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shadowkatWhere to start?
Let's go backwards through the day, or since I don't think lineally, up and down and sideways through the day.
Before I forget - just got off the phone with mother, who regaled me with stories of foreign travels to and from Europe and the US. Apparently this is not as easy as it looks. Or rather not as easy as it used to be at any rate.
According to my brother, or rather one of his friends, to travel from the US to the Great Britain (England) - once you get off the plane, you must stay in a hotel for one or two weeks, with a landline available. And be next to the landline - where they will call you daily, possibly several times a day, randomly, to ensure you are actually there. You also have to have a negative COVID-19 Test within a specific period of departure. I forget the number of hours. Once you are cleared, you can wander, but then when you come back, you need a negative COVID test to get on the plane.
That's England. Bro is going there in September with his family, because he's bringing niece to the London School of Economics.
Germany is not much better, apparently. My mother's neighbors had to travel to Germany recently to obtain "cancer" treatment for a "rare" form of cancer that is only treated in Germany. They had to go all the way to Germany to get a radioactive pill to kill the cancer. Cost about $3500 just for the pill. Fifteen minutes for the pill, then monitoring in the hospital over night.
Okay, well, to do this they took a car service to the airport - easy, but once there, they discovered that they had to have a COVID-19 negative result prior to boarding, at the very least within 12 hours. They were both vaccinated. But apparently that's not enough for international flights.
So they grabbed a cab, and had to take their luggage with them - since the airport refused to hold their luggage for them or check it. Took a cab to a CVS - the CVS no longer did testing, so they went to the urgent care, across the street, which did, but it took fifteen minutes to get the results. Time was clicking on the cab fare. Finally got the test results, and flew to Germany, where they had to quarantine, then got the pill, got another negative test result, got on the plane came back into the US.
Mother: And he once in the Dulles International Airport, in DC - he set off all the monitors.
Me: Why?
Mother: He was radioactive. They had to pull them aside and ask a bunch of questions - such as why he was radioactive.
We both burst out laughing.
Also according to mother - you have to get a negative COVID test prior to flying to Hawaii. But my brother didn't need one to fly down to Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Another thing - the lack of pilots is a problem. One of my brother's friends who trains pilots in Hawaii informed him that you can't just fly a plane after a year of not flying one. It's not like driving a car or bike. You have to get re-certified. So, all those pilots who got furloughed and haven't flown in a year due to the pandemic - now need to be retrained. And everyone wants to travel again, but there aren't enough pilots. My brother talked to the pilot and crew on his plane going back up north - and found out they'd been doing it for two days straight, flying up and back, and were spent.
Hmmm, I think I'm going to hold off going anywhere until the fall, and only to visit mother. I'm in no hurry to do anything at the moment. Baby steps.
I should ask college buddy if she needed to take a test prior to flying to Houston. I doubt it - it's Texas. Hawaii makes sense.
***
Our erstwhile Governor is acting as if the pandemic is kind of over - it's not. But now that a little over half the state is vaccinated and we have the lowest infection rate in the nation, he wants to go back to business as usual. (We don't, I actually think Vermont's is lower and their vaccination rate is higher - along with New Hampshire...but whatever. He's a New Yorker - he has to be the best at everything, it's annoying.)
I ignored most of his briefing except for the section in which he discussed the Mayoral Candidates. He seemed to prefer the front-runner Eric Adams. I honestly think Eric Adams has the whole thing sewn up. I've mixed feelings about him - he's the Brooklyn Borough President and I've been following his FB page for some time now. I don't always agree with him. But the Governor made a good point - we need someone who can run a city/manage a city, and demonstrates confidence to lead. Also the City is mainly in charge of police, sanitation, fire, and infrastructure of the city. It oversees some of the educational issues with direction from the state. The main issue right now is crime and policing. And it's a controversial one - since half the people want a strong police force, and the other half want to defund them. (Actually it's more like 30% want strong police, 30% want to defund, and 40% is somewhere in between.) De Blasio took the political approach - he did nothing - which according to the Governor is the worst thing you could do. (I agree with that. I dislike De Blasio - he's more social activist/politician than leader/manager.)
