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Y2/265 - Good news, It was just allergies
Dec. 7th, 2021 08:25 pmAnd they are gone now. The sinus crap and the fatigue. Which is how I know it was just allergies. I dusted my apartment last night, changed the filters in my air purifiers (that required it), ran the robot vacuum (I need a new one - it's last five years, so worth it and still runs, but I need a better one), and the sinus congestion is for the most part gone, along with the fatigue. I no longer feel like crap.
I woke up this morning feeling fine, and was insanely relieved. Although Mother thinks I should try to get a COVID test before I leave for Hilton Head next week. So I may attempt one.
For the muscle aches - caused by hunching over a computer all day long, and well, stress - I took an aleve when I got home and put head on them. It worked, for the most part.
I have to say that doing the Headspace App meditations every single day or every other day for the last three years has helped tremendously. Also, the beta blockers have helped lower blood-pressure, and anxiety. These are god-sends.
***
AARP sent me an article on TSA requirements. After reading them, I thought okay, I guess I'm leaving for the airport next Sunday between 5 and 5:30 am to get there around 6 AM. My flight is at 7:30 AM. Security will take a while - even though I paid extra for Even More Speed via Jetblue. But they are under-staffed, and have had to take special measures. If you aren't wearing a mask - they kick you out and fine you, now (according to the article). Over 11,000 TSA employees have contracted COVID and 33 have died of it - according to the article.
***
I'm currently reading The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red by Martha Wells. I am reading it for free under Kindle Unlimited option, so kind of for free? It's interesting. It is about an AI that becomes self-aware, and the story explores what that means exactly. Is it ethical to use bots to do various tasks, if they are self-aware and sentient creatures - or is that slavery?
***
Having listened to a lot of Beatles songs - most of John Lennon's, some of Yoko Ono's, and most of Paul McCartney's, plus the Beatles songs themselves, I've come to the following conclusions. I actually like a lot Lennon's songs better than McCartney's - they are rawer and more personal.
McCartney's songs tend to ran the gamut, McCartney wrote about anything and everything under the sun. So did Lennon, but he put more emotion into it, and was a little less playful. I do not like Yoko Ono's at all. I don't think she can actually sing. Which is odd, since Ono is the only trained musician of the bunch. Makes me wonder about her training.
The difficulty with McCartney is he recorded so much music, that you got to wade through a lot of...well, mediocre songs, to get to the good stuff. And most of his good stuff he did with Lennon, or The Beatles.
I relate most to McCartney, because he's the least passive aggressive of the bunch, and I get his desire to do the work and lose himself in it. That said, I understand all too well why John and George disliked touring and performing in public - I'd have wanted to stay in the recording studio too. The reason they broke up in a nutshell is that - Paul wanted to tour and perform live (and he has done the most live performances and tours of all the Beatles, he still tours at 79 years of age), while Ringo, George and John were perfectly happy just recording in the studio and never touring again.
I also think McCartney created the most, recorded the most, and was the most popular by the sheer fact that he outlived John and George. John died at 40 years of age, and George Harrison was 58 years of age when he died.
McCartney is 79 and still creating stuff, whether it be music, books, documentaries on his music. If he were to die tomorrow - he will have outlived John by about 40 years. And George by about 20 or so. That's a long time. In that time, he was able to make peace with just about everyone he had a falling out with - he and George mended fences in the 80s, and reunited again before George's death. He's close friends with Ringo. He mended fences with John in the mid-70s. And he's close friends with Yoko now, and her son Scean Lennon. That's admirable. If we live long enough, the Universe gives us plenty of opportunities to forgive those who trespassed against us and vice versa, or so I've discovered.
I think I like Paul's story because it's kind of inspiring?
***
It's such a relief not to be congested. Taught me a lesson - vacuum more regularly, and dust. Also change the filters. Don't let the dust in my apartment get out of hand. Hard to do - NYC apartments are notoriously dusty, also my shoes attract dust no matter what I do. I need to get rid of some of them - I may make an excursion to my church on Sunday - to get rid of shoes. They have a charity that takes shoes off your hands. It's just a matter of getting them there. Kind of hard to do - since I'd have to lug them on and off the subway, and down a few blocks. This is a charity that awards folks that drive.
**
Covid
On the news this morning they reported that they now have about eleven cases, possibly fifteen in NYC of the Omicron variant. The good news? None are severe. It spreads fast, but appears to be mild. My hope is the variants that come after this will be milder and milder, until this kind of goes the way of the common cold.
