Weekend Plans: The Eye of the Hurricane
The summer started with a whole bunch of really awesome “back to normal” things like playing games with friends, going out to eat with friends, just, you know, seeing friends by chance in the parking lot of the grocery store and spending 15 minutes catching up and finishing up by hugging them… lovely little back to normal things.
Going to the grocery store on the way home from work just to get some popsicles and garlic bread. Going in without a mask! Going back to the climbing gym and, after a good (or poor) climb, stopping by the little restaurant attached to the gym and enjoying a 1/2 glass of wine (watered down to fill the glass) and talking about nothing with my climbing buddy. Seeing our friend who runs the bar at the gym again after a year and giving him a hug.
Going back to work without wearing a mask after showing security the little vaccine card and them giving you a special green badge. Seeing friends at work. Hugging them.
It was nice to hug friends again.
Well, looks like that’s going to be put on hold for another couple of months until everybody gets boosters and we can relax things again for a little while. We’re masking up at work again. We’ve stopped eating at restaurants (unless it’s outside). We’re still going to the grocery store instead of having groceries delivered… but we’re wearing masks again.
I go to the Wikipedia to check on The Spanish Flu and see “February 1918 – April 1920”. A little over two years. Corona started in earnest… February 2020? Well, April 2022 is right around the corner. We have vaccines this time.
There’s a lot of reason to be optimistic but, smack dab in the middle of everything, it’s sometimes difficult to keep the optimism flowing. We’ve just got to get from here to there. We’ve got a blueprint and everything.
So it’s going to be a minor replay of last year, but with bigger circles and more visits to friends. More masks in more places, less of a need to put Amazon packages in the decontamination room for 3 days before opening.
And, hey, we’ve got toilet paper this time.
So, this week will be spent gearing up to prepare for the coming autumn that will, unfortunately, look like last autumn… but, you know, with more hugs. And more visits out to go to Costco, Safeway, Petsmart… (just masked up).
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is “Mexico: Mascaras de Lucha Libre (Wrestling masks with Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License)” by planeta and is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)
Hawaii for 9 days! Big island.Report
Nice… whole family or parental get-away? Never been to the big island, but been a couple times to Oahu, Maui, and Lanai. Upon arrival the first time after the 10-hr flight and passing a Lowes on the way to the hotel, I told my wife that it was like we’d never left America.
Not surprisingly, the best thing for me was the food… there’s still enough of a food culture and a genuine novelty of ingredients (mostly types of fresh fish) that you can’t really get stateside that really impressed me. That and eating outdoors, which I don’t like 90% of the time… but on the islands it works.Report
Family, the kid is spoiled. It’s only a 6 hour flight for us.
Only ever been to Maui, and Oahu (Navy port call), but plan on seeing all 5 big islands at some point.Report
Did you go to Mama’s when you were on Maui? If not, and you go island hopping… try to get a reservation a Mama’s.Report
Nope, we usually stay in Kaanapali (sp?).Report
One of the nice things of living in the same town for 25 years since the week we were married is that the babies we knew back then are getting married themselves now… and the folks who had to move away over the years, return ‘home’ for the events, and we get to host them and remember what it was like 25 years ago when we were the babies getting married and having babies together.
As a bonus, one of the families staying with us is now two families with their own new baby… so we have three generations of friends in the home right now.
In June 2020 we declined to attend another local wedding owing to the virus; but in August 2021 after vaccinations, it’s time to move on; I’m not seeing anything about Delta that changes that, if you’re vaccinated; so, get a shot.Report
Studying for the RHCSA around everything else…
Saturday I’m meeting Dad and my brother in a small town roughly halfway between here and there. He, my sister, and I went in together on a steer together and this is the big handoff where I get my share of the proceeds. It’ll be nice to hang out with Dad and brother for a bit.
