Day #336 - Snowstorm

[shadowkat]

Not that much of one as you can see above. It stopped snowing around 2 pm, when Ghost made his appearance.

At lunch time, while I was busy talking to mother and fixing lunch, crazy company sent two emails about the vaccine.

Email#1 - They can't make the Jamaica Site available yet - but they are setting up a site on Livingston Street in Downtown, Brooklyn. There are 20 slots available - let us know by 12:30 pm - if you want any. (I got the email at 1 pm. I immediately responded to PR and let her know that I wanted one and was interested.)

Email #1 - this was from the Corporate Safety Department - I was on their list because of my reasonable accomodation or I do a lot of there contracts. They said that they had slots available and to respond no later than 2PM. I immediately responded. And gave them my employee ID.

As you all know from reading these entries - I made a pact with myself. If Crazy company offered me the vaccine - I'd take it.

During Staff Meeting Of Doom..

Chidi: So regarding this vaccine being offered - do we get two hours of pay for taking it - as announced? I'd like to have that clarified.
Boss (laughing): It's all about the Benjamin for you isn't it?
Breaking Bad: Yep, we know where your priorities are!
Boss: I'll you ask PR that question.

I did not ask the question. It's bloody hard getting this vaccine. I told PR it was like competing with folks to get concert tickets or theater tickets.

PR agreed, and informed me that they were trying to get as many vaccinated as possible before they ran out again - due to delays in shipments as a result of the winter storms across the country.

Safety got back to me first - PR was sending them the list, but I responded to Safety directly. And Safety scheduled me an appointment for 11:30 Am on Friday, February 26. I googled where the Livingston Street location was - and it's easy to get to. Downtown Brooklyn. One subway. And at an off-time during the day.

ME: I've some news!
Mother (after telling me hers): Oh?
ME: I got a vaccine appointment!
Mother: Oh thank god. I was worried - I'd read people who have just been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes don't deal with COVID well. But I didn't want to tell you that.

I texted niece. And bro the news.

Me: Some Good news? I got a vaccine appointment - next Friday.
Neice: OMG! YESSSS! I'm so excited and happy for you. (She should be, she spent twenty minutes last week talking me into getting an appointment.

I'm nervous of course. I think it will be the Moderna. It's either the Moderna or the Pfizer. We don't have the Johnson & Johnson approved yet, nor is the Astrenzac approved in the US yet. The Moderna and Pfizer are two dozes and 95% effective against all variants. They are the RNMessenger vaccines. I've researched them thoroughly and have various friends and family members who got them. So I know they are safe. I'm nothing about anal about this sort of thing.

In other news, comments to last post - made me think it was time to text my brother again.

Me: Is it snowing where you are? Is niece getting a snow day?
Bro: No, we're not really getting anything. Haven't gotten much snow this year - it's not made it up here. We tend to skip the coastal storms. And your niece didn't go to school today because of a bomb threat. (which he apparently found amusing - since he'd added all these laughing emoticons. Yes, gallows humor is rife within my family.)
Me: What? A bomb threat? Why would anyone want to bomb her school?
Bro: I've no clue. It's probably nothing. But they were among the first schools with a shooter during the 90s, so they take it seriously.




I amuse myself during working hours watching feral cats and cardinals dance around in the snow outside my home office window. (I don't have a window at work.) And occasionally take photos of them.

Talked to mother at noon - she was worried about what to do about Father, also how to turn her phone off after a conference call. She was scared it got stuck and wouldn't turn off. (I was able to fix that problem) Apparently the question was - do we put Father in the memory care unit, leave him in the rehab center or bring him home.

I told that home right now wasn't an option. He'd get the second dose of the vaccine next week in the rehab center. And after what she told me - about the memory care - it's not a good idea right now - or in the middle of a pandemic. They are locked in their rooms, and have rooms to themselves. So no socialization. And also under lock down, so mother couldn't visit, or anything. So no. My brother thinks they are being too frugal and should pay for full time care, and bring Dad home. But he does agree - not now.



Little cardinal on a fire-escape during snow-storm, not easy to photograph.

Discussed the crazy-ass Texas situation with mother. Apparently father told her, during a lucid moment, that Texas' grid was always a problem - it was a problem back in the 1970s when he was doing work down there for clients. They were constantly have power outages. They difficulty is that they refused to join the other grids - the Western and the Eastern, so they can't trade off or get power from other states, or any back up. And their grip is completely dependent on fossil fuels (oil and natural gas) as opposed to wind and sun like many of the others are. My electricity is 90% wind and 10% solar.

Here's an excerpt from the NY Times on the issue:

"Grid officials on Wednesday said that they hoped to reduce the length of rolling power outages to no more than 30 minutes to an hour, but that there was still not enough electricity being generated to bring the outages to an end.

