Silkwood Shower

There was a film back in 1983 called Silkwood which was inspired by the life of Karen Silkwood, a "nuclear whistleblower and a labor union activist who died in a car collision while investigating alleged wrongdoing at the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant where she worked." The movie starry Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher.

In the movie, if one of the workers became radiated in their work, they were dragged (usually kicking and screaming) into a shower and scrubbed down by hard-bristled brushes by two workers in full protective gear. At least two scenes demonstrate this (both on women) and it was both humiliating and excruciatingly painful to the affected person.

Here's a scene:

After two weeks of sheltering in place, we had to go into town to pick up prescriptions and necessary supplies. This time, we wore both surgical gloves and masks made from bandanas as we negotiated our way around the stores we visited.

Once home from that long odyssey, we then wiped down everything we bought with disinfecting cloths before putting them in their various storage locations.

Then we took our Silkwood showers to rid ourselves of any traces of the virus as best as we could. I use a shower brush head anyway, so my skin is used to a brisk scrub. I can only imagine how folks with sensitive skin would react in the same circumstances.

The problem with any/all of this is we have no idea if we were sufficiently careful through any of the stages. The virus is a tricky bugger. It could be anywhere, including the bottom of our shoes. Are we tracking it in? If so, I can see scenarios where it could enter through our eyes, nose, and mouth once inside our house.

Hopefully, we have enough provisions to last us for at least three weeks. If we could get our prescriptions by mail order (see an earlier post for that nightmare), we could ride it out here even longer.

By the way, I still can't get flour anywhere. It's become quite frustrating. Soon, I'll be out of it and will have to buy store-bought bread, if I can get that.

Yours in cleanliness,

Michael

Monday Thoughts: Drug Stores, Shopping, Life

We haven't been into "town" (that is, haven't made a retail run) for two weeks today. In fact, we wouldn't be going except that I was unable to successfully shift from pickup to delivery.

My drugstore (which shall remain nameless, but it's a big chain) was supposed to reach out to my doctor to transfer my prescriptions to their online pharmacy, a separate entity from the in-store locations. After almost ten days, I found out the refills were stalled somewhere along the chain and I just gave up.

No big deal, though, they have a drive-thru.

Naturally, we'll be going to the grocery store to restock on some things we're running low on. We'll likely be going to multiple stores again because we'll not find everything we need in just one place, just like that last time.

This will be the first retail run we'll be making wearing makeshift masks. Despite the earlier assurances none would be needed (like less than a month ago), now the CDC is basically telling everyone if you're in a place with a lot of people, wear a mask. We fashioned no-sew masks from bandanas using info we found online, so I think we're good to go (we already have surgical gloves).

Never will we take for granted full shelves in grocery stores again. Nor will we be as unprepared as we were for the next pandemic, whether it's COVID-19 or it's successors, and mark my words, there will be those. We're already carving out space in our closets for our "zombie apocalypse" supplies and when life returns to normal, we'll buy the items we don't already have.

Never, never again.

I've reached out to old friends to check in with them. Some replied to assure me all is well with them, others I haven't heard back from yet. I'm trying not to worry. I'm sure you're feeling the same angst.

Yours in the midst,
Michael

Saving Doctor Fauci - A Rant

By now, everyone (even those outside of the U.S.) know who Doctor Anthony Fauci is. In case you don't, though, he is a noted American immunologist and a key figure on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Click on the link to see his entire CV.

In the daily press conferences held by the team, Fauci is often one of the key speakers, often answering reporters' questions in frank, clear, and concise terms. In addition, he's appeared on multiple TV, radio talk shows, and podcasts as well as magazine articles on- and off-line.

In short, he is truly a beacon of reality that shines past Trump's propaganda nonsense during these long sessions.

Since Fauci's arrival on the scene, he's gotten a whole lot of attention, all of it well-deserved. He's a modest man and when his praises are sung, he quickly redirects the attention to the pandemic and dealing with it.

And yet, Trump, the narcissist, has expressed in private his dismay that Fauci is stealing his (Trump's) limelight. Not only that but today on Twitter, there's a trending topic called #FireFauci. Obviously, this is a hashtag created and amplified by Russian trollbots, QAnon hacks, and malignant MAGAts in order to pressure Trump to get rid of him.

Mark my words: if Trump heeds this push, we are all up shit creek without a paddle because Fauci is the singular voice of sanity in a sea of sewage. If he goes, we all go.

So the next time you hear someone grumbling about Fauci, ask him or her why? Is it that they don't like bad news? Are they immunologists and know better than him? Are they just sick of sitting at home and blame him for their angst?

Whatever it is, ignorance needs to be attacked and destroyed before it kills us all.

Another Park, Another Sunday

I woke up with that old Doobie Brothers song in my head this morning. In case you're not familiar:

If I were inclined to interpret this, I'd say that's the way life has become for many of us. Some religious-minded people welcome Sunday as their special day to connect with God and their community. For them, being kept away from weekly services has been challenging, but fortunately, a lot of houses of worship are shifting to an online format to accommodate the demand from their respective flocks.

For the rest of us (at least those of us currently working and recent retirees), by Sunday evening, there was always a fear of dread because the next day would start a new week of stress at the office or whatever one called their workplace.

There are many (too many!) Americans furloughed right now, perhaps permanently. The new unemployment claims just got released and it's shocking to see how badly this pandemic has impacted businesses, particularly small ones. And those lucky ones who have jobs they can telecommute to (or is it from?), they're working ungodly hours to make up for the reductions in force their companies are implementing.

When every day feels like Sunday, you'd think you'd have some level of peace of mind. Generally speaking, that's how it is to be retired for many people. You do lose track of what day it is because unless you've structured your life to do so, there is no schedule you absolutely need to follow. Do as little or as much as you want, no one's looking over your shoulder.

