Spontaneous Musings

Well...another day, another dollar...well more than that...but anyhow.

The commute to and from work was per usual an obstacle course in varying ways. This morning a stone guy was sprawled on the steps to the train platform. I kicked his shoulder when he was about to lie his head down in the only path past him. And said "move". I wish I stuck around and watched the Long Islanders trample him on their way up and out of the train station, while tapping away on their cell phones.

On the way home, a guy had what amounted to a minature motorcycle on the train. I was amazed he got it on the train - those things are light.

And less and less folks are wearing masks. I have a new cubicle aisle mate, Gerald from Stores, who doesn't wear one. Big bald with tattoos running up and down his arms, blue and black - one looked like waves. And a Toby Kieth concert sweatshirt. The Sweatshirt was kind of cool looking, but I've no clue who Toby Kieth is - do I want to know? The guy is really nice. (I've learned to stay away from politics at work. Also I informed him that I'd had COVID and I don't mind wearing the KN95 mask (actually I find it comfortable - and I bought it - and it keeps out allergians). Plus I feel less anxious. (I did feel anxious when he came a bit too close for comfort into my cubicle without a mask.))

Work requires a lot of patience and repetition...countless repetition. And not just with the non-mask wearers (which is about 85% of the workforce, and across genders, ages, ethncities, basically everybody, but ...beleaguered few, the band of buggered..I think that's the Shakespearean Henry the V line?)

Right now? I'd like to strangle the estimating department. So would my management.

***

Stuff about Gun Violence in America...

* Twitter Thread posted by a journalist at the scene of the shooting, outside the school in Texas while it was taking place...

I didn't cry, until I got to this post, and then I had to stop, because I was at work and I couldn't afford to burst into tears at my desk. NSFW.
( in case you don't have Twitter )

* Ending America's Love Affair with Guns - my wordpress post from 2018, which still rings true today.

* from my novel, Doing Time on Planet Earth

Below is a snippet from my novel Doing Time on Planet Earth that depicts some of my research on the matter:

( snippet from my novel )

* Gun Violence Archive

And..



***

I appear to be reading a gothic romance, with time travel and creepy ghosts. I like ghost stories. Always have. I collected ghost stories in undergrad as part of a cultural anthropology minor. I think sometimes that I'm a frustrated folklorist - more that than anything else. I love listening to and reading stories. I like stories - they tell me more about the world and people than anything else. And I particularly love ghost stories.

Did the same thing in Wales, got a grant, and wandered about Wales collecting ghost stories, myths, fairy stories, folk tales, etc. I still have the transcriptions somewhere or other.

I read a lot of ghost stories and horror novels as a child, young adult, and in my twenties. I tend to binge on books. Also am known to read more than one thing at a time. Once I figured out how to read - I devoured books. Although there are moments in which I can't seem to read at all.

Reading and writing are my two favorite past times. I also adore letter writing - which is why Dream Width works so well for me - it's kind of similar. I'm basically sharing correspondence instantly with people. It's quicker than letters, takes up less space, can reach more people, and more permanent, also editable.

Anyhow, I think I may hunt down more ghost stories and gothic romances, I appear to be in the mood for both at the moment.

1. Box Office: Marvel made “Shang-Chi” with the Chinese market in mind. The government won’t allow it in theaters. [ LOL!] I should provide a link, shouldn't I? Warm Reception From Asians Everywhere - Except China

( Excerpt )
Yes, China. Proof you can be capitalistic and a fascist dictatorship at the same time.

2. Advice from Wirecutter: Consider pet insurance - Geeze, owning a pet is an expensive and stressful proposition nowadays, isn't it? ( Read more... ) See? This is why I don't have a pet - well that and I'm allergic.

3.Last week’s recall landslide in California suggests the stolen-election myth is hurting Republicans, says Rich Lowry in Politico. [ If only. I'll believe it when it happens. I'm still waiting for the Republican Party to crawl back into the cesspit from which it erupted. It's not happened yet. I'm almost resigned to the fact that it never will. We're stuck with the bloody bastards.]

4. The U.S. needs a uniform system to verify vaccination status, Dr. Tom Frieden, a former C.D.C. director, argues. [ Well, yeah. Kind of figured that out several months ago. Also, the flimsy paper cards aren't good enough. NY put in apps - two of them, the NY State Excelsior Pass, and NYC COVID Pass. You just upload your information to the app on your phone, and voila. I've also uploaded it to my doctor and my company's portal. If this was more uniform - I wouldn't have had to upload it so many times.]

5. Middle-aged sadness is behind the cancel culture panic, Michelle Goldberg argues. [ Okay. I think what's behind it is idiotic twenty-somethings cancelling professors on Twitter, Tik Tok, Facebook, and other social media platforms that I don't know the name of. Which is actually the problematic nature of Twitter in action. Cat Sebastian, LGBTA romance novelist, recently tweeted that part of the problem with this site (platform) is that it bullies people into speaking out about things. "We Know who hasn't Spoke out about this! Shame on you!" - they did that with the whole Joss Whedon thing, the actors, writers, etc who chose not to tweet about Whedon or speak out against him on Twitter and Instagram - got harassed for not doing so. (Poor Alyson Hannigan who was promoting a movie at the time - had her publicist handle Twitter. And her husband, Alexis Denisof just jumped off it completely.)

