to give Indian food a whirl, but hey, better late than never.

*I know there is no single monolith of “Indian food” and it’s a cuisine that is highly regionalized, but the restaurant also bills itself as being “Authentic Indian Cuisine” so I think they’re OK with the somewhat generalized label.

** I like spicy food, but I also don’t want the only flavor to be “hot” – this hit the spot.

Posted in Food | Tagged | 2 Comments

WordPress, you crack me up

Posted on August 7, 2021 by A Dreamer

When I log in to write, there is always a little notice of other WP services – and there are two that just make me snort. First, there is one for their podcast software/service. NO, WORDPRESS, I SWORE I WOULD GET THROUGH THIS PANDEMIC WITHOUT STARTING A PODCAST! The second is monetization options – subscriptions/tips/digital downloads, etc. I love that they think there is a paying audience for a slightly unhinged stream-of-consciousness substitute-for-therapy blog. I appreciate that you believe in me, WP.

Kinda sad that the Olympics are almost over. I know it shouldn’t have gone on, but it has been so enjoyable to watch all these incredibly talented people. I think the only event I haven’t seen at least a few minutes of is karate. Also, it’s been a great way to avoid housework. Can’t vacuum, I’ve got 10 hours of sports to watch!!

And I’ve really enjoyed that there are more women’s and mixed events this time around – let’s do more of that next time! And I have really enjoyed the rowing/kayaking/canoeing events. My god, they’re soothing. (I am old.) But soothing is good these days.

On the fucking pandemic front, I swear anytime I hear an official say, “We’re not going backwards” with regards to public safety measures, what I really hear is, “We’re OK with killing kids as long as businesses stay open.” Here in the county, we have a mask mandate for county facilities, which is the government centers/annexes, rec centers, and the animal shelters. I can’t think of any other public facing county facilities off the top of my head. Thank god we at least have a mask mandate for the schools. (How we can have that but not a general public mask mandate at the county level, I do not know, but apparently, we can’t.)

The state isn’t doing shit. I’ve written the Governor again – not that it will do any good, but maybe enough squeaky wheels will do the trick. Last year when they put the mandate in place, we were averaging 1083 cases/day – now we’re at 1469. What the fuck, Gov? (Yes, they are requiring vaccination for state employees, but that’s less than 2% of the population.)

Thing is, when the Governor did the mask mandate last year, there was surprisingly little bitching about it around here. Maybe a couple whiny comments on Nextdoor, but everyone just did it. But when all we have are “recommendations” – folks just aren’t going back and that is so disappointing. In my errands this week since we went from “moderate” to “substantial” transmission – I’d say it’s only about 50-60% of folks that are masking up. I don’t know if it’s vaccinated people who are feeling invincible, or unvaccinated folks who just don’t give a shit, or what.

Masks are simple and effective. They lessen the risk of covid, colds, and flu. Bonus allergen filtration. You can get them in a metric fuckton of colors and patterns and themes. I’ve been double masking (again), and have found that the combination of an ASTM-3 mask with my beloved Vera Bradley masks over it works very well. Putting the VB masks over the surgical masks takes care of the gaps at the sides of the surgical mask and makes it all nice & secure, and when all is said and done, I’ve got five colorfully topped layers between me and all the damn cooties out there. WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE OK WITH COOTIES THESE DAYS?!

And yes, my mask is a wee bit of signaling. It says, “I care about myself, you and your family and I don’t want ANY of us to get sick.” Also, LOOK AT THIS MASK, IT HAS FLAMINGOES ON IT!

Mask up, stay safe, grab takeout and take care.

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Look at you!

Posted on August 6, 2021 by A Dreamer

Defying Mother Nature and neglectful governments and getting yourself to yet another Friday!

Here in Virginia, we have no new mask mandate, but state employees will be required to be vaccinated or get tested weekly. Now, I’m not super keen on the weekly testing option for folks who can but don’t get vaccinated, cause a lot can happen in a week, but it’s better than nothing.

