389 - Pandemic & Greening

 

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Pandemic & Greening 

6/21/23 - No longer counting pandemic days as it’s over a year since I tested negative again. But it’s still a weird mix of back to normal and pandemic times. 

Facemasks

Last week I gathered up all my cloth facemasks, washed them, and put them in a plastic bag. I’m now using some disposable KN95 masks. It was a blast from the recent past to see the first masks I ordered online back in 2020. Twenty or fifty years from now people will be emptying out houses or attics and find collections of these masks and wonder what that was all about.

I still don’t know how effective some of mine were. I do know that many people were not wearing their masks properly. Today, the use of masks here in San Francisco is a mystery to me. In Chinatown almost everyone has a mask on, but elsewhere I see East Asians wearing them over their chins, like so many other people do. Some people don’t wear masks on crowded buses and trains -- where I always do wear one, while other people wear masks walking down deserted streets. Our case numbers are very low. I have no idea how people make these decisions.

What’s changed

If our urban ship was at one point running on a single engine powered by a single boiler, today we have both engines running but only four to six of our twelve boilers burning. So many businesses, especially downtown, have closed and more continue to close. It now looks like Union Square is going to be the neighborhood most affected.

What’s back to normal

The events we “green” seem to be almost back to normal. Juneteenth actually seemed to be bigger than ever. 

It may be more accurate to say that many things have arrived at a new normal. My eating out is mostly back to normal now. I tend to eat out just under once a day. And I am trying to keep my favorite places in business as best I can -- considering how cheap I am. That I’m also down to about one drink per week doesn’t help with this.

And I’m still trying to support my neighborhood corner markets, though the one closest to me went out of business at the end of 2022. I try to go to the next two closest ones when I can, and I try to hit the mini-supermarket about three blocks away every week or two. For that matter, I’m also trying to do some business with the closest Walgreens so that they don’t close.

I still have not been back to a bar -- but then, given my non-drinking, that is only in part for COVID reasons. 

I don’t expect the City to be “recovered” for another eight years. And I think it’s most likely to get worse over the next several years. It looks like the Financial Districts and the Shopping District need to reinvent themselves which could take years. And the problem of the unhoused people on the streets requires the redevelopment of infrastructure to support the mentally ill and changes to the laws to compel them to go into the new supportive housing. At least our governor has a plan to do this, but it will take years even if it gets approved. Until then, things will continue to get worse and worse. 

No one has acknowledged this (that I have noticed) but our overall housing shortage must have been ameliorated by new construction and the departure of something between 40,000 and 70,000 residents. They must have been living somewhere and now they are not.This doesn’t affect the “homeless” problem on the streets as they are mostly on the streets because they lack the skills or means to live in regular housing. The means problem can be more easily addressed than the skills problem -- this was one of the lessons of the effort to place them in hotel rooms during COVID lockdown.

Greening again

I’ve already worked a bunch of events including three days of Cherry Blossom Festival, Himalayan Fair (where I probably caught COVID last year), and I just worked the first Stern Grove Festival concert featuring Snarky Puppy. More of a Jazzy sound than I was expecting. They reminded me of someone but I could never put my finger on who.

The most notable thing about Stern Grove was the piles of logs from fallen trees. San Francisco had a series of major storms this winter which brought down trees all over -- including three in my neighborhood -- but really look to have hit the grove hard. Most of the logs were eucalyptus but I saw some redwood, too. 

As I deal with another season of event trash sorting -- and idiotic event goers -- I repeatedly ask myself how long I’m going to do this. I am at least thirteen years into this final career (with two slack years due to COVID). While I think we do make a difference (most of the time) that’s no longer the main reason I do this. It’s a toss up if my main reason is the money -- which I do need to balance my expenses -- or the fitness aspect. The job keeps me in shape and forces me to stay in shape. That I continue to get in better shape into my seventies is, I think, solely a consequence of needing to for my work. Also, I would be really bored without the greening and HOA work. I could probably come up with something else to keep me occupied, but would it also add $5k to my annual income? Though I’m also doing a good job of reducing my expenses My expenses this year should be lower than last year and next year lower still. But even with the $1,500 I knocked off last year, I’m not sure this all comes to $5k.

The other Class of ‘70 guy in the company, who waited until he was seventy to start collecting Social Security, has stopped working. So that decision may have been right for him. I’m still happy with my decision to collect as soon as possible.

387 - Smartphones and end of 2022

 

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Still drifting along almost post-pandemic

11/1/22

Smartphone

After avoiding owning a smartphone for many years (27 years, by my count) I finally had to give in and buy one in 2021 -- long boring story. After a year and a half, I’m still getting used to the advantages of a smartphone, but I have to admit that I love it. And it isn’t costing me any more than my old, dumb phone. My cheap plan has very limited phone minutes so I only use it for work and emergencies. My text minutes are unlimited so I use this a lot, and it is much easier to text than before. Data is also very limited, so I try to avoid that, but it’s there when I need it. 

The camera is probably my favorite feature and I’m still learning how best to use it. Taking photos of things rather than writing notes is one of the ways. Because the thing is almost always in my pocket, I can always take a photo of something -- like a broken part -- and then show it to a salesperson or contractor. And now that I have the Flickr app on my phone, this is a much easier way to shift my photos to my cloud based photo collection. 

