where there's smoke there's burgers
At Shobhit's request, I made veggie burgers for dinner last night. He has taken to liking his as open-faced, with a Costco black bean burger patty on each side. Essentially it's two burgers, just with no top bun on either one. Shobhit texted my while busing home from work (he's avoiding driving the car again because the engine light is on and he doesn't want to push it until he can get it into the shop again, now set for Tuesday) to ask if I had made them; I texted back a photo of the plate all finished. He texted again that he might fry up two eggs to top them with. So, I just went ahead and fried two eggs and then texted him another photo, now showing the eggs on each side. I'm such a good husband!
I made mine a standard burger with the last of my Field Roast veggie patties, as always.
I had watched part of an episode of Muppets Now on Disney+, which I still haven't finished. I got interrupted by a call from Dad, to briefly discuss our planned bike ride on the 19th. We had not spoken of it in so long, I actually wasn't even certain that was still happening, especially considering the "Family Vacation" in Leavenworth on the 29th had gotten all planned and settled in the meantime. But, Dad was just calling to say he would only want to cancel if the air quality was bad. I suspect the air will be much better by then, though, and so I discussed it with Shobhit this morning: assuming the car is running as normal again by then, since he starts work that day at 8:00 and I would need to leave by then anyway to meet Dad in Chehalis (the location of our planned bike ride) at 10:00. I figure I can just drive him to work and then drive down to meet Dad. So, I won't have to reserve a Zipcar for the day.
The 29th might still be another story. Shobhit is still telling me he doesn't think I should go. (I think whether even he will join me is up in the air, and may be dictated by whether he has a work shift that day, among other things.) I reminded him that I said about a month ago that I would not go if transmission rates were rising, but would go if they were lowering—and they have been lowering for more than a month. Shobhit countered that there are expected transmission spikes after Labor Day weekend. We'll see. I haven't changed my behavior in any way in the meantime and I have no intention of spending any time indoors with family on the 29th anyway, so those points are close to moot in my opinion.
Shobhit then also brought up the wildfires in Eastern Washington. I had not thought about that, and am not sure how much the rest of the family has either. Now, a lot can change in the next two and a half weeks, so we'll see. But if the area is glutted with smoke, that alone will indeed keep it from being worth it. It's the same deal as with the bike ride, although at least I'm still in Western Washington for the bike ride.
Anyway after he got home from work last night, we watched last Sunday's episode of Lovecraft Country—a little too Indiana Jones-y—and then two episodes of the first season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
And, now I just finished the Zoom Friday Office Lunch Meetup #6! This was the shortest one we've done to date, but honestly it was still long enough: it lasted roughly 45 minutes instead of the usual full hour. Most of us either had lots of work to do today (like me) or had other commitments to get to. David S, for instance, the Meat Merchandiser, joined us for the first time this week, but he hopped on shortly after noon, and then had to switch to another meeting at 12:30.
Otherwise, we had the usual suspects: Brent (the host), Rebecca, Zaira (the receptionist), Teresa and myself. A total of six this week, which is kind of averaging out as the standard, just with slightly different people week after week. Brent and Rebecca and I remain the only ones who have joined the meetup every single week without missing any.
We spent several minutes at the start of the call talking about the terrible air quality right now. At the start of the week the forecast had been for the smoke to clear by Friday. But, as of today, it's getting worse today, thanks to winds bringing up smoke from Oregon and Northern California, with the air declared "Unhealthy" today; "Very Unhealthy" tomorrow; back to "Unhealthy" Sunday and Monday; and only back down to "Moderate" on Tuesday and Wednesday next week—when we only have "a chance" of some rain. I mean, shit. Any precipitation at all would be seriously welcome at this point.
Laney and I had planned to have our outdoor Happy Hour at Volunteer Park after work today, but that is clearly not happening. Laney just emailed me to suggest a Skype Happy Hour tonight and then meet at the park next week on Friday, and I love that idea! So as soon as I post this I need to get back to her.
[posted 12:54 pm]