Category: The DayBook

At 3:15 this afternoon, I submitted the first set of data to the IT gods and quickly logged off of my hospital account. I want to enjoy the feeling that it is done for a little bit before someone complains about the quality of the data. Don’t worry. There will be complaints. Then it starts over again on the 28th.

friluftsliv had fallen by the wayside due to work and really shitty weather. By 3:30 I was all bundled up and racing around the buildings. Did pause to admire the sun lighting up the clouds.

Gratitude

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Grateful for a little respite in the data storm. I appreciate not having anything to do tonight.

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This is what going to work looks like as 2020 heads to the finish line. Forbin the Computer runs the show. The iPad is sometimes a 2nd or 3rd monitor and sometimes it is just a big iPad. The external monitor has to connect to Forbin via a wire, so, when I use it, I am more or less confined to “my office”.  Damn, I love toys!

GOOD NEWS: No new cases of COVID in the house today.

Mālama Pono

And here, once again is the traditional Solstice greeting that Carlton and I used for years. Even decades.

Wishing everyone the best of the festive season – no matter what it’s called at your house. In pagan traditions, the solstice is a time to put away the things of the old year and look forward to the new. One observance of the solstice involves extinguishing all the fires in your home before midnight on the eve of the solstice and lighting a new fire the next day. This probably won’t be quite as symbolic if you have central heating. Or if you are in Hawai’i. Which is where I should be.

The winter solstice falls on December 21 – the word solstice means “sun stopping.” The winter solstice is the day on which the sun reaches as far south of the equator as it gets, and is as such the shortest and darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. The solstice marks the rebirth of light for the coming spring.

The winter solstice also marks, among other things, the druid festival of Alban Arthuan – a time for bestowing gifts upon those less fortunate than ourselves. Out of this observance has grown the more popular tradition of gift-giving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, maxed-out credit cards and 70% off sales. May the goddess be with you during this season – but don’t blame her if you get fruitcake again. 

Carlton and I did not celebrate Xmas. But, we did observe the solstice. Summer and Winter.

Gratitude

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I am grateful for that which I have.
I am not sorrowful for that which I do not.
I have more than others, less than some,
I am blessed with what is mine.

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But this is a Solstice like none other.  Be safe dear friends. Be safe.

That’s not bad. A little red. A little puffy. Hurts a tiny bit, but only when I touch it. Not a problem.

Space Ship. I worked all day today spiffing up the data before shipping it off the the government. I could tell that other people were entering data. And changing things. We are all trying to tame the data.

I did most of my work from the comfort of my favorite chair, a ca 1955 leather recliner, wrapped in a blanket. Heating pad on the back side. Warm computer on the front side. From my chair all I could see was a gray sky. Food arrived sealed in plastic boxes and bags.

A war is raging outside of my sealed universe.

But, I am doing my part. A remote warrior in the war on covid. My last battle.

That’s the way the mind works if you spent your formative years reading SciFi.

Gratitude

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Christmas Cookies!

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It is hard to keep track of the COVID numbers here at The Asylum. It is at least 27. Maybe more. Good time to stay in my little imaginary space ship.

Mālama Pono

Very tired tonight. Not a side effect of the vaccine. A side effect of old age.

No real side effects from the vaccine. About 18 hours after I got the shot my arm got sore. One of the side effect of Covid is death, so not to worry about a sore arm.

Gratitude

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Grateful for my little apartment. And my nice warm bed. And indoor plumbing. I am not a chamber pot/outhouse kind of a person.

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Mālama Pono

Hanging out in the “airlock” trying to score drugs. Good drugs.

My supplier calls. I go out in the cold. She has the goods. I bare my arm.

Gratitude

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Grateful to have gotten COVID vaccine #1

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If I get caught doing this it’s a 7-day quarantine. So worth it. What I am I doing? What I always do – wrangle data. “Hey Auntie, what did you do during the Great Covid War?” Well, I didn’t die (yet) and I moved a whole lot of data around. The amount of “paperwork” involved with the vaccination process is stunning.

Mālama Pono
 

Gratitude

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The Old Bat is overjoyed to announce that she is too busy doing real work to bitch about anything today.

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Mālama Pono

That is the bad news. The good news is – no new COVID cases in the Asylum today. And, management agreed that if residents are allowed to drive their cars around outside the prison yard campus  “so long as they do not enter any type of business or engage in social activities with others.” Then I should be able to walk around.  Because we are going to be all locked up again starting Friday. Almost anything you do lands you in quarantine for at least 7 days. Most likely 14. 

friluftsliv – got that in early this morning. It was cold but not snowing. Then I walked back up to the 11th floor and here I have been all day. Will be shutting down work and thinking about work soon. Zoom with my friends. Dinner. Bed. Pretty dull. Dull is OK.