6.Justin Trudeau will stay prime minister of Canada, but his party failed to secure a majority in Parliament, according to unofficial election results. [ Is this good news? I think it is. But I also don't know who the opposition was.]

7. The S&P 500 index saw its biggest one-day slide since May. One reason: A Chinese real estate giant is in trouble. [Sigh. After I added money to my investments...ugh. Stupid China - they've put the damper on everything.]

8. Biden will address the U.N.’s General Assembly today. Yesterday, the boy band BTS took center stage. [ Okay, why is a boy band playing at the general assembly of the UN? I should provide a link... Boy Band BTS speaks in front of the UN General Assembly]

They apparently even performed there. But this was a speech about Corona Virus vaccines saving young adults.

9. Pfizer says its Covid vaccine is safe and effective in children from 5 to 11. It could be available to them in October. [ Yay!]

10. The U.S. will allow fully vaccinated foreigners to visit starting in November.[ Finally? ]

11. The Labor Department will draft standards to protect outdoor workers from extreme heat. [ Why wasn't this done before now?]

12. Two men from other states seem to be the first to use Texas’ new abortion law to sue a doctor for performing an abortion. [ This is a weird case - the two men are disbarred lawyers. So it could reveal the problematic nature of the law.]

13. The Department of Homeland Security is investigating the border patrol’s treatment of Haitian immigrants. [The immigrants were detained in San Rio, Texas. Border patrol hunted them down on horseback and decided to deport them back to Haiti without warning. This is after they worked for years to get to the US. ]

14. The Biden administration will raise the cap on refugee admissions to 125,000 for the coming 12 months. [ They kind of have to - considering we left a bit of a crisis in Afghanistan.]

15. A glitch revealed the ballot choices of hundreds of voters in New York City’s mayoral primary — including the mayor’s son’s. [ Woopsie.]

16. Oh, there's also 31 new television shows premiering this fall, after the pandemic glut. (I disagree, there were some great shows that popped up during the pandemic. Queen's Gambit, Bridgerton...both come to mind.)

31 Television Shows to Watch - depending on what your service is of course

IDK - I am nostalgic for the days in which there were just 10. Actually, I'm guessing there's more than 31, but the critics gave up and just list the ones they managed to see. Well that, and the networks/streaming services pretty much greenlit every single pilot they saw. So.. I mean who has time to watch over 100 television shows, sixty percent of which are real clunkers?

Not to be outdone, there's also More than 125 movies to watch - basically every movie that was put on hold since 2020, that they did not want to release on streaming channels and felt needed to be seen in movie theaters. So we have a backlog of a year and a half of movies coming out. Blame the pandemic.

After getting into a heated and rather futile argument with a couple of dingbat male cycling enthusiasts - I took a well-deserved walk around Greenwood Cemetery.

[Edited to Clarify: The argument was on Facebook not in the Cemetery. It's winter - so not really around. And there's gatekeepers at the Cemetery and security at all the entrances. They check everyone who enters - to ensure they are following the rules and stop those who don't. I've seen them stop cyclists and make them leave their bikes at the gate. And they ask drivers of motor vehicles why they are coming in, and inform them of the rules. Also check to see if people are wearing masks.]



[ Greenwood Cemetery in its over 168 years of operation has never permitted bicycles. (Oh people have snuck them in on occasion, and done dumb things, reinforcing the Cemetery's reasons for prohibiting it. The idiotic cyclists thought it was ridiculous Greenwood prohibited this. I don't know why I felt the need to debate the topic with them - none of us have any control over it. Also convincing folks of stuff on social media is kind of impossible at the moment. All that happens is everyone gets angry at each other. I tend to jump off just before it turns into a pissing match - or when my hands start shaking, and my blood pressure rises. Greenwood is a private cemetery and a historic landmark. It doesn't have to let people walk through it. I've talked to the gate keepers about it. These idiots can whine all they want, sign petitions, what have you - it's not going to change the Cemetery's perspective. Prior to the pandemic, the Cemetery didn't open any gates but the main entrance on weekdays. I'll keep my walker's paradise blissfully free from evil cyclists. No worries.]



There's another winter storm coming - should arrive around 6 AM tomorrow, and last until 9 PM tomorrow night, hit South Eastern New York and Northeastern NJ along with some of the Atlantic States. It's not supposed to go any further than that. And will most likely go out to sea.

In other news, mother informed me that my brother is having a tad more difficulty than expected disentangling himself from various items that contain his email address' domain name.

Me: Not as easy as he thought, eh?
Mother: Well, apparently he was on the phone with AT&T forever to get them to change it. And there's all these security protocols. Even after four hours, he got nowhere.
Me: Yeah, it can be problematic.
Mother: His wife told her daughter - "Our music streaming service is screwed up due to your father's greed."

