Well…got all the way to 6:55 this morning and now I’m watching the launch of the JWST that is set to go in 2 mins…slept okay last night but still feel pretty worn out even without doing much yesterday so I may take it easy today and skip the bike ride but I don’t think my guilt will allow that…I did get over 4800 miles on the bike yesterday so everything else I do will be a bonus over what the goal was for the year….okay, the launch was successful but we’ve gotten spoiled by spacex launches and all of the cameras they have on their rockets….this is all animation and nowhere near as exciting….I really do need to ease into the day today with how I feel….walking in cement again today and could go back to bed easily but I won’t…have a damn headache right now and I’m sure it’s from allergies that have been bugging me since I started working on the windows and having so much dust around here…and that will probably continue all winter as I do the remaining 10…but the rest of them are not as bad as the first two so I may get some relief….not much to do today….it’s already 43 degrees out there and I may be tempted to ride outdoors today for the last time this year…but, we’ll see if it’s going to rain…don’t want to get the bike gunked up and have to wash it again….more later….
Monthly Archives: December 2021
Still no blinds….
Well…crap, still no blinds and this is pretty darn irritating…they were supposed to be here this past Tuesday originally, then today, but they haven’t shown up so it looks like next week is the earliest I’ll have them…I really wanted to get them up by the end of the week so I can start on the last kitchen window but I guess I can put newspaper up on that one, too, and get started tomorrow…or, I could take the weekend off like I try to do…hmmm…didn’t get anything else done today…just didn’t feel like it and it’s getting late in the day so I probably won’t do anything else but make dinner…and watch a movie tonight…or the Expanse….not sure which yet….
I’m a little nervous…
Well…any of you who have been here before know me to be a science geek who still watches every rocket launch that is televised and reads a lot about things happening in science…and tomorrow, something really cool is happening at 7:24 in the morning…the James Webb space telescope is going to be launched from French Guyana and I’m a little nervous about that….The Arianne V rocket that is going to launch it has a great reliability record so getting it to space probably won’t be the problem…but there are over 300 discrete actions that have to happen to get it ready for observing and if any one doesn’t go right, we will have a 12 billion dollar lump of coal in our stockings. Since the mirror and sun shield are too big to fit on even the biggest rockets, they had to be folded into a much smaller package…and then it has to unfold itself once in space and on the way to the L2 Lagrange point a million miles away…and they are using that point since it is the point where the Earth and the sun’s gravity balance out and it takes a lot less fuel to keep in place…but that takes it so far away that if it doesn’t go right, there is no way to service it…I do have faith that NASA can make it work…I am a little nervous….
December 24th
Well…running really late this morning with waking up at 5:13 but not getting out of bed until around 8….and that last 2+ hours wasn’t good for anything…I’m tired….had an okay day yesterday and got the couch cleaned and the rugs vacuumed but no work on the house and I think I won’t do much but clean a little more today…the blinds are supposed to come today and I’ll put them up if they do and it will be good to have the newspaper off the kitchen windows and be able to see out again….I did get over 300 miles on the downstairs bike yesterday and still have a week to get another hundred miles…yeah, not going to get there but it was still a good year on the bikes…almost 5K miles and I am creeping up on 75K since I started riding…three times around the Earth is a long way and lots of calories burned….I was thinking about taking the bike outside today but I really don’t want to get it dirty with the showers we’re supposed to have out here today….it would be nice to get out one more time this year but it is just so easy to just walk downstairs….not much to do today….just going to wing it a bit with no plans other than to ride the bike here in a few minutes….but, I’m still on my first cup of coffee and need more than that….more later….
Omicron sucks…
Well…couldn’t find a political topic for today so I thought I’d talk about the latest covid variant, Omicron, and what is known about it now…the latest testing shows that 70-90% of new cases are no longer delta but omicron and shows how fast this new one spreads and that is a little scary….but, it appears that it multiplies in the airways of the nose and doesn’t shred the lungs like delta does…at least that’s what it looks like so far…but, there are almost 140 million cases predicted in the US between Jan 1 and March 1 2022….and that means that 60% of the US will have been infected with some form of covid…and the scary part is that 90% of those with omicron may not even know it and will spread it even farther and faster….one tiny little ray of light is that it appears that the hospitalization rate from omicron is 90 to 96% less than delta and the fatality rate is 97 to 99% lower…but the sheer volume of infections will still overwhelm most hospital systems in the first three months of next year….those of us that have gotten our booster shots have a really good chance of staying out of the hospital and then not having the long covid that is ravaging many in this country…it looks like my choice to stay away from my grandchildren was the right one…even though my kids are still pissed at me and aren’t talking to me anymore because I haven’t visited…oh, well….
