Day #327... Yawn

[shadowkat]

Slept poorly last night. I got to bed too late, and couldn't sleep due to a sinus headache from hell. Headache finally dissipated bringing with it much needed sleep and dreams, but alas only 3 and 1/2 hours worth.

So, as a result I felt sluggish all day long.

Bright spot? The first bi-weekly work-flow meeting with BYT Manager went a lot better than expected via Teams. We actually got along rather well. I'm relieved. May have to come up with new nickname. Drawing a blank at the moment. Also, she's thinking of pairing me with the single contract expert and getting me started on signals contracts. New group does a lot of singles (train singles and switches) and track construction contracts. So something different. I feel like I've done a little bit of everthing now contract wise. She also told me not be scared about the lack of work - there was a lot in the pipe-line coming our way.

My job keeps changing. I'll give it that.

COVID

Well, Doctor's Office advised me that yes, they know that after Feb 15, people with high risk medical conditions will be eligible for the vaccine through their system. But please don't call us for an appointment. We'll use the information in your medical chart to determine whether you are eligible and keep in mind we currently have more people eligible than available vaccines - so be patient.

Sigh.

Getting a vaccine in the US right now is akin to winning the lottery. Particularly in NYC. One friend, who'd gotten hers, felt guilty and since she's a LMSW, and in the Medical Reserve Corps, she volunteered to vaccinate people and has reached out to help people get appointments.
Also my friend with NY Department of Health told me to contact her if I needed guidance.

So....all is not lost.

And former roommate advised that swishing coconut oil around your mouth and pulling it through your teeth, then spitting it out - would remove toxins, helping skin and teeth. I tried it today with coconut oil - I don't know. It's called oil pulling.

Impeachment Trial Take II

It began today. As predicted, the Senate voted to move forward with the trial. According to NPR - 6 Republicans joined with all the Senators to proceed with the trial. They determined it was constitutional to impeach a former President who committed the crime while in office. [Friends what you are witnessing here is the end of the Republican Party. It has imploded. I honestly don't think it will survive past 2021.]

"56-44: Senate impeachment trial of fmr President Donald Trump is constitutional. 6 Republican Senators voted Yes with all Democrats: Cassidy (LA), Collins (ME), Murkowski (AK), Romney (UT), Sasse (NE) & Toomey (PA). Leahy presiding announces:"Senate shall proceed with the trial." - NPR.

Note - Graham and McConnell are afraid of the trial. They have information that hasn't been seen yet - and Graham is in trouble, he was the other phone call to Toomey to hold up the vote. And he was the other phone call in Georgia to attempt to overturn it. The reason Graham is holding up the Attorney General confirmation is he's afraid of the RICO investigation by DOJ, which would pull him and various other Republican Senators into it. [According to Heather Cox Richardson's newsletter - she's a historian who has been analyzing all the news sources.]

The House Reps (the Prosecutors) played a video of the events leading up to, during, and after the Capital Riots on January 6. The video is painful. I watched and almost cried - it upset me. I actually found watching it as traumatizing and surreal as 9/11. Although 9/11 was far more traumatic for me - considering I actually am living in NYC and saw the smoke curling from the towers with my own eyes, along with their absence. Being in the situation is a tad more traumatizing than witnessing it on television.

After they played the video...the Trump Defense lawyers rambled incoherently for about thirty minutes or so. Then everyone voted. They are still making fun of the rambling lawyers on Twitter.

Twitter:

David Schoen is arguing that this entire trial is "unconstitutional" and "wrong" and that Democrats are holding this trial because they are still mad about 2016.

Note: Democrats are arguing that they are still mad about what happened a month and three days ago. - Yamiche Alcindor yamiche

And..

"This trial is taking place at the crime scene." What a sentence to hear on NPR - A Shady Dame From Seville sorayamcdonald


Although I found this bit far more amusing as did Twitter for that matter, it took me awhile to figure out what they were talking about though, then I landed on the video.



"I'm here live, I'm not a cat," says lawyer (all evidence to the contrary..)

"I can see that, I believe you have a filter error in the Zoom settings.."

We're now thinking maybe if we could recast the Trump defense attorneys as cats the impeachment hearings would be more palpable? (Also Trump might have a better chance of winning, then again - let's not do that.)

It's also on You Tube

Twitter from Judge who initially posted link:

IMPORTANT ZOOM TIP: If a child used your computer, before you join a virtual hearing check the Zoom Video Options to be sure filters are off. This kitten just made a formal announcement on a case in the 394th (sound on). -- Judge Roy Ferguson judgefergusontx -

Back to COVID

"In Mexico, the resurgence of the virus has infected more people than ever, including the country’s president, and hospitals are so full that many infected patients have been forced to recuperate at home." [Meanwhile co-workers and other folks are going to Mexico for vacation - still. Seriously - I'd wait. I mean the only safe places on the planet are the ones that won't let us in.]

Per the NY Times Evening Briefing:The coronavirus probably first spread to humans through an animal and was “extremely unlikely” to have been the result of a lab accident, the World Health Organization said.[Well, yeah I kind of already knew that. Honestly, does no one read books about viruses - and just read sci-novelists and horror writers like Stephen King? Sci-fi novelists and King get it wrong. Too many watch the Walking Dead, not enough watch or read "Virus Hunters". Just saying.]

The findings, delivered after 12 days of field work by a team visiting Wuhan, China, were the first step in what will most likely be a painstaking process to trace the origins of the global pandemic. [It was a bat in a cave that infected an animal, which someone slaughtered and sold at seafood stand in Wuhan. China has no environmental, food and drug or hunting/gathering regulations. Hello.]

In other virus updates:

*Scientists are working on a shot that would protect against Covid-19, some colds — and the next coronavirus pandemic. [Well, by the time I get the vaccine, it might be that one?]

* People with dementia were twice as likely to get Covid-19 and were much more likely to be hospitalized and die from it, a study found. [Lovely, my father has dementia. He can't get that second vaccine dose fast enough].

*With hospitals overrun, Mexicans fighting the coronavirus at home face a deadly hurdle: a critical lack of oxygen tanks. [Sigh, note to self ignore the idiots traveling to Mexico for a holiday, don't go yourself.]

Also cats are making the news lately, apparently there's a A Wanted Poster for a Cat Murderer up - for some asshole who used his pit-bulls to kill a beloved cat in the area. They are searching for the rat-bastard. I hope they find him and throw him in jail, along with the pit-bulls. The NYPD posted it.

Comments

[trepkos]

Oil pulling? Was it snake-oil?! I don't see how oil can remove toxins. I'm suspicious of anything that claims we need to remove toxins - we have a liver for that. If the toxins are just in our mouths, can't we just wash them out with water or mouthwash?

[mtbc]

Yay for a promising BYT Manager meeting.

[yourlibrarian]

Not only awful about the cats but that's such a shame that the dogs were used that way. They can be such sweet things when raised right.