I don’t use my smartphone nearly as much as other people seem to, but I’m really glad I have it. And there are still a million little things I have trouble doing that I’m sure a more SP savvy person could do. And since Android phones are so different, it’s hard to find information that applies to my particular device.

11/2/22

I had forgotten how much routine mail you get from Kaiser as a member. For an institution that uses email so well, they still generate a ton of routine mail. It will be a challenge to manage this and determine what I need to actually keep. I do have my new card now. And they’ve preserved my number and basic information from before, so that’s good. I wonder if my old PCP is still there? It’s only been four years. (I had to choose a new PCP, but there has been virtually no mail since I became a member six months ago. So better than I was expecting.)

11/11/22

We were supposed to have an HOA BOD meeting yesterday but 3 people didn’t show up for the Zoom. We had a quorum, but wanted to involve more people so we are rescheduling the meeting. I will also give people the option of giving their 2 cents in emails prior to the meeting. Nothing is really time critical. We have a legal deadline at the end of the month, but that really shouldn’t apply to us since all our owners are on the Board. This causes us so many problems.

12/8/22 - I lust therefore I am.

12/15/22 - An older, mentally ill woman is sitting next to me on the mezzanine level of my office. She is talking to herself in part about the homeless and how they can’t control themselves. The same odd vocal noise at the end of most statements. She started out asking the room for the time and the date. Just asked for the time again. She is mostly here to charge her phone. Strangely emotionless voice considering that it sounds like she is talking to someone.

386. Back after a long long time - Santa Barbara

 

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So much catch-up 

September & October 2022 including Santa Barbara trip

9/25/22

Finally feeling better after a week of feeling off... and itching. As it happened, this was also my week to take my “holiday” road trip to Santa Barbara so my friend could conduct estate business with her sister. I didn’t feel so bad that I couldn’t do most of what I had planned. It just wasn’t quite as fun as I was hoping for. In particular I was trying to be careful about what I ate. 

Anyway, this is also a weekend off work (I didn’t want, because the event we didn’t get has been one of my favorites) but it turned out to be for the best. Now I have six days to ramp up for HSB. Should be fine.

As so often happens when you rent a car, we asked for a small fuel efficient model and were given a larger model instead. In this case a VW Atlas -- which I was calling the Panzerkampfwagan. Aside from less than ideal forward visibility when you are parking, it was a fine vehicle. Good overall visibility, plenty of power and room and everything else you would want. It probably cost us an extra eight gallons of gas or maybe $50.

I did manage to find the book I’ve been looking for at the bookstore I was staying near in SB. So now I probably will blog “The Old Regime...”

While SB was much nicer than here, didn’t see a single tent, it still had the same problems but at a more manageable scale. The day I walked down to shop and have lunch in their very nice pedestrianized downtown, I saw a steady stream of mentally ill people yelling or talking to themselves. There were “unsheltered” people scattered all around, including at the Peet’s I was frequenting and at the shopping complex that houses the bookstore. I also read a story in the local paper about someone who died in custody while waiting (seven months at the time of death) to be transferred to the State mental facility where they would try to make the person capable of helping with her own defense in a trial. I hadn’t realized that even people who have been found incompetent to stand trial can’t get help. Even worse than I already thought.

SB is lovely, in that SoCal/TMM dream in Snow manner. Striking mountains up behind the town. Stunning weather. And almost everyone enjoying a lifestyle that has landed us in the mess we are currently in. I rode the bus back from downtown, after walking six miles, and was a bit surprised at how ratty it was. I didn’t expect to find anyone but kids and minorities riding, but I thought they would have better equipment. Because of where I was staying, it was very convenient and I could have gone everywhere I needed to go on just the one bus line. 

9/29/22

In SB I walked past this little park with playing fields on five occasions and it more and more reminded me of September days when I lived in the Valley and we had football training camp in Encino. And just now, as I was eating my lunch at CPK, I was watching a football game between Miami and Buffalo that was played in Miami. I have no interest in either team, but what did interest me was the level of exhaustion of the players as the game came to an end. Players on both sides dropped to the grounded rather than returning to their benches.

All of this reminded me so much of those nasty days when we would get in shape for the coming football season. It really paid off for our team, but it was not fun. Now I maintain a year-round exercise routine to stay in shape, and even ramp it up at this time of year as our big events near. But I still remember those days in Encino and am so glad I don’t have to go through them again.

10/28/22 - Day 956 of COVID/144 days since my COVID

It’s been a busy month since my last post. I’ve worked Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Fleet Week, How Weird, Haight Street Fair, and another Undiscovered. I believe I’m through greening for 2022. In fact, I’ve cut my hair, seen my dermatologist (no problems) and am currently near the end of a week off much of my exercise routine. My arm is bothering me. Perhaps it misses all the push ups. I will be resuming them in two days so we will see then.

I’m in the midst of preparation for the HOA’s pro forma budget and budget approval meeting. Lots of fun with spreadsheets. Our documents will be greatly improved this year though I may be the only one who notices.

Ignoring my forearm, I ended the greening season with no physical complaints. My new boots may have contributed to this. And I have a new, very white, hat that improves my sun protection game. I don’t see any reason I can’t continue doing this until I’m seventy-five. On the other hand, it’s been a hard year for some of the people I know in their mid-seventies. One is still recovering from a fall on ice this past winter combined with skin cancer surgery. Another is recovering from a fractured femur and complications of scoliosis. I know things can start getting dicey around seventy-five, but so far I don’t feel personally at risk. Mostly this affects my scheduling of HOA maintenance work. I’m aware that things I can do now I may not be able to do in ten, or maybe even five, years.

