Dreams
There are different variations of this common dream. A typical one is that I show up to the airport for an international flight just to discover I don't have my passport, and it's like there's only a half hour until the plane takes off. This has never happened in real life; I've only been on a few international flights.But I did have a real-life variant: I reached my wallet to check in at the airport--and to my horror, I didn't have a wallet. I left it at home? A round-trip drive home would take at least 90 minutes. I then realized it had to be in my car because I still didn't have an EZPASS so I had to pay a cash toll at the Baltimore tunnel. So I had to pull out my wallet at the tollway and must have tossed it aside to quickly resume driving and forgotten to retrieve it in the rush to get to the remote lot shuttle to the airport. I still had to hail a round trip back to my car where to my relief I found it as expected.
In the recent variation, I had to report at a military installation with none of 3 required IDs. There is sort of a parallel in real life: for a number of federal computer systems, you have to use a smartcard, a CAC, to access government computer systems (many government notebook PC's have a smartcard slot on the side). For an IT professionals like me, it's a prerequisite for doing our jobs. Now people being human, things like misplacing or losing one's CAC happen. I once found one in the grass near the facility; apparently the dude was carrying it in his shirt pocket and lost it when he retrieved his cellphone. (There's not much you can do with a lost CAC if you find it, because you need to know a passcode to use it, and the certificates on them can be quickly revoked.) But dealing with the bureaucracy in getting a lost CAC replaced is not something you want to go though; I had a colleague who pretty much couldn't do his job for 2 weeks.
There was a time in early 2014 when I hadn't moved to WV yet and was commuting to MD on weekends. I tend to be anal-retentive about constantly checking and rechecking for things like keys, wallets, appliances shut off, home door locked, etc. So at some point on my trip home one weekend, I found my CAC missing. Where did I last see it? A highway rest area in western Maryland? I sweated all the way home and the first thing I did was call a colleague at work (we had 24x7 operations). He said, "Yup. You left it inserted in your PC. We confiscated it and are holding it." Well, that was a big relief, although I still had to sweat it out because when I returned, it wasn't being stored in the usual place--I'm not the first or only bonehead who had done it. Maybe they were trying to teach me a lesson. I've done it less than a handful of times over the years. What's more typical (but seldom) is I forget it at home and realize it near the front gate where I need it to get on base--and I have to turn around and drive home.
Coffee
I love coffee. Maybe a little too much. I'll never forget my first day in WV (discussed above). My supervisor (normally based in MD) was dropping by my hotel (no, the company didn't pay; I had to pay out of my own pocket) to escort me on my first day. I was carrying a Styrofoam cup and lid for a coffee to go from the hotel's "Continental breakfast". Somehow a drop or two had splattered on my shirt, hardly noticeable as it was drying, but my retired Marine boss did notice it and refused to leave until I changed my shirt. If you've ever been in the military, you know the type; I remember as an ensign once being screamed at for 15 minutes because my belt buckle wasn't gleaming. I've had to live up to dress code in several jobs and as a professor normally wore a suit and tie. (Luckily most IT jobs are business casual. I think the weirdest question was when I subcontracted at Booz Allen (?) on an internal project. I was asked if I wore Velcro shoes. What the hell? I'm not sure I've ever owned Velcro shoes. I'm typically the black Oxford laces type. It turned out my predecessor, who they hated with a passion, wore Velcros.) GI Joe thought I should bring an extra shirt to work just in case I ever had a coffee spill there. Keep in mind most IT types work in solitary cubicles; we might attend an occasional meeting. But GI Joe was worried the occasional military visitor might do an informal inspection of civilian personnel (not just Civil Service, typically referred to as civilians).
Mom knows I love coffee; she mostly does Nespresso since one of my siblings got her a machine a few years back. But I think she's not used to my pattern of drinking where I've been known to nurse a cup over hours, long after it's cooled off. My late Dad was the same way over my drinking beer, say at a visit to his American Legion, which I still haven't joined. After I haven't had a beer in months, the first few sips are like, where have you been my whole life? And then it sort of loses its taste and it'll take me an hour or more to drink the mug. My Dad loved beer, and he would down his in 5 minutes and start to order another round when he notices my mug is still nearly full. What the hell? Am I his son?