Adams - is the front runner because he is the best choice for the police/crime problem. He's a former NYPD cop and a black man. So sees both sides of the issue, rather clearly. Also knows the politics behind it.
***
Crazy union vs. Membership or me and my co-workers (actually pretty much our entire department, which is frankly fed up with crazy union and sick and tired of being lied to and jerked around.)
Apparently my co-workers are just as pissed off about this as I am. Logged in this morning to a group email from one of my coworkers asking all of us to email the frigging union representative regarding our views on this whole return to the office by June 24, as opposed to the far more reasonable deadline of July 12.
I responded first - advising everyone that I'd emailed the union rep and had gotten nowhere. He basically told me that management had violated its own agreement by sending us back in July instead of June, and we couldn't get a permanent telework from home agreement (which isn't at issue.)
When I pushed for more explanation - he attacked me.
Others, came back, and said the same exact thing happened to them. They got attacked, insulted, and berated, and no answers were provided. In short, the Union reps borrowed from HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED playbook. Bully, insult, blame, then retreat with no answers. (Honestly, I think if the union rep deigned to make an appearance on our floor - we might all kill him. Then cover it up with our managers assistance. We are all ironically unified against our union. )
Frustrated - we all sent emails to the Union guy, who the union rep reports to. A former ticket clerk. The Union Rep insists he's a manager. I'm not sure what his a manager of - his email states he's an equipment clerk. He manages checking in equipment?
We're all furious, yet impotently so. I honestly think if Crazy Company asked us to leave the Union and gave us a better deal - we'd do so.
If you want to know why Amazon and other workers haven't unionized? This is why. We don't trust unions as far as we can throw them. It's the unions own fault. They aren't doing their jobs or just doing a crappy job of communicating whatever it is they are doing.
****
Started listening to the Menopause Manifesto - which I got as an audio book. So far, pretty good.
Menopause Manifesto: Women should talk about menopause, our culture should talk about it. The stigma against it - is a direct result of the patriarchy.
Sisinlaw: I refuse to talk about Menopause with anyone.
Me: How incredibly patriarchal of you.
[Note, we'd never have this conversation. Sisinlaw is scary. And I don't have the guts. But it is a nice fantasy.]
Mother: yeah, I agree - why not discuss it? Men talk about their prostrates.
My mother has no problems talking about the human body - she doesn't understand why other people do.
I want the estrogen patch. I'm annoyed with my gynecologist because she hung it out there as a possibility in the fall - and now refuses because of the primary doctor and my meds. I'm tempted to rebell and find a gynecologist who will give it to me, outside primary doctor's practice.
What is stopping me - is I'm thinking she's most likely right - the last time someone gave me estrogene - I got anxiety attacks and was screwed up.
Holistic may be the only approach. I may schedule a massage in July to help or acupuncture.
In other news, I did finally set up an appointment for my mammogram. The radiology clinic that I went to - reached out to me to set it up. They mentioned that I skipped 2020, which was understandable, but I really should get one now - and all I really needed was a few weeks to a month between the vaccine and the mammogram.
I still need to do dental, eye, and endocrinologist.
***
Mother is hanging in there. She's navigating my father's illness, and her own as best she can. She figured out the clock radio finally, now she has to figure out the tv, apparently they misplaced the smart tv remote.
**
Mother told me this over the phone. Apparently a cheerleader got upset when she didn't make the varsity cheerleading squad - and told the school, the judges, and the squad to go "fuck" themselves on SnapChat. The school found out about it and suspended her from cheerleading.
Me: They can't do that.
Mother: Well, apparently the Supreme Court agrees with you. In an 8-1 ruling. The one was Clarence Thomas.
Me: Well, he's an idiot. It's a violation of freedom of speech. All she was doing was venting on social media. You can do that. She could hold a sign across the street from the school as well. Just not on school property.