I laughed. I know I shouldn't find it funny, but I do. Yes, changing ones email is a lot harder than it looks. And his domain name is connected to his email and his daughters and their finances, and his work, and his streaming.
Oh, my poor little brother.



I've decided it is physically impossible to take a bad picture of Greenwood Cemetery. Also the light and sky today were amazing - due to the on-coming weather system. It was also in the upper 40s.

There were people and cars, but not that many. I was able to walk for about fifteen minutes or twenty minutes without them nearby. I realized as I was walking and listening to the birds, and occasional conversations, that I'd walked the breadth of the pandemic through the Cemetery. I've seen the seasons change and shift during in it. And so have you, in a way, since I've posted pictures. I have seen every season in that cemetery unfold with all its permutations...



I'm thinking of donating more money to Greenwood and thanking them for prohibiting cyclists. I've grown to despise cyclists during this pandemic.

Decided to stop whinging and call my niece. Niece is lovely for putting up with her crazy old Auntie. We talked or chatted for a bit, then her Dad called her - and we hung up. It helps push the loneliness at bay - not that I'm truly THAT lonely. I tend to like to be in my own space for the most part. But it helps at times to hear another voice.

Apparently she, and her Mom are furious with my poor brother - for selling their email domain name. Now they all have to change everything.



Other news?

* I listened to an article in the NY Times Magazinethis morning about how the classics field needed to be changed and possibly disbanded - because of how it had increasingly presented a racist and white supremacist ideologue.

At first, I disagreed, but as I listened, I changed my mind realizing a few things along the way: 1) I've never been fond of the classics. 2) How information is presented, matters. Often it's the teacher not the subject matter - and if a teacher doesn't question the subject matter and provide a counter-argument? Also, how one portrays the classics could be the problem? I'm not sure they justify or endorse a slave-based society nor do they push racism, if anything the opposite - if you look deeply enough and critique it. Shakespeare kind of did in his plays, as did others. It's like any work of art - it doesn't exist in a vacuum - how we choose to critique and relate to it is important too.

* This article in Time Magazine is a rather interesting take on why we didn't end up with a coup or violence post the November election. Everyone, including Trump, was expecting it to happen. But nothing did. All that happened was celebrations and expressions of relief - across the land and around the world (with a few exceptions.) Also, I know a good portion of my readers were involved in this campaign, I know I was - I sent money and support to it. And I know there were people from church, family and friends who wrote postcards, did phone-banking, everything possible to ensure the election went off without a hitch and it was the cleanest and safest one on record as a result. We, together, protected our democracy.

( excerpt )

And it was bi-partisan in its effort. And went across all lines.

* They Stormed The Capital - Their Apps Tracked Them

Hee Hee.

A source has provided another data set, this time following the smartphones of thousands of Trump supporters, rioters and passers-by in Washington, D.C., on January 6, as Donald Trump’s political rally turned into a violent insurrection. At least five people died because of the riot at the Capitol. Key to bringing the mob to justice has been the event’s digital detritus: location data, geotagged photos, facial recognition, surveillance cameras and crowdsourcing.

It's scary. But also...funny. You can turn it off by the way. But people are dumb.

* A Martian Marathon with China, United Arab Emigrates, and the US this month

Be curious to see what happens once they all get there. [It's kind of disturbing to realize that science fiction authors are better at predicting the future than expected.]
( excerpt )

Crazy people doing outdoor dining in the middle of winter in little shacks on the sidewalk.



That was a new restaurant doing it - or the Thai to Farm Kitchen, the other one, Angelique's, has appeared to have given up for the time being.

Ah well...enough rambling for tonight. Last night I feel down the youtube rabbit hole - watching an Oscar roundtable with George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Michael Fassbender, Charliz Theron, Christopher Plummer and Viola Davis.

Did I already post this picture? I forget. Oh well, it will be gone in a month anyhow. [I did, I'm changing it.]

Woke up with American Pie in my head...and then clicked on my phone and found myself hearing Carry On in my head.

If you're lost and alone
Or you're sinking like a stone
Carry on
May your past be the sound
Of your feet upon the ground
Carry on

Carry on, carry on



[Took a brief walk down the median again and around the block. Avoided the smokers - or tried to. The picture above and half-way down are of my walk.]

Me vs. Crazy Workplace and COVID
My workplace is trying to kill me again. But, no worries, I fought back.

At the weekly Staff Meeting From Doom:
( Read more... )

I took a walk to get rid of some of my fury. I woke up furious at my work place - because of all of the misinformation regarding registration for the vaccine. ( Read more... )

Family

Good news. My parents are scheduled to take the vaccine on Saturday. Father and mother will get it.

Yay.

Father was more lucid when mother spoke to him today. The only problem with that - is when he's more lucid, he wants to go home. And asks when he can leave. My mother apologizes to him profusely, and says she's trying to work it out - needs more time. He doesn't understand why they both can't be home with the home health care aids taking care of them both. Mother told my brother this - and he responded, "It's not like Dad's happy at home? He complains there as well. He's at home, he wants to leave and go to the Preston or somewhere else, and if he's at the Preston, he wants to go home." This is true. My father has become the Rum Tum Tiger from Cats.

