Plague 2021 #13 September

[geowench]

Whoops, I did not mean to let more than a month go by between posts.  But the world seems to be getting progressively more and more grim.  There are two large COVID tents erected outside the ER at the Backwater hospital.  Last time I looked, OK was 5th in the nation for COVID deaths.  Many cases at the university including my work and E's students.  I'm still coughing from that "sinus infection" over a month ago.

I did actually have an adventure last weekend though.  Back when we thought we'd have whole summer of COVID lull, my best friend SO and I planned a long weekend in Santa Fe.  Since we are both double vaxxed and careful, and we had a private AirBnB, we went ahead with it. She flew into the Amarillo airport, which is almost exactly halfway between my house and Santa Fe.  So I picked her up Thursday afternoon and we arrived in Santa Fe that evening.  We had a super cute 2 bdrm AirBnB complete with a private patio and hot tub.  We went to the Georgia O'Keefe museum, but other than that, we mostly stayed in.  She is an energy healer and did a couple of energy session on me.  I don't know if I actually believe in it ... but I do feel better when works on me, even if it's just having somebody love me enough to take the time to try and help me.  It was a pretty short visit - 2 days of travel and so only 2 full days actually in SF.  Still we hadn't seen each other since 2018, and usually we make a point of getting together every year.  It was so long because 2019 was Prague, and well, you know the rest!

So we have a new boss lady at work.  She seems to want me to like her, which I find ... odd.  Our first team meeting is tomorrow, and we'll see how that goes.  I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but ... well I'm thinking more and more that I need to get off my fanny and start the job hunting process.

Comments

[mrs_redboots]

Here, the pandemic is by no means over, but has decreased in severity. People are still catching it in droves, but as most people over the age of 18 have been vaccinated, severe cases are rare, and the death rate remains - well, acceptable is the wrong word, but no worse than a bad flu year. Looking at today's statistics, we have over a million active cases, of which only a thousand are serious or critical. I bet that, of those thousand, 999 are unvaccinated! So people are beginning to resume normal lives again; I'm still very anxious about going into crowded places where people won't be masked, but many people do! We still have to wear face coverings on public transport, and it's strongly encouraged in shops and other enclosed spaces, and a majority of people do wear them. We are also supposed to test twice a week, although I don't think all that many people do that - I do once a week, and my husband does when I get cross with him, but he mostly says that if I test negative, he will, too. It feels as though there is light at the end of the tunnel.
P.S. According to the current figures, Oklahoma is 25th in the list of deaths, with 8K compared to California at the top with 67k.

[geowench]

yes, but that's per population - we're a pretty low population state, 28th, I think. But I looked up cases per capita and we're currently at around 12, which is not a surprise given that our genius of a governor signed a law disallowing mask mandates or any covid precautions.

[old_black]

From someone who's still in lockdown, I'm envious of your opportunity for a couple of days away, feeling the love of your friend.

Not envious of the new boss situation though. I had a great boss, and then she retired. The new boss wants to look after my wellbeing, have virtual (Zoom) get-togethers of the department staff and is excited about management giving all staff a couple of days off 'for all our hard work during the pandemic' while at the same time retrenching people to save money. Good luck with job hunting!

[geowench]

Believe it or not, I'm jealous of your lockdown ... our genius governor signed a law disallowing any mask mandates or other precautions. Sometimes I think they actually want to thin the population ...

[fineplan]

Santa Fe! You were just a hop, skip, and a jump away! ;) I do love New Mexico, though I've mostly been in the small quirky towns (Roswell, Tucumcari) or camping out in the middle of nowhere (Chaco, White Sands... well, there is a town near White Sands). I keep wanting to go back.

I do my big trip next month for a conference... I'm super nervous to be getting on a plane for the first time since pre-pandemic.

It's bad that your boss wants you to like her?