covid thanksgiving and black friday

 Part of an email I sent to a particular friend, on dealing with Thanksgiving and Black Friday while managing COVID:

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(Are we w)ell? No, we're not well... but we're better. I woke with a sore throat, which has mostly passed; we had a bunch of Black Friday chores to do this morning, and we got them all done - gas for Regina; special sale at ShopRite; sale at Talbot's for Regina; two-for-one black Friday deal at Hand & Stone massage (I'd rather have dental work than a massage, but Regina likes them, so she got the deal, and I did as well as a Christmas present for her); stop at Costco. It's been a slow afternoon, I suppose, but I did a load of laundry; cashed two checks (remote; just uploading pics from the dining room); ordered a gift card for my sister's Christmas present; paid the water bill. With all that, I'm mostly falling asleep with the computer playing videos on my lap, and I hear Regina's computer in the bedroom; I suspect she fell asleep watching something or other.

...

I'm actually glad I missed the Thanksgiving dinner; I have one sister-in-law who's well-meaning, but perseverates on her belief that all government benefits are wasted on the undeserving; another sister-in-law is (redacted). We sent most of the dinner to them (and their children and the one newly-married-in wife), and kept out a few servings of the side dishes for ourselves... and bought turkey club sandwiches to round out dinner for ourselves. We set the good china and sterling (I inherited five settings of sterling), and decided this was a really good Thanksgiving for us, COVID or no.

If we could just hang out with the younger generation of her family, and leave out my sisters-in-law (and the one Trump-y husband), it would be a much better time.

...

Thanks for checking in. We're OK; we won't starve before we can get out to stores again... and I'm only a little sorry that I can't go infect some people of choice wit this illness, or that it would't be as crippling as it might be, if I did.

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I expect we will look back on this holiday, and smile at each other as we do. The story may improve with age and retelling; stories often do.

thinking about COVID-19

 In an earlier post, I wrote that I had been stricken with COVID, days before Thanksgiving; The Excellent Wife (TEW) has as well. I found it a weird concurrence to be infected weeks after Trump, who so mismanaged the pandemic in 2020, was re-elected.

The truth is that I've sought out and received every COVID vaccine that's been offered since they were first available (in fact, it was a requirement of my last job at Rutgers/UMDNJ that I do so for the first three or four). And in 2024, COVID is far less threatening or frightening than it was four years ago. (Trump, if anything, is even more frightening than he was.) Both my wife and I have started a course of Paxlovid (we are blessed with one of the best medical insurance offerings in the state of New Jersey), and, while she (as many do) is having some gastric distress as a side effect of the medication cocktail, we are finding the Paxlovid safe and effective. I had one bad day and two bad nights, and am now tired but generally improved (I am, however, producing urine such that I'm comparing myself to Moses striking the rock at Meribah in Exodus 17, producing water where there was none).

I'm in a high-risk group: men over 65 with hypertension. The high-risk-group thing appears to be far less of a concern than it once was, and there is no longer talk of "long-COVID" in these cases, or the permanent loss of taste; the doctor at the doc-in-the-box compared my case to being like flu or bronchitis (and, indeed, I've had cases of both of the latter, with much worse effects than what I'm suffering now with the COVID). Still, we're medicating, quarantining, and masking when we do have to go out, because while we have comparatively mild cases, it's not clear that people we might infect would have the same experience, especially if they either did not have access to the vaccine, or refused to take it.

(We'll not get started on the shared responsibility for the severity of illness for people who refused the vaccine.)

So my concern when I saw the deep red line on my COVID test indicating my positive result was, perhaps, unfounded. Despite it being Thanksgiving Day, I'm not ready to say I'm grateful about any of this (an omnipotent, benevolent god might have ensured that COVID never developed in the first place). But I'll admit it could have been worse, and I'm glad for my privileged position, my excellent wife, my few healthy habits.

stricken

 Y'r o'b'd't servant is COVID-positive.

trying to ride again

 

Between poor mental health, other commitments (not all of them unpleasant), and real life, I haven't ridden as much this year as I'd planned to. I'm trying to get back into shape, and into the routine of regular rides. I did a couple this weekend, and I'm reminded that, especially at my age (NOBODY would look at me and think I'm even middle-aged anymore), I've got to keep up or I'll lose fitness.

