And so...another turkey-day is suddenly upon us. It will be different for many this year due to the world-wide Covid madness...we were supposed to fly to Virginia early next week as we usually do, but we cancelled that trip weeks ago (Jeannie's crystal-ball was working top-notch...she saw this Corona re-lapse coming). So we will be staying home this year, having a lovely day with just us and the fur-monsters.
I was looking at next weeks work-schedule the other day and it suddenly occurred to me: If I take Mon/Tue/Weds as vacation days, I get NINE STRAIGHT DAYS OFF! That's a pretty good bargain for 3 vacation days! So of course, I'm doing it! I mean, I had already planned to take multiple days off anyway...why not stick to that plan? I have GREAT PLANS for those 9 days, including 17 bike rides (or maybe just 4 or 5)...but that will nearly all be dependent on the weather and my "Wuss factor"...you know...ooh...it's a bit windy to ride today...or, ooh..it's a bit chilly to ride today. Stuff like that...my "Wuss factor" can be pretty high sometimes. I'm SUCH a "Fair Weather Rider".
I have noticed that my "Wuss Factor" is pretty much directly tied to the weather. ANYWAY...I HOPE to get in a few good rides...maybe even 1 or 2 LONG ONES (the kind I do early in the year before it gets hot, and maybe a few times in the fall). I haven't done ANY long ones yet this year. Three work-trips and multiple "comebacks" trying to get my cycling fitness anywhere NEAR where it was as of early November last year have left me doing only shorter "4 hour rides" as my long ones (in lieu of 8+ hour rides). We will see how things shape up for rides over the next 9 days. I'd place my current "comeback" fitness at about 75% of where I hoped to be by now. But that's not entirely bad..it could still be 50% or lower. I figure 1 or 2 all day rides will do great things for my morale AND fitness. And Jeannie will still be working the first few days, so I've got carte-blanch to go crazy and be gone all day. I can do that.
We have a rocket launch here on base Saturday morning...SpaceX is launching a Falcon 9 and have plans to land the booster back on the West pad (it hopefully lands just a few hundred yards from the East Pad where it's taking off from). So I'm thinking of driving out to the base and watching the launch/landing, and then continuing on a nice day-long ride. But all of that is subject to said "Wuss factor". And sometimes the "Wuss Factor" can be totally triggered by sitting on the couch with a tasty cup of "Fun Coffee" and not wanting to go out into the chilly overcast air. There are just days when I don't "Feel it". I hope tomorrow isn't one of them.
And so...I hope everybody out there (and by "everybody I mean both of you...GRIN!) have a wonderful and safe Turkey-day! It will be one to remember for sure...this entire year fits that statement. And it will also be one to forget. Come on Vaccines!!! The world wants their lives back! With that I will sign off...have a great weekend!
Sunday amendment...I was able to watch the SpaceX launch of the Sentinel-6 oceanography satellite from here at Vandenberg...I was on-base with my bike to watch the launch and then ride all day after. The launch was a success, and they landed the first-stage just a few hundred yards from where it took off from.
Here is a link to my Facebook-post of the video of the landing (which was just AWESOME to watch in person!) I took it from my cell phone so it's only so-so quality.
https://www.facebook.com/matt.chapek.9/videos/4149652458382621
And here is the SpaceX video (courtesy of Nasa) of the launch and sucessful booster landing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm5FnJSIYkw
Happy Thanksgiving to both of you, Matt and SusieB! Such as it will be!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter has to work - so IF we get together for a dinner, which would include her SO, it will be next week. That is still up in the air, though. Her SO works from home. The vet clinic where she works is very strict with precautions, and she and I both wear masks when when I give her a ride to work (no bus service there, and Uber is very expensive), but we couldn't wear masks the entire time - so still deciding.
I will attend church virtually, and if the weather permits get out for a hike in lieu of my traditional Flying Feather 4 Miler (not happening this year).
Talking about wuss factor -- today is chilly (41F) and raining, and I have been huddling under 2 throws barely able to persuade myself to get up off the couch to do the simplest chore. Dark and rainy really kicks my energy to the curb! Hard to believe that this time last year I was running and gradually but steadily increasing my mileage. Seems longer ago than that! Sigh.
I may rouse myself to bake a little something; I've got lots of apples, and this weather also kicks up the cravings for carbs and sweets. Wish I had your metabolism, Matt!
Thanks for posting the SpaceX video - that was very cool, glad you got to see it!