As I wrap up my HOA seasonal tasks, I have to start thinking about what I’m going to do with the bulk of my time until next April. I need to come up with new projects beyond giving my apartment a good cleaning.

385. Summer Doldrums

 

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Coming Soon: de Tocqueville 

7/11/22 - Day 847/35

The Chain just came on here at the Bank Cafe. Now I’m anticipating the bass part, but I don’t think I will be able to hear it the way they have the sound turned down... nope.

I need to return to this blog and get caught up. This week. I’ve pinned my notes. Next I will start copying the text into blogger and posting it day by day. Should be caught up by the end of the week.

I’m now three weeks into the doldrums of July and August where we mostly just work the Sunday Stern Grove Festival concerts. There have been some other events but I’ve dodged them for one reason or another -- mostly because they ran too late or involved back-end table sorting. 

We seem to have the Stern Grove scene down now. Even with large crowds we are mostly done by 8pm. At which point I clock-out and leave whatever remains to the younger workers. One update this season is that I’m now collecting corks and recycling them at Whole Food. I’m thinking about doing a Foster Brooks imitation as I bring in my bag of corks every week.

The music to date has been good -- at least at the end when I show up. And the weather has been a mix of fog and sun, so not too hot and, so far, not too cold. 

7/15/22

For the first time in months I’m caught up with posting this blog. I’m reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog again, but I’ve already said everything I need to say about that. Things may or may not be coming to a head with our huge, long-standing problem at the HOA. Only time will tell. Any real improvement would be a huge surprise. And the pandemic just keeps on keeping on. I finally gave up my fitness center membership as I realized that between all the new COVID variants and the new Monkeypox concern, there was no way I would be returning soon. I did invest in new equipment for doing pull-ups, but I have yet to start using it. Next week probably.

What is new is the widespread conviction that everything is about to go to hell in a hand-basket. Some of this is climate related -- which makes perfect sense, though no one seems to be doing anything that would reduce the likelihood of this fate -- and some of it is political. Again, not unreasonable. And then there’s the economic aspect. I view all this with the perspective of history, so, while I don’t think the conviction is necessarily wrong, I still see these as being “historically” good times. Unusually good times, in fact. 

And I continue to make thirty year plans for my HOA and less-than-thirty year plans for myself. The HOA will almost certainly still be around in thirty years, though the cost of painting at that time is impossible to anticipate. I have no intention of still being around in thirty years. My personal plans get more and more tentative the further into the future I look. In five years I should be relatively unchanged, though I’m not sure about the world. In ten years I can’t expect to be the same person. I see that as the likely time for a major transition, which I have financial plans for -- assuming no huge economic upheaval. There’s good reason to think I should be fine when it comes to money -- unless things get really strange, and you can’t exactly prepare for that. And beyond eighty I don’t see that there is any reason to cling to life. So Plan C at that point would be to bring down the show. Of course that’s what my aunt always said and she clung on until she was a miserable ninety-four. We never really know where our path is leading.

7/25/22

I’m getting near to the end of Hedgehog, I’m to the part where Kakuro dresses Renne. And I’m trying to recall how often I’ve run into this trope. Besides here I’m pretty sure the French Duke did this in one of Nancy Mitford’s novels, but I think there’s at least one more instance. (On the TV show "Castle," Castle sends Kate a spectacular dress to wear for an event. Same trope... I didn't much care for the dress.)

8/13/22 - Day 881/69

Today is the 881st of the pandemic and the 69th since I finally caught COVID. I was reflecting on this as I did my old, simi-steep hill walk today. I left off the stair-master part as it has already been a tough week with three, eight hour greening days. 

On the other hand, my daily exercise routine has recently improved with the return of my three versions of pull up/chin up using a new piece of kit that clamps onto the wall above a door. I’m still trying to catch up to where I was after a break of over two years doing that particular kind of exercise. It will take a few months, but it is going well. I’ve also just recently replaced the larger set of crunches with two different kinds of plank -- normal and side style. That seems to be a big improvement as I was coasting before and now I’m really pressing trying to move above two minutes and one minute respectively. All this because I finally gave up my fitness center membership.

Aside from the complex calculations about when to wear a mask and still not eating inside most places. Life is not too far from normal... at least from our new perspective.

And I’m reading a book that may demand blogging: The Old Regime and the French Revolution by Alexis de Toqueville. This was prompted by my recent rereading of Pirenne, and I think I’m really going to like it -- only about four chapters in. And I may have to follow this up with Adam Smith. Who knew I would spend my Golden Years finally trying to understand the 18th and 19th centuries? Not me. I have considered trying to contact my old history professor at ASU but I would rather not know if he is dead.

8/15/22

Yesterday I worked the final Stern Grove concert of 2022. It was rather worse than I had even anticipated, but really, it was fine. Thousands of people having a very good time. That their fun interfered with my waste diversion is hardly the end of the world. I adjusted and it all ended well.