My brother pointed out that there is a subset of unvaccinated that I just hadn’t thought of – not anti-vax, not *can’t* get vaxxed, but the “I’ll get around to it” folks. And he was absolutely right that employer mandates *will* get those folks to get their shots. Granted, the concept is so completely foreign to me, even though in every other aspect of my life I am very much an “I’ll get around to it” person – the shots were a “I WILL GET IT THE MILLISECOND THAT I CAN GET IT” thing for me.

If you know an “I’ll get around to it person” – get on the phone/text/whatever with them, and walk them through getting the damn appointment.

Hopefully between increasing vaccination rates and if Delta burns itself out reasonably quickly like it did in India and the UK, we won’t be looking at another full fall & winter of staying in. Cause, if you should be masked up inside, then you shouldn’t be doing things like… eating and drinking indoors. So, we’re stocked up for a porch happy hour tonight. But I really don’t want to do that for another 6, 9, 12 months.

But at least vaxxed & masked, I can still do things like get my hair cut, get my next acupuncture session in, and not feel like I have to *run* through the grocery store. But indoor beer is just out for the time being, which sucks cause I really do enjoy my indoor beer, but it’s OK.

On the work front, my company has done a good thing! So last year, they started giving us a half day off every other Friday to help folks cope, for lack of a better description. It’s been REALLY lovely and hasn’t made a dent in anyone’s productivity and just lightens the mental load going into the week knowing “ooh, half day Friday!” Even my department director, who was a bit skeptical at first of the benefit, pointed out how he really liked it because we’re *all* out, so no one comes back to a flood of emails from being off for an afternoon.

Well, it is now a permanent benefit!! I think they realized they would face a munity if they tried to take it away, and honestly, I don’t care why, I’m just glad they did. I know I’ve definitely been taking advantage of scheduling appointments and errands on those Friday afternoons so I can free up some weekend time.

Sadly, today is not a half day Friday, but it *is* a Friday, so I’d best go do the thing so I can get off and enjoy the weekend.

Posted in COVID19, Working | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Sale Alert!!

Posted on August 5, 2021 by A Dreamer

Vera Bradley is having a 25% off sale – includes *everything* – and their masks are marked WAY down to $2/each (regular $8/each) and they still have lots of patterns and colors available.

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Hey, it’s Thursday!

Posted on August 5, 2021 by A Dreamer

Just in case you weren’t sure – I had to stop and think about it this morning myself.

Acupuncture update: Still a fan! Shoulder, neck & jaw muscles all still feeling good & relaxed. Really expected any results to be far more incremental, so this is great. And, if it’s all in my head, well, if just the act of going and seeing her convinced my subconscious to chill TF out a bit – then it still worked as far as I’m concerned.

I’ve found there is a great benefit to be an Olympics fan Of A Certain Age. I don’t care who wins, I’m happy for everyone, and if I find spoilers on Twitter, by the time that the primetime coverage starts, I’ve forgotten what I saw anyway, LOL. (Especially with track & field with so many events and names I don’t know.)

Also, javelin needs to be renamed to Olympic Lawn Darts. And the track & field uniform designers really need to camera test their designs – skinny stripes do not work.

On the fucking Covid front, between the time I started my acupuncture appointment to when I got out, the county went from “moderate” to “substantial” transmission risk… As of yesterday, we’re averaging 97 known cases a day, and folks aren’t stepping up on masking again, so the Governor *really* needs to do another mandate for the time being. (Found out that the county can’t do it – school systems can, but the county can’t do a mandate for the general public.) So frustrating to have to hunker down yet again. Note to self: Add beer to grocery list, since indoor beer is out of the equation for a while.

The one step forward, two steps back…I know, it happens, but UGH. I can’t help but wonder how our numbers would look had the Governor not dropped the mask mandates in May and waited until our vaccination stats were better. We have finally broken the 60% fully vaccinated mark in the county (of all residents) and more first shots than second right now, so we have a new group of folks deciding to get the shot – probably driven by school starting soon, but I’ll take it.

