This WEEK, though

[rebeccmeister]

So Monday morning I hit that squirrel.

Tuesday was that vaguebooked incident where I became very grateful for first aid/cpr training.

Wednesday was relatively uneventful (hold your breath).

So how about this morning. I vaguely woke up at some point in the middle of the night because of a lot of sirens. Then I woke up again about 10 minutes before the alarm went off because of the smoke smell. Another house somewhere in the neighborhood must have caught on fire last night, is all I can figure. (I guess at least I don't have a loss of sense of smell right now?). Closed all the windows and doors. I'm not good at breathing smoke, turns out.

Got to the boathouse, and one of the two porta-johns had been tipped over. That's actually the first time I've seen that happen in the time I've been here, but I'm sure it's happened before.

We were going to row in small boats this morning. My doubles partner and I got our boat down to the dock when we heard someone already out on the far side of the river blowing their safety whistle: one of the doubles that had already launched had flipped! Thankfully, one of the rowers in the boat is an open-water swimmer and trained rescue diver, so they actually swam their double all the way back across the river to get back into it and make it back out for practice. They even said it was fun. What a champ!

Meanwhile, we got our double launched and gathered with two other doubles and a quad, where we then learned that stroke seat in the quad was having troubles with a stuck seat. Uh-oh. I managed to maneuver our double over to a position where I was able to help stroke seat get the seat unstuck. Hooray, practice saved! If you know anything about rowing shells, you should realize that it's something of a trick to get them close together like that, but we did it.

Then we managed to get in some rowing. Yay! On our way back to the dock, I glanced over and there was a rainbow.

At this point, though, I'm not going to believe that this week is done with me until it's actually the weekend.

-

Meanwhile, pandemic thoughts, as posted in a comment elsejournal.

I'm going to keep thinking about my friend with that 7-year pandemic time estimate when it comes to masking. I am not doing a perfect job of masking indoors but am doing the best I can.

We just have to come to grips with the fact that the majority of Americans are dumb, impatient, and lazy. Even ones we might hope were otherwise.

I'm still thinking about those false narratives about Covid "becoming endemic" and less virulent over time. I think people who don't know much about evolutionary processes do not fully understand that it remains entirely possible that virulence could remain the same or could increase, as with Delta. And just because something "becomes endemic" does NOT mean you want to or should relax precautions (hello, malaria! and more).

Comments

[cmcmck]

Although with malaria, it's just possible that all the research this has sparked may have come up with a vaccine- I was reading a piece on this very topic the other day.

And did you see my post on Fifi the llama? :o)

As to false narratives, one of the Oxford scientists involved in the AZ development (so serious enough) is of the opinion that this may be the way things will head and she isn't alone, although we're on nearly 90% firsts and over 80% seconds so there's that.

[moodyduck]

I wish we had more room to celebrate what an amazing accomplishment and very interesting new future this generation of vaccines is bringing.

I was reading something about stakeholder engagement in tidal power development (for my work), and how some people see experimental as "dangerous" and some see experimental as "pioneering." I know the mRNA vaccines are past experimental at this point, but I wish we could be less preoccupied with getting people to take safe vaccines and more preoccupied with what a great human accomplishment this is. And how even greater it could have been if not for culture wars.

[moodyduck]

There's a lot of "we just have to learn to live with Covid and get back to normal" which sounds great except...a lot of people won't. Live, that is. And part of me knows that is their choice, except a lot of kids are being left without parents and that is just going to be rough for a long time. I'm having trouble with compassion for the unvaccinated when my compassion for the vaccinated-but-inadequately-protected is hurting so much.

I'm having a lot of trouble with people that won't exercise that minimum level of care for their community by getting vaccinated. That said, in order to not be a hypocrite, I got my flu shot yesterday even though I've never had the flu in 40 years (nor my brother in 42, or my mom and dad in 70+. My dad got the swine flu when we were all exposed, but the rest of us didn't even get that.) I've never bothered with the flu shot for that reason. My parents get it now, but didn't used to. Understanding more about being an asymptomatic carrier is part of that, and just not wanting to tell people they have no excuse to not be Covid-vaxxed if I can't deal with feeling ill for 48 hours from a flu shot. (I suspected a strong innate response after my Moderna reaction, and was not let down on that regard, except it happened faster and harder but hopefully will be over sooner. Though it's not over.)

On a lighter note, here's hoping that open water swimmer doesn't decide they've created a fun new workout. ;)

[cmcmck]

I have to admit that I started 'flu shots after contracting swine 'flu which was not pleasant.

