Day 3-Biden said the pandemic is over
Hiked to the Whitney Canyon Waterfall today…no water, though, this late in the year…
Two days ago, Biden, in a 60-Minute interview, said “The pandemic is over.”
Dr. Kimberly Shriner, Infectious Disease Specialist at Huntington Hospital, says the pandemic is definitely NOT over. Stating that there are still millions of Covid cases every day [where? who?], Dr. Shriner echoes the CDC and other media sources when she throws out that strange stat: “400 patients are dying every day”, during the interview. I say again, really? Who are these 400 people? I can’t find the source of this statistic anywhere, but the “400 people” comment is bandied about constantly.
A couple days ago, an LA Times headline screamed Covid is still killing hundreds a day even as society is moving on. Hundreds a day? Is this a global statistic? Nobody knows…
I’ve heard this next statement as well from various sources on the left: “Losing 200 to 300 people a day to Covid is like an airline crashing every day.” What a strange analogy…equating Covid deaths with plane crashes. How many flights do you know that routinely carry upwards of 300 “souls”…? And airlines DON’T crash every day, or even every year for that matter.
Approximately 30,000 people die from the flu each year. Have you ever heard a physician say: “This is similar to an airline crashing every three days?” Approximately 42,000 women die from breast cancer every year. So that’s the equivalent of an airline crashing…uh, how many days?…who gives a f—k?
9/20/22. Tuesday
7:00-7:15-The alarm goes off and the dog starts licking my face but I stay in bed for the next 15 minutes.
7:15-7:30-Finally, we go downstairs and outside so she can go potty. Cheese for her; coffee for me. I go upstairs.
7:30-8:30-Running very late today. Even so, I sit in the shower and ice my eyes. Unfortunately, there is no time to wash my hair. Lotion and I dress in Athletic Housewife attire.
8:30-8:50-I leave for my hiking group, eat overnight oats on the way, and put my makeup on in the car.
8:50-10:15-We’re at Whitney Canyon today. I’m a few minutes late, but the group hasn’t left yet so it worked out. Sarah is here, but Robin is not so Sarah leads the pack alone. It’s impressive how fast she walks. To watch her, it appears that this is a casual stride, but she is, in fact, moving and never out of breath. I’m always a few paces behind her, but today one of the hills was quite the struggle. Some asshole in our group is blasting his music while we’re hiking. It’s distracting and irritating…get a bluetooth, jerk.
-Towards the end of the hike, I’m actually able to walk with Sarah and we have a conversation. I discover that she is also from the Antelope Valley; in fact, she was born there. Recall in previous posts I mentioned that Sarah is a financial consultant. We spoke briefly about my CalSTRS Cash Balance fiasco a couple months ago so I catch her up on how that’s going.
During this discussion, I mention that I’m a member of the “planning community”, by which I mean I’m interested in maximizing my productivity via time blocking (‘planning”) my days and other life hacks - it’s a hobby of mine. Sarah says she wants to talk about that further and confides that she is trying to scale back her financial consulting business. When I ask if it’s because she’s maxed out on the number of clients she can add, Sarah responds, “Not at all. I just really don’t want to do anything.” Sarah goes onto say that when she’s supposed to be working, she routinely sits in her office, scrolling on social media, and can’t get motivated.
I confide that I, too, don’t want to do anything work related and block a ton of “white space” into my day…but this is a lie. In fact, I’m shocked that this 30-something-year-old has such limited ambition or drive. Sure, sometimes I feel like that, but I’m 52! I introduce the book, The Four Tendencies, by Gretchen Rubin, and name each tendency, giving a brief description. I gently suggest that Sarah might fall under the “Obliger” category, which means that having a work accountability partner might be helpful for her.
In fact, Sarah relays that she does have an accountability partner but they don’t set goals with the intention of meeting to see if each of them achieved those goals; it sounds like they just talk. I casually [I do NOT want to lecture anyone] suggest that each tell the other ten things they want to accomplish for the week and report their progress to each other next week. Sarah says, “What about five?” [LOL!] I replied that I was just being ambitious and the productivity rule is three priority items per day. I don’t add that she should be able to complete 10 tasks in a week. OMG!
Sarah mentions that most of the time she just wants to lie on the couch and watch TV. I said that this mindset applies to most of us and give her a line directly from Laura Vanderkam’s Off the Clock: “Present Self” always wants to lie on the couch and stream Netflix or Hulu. It’s really “Future Self” that appreciates and schedules “effortful” activities while “Past Self” enjoys the memories.“ To show empathy and understanding, I tell her I feel the same way, but this is also a lie. I rarely watch TV and when I was her age I didn’t feel like this at all. How on earth is she able to maintain her business?
Sarah mentions that she moved from San Deigo to her parents’ house after Covid hit and recently moved into her parents’ Santa Clarita rental. The previous tenant moved, so Sarah’s parents reduced the rent for Sarah to the exact amount she was paying in San Diego. As a financial consultant, Sarah is already thinking about getting a roommate and charging that roommate the full rent that Sarah is currently paying at which point, Sarah tells me maybe she can get a dog walking business going. OMG!