On Saturday, Nov 23, I saw that Neil C was leading a ride that was going to come within a couple of miles of the new house, both on the way out and on the way back. I asked about meeting them on the route, and we had a discussion on what to expect.

There were four of us, all on titanium bikes. I was planning to write about this as the "ti bikes ride", but I was struck by something else. All of us have been in the club for decades, and two of them have been riding together for most of their rides for most of that time. Our speeds and strength vary widely... but we were careful of each other to look out for whoever might be falling behind, and to keep each of us involved in the ride and in the associated conversation.

It was a lesson to me about friendship over time, about changes in expectations as time passes, about tolerance and kindness. Between hills and demanding winds (especially on the way back), it was a difficult ride for me, but I'm glad I went.

Ride page link.

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Today, Sunday, Nov 24, I scheduled a ride from Franklin down to Princeton and Hopewell, and back. I had ten takers, nine at the start and one to pick up along the way.

It was another windy day. This time, the wind was against us more at the start. Most of the riders were stronger than I (that happens often on my Sunday rides); I tried to keep up, but wound up leading from the rear.

We were about eight miles in when we noticed one of the riders was missing; I was afraid we'd dropped someone, but it turned out the rider had been off the front and missed a turn. We waited a bit while another rider went to try to find her, but went on when that didn't seem to be happening. (We got text messages later about what happened; the two who'd gone off found each other, and decided to cut the ride short when one had mechanical problems.)

The rest of us continued through Princeton and turned in at ETS.

From there, we went through a few neighborhoods, to the stop at the Boro Bean.

That still-life of the helmet and muffin, above, took SO MANY SHOTS to get right.

And back. I was tired on the way back; while the group was polite about not dropping me, I was clearly in the rear for the last several miles (despite a strong tailwind much of the way).

It's the wrong time of year to try to get in shape for riding; instead, I hope not to lose too much more before spring. And here's hoping other commitments and poor mental health don't conspire to interfere with that plan, any more than they already have.

Ride page link.

the right thing to do

 I haven't ridden much on a couple of months other than a few miles around the over-55 community in which I live. Some of that was due to conflicts and being busy, some due to illness (I had a cold that persisted over 2 weeks; gone are the days when I could have a cold for two or three days and then get back to feeling normal [I tested; I was negative for COVID]). A lot of it was depression over the way the election was going, and then the way it turned out. I just haven't felt like doing much.

But it became clear that I had to get out and do something rather than just sit in my misery. From previous episodes of this type, I know that one of the things that may work is going ahead and doing the things that I would be doing if I had the energy and desire, because sometimes the energy and desire comes back as I do things. So I posted a club ride -- admittedly late (Friday, for a Sunday ride), but posted, nonetheless.

It was a while before I got any takers. Then they started to drift in: one, then two more; eventually I had six, plus me.

I chose a short, not-too-hilly route to a favorite stop, the Italian bakery in Raritan. I've got a couple of routes that go there: the one I'll link below, and one a few miles longer that goes through Neshanic... but I really didn't feel up to the Neshanic route today (there's a hill that another rider complains about, and I don't like some of the roads), so we did the other.

Even with a group of only seven, I had one or two riding off the front, one at the back who was saving energy for another day, one who I had expected to be stronger, but who showed signs of flagging. Our average speeds probably ranged from 14-16mph. When we first started, I wasn't sure I was going to make he distance... but by the end, I know I could have gone farther or faster (I make a point of keeping an eye on the people in the back).

Our stop was at that bakery:

I can sometimes use  a ride to dispel the gloom. That wasn't the case today; I'm still subdued and not eager to engage with people. But getting out and leading this ride was the right thing to do. On to finding the next right thing.

Ride page.

ashamed

 Today, I'm ashamed to be an old white man.

Edit November 8: I remember, though, that I have never in my life voted for a Republican. That is undoubtedly a reflection of my privilege; nevertheless, there it is.

brother-in-law died yesterday

 My brother-in-law died yesterday.

It's bad. It's worse for my sister, I'm sure.