SusieB, I was listening to the Catholic radio station last evening (not my religion, but I find the discussions interesting) and they had a priest on talking about the rise of Hitlerism - how he was democratically elected, then fired up the huge propaganda effort of disinformation, conspiracy accusations, and "Big Lies" until the majority of the German populace was willingly sucked into his evil swamp. He didn't bluntly come out and say it, but IMO he was clearly drawing a parallel to the RINOs that follow Trump today!
Happy Thanksgiving Matt & Rae! Seems like none of us will do what we normally would have done but that's 2020. :( For the 1st time in 15 years, I'm actually taking a vacation day for Friday. Most of my company does & I did the years I went home to the farm for Thanksgiving. I'm not going anywhere of course, but since I've taken almost no vacation this year & will lose half of it at the end of the year, I decided to take it & watch Xmas movies on TV. Hopefully, the painful back that I'm dealing with right now will finally be gone by then.
ReplyDeleteCan't remember if I've mentioned over the years that I have a bad lower back & I "twinge" it every so often. The past 10 years, it hurts a day or three & then I'm usually ok. Sometimes, it's ok by the next day. I did one of my 6am bimonthly grocery store trips last Friday & this time, I bought even more as I'm hoping not to go again for THREE weeks & not just two as I'm getting really scared. At some point when moving the heavy bags to the cart or to the car or from car into my house, I tweaked my back. I didn't think it was that bad but when sitting on my hardback chair at my kitchen table (my home "work space" later that morning, it got worse & worse until I was barely able to stand up by the afternoon. I moved over to the sofa, but even that didn't help. It was very painful all weekend & I thought it was ok Monday morning but when I sat on that chair again to work, within 2 hours, my upper thighs were getting numb which is NOT a good sign & I had to stop working. Today is better, thank goodness! Still a bit stiff but not unbearable.
Friday night I had gotten a bit panicky as I flashed back to about 19 years ago when I hurt it REALLY bad & could not move off the sofa for 10 hours & had to call an ambulance to go to hospital & eventually was put into a rehab place for a week. I was then out of work another 3 weeks recuperaitng at home. It was a HORRIBLE experience & I've been very careful with my back since so as not to repeat it. One of the things I never want to repeat is that the Fire company had to BREAK my door down to get in, so Friday night, I unlocked both locks on my door from the garage into my house. Just in case! I relocked them Saturday morning when I believed I would still be able to get up/move around.
Hopefully, you're getting a lot of riding in, Matt! And Rae, I'm with you on the lethargy AND food cravings that cold weather brings! I keep craving pot roast with roasted vegetables which I've never made just for myself because that meat cut is too expensive for one person!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the info about the radio show. If you ever get the chance to see documentaries on the rise of Hitler, you will be astounded at the PARALLELS to the last 4 years. Why this hasn't been shouted from every media site, I don't know, but hell, they wouldn't even call Trump a LIAR until about 2 weeks before the election! They kept using phrases such as "false statements" or "misleading statements". Of course, even worse than that sociopath is the elected officials of the Republican Party which have reveled themselves to be collaborating NAZIs ready to DESTROY AMERICAN DEMOCRACY to stay in power. And that almost 74 million Americans voted for that piece of shit again is something I will NEVER get over! Just look at what that asshole has done since the election! Tens of thousands more Americans have died & he GOES GOLFING! And spreads malicious LIES that hurts if not destroys faith in our eletoral process! And the GOP-NAZIs said NOTHING!
Well, at least he has FINALLY let the transition officially start. I guarantee you - SOMEBODY forced his hand to do so. He would DESTROY the government & the country to stay in power if he could.
Gotta go. Have a conf call.
Stay safe!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSusieB, I sincerely hope that your back is better! I have had only one incidence of severe low back pain - surprisingly maybe, not a work injury, but caused when I bent over to pick up my 3 year old and didn't use the good mechanics that I ALWAYS used at work! Fortunately I wasn't immobilized (I was a single parent out in San Diego with NO family to assist me!) but it really limited what I could do. I tried everything I knew to make it better, including my first visit to a chiropractor (a waste of $$ it turned out). Finally one of the MDs at work wrote a script for a muscle relaxant - 2 doses, 24 hours apart, did the trick. Ever since then I have been diligent about keeping my core strong, and weight off my stomach - until the past 8 months, that is - and no more episodes thankfully because I never want to experience that again. It was almost as painful as the spine and rib fractures I suffered a couple of years ago!
ReplyDeleteDid you see a good Christmas movie to recommend? Miracle on 34th Street (Natalie Wood edition) is my all time favorite.