New York vs. COVID

As my brother told my mother today - COVID is everywhere in NY.

Although the Governor decided anything under 6% infection rate - was not bad, and loosened restrictions again. (Loosening, basically means we go from Orange to Yellow Zones, and outdoor dining, shops, and schools get to open. Maybe some indoor dining, but curfew is still in place. That's it. No indoor dining in the city.

Per the Governor's live-briefing (which I tend to watch on FB after the fact), they don't have enough vaccines for everyone, and right now it doesn't look like they will for quite some time. It's not that they can't distribute a high volume, it's that they don't have the allotment. And as, he advised the reporters, people are driving over a hundred miles to get it at different locals. People across the state are shopping for the vaccine or following it about - it's become a kind of free-for-all. He'd love nothing better than to open Yankee Stadium and vaccinate the Bronx through it. But they just don't have the vaccines. The Federal Government fouled up on the distribution.

He's right, it has become a free-for-all in NY. The good news is they have vaccinated 70% of the nursing home folks. (They offered it to 100%, but only 70% agreed to take it.) Also about 86% of the health care folks (but people refused.) There's a lot of misinformation out there.

The bad news is there are now, 42 UK variant cases that have been detected. I'm certain there are more.

New York has vaccinated about 6% of its population or approximately 1 Million people, but it only has a little over 1 million doses.

Other states have fared somewhat better.

Per the Governor's email : Additional cases of the UK variant have been identified in New York State. The new cases have been found in Long Island, New York City, Westchester, Saratoga, Tompkins, Niagara, Onondaga, Essex and Warren Counties, bringing the statewide total to 42 known cases.
- In short? It's everywhere.



Other News

President Biden signed a series of executive orders that will fight climate change at every level of the federal government.

“We’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis,” Mr. Biden said. “We can’t wait any longer.”
( Read more... )

I'm very happy about this turn of events. I had two things I prayed for in this election - 1) Trump gone and out of office. I don't care how. I just want him and his administration gone. 2) And the environment, specifically climate change. That was it. And I got it! I also got Kamala Harris, who I adore as a bonus. I've been patient and very good, I think I earned these three things.

And..

( Biden canceled the federal contracts with privately operated prisons )

[Also good news. My church has been fighting for the last four years to end these contracts. The contracts had resulted in more persons of color who had done the equivalent of petty crimes being imprisoned. It also, was pushing poor conditions and inhumane ones - which contributed to a rise in cases during the pandemic and the spread of the virus.]

Social Media

Or meanwhile on the internet...you should be proud of me, I resisted saying nasty things to folks on Facebook. It wasn't easy. I also resisted getting into a pointless debate to two folks on racism. I watched from the sidelines as a social media friend that I'd met on ATPO tried to do it.
( Read more... )

I'm tired. And frustrated with the world outside my window. Hunkering down in my she-cave, leery of it. Today, I fell a bit in love with this song by Aloe Blacc entitled My Way.

People say I’m foolish
People say I'm blinded by faith
But if I run out of air
If I crash I don’t care
I’m gonna do it my way

I can make it through this
You can throw the world in my face
But the fear gives me life
And I swear 'til I die
I’m gonna do it my way

It came up on my apple music feed after the Staff Meeting from Doom, and it helped. It was if the Universe touched me on the shoulder and said, keep on going, ignore the world, and keep on doing it "your way". No matter what.

Little depressed today, even though I did get a spot or two of good news.

Family vs. COVID

Mother is doing better, and it appears that she and possibly my father will get the vaccine within the next two weeks. They have more doses and are bringing the permission forms within the next few days. Her home health-care coordinator informed her that she's going to arrange for mother to get one, and check to see if father can as well. Since both are in the high risk group and eligible (they are above 75).

New York vs. COVID

New York has officially run out of doses, they cancelled and shut down all the big vaccine sites, including the two they'd planned on opening twenty-four seven. ( Read more... )

Crazy Workplace vs. COVID

Cubical mate emailed me today - turns out that he caught a severe case of COVID over the holiday. Got it from his mother-in-law, who lives in the apartment below him - who got it from work. The mother-in-law got a mild case, cubical mate's was severe - and he's happy it's past him now. Said he got it around New Years, and it laid him out for about two-three weeks.
(I've not seen cubical mate since September.)

Meanwhile, a video came out today of all the people from my organization that have died from COVID-19 to date. It's well over 100.




I found myself missing my Dad today, I mentioned this to my mother, and she began to cry - so I began to cry. I was listening to the Barack Obama book and thought about my Dad, and how cool it would be to discuss it with him. And I can't. I even sent him the audio book at Christmas - but they never got around to listening to it. I feel as if I've lost him, already.
And fear I'll never see him again. Yes, I could call - but it would only confuse him and make things worse.

