Two Cheers for America’s COVID-19 Response, Brent Orrell, The Bulwark
… Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live… just added this to my to-read list… it’s way down but it looks really interesting… so is the Bulwark article which says we got a lot of things right, even while getting a lot of things wrong…
20220209-05
20220203-01
231.0 lbs
… not unexpected weight gain… takeout Chinese food last night… too much… fried… etc…
… the thought that when one reads history one becomes aware of great peoples… but great peoples do not remain great across time in the same place… civilizations wax and wan… i wonder if i am living in a country that is waning… i wonder if my misfortune is to live in a country that, at the end of my life, is in the process of collapsing its greatness (if it ever was truly great) like a spent star collapsing in on itself… the signs are there… are we at a moment when the things that would tear us apart will motivate great change, great calamity, great collapse, all three, two of the three, none of the above?…
… reading the history of the Greeks, there are echoes of the distant past in what is happening now…
… last night, i said to H, how is it that we have had so much time to work on the race problem and we have made so little progress?… we could be at a moment of great leaping forwards, or, backwards… the stage is set for a multiarchy to arise… the numbers will be there… but, then again, we have our own Sparta trying to prevail and keep the stratified society going… at the moment they don’t have the numbers, but… they appear to have the upper hand…
… still fretting about H going to the concert… i have worked out a plan that protects me… i need to discuss it with them…
… HCR sounding a note of hope, that we might be at a turning point with 45 and his minions… i am a little too weary and wary to hope… accountability seems a difficult thing in this place and this time…
… last night a news segment discussing the fact that more Americans have died from COVID than in any other advanced economy in the world… a large part of the blame is on our broadly poor health… is this another indicator of a failing civilization?…
20220201-01
230.2 lbs
… i went to bed feeling upset with H who has decided to go to a concert with L at an indoor venue… they asked if i wanted to come, i said no, i wasn’t comfortable with crowded indoor venues… they asked a friend if they wanted to come… that friend said no, for the same reason… i said to H, “if you get it, i get it”… they said they had thought about that… so far, the choice is to go… there is no way to effectively quarantine in our home and Omicron is so contagious that it would be difficult to be in any shared environment and not share it… at least that is my perception of things… i am wondering what effort they will make to keep me safe… i am wondering how long i should let it sit before i ask them to let me know how they plan to keep me safe… i am a little worried they are not considering how to keep me safe at all…
… apart from the above, yesterday not such a bad day… got some things done… managed a walk… took some pictures… got some reading done…
Omicron, the possible good, bad and ugly… this article in The Bulwark summarizes the possible directions Omicron could go…
Omicron, However You Pronounce It, Is Out of Control Right Now… the state of COVID in my neck of the woods… glad that we are vaccinated and boosted… still, as the article says, this sucks, and the bit about rapid tests being expensive?!!… bah! humbug!
An article on inflationary pressures…
… in the back of my mind i have been thinking what the article argues… that the flood of money washing through the population has led to higher prices, or dollars that are worth less… the article says it was predictable, though also says there are other factors at work… it bemoans government intervention due to the pandemic, but really, some action on the part of the government was necessary in my humble opinion…
… i wonder about the new hard infrastructure bill spending and the soft infrastructure bill spending should it be passed…
… i worry that the escalating price of goods will dominate the psyches of people, rather than the demonstrable, but less viscerally felt, improvements in their general condition… new and repaired bridges and roads won’t be noticeable for some time to come… a lot of it not till after the current administration has expired… hopefully more employment and better wages will happen quickly to improve the mood of the public…
… i have commented to H that i haven’t perceived a significant escalation in prices in our grocery buying (which i am largely in charge of)… but maybe i have, and because we are resourced, i haven’t noticed it as much… i have been writing down what we spend so i suppose i could go to the data and see…
… my theory has been that we buy from the high end sources where prices are already high, so maybe prices don’t need to escalate as much there?…
… Reason.com is libertarian in orientation, is a strong supporter of unfettered free markets and a strong proponent of minimal to non-existent regulation of the market… i would expect them to blame the Biden/Harris administration more than the set of conditions brought on by the pandemic, which were inherited… i wonder what The Economist will have to say about this issue…