And Matt, I hope that your days off have been full of good riding weather and you had a tasty T-day dinner! Ours is still up in air -- I did get my hike in, and the weather over the weekend was brilliant - but winter is here for real today, first rain then sleet and now snow. and only in the low 30s.
Hey Rae n Susie...boy, that 9 days SWOOPED BY in a blink! (it's that how time off does?) Susie, sure hope your back gets better quick...I'm been VERY LUCKY that I've never had that, tho I see from friends how bad it can be...I truly can't imagine not being able to get up (had to help my neighbor out of bed a few years back so he could go to the bathroom, then get him back in bed where his wife finally called an ambulance).
ReplyDeleteWe had really great weather over the entire break, winds almost zero to just mildly annoying...got in THREE LONG RIDES! My last (Saturday) I did a solo Solvang Century...haven't ridden that route in ages. And the 2 rides last week were 6 hour mt bike rides...gosh I had forgotten how much I love getting out there in the boonies (alone)...being 25miles from my car (and any other people) in the dirt is both terrifying and exhilarating. Saw deer, bobcats, bear tracks, and that's about it. All part of my comeback, which I think is going well.
We had a wonderful (ie LAZY) T-day...Jeannie made all the necessary stuff for just the 2 of us (and the monsters who got full on t-day diners). Then I got almost all the Christmas decorations out of the attic (we have a LOT) and got 99% of the outside stuff up...and we did the inside yesterday (Sunday), along with lots of walks with the Monsters. It was a wonderful break, and now that I'm back at work it's too short...as in I WISH I could retire now. But the market is doing well, and my 401k has come back above where it was back in March when the madness first started..in fact, things on that front are looking great!
OK..gotta scoot...sorry to hear about REAL WINTER Rae...BRRRR! You both can just keep that stuff...I'm not looking forward to real winter...
later gators!
M
Howdy, thanks for the well-wishes about my back. :) It slowly got better each day so that yesterday I was finally able to sit on my hardback chair to work at home & not be in agony. I think it was so bad this time because I had actually tweaked it a bit 2 days before at the office & re-tweaking it at the grocery store just pushed it too far. It was weird though because I didn't think I'd hurt it that bad until after I sat on that damn chair for a couple hours. I've had a special chair at work since that hospital/rehab stint & without it, I wouldn't have been able to work all these years.
ReplyDeleteI've only been watching TV Xmas movies so far, those on the 2 Hallmark channels, Lifetime & UP. Unfortunately, in their obsession to have QUANTITY, the QUALITY has suffered greatly the past 2-3 years. The new ones on Lifetime so far have been especially awful this year. And in full disclosure, I don't just watch, I write up critiques & assign a grade between 1-10. Yes, I am that weird! Anyhoo, I've NEVER given a TV Xmas movie a "10" & only ONE in the past 11 years (since I've been grading) has been a 9. Up until 2-3 years ago, most of these movies got between 5.5 - 7.5. Not any more. Now, most get between 4-6 & several this year got just a 1 or 2. There was a new movie each night on the Hallmark channel last week but I either fell asleep half-way through (not the movie's fault but mine) or I had started watching the Harry Potter marathon. It's been several years since I've seen some of the HP movies & had never seen them all in order, one after the other within a few days but thanks to SYFY & USA channel, that was able to happen. Really enjoyed it!
I'm getting VERY scared now about the virus & am thinking about having groceries delivered but the extra cost is something I find upsetting. PLEASE continue to do whatever you must to stay safe! I could not bear anything happening to ya'll! I'm just hoping I'll be able to get the vaccine in early March. I'm allergic to two drug families & have HBP, so I want to wait a bit to make sure it will be safe for me too. The only plus I have in my favor is that my blood type apparently helps.
Hey Matt - who is the guy who had a comment deleted? How did he end up here & what did he write?
Work has been the only thing that has kept me from going off the deep end. Even so, some days I feel like I'm barely hanging on. It's SO much worse right now than before & then when I read/see things on TV about the unbelievable total selfish shits that exist in this country, I almost lose it. I'm glad you're retired, Rae as I'd worry about you every damn minute. Frontline health care workers are SAINTS putting their own lives at risk every damn day for some that won't even wear a freakin mask or just stay the hell home! I think the federal govt should give all these folks $10-20K bonuses! At least! And that's still not enough to repay them.
Gotta run. Catch ya later.
Susie, the comment was one of those "foreign" trolls who find a blog somehow and post a comment that says something very odd like 'your post was very inspirational and I would invite you to blah blah blah'...I've had a few here and there (usually they are commented on a post that's anywhere from months to years old).