What I've been struggling with through all of this - is my anger and this overwhelming sense of futility. I'm frustrated with everything. ( Read more... )

The news..or some items from the evening briefing:
( Read more... )

Online...I was discussing the pardons with the Lawyers from the Left, and hit upon a guy with the name Miles Vorkosigan. After responding to his comment, I did a double take. Wait a minute. This name seems really familiar. So I google it and I'm right.

Me: Do you realize you have the same name as a fictional sci-fi character in a series of novels, or is that deliberate? (I provide the link.)

The internet continues to amuse me with its absurdities, apparently there are fake journal publishers scamming academics now. Meanwhile a church member is upset with the novel Nickle & Dimed (which fat-shames), being chosen for a social justice discussion group about economic injustice. Unfortunately when it came time to discuss? She lost the Zoom link and couldn't get in. I told her the Universe was most likely looking out for her best interest. It does that for me all the time - I'll get pissed off with some comment on FB, move away for a bit, still be pissed, try to respond and can't for the life of me find it again. A few hours later, my anger has receded - because I can't find it again - it's gone.

No, I didn't get to walk around the cemetery tonight, just to the pharmacy and back. ( Read more... )

I hope someone is enjoying these increasingly long missives. They keep me sane at least. I love writing letters. Brings back the good old days, when I'd write long letters to friends in multi-colored ink.

Finally. We have a decent, kind man as President, and our first black woman of Jamaican and Sri Lankan (native Tamil) descent as Vice President. Thank you, God. Both are also - experienced in Government, served in the Senate, and know how it works. Kamala Harris was a Senator, and an Attorney General, also a lawyer. Biden served in the Senate for 36 years, and was Obama's VP, and a close advisor to Obama.

Jumping for Joy.

Hip-Hip-Hooray!

I'm getting what I so desperately wanted in 2020 on the political stage.

The thing gone. And a renewed focus on the environment.



Yes, I watched the inauguration starting at 10:30 am and until pretty much 1:30pm. With a break to call mother, and of course the staff meeting from doom.

I cried during it. The tears started with Kamala Harris being sworn in, and continued through Lady Gaga's exuberant rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, the Pledge of the Allegiance (which was also signed), J-Lo's mashup of This Land is Our Land/America the Beautiful, Biden's swearing in, Garth Brooks rendition of Amazing Grace, Biden's speech, Amanda Gorman's poem, and the preacher's words.

I think I was close to bawling at the end.

If you want to read the poem - you can find it HERE

Last stanza:

We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it

And the last part of Biden's speech...
( excerpt )
In case you were wondering about...the thing that previously occupied the White House, he left at 8 am, the sky was dark and cloudy then, and it was snowing outside my window. Then at 10 am, the sky had cleared, and blue mixed with clouds shone outside my window. As Biden spoke, the sun shone brightly on his face.

And in regards to the white supremacist protestors? Threatening us? Well, as I predicted, they stayed home. ( the end of Trumpism? )

So, Happy New Year, Folks! I think 2020 is finally over?

Family

Mother is back home. All is well, at least for the most part or as well as can be expected..

( Read more... )

I'm so relieved that my Mama is okay. That there were no problems getting her home. I had nightmares about this last night.

Now, I just have to worry about my father. Mother told the Preston, where he is staying, to put the television on - and let him watch the inauguration. That my Dad is a historian and would love that. Any channel but Fox. (He's a moderate liberal historian.) She's afraid to talk to him, because he wants to come home.

Crazy Workplace vs. The Coronavirus

( Read more... )

I'd strained my back on Friday night/Saturday morning, but it was better today, so took a walk in Greenwood Cemetery. Lovely day, as you can see above - clear blue skies, sun, and in the upper forties. I took pictures of flying Canadian Geese.

And watching old John Wayne movies - which I find oddly comforting (possibly because I'm worrying about my parents and missing them - and I saw them as a kid with my parents in the 1970s, and there's a kind of nostalgic comfort that comes from seeing them again - akin to being wrapped in a blanked and drinking coco with marshmallows). The Quiet Man (John Ford's love letter to Ireland) and Big Jake (notable for the first on-screen appearances of John Wayne's son Patrick Wayne, and Robert Mitchum's son Christopher Mitchum. Neither were very good actors and didn't really stay in the field.)

The first movie is a favorite, the second is kind of fun - it's a 1970s Western, so the bad guys are outlaws, and the Indian is part of the good guy group. The 70s Westerns were a touch more politically correct than the 1950s and 60s Westerns.

Amazon Prime has a group of them.

Told mother that I was watching them - and we talked a bit about Wayne, and the old movies. Also her favorite - Red River, which I wrote a paper on in undergrad.

Irritable today. Realized it when I kept muttering at the folks I was running into on the cobbled paths, who weren't looking. I was walking along, they were more interested in talking to each other then noticing someone was on a narrow path walking towards them, before entering it.




My parents can't get the vaccine. Even though they are over the age of 75, have pre-existing conditions, and in a retirement/nursing home. Why? They are in South Carolina - and no one has advocated to get them the vaccines. Meanwhile relatives who are under 75, and don't have their health issues can get it easily. And I've co-workers who are in their 30s with no problems at all that are.