Mother: That was pretty much the ruling.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Pennsylvania cheerleader who was punished by her high school district over a vulgar Snapchat message.
The court found that the district violated the First Amendment by disciplining Brandi Levy for off-campus speech. It was the first time in 50 years that a high school student won a free-speech case in the Supreme Court. Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for an eight-member majority, said that schools must teach the value of free speech.
**
COVID redux
The vaccination effort in NYC - has moved towards home vaccinations. You can now get vaccinated in your home. So if what has been keeping you from getting vaccinated - is an inability to get to the site, fear no longer.
Although the risk that vaccinated people will become infected with the coronavirus is low, it can still happen.Here’s what you need to know about these breakthrough cases.
How common are they?
Quite rare — but the vast size of the immunized population means that there is a considerable number of cases, including the TV host Bill Maher and the Yankees’ two-time All-Star shortstop, Gleyber Torres.
As of April 30, out of about 101 million vaccinated people at the time, there were about 10,000 breakthrough infections reported in the U.S., according to the C.D.C. The agency has since stopped recording infections that do not involve severe symptoms.
How serious are breakthrough symptoms?
Because of the protection provided by the vaccines, experts say that most infected people who had been vaccinated are likely to have mild symptoms — nasal congestion and mild body aches — or no symptoms at all. That might be more severe for vaccinated people with weak immune systems, older adults and people with certain medical conditions.
What if it happens to me?
The guidelines are not much different than for unvaccinated people who get the vaccine, though the chances of severe Covid cases are much lower.
If you are fully vaccinated and experience symptoms consistent with Covid-19, the C.D.C. recommends that you self-isolate. If you test positive, experts suggest you participate in contact tracing efforts, inform your health care provider and, if you leave home, go to the doctor, wear a mask and practice social distancing.
Are breakthrough patients infectious?
A vaccinated infected person — even one without symptoms — could pass the virus on to someone else. [Source: NY Times - all are the NY Times.]*
Gist? It's rare. If it happens to you - do the same thing you'd have done if you weren't vaccinated.
* The Governor of NY is lifting the New York's State of Emergency regarding the Pandemic, which has been in place since March 2020, tomorrow. He insists it will not be put in place again.
* They are banning alcohol at the Tokyo Olympics. (interesting)
* Why are people worried about the Delta Variant
Why are people worried about the Delta variant?
Delta, formerly known as B.1.617.2, is believed to be the most transmissible variant yet, spreading more easily than both the original strain of the virus and the Alpha variant first identified in Britain. Public health officials there have said that Delta could be 50 percent more contagious than Alpha, though precise estimates of its infectiousness vary.
Other evidence suggests that the variant may be able to partially evade the antibodies made by the body after a coronavirus infection or vaccination. And the variant may also render certain monoclonal antibody treatments less effective, the C.D.C. notes.
Delta may also cause more severe illness. A recent Scottish study, for instance, found that people infected by the Delta variant were roughly twice as likely to be hospitalized than were those infected with Alpha. But uncertainties remain, scientists said.
“The severe disease piece I think is the one question that really hasn’t been answered yet,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
Delta has been reported in 80 countries. It is now the most common variant in India and Britain, where it accounts for more than 90 percent of cases.
Delta was first identified in the United States in March. Although Alpha remains the most prevalent variant here, Delta has spread quickly. In early April, Delta represented just 0.1 percent of cases in the United States, according to the C.D.C. By early May, the variant accounted for 1.3 percent of cases, and by early June, that figure had jumped to 9.5 percent. As of a few days ago, the estimate hit 20.6 percent, Dr. Fauci said at the briefing.
***
After work took a long walk around the cemetery, about 2.7 miles. I've been either working out at home or walking. I hope to get up the nerve to rent a bike for a bike ride soon. I want to be able to use that as an option. I may not be able to drive, but I should be able to ride a bike. But first, I need to buy a bike helmet.
They are doing a better job with the bike lanes and parking spots. They put in both and just narrowed the lanes to one for through traffic, which I thought was clever.
