Pandemic life...lingering

This is a good article about the 40 hr/5 day a week work week. How it started, where it's going.

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/04/1043145165/four-day-work-week

I'm not that person anymore, who works 40 hrs and comes home and does a second shift, but I can sure appreciate what that means and can remember how hard that was. I can certainly remember when just one extra day off during the week, to myself, was a godsend.  And practically yesterday, I was teleworking 2 days a week and it was awesome! In SO many ways. Less commuter stress; less commuter time - an hour and a half to two hours a day; less gas in the car - = more $$ for me and cleaner air for the world!; more sleep; less $$ on lunches, shoes, clothing; better working conditions - temperature control, clean bathroom, no idle chatter from people I don't care about; AND more time with the love of my life. I mean, even though we didn't interact so much while I was busy, I was there when he wanted to ask me something or just talk to me for a minute. There's a lot to be said for teleworking and/or a shorter workweek. The pandemic brought that to light.

Along those lines, here's another good article about workers not putting up with crappy jobs anymore!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/09/30/during-great-resignation-workers-refuse-accept-unacceptable/

Also brought about by the pandemic. Interesting to think that we're being forced into less consumerism - by worker shortages and inflation. Will that last? Will it ever be the same as it was in 2019? Or will we adjust to the "new normal?"

And this is a great article about the labor shortage;

https://www.wsj.com/articles/labor-shortage-missing-workers-jobs-pay-raises-economy-11634224519

4.3 million people quit their jobs las August. There were a myriad of reasons. In general, people should be talking about this and how it's going to affect all of us. I'm hopeful.

...speaking of Facebook

 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not a newsy. But I see the headlines. I hear the news bites on the radio. Sometimes in the morning, I listen to talk radio - briefly. So I think I have the basics about the FB "whistle blower."

I agree that FB, or social media in general, is harmful to kids and a lot of adults. But most of that conversation is something different than what the whistle blower is talking about. She says, FB is dangerous....duh. She says that the FB mentality is all about the bottom line....duh, aren't all big businesses like that? Liquor is bad for minors but there are still ads on TV that would make a young person believe that in  order to be cool, you have to drink Bud Light, (or whatever). There are things I like about social media. There are things I don't. But I do believe that they should be held accountable in some way. FB is too big to be reigned in now. People can complain that ads are targeting young people. But how can FB possibly know if a 10 year didn't lie about their age? Please. I lied about my birthday. Be realistic. FB will say though, parents should pay more attention to what their kids are doing online. That's true. But even the best parents don't know everything their kids are doing online. And if you give a 10 year old a smart phone without parental controls, well....I guess everyone should be accountable?

I understand that some small changes could make a big difference though. But it would affect their revenue and bottom line. Mark Zuckerberg is the 5th richest person in the world. At the detriment of society, does he need to be? I don't believe in all censorship though. And social media is part of the global culture now. 

I guess we'll figure it out.

Social media

Were you affected by the Instagram/Facebook outage yesterday? Did you survive?!

Do you follow a lot of people/businesses on either of those? I don't have that many FB friends so it didn't really bother me too much. I sure didn't miss all the ads though! I did, however, miss my stuff on Instagram. Again, I don't have hardly any friends on Instagram but I follow a lot of quilling people, good news pages, animal/dogs pages, crafty stuff.  

Honestly, I had no idea it was so stressful to SO MANY people!! Wow. I mean, I know there are a lot of people that base their whole day on what's on social media, but really??? Holy smokes!

There should be more outages :-) Even if they're planned. You know, like when the kids were little, we had "no TV" nights. I loved those. Everyone always found other things to do. Imagine that. No, really, imagine. hahahaha

I see so much good in the internet. I also see much I don't want to see. How do you create a balance?  

Random things

Poof! Just like that it's dark when I leave for work. Rats! 

October is Friday. It's ridiculous that time is going by so fast. 

There are only 13 more Fridays until Christmas! 

It's almost flu season! LOL.

Did anyone see this story? 
https://www.wthr.com/video/news/health/twins-battling-ovarian-cancer/531-9408f172-32eb-4aa7-97ba-27eee14ea7b2

Scientist must go crazy for stories like this.

Do you love it that Dog the Bounty Hunter is on the Petito case, looking for Laundrie?! I've never watched his show but it seems like everyone in the world knows who he is. Besides being an attention whore, they say he's pretty good at what he does. Go get 'em tiger.