My own take? I refuse to butt in line. Brooklyn Army Terminal shut down - they ran out of vaccines and had to cancel over 50,000 appointments. Mother said various hospitals and communities in South Carolina have had to do the same thing. She said one friend went online to set up appointments for her and her husband, but apparently you need two separate email accounts. So she had to set up her own email account in order to get it.

Workplace gets it through Jacobs Javits, which still had appointments available but it also is only for the public agencies.

It's a shame - because the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are reportedly the best vaccines out there - top-notch according to various experts. So why can't we humanely distribute them to those who need them?

Per the Governor's email:
( Governor's email on vaccine and virus tonight )



From the NY Times Briefing on the Inaugration..
( Thousands of Troops are securing the nation's capital because of the evil GOP terrorists )

( the impeachment )

Per some news commentator that mother was listening to today in between bouts of PT, once Trump's Twitter account was removed - the reports of insurrectionist posts and rallies for a revolution had gone down by 75%. As had hateful posts. They'd lost their leader - without him rallying them, their energy defused. Reminds me a little of Buffy the Vampire Slayer S7 - once the First Evil is vanquished, the hell mouth and mindless vampires kind of collapse in on themselves. Or Harry Potter - once Voldemort was no more, his followers crumbled. Or Hitler, once Hitler was removed, the rest fell apart.

Some Good News?

Joe Biden plans to issue dozens of executive directives in a 10-day blitz.

The orders will include canceling the Keystone XL pipeline permit on his first day in office, reversing President Trump’s approval of a project to move oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Environmentalists have long targeted the nearly 1,200-mile pipeline as a contributor to climate change and a symbol of the country’s unwillingness to move away from oil energy.

Other orders expected on Mr. Biden’s first day: rescinding the travel ban on several predominantly Muslim countries, rejoining the Paris climate change accord, issuing a mask mandate for federal property and interstate travel, and ordering agencies to reunite children separated from their families after crossing the border.

This! I want this, so badly. So very very badly. It's long overdue.



Ugh. The photo above kind of says it all.

( Los Angeles County became the first in the US to surpass one million recorded cases of COVID, and California the first state to have over 3 million. The state is under lock-down. )

( meanwhile the Trump administration has killed 13 people via the death penalty )



Well this is reassuring, considering my mother keeps getting hip surgery.
( no need to be scared of hip surgery any longer )
In other news? They have simulated car racing now... NBC and Fox experimented with sim racing - where only the money is real

Oh well, off to bed to read. Back to work tomorrow. Hopefully will be able to do laundry tomorrow evening - wasn't able to do it this evening.

Good night and good luck...

*[Note I can't do a book of the photos I took around Greenwood Cemetery or sell them - for two reasons 1) I need Greenwood Cemetery's approval, and 2) there's a lot of professional photographers in that cemetery with real cameras, not iphones.]

I got frustrated today and took a walk around Greenwood Cemetery after work, also I've been walking down the medium in front of my apartment complex..at lunch time.



Been trying to walk twice a day now - mainly because I'm no longer getting the exercise I did while I was commuting (I walked two miles to three miles a day while commuting). And I need to get outside and get sunshine. The pandemic has resulted in more time outside. I spent so much time walking around Greenwood Cemetery in the Spring, Summer and early Fall - that I got a tan. My body as a result doesn't have a vitamin D deficiency at the moment.

Some good news? Mother informed me that she had a long conversation with my Dad's occupational therapist at The Arbor (which is the portion of the Rehab/Memory care facility housing my Dad at the moment) and it appears that he may not have to stay there permanently. Also he is social and interacting with people, and moving around. So maybe not all hope is lost?
Maybe I'll get to see him again? Fingers crossed.

Mother is doing PT three times a day. Poor tired Mama. She's either doing that or talking to folks on the phone.




I'm posting photos because I figure you can ignore what I say and just look at the pictures (as long as they last, that is).

Crazy Company vs. the Corona Virus

Gabe: I'm staying sane.
Boss: When you get a chance, if you could let the rest of us know how you are achieving that - it would be appreciated.

Apparently, my sense of humor is catching.

I asked about the vaccine. ( Read more... )

New York City, and various others vs. The Republican Party and Trump

Well, the list of corporations halting donations, canceling contracts and yanking funding is growing.( Read more... )

NYC just terminated its property management and construction agreements with the Trump organization. ( Read more... )

Meanwhile on Monday, State Senator Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat, made a request to the state court system to begin the process of stripping President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, of his law license. The call came hours after the New York State Bar Association said it was investigating Mr. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor.

This old evil man who funded the far right for decades finally died of lymphonic cancer at 87.
That means a major funding source is gone.

And the House of Representatives impeached Trump for the second time. They also passed the resolution to request invocation of the 25th Amendment - but Pence refused on the grounds that Trump isn't incapacitated. ( Read more... )

I was going to write about what I read on the Corona Virus in the NY Times, but...after a bit, I felt kind of overwhelmed and numbed by it. So, I don't wanna. I don't wanna. I don't wanna.