My choices are fairly simple. I've never been one (like a former female supervisor) to get my fix at Starbucks, including some expensive frilly specialty latte. I occasionally do a Starbucks, e.g., at an airport, but usually it'll be a generic coffee of the day. As I've mentioned, the worst cup of coffee I ever had was years back at an Orlando McDonald's. They should never have served me that. It was inky black, boiled residue, probably sitting on the burner for over an hour, and it tasted as bad as it sounds; I probably should have taken it back. It took me years before I ever ordered another coffee at McDonald's again.
As I've noted in the past, coffee is a different experience in Brazil, and they serve a very strong coffee, more like an expresso (but I haven't had many of those, so the comparison may not be accurate. At my client back in Sao Paulo (a large credit card subsidiary of Citibank), there would be this little old lady who would come around mid-morning and mid-afternoon and serve coffee, sparkling water, etc., typically in very small cups. I was there for nearly 3 months in my first 1995 visit (I went there for about a week on my second visit literally over Thanksgiving). So two things I developed a taste for down there (beyond Brazilian steakhouses) was Brazilian coffee and a soft drink, Guarana. (I now have a standing order for a 12-pack of the latter every 2 months from Amazon.) I found it difficult to find a good mail order supplier once back in the States.
I think sometimes you'll see an occasional variety at a large grocer; I recently saw a variant from the Starbucks packaged store brand although haven't tried it. But occasionally I've seen Sam's Club carrying versions and stocked up. However, in the interim, I had bought a cheap Chinese-made K-cup coffeemaker from WalMart and maybe at least 200 coffee pods on sale from Sam's Club, delivered. Not to mention bags of coffee beans. I also ordered a multi-can supply of coffee with chicory (good for blood sugar) I also like New England blueberry cobbler coffee, occasionally pumpkin spice. It isn't so much that I'm a packrat, but if you drink 2 cups a day, I have months of supplies. So recently, the K-cup maker died, and I went back to my cheapo 5-cup drip maker.
So I finally made my first carafe after opening up one of my stored Sam's Club Brazil bags. I initially thought the Truvia stevia packets I had bought from Sam's Club weren't any good--and then I realized, "Dude, you haven't had Brazilian coffee in over 20 years! This is the real deal!" It's an acquired taste, and it didn't take long to reacquire it.
Entertainment Notes
- WWE. No doubt the hottest act right now is Sasha Banks and Bayley since Banks joined "Two Belts" tag partner Bayley by taking the Raw belt off Asuka in a horribly scripted countout loss by Asuka as she sought to rescue her tag team partner, being written off television to return to Japan. Now for months there's been speculation of a Banks/Bayley feud. I'm not exactly sure how that would be scripted: maybe they have a fight over the first 3-belt champion? Maybe they lose the tag titles and dispute who's responsible? On the men's side, McIntyre has his first real challenger in Randy Orton; there's a lot of speculation of Orton going over McIntyre to set up a rubber match with injured Edge for the Raw title. On the other brand, probably the most intriguing storyline involved Alexa Bliss' mysterious connection to Bray Wyatt. I'm still not sure where they're going to do with ex-NXT champion Adam Cole; I thought they might book the Undisputed Era faction to the main roster but it looks like a renewed feud for the NXT tag titles.
- Hallmark Channel. They finally finished the Christmas in July promotion yesterday. I was more intrigued in crossover movies from HMM. One of them was a recent cable flick (I think named like "Once Upon a Christmas Miracle", about a dying young woman who needs a transplant, and this young man is a match. After a successful transplant, it develops into a romantic relationship between the couple, apparently based on a real story. I suspect in just under 3 months, they'll resume their annual Countdown to Christmas tradition, and they're already starting to promote it on HMM.