One of our “old timers” was not scheduled to work yesterday but some other people flaked out so she stepped in. Somehow, she had never been exposed to the Deadhead culture -- which is as odd as the fact that they had never played at the Stern Grove venue. I warned her that, to our untrained ears, they would be playing the same song all afternoon, which she confirmed at the end. What I had not anticipated (but should have) was that the crowd would be dancing on the paths we use to access our ecostations. Normally we can push carts on those paths and then pull and cart away bags of sorted trash. I tried that once and gave up. Fortunately there is a another path behind the stage so I could get back to the dumpsters with my load. 

Deadhead dancing is reminiscent of sufi dancing. There’s a lot of spinning or slowly spinning while apparently stoned out of your mind. While there were some younger people in attendance, the vast majority were probably older than me. There was one “dancer” on the path in my area who appeared to have been dead for some time.

I’m going to try to find out how much money they raised, as that was the point of this final concert of the season.

8/17/22

I’m trying to replace the battery in my beard trimmer rather than just getting a new trimmer... which would be simple. This involves taking two buses to the closest remaining Batteries Plus store in San Rafael. But then they have to “prime” the new battery which takes six hours. So I’m on 4th street killing time. By chance, it is a delightful day. There are actual clouds in the sky and I was already sprinkled on once -- and that is not a Trump kink reference. I had planned to come yesterday, but I judged it to be too hot, and it got even hotter than forecast, up in the 90s. And today is warm but pleasant.

My friend who lives a couple blocks from where I am currently having tea and a cookie out on the sidewalk, is currently either in surgery or waiting for her surgery to start after having broken her femur (I think) while playing pickleball. This is probably fairly routine (though all surgeries involve a degree of risk) but I can’t help thinking how strange it would be if she died as a result of playing pickleball in the midst of a pandemic.

I just remembered that tomorrow will be the anniversary of my mother’s going into the hospital that final time. That was also a lovely time of year in Minnesota, though much hotter. 

8/22/22

This past weekend I only worked a short shift at a street festival in the Western Addition. Too quiet for my taste -- I mean it wasn’t busy, I had both earbuds in as ear protection. We had to do grounds at the end and so left those four blocks cleaner then they’ve probably been in years. Next up is a convention, the only one I don’t really mind working -- VM Ware. Should be a good chance to continue breaking in the new boots I first wore for the street festival. A little ankle discomfort, but otherwise pretty good. And I re-repaired my old boots so now I have a backup pair.

And our COVID numbers have come down enough that I’ve returned to eating indoors at the two places I’ve been avoiding. Hit my Burmese favorite on the anniversary of my mother’s death and will be at the Pork store tomorrow.

And tomorrow will also be another run to the PO where I have to sign for letters that missed me at home. Still trying to decide what I will do as a reward after. Or while I’m reading the latest crazy letter. If what I’ve heard is at all reliable, the sale of that property should be final by now. I’m not expecting anything, but still hoping this will get interesting.

The Old Regime and the French Revolution

P96 “Thus each of these small groups lived only for itself and, quite literally, minded its own business.” Speaking of the tiny groups the 3rd estate had broken down into. Isn’t this similar to Voltaire’s “Tending their gardens?” Isn’t this the result of everyone doing this? To the advantage of the dynasty but not the nation.

8/26/22

Women’s belts again. In my continuing research on this vital subject I am having a problem answering the follow up question, Are women without foxy figures following the same trend? The reason I can’t tell is that it seems that only the foxes are dressed so that this is obvious. Partly this is because it is cooler here in SF and most people wear some sort of additional layer. Partly this is because the non-foxes are being discrete. It might be easier to go into a store that sells women’s accessories and ask the sales people if these are dark days for the belt trade.

384. Now with COVID

 

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COVID finally catches up with me 

Day 795 of pandemic/340 since semi-return to normal - 5/20/2022

I am sitting at the long tables at the Bank Cafe for the first time since the pandemic started. This is because I need to charge my phone and backup battery and I can’t find a convenient wall outlet. Normally I do this at home, but I’ve had my phone on the energy saving setting and it managed to slip below 70% charge without my noticing. I kind of like this phone setting, all I don’t have is easy access to the flashlight and Google search. But I don’t see that it really saves that much. I expected the % left to stay nearly unchanged for days, which has not been the case. I will continue to try it over the weekend while I’m working, but may just return to the normal setting next week.

Recently I’ve been sitting in the lower level of the Bank Cafe, where the bathrooms are. It’s convenient for bathroom access and there tend to be fewer people down there since it’s been off limits for most of the past two years. And there are some comfortable chairs and sofas there as well. Still, it is underground and it is nice sitting up at ground level now and being able to see the street activity out the windows. 

Today the first Boeing Starliner is docking with the ISS. This is an unmanned mission to test all the equipment. Boeing has not looked good running this program. SpaceX looks so much better by comparison. Though landing the ships on land rather than at sea should be an improvement. I hope in time SpaceX will be able to do the rocket assisted landings they wanted. Maybe if Boeing screws up a few more times, NASA will fund that.