Being of the over sixty persuasion, I now get my 'flu shot free via the NHS

Covid third booster jab coming up next month- I'm beginning to feel like a pincushion! :o)

[moodyduck]

I'm not sure my dad started flu shots immediately after getting swine flu or if it was more an "at this age you need to do it" thing, but I'm sure having swine flu helped convince him. Especially because he had it while traveling which ruined that trip. I suspect it helped sway him about COVID too--he was never anti-vax, but early on he had the "I'm healthy enough to not have to worry about this" attitude. Later on he probably realized that even if not worried about dying, he didn't want to experience even the "mild" case of being sick in bed for two weeks either.

My insurance covered the flu shot, but it was more paperwork than getting the Covid shot. Work used to have a "show up and get it" day but I don't know if/when they are doing that now.

[rebeccmeister]

Yeah, I went for a flu shot for the first time last year, and will get another one next Thursday.

I'm just glad I'm not one of the people working in a hospital STILL dealing with this level of stupidity day in and day out over 1.5 years after this whole thing blew up.

[moodyduck]

I was going to get one last year but waited for this voucher thing from work and by the time that came through, it was pretty clear that a) I wasn't going to be in contact with anyone to catch the flu anyway and b) the flu season was going to be a nonevent.

There was a somewhat annoyingly long wait at the pharmacy yesterday even though I made an appointment. Other people before me were getting vaccinated and at least one didn't look like they were filling out the same forms I did, so kind of hope that was a late-adopting COVID vaccinated person. Another guy was looking for his second dose, but he needed the wrong one for what Walgreens had.

Of course the other reason the pharmacy was crazy busy was that the drive up line was reaching around the corner for people getting covid tests, as revealed when a customer asked the pharmacist. Then all the prescriptions picker-uppers were coming inside instead of waiting in that line.

I've been reading a subreddit that fairly regularly has medical professionals talking about what this wave has done to them. It's really sad, and not great considering how many are wanting to or having to quit because of mental or physical health tanking. Or travel nurses deciding they just won't re-up for another bout. It was one thing pre-vaccine, to work that hard and see so much. But with delta, not only are the cases and bad outcomes more rapid-fire, you have family members yelling at staff because the hospital won't give ivermectin, or saying they killed so-and-so by not giving them the huge dose of vitamin C the spouse requested, and so forth. Unvaccinated patients must be hard enough, dealing with the bad information and anger it generates must be something else entirely. There are real concerns about violence. I couldn't work in health care at a normal time, can't imagine it now.

[twoeleven]

Congrats to the two folks who got their capsized boat home and were willing to go out again!

I'm going to keep thinking about my friend with that 7-year pandemic time estimate when it comes to masking.

We just have to come to grips with the fact that the majority of Americans are dumb, impatient, and lazy.
I have thoughts about both of these, but my reply may be too long for your journal. If so, expect a linked entry in mine. :)

Seems to fit...

[twoeleven]

I think the majority of Americans want things to go back to the way they were. This is not, on the face of it, an unreasonable desire: I think most of the people who might read this do too. We just know that the plague can't be wished away.

The press has adopted the term "pandemic fatigue" to describe people's crankiness. I think that'll do. For most people in the developed world, the plague hasn't been an active threat to life and limb, just an endless series of nuisances, large and small. City is closed down. Job disappeared, temporarily or for good. Places to go are closed down. Kids missed a year of education and are stuck at home. Working from home, full time, assuming there is a job. Stuff to buy isn't available. And on and on. Oh, yeah: and wear a mask. (Wearing a mask is why the plague hasn't been an active threat for most of us, of course.)

I can't come up with any stronger term than cranky for the majority of us, since two-thirds of us are vaccinated. (That would be adults. Kids don't get to choose: they get what their parents say they get.)

If the plague were to last seven years, I'd say we'll need bigger changes than just wearing masks. I think we'd be seriously starting to look at minimizing large gatherings on a permanent basis, and otherwise breaking up vector chains.

But I think that's possible only if people don't get vaccinated. I approve of the current hammer the Biden administration is taking to the plague rats, though I'd have prefered smaller hammers sooner.

[larryhammer]

majority of Americans are dumb, impatient, and lazy

And cruel.

[(Anonymous)]

Let’s not forget self-righteous. That engine seems to drive most of the rest of the package, because it’s not just dumb and lazy and impatient… They’re comfortably so.