Category: COVID-19

  • The snake finally bit me

    Frustratingly for me, and for everyone in my house, I got COVID this week. Monday evening I started to have a scratchy throat. Tuesday I had a runny nose, sneezing, sinus pressure, and headache. Wednesday the headache was worse, I was moderately fatigued, I felt some chest congestion, and I coughed a little here and…

  • This is probably my last COVID-19 message

    Since the pandemic started, I’ve written occasional bonus posts about my experience. This is the 61st. At first, I wrote frequently, at least twice a month. But since last fall the pace has slowed considerably. There just hasn’t been much new to say. Recent mask guidance from the CDC suggest that 70 percent of Americans…

  • Losing my voice during the pandemic

    Since the pandemic began I’ve worked from home the vast majority of the time. I normally drive about 20,000 miles a year, but in the last two years I’ve put only about 3,000 miles on my car. I’m a car singer. When I’m driving, I’ve got my music on and I sing along. I can…

  • Weekend update

    I was sad that more people didn’t come to Rana’s memorial service, which was last Saturday. I know she touched far more lives than those who attended. I was pleased that my brother came, and my old friend Michael and his wife. I was blown away that the woman who runs HR at my company…

  • A lousy holiday season

    Christmas Day was nice, but then overnight Christmas night our younger daughter had a diabetic emergency and had to be rushed to the hospital, where she spent two days recovering. And then on the day after Christmas our son’s girlfriend came over for a couple hours. Monday our son texted us the bad news: she…

  • I’m boosted

    I got my booster shot of the Moderna vaccine yesterday. There’s so little demand for the booster here that I was able to schedule it at will at the CVS Pharmacy within walking distance of my house. When I got the initial two doses, demand was so high that in order for me to wait…

  • single frame: Harry & Izzy’s

    Facade of an Indianapolis steakhouse.

  • Trusting my vaccination

    I hardly know whether to bother wearing a mask anymore. The places I go, no less than half of people aren’t wearing theirs. Last time I went grocery shopping, my estimate is that four out of five bared their faces. I know that the point of wearing the mask is for me not to spread…

  • What I lack in smarts I make up for in luck

    Some …pauses in my caution during the pandemic.

  • American disunity at a critical time

    Thoughts on American unity amid the Delta spike.

  • Trending the wrong way

    A new spike in cases and no response from the government.

  • Returning to the world

    I’m starting to attend church and go to work again, a little.