ReplyDeleteAgree w/ the frontline-health-care workers...they are the true heros of the pandemic. I wear a cheesy mask for about half of the day, can't even imagine wearing the full N95 AND a face-shield AND maybe goggles to HOPEFULLY save my life every day, and some long ones at that...and very few days off. Also totally agree about the pathetic "covidiots"...saw a news clip tonight and some guy was standing there at a podium saying "since when does the government get to tell us what we have to wear?" I'd be a real asshole if I were in charge...I'd have a database of these idiots, and WHEN they come to the hospital and need life-saving heroics, I'd say "sorry...you are back of the line, we are trying to save people who gave a shit and were doing the right things"...you know, the mask wasn't for YOU, it was for EVERYBODY ELSE...and being as you didn't give a shit about EVERYBODY ELSE, we don't give a shit about you". Yea...I'd be real popular. Obviously we can't do that...but I wish we could. It would be like the motorcycle rider coming into the ER after crashing and NOT wearing a helmet...there'd be no heroics for that one either...obviously there wasn't much of a brain to begin with, so why try hard to save it? If I were an insurance Company I'd bill such people for the ENTIRE bill (there would be a disclaimer of such a policy rule, and if you still choose to not wear a helmet and ride and crash, so be it, treatment is out of your own pocket).
yea...I can be a real cold basT$#%. Guess I'm so tired of stupid people. Then I think of an old "The Far Side" cartoon (by Gary Larson)...it showed God in his flowing robes with a big planet Earth ball in a cooking pan, and behind him on the shelves are jars labeled "white people", "brown people", "red people", "yellow People" "black people", (etc) and finally in his hands was a jar labeled "Jerks" and he was sprinkling them on the planet saying to himself "and just to keep things interesting".
Darn it! I just wrote a lengthy comment & it vanished when I hit "publish'! ^&*%&#$&%!
ReplyDeleteAnyhooo, The Great Christmas Light Fight will be on again on Wednesdays on ABC until Xmas. It seems the 1st show (this week) included segments that were actually filmed LAST year but didn't air then. I love seeing all the over-the-top displays no matter when they were filmed. I LOVE Xmas lights!
Can you believe Xmas is only 2 weeks away?! Doesn't "feel like Christmas" to me at all. I've realized since October that I can't go home to the farm but it's really sinking in now & making me teary. I'm TRYING to just think about next year but it's hard.
I'm hoping to get vaccinated in early March. Since I'm allergic to 2 drug "families", I want to make sure they know the shots won't kill me before I stick out my arm.
Well, I gotta run. Stay safe & I hope to get here next week to chat some more. :)
Hey Susie...I can't imagine being stuck alone for the holidays...after being stuck alone most of this year...all you can do is hang-in-there...the end is near. I'm very lucky that I have Jeannie and the babies, so honestly it's almost normal for me (tho we both still terribly miss going to my Moms house down in Yuma every year for Christmas...still so hard to hard to believe she's gone).
ReplyDeleteI think it feels very Christmass'y here...of course, I have my "Space Station" lights up (as in every time the SS goes over head they go "yep...he's back". I'm disappointed that last Sunday after getting SUPER FROSTY back up (didn't make it last year, he's a lot of work) the entire top ball (his FACE) has lights out...and I TESTED THE DAMN THINGS before I rebuilt him out in my yard last week. Now that it's up I can't do anything about it...I'd need a scaffolding (he's too tall, and the bottom bush/ball is way too big for even my 8" ladder to get me close enough to troubleshoot the bulbs). I'm hoping for a miracle (as in they come on just as suddenly as they went out...tho not holding my breath). But the rest of him is great, totally recovered him this year (that's a lot of work actually). I need to order another 100 yard roll of the white picnic-table plastic sheeting for next year...that's what I use to cover him with. That, and about 2 rolls of 2" white vinyl tape.
Anyway...the house looks great, LOTS and LOTS of light! And PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) is also saying "he's back" as my power meter spins like a top...these are NOT LED bulbs...I'd spend a ton of $ to replace all those strands with LED's. But they are the small bulbs, so much better than the lights we had as kids.
