Sorry for your kitty loss, Katie Bee. It’s so hard.

Volans, glad your kitty is feeling better! And I hope you find a new and better contract soon.

Warning, rant ahead. My sis is on disability and works one or two shifts a week at a country club. They are doing a regular Tgiving sit down in addition to take out. They usually have multiple seatings but people cancelled and so now they are just having one. As you might suspect, both the club and members think rules don’t apply to then WRT masking and capacity limits. She has been given no info on how this is going to work, much less protocols.

I think the only reason she stays there is that she needs the extra money and hates getting help from my parents and is afraid of a gap in employment. But FFS, she lives with my parents!! Who are in their 70s and my dad some some weird arthritis-like thing that came in suddenly and he can barely dress himself or go to the bathroom. My mom got Lyme several years ago and I think it’s affected her immune system. My sister smoked for many years and is definitely at a BMI* that labels her as high risk.

I was so angry last night when I found out that I had to take a Xanax and still had trouble sleeping. I’ve told her that all I need is a word from her or a coworker and I will find her a reporter or someone at the state to talk to. They have state legislators who eat there but of course they are all R and don’t give a shit. And the people who would do this are people who are not going to respect any protocol they try to enforce.

I can’t make her do anything but oh my god I am just furious and terrified and so fucking tempted to whistleblow myself. I am on a first name basis with the deputy sec of state for NC and I will call him in a heartbeat.

RAWR SO MAD.

* fuck BMI for most things

Ugh that sucks smonster.

I am tempted to have a second fridge/freezer—there’s be space in my garage and I have a pretty tiny fridge as is. But I also know myself and figure I’d forget about 3/4 of the stuff in there and it would (even frozen) go bad/not get used/etc.

smonster, that is fucking ridiculous, and I would also be tempted to whistleblow.

My sister smoked for many years and is definitely at a BMI* that labels her as high risk.

So, the AMA has obviously published a lot of articles about Covid, and one study of almost 90,000 patients found that while high BMI (#TeamBigFatPanda) is a risk for getting Covid, it turns out to not be a risk for mortality from Covid. Neither is hypertension or (for real) COPD. Those are weird findings (especially the COPD one), but 90,000 people is a sample size large enough that the data do have statistical relevance.

Thank you for that info, Steph!

Neither is hypertension or (for real) COPD. Those are weird findings (especially the COPD one), but 90,000 people is a sample size large enough that the data do have statistical relevance.

My next door neighbor's uncle recovered from Covid despite having COPD (and a host of other disabilities and general problems). I was surprised, as a couple of people I knew have had COPD itself as either the sole or contributing cause of death .

Ok i grind my teeth at night. And sometimes I wear a guard but often I don’t because I just spit it out in the night. When I do, I usually use a small one that just goes over the front teeth because I’m less likely to spit it out. Today I felt like my teeth were weird and not fitting together right, like my bite was off? And I pulled out my old dentist-created night guard...and tried to put it on...and dang, my teeth have definitely moved. Wearing it feels like I’ve got braces on. Yikes.

Your teeth move as you get older. I have a gap to the left of my upper left front tooth that never used to be there before like 5 years ago. Also, I just got one of those small mouth guards and my dentist said it *could* change my bite and that would be something they'd check for at my next regular appointment. So, definitely talk to your dentist!

I have a night guard but often take it out part way through the night when it triggers my (oversensitive) gag reflex.

The division I'm part of at UW just announced that they were extending WFH flexibility through 6/30/21, with all the usual caveats about being able to get all necessary work done remotely. Which means tomorrow my department director is likely to announce that our 100% remote work will continue through that date. I'm relieved, but if you'd told me when we all left in March that it would be more than a year before we'd come back...I had to stop by the office in August to pick up a new laptop, and it was honestly creepy. There was a bulletin board that had been decorated with balloons for an office party, and it was still there, but with balloons 3/4 deflated. While I was there I straightened my own desk, just stupid things like putting all the pens away and stacking my post-its neatly, just to make it look less like I'd fled an earthquake or something and never came back.

I'm sad I missed the Zoom call, too!!

Volans - I am so sorry about the employment sitch and KB - I'm so sorry about your Pearlie. She had great humans to love her.

I'm done teaching for the day. Third grade is tackling nice, light hearted topics this week. Primarily, how what we're told about the first Thanksgiving has very little to do with what it was really like.