But they aren't taking chances. The NYC Mayor announced today that he's extending the vaccination mandates to all private company employees. So let's see to date, NYC is mandating the following folks be vaccinated:
* All City Health Care Workers
* All City public School Teachers and Employees
* All Private School Teachers and employees
* All folks working in restaurants, theaters, hotels, bars, nightclubs, movie theaters, concert venues..
* All theater patrons
* All people eating indoors at a restaurant
* All NYPD, NYFD, and all City Employees
They haven't mandated the MTA - why? They can't. The MTA is a State Agency not a City or Federal. It has State and Federal funding. Also, it has about 77 unions. So right now everyone either has a vaccine or is tested twice weekly. I asked about the testing - the process is simple. You register for the test, take it home or do it there, drop it in the box. They give you the result by email or text within 48 hours.
* Early reports suggest the Omicron variant is fast-moving but perhaps less severe.
* Texas became the 19th state in the U.S. to detect the variant.
* The U.S. is investing $400 million in a new global vaccination program.
(Well that's actually a good idea. The U.S. government is investing $400 million in a new program to help countries get vaccines to their citizens quickly, an effort that comes amid fears that the Delta and Omicron variants will drive a new wave of cases.
The U.S. Agency for International Development said in a statement on Monday that the program, called the Initiative for Global Vaccine Access, would “enhance international coordination” to help countries “overcome vaccine access barriers.”
But mostly they don't know much about the new Omicron variant or the effectiveness of the vaccine against it. Their studies are based on South Africa - who has a 6% vaccination rate.
***
Ugh. I wish I'd been able to see my parents earlier, but alas no. Mother does have good news to report - her total hip conversion replacement worked. The femur while still fractured is healing. It's been stabilized enough by the hip replacement, that she puts no pressure on it when she walks, and can walk without a cane now. Although she still uses it for stability. She's let go of her "POD" or home health care aids, although she did have someone drive her to her Doctor's appointment in Charleston, next appointment is a year from today. And she can drive without pain or problems.
I'm very relieved. Now if the damn virus will let me come down to Hilton Head. It should - everyone else traveling. One of my co-workers is going down to visit his family in the Dominican Republic for about two weeks, he leaves two days before I do. We're both busy - trying to get stuff down before the end of the year, although he has more to do than I, because they are focusing on his projects as higher priority. (I've no complaints on that front.) Also there's lots of people traveling in and out of the air train building now, it's climbing to pre-pandemic levels again.
**
Random Photo of the Night..
I woke up this morning feeling fine, and was insanely relieved. Although Mother thinks I should try to get a COVID test before I leave for Hilton Head next week. So I may attempt one.
For the muscle aches - caused by hunching over a computer all day long, and well, stress - I took an aleve when I got home and put head on them. It worked, for the most part.
I have to say that doing the Headspace App meditations every single day or every other day for the last three years has helped tremendously. Also, the beta blockers have helped lower blood-pressure, and anxiety. These are god-sends.
***
AARP sent me an article on TSA requirements. After reading them, I thought okay, I guess I'm leaving for the airport next Sunday between 5 and 5:30 am to get there around 6 AM. My flight is at 7:30 AM. Security will take a while - even though I paid extra for Even More Speed via Jetblue. But they are under-staffed, and have had to take special measures. If you aren't wearing a mask - they kick you out and fine you, now (according to the article). Over 11,000 TSA employees have contracted COVID and 33 have died of it - according to the article.
***
I'm currently reading The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red by Martha Wells. I am reading it for free under Kindle Unlimited option, so kind of for free? It's interesting. It is about an AI that becomes self-aware, and the story explores what that means exactly. Is it ethical to use bots to do various tasks, if they are self-aware and sentient creatures - or is that slavery?
***
Having listened to a lot of Beatles songs - most of John Lennon's, some of Yoko Ono's, and most of Paul McCartney's, plus the Beatles songs themselves, I've come to the following conclusions. I actually like a lot Lennon's songs better than McCartney's - they are rawer and more personal.
McCartney's songs tend to ran the gamut, McCartney wrote about anything and everything under the sun. So did Lennon, but he put more emotion into it, and was a little less playful. I do not like Yoko Ono's at all. I don't think she can actually sing. Which is odd, since Ono is the only trained musician of the bunch. Makes me wonder about her training.
The difficulty with McCartney is he recorded so much music, that you got to wade through a lot of...well, mediocre songs, to get to the good stuff. And most of his good stuff he did with Lennon, or The Beatles.