There’s a wonderful collection of videos about Classic American cars from the ‘50s and ‘60s called Charles Phoenix Joyride. Depending on the make and model, the peak of American car design was somewhere between 1955 and 1962. Probably. Curiously, the same cars preserved in Cuba by very strange economic forces. Of course these automobiles are also horrible in almost every other way. They are dangerous to the occupants and gas guzzlers. Still, lovely to look at. I’m surprised the MAGA crowd hasn’t built some propaganda around them, it would at least resonate with people of my age cohort -- people born between 1945 and 1965. Even I can wax nostalgic about that period: The foods I ate at the time that I couldn’t eat now. The good times prior to the bad times that followed. When we were naive enough to think well of our political leaders like Eisenhower and JFK. Of course it helps that at the time I didn’t know any people of color or people who were not at least trying to pass for heterosexual. And we will ignore the lead in the paint and gasoline and the radiation in the air and snow. Or the pollution in the rivers (where we would never go).

Still, it is amazing to find cars that are over 65 years old still looking so damn good.

5/23/2022

Just last night I saw an episode of Joyride featuring a ‘57 Bel Air, such a beauty.

This past weekend was Himalayan Fair in Berkeley’s Live Oak Park. So Berkeley. So difficult to get the vendors to understand the trash rules. After working a full shift on Saturday I was proclaiming two of the vendors the worst, most clueless I had ever seen. I only worked a half shift at the end of the day on Sunday, but I had already reconsidered. Yes, they were as bad as I thought, but, when you consider the situation from their perspective, we were like the priest of some really strange religious cult arbitrarily deciding what items go in which of the arbitrarily colored containers. One item even changed from day to day as it was called to our attention that the plates were “wax coated” and therefore landfill instead of compost. (And then this was corrected again so we went back to putting them in compost.) This is why I have “CHILL” written at the top of my Greening reminder list that I review before I leave the house.

Still, diapers in recycling and latex gloves and aluminum containers in compost makes no sense to me. But I’m sure they just see our three bins as festively colored.

The crew chief at the end of the day made what I considered “questionable” decisions about closing down stations serving the vendors sooner than I would have. I did make sure he was the one who had to deal with the consequences, though that meant I wasn’t around to see that. Saying the vendors should bring their end of the event trash to us is one thing, stopping them from just leaving it at the closest park trash can is another. If there is a next time, I can now remind him of what happened here.

Still it was nice to do this event again after the pandemic hiatus. Even if it does mean a 10 block walk back to Bart on the way home. (That actually isn’t true, or at least on Saturday there was a bus I could have taken had I waited for it. On Sunday I walked anyway because of a stunning waitress I had happened to notice on my walk the previous evening. There’s a fair amount of outdoor restaurant activity on Shattuck on the north side of University. Nice to see.

Because I wasn’t starting work until 4pm on Sunday, I decided to come a bit early and have lunch in Berkeley. I had done The Butcher’s Son deli last time, so this time I ate at Ike’s. Had a wonderful sandwich, though the bread was practically a dessert. I asked if they offered it as a wrap -- as Subway does -- but they don’t. A pity.

Day 799/344 - 5/24/2022 

Day of first COVID symptoms. Wouldn’t test positive until 5/26. Was probably infected 5/20-5/21. Damn close to 800 days since the pandemic began. 

5/24/22

Just woke up from an adventure movie of a dream with a plot I couldn’t begin to describe and a large cast and, right at the end, music by CCR. Looked at the time and it had been just about 90 minutes since I went to bed.

5/27/22

My standard pasta dish that doesn’t change from year to year but has changed almost entirely over 40 years. Only the broccoli remains.

5/30/22

Difficulty of managing post-covid!!! How long am I contagious? What can I do and what should I not do?

5/31/22

Finally sitting outside at Another Cafe. I was going to offer to switch seats with two guys who joined me here so I would be down wind. Glad I didn’t as they seem to be sicker than I am.

Another has a very good croissant. Now I’m going for my first uphill walk and then -- very quickly -- to the market for some essentials. 

Ran into information suggesting that I may not have been contagious last Monday and Tuesday like I feared. That’s assuming the vaccine did what it is supposed to do. And it looks like there’s a chance I could test negative before the weekend.

6/6/22

My first day out of isolation after twelve days in my apartment. Got a veggie breakfast croissant which I ate at home and now I’m sitting at the Bank Cafe with a chocolate croissant and my iced tea. I didn’t bring my personal cup, but I’m pretty sure I’m clean now after two negative tests. And my temp is down to 96F again, too.

Now I’m wondering exactly how much safer am I than before given all the different variants out there? Probably better but it’s not like I can start licking everything.

Day 820/8 days post-COVID - 6/14/2022

Today I made it back to the Pork Store for the first time since I came down with COVID. I’m happy to say my nose and taste buds are still working fine. In fact, I noticed that my favorite waitress was wearing a scent that I swear I remember from the ‘50s. So over 60 years ago, but I would swear it was a scent for little girls. It came in some sort of kit for girls pretending to be grown ups... something like the doctor kits I vaguely remember from the period. Maybe it’s been repackaged for adults?

6/21/2022

Post-covid life is more of a challenge than you would think. On the one hand I survived and everything worked out the way it was supposed to. But now I really want to relax -- after all, what are the odds of my catching it twice in a month! But then I just read in the NYT that the currently most prevalent variant doesn’t give much protection for the next two variants that are now spreading. Not that I have any idea which variant I had. And even if I did know, it wouldn’t help because I also don’t know which variants I could be exposed to in the future... or right now.