I mention “time tracking” [different from “time blocking”] and Sarah says she’s tracked her time for approximately three days before ultimately giving up because she doesn’t like seeing how many hours she was mindlessly scrolling on her phone. I gently tell her that this is kind of the point…if we’re intentionally tracking our time, we tend to be more productive because a written log of the mindless activities we engage in is embarrassing, even if nobody else is reading our logs…our wasted time is embarrassing to ourselves. Sarah agrees that she was more productive on the few days she decided to track her time.
After talking about “Obliger tendencies”, Sarah notes that she is planning to meet with her nephew on Fridays, before school starts for him, so she can hike twice a week. I explain that most Obligers need “outer accountability” meaning that you are more likely to complete said activity if you’re accountable to another person; it’s a great workaround. Sarah says she’s interested in The Four Tendencies, but wants to find a TED-talk instead. It sounds like she can’t be bothered to read the book. OMG!
Spoiler Alert: I’m not a therapist so it never occurs to me that Sarah is suffering from depression. I provided band-aid solutions when her situation was probably at critical mass. I learn, much later, the catalyst for Sarah’s depression…you will, too, over the coming weeks. It is a huge regret of mine that I didn’t do more for her…you’ll see.
10:45-11:15- Home and I tidy my room and clean my toilet.
11:15-2:30-B. arrives with patio coffee and donuts and we talk politics. He tells me about yesterday’s visit to The Academy Museum and I eat a chocolate donut.
2:30-4:15-B. leaves with intentions of coming back at 4:00 pm. I text four students who completed their homework assignments, inform them that they earned a gold star today [5 extra credit points], and remind them that new course content posted for the week.
I email the “Einstein” high school liaison and note that I’m concerned about Jazzy. I emailed Jazzy at her College No. 2 and Canvas email accounts and also texted, then called; her number was disconnected and she is not on Canvas. I can’t reach her. The liaison emails back that Jazzy contacted her and said she is unable to log onto Canvas. The liaison wants to know why so many students are having issues logging onto Canvas and emails M., the head of Dual Enrollment about this. It’s obvious that the liaison is pissed about this…but so am I. This Canvas delay for my highschoolers is ridiculous and it’s all due to the fact that Admissions staff keys them in last at the beginning of each semester…these kids should be keyed in FIRST! I report to the liaison and M. the names of the six students who now, finally, have access to Canvas, adding that only Karina and Isabel are left.
In an email yesterday, M. gives me shit, in front of everyone on the thread, for giving the students the contact info for College No. 2’s Canvas Help Desk instead of the contact info for Dual Enrollment. Seriously? It’s called the Canvas Help Desk for a reason! As a result, I was forced to eat s—t and apologize to the students for giving them the wrong contact information, even though all but two successfully logged onto Canvas so the information I provided wasn’t that wrong, was it? I tell the students to contact Dual Enrollment from this point forward for all Canvas-related problems, or ANY issues for that matter. That was yesterday.
TODAY, however, I report to all parties involved on the same email thread, which includes M., that Karina told me she DID leave a message with Dual Enrollment, but nobody bothered to return her call…thereby redeeming myself. In other words, I did what you told me to do, M., and your advice was worthless because your OWN Department never contacted the student. Karina would have been more successful contacting the Canvas Help Desk, per my instructions, like my other six students did.
Reading my email, M. is on it, telling everyone and their mother that she just now called Karina, but “Karina never picked up!”, blaming Karina for her unavailability, which is totally unfair. Uh, yeah, she didn’t pick up because she’s in high school right now. Then, M. tells the thread to have Karina Zoom in at 4:00 pm, IN TEN MINUTES, for assistance. Uh, M. is giving Karina just TEN MINUTES to contact her when M. has no idea of Karina’s schedule! I wouldn’t treat an adult this way and I certainly won’t treat a high school student this way. We need to be respectful of Karina’s time the same way we would be respectful of a colleague’s time.
I text Karina and ask her if she can contact M., via Zoom, in the next ten minutes. I’m doubtful this will happen. At 4:15, M. emails everyone on the thread, complaining that Karina is a no show. No shit. With 10 minutes notification? Of course she’s a no show.
Listen people - I need this class to run. My car needs new struts and brakes and my Home Warranty is up for renewal ($740). Also there are only EIGHT kids in this class which is absolutely unheard of. God, this is stressful - the class is “this close” to cancellation. Trying to get these students to log in to Canvas and start doing their assignments is like herding cats.
Spoiler Alert: Around 7:00 pm, Karina texts me that she was unable to Zoom in with M. at 4:00 because she had volleyball practice. Of course she did.
I have some time before B. returns so I pick up dog poop, then water the plants, the AstroTurf, and everything on the left side of the yard before he arrives.
4:00-10:30-B. returns and we watch The Anthrax Attacks - Part I and II and Worlds Worst Roommate. B. orders a medium pizza from Guidos and the delivery charge is $7.00. I have two pieces of sausage pizza.
10:30-11:00-B. leaves and I finish watering the right side of the yard, then take the dog out. I have a few bites of a dark chocolate bar. I packed my lunch bag on Monday so all I need to do is ready my coffee. I schedule, then print, a ticket for 11:30 am, at the Getty Center tomorrow.
I’m very upset with myself. I did virtually nothing all day when I had several things I needed to do. I’m also very behind with my workouts. In other words, I’m no better than Sarah…
11:00-12:00-I take off my makeup. Sunless tanning. I sit on my bed, for just a minute, and wake up 90 minutes later.
1:30-2:00-I put my pajamas on and go to bed.