Day #123

End of another week. It's getting hotter here...a heatwave is on the way, and the humidity is high. Was sticky with sweat after my walk, so took a dip into the shower. Feeling much refreshed now. It was about a two and half mile walk - not quite as long as yesterdays. But worth it - the tension melted away, and it was peaceful. Soft light filtering through the leaves of various trees. And lovely flowers along the path.




New York vs. the Coronavirus

New York reminds me of a traumatized child afraid to go into the water after a piranha attack. It ventures partly in - then jumps back slightly.

Ack! Piranha! Or ..ack, Shark!

We're in Phase #4 right now, but with serious caveats - no re-opening of malls, movie theaters, museums, or any "indoor" activities. ( Read more... )

Family

Mother talked to her youngest sister today, and only remaining one, who resides in Chelsea, Michigan - mostly farmland. Her sister is a bit annoyed. ( Read more... )

Crazy Workplace

Well, we got another person to retire. This is a good thing. If more people retire, less potential for job cuts.

Moscow Co-worker (basically he immigrated from Moscow to the US in 2000): Per Fox News Article - NYCT Chief can't figure out what they are doing and half the workers are being paid for doing nothing.( Read more... )

They appear to be moving furniture above me again. Either that or holding races up and down the steps.

Going to be really hot this weekend, and into the beginning of next week. (I feel for my brother's friend - whose going to be staying in a non-air-conditioned barn. Unless, of course, my brother ever got around to installing air conditioning in the barn. I doubt it. The air conditioning in the house was broken up until last week.)

I've managed to cope with the pandemic and the US's crappy (if predictable) response to it - by doing the following: 1) writing in this journal, 2) meditating every morning, 3) taking long walks around Greenwood Cemetery...and taking photos to post in written blogs on said journal.

So far it's worked very well. Far better than expected. But like the rest of the world - I dread the fall.

I leave you with my favorite flowers...

Links, articles..

1. The Great Mask Melee...

New York's Ad to get the Rest of the United States to wear a mask

"The United States continues to set daily infection records, with hospitalization and death rates on the rise — and Americans still can’t stop fighting about masks.
( Read more... )

Anyone else think the Universe is a frustrated Monty Python writer? No? Just me then.

2. How to open schools with a deadly virus on the loose? Can we just have class outside? (Kind of hard to do in a city...though.)

( can we just have class outside )

3. Tom Hanks talks about his experience with the virus, and his wife, Rita Wilson's experience with it and how they did not have the same symptoms

Updates List of Famous People with COVID-19

If you read through, you'll discover the same pattern I've been picking up on for a while now. This virus is kind of like playing Russian Roulett.
Or virus Bingo - you don't know what version of it you'll get or how it will attack your body.( Read more... )

4. Travel and the Coronavirus

I don't know. If I had a car, and lived with someone who was willing to drive me up to a rental cabin in Maine? Yeah, I'd go. Or even Vermont or New Hampshire. But other than that, no.

I'd like to go somewhere though - I'd gotten into the habit of late August Vacations or Late July. Last year I went to Martha's Vineyard at this time. The year before, I'd gone to Seattle the beginning of September. Now? I'll be lucky to visit my parents for Christmas - which doesn't look possible at the moment.

I'm considering taking next Friday off and playing on Zoom with San Diego Comic Con. It's free. And Joss Whedon is doing a two hour Q&A on Zoom for free.(I know there's a lot of folks who don't like Whedon, but the reports I've seen aren't that damning and the sources not overly reliable or taken out of context. Also I find him to be an interesting writer. ) Also, Q&A's with Guilermo Tol - the guy who did Pan's Labrynthe on his new horror flick, Jim Butcher on the Dresden Files, and Nathan Fillion. I was hunting for a Marsters one - but he doesn't appear to be on the docket.

The cons are all virtual this year - so free. You can also do workshops on writing comics or how television shows, films and comics are made. I'm flirting with a couple.

San Diego Comic Con via Zoom

Although Whedon's Zoom chat mysteriously disappeared from the schedule.

5. University of Oxford's team is currently the front runner in developing a COVID-19 Vaccine

* How do you build a vaccine? Inside Johnson & Johnson's efforts to create one

On the plus side - everyone is racing to develop a vaccine, while Russia is trying to steal secrets from folks to develop one of the their own. (Why they have to steal secrets and why we aren't openly sharing is beyond me, we all need the vaccine. Idiot humans are too competitive for the own good.)