OK...gotta run...I've been off work most of last week and don't go back till Thursday (I caught a head-cold last Monday night, and as essential workers I had to call the COVID hotline my work has set up...whoever I talked to Tues am (as I was miserable with a congested head) grilled me and grilled me till they decided I had "covid symptoms" (apparently right now EVERYTHING is a covid symptom)...so they told me to "self isolate" for 10 days (I have a covid charge code for it, so I'm not even using my own vacation/sick-time). I TRIED to talk sense into the lady but here I am...and guess what? IT's AWESOME! I was only sick for about 2 days, the cold is mostly gone (the typical residual sinus sniffles is about all that's left) but I'm getting a TON of stuff done. And it wasn't only me, apparently they ended up sending home almost my entire department (just call me Typhoid Matty)...so nearly all of my group is at home last Tue-Fri AND this Mon thru Weds...insane isn't it? And to be quite clear, I'm quite sure I do NOT have covid...but hey, you never know. I'm guessing whoever that was I talked to has some vested interested in sending people home...as in "see? I protected you by sending home 20 people for the last 10 days! I'm SO WORTH IT!" (just my guess...hard to believe otherwise that we are all hanging out at home and still getting paid).
OK...bed time...need to get up and do more movie watching and home stuff...I DID get my annual Christmas cards done last week AND all dropped off at the post office yesterday...THAT was awesome! Every year it just seems so time-consuming and I barely get them mailed in time for Christmas...so this year I'm WAY ahead of the game.
OK...later gator...and Rae, hope you are doing well and staying busy!
Oh wow, and I almost forgot...how about that awesome game between Ohio State and Michigan on Saturday!!! A FREAKING TIE!!! Man, it's been over a decade since ol' Blue has been able to pull that off! (and yes, I'm being sarcastic towards my own team...technically the score is still 0-0).
ReplyDeleteRae & Susie...hope you are doing well...Susie, how was that storm that rolled thru yesterday? Were you able to go to work today (your Thursday IN THE OFFICE day)?? Rae, how has your weather been? We have been in our usual winter weather except for the lack of our winter rains (so far).
ReplyDeleteSo...for the last 10 days (starting on Tuesday the 8th) Ive been self isolating at home...yes, for possible covid. Dont get excited...basically last Tuesday morning I woke up with a head-cold. Texted my boss that I wasn't coming in, he texted me back that its fine, but I needed to call the NRO Covid Command Center and gave me the number (I work for Lockheed Martin, but our customer on my contract is the US Air Force/NRO). So I called, they opened up a case-file on me, and transferred me to a medical department (nurse) and she GRILLED ME seemingly forever (remember I have a full blown cold, my sinuses are clogged and my head is about to explode, so basicly Im the usual head-cold miserable). Finally she said I have to self-isolate due to Covid symptoms and to call back on the 16th for permission to go back to work on the 17th.
So...called back in yesterday, and lo and behold, the command center was CLOSED due to inclement weather (the storm...appears the command center is in Chantilly VA...basically the DC area). Texted THAT to my boss and told him I am fine, can I go back to work, answer was NO...have to wait for official clearance...go back to painting (Jeannie put me to work...no way she was going to stand for my lying around lazy for 10 days while she is working). So Ive been painting (I HATE PAINTING...and Id much rather be working). Got up early today and called in, and they were open...they looked at my case file and said it hasnt been 10 days and to call back tomorrow. Texted THAT to my boss...and then about an hour ago got a call back from the nurse (also back in VA somewhere I believe) and she said the guys at the command center didnt know how it works, the 10 days starts when my first symptoms (ie, headcold) appeared, which was Monday evening the 7th. SO...she grilled me again and decided I can go back to work...texted THAT to my boss and was gathering stuff to head in to work, when he called me and said to slow down there sailor...cant go back yet. I need OFFICIAL clearance...her ok was just the first step...NOW they need to go thru government red-tape to bring me back to life...will take all day at best. So Im back to painting...only 2 more doors to do (doors are the WORST to paint btw...take it off the hinges, pull the knob and any other hardware off, clean it good, Spackle any imperfections, sand and clean well again and paint the one side, flip and repeat.
So...thats been my last 9 days of joy...being in self isolation means I cant go galavanting around having fun just in case there was merit to the case (as in I was exposed). And after they sent me home, they went thru my work and decimated it...sent nearly everybody else home. So they all owe me booze or food or something, as me getting a COLD got them all 10 days off with pay (we have a Covid charge-code so we dont even have to take sick time or vacation).
hope you both are doing well...staying warm and getting SOMETHING done.
Later gators!
Sorry for all the painting (bet it looks great though!) but thankfully it was just a cold! Did anybody else in your group also feel sick? And better SAFE than sorry.
