there's an idea
You know, I would bitch some more about how pandemic restrictions make it so much harder to have anything interesting to write about, since there is comparatively so little to do, except . . . to be honest, there's every chance that I'd be in the same boat on this particular day even if things were normal. I will say this: I continue to truly, truly love having my full work station at home. It makes doing my job far easier than I kind of realized. Also, it's kind of strange having this new computer setup on the south side of the bedroom that is so much larger and more elaborate than the setup of my personal computer on the north side of the room (albeit with a much smaller desk vs. a much larger desk, respectively).
Anyway. I suppose I could mention how I am genuinely terrified of President Fuckwit getting re-elected, and it seems plainly obvious that he, his administration, and his enabling Republicans on Congress are doing whatever they can to suppress the vote. This "overhaul" of the U.S. Post Office, causing greater delays, at the same time President Fuckwit is making incessant and baseless claims of voter fraud being perpetuated by vote-by-mail . . . it's scary shit. If that man remains president after this election, I genuinely do not have any idea what I will do. I will absolutely regard American democracy as over, certain details depending. (Like, say, whether Mitch McConnell is still in the Senate. Holy shit, fuck that guy.) I am now seeing plausible scenarios in which I lose all faith in American potential, in ways I never have before.
So anyway, that's uplifting, right? I'm happy with Joe Biden's pick of Kamala Harris as his running mate. Lots of progressives and liberals hate the choice but are still begrudgingly pledging to vote for Biden. My vote being begrudging applies far more to Biden himself than to Harris, who I lived from the start—although the apparently sorry state of her own presidential campaign did not exactly reflect well on her. Still, I think there are solid arguments for her as a better choice than, say, Stacey Abrams, who is a fantastic woman and a vital part of American politics but maybe not nearly as qualified to be VP as someone like Kamala Harris.
Shobhit had been gone quite a while yesterday getting the car fixed; he came back with an entirely new radiator. We only figured out last night, after going shopping at Costco and at MacPherson's Produce, that it appears the coolant container is indeed leaking as well. So that will also need to get fixed.
Shobhit had been thrilled to find black bean burger patties on sale for $5 off at Costco, so we had veggie burgers for dinner. As usual I still made mine with a Field Roast patty from PCC. We put too many layers of things on top though and although it was very tasty, it was also very messy to eat. We watched the final two episodes of Perry Mason on HBO.
Karen and I do our lunches on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month, rather than strictly every other week. This means occasionally there is a three-week break, as occurred between our last FaceTime lunch and this one we just had. I had gone to Idaho to visit Christopher and Tristen since the last time we talked. I'm also wearing my new Washington State earrings today, just so I could show them to Karen; I will again tomorrow for when Laney have our first in-person Happy Hour of the pandemic era, at Cal Anderson Park.
I've also got a bit of an infection in my right earlobe, and have for a few days. I think I cut myself or something inside the earlobe, trying to take off the silver hoop earrings when I first tried on these new earrings—or rather, trying to clasp the silver hoop ones together again. I have long worn these ones that slip inside a hole instead of clasp, as that makes them harder to accidentally pull off in the shower or something. And it takes forever to get the things closed up again, and I think I scraped inside the hole or something. I finally slept last night without any earrings in at all, and with antiseptic ointment and cream over the hole. I think it did help, and I think the swelling has gone down at least a little. I did squeeze out a little of what looked like pus last night. Yum!
It was fun being able to show her the earrings shortly after we started talking, in any case. And we both talked a lot today about the evolution of our respective home work stations—she is in the process of converting Anita's old room (she's now out of the house and living with a roommate; I cannot believe Anita is 23 years old now) into an office. She's got a lot of work left to do on it, but she has shelving up on one wall that Dave apparently just assembled this morning; two desks are along one wall; and she's soon going to grab one of her own larger monitors she has at her office location and bring that home as well.
By the time we were finished talking about and showing off our respective home work stations, there was little time left. I did tell her a little bit about the trip to Wallace, although as she noted she had already read the travelogue I had emailed out shortly after getting home. I also told her about the family vacation with Dad's side of the family scheduled for late September, and how I bowed out, and she offered an idea I really should have thought of myself: why not just take a day trip there, to be a part of it but not actually staying in the house with everyone? That's ingenious! Leavenworth is not that long of a drive from here—barely more than two hours—so it's easy day-trip material. Now the question will be whether I can convince Shobhit to go along with it, or if I will need to rent a Zipcar and just take a day by myself. We'll see, but I see this as a suitable compromise so that I can still be a part of this first "family vacation" without feeling like I'm increasing risk. As Karen noted, I can hang out with family outside, and maybe walk around the town a bit. I don't know if I have been to Leavenworth since I was there with Grandma and Grandpa McQuilkin in 1992.
[posted 1:16 pm]