Let's go backwards through the day, or since I don't think lineally, up and down and sideways through the day.
Before I forget - just got off the phone with mother, who regaled me with stories of foreign travels to and from Europe and the US. Apparently this is not as easy as it looks. Or rather not as easy as it used to be at any rate.
According to my brother, or rather one of his friends, to travel from the US to the Great Britain (England) - once you get off the plane, you must stay in a hotel for one or two weeks, with a landline available. And be next to the landline - where they will call you daily, possibly several times a day, randomly, to ensure you are actually there. You also have to have a negative COVID-19 Test within a specific period of departure. I forget the number of hours. Once you are cleared, you can wander, but then when you come back, you need a negative COVID test to get on the plane.
That's England. Bro is going there in September with his family, because he's bringing niece to the London School of Economics.
Germany is not much better, apparently. My mother's neighbors had to travel to Germany recently to obtain "cancer" treatment for a "rare" form of cancer that is only treated in Germany. They had to go all the way to Germany to get a radioactive pill to kill the cancer. Cost about $3500 just for the pill. Fifteen minutes for the pill, then monitoring in the hospital over night.
Okay, well, to do this they took a car service to the airport - easy, but once there, they discovered that they had to have a COVID-19 negative result prior to boarding, at the very least within 12 hours. They were both vaccinated. But apparently that's not enough for international flights.
So they grabbed a cab, and had to take their luggage with them - since the airport refused to hold their luggage for them or check it. Took a cab to a CVS - the CVS no longer did testing, so they went to the urgent care, across the street, which did, but it took fifteen minutes to get the results. Time was clicking on the cab fare. Finally got the test results, and flew to Germany, where they had to quarantine, then got the pill, got another negative test result, got on the plane came back into the US.
Mother: And he once in the Dulles International Airport, in DC - he set off all the monitors.
Me: Why?
Mother: He was radioactive. They had to pull them aside and ask a bunch of questions - such as why he was radioactive.
We both burst out laughing.
Also according to mother - you have to get a negative COVID test prior to flying to Hawaii. But my brother didn't need one to fly down to Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Another thing - the lack of pilots is a problem. One of my brother's friends who trains pilots in Hawaii informed him that you can't just fly a plane after a year of not flying one. It's not like driving a car or bike. You have to get re-certified. So, all those pilots who got furloughed and haven't flown in a year due to the pandemic - now need to be retrained. And everyone wants to travel again, but there aren't enough pilots. My brother talked to the pilot and crew on his plane going back up north - and found out they'd been doing it for two days straight, flying up and back, and were spent.
Hmmm, I think I'm going to hold off going anywhere until the fall, and only to visit mother. I'm in no hurry to do anything at the moment. Baby steps.
I should ask college buddy if she needed to take a test prior to flying to Houston. I doubt it - it's Texas. Hawaii makes sense.
***
Our erstwhile Governor is acting as if the pandemic is kind of over - it's not. But now that a little over half the state is vaccinated and we have the lowest infection rate in the nation, he wants to go back to business as usual. (We don't, I actually think Vermont's is lower and their vaccination rate is higher - along with New Hampshire...but whatever. He's a New Yorker - he has to be the best at everything, it's annoying.)
I ignored most of his briefing except for the section in which he discussed the Mayoral Candidates. He seemed to prefer the front-runner Eric Adams. I honestly think Eric Adams has the whole thing sewn up. I've mixed feelings about him - he's the Brooklyn Borough President and I've been following his FB page for some time now. I don't always agree with him. But the Governor made a good point - we need someone who can run a city/manage a city, and demonstrates confidence to lead. Also the City is mainly in charge of police, sanitation, fire, and infrastructure of the city. It oversees some of the educational issues with direction from the state. The main issue right now is crime and policing. And it's a controversial one - since half the people want a strong police force, and the other half want to defund them. (Actually it's more like 30% want strong police, 30% want to defund, and 40% is somewhere in between.) De Blasio took the political approach - he did nothing - which according to the Governor is the worst thing you could do. (I agree with that. I dislike De Blasio - he's more social activist/politician than leader/manager.)
