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.
Night Flight.
It’s been a year since I last flew at night. As an American private pilot, I need to be night current to take someone flying with me at night. Night currency is defined as three full stop landings more than an hour after sunset within the past 90 days.
With instructor Dominic as safety pilot, I achieved that this evening in one of the Diamond DA40s I fly.
It’s been since the beginning of May that I last flew a DA40. Most of my 2020 flight time has been spent in “Large Marge”, the Cessna 182 with retractable gear that my husband and I enjoy flying around in. “Large Marge” is like flying a truck, flying the DA40 is like flying a sports car. Both are a lot of fun in their own way.
I had a lot of fun flying tonight. Become a pilot is one of my greatest accomplishments, and I hope to continue enjoying the experience for as long as possible.
Road Trip.
I took the day off from work and meandered around the rural parts of Northeastern Illinois. I generally kept it between Chicago and Peoria. Other than getting beyond Joliet and coming home after having a bite to eat for supper, I drove back roads and scenic routes.
There’s a fewer number of Trump signs on lawns in the villages. I saw more Biden signs than ever, which I found surprising for the rural parts of the state. This gave me a glimmer of hope.
Whenever I stopped folks were generally wearing masks; there was maybe one or two people total that didn’t have a mask on when I stopped at a Walmart to use the rest room.
I let my mind meander as I meandered around the Illinois River Valley. It’s a good way for me to figure things out.
And now I’m ready for a proper weekend.
11 Days.
It’s a beautiful night in the Windy City. The temperature is over 70ºF. There’s a mystical breeze blowing from the southwest. This is my most favorite type of relaxing weather. This is my favorite time of the year.
My husband watched the debate while I went for a walk through the neighborhood. I saw a few households lit up with the debate on their large televisions. With the nice weather I heard a couple of folks yell back at their television. I can’t bear to watch the debates. I still want to kick the television screen in whenever I hear Trump’s voice. To think there would be a day where I’d pine for the frivolity of George W. Bush.
It’s 11 days until the official Election Day. Millions and millions of people have already voted. Record numbers. People are voting. It gives me a glimmer of hope.
But boy, are these next 11 days going to drag on like an eternity.
We had many thunderstorms roll through the Windy City last night so we didn’t get much sleep. The news featured a photo of three distinct lightning bolts simultaneously striking the Trump Tower here in Chicago. God is speaking. It’s a shame his followers don’t listen. They’re reduced to cult status. I’d pity them if I wasn’t so angry and concerned with the state of this nation.
Watch.
I’m still proudly rockin’ an Apple Series 3 Watch. This is my second Apple Watch, my husband still wears my first, and I purchased this right after the Series 3 was introduced to mix. For the most part it has been a flawless experience.
Earlier this month (or was it at the end of last month?) Apple release Watch OS 7. Ever since upgrading to Watch OS 7 my watch has been sporadically rebooting. This experience hasn’t been limited to my Series 3 watch, plenty of other users have voiced their concerns with the same behavior. I found the glitch to be very frustrating, as it seems my watch especially enjoyed rebooting when I went to pay for something with Apple Pay. I don’t like holding up checkout lines.
Apple released Watch OS 7.0.1 but it didn’t address the rebooting issue. I was a bit surprised by this, especially since Apple is still selling this exact model watch as their low end offering. Plenty of other users were experiencing the same thing. After the update to 7.0.1 I futzed around with the watch a bit and figured out that the rebooting seemed to be related to displaying the city of the weather app on the watch face. If I used a watch face that didn’t show “Chicago” (or wherever I was) next to the forecast, it didn’t reboot as much.
Until the release last week.
Over the weekend my watch was rebooting like crazy again. This pushed me to the point of frustration, so I wiped the watch out and set it up as a brand new watch.
This fixed the rebooting issue. It also significantly extended the battery life. My watch is snappy and happy again.
Of course, Apple released Watch OS 7.0.2 to address the rebooting issue. I updated to it and it’s still purring along like a contented kitty.
I feel like I still have plenty of life in this watch. It does everything I want it to do and now that the rebooting issue has been resolved I’m feeling confident with its functionality again.
I’ll upgrade when this one completely gives up the ghost.