I relate most to McCartney, because he's the least passive aggressive of the bunch, and I get his desire to do the work and lose himself in it. That said, I understand all too well why John and George disliked touring and performing in public - I'd have wanted to stay in the recording studio too. The reason they broke up in a nutshell is that - Paul wanted to tour and perform live (and he has done the most live performances and tours of all the Beatles, he still tours at 79 years of age), while Ringo, George and John were perfectly happy just recording in the studio and never touring again.
I also think McCartney created the most, recorded the most, and was the most popular by the sheer fact that he outlived John and George. John died at 40 years of age, and George Harrison was 58 years of age when he died.
McCartney is 79 and still creating stuff, whether it be music, books, documentaries on his music. If he were to die tomorrow - he will have outlived John by about 40 years. And George by about 20 or so. That's a long time. In that time, he was able to make peace with just about everyone he had a falling out with - he and George mended fences in the 80s, and reunited again before George's death. He's close friends with Ringo. He mended fences with John in the mid-70s. And he's close friends with Yoko now, and her son Scean Lennon. That's admirable. If we live long enough, the Universe gives us plenty of opportunities to forgive those who trespassed against us and vice versa, or so I've discovered.
I think I like Paul's story because it's kind of inspiring?
***
It's such a relief not to be congested. Taught me a lesson - vacuum more regularly, and dust. Also change the filters. Don't let the dust in my apartment get out of hand. Hard to do - NYC apartments are notoriously dusty, also my shoes attract dust no matter what I do. I need to get rid of some of them - I may make an excursion to my church on Sunday - to get rid of shoes. They have a charity that takes shoes off your hands. It's just a matter of getting them there. Kind of hard to do - since I'd have to lug them on and off the subway, and down a few blocks. This is a charity that awards folks that drive.
**
Covid
On the news this morning they reported that they now have about eleven cases, possibly fifteen in NYC of the Omicron variant. The good news? None are severe. It spreads fast, but appears to be mild. My hope is the variants that come after this will be milder and milder, until this kind of goes the way of the common cold.
But they aren't taking chances. The NYC Mayor announced today that he's extending the vaccination mandates to all private company employees. So let's see to date, NYC is mandating the following folks be vaccinated:
* All City Health Care Workers
* All City public School Teachers and Employees
* All Private School Teachers and employees
* All folks working in restaurants, theaters, hotels, bars, nightclubs, movie theaters, concert venues..
* All theater patrons
* All people eating indoors at a restaurant
* All NYPD, NYFD, and all City Employees
They haven't mandated the MTA - why? They can't. The MTA is a State Agency not a City or Federal. It has State and Federal funding. Also, it has about 77 unions. So right now everyone either has a vaccine or is tested twice weekly. I asked about the testing - the process is simple. You register for the test, take it home or do it there, drop it in the box. They give you the result by email or text within 48 hours.
* Early reports suggest the Omicron variant is fast-moving but perhaps less severe.
* Texas became the 19th state in the U.S. to detect the variant.
* The U.S. is investing $400 million in a new global vaccination program.
(Well that's actually a good idea. The U.S. government is investing $400 million in a new program to help countries get vaccines to their citizens quickly, an effort that comes amid fears that the Delta and Omicron variants will drive a new wave of cases.
The U.S. Agency for International Development said in a statement on Monday that the program, called the Initiative for Global Vaccine Access, would “enhance international coordination” to help countries “overcome vaccine access barriers.”
But mostly they don't know much about the new Omicron variant or the effectiveness of the vaccine against it. Their studies are based on South Africa - who has a 6% vaccination rate.
***
Ugh. I wish I'd been able to see my parents earlier, but alas no. Mother does have good news to report - her total hip conversion replacement worked. The femur while still fractured is healing. It's been stabilized enough by the hip replacement, that she puts no pressure on it when she walks, and can walk without a cane now. Although she still uses it for stability. She's let go of her "POD" or home health care aids, although she did have someone drive her to her Doctor's appointment in Charleston, next appointment is a year from today. And she can drive without pain or problems.
I'm very relieved. Now if the damn virus will let me come down to Hilton Head. It should - everyone else traveling. One of my co-workers is going down to visit his family in the Dominican Republic for about two weeks, he leaves two days before I do. We're both busy - trying to get stuff down before the end of the year, although he has more to do than I, because they are focusing on his projects as higher priority. (I've no complaints on that front.) Also there's lots of people traveling in and out of the air train building now, it's climbing to pre-pandemic levels again.
**
Random Photo of the Night..