- Baseball. Familiar readers of the blog know I've been a Twins' fan since childhood (long story) and an Astros' fan since moving back to Texas for high school. On Twitter, I've been pushing back against the anti-Astros' backlash in the aftermath of the 2017 "sign-stealing" scandal. Both teams currently lead their AL divisions, although the Astros are off to a slower start, splitting their games to date.
COVID-19 Shutdown Diary
I haven't seen grocery shortages in a while, unless they are running a special and exhaust their stock. Lidl this week was selling eggs at 57 cents/dozen. Damn! That's even cheaper than Walmart last checked which had dropped their price from 88 cents to about 82 cents. Lidl, a German company subsidiary, is rapidly becoming a personal favorite: quality private labels, very clean, arranged goods, good prices, lots of grass-fed meats, and I like their produce section. To other Franco-Americans out there, they even had snails on special. I may be Franco-American, but not THAT Franco-American. Oh, I would probably try them at a buffet maybe.
Well, one political topic has got me steaming: one of my science feeds had a post which really annoyed me as an experienced empirical researcher. It was a condescending toned posed at others (including me to a certain extent) who argued that effectively mask strategies tend to lead mask wearers to a false sense of security. In this context, we might be looking at complementary strategies of social distancing, washing one's hands, etc. So the idea is we might weaken our practice of other strategies (and I'll point out several examples of guidelines that say something to the effect make sure to wear masks when you can't practice safe distancing).
So the piece goes goes something like this: "Dumbasses! Self-report data show people show just as much compliance with other guidance as when people wear masks!" Okay, for those who have not taken Empirical Research 101: self-report data aren't that reliable. There's a social desirability aspect, e.g., people tell you what they think you want to hear.
I'm even more bothered by the fact we are dealing with an airborne virus which is basically unimpeded by conventional masks; microbes can easily be inhaled or exhaled, and they can stay in an area for hours. Let me quote this from Dr. Mercola:
Cloth Masks Offer False Sense of Security
April 1, 2020, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) published a commentary20 by retired professor Lisa Brosseau, ScD, and Margaret Sietsema, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Illinois, arguing that mandates calling for the wearing of cloth masks or face coverings in public are “not based on sound data.” Both are experts on respiratory protection and infectious diseases. July 16, the following editor’s note was added to the article:
“The authors and CIDRAP have received requests in recent weeks to remove this article from the CIDRAP website. Reasons have included: (1) we don’t truly know that cloth masks (face coverings) are not effective, since the data are so limited, (2) wearing a cloth mask or face covering is better than doing nothing.
(3) the article is being used by individuals and groups to support non-mask wearing where mandated and (4) there are now many modeling studies suggesting that cloth masks or face coverings could be effective at flattening the curve and preventing many cases of infection.”
(I recommend reading Dr. Mercola's full article.)
There is some possibility of UVC technology in the right dosage of helping scrub viruses (I saw a report of UV-emitting robots to scrub store interiors and others being used to sterilize N95 masks, but you risk your own health with exposure.) Some also point out that viruses are unlikely to flourish at high humidity or temperature outside, so staying inside air-conditioned facilities with limited fresh air may be counterproductive. There are other strategies I think are obvious: limit your exposure to any public setting or non-household interpersonal contact; monitor your own temperature and limit your external exposure if you are running too high a temperature or a fever
Finally, I'm exasperated by stupid policies, government or company. Delta over the weekend turned a plane around over two passengers balking over wearing a mask. It's one thing if they are symptomatic, but note even if they have the disease, masks aren't going to stop airborne transmission. Perhaps you could isolate them in the back of the plane, but these were likely healthy passengers annoyed by Kabuki dances. Yes, Delta has a right to protect customers and employees, and I've known Delta's posted policy. I would comply because I made an agreement to comply if I bought a ticket. Maybe Delta wanted to make an example of these two. I can understand Delta felt if they made an accommodation here, they've set a bad precedent. But this was stupid.