Oh, and how about this great story about Shaq!

https://seattlemedium.com/shaquille-oneal-dont-call-me-a-celebrity-im-a-nice-guy/

He's so awesome. And I'm not even a basketball fan! Have you ever seen Running Wild with Bear Grylls? It's kind of fun. He takes a celebrity on a 2 day wilderness journey. Shaq was on once and Bear asked him what else he would like to do. Shaq said he'd like to be a cop. He thinks he could bridge the gap between cops and civilians. He said, "Because I know how to go upstairs and have a conversation. And I know how to go downstairs and have a conversation." 

I LOVED that.

Our neighbor across the street likes to decorate for Halloween. And I mean decorate!! 

I'm not exaggerating either. She literally has thousands of dollars invested in her decorations. Last weekend, she started putting them up. This year, I already see some new things. It's so fun. This is a picture from last year after she gathered everything up to start putting it all away. It's like a family photo!! The 2nd photo is the start of this year...

It's good to have passion :-)

Aaaaand, AI is coming people. Check out "Astro" on Amazon. Holy Jetsons!!

The median home price in the U.S. is $363,300.00.

The average home price in Hawaii is $992k! In San Diego California it's $858,000.00! NYC is $745k, Miami is $515k, Charleston, SC is $422k. In Chicago it's $316k,  Omaha is $230k, Cedar Rapids, Iowa is $168k, Las Vegas is $365k, Tulsa, OK is $157k, Cincinnati is $$166k. So there is a premium to live someplace with decent weather year round. I like having seasons. Also, I like affordable living. It's a win/win for me!

9/11

On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I remember thinking, this is our generation's December 7th. I can read everything about December 7th, 1941, but I will never truly understand how that felt. I can read interviews with survivors and people who were there, but I will never really know what it was like for them. People will ask for many years to come, where were you on that Tuesday morning? What were you doing? Just like they still ask, what were you doing when you heard Kennedy had been shot. 

So, what were you doing, 20 years ago today? I was getting ready for work and I came downstairs and somebody had left the tv on. There was breaking news about an airplane that had hit the north tower of the World Trade Center. I was just getting ready to walk out the door, but I stopped. It was so weird. What? An airplane? Wow! How awful! Those poor people, omg. As they were talking about it, another plane came into view and flew right into the 2nd tower. Oh Shit. Now it's something completely different and everyone knew it. In that second, everyone knew that this was intentional. How can that be??? What??? Terrorist attacks in the US??  Two decades is a long time in the world of technology and media. Still, millions of people witnessed the second plane crashing into the south tower, live. It was a defining moment as people around the world experienced the events as they unfolded.  I still had to go to work though, I was late. I only worked a few minutes away from home. When I got there I immediately pulled up the news on my computer. It was hard to get into any website because everyone was trying to do the same thing and the internet was still pretty new for the general population. By then, Flight 77 had crashed into the Pentagon. There was complete chaos everywhere. The newscasters didn't even know what to say so they were saying anything. Flights were being grounded, ordered to land and not taking off at all. Schools were sending students home. We had a television in the breakroom at work and there were a couple dozen people in there, watching. I remember hearing everyone in the breakroom yell out when the first tower collapsed and run out to tell everyone in the building. I cried. I was just extraordinarily sad. I guess it was probably a little out of fear too. Fear of the unknown. What could happen. But mostly it was sadness. My heart was breaking for all those people left behind. Minutes later, another plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Flight 93.

Information, misinformation, opinions, facts flooded the airwaves...for days...weeks. You couldn't turn it off. It felt disrespectful to not watch. I remember after about a week, one night my stepdaughter came into our bedroom after dinner and I had the TV on, the news of course, and she said, can we just watch a movie? For just a moment, I was so angry at her! I paused. Then I realized, she's 17. There's still life out there. And I said, yes, we can watch a movie. You pick it. She chose The Sound of Music. It was perfect. After that, I tried not to have the news on all the time. The evening news was enough.

On September 20th, President George W Bush addressed the nation in what was truly the perfect speech for a country yearning for comfort. Honestly, it didn't even matter what party you were, you loved this speech;

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/attacked/transcripts/bushaddress_092001.html

We adjusted. We made compromises. We connected with other people. We grieved. We moved on.

We've never been the same though.  

 

What should we talk about?