I think I’m learning…
Well….I think I’m learning how to take it easy…all I’ve done today is ride the bike, cook the huge lunch, clean up my tools and put them into a tote that I can just move around with the work, and do the dishes…and now it’s a little before two and I think I’m done for the day…I should clean the couch and flip the cushions and I still may but right now I’m just going to sit for a minute and stare at the tv…but, I know that won’t last…I still have a topic to find for a political one this afternoon and I’m running out of time….so, I probably should get at it…okay, maybe I’m not learning…darn….
December 23rd
Well…I wonder what the heck it is with the time between 5 and 5:15 am? It seems that is the time I wake up almost every morning and today it was 5:14…I was able to go back to sleep for a little while and didn’t get out of bed until after 7 and that means I’m running late today…going to pay for not eating enough yesterday and that should be happening soon…only had two slices of rye toast and a chicken sandwich and that is only about 700 calories for the day…I am losing a little weight and I normally gain it over the winter so I guess that’s cool….I really think the window came out good the more that I look at it….it still has flaws but it looks like it belongs in a restored house and I only have 10 more to do….but I’m taking the day off from working since I have some cooking to do today and with the big ham I got yesterday…I had a brainstorm for the gravy and I’m going to add some veggie broth, bay leaves, onion, and garlic to it to pump up the flavor as the ham cooks….the last gravy was a little bland so I thought I’d try something new…..not much to do today….after the busy day yesterday, I’m going to take it a little easier…I am going to organize the tools and materials for working on the windows in one of the totes I used to move to get it off the dining room table and give me room to cook….but I have news to read and coffee to drink first….more later…
Busy, busy, busy…
Well….I wonder why I keep doing this to myself? It has been another busy day and all of my doing…did the grocery run to two stores, then to depot to get paint to do the window, then back here and put two coats on the window….and it looks pretty damn good for an 80 year old frame…then on the bike for 10 miles and now I’m finished for the day….I really like the eggshell finish of the paint I chose…it’s still an 80 year old frame though, and it will never look like new but I just have to remember that with the rest of them…you get to a point where it’s good enough and I have to realize that…can’t wait to get the blinds and get them up to see how the grey is going to look….I think it will be pretty cool….
The economy is booming…but you wouldn’t know it…
Well…you know I read a lot of news every day and you also know that I bitch about the media and how they are covering Joe Biden and the economic progress he has made in his first year…there were screaming headlines about the increase in gas prices in every damn newspaper that went on and on, but have you read a story about how gas prices have fallen over 40 cents a gallon in the past couple of weeks? Yeah, I didn’t think so….and there wasn’t going to be a christmas this year because of supply chain problems and every damn news outlet hammered at that for months and beat on Biden for being optimistic that the problems would be solved before the end of the year? Yeah, Biden was right…and as a sideline to that is that our ports are handling 20% more that any across the world while the rest of the world is flat at best….did you hear that? Nope, didn’t think so….and the latest and greatest ignored data on the economy is that GDP is growing at a 7% rate because of the bills that were passed by the dems…and that is more than twice of any country in the rest of the world and yet, Biden’s approval rating on his handling of the economy is 44% and I think it’s all because the media loves doom and gloom since it is easier to write about….but when we have the best economy in the world and there are no crisis going on, they get pissed because they have to work to get stories…I guess we need to do a better job of touting the improvements our side is responsible for…it’s sure a hell of a lot more than any repub president would have done….geez…
December 22nd
Well…darn, forgot to load up the coffee maker last night so I had to do it when I woke up before 6 this morning…I did go back to bed until a little after 7 but didn’t sleep more and that sucks….and I slept on my right shoulder again and it hurts…one of these days it would be nice to wake up without pain…sleeping is not supposed to hurt…it’s supposed to make you feel better…didn’t get much done yesterday but today is going to be a busy one….need to do the grocery run and stop at depot to pick up the paint for the window…and then paint, ride the bike, paint again, and try to find something to cook…not sure if I’ll do the ham today or just cook stuff out of the freezer…or it they will even have the ham I want at Meijers…as I’ve been bitching about lately, stores just don’t have what I need much anymore….so I may have to just buy chicken thighs and make some ham soup instead…we’ll see…and the blinds I ordered won’t be here for a couple of days so I won’t be able to put them up until Friday or Saturday….don’t think I want to work over the weekend so I won’t get started on the next window until next week..more later….