ReplyDeleteI went into the office Tuesday as they were calling for snow Wed (my regular office day). This is the ONE good thing about mostly working from home - my one day/week in the office is flexible (in that I can move it around) AND when we do get snow/sleet/ice the next 2-3 months, I won't have to take vacation time as that's what I've usually done the last 20 years. It's weird in this area (DC & suburbs) as the weather can be very different every 5 miles or so. DC got very little snow, I got about 3-4 inches by 2:30 pm but instead of the rain that was then forecast, we got sleet instead & it made the roads horrible for anyone who had to be out there. Another 10-20 miles northwest of me they got 8-10 inches before the sleet. YUCK! Luckily, it was really sunny today & much has melted off my stoop, sidewalk, & car. There's still ice on my driveway though. I'm hoping it will ALL be gone by tomorrow afternoon without me having to do anything. If this was a normal year, I would have had to take 2 days "vacation" time as I will no longer drive in that crap. Drivers around here are nuts & it does NOT matter if you have a fantastic "snow" car or are the best driver in the world, idiots on the road will plow into you! 4-wheel drive does NOT help one on ice but these bozos never seem to figure that out till they are upside down or have taken out one or more cars with them.
There were a few other colds or near-colds from what I heard (all about the same time too...wonder how/where we got exposed...we are all wearing masks and I don't recall anybody being sick at work...that's REALLY frowned upon right now...hence my 10 days at home. Pretty much ANYTHING is a Covid symptom right now...everybody's panicking. (Covid is like the Terminators from the movies...if even one of those things get in here we are all DEAD!) So yes, they are WAY being safe over sorry (and since the Gov is paying for our time at home they are much happier sending us home...if the company had to pay for it I don't think it would be working out like this).
DeleteANYWAY...painting and the doors...I forgot about the 2 small doors to the toilet rooms (tiny rooms off the bathrooms)...urgh...2 MORE DOORS! GAAAAA! (tho they do look good...the ones Ive painted I mean). Also, its not JUST the doors of course...the door frames too, and that's trim work which is also not fun (I trim without tape, so it takes longer but looks good and I don't waste a ton of time taping/untaping...and most tapes leak paint underneath anyway, and that just looks terrible.
I hear you on how weather can be so different just a few miles away. And as to snow and sleet, ugh...really do NOT miss any of that (grew up in Wyoming and Montana). Tho we didn't get sleet very often, not warm enough...but we did have a week or more every winter well below zero (I recall 20 below in Helena one winter when I was in high school...my poor car parked outside (cuz mom and dads cars got the garage of course)...if you didn't have a block heater plugged in all night it wasn't gonna start.
I vividly recall the Virginia drivers from my years back in Norfolk..get just enough snow to cover the lines on the freeway and they totally freak out, drive like 25mph on the interstate. Me being freshly out of Montana and my front-wheel drive VW Rabbit (like a tank in the snow, and that's without snow-tires) Id have the entire left lane to myself (still doing 55). But yes, there was a few who had no snow-skills who thought they could do 70 (black ice was the real leveling block..there is no amount of skill that helps when you hit that). I recall overall that VA has (had?) some of the worst drivers that Ive still ever seen (Hawaii is pretty bad). Also they just do NOT get out of the left-lane when you come up behind them...its like they are all vigilantes forcing everybody to do the stupid 55mph speed limit (55 on a 4 or more lane interstate is just stupid...left over from the oil embargo/Nixon era..some states just won't let it go!)
OK...gotta scoot (the current door is hopefully dry enough to hang and put the stuff back on, start on the next one).
And Rae, please post a quick comment if you can so we know you're ok. I WORRY so much these days when I don't hear from ya'll for more than a week. Let's all promise that we'll at least comment once/week till this nightmare is over.
ReplyDeleteI'm counting down the weeks till I hopefully can get vaccinated. March can't come soon enough! That's my target date although I haven't actually heard when we regular folks can get the shot of LIFE!
And Matt - any photos this year of all your lights? :) I fell asleep last night watching the Great Christmas Light Fight on TV but what I did see was taped last Xmas too. Still, I was furious when I awoke & realized I missed it!
Ooh, gotta scoot. Take care!
I assume we will get vaccinated just ahead of the general public (being essential workers and all)...but that's just a guess. I wouldn't expect it any sooner than sometime around March...tho with 2 mfrs putting out the vaccine Id think it would speed things up a bit.
ReplyDeleteI do have a picture of the lights (tho in all honestly they look almost exactly like last years). I will be posting my annual Christmas Card sometime next week, and the house pic will be part of that. Some people really go crazy...mine are somewhere in the realm of amateur enthusiast. OK..now I REALLY gotta scoot...have an appt w/ a Cardiologist in an hour. Later gators!