Adams - is the front runner because he is the best choice for the police/crime problem. He's a former NYPD cop and a black man. So sees both sides of the issue, rather clearly. Also knows the politics behind it.
***
Crazy union vs. Membership or me and my co-workers (actually pretty much our entire department, which is frankly fed up with crazy union and sick and tired of being lied to and jerked around.)
Apparently my co-workers are just as pissed off about this as I am. Logged in this morning to a group email from one of my coworkers asking all of us to email the frigging union representative regarding our views on this whole return to the office by June 24, as opposed to the far more reasonable deadline of July 12.
I responded first - advising everyone that I'd emailed the union rep and had gotten nowhere. He basically told me that management had violated its own agreement by sending us back in July instead of June, and we couldn't get a permanent telework from home agreement (which isn't at issue.)
When I pushed for more explanation - he attacked me.
Others, came back, and said the same exact thing happened to them. They got attacked, insulted, and berated, and no answers were provided. In short, the Union reps borrowed from HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED playbook. Bully, insult, blame, then retreat with no answers. (Honestly, I think if the union rep deigned to make an appearance on our floor - we might all kill him. Then cover it up with our managers assistance. We are all ironically unified against our union. )
Frustrated - we all sent emails to the Union guy, who the union rep reports to. A former ticket clerk. The Union Rep insists he's a manager. I'm not sure what his a manager of - his email states he's an equipment clerk. He manages checking in equipment?
We're all furious, yet impotently so. I honestly think if Crazy Company asked us to leave the Union and gave us a better deal - we'd do so.
If you want to know why Amazon and other workers haven't unionized? This is why. We don't trust unions as far as we can throw them. It's the unions own fault. They aren't doing their jobs or just doing a crappy job of communicating whatever it is they are doing.
****
Started listening to the Menopause Manifesto - which I got as an audio book. So far, pretty good.
Menopause Manifesto: Women should talk about menopause, our culture should talk about it. The stigma against it - is a direct result of the patriarchy.
Sisinlaw: I refuse to talk about Menopause with anyone.
Me: How incredibly patriarchal of you.
[Note, we'd never have this conversation. Sisinlaw is scary. And I don't have the guts. But it is a nice fantasy.]
Mother: yeah, I agree - why not discuss it? Men talk about their prostrates.
My mother has no problems talking about the human body - she doesn't understand why other people do.
I want the estrogen patch. I'm annoyed with my gynecologist because she hung it out there as a possibility in the fall - and now refuses because of the primary doctor and my meds. I'm tempted to rebell and find a gynecologist who will give it to me, outside primary doctor's practice.
What is stopping me - is I'm thinking she's most likely right - the last time someone gave me estrogene - I got anxiety attacks and was screwed up.
Holistic may be the only approach. I may schedule a massage in July to help or acupuncture.
In other news, I did finally set up an appointment for my mammogram. The radiology clinic that I went to - reached out to me to set it up. They mentioned that I skipped 2020, which was understandable, but I really should get one now - and all I really needed was a few weeks to a month between the vaccine and the mammogram.
I still need to do dental, eye, and endocrinologist.
***
Mother is hanging in there. She's navigating my father's illness, and her own as best she can. She figured out the clock radio finally, now she has to figure out the tv, apparently they misplaced the smart tv remote.
**
Mother told me this over the phone. Apparently a cheerleader got upset when she didn't make the varsity cheerleading squad - and told the school, the judges, and the squad to go "fuck" themselves on SnapChat. The school found out about it and suspended her from cheerleading.
Me: They can't do that.
Mother: Well, apparently the Supreme Court agrees with you. In an 8-1 ruling. The one was Clarence Thomas.
Me: Well, he's an idiot. It's a violation of freedom of speech. All she was doing was venting on social media. You can do that. She could hold a sign across the street from the school as well. Just not on school property.