Sunday is a retirement party for a friend of mine (flare of jealousy). He’s one of those guys who retired from the Army as an E-8 (he was a jumpmaster/special ops kind of guy), then started another career and retired from that, then got bored and came back to work…I half suspect that his wife is throwing this party to make it clear that HE’S RETIRED!Report
It’s not the lack of short-term plans that’s bugging me, I’ll find something to do this weekend. It’s the return of the impossibility of making long-term plans. Half the recreation of a trip is planning it, and that’s gone from probably-can’t to you’re-kidding-yourself.Report
Yeah. I am normally a staycation kinda guy but it’s completely different when it’s mandatory.Report
Having nothing to look forward to is the mind-killer. That was the worst part of 2020 for me, especially the summer – just a long, protracted blank with “well it’s Saturday but I might as well work on updating class material ‘cos there’s nothing ELSE I can do”
I realized I ordered a ton of crap I didn’t need online in 2020 simply because I needed that “hey, I have a package coming next week” to keep myself getting out of bed.
Most of the “fun” stuff I do is indoors, and indoors seems unsafe right now. I like to hike but not in heat indexes of 105, so…..Report
Just got home again after seeing my mom again for a few weeks – I feel like I need to make up for 2020. (My mom is 85, and while she’s in good health and comes from long-lived stock, still, you never know).
I admit I was discouraged coming back – the restrictions have clamped back down hard (at least on Amtrak). I’m kind of discouraged by the fact that we’re going BACKWARDS. And my campus is warning us we may have to prepare to “pivot to online” again (We cannot mandate masks or vaccines; orders of the governor). So we’re “mask friendly” whatever the Hell that’s supposed to mean. (I will be masking, if for no other reason to allow me to give a Hard Stare to anyone who teases a fellow student over masking).
My concern about the “well the 1918 flu was over in 2 years” is that back then, there were no intercontinental flights and most Americans didn’t even have cars (nor was there an Interstate Highway System). I suspect higher mobility is just going to drag this out and while I feel like I”m *mostly* protected (being vaccinated), there’s still enough of a question in my mind that…..well, I guess I clamp back down and do nothing Fun until caseloads fall. (I could go hiking but it’s too hot for that).
Anyway, classes start in just over a week and I’ll be extra busy, with four classes and, it looks like, still teaching partly over Zoom, which I well and truly hate.Report
Local weather forecast suggests wearing masks outside this afternoon. Not because of Covid, but because the weather pattern is supposed to hit us with both Californian and Canadian smoke. The local paper says we might get a place in the top ten “world’s worst urban air quality” list today.Report
Briefly this afternoon Denver hit an AQI of 162 and was #1 among sizeable urban areas globally. At the same time, Fort Collins was 180 (higher is worse). The wind has since shifted somewhat and we’re back down to 126.Report
I can smell it all the way down here in the Springs. Jeez louise.Report
It’s so pervasive that I can’t even smell it any more. I drove out to Goodland, KS, to meet up with my Dad and brother and it was kind of striking to not be able to see the Front Range driving back.
I went running yesterday evening and ended up with an irritated throat, as well. Sheesh!Report
My weekend plans became “OH CRAP GORILLA TAPE UP MY SHOWER”.
Yeah, one wall of it….just started leaning. And water was getting down it. And into the wall. HOORAY.
And a closet in a guest room that’s had water leaking into it awhile. Not much, but enough that everything in it needs cleaning.
So next week playing “Dear god please does anyone have an opening to replace my shower, fix up three walls, a closet, and possibly a lot of floor” because I did NOT find the leak the second it happened. In hindsight, it’s been a problem for at least 6 weeks.Report
Hoo boy, that sucks. Good luck.
We called a place in order to winterize the deck and get it ready for next year (or the year after) when we can finally have the discussion about rebuilding it entirely.
They said that they might have an opening to get us a bid in October.
So good luck finding someone. (Maybe someone will cancel at the last minute?)Report
I’m lucky. Some close relatives are having a serious renovation done right now, and their contract took 15 minutes to take a look and eyeball the costs (including was he considered likely damages). While he can’t do the work, he’s got several contractors he knows can do the work and do it well, and he’s going to give me a few names tomorrow.
he figures at least one of them can do the job in the next few weeks.
We’re going with a simple tube/shower combo and tile, not anything fancy. More work than buying a combo from home depot and slapping it in, but if the walls already have to be fixed might as well do it right. I might sell this place in the next few years.Report