Friday, April 15, 2022

378. COVID & Christmas & Clocks

   



Day 617/162 - 11/22/21
I’m all caught up on HOA errands and I have my new printer working so it’s time to clean up my apartment -- and this time I mean it.

I’m so confused by the COVID case numbers. After dropping to 50 it quickly rose to just over 80 but now it’s back below 60? It’s great news, but I don’t understand it.

Just now as I walked into the Bank Cafe, Clocks was playing on the sound system. You can’t get more “90’s” than that. Which got me playing my favorite game to make me feel really old. Back when I was waking up every morning to contemporary ‘90s music like Clocks, the radio station also had an evening program -- their “Attic” -- when they played classics from the ‘80s. In other words, old music. Today, the Attic would be playing music from the Teens. Music from the Aughts would be as old as music from the ‘70s was then. And my ‘90s music would be as old as music from the ‘60s... even early ‘60s. Like the late Sinatra I can’t stand. This makes me want to buy a walker with custom tennis balls for feet.

day 625/170 - 12/2/21
Sad day in the neighborhood. The taqueria that kept me sane and well fed last year was closed when I went by just now on account of a broken hand. Since I haven’t been by in over a week, I don’t know how long this has been the case. Since there are two people there, and one could just be working the register, I hope they are only closed because this JUST happened. Selfish of me, I know. I diverted to pizza. 


It’s an odd Christmas season in Union Square this year. Compared to last year it is pretty normal but thanks to that rash of smash and grab/flash mob robberies some stores are boarded up again, last last year. Still, much better, but not at all back to normal. And the number of empty storefronts is even higher than before. At least now the area is crawling with police so it doesn’t feel as dangerous as it did last year when I completely avoided the area.

Because the new case numbers are low, I keep trying to talk myself into going to my favorite indoor dining places -- but the low numbers are from before Thanksgiving and we won’t know how THAT changes things for another week at least. So it’s still outside or at home. 


My reorg and unload program has not ended, though I hope to have it practically wrapped up by the end of the year. The next big item on my list is getting rid of family Christmas decorations. That will either be satisfying or especially painful. Time will tell.


Day 627/172 - 12/4/21
This morning I ate my first egg in over a year. My intention is to be almost a vegan but to not completely eliminate non-meat foods from my diet. I consume some cheese and probably sour cream every week, but it has been easier to avoid eggs and so I forgot about occasionally including them in my diet. I went out this morning and quickly found a sandwich place near me that sells a pretty good veggie, breakfast croissant sandwich featuring an egg. Now I just need to remember to order this at least twice a year to keep my enzymes in business. 

It’s been over three hours since breakfast and no indication that my GI tract is rejecting the egg. So far so good.


For early December it is very fair, a little warm, and too dry -- but that’s what a drought is like. Our COVID case numbers fell below 50 today. My first thought was to rush over to the Pork Store for breakfast, but then I looked at the numbers a little more carefully. Because of the delay in getting reliable statistics, the numbers we have now are from before Black Friday. Just looking at the raw data it is obvious that the case numbers are unusually low on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and the Saturday and Sunday following. The statistics won’t reflect the true after Thanksgiving situation until after next Monday. So the below 50 number means nothing. If the numbers remain low until next weekend, I will hit the Pork Store the following week -- but that isn’t going to happen. I’m just messing with myself. 

The number spiked immediately after Halloween, and I expect them to spike even more after Thanksgiving. And then comes Christmas. Same as last year. Realistically, March is when I should be able to return to eating inside. Thanks to the vaccine, that’s a month earlier than this year.


I am now contemplating creating a printed version of my blogs. This would mean going back to the start and editing and reformatting them in new files to be printed out. A re-edit is always valuable. The reformatting is going to be tricky as I have to consider what to do with the links and images (such as they are). I could just print out the URL, or print what I view as being the key text -- the URL approach has several advantages. If I really do this, it will be a year plus project. And what would be the advantage over what already exists in blogger?

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