Scheduled my Booster/Flu shots for the 29th. Omicron isn't surging in SF but it will soon enough.

The good thing is masks have become totally normalized in San Francisco and Proof of Vax is required anywhere you might take your mask off. I'm wondering how long before they require the boosters to be considered Fully Vaxxed. Probably in January.

We've got Emmett, EM and my MiL coming to Xmas this year. Fingers crossed everybody stays uninfected this week.

I would like One Adulting Credit, please. I did the onerous task of transferring my son's phone over to my plan, AND retain his phone number. As he was coming from an AT&T Business account (with his mother's company) this involved a truly boggling series of extremely long numbers that I had to transcribe (IMEI, SIM Card number, Business EIN...) correctly whilst dealing with the online customer rep chat. I had been avoiding it but managed to line up all the necessary numbers onto one document before I started the process and [knock wood] it should go through today.

Have most but not all of my shopping and wrapping done and now shifting into meal planning mode for the holiday, though EM will do most of the Xmas eve cooking.

Filled with vague sense of unease as we head into Solstice. What fresh hell awaits in 2022? I'm getting flinchy.

Gold stars for the adulting, Hec.

I'm more concerned about the virus than I have been to date. I haven't been out and about except for medical stuff and that is all masked and vaccinated. I only do grocery curbside. DH on the other hand has basketball practice or games almost daily. He did say yesterday he is going to keep some distance from me until after my surgery to be on the safer side. We are both boosted. Florida of course is a Spike zone most likely due to a combo of an idiot governor and so many tourists and snowbirds this time of year.

On the good side, I was wrong about the showing times and they are 2:30 and 3:30 when I thought it was 1:30. So a bit more time for prep. The 2:30 dude has an avid water skiing son and I live on the most popular skiing lake around here. The realtor is very good about vetting potentials and says he is very qualified.

Mask frames have made my life so much easier in terms of claustrophobia. I would have had a really hard time wearing them for hours otherwise.

I'm very fortunate to live where so many people are looking and so little is available

Yes! Around here, you'd be in the same nice boat (heh, because boat). And now with an extra hour. Sweet!

Who Zoomed with Nilly, yesterday? How is she doing?

Steph, how is Tim's dad? How are you two?

Hec, you get THREE adulting credits: one for the task, one for doing it for Emmett, and one for doing it this particular week.

Filled with vague sense of unease as we head into Solstice. What fresh hell awaits in 2022? I'm getting flinchy.

You know how you jazz up or transform leftovers into a new dish? So far, 2022's fresh hell looks like that, but the GOP could take back the House come November.

This reminds me, I need to find an attorney in Canada, so my mother can claim her citizenship. We looked at the forms and she qualifies (both her parents were Canadian citizens when she was born here), but it's complicated by the Halifax explosion of 1917, because at least my Nana's birth certificate went boom.

I don't know how to find an attorney in Canada.

Cindy - feel free to blame me for your desire for a hammer dulcimer. They're lovely. I was once in an old factory converted to shops and, in an atrium, they had a bunch of hammer dulcimer players all playing in unison. Incredible effect.

Oh that must have been great, Toddson.

Congrats on you bonus! You didn't ask, but I'll just mention my son got his Pfizer booster and flu shot on the same day (cc: Hec), and was none the worse for the wear. Good luck with yours.

Laura, good luck with the house. Every time I look around this place and realize how much I'd love to have a dumpster and maybe some footmen for a week.

Hec, here is your adulting badge!

My daughter was exposed to Covid on the bus today and had to be picked up so she can quarantine, wheeeeee. I'm waiting for a call back from the school nurse to clarify the quarantine rules (I thought fully vaxxed kids did NOT have to quarantine) but OTOH maybe it's best that she just stay home all week because Omicron?

Steph, how is Tim's dad? How are you two?

Tim visited him yesterday, and he's not in any pain from the surgery, which is great, because bedsores happen in places where recovery might be painful (trying to not sit on an area, etc). His white blood cell count is sky high -- the nurse said when he was admitted, she had never seen a WBC count that high (like 46,000, and normal is between 5,000 and 7,000) (I kind of can't believe he didn't develop sepsis). It's slowly coming down, though -- last night it was at 25,000, which is still sky high but a significant improvement.