Yesterday, the fine state of Virginia decided that some data that they had said was optional really wasn’t. So there was lots of rather frantic redoing of my reporting system today. Tomorrow, I will see how it works with today’s data.

Reading the Wall Street Journal while eating lunch, there was an article about the initial day of vaccinations in the northern California area. The last paragraph mentioned scrabbling around getting some sort of interim reporting system working. (While waiting for a better system to come around.) I guess I am not so special.

Gratitude

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Grateful for NO new covid cases. And mini muffins with hot chocolate and coffee.

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I deployed this formula today:
=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(Z2,”(“,””),”)”,””),”-“,””),” “,””),”.”,””)+0
I am sure there is an easier way to do what I did, but surely not a more fun way.

Mālama Pono

Dawn’s early light from the Old Bat Cave. friluftsliv didn’t happen today. Too cold and too busy. But, I did Zoom Yoga. Which I really like. I know it helps that it is a class that I went to In Real Life. But, most of the people are new. Just me, a gay couple, and the teacher are from real life this session. But, we are sort of Zoom friends now. And, one of the students is moving into our sister Asylum in April. We plan to meet “after”. And I went to the old lady barre class here at The Asylum. That might be my last class for a while because:

It really is time to lock me in my room. And, I have a job to do. I have to produce 7 chunks of data at the right time in December and one last chunk on January 1. I am not mission-critical. Nobody will die if I don’t make the bell. But, it’s a matter of professional pride to deliver the product on time.

Also if I do get sick or if I am “exposed” then I really get locked in my room and can not go to the laundry room or the trash room or mail room or anywhere anytime for 14 days. 

Gratitude

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Grateful that I seem to be in a little better shape than I was in June. More exercise and less weight.

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I looked in my photo catalog to see what I was doing on December 15th last year. Eating and drinking with a lot of people indoors and out. Without a care in the world. May we see those times again.
Mālama Pono
 

The hospital got shipment one of Covid vaccine. And they gave 10 doses today and I extracted the data and sent it on its merry way. Only time will tell if the government system will like the data. (This was a test. They have more than 10 doses.)

That is the good news. 

This is the bad news. I assume that the new cases are not on the nursing floor. Time to say close to the Old Bat’s Cave.

friluftsliv didn’t happen today because it was cold and rainy and I had work to do. I didn’t go to yoga because of work and the 3 new Covid cases. I did walk up to the 11th floor.

John is looking very festive today. I wonder if he is going to ask Santa for a 70K Hyundai?

Gratitude

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Grateful for science. And the covid vaccine.

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Mālama Pono

This is my view of this morning’s building implosion. I knew I wouldn’t be able to see it. It was between the building with the pointy top and the funny shaped building. But, I did think that I would be able to see the dust cloud. But, nothing. I watched it online. So, it did happen. 

That was about the most exciting thing that happened today. So, I guess I have nothing to complain about. 

friluftslivwas easy again today. Sunday is normally a no exercise day for me, but it was so nice out that I went out twice and got in some extra aerobic work.

Gratitude

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Asylum Mac&Cheese. Onolicious as we say back home in Kona. Now, I know that it comes frozen from Sysco. But, that doesn’t make it any less wonderful.

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No updates about our covid situation. It’s the weekend. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings. Hell, at my age, it is interesting to get get to tomorrow. And, the Electoral College Votes tomorrow. Normally a non-event except for the wonkiest pols. With the Orange Lord – anything can happen. Stay tuned. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings. On several fronts.

Mālama Pono

Soaking up some vitamin D and enjoying the 61° weather. friluftsliv was not a problem today.

They didn’t tell us how many people are sick today. One person died yesterday. But, that happens a lot here at The Asylum. He lived on the nursing unit. And that is our current hot zone.

Gratitude

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Surely spring is just around the corner?

Mālama Pono

All cozy in bed this afternoon with a nice big cup of Trader Joe’s espresso tea. That was after friluftsliv which included opening up my window for a hour to let nice fresh air in, going for my strip mall fitness walk and working on my garden boxes. Pretty damn good for tropical person like me.

Gratitude

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Whole Foods Delivery. Got my order in at 6:38AM and they delivered at 7:21AM.

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So what is weird? COVID. The hospital is making final plans to vaccinate staff. And today we are told that the Asylum rats will most likely be getting vaccinated in January. That should be making me happy. Happy and getting ready to go to Hawai’i, hotel or no hotel. Or maybe Bermuda. Or maybe just a train ride around the country.

But. First I have to live through our current COVID surge here in the Asylum.

This doesn’t count the one resident who died last week. This time last week we had a total of 9 cases. This week 24.

Mālama Pono