They’re saying the Pfizer vaccine should have full FDA approval within the month – they gotta clear the decks and cancel every other meeting and whatnot and GET ON IT. I think once it’s out of an EUA status, we’ll see a ton more employer mandates to get vaccinated, which I think will help the vaccination rates. I think there is a not small number of folks who will gladly take the cover of “well, it’s bullshit, but I need my job so I got the shot.” Do I love that we need to take coercive measures? No. Am I OK with it? Yes. I’m not keen on kids in ICU’s because folks won’t do the right thing voluntarily.

We also need employer vaccination mandates cause of places like fucking Florida & Texas. WTF is wrong with DeSantis? “I’ll kill my constituents to own the libs and show that Biden is terrible!” Like, what the shit, dude? The various & sundry R’s around the country who have just refused to protect folks, how do they not understand, they could have been fucking heroes that saved lives? And it would have been so easy? “We are the party of personal responsibility, and personal responsibility means we mask up and get vaxxed so we don’t become a burden on the public health care system that we hate anyway.” Pro-life, indeed.

Ah well, not much I can do about any of it, but mask up and stay home and keep pestering the Governor about a new mask mandate.

You stay safe.

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So, first thoughts on acupuncture

Posted on August 3, 2021 by A Dreamer

Incredibly relaxing! If nothing else, there is something to be said for intentionally blocking out the world for 45 minutes.

I’d already filled out all the paperwork online, so she had an idea of what I was looking for and we talked a bit more about that and how I was feeling in general, and it was good to hear, “Yeah, this should work for you.” (Granted, I would not expect her to say, “This will not work” but her enthusiasm was very genuine.)

Then I popped up on the heated(!) massage table (basically fully dressed, yoga pants & tank top) face down (had one of those nice face cushions with a fresh cover) and she hit all the spots that would get needles with alcohol wipes to start.

Then the needles! Now, I know they’re very fine needles but I was still a little surprised at how little I felt. I knew where she was putting them in, because she’d basically massage the spot a little, then I’d feel a little “tap” of her putting the needle in, but only once can I say I actually felt the needle itself, and it was a very fleeting, “oh, there is something there” sensation.

She put needles in my ankles, shoulders, inside & behind my ears, back of my neck, top of my head, that spot where your jaws join up, and the tops of my hands. Then I just chilled out for about a half hour. I thought I might get fidgety at some point, but not at all.

She popped in around the halfway point to make sure I was still comfortable and if the room temp was OK. Then she came back in, removed the needles, wiped all the spots again with alcohol, and rubbed the spots on my shoulders a bit and commented that they definitely seemed looser (oh, they were.)

I was a little loopy for a minute or so when I sat up, mostly from just laying there face down for a while. My shoulders felt like a cross between getting a massage and doing a solid weight workout – felt really good, definitely some release going on there, so *something* happened.

And by the time I got home, I could legit feel that my jaw was looser and more relaxed.

If nothing else, I think I should sleep very well tonight, given that I am basically a happy puddle here on the couch this evening.

Definitely going to do a couple more sessions – as relaxed as I feel right now, it was absolutely worth it. Granted, we’ll see how long the effects last, but I am 100% enjoying it now for sure.

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It’s only Tuesday

Posted on August 3, 2021 by A Dreamer

And I am knackered. Not great sleep last night, and I’m not really sure why other than general post-root canal malaise.

But, short day today as I give acupuncture a swing this afternoon – I’m very excited, and while I don’t expect instant results, it would be great if we could do something about the fact that I carry all my tension in my head/neck/jaw and it’s making my teeth fucking MOVE.

And when I scheduled the appointment, I didn’t realize my root canal was going to be a two-part deal with the second half the day before – so I asked if I should reschedule, and she said, “Oh, I do work on folks after root canals all the time, not a problem, if your face is still sore, we can work around it.” Awesome.

I’ve used self-administered acupressure before and it worked (it’s hard & awkward, but it works) so why not go full acupuncture?

Moving to the Olympics, while I don’t exactly know what happened this morning, I do at least know that a certain gymnast I was terribly worried about did *not* break her neck, so I can actually watch that tonight. Go Simone! (I really hope she just took every last twisting move out of her routine.)