Mother: That was pretty much the ruling.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Pennsylvania cheerleader who was punished by her high school district over a vulgar Snapchat message.
The court found that the district violated the First Amendment by disciplining Brandi Levy for off-campus speech. It was the first time in 50 years that a high school student won a free-speech case in the Supreme Court. Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for an eight-member majority, said that schools must teach the value of free speech.
**
COVID redux
The vaccination effort in NYC - has moved towards home vaccinations. You can now get vaccinated in your home. So if what has been keeping you from getting vaccinated - is an inability to get to the site, fear no longer.
Although the risk that vaccinated people will become infected with the coronavirus is low, it can still happen.Here’s what you need to know about these breakthrough cases.
How common are they?
Quite rare — but the vast size of the immunized population means that there is a considerable number of cases, including the TV host Bill Maher and the Yankees’ two-time All-Star shortstop, Gleyber Torres.
As of April 30, out of about 101 million vaccinated people at the time, there were about 10,000 breakthrough infections reported in the U.S., according to the C.D.C. The agency has since stopped recording infections that do not involve severe symptoms.
How serious are breakthrough symptoms?
Because of the protection provided by the vaccines, experts say that most infected people who had been vaccinated are likely to have mild symptoms — nasal congestion and mild body aches — or no symptoms at all. That might be more severe for vaccinated people with weak immune systems, older adults and people with certain medical conditions.
What if it happens to me?
The guidelines are not much different than for unvaccinated people who get the vaccine, though the chances of severe Covid cases are much lower.
If you are fully vaccinated and experience symptoms consistent with Covid-19, the C.D.C. recommends that you self-isolate. If you test positive, experts suggest you participate in contact tracing efforts, inform your health care provider and, if you leave home, go to the doctor, wear a mask and practice social distancing.
Are breakthrough patients infectious?
A vaccinated infected person — even one without symptoms — could pass the virus on to someone else. [Source: NY Times - all are the NY Times.]*
Gist? It's rare. If it happens to you - do the same thing you'd have done if you weren't vaccinated.
* The Governor of NY is lifting the New York's State of Emergency regarding the Pandemic, which has been in place since March 2020, tomorrow. He insists it will not be put in place again.
* They are banning alcohol at the Tokyo Olympics. (interesting)
* Why are people worried about the Delta Variant
Why are people worried about the Delta variant?
Delta, formerly known as B.1.617.2, is believed to be the most transmissible variant yet, spreading more easily than both the original strain of the virus and the Alpha variant first identified in Britain. Public health officials there have said that Delta could be 50 percent more contagious than Alpha, though precise estimates of its infectiousness vary.
Other evidence suggests that the variant may be able to partially evade the antibodies made by the body after a coronavirus infection or vaccination. And the variant may also render certain monoclonal antibody treatments less effective, the C.D.C. notes.
Delta may also cause more severe illness. A recent Scottish study, for instance, found that people infected by the Delta variant were roughly twice as likely to be hospitalized than were those infected with Alpha. But uncertainties remain, scientists said.
“The severe disease piece I think is the one question that really hasn’t been answered yet,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
Delta has been reported in 80 countries. It is now the most common variant in India and Britain, where it accounts for more than 90 percent of cases.
Delta was first identified in the United States in March. Although Alpha remains the most prevalent variant here, Delta has spread quickly. In early April, Delta represented just 0.1 percent of cases in the United States, according to the C.D.C. By early May, the variant accounted for 1.3 percent of cases, and by early June, that figure had jumped to 9.5 percent. As of a few days ago, the estimate hit 20.6 percent, Dr. Fauci said at the briefing.
***
After work took a long walk around the cemetery, about 2.7 miles. I've been either working out at home or walking. I hope to get up the nerve to rent a bike for a bike ride soon. I want to be able to use that as an option. I may not be able to drive, but I should be able to ride a bike. But first, I need to buy a bike helmet.
They are doing a better job with the bike lanes and parking spots. They put in both and just narrowed the lanes to one for through traffic, which I thought was clever.