This past weekend I worked a North Beach street festival for the first time. I thought it was the Columbus Day event cleverly shifted to another month to avoid the push-back against all that Columbus represents. But I did a little more research and discovered this was an entirely different event and that -- “Italian Heritage Parade” -- event is still scheduled for the usual time. So I was wrong, but I think they would have been smarter doing what I was thinking.

I started out on Saturday with my mask on, but quickly gave up. For one thing I hadn’t used my anti-fogging spray -- turns out that is still necessary even when it’s warm -- and not many other people were and it was outdoors and not that crowded and I just finished isolating for over a week so give me a break. Anyway, I seem to have survived. 

6/23/2022 

And for an odd coda to my weekend: I’m sitting at Caffe Grecco enjoying a compensatory cookie and iced tea after picking up the latest check and crazy letter from the mentally ill woman in my building. So strange to be back in this block after spending so much of the last weekend working here. While we had one day of mid-90sF on Tuesday, it is now back to our usual weather, clear blue sky here, though I can hear the fog horns that signal there is a tongue of fog coming in through the Golden Gate. Every time I am forced to come over here to sign for a letter I didn’t catch at home, I give myself some kind of neighborhood treat. Last time it was an eclair from Victoria Bakery. This should be the last time, but if it happens again I may get an actual meal.

Quantum philosophy

6/29/2022

Over breakfast this morning at the Pork Store I was thinking about Free Will vs Determinism and quantum physics (quantum uncertainty and the collapse of the wave function) and how thoroughly the Ancient Greeks covered this material.

The Stoics hold my view of Determinism while the Epicureans managed to nail the uncertainty of quantum reality that can open the door to Free Will. Meanwhile Homer and the tragedians point out the consequences of Hard Determinism in the story of Cassandra who can actually see the future, which means there’s nothing she can do to change it.

It seems to me that one alternative to the Many Worlds approach to the Present moving into the Future, is a collapsing wave functions view. The future is an endless series of wave functions that collapse as we come to them. This is not inherently either Deterministic or allowing Free Will, but it does seem to allow for the possibility of Free Will. 

My personal view of Determinism is not as hard as the Cassandra story -- or any other story in which people can predict the future -- but I think the degree of uncertainty considering exactly how the next wave function will collapse is very limited. Similar to the uncertainty of very stable substances that will eventually undergo a change but probably not for a billion years or so.

383. The British North Africa Campaign

 

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Pandemic Update 

4/26/22 - Day 770/315

The new case rate has more than doubled since the low point on 3/12. The number of people in intensive care is still very low -- so this is what living with the virus looks like. Everyone has test kits now so if you get it you can quickly respond and get the treatment drug. Assuming you aren’t one of the many people with their head up their ass about COVID. 

I have no problem with this and I think our Mayor Breed has handled the pandemic perfectly. The situation with the “homeless” is impossible so I don’t judge her for that failure -- why should she be any different than all the mayors that came before her.

It’s my impression that viruses tend to become more infectious but less deadly over time -- could be wrong -- but I wouldn’t object to a more deadly variant to thin the anti-vax herd. Especially if it hits before the next election or even the one in 2024.

In non-COVID news, the Peet’s here has been so bad about stocking croissants that I finally looked for other sources in the neighborhood and found three. I tried one this morning (of course today Peet’s had croissants) and it was much better. Not sure if it was $2 better, but it was a nice change of pace. I will enjoy sampling the other two. And then the chocolate versions... the place I tried today even properly calls them Pain au Chocolat. I may end up opting for a combination of Peet’s pastries plus hitting one of the other, better places, when they are croissant free.

I had a great idea of repurposing my A History of Europe material on Medium, but then discovered that it isn’t yet in the public domain -- still at least a decade.

The British North African Campaign Re-examined

When you study the North African campaign in WW2, especially the British phase prior to Torch, it would seem that the British undermined their cause by diverting forces to Greece (March 1941) and then to Syria (June 1941). You might think that, if only they hadn’t done those things they could have performed better against the Germans (and Rommel). But what if this isn’t true? What if the British were being really cunning?

The logic behind the British North African campaign was the same as the logic behind the Peninsula Campaign during the Napoleonic Wars. The comparatively weaker British army would fight on land at a point that was easiest for them and hardest for their enemy. The Axis powers had to transport men and supplies across the Mediterranean Sea to North Africa where their ships and planes could be interdicted. The more successful the Germans and Italians were, the more troops and supplies they would need and the more difficult their logistics became. Finally, there was nothing west of Alexandria that the British really cared about. Winning or losing Cyrenaica meant nothing.

When you look at the situation in this way, then every time the British took Cyrenaica they made their logistical situation harder and risked the Germans realizing that this whole campaign was not really worth the trouble. So, by weakening their forces and setting up Rommel for a great victory, they were also pulling more Axis men and supplies into North Africa and stretching out the Axis lines of communications. If the British had sat down and picked a best spot to fight the decisive battle against the Axis in North Africa, El Alamein would have been an obvious option. Their own logistical situation was ideal while the Axis powers were stretched to the limit. And by November 1942 the Americans had arrived and were about to open a second front in the far west. It was time to put an end to the “game” and secure Africa prior to the invasion of Italy.

If this analysis is correct, then Churchill (I think it’s fair to give him credit here, he was a racist and a drunk, but he wasn’t stupid) played the Germans like a fiddle. 

