Well this strange year just got stranger...

I had a bit of a cough on Wednesday, they noticed it in our Toastmasters meeting. Then on Thursday I was running a fever. So on Friday morning (the first available slot) I walked three miles in the rain to the East Brighton Park testing centre, a big white tent with lights and a few tables. When I got there, the girl in front of me had forgotten her ID and was sent home, so I was the only “customer” at the centre and was sent right in. A nurse brought me to a table with a mirror and a kit. Asked me to swab my tonsils for ten seconds with the Q-tip from the kit, making sure not to touch my tongue. That’s harder then it sounds and it took me a couple of tries. Then I had to spin it in my nostril for fifteen seconds. When I sneezed another nurse joked “that’s how we know you did it correctly.” 28 hours later they texted me my results… POSITIVE. A week after the vaccine is released and almost nine months of mask wearing self isolating caution, I’ve got COVID. Can’t fucking believe it.

Luckily we are both feeling ok. If I didn’t have the test results I’d think it was just a cold. The worst part will be the contact tracing. I’ve checked my card statements and found twelve businesses I need to put on the tracing form. Hopefully Martin, the young artist we almost purchased a poster from on the sea shore Thursday, won’t be too put off.

So now the wife and I have to quarantine for 10 days. That means cancelling Christmas Eve dinner reservations. That means no going out shopping for more presents. That means Jennifer couldn’t work yesterday, and can’t work tomorrow or on Boxing day. Perfect fucking ending to a perfectly fucked year.

2020

The president of the United States just admitted on television (weird but ballsy) to telling his Attorney General to arrest (which is normally unacceptable) his political opponent (third world politics right there) just a few weeks before an election (no one has ever been ok with something like this in America) that he is badly loosing (this is an act of desperation) .

- commentary by Captain Obvious

I'm trying to focus on creating a SQL statement that will distribute a company cost center across multiple customer transactions that occur within its date window... But what had me sucking down an entire bottle of wine and tearing through ten cookies last night were the bat shit crazy comments from our President last Thursday. Having a hard time letting it go.

Maybe this post will help.

It was one month ago today at 5p on a full moon friday the 13th, that England shut down.


Jesus, it's only been a month. Feels like it's been a year.

A few days ago Prince Charles tested positive for COVID, today PM Boris Jonnson  tested positive and he's showing symptoms. I told Jennifer my worry is that we both get seriously sick at the same time. I know the risk is low, but I keep going back to a poker tournament I played a few weeks ago. I went all-in with a bad hand, there was only one card in the deck that could save me, only a 3% chance of getting that card... and on the river my card came up. Just dumb luck.

Last night I walked into the bedroom to tell Jennifer US is Number 1... total number of covid cases. I know that in a few days we'll see the rationing at hospitals that Italy faced, and a few days after that we'll be Number 1 for another scarier, more morbid metric. I don't feel any reassurance that we are over here in England, it spreads just as easily through the British. A few minutes after my little announcement, all of England clapped in support of their NHS workers... we clapped for hope.

I just read an OpEd from Scott Kelly with his isolation tips from a year in space. He suggested keeping a journal... so here I am. 

Friday the 13th was Rakuten's first day of work from home, and my last visit to The Crescent. I'm not "stir crazy" yet; I think my years working from home in Denver have prepared me and the second bedroom is super helpful. The zoom meetings have been nice too. Tried a first with the fam on Thursday and it went so well that mom wants to make it a weekly thing. 

I've been listening to podcasts blaring that we are panicking, that it's not worth destroying our economy to save a few lives from the flu. I can understand their feeling now that Jennifer's job has been put on hold and Steve lost his last Wednesday. But then I look at the numbers in Italy and NYC and I'm back firmly on the side of: shutdown now, figure out the economy later.