Well, time to go do the thing to pay for the acupuncture to hopefully solve the problems that were partially caused by Doing The Thing. Life under capitalism is fantastic.

You have an awesome day.

Posted in Miscellany | 4 Comments

*blink*blink*

Posted on August 2, 2021 by A Dreamer

OK, I’ve already had too much confusion this morning. We are having not August weather, it’s cool and not terribly humid which is weird to start with – I needed my jacket to go get coffee.

Then, when I downloaded all my bank stuff to Quicken, it would seem that a credit card payment has posted twice. But only on the credit card side…I even double checked the website – the payment didn’t download twice, they *have* it twice. I mean, if the second payment does come out of the checking account, I can absorb it, but it’s just a “wait, what?” moment. I guess I’ll give it a day or two to see if either the payment comes out of the checking account or they figure it out and reverse the second payment on the credit card side.

In the meantime, I’ve just put a placeholder transaction on my checking account… I’m not gonna kick up a fuss about it, because it’s not going to mean I can’t pay other bills, they’ll either figure it out, or I get a free payment.

Second half of my root canal today, yaaaaay. Not even sure why it had to be split into two bits, the dentist tried to explain the last time I was in, but I was a bit out of it. But, at least it will be done. Of course, the appointment is smack in the middle of the day, so I’ll try to go back to work afterwards – that should be interesting. If I have to beg off the last couple hours of the day, I will though, that is what PTO is for.

OK, time to go see what I can get done before the dentist, so I don’t have to worry too much about what I have to get done after.

You have a great and less confusing day than I’ve had so far!

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Could I have another day for the weekend?

Posted on August 1, 2021 by A Dreamer

LOL, yes, it’s what I say every damn Sunday. But, it’s been a nice and lazy weekend of farmers marketing and watching ALL THE SPORTS.

I know I have truly gotten old, as I really don’t care who wins and I have lost count of how many times I have said out loud, “Oh, good for them!” Especially when it’s “Country X has never gotten a medal in Event Y before now!” How can you *not* get excited for them?

My only big plan for today beyond watching the Olympics was to finally try some Indian food – there is a new place fairly close to us that is getting good reviews and it occurred to me that I’ve somehow never really had Indian food? (Samosas & naan, but that’s it.) But, my brother also brought home food from the bar last night, so the adventure is on hold until next weekend. Which is probably good since I still need to figure out what the best “beginner” Indian dish is. Right now, it’s probably going to either be Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala, or Chicken Tandoori. (I’m avoiding items with “fiery chili” in the descriptions for the time being.) Oh, and totally getting the “bread basket” that has 3 kinds of naan and mashed potato bread.

And thanks to the Delta variant, I’m back to daily monitoring of local conditions, gah. (I didn’t totally stop paying attention, I just backed off a bit as things improved.) CDC says we’re at “moderate” risk at the moment, and we’re averaging 68 cases a day in the county, which is right around where we were this time last summer. But, in a bright spot, we have finally broken the 60% mark on fully vaccinated folks, and over the past week, we’re averaging more first doses than second doses, so more folks are stepping up to the plate – it’s probably driven by school starting shortly, and I’ll take it. The county is also mandating masks for schools, regardless of vax status, and that should help keep school based outbreaks at bay.

But I’ll admit, I’m tired of having to do a risk assessment every time I leave the house. It’s obviously better now that I’m vaccinated and I feel fine doing things vaxxed + masked, but it’s still tiring. I know that disabled and immunocompromised folks do this every day of their lives, and I feel for them. If I’m tired, I know others must be full on exhausted.

I don’t know what carrots/sticks/whatever we have left, but it looks like employer mandates may be what breaks this. Not loving that we had to get to “get your shot or get fired” – but, we have to get people vaccinated. (And hey, if folks wanna be all “I didn’t want to but my boss is a dick” – fine! Use your employer as cover!) And Disney World mandating it – I can’t wait to watch DeSantis try to go up against The Mouse, or if he suddenly decides not to fuck with one of the biggest employers in the state. (Seriously, WTF is wrong with that guy?)

But, thank god I do not live in Florida.

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