Many Texans, already without electricity, also faced disruptions to their water supplies this week, with burst pipes widely reported and water treatment plants affected by power outages too. Residents across the state, from the Houston area to the Rio Grande Valley, are being advised to boil water before consuming it because of potential contamination.
“This is certainly a freak anomaly storm,” said Thomas Overbye, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. “A lot of our thermal plants, our natural gas plants, are not set up to deal with this sort of cold.”

“How much the generation should be prepared for these sorts of temperatures is something I’m sure will be investigated very shortly,” Dr. Overbye said. But, he said, “the key right now is to get as much generation back online as possible.”

One guy on FB was condemning Texas - and I'm like, please don't do that. I've family members that I love in Texas. Breaking Bad also mentioned to Boss, who was whinging about our measly little snowstorm, that he had a sister in Central Texas, who doesn't own a shovel - who got hit by the storm and didn't have power for two days. He's grateful. (Thank you, Breaking Bad.)

Everywhere in the bloody country except for two states is freezing

Below is a picture of the wind carbines I saw in Costa Rica - a country with some of the cleanest air on the planet.



What else?

Wales wanted to know what I thought about the Governor and the nursing homes. He's being attacked by his own party on the stupid nursing home issue. According to what I've read - they are upset that his administration covered it up. Basically they only counted 8,000 nursing home deaths instead of 15,000, because they left out the people who were transferred from the nursing homes to the hospitals - they counted those as hospital deaths.

Confused? So am I. I read about it - and I think, okay, have people lost their minds? You are wasting my tax payer dollars and your time investigating this for what reason exactly?

Why does it matter?

But apparently it does. Mother was going to blame the Republicans, but it isn't the Republicans going after him on this one - it's the Democrats.
Granted, our Governor is and can be a narcissist egotistical ass at times. I mean he likes to gloat and pat himself on the back and take the credit. That damn poster - is evidence of that. I've always said he's kind of a liberal version of Trump - with his bullying and ranting. OTOH, I think he did the best he could do under the circumstances.

Mother says he was raised to be like this and he's a lot like his father, whom she remembers.

I said the legislature is punishing him by removing his emergency executive power - which he had during the start of the pandemic. They've decided to remove it - and set up a 10 person commission to review any of his executive orders going forward. They want to remind people including the Governor - that there are three houses of government in NY not one.
Governor has sort of been playing dictator at the moment, and they are pushing back on that a bit. Which is not a bad thing.

I'm seeing a pattern emerge in 2021 - it's almost as if we've all hit the wall in regards to bullying bosses and centering too much power on one person, who sets up a toxic work environment validating his own ego. Ie. we may well be entering the end of the era of the bully? Let's hope.

At any rate - right now, several bullies from both sides of the political spectrum, and the entertainment spectrum are being removed or questioned.
This is good news. Mother uses the Australian term - toppling the tall poppies.



I finished out the day by making root vegetable soup. It's basically:

! chopped leek
1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
olive oil
Season with dill, ginger, pinch of salt, pepper, and cumin

boil for a bit, until evenly coated with the oil and soft.
Add vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, until softened.

1 white turnip
1 carrot
1 sweet potatoe
add water enough to cover veggies.
Add about two small teaspoons of curry powder, sea salt, ginger, lemon juice.

Simmer for about twenty to thirty minutes until veggies are soft and translucent.

Reduce to low heat.

Then put in blender - blend with pulse.
Then back in pot - blend with hand blender (if available)
Stir in almond/coconut milk or cream.
Add a little more curry powder and cinnamon to taste

Done.


Also made myself some unsweetened hot cocoa with almond/coconut milk creamer and oatmilk. Very good.

I'm learning to appreciate the little things in life. It's something my Grandmother taught me ages ago. We used to just enjoy a slice of French Silk Pie together. It was enough.

Comments

[mtbc]

Yay indeed for the little things. (-:

Aha, I hadn't realized that the AstraZeneca one hadn't been approved here, definitely glad to get one of the mRNA ones though, and that you get one soon, I'm glad you chased it. My aunts and uncles in England are now vaccinated except for one who will be soon.

Your soup reminds me that I was surprised to find that the Progresso butternut squash soup is better than I expected.

I was also surprised to see how much Costa Rica looks like England!

[shadowkat]

Did you get the vaccine? Any noticeable side-effects?

I was also surprised to see how much Costa Rica looks like England!

So does many portions of the Mid-West, Eastern Kansas, Martha's Vineyard, Western Missouri, Pennsylvania, and New York. I noticed it when I visited England. The difference was the houses and human settlements, but the land is pretty much the same.

[yourlibrarian]

Aw, nice to see the kitty creeping about, and that cardinal is so bright! We keep hoping they'll turn up here but it seems like they just weren't coming even when we had seed predominantly for them. Lots of other birdies though.