From a 1982 commercial for Zayre Department Stores. I never did figure out where to buy a clear bathtub.
October 2020
Neighborhood.
I was encouraged by the number of Trick or Treaters in the neighborhood late this afternoon. Parents and kids were going from house to house. Familiar calls of “trick or treat” were yelled from the sidewalk.
The majority of houses had a table set up on the front lawn with an assortment of candy and a bottle of hand sanitizer. I saw a half dozen houses with some sort of candy delivery system, usually a bunch of discarded paper towel rolls affixed end to end. A grown up would send candy down the chute to the waiting child with a trick or treat bag. One house had a witch’s hat in the end of the delivery system, and the candy shot out the witch’s hat.
This little slice of normal in the neighborhood raised my spirits a lot. Of course, we don’t get trick or treaters, being five stories up in a condo building, but Earl and I are eating the candy in the spirit of the holiday. It’s the American thing to do.
I was happy to see neighbors still decorating their houses. This has been an ongoing thing since the beginning of the month.
It certainly helps the mental state of the neighborhood. Happy Halloween!
Apple One.
Apple officially released their new subscription service today. It’s called Apple One. It’s basically a package deal for their individual services like Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple News, Apple Arcade, and iCloud. Their new service, Fitness+, will come before the end of the year, and it’s included in their “Premier” level of Apple One.
I subscribed us to Apple One Premier. It will save us a little over $5 a month vs the current subscriptions we have. Plus, we’ll be able to drop a couple of other subscription services, including Dropbox. Since we use Apple products, iCloud works just fine for us.
I’m excited about Fitness+. It’s a fitness program that works in concert with videos on various Apple devices and the fitness capabilities of the Apple Watch. I’m hoping it will inspire me to be a little more fitness minded during the dark, cold months of winter.
One can always hope.
National Cat Day.
It’s really not morning unless Truman has the opportunity to inspect the hallway on our floor.
He appreciates that I use this daily opportunity to clean out his litter box.
Flu Shot.
I went to the doctor’s office and received my annual flu shot on Monday. It’s not my favorite thing to do but I do it because I’m in my middle-aged years and that’s what we do. My doctor also mentioned a shingles immunization during my visit this past spring but I’m not ready for that. He says I’ll get sick and I should plan the two shots up against a weekend.
With COVID-19 going around I’m really not one to get shots that involve planning it against a weekend.
But I’m happy I got a flu shot. Like many folks, I’ve been thinking about COVID-19 vaccines. I will be very skeptical of a COVID-19 vaccine being shoved out while Trump is president. His administration is too corrupt to be trusted. When other countries like Great Britain, France, and Canada start giving out COVID-19 vaccines I’ll see what they’re giving out and go in that direction.
48 hours later I’m not feeling any ill effects from the flu shot, so that’s promising. I’m just ready for some extra sleep.
Fine.
I’m told by Democrat friends that “everything will be fine”, even though Amy Coney Barrett is now on the Supreme Court and probably has the deciding vote as to whether our marriage will continue to be legally recognized or not. Barrett was a member of the school board of a private school that not only rejected gay teachers, but also rejected any potential students from gay parents, so I’m pretty sure we know in which direction she would base her decision should and when this type of case comes up for a ruling.
This is the thing I can’t get beyond. Republican family members profess how supportive they are of our legal marriage and then they support the folks in Washington, D.C. that want to make sure that, among other things, the gays don’t get married. I have a hard time reconciling this fact and as I have said before, I won’t be going to some family gatherings any time soon.
But, the Democrats say everything will be “fine”. Our rights will continue to get stripped away. Healthcare? No more pre-existing conditions. I’ll be surprised if the ACA makes it into November. Roe v Wade? I’m sorry ladies, Amy Coney Barrett can’t trust herself to make decisions about her own body and neither should you. She wants old white men to make those decision for her and therefore, you will abide by their rulings as well. Women will no longer have the right to choose what to do with their own body.
But don’t worry, everything will be “fine”.
I’m writing this blog entry at 3 in the morning because I can’t sleep. I’m still so angry I can’t get my brain to settle down. I have to be up for work in a few hours. Thank god that will distract me enough from enjoying all of this frivolity everyone says is “fine”.
If someone asks me how I feel about something and I say it’s “fine”, one should never take that as a sign of happiness or contentment. To me, “fine” is a word of resignation and surrender.
It’s one of the worst four letter words in the English language.
Occulus Quest 2.
So I’m learning how to play Beat Saber on our new Occulus Quest 2. Truman is apparently confused by this activity.
Home Stretch.
This is the last week of Daylight Saving Time in 2020. Thank (insert favorite deity here)!
As I have griped about for decades, my body, mind, nor soul adapts to Daylight Saving Time. From March to November I live in a state of a quasi-jet lag. I force my body to go to bed before it wants to, I force my mind awake before it’s ready to get and go.
Come this Sunday at 2:00 a.m. the United States will revert back to Standard Time, noon will be relatively close to where it’s suppose to be, and my circadian rhythm will be back in sync with the planet.
I know Standard Time is not popular. I know folks feel like they’re having sunlight stolen from them, preventing them from going outside to play tennis or whatever. I always share this reminder: you get the same amount of sunlight no matter what the clock says. How you use that sunlight is up to you.
The transition from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time is the easier of the two for my body to adjust to. I’m really looking forward to next Sunday.