 Hmmm...let's see...religion? Nah, that's not safe. Ummm...politics? Oh hell no! How about the weather? Oh, I guess that would have to include climate change...no thank you. TV?  It would be a short conversation, there's nothing good on. Movies? Music? I don't know, is there anything new?  COVID? Vaccinations? Masks? Science? History? Ugh. What about cooking?? Oh! I like to cook on the weekends when I can take my time. I wish I was braver with spices and herbs though. Also, I wish I could bake. I see all these fantastic desserts and bread recipes. I'm just not a very good measurer. I made rummy bears the other day! You know, gummy bears soaked in rum! Hahahahahahaha. That was fun :-) Let's see what else...pets?! I almost need a pet. I'm closer. Oh! speaking of pets...this was so funny I almost peed my pants...a very cheerful, nice woman at work stopped by my desk to say hi. Our boss walked by and said, "Hey Elaine, tell Cynthia your good news!" Elaine said, "OH! I got a dog!!!!....and I got engaged! His name is Cooper....the dog's!" She said it all with such enthusiasm too. The dog is new. I guess she's had the boyfriend for awhile. So funny.

I'll try to think of something and come back in a couple days.

Things of no consequence :-)

for more lighthearted news....

If you're a movie fan, lots of sequels headed your way!

* Top Gun: Maverick  - sequel

* The Matrix 4

* Mission Impossible 7

* Indiana Jones 5 - oh come on! He's almost 80 years old! Just stop it.

* Lethal Weapon 5 - I'm conflicted about these OLD guy movies

* Fantastic Beasts 3 

* Minions: Rise of the Guru

* Hunger Games - the prequel

* Jurassic World, Dominion - the 3rd. I totally buy into these movies

* Legally Blonde 3

* Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 - fun for the soundtracks alone! Oh, and of course, groot.

* National Treasure 3 - finally!

* Star Trek 4 - I love the new cast of this franchise. They're so perfect!

* Sing 2 - The world needs more animated singing animals for sure!!

* Knives Out - 2 and  3. I love a good mystery. The 1st one was fun but I hope the next 2 are 

   better.

* a yet to be titled Star Wars movie!

* The Lion King 2 - I LOVE the live action Disney movies

* Aladdin 2 - see above

* Avatar 2 - plus 2 more after that! I hope they aren't all 3 hours long though.

* The Meg 2 - I look forward to the summer shark movies.

* Hocus Pocus 2! - yay!!

* The Tomorrow War 2 - This is an Amazon movie. We really enjoyed it. 

   (fast forward through the battles though, they're too long)

* John Wick 4 - I think my fella will like this.

* Thor: Love and Thunder - well of course it's already my next favorite movie :-) Right after...

* Aquaman 2 - !!!! <3 <3 <3

* Doctor Strange 2

* Captain Marvel 2 - I'm a super heroes fan so all of these make me happy.

* Mad Max 5 

* Predator 5 - I didn't even know there was more than 1!!

* Texas Chainsaw Massacre - number 9 wow!

* Halloween Kills - I don't even know! The 80th one?!

   and countless other horror/slasher sequels!

Great Places?

 Did you see this list last month, from Time Magazine?

It's called, The World's Greatest Places in 2021.

Indianapolis made the list? I'm pretty sure I could've come up with a better list;

https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places-2021/

There are some cool places on the list though!

Pandemic Life 2021

Yep. Still here. Still dealing with the pandemic. Still wearing masks. Still. I never in a million years would've guessed that we would still be dealing with this, 18 months later! WTF! I mean, is it just because people didn't get vaccinated?? Would it be any better if there wasn't the Delta variant? What about the next variant that comes along, because there will be one. I think at this point, all of the new cases are the Delta variant and they are mostly young people. Well, young people (teens through 30 something) are lazy about things like that. Plus, we've been told a 1000 times at least; For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more sever illness like pneumonia, or death.

I still see that exact text at the bottom of articles, even today. What's serious about that? if you're not old? They want people to take this seriously and get vaccinated but the warning really isn't that serious, unless you're older.

The Delta variant is different though. It's affecting children. But younger than 12 can't get a vaccine. Sooooo....what do you do about that? What did you do about chicken pox or measles or mumps??? Should they require that teachers get vaccinated?

At work, you're not allowed to ask people if they've been vaccinated? That's so dumb. Are we so divided as a country?? I saw over the weekend that a radio host in Nashville died of COVID. But the headlines all made a point of saying "radio host who was a vaccine skeptic, dies of COVID," like he deserved it. I don't know who he is but it made me sick to think that we are so divided that people would think that! Holy wow!

Just when it seemed like things could get back to normal, boom. Uh huh. Lots of concerts have been canceled again. Travel is being restricted again. In some countries, they're on their 4th and 5th lockdowns. Which clearly aren't working. I mean, after the first couple lockdowns that didn't make a difference, why keep doing it??? 

Some companies now are requiring their employees to be vaccinated. Is that wrong? Should they be able to force you to get a vaccine? I hear some people say, 'are you now or have you ever been, a communist?' Is that how they feel, really?