Matt! WHAT? a cardiologist, why? Hope all is well.
ReplyDeleteI am well and sorry to have you worried, SusieB! Time goes so quickly for me, I don't realize how long it has been since I checked in. Nothing too exciting happening here, need to find the source of water getting into the basement through one spot of the sill plate of the house. Workman has been trying to get here since Tuesday but it has been raining/snowing/freezing/raining so he can't check the flashing/gutters/siding etc.
I would say more but I have twice written long comments (maybe too long?) and they've disappeared when I hit post. So I will just say Merry Christmas for now, go fill the bird feeders, and try again later. Oh, Susie, have you thought about doing a Zoom with your family on Christmas? I did that with some distant relatives (my first time "meeting" them "in person") and it went very well!
Hey Rae...yeah...a cardiologist. Hopefully it's nothing. Long story short, back in Sept I put in for a 20 year term life insurance policy to replace the one I have thru my work insurance (was going to pay more and be cheaper). They sent a nurse over to my house and took blood, urine, and did an ekg. About a week later I get a call from the company (USAA, who we have our house, cars and umbrella policy with) and they said I have "Cardiac Markers" in my blood work, and the ekg was abnormal, so I'm a "High Risk" for the policy (which they then still offered me, but at 4x the price I was quoted before). So...I don't know if it's a scam to try and get more $$, or if something is there. Already seen my Dr, she thinks everything is ok, but referred me to a cardiologist anyway to make sure. First appt was just w/ his nurse, she did an ekg (normal) and said all my blood results look great (the cardio marker was some obscure test that most dr.s dont run, as you need a baseline before the value has meaning). But the cardiologist is gonna put a recorder of me for 24 hours, and run an echo on me...when is tbd. So I think everything is ok...but gotta make sure.
ReplyDeleteer, that's a "recorder ON me for 24 hours"...my big brother had it done a decade ago (his dr found his heart skips beats occasionally when he sleeps...arythmia I think he called it)...so he sees the dr. twice a year and does a treadmill stress test I think he said. I'd be interested in that too..I bet I could crush it (certainly for my age group). I am really interested in asking him if there is any reason he can come up with that would cause me to have an intermittent "reduced/supressed" heartrate...every now and then I'm on a ride and I seem to have lost the top 20 beats or so of my range...I'm trying to do the work but my heatrate won't go where it should and I feel like I'm killing myself (and yet going slower). It first started 2 years ago right after a cortisone shot in my shoulder (doubt that had anything to do w/ it...pure coincidence I think)...for a month straight I couldn't stay with even the slow folk in my Saturday group ride (normally I'm in the front third)...then out of the blue one day it was gone and I felt like superman again. Every so often I still have that happen, tho it's not quite as bad as that first time (I still ride, but obviously slower on the climbs...which is when I can tell what's happening). I know my lactic acid threshhold (155) and when things are good I can go into the 170's still when I need to...unless it's a bad day, then I can barely hit my 155, let-alone go well above it. Strange stuff...hope he has an answer for that..it's very frustrating.
ReplyDeleteOh..sheesh..senior moment...forgot I was GOING to talk about your water getting into the basement...gotta nip that (tho I feel sorry for workers outside in places NOT California...easy to forget not everbody has winter days in the 60's most of the time). I wish I knew what's going on w/ you and Susie writing comments and having them disappear when you hit save...that's odd...will have to look for support link and ask them if others are having it, what's going on...(been meaning to do it and keep forgetting). Anyway, hope your days are warmer and the worker can get in and fix the leak...have a great week!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, Matt! Are you ok? Did the recent tests put the kibosh on the insurance nurse's test? Sounds like maybe HER equipment was faulty & not 'yours'! I would have thought that someone that does all your cycling would not actually be able to DO all that cycling if there was heart issues. But I really have NO idea how these problems present themselves. Maybe your super fast metabolism threw off the equipment? :)
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for checking in Rae. :) I do worry so even more than usual. I've been meaning to write this for weeks (months?) but kept forgetting - when you wrote you've been watching all the old NCIS episodes, I laughed as the past 9 months, I've now seen ALL the NCIS New Orleans episodes AND all but last year's NCIS Los Angeles episodes too. All on various cable channels that air multiple episodes weekly. I'm now a fan of the entire NCIS, er, TV domain. Up until this year, I mostly just watched the mothership NCIS & only 1-3 episodes each year of the other two, I think because they must have aired when I watched something else. They are all very different from each other & I like them all. Although I must say I'm not thrilled that there have been so many cast changes on the N.O. show. One of the things I love about lengthy episodic TV is that you really feel "connected" to the characters & can watch how they grow & evolve.
