Covid-19

Another Weekend Shot To Hell

Almost Literally…

On Friday we walked up to the Sky Lakes Medical Center and got our second booster shot. And like last October’s first booster it knocked me for a loop while only striking a glancing blow on Donna. I spent most of Saturday napping and gobbling Tylenol.

Today I felt pretty good and I’m sure, just like last time, the booster shot will be a distant memory by Monday. We did get out this afternoon and do a little yard work. While Donna mowed, I put the awning up on the front porch, then whippersnipped the edges.

Afterwards we rewarded ourselves with a top down Miata drive and a stop at the neighborhood bodega for an ice cream sandwich.

12.3 miles Sunday Cruise.
Times Miata Driven since 01/01/22: 17

 

Konquer Kovid in Klamath Kounty Kontest

A couple weeks ago while NFL football on a Sunday I saw a local commercial for something called Conquer Covid in Klamath. I know after places around the country and the world are offering prizes as inducement to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but didn’t realize they were doing it here too. So I signed both Donna and I up to be in the contest.

I have no idea when the contest started and there are weekly drawings for the “smaller” prizes and a Grand Prize of a new Dodge Ram or Durango at the end. We both were vaccinated back in March, so who knows how many weekly drawings we have missed out on. Unless of course the weekly drawing is for just those entered during that week, and in that case, we didn’t win a prize.

I guess there is always a chance on the grand prize or one of the 3 runner up prizes, a hot tub, a Disneyland family vacation and $3k. Of course who knows when the contest ends because, like the start date, there is no mention of it in the rules. If they are waiting until every one in the county gets a shot, they are never going to have to give away the “big” prizes, right now the county is at 55% for one dose and 49% fully vaccinated.

My favorite aspect of this contest is a little link at the bottom of the main page:

I’m not vaccinated and want to enter.

 

Are You In The Loop?

In the beginning of this pandemic with everyone stuck at home, people were heavily using streaming services to watch movies and TV as a way to pass the time indoors. For some, pandemic themed movies are what they wanted and those started shooting to the top of the most watched lists. Contagion, 28 Days Later, 12 Monkeys, and Outbreak all had a nice little resurgence. I was not interested, COVID was scary enough by itself and I wasn’t getting promised that guaranteed feel good Hollywood ending that they had.

As shelter in place, stay way from people, don’t go far recommendations persisted, a lot of days started to seem a lot like all the others. Almost like being stuck in a time loop and being doomed to repeat the same day over and over again. Seeing that I’m a sucker for time travel movies, this was the stuff I could watch.

I went back and rewatched Edge of Tomorrow. I also love Sci-Fi so this one is a favorite movie for me, and what’s not to love, Tom Cruise gets killed a dozens of times. Back in 2019 Netflix produced a little show called Russian Doll that used this Live, Die, Repeat1 trope as well. I watched it then and have recently rewatched it.

Because I just remembered it, today I went back and watched again something from another favorite of mine, The X-Files. Specifically Season 6’s Episode 14 entitled Monday, that involves Scully and Mulder2 and a bank robbery with the same we die and come back on the same day plot line.

In July Hulu premiered a new movie called Palm Springs with this theme as well, but puts a slight comic spin on it. It starred Adam Samberg and Cristin Milioti, but J.K. Simmons almost steals the show for me from the “guest star” role. It got a lot of well deserved buzz and I enjoyed it so much I watched it twice, about a month apart. Not to be left out of the temporal anomaly band wagon, Amazon Prime premiered The Map of Tiny Perfect Things just last month. This one is a sort of teen romantic comedy and it works. And for my money has the tidiest resolve of any of these things.

Speaking of rom-com time loop movies, this brings us around to the gold standard of this genre, Groundhog Day. Although I have seen this 1993 movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell movie a few times already, I think it is time to schedule a rewatch before too long. But first I’m off to Google “time loop movies” to see if I’m missing any hidden gems.

Well, That Was A Nice Surprise

A month ago I wrote about the 2020 Moss Motoring Challenge and how it was the last one and it looked like we finished out of the money. In today’s mail was an envelope from Moss Motors and inside was a $50 gift certificate.

Wow, that was not expected, but thank you very much. I guess because it was the last year of hosting this event they were extra generous with prizes. In spite of COVID-19 there were 6 people who scored 304 points, only missing the five points each for visiting the Moss warehouses. Also probably because of the pandemic there were quite a few who signed up (looks like about 200 total) and nearly half scored no points at all.

I have already spent the prize money on some new silicon wiper blades. When I drove the Miata to the a doctor’s appointment back in January it started to sprinkle on the way back and when I turned on the wipers they squealed like a stuck pig. Needless to say, on the short drive home, they were used sparingly.