Tim and his brothers had a conference call last night about issues that need to be addressed with the nursing home going forward (ie, he was supposed to have an air mattress on his bed that's designed to help prevent bedsores -- but he didn't have it [and that's only one example of shit that didn't happen before things got worse]). The nursing home is attached to his (former) assisted living facility (you know, the one that ignored an 84-year-old man HAVING A STROKE), so I can't say I'm surprised that aspects of his care are being neglected on the nursing home side.

Tim and his brothers are only just now building up some anger and litigiousness about the neglect he's been experiencing, and because one of my worst character flaws is that I always, always need to be right, I am working VERY hard to *not* say anything like "Shoulda sued them into oblivion when they ignored his stroke, and then maybe this wouldn't have happened."

But aside from the essential I-Told-You-So-ness of my nature, this all just sucks. I feel like so much of this could have been prevented, or mitigated to a significant degree, by the nursing home, but because it wasn't, my FiL's quality of life is lousy. He's not eating much, and that's scary, but the hospital is aware of it and trying to address it.

This is a fucking complicated mess to deal with, and the best I can do is support Tim, but I really feel like there's actually nothing I can do that will make a difference. And also I'm letting A LOT of my feelings about being my Dad's caretaker bleed over and influence how I'm dealing with this emotionally, which is, of course, not well at all, so Merry Fucking Christmas.

What a mess, Teppy! I'm glad there has been some improvement. I think you get points for silencing your "Shoulda sued them into oblivion" urge (which -- THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE).

Jessica, I hope your daughter stays Covid-free. If it doesn't make everything too difficult, I'd keep her home, but I am a known wimp.

Hey, I know people were talking about masks earlier.

Here are some legitimate mask and test resources

Project N95 on Twitter: [link] ; website: [link]

You can buy real, NIOSH approved N95 masks and more, at good prices.

I have used them, repeatedly. Good service, no problems. My youngest son needed N95s for class, because that reaction he had to his Crohn's med back in May (IgA vasculitis) has become an ongoing problem, which resulted in a hospitalization in August, required more immunosuppressants, a switch in Crohn's meds, even more immunosuppressants still, and a delay of his third Covid shot (not a "booster" for him), which he finally got 12 days ago.

If you can't find a mask you like on Project N95, Aaron Collins, aka a "Mask Nerd" on Twitter [link] and YouTube [link] tests KN95 masks and KF94 masks and the like, and rates his preferences. Legitimate KF94s come out of Korea, and he links to real sellers of real masks. Twitter doctors who are verified users have linked to Aaron's work (which is how I found him). Aaron also tests masks for kids.

Basically, you have to sift through his YouTube videos to find the ones in which he talks about the styles of masks you like. On that video's YouTube page, there will be a link to a spreadsheet which includes links to legitimate sellers.

To save you some work, if you like KN95s, Aaron likes these ones. He links to the seller in this YouTube video's description. [link]

Teppy, these white Powecom KN95 Respirator face masks are AFFORDABLE! $8.80 for ten masks. Price goes down with bigger purchases. [link]

We've been buying these KF94s for my daughter (who is working as a pharmacy tech). [link]

Kollecte USA's Korean masks ship from the US, so you're not paying exorbitant shipping fees from South Korea. They're a legitimate seller.

The Abbott BinaxNOW COVID‐19 Antigen Self Test is selling for $14.00 (for a box of two tests) at Sam's Club. If you're not a member, you pay handling (which I think cost me $15-ish bucks for 12 boxes). Compare this to about $24 at Walgreen's and CVS.

Sometimes, Walmart also has them for $14, but sometimes they have them for $24. It's a crapshoot.

The upside of buying the rapid antigen tests at Sam's Club and Walmart online, is that you can buy a bunch. Around here, if CVS has them in stock, you can buy one or two.

Project N95 on Twitter: [link] ; website: [link]

You can buy real, NIOSH approved N95 masks and more, at good prices.

Thanks, Cindy! I definitely want to get N95s for Tim, who is also taking immunosuppressants. He's fully vaxxed, including the 3rd dose, plus has some natural immunity from having Covid, but we're all obviously finding out, practically every day, that we don't know what we don't know about the coronavirus. So since he works with a lot of people, he always wears a mask, but so far it's been KN95s. Time to switch to N95s.