Have you watched the other 2 series too? The LA series has the most action & the weakest connection to the Navy, probably because their characters are "agents of the Special Ops" division & not just regular NCIS agents. The N.O. series is very Navy-centric, specifically referencing the Navy personnel & base that is in that area. I especially like that these series are actually filmed in their locales unlike the original NCIS which is supposed to be based in the DC area but is really mostly filmed on LA sets & environs. I still love that series but guffaw all the time when something on air is supposed to be an area/town in this area & looks NOTHING like it.
Sunday morning, I FINALLY was able to see my all-time fave TV Xmas movie on the ION channel! It's from 2011 & is usually aired several times during the holiday season but not this year for some reason! I can't explain why I love it so much & if you watch it you may wonder, but for me, it's the best of the TV Xmas movie bunch. Great cast, great locale & sets, great Xmas decor, great chemistry between the leads, romance, an evil bitch boss to spice things up, & original background music. The only thing that drives me crazy is that the awful boss is supposed to be a super successful Boston interior designer & yet her "office" is in the back part of her bedroom in her condo! This was done for plot reasoning but it still makes me laugh-snort every time. Anyhoo, it's called A Christmas Kiss. I doubt it's your cup of tea Mat, but maybe Jeannie might like it if she likes romantic Xmas flicks. :) Oh & it has one of the things I look for in these movies which no two people will agree on the definition : it's CHRISTMASY. :)
Merry Christmas Eve to all!
ReplyDeleteI am just about to settle in with my blanket and a book, along with shrimp and cookies to nibble and a pot of tea, until the midnight service streams.
The book is one I got through my library's "let a librarian choose for you" service. Basically, you fill out a short form, list several favorite books/authors/genres, and a librarian will pull some books for you to get at curbside. They don't let you know what they've pulled in advance. I needed to do this since I have done very little reading in the past many years (I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but way back in about 2002 I had a serious infection, and that illness somehow knocked out my desire and focus for reading - before I had been a voracious reader - it is only in the past year that I have started to enjoy reading books again. I had been struggling, but I forced myself, to read the newspaper daily, even.) So, even though I told her some of my past favorite authors were Tom Clancy, James Clavell, Tony Hillerman, and Patrick O'Brien, I did mention that I had really liked the Outlander series recently (for both the romance and the historical adventure aspects equally) so all the books she pulled are romance. The first 2 were not that interesting, IMO, hoping this next one is better.
For your tests, Matt, I am hoping that you will be getting a multi-lead recorder and will actually have one of those episodes of "low power" while you have it. Try to schedule it for a day that you can do a ride. After you described that, I was glad that you are seeing a cardio, because that does sound rather like some heart problems will first show up. But it could also have nothing to do with the heart (I can think of several other causes)! so don't let me scare you. That blood test must have been a CRP, I can't think of any other that needs a baseline to be really useful. That is mostly an indicator of inflammation in the body but correlates with an increased RISK of increased cholesteral and/or heart disease.
ReplyDeleteSusieB, I will look out for that movie on the various channels that I get. I have had movies that I loved but that didn't seem nearly as popular with others, so I get it.
I have finished all of NCIS (even took the free trial of CBS All Access so I could see this season so far!). I have to say, I am hoping that having 'Ziva' return doesn't lead to the bumping of one of the other characters - I do like especially Jack Sloane. I will start watching the other two - I've only seen their "intro" episodes when they occurred on NCIS. Do you have any other series you like? I just haven't watched a lot of network TV in the past several years, and nothing from premium cable.
Wow, the temp is down to 20F already (we were at 53 yesterday afternoon!) and they've declared a level 2 snow emergency for the county. I am sure because the rain and sleet from earlier today have frozen on the roads. It looks like we've got about 1.5" of snow already. Well, at least that will make all the Christmas lights extra pretty tomorrow! Last week's snow really clung to the trees and was beautiful.
BTW the roofer did get here Tuesday and found a couple of potential sources for the leak (inadequate caulk, inadequate flashing, improper transition to a gutter), sealed them up, fingers crossed that the problem is solved!
OK, last thing - Matt, I have had arrhythmia since I was about 20 years old. Mine is "benign" PVCs, and I can tell when I'm having a lot, sometimes will feel less energy but not always. Actually documented it when I was an EKG technician working my way through university, which has proven to my MDs that I have this. But, since I have been able to be active, athletic, and no terribly troublesome symptoms, no MD has suggested that I need to investigate it further.
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