… H and i got our booster shots today… Moderna… wish it made me feel like i could drop the mask or be in crowds again, but it doesn’t…
First Thoughts
… i went to bed angry last night… as i noted the anger i was feeling it wasn’t clear to me what i was angry about… i told myself i was angry at H for not being able to get back immediately so i could get to Florida sooner… i told myself i was angry with my father for arranging the timing of his death to cause maximum havoc in my life… i told myself i was angry with my sister for her smug, best daughter ever was of handling the end of a life that i know caused her considerable pain… i told myself i was angry with the weather for being brutally hot at precisely the wrong moment to allow me to finish rebuilding the back stairs… i told myself that i was angry with my skin, that because i have to be so protective of it i have to wear long sleeved sun protective shirts, neck gators, a hat, to protect myself, which means the heat is even more brutal to me… i told myself that i was angry with my left foot because it chose this moment to develop significant pain which limited my limited ability to get anything done… i am angry that i have to fly down to Florida rather than drive as i had planned… in the end, nothing is anybody’s fault, it’s just me being irritated that i have little control over the flow of events which seemed presently configured to thwart me at every turn…
… news yesterday that hospice nursing felt Dad had at best two days… he will almost certainly pass before i get there and may have been passed for a day or two before i can get there… as i have written before, i have no burning desire to be there… the man didn’t like me and the feeling was mutual… i am, if anything, looking forward to family gatherings without his angry presence… to a family that can relax a little because it doesn’t have to fear angry outbursts, walk on eggshells around him all the time… i am looking forward to being free of that…
… the HCR meter down pointing significantly today… Afghan terror attack killing U.S. military and civilians… conservatives behaving shamelessly… COVID ripping through Florida where i have to fly in a few days… i had planned to avoid people on my trip to Florida… i have been forced into a situation where i can’t… another thing to be angry about… if you step back and take in the big picture, it looks a lot like the failure of a state…
First Thoughts
… HCR meeter pointing slightly up…
… diner with friends last night… managed to avoid having too much wine… delicious dinner of African mint sausage and grapes, with a side of puréed celery root… celery root was especially delicious… felt the sausage was a little overcooked, dried out… company was great…
… Chas began whining at 3 AM… just my luck on a morning i want to sleep in a little…
… today begins back stair reconstruction… going to be hot next few days, but no rain predicted… demolition of existing stairs today… take stock of existing conditions and make final decisions of how to proceed… hopefully i have the right materials in place… if not, i will have to get untreated lumber as i won’t have time to let it dry out at all…
… as i get more organized about my reading, i wonder about organizing it to the point that i might start writing organized and thoroughly edited posts on the rabbit holes i am exploring… that is something that i have never mustered the determination to do… could i even get to the place where i publish a book?…
… do i need to or could carefully considered and edited posts suffice?… i think i am more likely to head in that direction…
… my copy of Bertrand Russell’s Analysis of Matter has arrived… i sloughed my way through it before and during the pandemic… i am contemplating reading it again with extensive note taking…
The Results Are In!
… blood panel results are in… less pasta, less sausage… will life be worth living?… on to skin and colon inspection… am i the only one who deferred routine doctor visits during the pandemic?… probably not…
Classic French Omelette Project
… as i have likely mentioned before, my pandemic project was to master the making of a classic french omelette… i am getting pretty good at it…
… a fissure on the top, not ideal… otherwise, good form…
… dining out indoors for the first time in 18 months…
… pleasant morning, spring green colors are amazing…
… sun shining on my back, warm, delicious…
… Fishkill Creek near the closed bridge, landscaping woman is working, nearby, a pair of geese and goslings, unperturbed by landscaping woman, i try to make this point to her, she needs to remove her earbuds first, when she understands what i am saying, she tells me she got quite close to make a video, she has an accent, Spanish?, Italian?… i wish her good day and move on to a bench down the path…
… as i write, a chipmunk appears looking for food… is it eating the maple seeds?…
… simplify, i have switched to the iPhone resident camera… it is more versatile… this sets off thinking about simplifying the write photograph and post workflow… time to reduce my efforts to that which sparks joy…
… i text H and ask if she wants to have breakfast at BBC… “yes!, dogs too?”… “dogs too”, i reply… normal is returning to our lives…
… two joggers pass me by…
… at the beginning of the pandemic this caused great fear and alarm…
… in the middle of the pandemic, when i masked whenever out of the home, i feared less…
… at the present moment, fully vaccinated, there is no fear at all…