I tend to like schedules and live by them and yet I still sometimes have to double-check what day it is. I can only imagine how younger people, especially those trying to work at home with kids, are adjusting.

Yours in waiting,
Michael

Bread, Glorious Bread

Back in the day after I divorced my first wife, I bought a bread machine. They were pretty popular and fairly new back then and being newly single, I figured I could use some enjoyment in my life. I found the smell of fresh-baked bread therapeutic and gorged myself on the stuff until work found overtook my life. Like so many people, I put it in the closet to collect dust.

When I got remarried, my new wife brought a bread machine to the marriage. I don't even remember if we used them much all the years we had them, but we finally gave them to Goodwill because they took up much-needed space.

About a year and a half ago, I got the bug to get a bread machine again. Despite the fact both my wife and I eschewed unnecessary carbs, we still bought bread at the store, so I figured I might as well make it for us.

I loved the thing from the very first use and have consistently made bread every time I was close to running out, only taking a break when we went out of town for two months last year. I have my own recipe--a mix of wheat, all-purpose, and bread flours and a couple of scoops of fiber powder for the added roughage, as it were.

Even though I'm not a baker (despite my love of cooking), I used the bread machine to bakes cakes a few times, too, but bread is my jam (no pun intended).

As it turns out, though, my wife doesn't like any other bread than sourdough, even if it's homemade. For a while, I considered buying a starter, but I didn't want to commit to the weekly feedings because if we went out of town, it would go dormant (perhaps for good) while I was gone.

Since we're in a stay-at-home mode right now, I decided it would be a good time to begin my own starter. My handy-dandy recipe book had a simple starter recipe, so I used that. Today was day 2 of the project. I have to feed it for a total of 5 days and then once a week.

I'll use this space to report on my first loaf with my starter.

Yours in yeast,
Michael

Overachieving in Pandemic-land

Okay, I admit it. I'm an overachiever, and like most of my kind, I'm a failed one at that. At least, that's what I believe in my heart of hearts.

With that confession over, this unique environment we're in--being discouraged from going out in public unless absolutely needed really provides opportunities to overachievers like me.

I already talked about my reading and writing time. No surprise, I track all that on spreadsheets and daily journals.

I haven't returned to coding since my dad passed away in August 2018. Nothing to do with his dying, per se, though that was indeed horrible. Contracting pancreatic cancer while one is in their mid-80s leads to a real cruel ending. Even though my dad was a professional programmer (a career I pursued for thirteen years until circumstances derailed me into a management position I never escaped from),

I don't have a mental block or anything. I just stopped doing it, instead devoting more time to my writing.

Same on the art front. For a time, I was creating digital abstract art like mad. I downloaded apps (mostly free) to make these pretty far-out "paintings" and had slowly developed my own style. But I stopped a year or so ago and haven't been back to it since.

Again, there's no reason. I just stopped.

I've been pretty consistent with my home workout program which supplements my gym workouts. That hasn't changed in any meaningful way in the last three years.

As I'm being bombarded with emails from Coursera and CreateLive (among others), luring me with short-term classes promising to teach me all manners of things I'd love to learn, I decided to be judicious and pick one new activity: yoga.

Now I'm already doing some yoga poses as part of my home exercise. I've also downloaded yoga apps to my iPhone, fully intending on starting a program of daily yoga. However, the price just to try the course out to see if I could stick with it prohibited me from using them.

Enter Sunsa Yoga, an iOS app that at least has beginning sessions that are free. I started out with the 16-minute yoga sessions for beginners and have enjoyed them so far. The only downside of this app is they don't have an iPad version (your tablet will run the app, it's just not in designed for the form factor of the larger screen).

So while I'm not taking up watercolors or knitting or learning Icelandic, I am doing something for my physical health...and that's all right with me.

Yours in flexibility,
Michael

Reading in Self-Isolation

Like most writers, I love to read and always have. When I was a kid, Santa or my parents or both would make sure I had stacks of books in lieu of toys, though I got plenty of those, too. Same with Easter, birthdays, and pretty much any other holiday.

I devoured books and almost always could be found with a book in my hand or the latest Hardy Boys mystery bookmarked on my nightstand. A true bibliophile.

Back in the day, Scholastic Book Club (which I note is still around) would have our teachers hand out a catalog every year--maybe before the holidays, I don't remember--and my mom and I would go through the whole thing and I would pick out the ones I wanted.

I didn't get every choice, but I got a lot of them. They would arrive in a big box, though I don't remember whether it came to the school or directly to our home via the post office. Either way, I would be awash in reading material for a few months.

So naturally, this self-isolation is working out well for us readers. On Goodreads.com, I signed up to read fifty books this year. Last year, I exceeded that by twenty-four! I read them mostly by e-reader and in audio format. The latter is perfect for me while I'm doing other mundane tasks that require little or no concentration (housecleaning, working out, food prep, for example).

The thing is I have all the time in the world to read as it is. Officially retired from the 9-to-5 grind for almost seven years, I adjusted easily to my new normal once we were able to move into our new house. That allowed me time for writing and reading to my heart's content...that is when I'm not doing some of my other hobbies.

I'm not bragging--I know the heartache working people have right now. The uncertainty of one's job when you have a family to raise or college loans to pay off sometimes seems overwhelming. I know if I was still working, I'd be sweating out this pandemic for more reasons than running out of toilet paper.

What I'm saying is if you're at home anyway and you're not working, why not pick up a book? I'm not even suggesting reading mine (though that would be nice 😆), but I think reading is good for the brain, if not as an escape, then as another source of knowledge.

Yours in the word,
Michael