Instead I'll post another picture that will most likely disappear in a month if not sooner - enjoy it while it lasts.

It was an overcast, overall depressingly slow day. Although I managed to get things done. I've been getting more done of late at the start of the week than the end of the week for some reason or other. I'm thinking it's because the stuff I'm waiting for usually gets approved or sent to me by the end of the previous week? God knows.

Sent an email to Breaking Bad Boss - that I was in a work lull do to various things being on hold - and to advise when new work comes down the pike. I don't expect a response. I have no control over the amount of work they assign me. Only how much I manage to get done.

And not everyone has the same situation - unlike the office, in which we all do. At home - some of us are working off of small laptops, others have huge desktop computers with multiple screens and printers. Some have kids, some don't, some with them on the way. Although why anyone in their right mind would want to bring a child into the world at the moment is beyond me. (Feeling somewhat nihilistic at the moment - I'd blame the weather, January (which always sucks), and work lull - but honestly - it's possibly due to everything else that's going on, and no end in sight.

Mother is doing better and actually sounded chipper. She told me that she was going to be fine, and that whatever happened regarding my Dad, he is 85 and lived a great life. My mother is good at bulking herself up - and she's been talking to her friends and family. I've not talked to anyone today except her.

Bible Study Group was understanding and sent prayers/warm thoughts, when I conveyed my situation to them and current state of mind. Whatever focus that I have - seems to be relegated to my work.

COVID has for better or worse made me aware of how alone and isolated I currently am - with no way of remedying the situation any time soon.

Crazy Workplace and the Vaccine

Apparently Crazy Workplace as a New York State Agency with front-line essential workers has been aloted the vaccine - and is considered part of Phase B. I kept getting tons of emails about Crazy Workplace's plan or lack thereof to roll out the vaccine to its employees.
( the news isn't exactly good or bad...here folks, so much as annoying chaotic )

New York vs the Corona Virus

For the first time I watched the State of the State. I don't know. I feel like I've heard it all before. Although the Governor did state that a few districts/cities across the state had put plans in place regarding public safety and police. So I suppose that's good news. (Not NYC which well...I would have been shocked if NYC had gotten its act together.)

He's optimistic. I'm...taking a wait and see approach. Which is kind of how I'm viewing 2021 at the moment - wait and see. After the first week, I kind of want to skip ahead to 2022 or 2023 or maybe just go back to the 1990s.

Our Crazy Federal Government

Oh dear.

Where to start? I've been following it on FB, NY Times, and Twitter off and on all day long. I've never seen anything like this in my life. Turns out there's quite a bit of fallout as a result of the Big Mutant Zombie Apocalypse (that wasn't) in ways that many of the participants had not anticipated.

1. Most of the US corporations and banks have decided to jump ship - so to speak. Which I guess is a good thing? Although it does kind of reveal how much money our representatives were getting from corporate donors or PACS for their campaigns, and well living expenses.

Politicians aren't paid that much. It all comes from campaign donations.

Some of the corporations/banks have abandoned both parties for the time being, until this is resolved (they don't want to take any chances). Most have just abandoned the Republicans supporting the thing in the White House.

Personally, I think it is too little too late. They should have done that in 2020.

Among the many jumping ship - and ceasing all contributions? Coco Cola, JP Morgan, Citibank, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Facebook, AT&T, Dow, the LIST goes on and on.
Hallmark went so far as to request that Hawley and Morrison return their donations - since they violated Hallmark's trust and principles.

2. All the major social media platforms, hosting/distributing channels on the internet have yanked the accounts of Trump and his followers. They've been whinging about losing their social media outlets. It's rather amusing in a way - because they are the ones who put some of these restrictions in place to begin with. Talk about being put on the opposite side of your own argument. Youtube has been yanking them as well - Steve Bannon podcast was removed.

Parler has declared bankruptcy and is out of business. They can't fight Amazon, Goggle and Apple who basically yanked them off their platforms, and terminated their hosting contract - which they have the right to do.

Gabe is the only still active - but no one is doing much there.

And no, there's nothing they can do - hosting platforms are permitted to deny content. Actually there's more restrictions on what they are permitted to carry - but they can refuse to carry whatever they damn well please - as anyone who was on Live Journal in the early 00s already figured out or for that Tumblr. Fandom already knows that hosting platforms can ban, censor or remove content at whim. We aren't paying them and even if we were - they could cancel the subscription and remove it at any time.

3. All the Airlines have placed all the people who participated on a No-Fly list. This has come as a bit of a shock to various protestors - who believed they could raid the Capital Building, then get drunk at their hotel, and fly home. Not so much. There's videos on Twitter of the idiots getting knocked to the ground and arrested by Washington, DC airport security and police. They caught a lot of them in the airport by doing that. Folks on Twitter wanted to know how the airlines figured out who was at the protests - only to learn it's not that hard, you can triangulate cell phones, and with the assistance of the FBI - voila.

4. Paypall, Stripe, and various credit card, and payment agencies have yanked their accounts or blocked them- so that they can no longer use them to fund themselves or fund travel of members.