The Bee Tree

The bush/tree outside my kitchen window is actually in the neighbor’s garden. I only see the top and side. If you had asked me, I would have said it blooms starting in March but at least this year it is only now, in May, really in full bloom. The blooms are not that impressive, but the bees seem to like them. As of this week it is buzzing with bees most of the day. I do wonder where the bees come from. I’ve even noticed a few bumble bees recently.The only hives I know of are over eight blocks away... I take that back, there may be one only a block away. I will have to check the next time I’m walking over there.

The blooming should be over some time next month at which point I will trim the bush back substantially as it has grown about two feet this spring and brushes against my building.

Our stubborn little tree in a large pot out in the alley is fully leafed out now. There are two branches at the top that seem to be dead and I’m wondering if I should prune it back now and how far. Last year it was really slow to green but this year it popped out early and looks pretty healthy. Pretty amazing considering what it has gone through over the years.It lives on my bath water, for the most part -- actually the water I catch while waiting for the stream to get hot when I take a shower. I would put in a pump to give me instant hot water without any waste, but that would require both electrical and plumbing work in a very small bathroom. Saving the water for the garden is probably the smarter solution.. 

Day 785/330 5/10/2022 Pandemic

The numbers are interesting. The new case numbers are almost as high as the Delta peak, but they are not going up at the same rate -- and nowhere near the Omicron rate -- and the hospitalization rates are still quite small. Lots of famous people are testing positive -- Steve Kerr, the Warriors coach is the latest --, but with minimal symptoms. If Omicron cleaned out the pockets of the unvaxxed, then maybe it is under control. I’ve stopped eating indoors and am taking extra precautions at times, but life is going on pretty much as normal. We are greening all the usual events -- I’m trying really hard to dodge working Bay2Breakers, I may have to play the “I’m 70!” card again.

For weeks I was trying to get caught up with a backlog of recommended pieces to read. I was just not making much progress. So I sorted through my inbox deleting all the old links it looked like I would never get around to. Now I’m caught up and wouldn’t mind looking up some of those links. Sometimes you just can’t win. So I’m going to reread my blog of A History of Europe starting at the beginning, or nearly the beginning.. Something I’ve been meaning to do in any case.

My second world traveling friend has contracted a mild case of COVID. This time in Italy. Everyone seems to be going to Italy.

Day 792/337 - 5/17/22

Noticed something I can’t explain while riding the bus just now. A young woman trotting barefoot in the mid-Market area caught my eye. The second time the bus caught up with her I noticed more: She was wearing a skirt and matching top but didn’t have any sort of bag or even a pocket; while her clothing looked normal, there was something about her fixed gaze that looked off. My guess is some sudden mental health breakdown. In a way, this is more disturbing than all the usual raving lunatics I see all the time.

Day 794/339 - 5/19/2022

Good looks

Since my “office” is in the same block as the Max Mara shop, I am teaching myself to appreciate those clothes Martha Grimes is so fond of. And I do like them, as clothes. A very simple, understated look that obviously is expensive to achieve. But I can’t say it’s a look I would prefer to see on an attractive woman. Perhaps my opinion would change if I actually saw them on attractive women.

There are a couple “looks” I have noticed recently and liked. There’s a simple jeans with a top look where the jeans are worn without a belt. I’m not sure why it works but it does. And there’s a somewhat older look where a woman wears long sleeves that cover most of her hands, only exposing perhaps half of her fingers. If she has nice hands, it is a great look. Again I don’t know why. And I’m still seeing that jeans with tall boots look that has worked for so long now. 

Ran into a thought provoking piece on Medium examining the various responses to the COVID pandemic and questioning some of the decisions that were made. Basically, she was thinking that perhaps the Swedes had it right all along and we shouldn’t have locked down in 2020. 

If you compare the experiences of NYC and SF, I think most people would agree that SF handled the situation better. The cost of locking down sooner was economic. The cost of waiting too long was in deaths and the overwhelming of the hospital system and resulting burnout of those workers. It would be interesting to compare the rate of essential hospital worker turnover in both areas. The nurses here think they are short staffed, but I don’t think they’ve ever been slammed like nurses in other areas have been. 

Yes, there is a high economic cost associated with this. Businesses here are still dying even as others are reopening or opening for the first time. Was the economic cost too high given the low fatality rate of the disease? How high would it have to be to justify the cost? Unfortunately, there’s no way to know how high the fatality rate will be before the fact so this calculus doesn’t really get you far. If you acted on the assumption that it would be just another flu, and then it turned out to be much more deadly you would be screwed. Though, given that a substantial portion of the population would rather see thousands of people die every day than get a free vaccine, you also have to question if all those potential deaths would be that much of a problem.

Our new case numbers are quite high right now, and I’m taking even more precautions than I was a month ago, but I’m still out every day and I do not want to see the city locked down again. The hospitalization rate is up, but the Intensive Care rate is still surprisingly low given that most of the cases are from the unvaccinated. And just in the past three months I finally know people, three at last count, who have caught mild cases of the disease. Now it really is more or less like the flu and my only regret is that it isn’t thinning the herd of more of the “hesitant.”

But we really should be planning for the next time, and not just the next surge. I continue to think that pandemic cases should be limited to specific facilities. The majority of hospitals should be able to operate normally. The hours nurses can work should be limited to prevent their burning out. People should be encouraged to remain at home if at all possible. Oxygen and other supplies and advice should be provided -- perhaps also a visiting nurse service -- but people (especially unvaccinated people when there is a vaccine -- should be kept out of the hospital as much as possible. Perhaps we need a form of pandemic hospice which may or may not end in death.