Masks

This has sitting in my drafts folder since October which was right after I bought some face masks online (the Mark III.) I was going to write a little review and compare it to the first masks used to keep us from breathing in virus particles, but never got around to it. Now, having just bought some more from someplace else, I thought now was the time to write about something that has basically become daily wear.

Mark I Mask

Mark I – We made these in house not long after it was recommended that folks wear face coverings as a prevention device. Three layers. The two outside are of old pillowcase with a center section of dish towel. We had some 1/4″ elastic that I cut in half lengthwise for ear loops. Worked out OK, but they were loose fitting and non-adjustable. We made just two, one for me and one for her. This one is mine because it had a B written with Sharpie on it.

Mark II Mask

Mark II – Donna found someone locally that was making them in their home on Facebook. They were $5 each and made of a couple layers of some sort of cotton material. But, you could get them in all sorts of patterns. The patterns were mostly aimed at women and children. They were sized that way also, as mine were a bit small for my face. And the closest we could get for men was Star Wars themed! The ear loop elastic was narrower than ours and were adjustable by retying the knot in a different spot which made them a bit more comfortable, we bought two each.

Mark III Mask

Mark III – I found these from an Instagram ad in my feed. These folks, Bows-N-Ties, are a in San Francisco and had a bountiful selection of patterns aimed as business folks (you could even get matching ties to go with the mask.) They were their 1st generation masks of two layers of cotton for $7.50 each. Again we bought 2 each. The ear loops were easily adjustable and more comfortable than the others. These were supposed to be anti-fog for us glasses wearers, while better than our first two masks, metal wire didn’t hold up through several washes. It was easier to just take off our glasses when wearing them. While bigger than the homemade masks, these were still a bit small for me.

Mark IV Mask

Mark IV – From another Instagram ad, this is my most recent purchase. This is a company in Kansas that make the self-proclaimed World’s Best Undershirt, Mr. Davis. They are $12 each, but the second one was 1/2 off, so in essence they are $9 a piece. I bought two. These have nice adjustable ear loops and a flexible nose bridge that seems to work better than the Mark III (we’ll see how it holds up.) There is also a built in filter pocket and flexible ends for sealing at the cheek area. The big draw though was it came in three sizes. I bought the large and it fits my whole face, from top of nose to under the bearded chin.

Stress Tested

I am reminded of the George Santayana quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Which most often remembered as “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” I think that both those who do not learn history, and those who do, are doomed to repeat it. And I know history, mostly because I write it here and can look it back up, so I know that I am repeating it.

From June of 2002, Stress Test.

Last week I had another stress test. This one was in two parts, Tuesday was the resting version, inject some nuclear stuff in, wait an hour, take pictures. Thursday was the actual stress part. I packed my sneakers and a pair of shorts to run in and when I got there I was thrown a curve ball. Because of COVID they didn’t want me (or anyone else for that matter) to be exhaling forcefully in a little room with other people, so they medically stressed me. I got an IV shot of Lexiscan which made my heart think I was exercising. Very weird feeling…laying flat on my back feeling flush and having to breathe heavy. Then I had to wait 45 minutes before laying down for more 3D pictures of my heart.

The follow up with the Cardiologist is next month.

Negative

Donna received her results on Monday bright and early, I didn’t get mine until this afternoon. So in a way I already figured what my results would be, because of our situation, whatever she was I was, sure to be as well.

SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19), DIAGNOSTIC
—–
Performed at: 01 – LabCorp Seattle
550 17th Avenue Ste 300
Seattle, WA 98122
Lab Director: Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx MD, Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
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Testing was performed using the Aptima SARS-CoV-2 assay. This nucleic acid amplification test was developed and its performance characteristics determined by LabCorp Laboratories. Nucleic acid amplification tests include PCR and TMA. This test has not been FDA cleared or approved. This test has been authorized by FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). This test is only authorized for the duration of time the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of the emergency use of in vitro diagnostic tests for detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus and/or diagnosis of COVID-19 infection under section 564(b)(1) of the Act, 21 U.S.C. 360bbb-3(b) (1), unless the authorization is terminated or revoked sooner.

When diagnostic testing is negative, the possibility of a false negative result should be considered in the context of a patient’s recent exposures and the presence of clinical signs and symptoms consistent with COVID-19. An individual without symptoms of COVID-19 and who is not shedding SARS-CoV-2 virus would expect to have a negative (not detected) result in this assay.
—–
Component Results

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) by RT-PCR
Standard Range Not Detected
Your Value Not Detected

—–
Collected on 10/16/2020 12:02 PM from Nasopharynx (Swab)
Resulted on 10/17/2020 10:05 PM
Result Status: Final result