5. PGA Golf Tournament has yanked the Masters Tournament from Trump's Golf Club in New Jersey and terminated its contract.

6. And... some disgruntled staffer changed the White House Department Twitter page to read - "Trump's term ended 1/11/2021" making everyone think he'd post his resignation on Twitter. (LOL!)

***

House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump for inciting a mob that attacked the Capitol last week.
( Read more... )

Family
( family )

****

I'm stuck. I feel trapped, and as if the walls are closing in on me. I had a panic attack on Friday. Today, I'm just numb. Don't feel much of anything.

Except back pain, and I took something for that.
( Read more... )

The news from the South Carolina home front isn't great...
( update on Mother and Father )

After work, it was too cold and far too late to walk around Greenwood Cemetery. Not that I got a lot done at work. I was writing up a change order justification, contract modification, and filling out spreadsheets - which normally take two hours - took two days. I couldn't focus.

Can't think why. (Sarcasm)

On the walk, I overheard a man tell his friend..."You can't get angry or blame anyone, COVID just is - it's no one's fault...it just is." And I thought, yes, getting angry isn't helping. Then I saw this ...which weirdly comforted me on someone's door. It's funny how the simplest things can comfort me right now.



Cousin Jim told me tonight, when I asked how he was doing, "We're pandemic fine. It's what we call it - all of this is happening outside our window or on the tv, it feels almost surreal."

It does. And the WAR such as it is - is being fought across social media and on the television set far far away from here.

When I wasn't trying to work or talking to my mother and extended family, I was checking various news sources.

It turns out that I was right - the Republican Party imploded on January 6 and now is scrambling to fix the damage.

Life-Long Republicans, family members (who did not vote for Trump and hate him) have left the party and don't want to be associated with it any longer.

And, in a move that followed Mark Zuckerberg's announcement on FB, a scant twelve hours later, Twitter decided to permanently suspend Donald Trump's account.

Twitter went from blocking Trump's account to permanently suspending it. When Trump tried to post under his White House account, they removed his tweets.

Now if we can just remove Fox News, and all right-wing media conduits.

Governor Cuomo and Mayor DeBlasio - in between pleading for people to get vaccinated and more vaccines to be given to nursing homes and over 75, condemned Trump and asked for his resignation or impeachment. Cumo went so far to call on Federal representatives to condemn him openly and renounce him, and do what they could to remove him from office.

And...it's not just Trump being condemned, but those who supported him and condoned the coup.

( From Heather Cox Richardson's analysis of the events on Josh Hawley )

Josh Hawley is the Republican, who replaced Clair McCaskill as Senator from Missouri. He was recently re-elected. Someone on FB declared he'd be in office for 20 years. I corrected him, no, his term is up in 2024 (I know I looked it up) and he's already lost his major donor (who denounced him) and his mentor, who disowned me, along with his publisher who dumped his book.
He'll be censored, and all plans for a Presidential run in 2024 are flushed down the toilet.

Four New York Representatives are being called out on their actions, and will most likely serve only one term. No bills, no promises kept. One of them stated that her first week in the Capital felt like three years.

In the last 24 hours - the calls from both sides of the aisle for Trumps impeachment or removal from office have multiplied. No one wants to wait until January 20. Not any more. The only ones still defending him are well those who aided and abetted him - Fox News, and its pundits. I foresee Fox losing advertisers and support in the days ahead. They are trying to spin doctor it - but can't.

Meanwhile, the people who participated in the Big Mutant Zombie Apocalypse (that wasn't) - are being called out on their activities in various ways. Many have lost their jobs. The MTA just suspended a Metro North employee, who was recognized in news footage and selfies in the invasion on the Capital. He's been suspended without pay, and is facing disciplinary action via his union. One CEO of a marketing company who participated, apologized for his actions in the hopes, no doubt, of saving face or being forgiven.

And those who once allied themselves with Trump, are fleeing. At least two cabinet members have resigned to avoid invoking the 25th Amendment. And sedition charges. While Pence is also avoiding invoking it - because he doesn't want to be railroaded into pardoning Trump.

It's a mess. And the timing for the Republicans and Trump could not be worse - yesterday, the US had more people die than any other day. And in the last five days, more Americans have died of COVID than in the last four wars combined. More people died on Wednesday January 9, then on 9/11. And in the raid on the Capital Building, four people died. One of them a police officer.

January 6, 2021 is a watershed moment. A turning point in history. Similar to November 11, 2016, and September 11, 2001. It is the end of the Trump era, and the end of the Republican Party as we currently know it.

Nancy Pelosi is preparing for impeachment next week, and has met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to limit the things access to nuclear codes.



New York vs. the Corona Virus, or rather the world vs it.

We discussed vaccines at work, and I keep getting emails. ( Read more... )

So, right now? 2021 feels a bit like a continuation of 2020, with hope in sight.

Congrats, folks, we made it through this week. I've been dreading this week for a while. And it's been harrowing from start to finish. I'm hoping next week is better...