Now, some businesses are going to require that you show proof of vaccination if you want to do something. Like Ticketmaster/Live Nation. Starting October 6th, if you want to attend a concert, you have to show proof of being vaccinated or a negative test within 72 hours. Is that wrong? Isn't that a form of discrimination? 

It seems like such a slippery slope.

So many restrictions. So many questions. Still unanswered questions. So much uncertainty, still. So much mistrust.

Americans

It's been a long time since I was in school. What are American schools teaching in American history? I learned about the 13 colonies, the revolution, slavery, the civil war and reconstruction, the 20's, the depression, WWI and II, the Alamo, Lewis and Clark, a little about the cold war, the civil rights movement.
I guess now they throw in 9/11 and more economic and environmental teachings? 

If you are a citizen of the US, that makes you an American. Isn't that right? Regardless of your race, religion, color, sex, whatever...you're still an American. Right?

I saw a story about Illinois passing an act requiring Asian American history be taught in high schools. Specifically, "the contributions of Asian Americans toward advancing civil rights from the 19th century onward. The contributions made by individual/Asian Americans in government, arts, humanities, and sciences. The contributions of Asian American communities to the the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the US."  Is that segregation? I feel like it is. Why can't it just be part of American history? I really struggle with stuff like this. Do they teach a unit just about Native Americans? Or is that just part of the history of that time? I don't remember learning about the Trail of Tears in school. I think it should be a bigger part of our history but I don't think it should be a separate thing. To date, there are no federal requirements for teaching black history in the US. Maybe it would be less divisive if we just did a better job teaching history? Why can't we stop trying to separate everybody?

If you're African American, you should have to be more specific then. Africa is BIG continent. What if your ancestors are from Libya, or Egypt? Then you can say you're African American. Technically, you can be a white African American. What about Russia? If you're heritage is Russian, doesn't that make you an Asian American? How about India or Iraq or Turkey? They're all part of Asia. My heritage is mostly European. Should I identify myself as a European American? Or maybe just a North American? If your ancestors come from Brazil, Chile, or Argentina, do you call yourself South American? Or do you just say you're an American?

Oh I guess I know the deeper answer. Asian is a racial category, not geographical. Same for African American and Latino. Race = a group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc. 

No wonder it's so hard for everyone to get along.

Drugs are bad

Did you know, last year there was a 29% increase in drug overdose deaths?! It's the equivalent of 11 deaths every hour. Holy cow! Over 93,000! That's  21,000 more deaths than the previous year.

When you think about it though, it isn't really that surprising, is it? The mental health toll of covid plus every tom dick and harry was making drugs and lots of extra $$ to spend. 

I read, "what's really driving the surge in overdoses is this increasingly poisoned drug supply. Nearly all of this increase is fentanyl contamination in some way. Heroin is contaminated. Cocaine is contaminated. Methamphetamine is contaminated." Also, "when I have extra money, I stock up on my (drug) supply."

So far, this year is probably not looking any better. 

Just another overlooked consequence of 2020.

JOY

Joy 
/joi/  noun

a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

What brings you joy? It's a good question isn't it? Other than parents/kids/spouses.

Lots and lots and LOTS  of things bring me joy;
Quilling
dogs/dog videos/animals
nature
St. Elmo's filet mignon

a compliment from a stranger
music, especially the 70's
sincere laughter
colors

the smell of cookies baking

Disney/Pixar animated movies
sparkly gel pens

a ripe tomato w/salt on it

cheese 😂

sleeping late

praise/recognition

kindness

YES! we need more joy!!! 

lazy brains

I don't know. Maybe it's just been so long now since I've had to deal with people on a daily basis that I've forgotten how lazy they are. Or maybe they're just worse now. It's giving me anxiety. Some days, a lot of anxiety. Ugh.

Like, people are still driving like they were a year ago, when there were A LOT LESS cars on the road. It's stressful and scary out there on the roads. Crazy speeding, crazy lane changes, not paying attention. Whoa!

People in general are so self absorbed! Yesterday I was in the Costco parking lot waiting to go because a woman and her cart, in the middle of the row, stopped to do something on her phone. Helllllooooo! I wanted to honk at her but felt like that would be rude. They do the same thing in the grocery store. Geez!

Nobody is thinking. Just doing. 

At work, we actually had to put a sign up in the restroom to tell people to clean up after themselves because it was such a mess all the time! Seriously. What the hell??

Everyone is just doing whatever the hell they want. I don't think it's just lazy brains though. Maybe they have lazy brains because they don't have any respect for anybody or anything. Or themselves for that matter.

