2021 - Fresh crap...

[bill_bly_ca]

It looks like the old addage of more funerals than weddings as you pass 50.

My boss last month.

Tony (Or we all called him Igor) Tony was a long time employee of Uniroyal when tires were the big industry in town. Tony arrived soon after WWII to the great white north from Hungary - Wore his Hunky badge proudly. Tony was just getting into CB radio when I met him in '94. He had a Cobra 2000 base station (A REAL impressive CB) and needed the somewhat limited functionality channel chip changed. I was really impresses as I had never worked on a 2000 before. We met face to face maybe 20 or 30 times over the next almost 30 yrs. He developed a lung capacity issue and died just after Xmas.

Peter - Peter was a fellow tech at DALSA for 5 years before being struck with Colon cancer - He was off on long term disability untill finally sucumming to the desiese @ 65 this past Sept.

Mary Anne - Marry Anne was a member of our Lions club and knew her for almost 20 yrs. Always the trooper doing the bingo drop off and pick up. Brain Tumor - Passed away this spring - We got her memorial tree in the national Lions Memorial forest out side of town here. 10's of thousands of trees there. Mary anne's cousin Wendy - Who was a club member for about 15 yrs - Died the year previous.

You know we all die, but it seems that if you make it past 50 you KNOW you will die...


Toss in Vicente and Betty White and well you know...


The 3rd shot for below 70's up here is a 1/2 dose and I can tell you I do feel a bet groggy after suiting up for team Maderna. Hopefully it just fades away through the day.

I just was sent out for Nacatomal - Picked up 3 from Jenny and Luis. Jenny was going to walk them over but Chilo could tell over the phone that they had the sniffles so I just drove buy with an open window pick up.

I am not going to have an Nacatomal as Chilo has a couple whole fish she is going to fry up - They look real good as she cleans them now. The label says they are sea bass.

Key West - Your rant on teachers Unions - We have a really powerful union here in Ontario. Teachers make really good (as in 75K and up) and retire at 55 and then supply teach until they are 65 - The union has a huge influence on the politics of the province. They make too much, work far too little BUT - The quality of the instructions is pretty good. Kids leave the Ontario system as fairly literate, mostly competent and somewhat good little beginning citizens. How much is too much to pay for a competent citizenry ?? I say we pay far to much but in contrast I would say the US pays far to little and it shows.

[KeyWestPirate]

Key West - Your rant on teachers Unions - We have a really powerful union here in Ontario. Teachers make really good (as in 75K and up) and retire at 55 and then supply teach until they are 65 - The union has a huge influence on the politics of the province. They make too much, work far too little BUT - The quality of the instructions is pretty good. Kids leave the Ontario system as fairly literate, mostly competent and somewhat good little beginning citizens. How much is too much to pay for a competent citizenry ?? I say we pay far to much nut in contrast I would say the US pays far to little and it shows.


Not the pay, it's the progressive takeover of the unions in the US.
Granted,, teachers are going to be liberals,, comes with the job, nothing wrong with that.

I used to be a JFK liberal,, although JFK would be considered a conservative now.

Teachers unions are huge cash cows for the democrats.
And much of that cash seems to have a progressive, or even Marxist, slant.

Somehow,, I suspect that there is a bigger middle in Canada,, and less fringe.
More room for honest debate around a position. Less yelling. More talking.

Coming into 2022, it's the moderate democrats who are threatened.
As well as moderate republicans. The fringes will survive and prosper.

So we wind up more polarized than ever.
That is not the majority of the electorate.

Rodney King's plea,,
"Can't we all just get along"
sounds more impossible every election cycle.

We don't get much "Canadian" in the US.
Even the BBC World News seems to ignore Canada.

Maybe it's less contentious, and more civil up there ?
Doesn't make for Breaking News but probably for a more tranquil life.

[bill_bly_ca]

So - Did I (we?) get hit with the Rona - Don't know - Can't really know - All of the test kits are allocated and PCR test sites full to people more afflicted than we are.

I had a co worker from the cube next to me test positive. That test was Tuesday evening. Thursday night I had congestion and some BCGBs (Big Chunky Grossly Bits) along with some grogginess.

Chilo had a sore throat and is a bit groggy with the odd dry cough.

In Chilo's work place there was a clear out of an associated building to the company (Not the production building, the engineering building) Wed at noon.

So one of us caught it in either or both places.

Now is it really Rona - Who knows. All of the rapid tests in the area were distributed to schools last week and it is almost impossible to beg one for probably the next 2 or 3 days.

My work ordered 1,000 tests and they should be in next Mon or Tues so I should be able to snag a couple of those to be sure.

I have to have no symptoms for 24 hours before I can go back. If this Was Jan 14 2020 I just would have sucked it up and gone to work <shrug>

One Cough elixir up here tastes like swill but it works, works real good. Chilo had never tried it before and I gave her a spoon - She cussed and did not talk to me for an hour.

[KeyWestPirate]

" . odd dry cough . ."

is one of the symptoms.
Omicron may be different.

I had a fever,, short lived,, dry, barking cough,, non productive.
Sore throat but only a day. Splitting headache,, briefly.

The longest and worst was the muscle aches, and of course,, the fatigue.
It never got into my lungs,, maybe I was lucky,, maybe the prophylactic azithromycin helped me.

Loss of taste and smell,, but it's something you don't notice because the other symptoms predominate.

But you are vaccinated,, so everything should be milder and less intense.


I picked up a Moderna booster this morning.
No reaction so far,, not even a sore arm, but I got nothing from the J&J either

The Novavax due out next month might be a game changer.
The efficacy is higher, and it's a more "conventional" vaccine.

As a side note,, Patrick Rodriguez (Cowboy) is still in the hospital.
He's been sick since before the end of year.
I talked to him today,, and he still sounds shaky.
But he was coherent and articulate.

[bill_bly_ca]

Well we managed to finagle 2 antigen tests

Chilo Negative - Nare a shadow of a second line.

Me - Positive but it took 12 min for line two to come into view.

My daughter who tested positive last week said it was Bam - Both lines for her - Mind you that was 3 days after she started noticing symptoms.

I took my test about 36 hours after my first recollection of something being up

We have one more test and I guess I will hold that for maybe Tuesday night

Still no loss of taste, no fever- Only sniffles and some upper raspatory BCGBs

As per the rules I can not return to the office until Friday and that is only if all symptoms are gone by Thursday

[KeyWestPirate]

So,, the vaccines do blunt the worst of the infection.

Patrick, unvaccinated,, was as sick as a dog for two weeks.
He is still in the hospital. And short of breath.

That's good news. I was looking at a list of known variants today. It's a long list.
Most were no consequence variations.


Your daughter's response might be the result of a younger, more robust immune system.
Or,, a heavier viral load.

But, look at the plus: The US is requiring a one day before travel test,,
>>>>>> BUT if you have been infected,, they will accept an antibody test for 90 days from date of test.

I don't know about The Great North, where they constantly talk about boots,, but here an antibody test is only $38
So getting back is more relaxed.

Going south,, you will still have to present results of a PCR test taken within three days to the MGAuans on arrival.

There are no testing requirements for land borders or seaports,, coming back into the US.

Some information on various US embassy sites has not been updated,, but it's been one day since Dec 31, 2021

CA remains either an antigen test or proof of complete vaccination.

Mexico continues to have no testing requirements.

These are the latest CR requirements (or better, lack of requirements).
Cruise ship passengers are required to be vaccinated.
https://ticotimes.net/2021/11/01/cos...-november-2021

Anyway you arrive, You will still need a PCR test within 3 days to enter Nicaragua.