Virus Blog

10/17/20

And on the seventh day. I leave the house. My life doesn't take me further than I can walk from my home for six days a week. Today was a day of escape. I found myself running errands some that didn't really need doing, just so I could get out of the house. Eve likes it too! The guy that cut my hair was complaining about how difficult the pandemic has been when you share a studio apartment...uh, yes! Oh my god, my house feels small I can't imagine what living in the same room 24x7 would be like.

Internet. The cable that runs into our house carries both television and internet. It certainly works but it's been working less good. I finally had it and called to complain convinced it was them and not me. They asked me to do all the ridiculous stuff that has no ability to fix anything...and it didn't. The guy on the phone from the Philippines made it quite clear that it was my modem. I couldn't understand how it could work 98% of the time but still it was my modem that was the problem. "It's your fault" I screamed into the phone. He insisted on running tests and he insisted on sending a technician. I said ok. I met him outside fully masked and was desperate to tell him my story about 98% perfect and that it was the 2% that I took issue with. Like a detective he started at the connection from the street and slowly worked his way back to the modem. It wasn't the modem. It was the cable. The cable is the weakest link in every case. Write that down. There is a level of crispness now to the internet. I'm feeling as peppy as my new and improved connection. I'm ready for another hard lock down.

10/18/20

Light Into Darkness. The days are always getting longer or shorter but our awareness of these changes is more milestone driven. When you sleep longer than the sun it's a good indication that we are just over 60 days away from the shortest day of the year. And with less light typically comes more despair. I bought an "extra" 15 pound bag of rice yesterday as if instinctually I knew that winter was coming even if no true hibernation is in my future. The mornings were cool, the afternoons warm. The new case counts are on the rise and it certainly feels like we will climb to new heights on the daily case count (below). California is in remarkably good shape. The positivity rate is 2.5% (North Dakota's positivity rate is 38%). With the exception of Wisconsin most of the states seeing the most problems are the same states that lean away from mask use. The differences are stark.

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