Sometimes I want to give in and follow the crowd. It's so much easier if you don't give a crap. But then, in my core, I want to do the right thing. I don't want to park in the 15min spot if I know I'm going to be 1/2 an hour. I can walk the extra 200 steps from the far spot. I still put things back that I don't want, at the store. Most of the time, I still pick things up off the floor when I'm not at home. If you're not a jack(ass)hole or a bully, I'll let you in front of me, on the road. I try to pay attention to what's going on around me and be considerate. But, I still  have anxiety about people and negativity and brain laziness. sigh 

Random things....

 There's going to be an Aquaman 2 😃😃 I'm pretty happy about this.

The State Fair starts next week. Every year they have new foods to try. This year they're going to have a grilled cheese made with waffles! Uh huh. Also, frozen mocha coffee, which is really just a coffee milkshake. Oh, and Miss Piggy's Mac Daddy-mac and cheese topped with bbq pulled pork. mmmmmmm

It's almost the end of July????!!!!! Oh man! 

You should watch the daily videos on YouTube from doggydaycarefarmtrips.  Joy . every . day!

California came to visit us yesterday. There's a murky haze over most of the state - smoke from the California wildfires. Wow. 

In the parking garage at work, someone spilled glitter. Which is perplexing to begin with...but now, one whole level is sparkly. It's kind of fun.

What caused your happiest feelings? Do you know? For instance, do you remember how your first kiss made you feel? How about the first time a non-family member told you they loved you. Maybe someone just said something nice to you that made you feel happy, and it still does when you remember it. Birth of a child? The moment you fell in love. Your first 'A' on a report card. A fit of the giggles. 

Is there a famous person's death that was particularly upsetting to you? Some people cried and cried when Elvis died, or JFK. I don't really have feelings like that about the rich and famous. I will say though, it was upsetting to me when Robin Williams died. I guess because he committed suicide and my heart broke for him, to think he was in so much turmoil, mentally, that that was his only option. So, so sad.

And speaking of YouTube, there are a couple great 'world webcams' out there. You only get about 5 seconds of each webcam but it's fun to see the world in just a few minutes. 

Gay women and older black women like me. Why? 

Do you know what Hematite is? It's a common iron oxide. Kind of a charcoal color. It's pretty when it's all shined up. I have a hematite ring, that I bought at Wall Drug store in South Dakota. I wear it on my thumb so it really takes a beating! Still looks great, no scratches, doesn't make my finger turn green. I like it. 

Last - why aren't there any good comedies on TV anymore? They're all so dumb. OK, maybe there are a few that aren't geared toward high school humor. But it's hard to find a smart comedy. The writers of Frasier and MASH are long gone. There really aren't any good comedy movies either. In today's world, there should be more.

Things you probably don't know about me

I like dread locks.

    not for me, but I like the way they look.

I don't like man buns.

    Unless it's Jason Mamoa. Period

I don't like salty and sweet together.

    don't put salt on your watermelon!! ewww. and NO fruit on your salad. yuck

I'm a bird nerd.

    I know so much more about birds than you do :-)

I love events!

    even if they're not related to anything I actually like, I still like the event!

I don't like berries.

    strawberries are ok on shortcake but that's about it for me.

I love Funko Pop.
    Thank heavens I didn't discover them until late in life. I'm sure I already have too many :-)

I don't really like cake.    
    chocolate cake is yummy but I could live without it.

I don't like peanut butter
    I know...weirdo

Also, I don't really like chocolate

    except for the occasional Snickers bar

Purple is my 2nd favorite color after lime green.    

    after that, I like tie dye stuff

I've never had a same sex fantasy.    

    You'd be surprised at how many people do!!

I don't like sushi.    

    and yes, I've tried it. Same goes for oysters, goose, frog legs and snails. blech

If you really want me to do something, you have to make me promise.    

    I don't break my promises.

I could eat chips and salsa every single day.    

    just a little, but I would still want it every day.

I can't think of a single job I've had that I didn't like.    

    even the crappy retail ones.

I LOVE nature and being outside.    

    but I hate bugs, I don't like being hot, hiking sucks and camping out is not my bag. 

I love salty things so much that sometimes when I'm having a craving, I drink soy sauce.    

    I know how gross that sounds but hey, it's better than a bag of chips!!

I'm a kind person but I'm not a nice person.    

    Just ask anyone I've ever been sarcastic too!!

There are only two kinds of ice cream worth eating; Dairy Queen and Bryer's Butter Pecan    

    That's IT!

I like lima beans and liver.    

    Not together though. I don't eat either, but I like them both.