As for the economy, this is basically a natural disaster, like an earthquake or fire or hurricane. There should be governmental aid to help businesses. The biggest problem for business is when the customer base dries up as is the case here in the Financial Districts and Union Square. But this, again, is similar to what would happen in a major natural disaster. Tourists and conventioners and workers are going to be scarce after all the buildings burn down. 

This get especially complicated and I have no idea how to deal with it, but businesses need to be able to suspend operation for a reasonable length of time. Ruining retail business is not in the interest of landlords or the city. One thing that would improve the situation here is more residential units in the commercial/shopping districts. I would like to see at least 30% residential. This would guarantee a basic level of business even during a pandemic. The neighborhoods here in SF have suffered, but not nearly as much as their customer base has only decreased a little rather than a lot.

382. Cherry Blossom Festival 2022 & Time

      

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Time, again 

Day 745/290 - 4/1/2022 

I’m caught up with everything published in Bloggity. Which means that I now have to start posting again and really catch up. I also may get around to my chronological review of Pirenne’s book. Always worth the effort.

I’m really enjoying my “fetal” perspective on celebrating birthdays. The wisdom of age can be a wonderful thing. 

Day 757/302 - 4/13/2022  

I’m happily working in the Bank Cafe after a solid two days of working the first Cherry Blossom Festival since 2019. I was very cold the last day but otherwise working the event in my seventies was no different than from my sixties. I have added a new exercise to my daily routine to make it easier for me to climb into trucks. We will see how that goes.

The event itself was smaller than usual with fewer food vendors. Since this is also the warm up event for me -- the first greening work I do this season -- the lighter load was appreciated. And none of us will miss the parade that is not being held next Sunday. On the other hand, the person acting as the end-of-the-day crew chief now needs more help than the previous person did, so I have to work longer than I have in the past. From a half hour to a full hour on Saturday. Such is life when you work for a group that almost inevitably loses its best workers over time.

It was nice to work again with three of our other regulars. Two of us happened to approach the seme ecostation at the moment a festival goer was dumping her food related trash. She got it so wrong it would have been amazing if we hadn’t seen it so often. Our eyes met in acknowledgement of what we had both seen, but neither of us bothered to say anything, what’s the point? The great thing about wearing masks is that they hide our facial expressions for the most part. The eyes can still reveal a lot. Another one of us was trying to work with the food vendors to get them to sort their own trash properly. He couldn’t see my smile as he reported this. These particular vendors are among the worst we deal with and I’ve learned that the most you can hope for is that they bring you their mixed bags so that you can properly sort them. And that is my job.

There were lots of great dogs at the event and so many people now have chest or back carriers for their smaller dogs. It’s a pleasant surprise to be eye to eye with so many dogs as I pass through the crowd. And so many Akitas. I prefer the Pitties, but Akitas are more appropriate to the context.

I also noted that the little cafe on the SW corner of Sutter and Buchanan, where I used to eat breakfast on occasion back in the ‘70s was closed. There were posters in the windows wishing the owners a happy retirement. So little is left now from the SF businesses I knew back then. Of course that’s also true about the business I frequented in the ‘90s. 

Day 763/308 - 4/19/22

On Time - We will see how much this is a call-out to The Magic Mountain...

This month has been the first time since 2019 that I’ve worked both weekend days twice in a row. Physically I’m fine -- all my exercising paid off, in some ways my legs are stronger than before and I’ve added a new exercise to address the way they are not as strong as before -- but I feel like I’ve gotten behind on housekeeping and errands and like. Just this morning I had to remind myself that I’m semi-retired (and I live alone) so it really doesn’t matter. But I also found myself almost envying pandemic time of mid-2020 when I had nothing but time on my hands. Now I try to squeeze my fitness work into everything else whereas then I tried to spread out my workouts to give me more things to do. Rather than napping.

Hans’s situation was different in that he had staff to deal with what takes up most of my time: shopping for and preparing food, housekeeping. But his situation, once he eased into life on the mountain, was not unlike my semi-retired situation. This is what most incensed Settembrini. Aside from his “taking stock,” it didn’t much matter if he did a thing today or tomorrow or not until next week or next month. 

If I didn’t prefer to work here (the Bank Cafe, where it’s warm and expansive) rather than in my tiny ground floor garret, I would have almost pandemic time on my hands. This is like imagining how much money I could save by preparing all my own meals. Maybe later... if necessary. 

Cherry Blossom Festival update

The second weekend of CBF is now past. It was surprisingly busy. I did my usual thing with the vendors and had that situation under control early. Can’t say the same for the situation on the other street where we were still picking up piles of bags as my shift ended. I took advantage of my “senior” status to clock out and go home on time when the others were working overtime. While I did still have to get out my building’s trash -- remarkably contaminated for some reason -- the real reason I didn’t want to stay was that I think it’s absurd that they hadn’t done a better job of breaking that street down earlier. I’m sure this had something to do with all the idiot vendors, but I’m pretty sure most of those bags had been sitting out there for hours. 

Anyway, my part of the event went well and I’m all ready for a near normal season of waste diversion.