Thanks to everyone who shared a bit yesterday and Monday. Sharing makes the burden just a little bit lighter.
40F this morning and damp here in Houston. Our short reprieve from the cold seems to have ended. The apple trees will appreciate the cold, but I think the rest of us are ready for spring.
nick
I’ve got a bunch of work to do today so I’ll be AFK on and off all morning.
Talk amongst yourselves…
n
Here’s an important story that I would have shared with Bob, so I’ll share it with all of you instead. It seems a 37 year old woman died a few days after being diagnosed with the flu. This year seems like the worst year for the flu that I remember. I don’t think we are in the midst of a 1918 epidemic by any means, but the flu can still be a serious illness.
I got a flu shot this year, and I’ve heard that this year the flu shot may be particularly ineffective. I’m still glad I got the shot.
No flu shot for me this year. Too many conflicting stories.
Pneumonia shot should be gotten by everyone over 60. I had my Prevnar 13 shot last year. Looking for a provider that has the “new” pneumonia shot available. Supposed to be much more effective. Most are using the old stuff to get rid of supplies.
I had my pneumonia shot last year (well over 50, in any case).
And I do not plan to get the flu shot. Not effective enough against this year’s flu in my view versus risk.
Doesn’t the goobermint say 65+ for the p-monia shot? I wonder if I can still get one at Nellis or if Tricare will pay for it. I’m 62, close enought for goobermint work.
I mistyped. I was told 60 when I got my pneumonia shot. Medicare paid 100% as will most insurance companies. Cheaper than paying for pneumonia treatment and may be considered preventative.
@Ray Thompson, Costco and CVS nationally should have the new higher powered pneumonia vaccine, at least that is what I can verify here on the Left Coast.
Truly diagnosed Flu cases and deaths are higher than they have ever been in WA State. The Flu Shot is only about 10% effective this year. Considering the severity of the admitted cases I would consider a 10% less chance to be good.
The family has had a nasty upper respiratory infection that is also going round, that some people are mistaking for the Flu. We have all had the nose swab to test for Flu and all were negative. This upper respiratory infection hangs on for a long time, I am on week 3 and my Wife is on week 4. I have managed to hack up some world-record big green lungers, have to get a putty knife to scrape them off the walls.
The family has had a nasty upper respiratory infection that is also going round, that some people are mistaking for the Flu.
The entire Atoz clan had this over the Holidays. Lasts three weeks+ with a lot of coughing, chest congestion and phlegm. You can also relapse if someone infected comes in contact with you. Nasty. Try to keep isolated from the infected, just like Zombies!
MrAtoz, do you mean to suggest that people with a communicable illness should stay home from work and school? What nonsense is this which you speak??? It’s every parent’s right to use the schools as free daycare, and keeping the kids home would mean irreparable hardship to the parent!!!
My wife is coming down with something, and it sounds like this.
n
This really is a serious flu season. I mentioned it before, the CDC has a flu tracker, and some good big picture advice in their Pandemic section, and Business Continuity section.
Our lack of overcrowding, better nutrition and ability to manage secondary infection should keep a disaster from happening…. but…..
One good reason to have a couple of months of “don’t have to leave the house” stacked up is epidemic/pandemic.
Aesop has some good (if acerbic-ly presented) advice:
http://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/psa-flu-2018.html
nick
Me too. Even if the flu shot isn’t a good match it can reduce the severity of the mismatched flu you do catch. I’ve always rolled my eyes at the anti-vaxxers. I’ve got a flu shot every year I was in the service (1995 to 1999) and every year since 2007 and I’ve never had any adverse side-effects or gotten ill afterwards. Of course, I may be somewhat resistant to influenza anyway as the 27 years I didn’t get a flu shot I never got the flu. I’ve made it to age 41 without ever having the flu (or strep throat for that matter).
I’m a pretty big believer in getting vaccinated and I have a agreeable doctor. So, if there’s a shot for it I get it whether or not I’m in the target age group or gender. If they have a way of preventing me from being infected with a virus or harmful bacteria then shoot me up. Needles don’t bother me in the least and vaccines are pretty cheap.
Whoa. Wait a minute there, buddy. Sick days are for playing hookie. Why waste perfectly good PTO being sick? 🙂
We have been making a serious dent in our Kleenex supply, using more than one 230-sheet box a day.
I’m no anti-vaxxer, but they wanted to inject my NEWBORN with the Hep vaccine the day she was born. They kept trying every day we were there too. Let’s let the little tyke find her way a bit before injecting her with sh!t. Literal BILLIONS of kids don’t get the Hep vac in the first week of life and somehow manage not to contract Hep, despite the viral septic sewer that is modern hospitals. If you can’t keep your staff and facility clean enough to keep from spreading hepatitis to newborns, maybe I don’t want to be there…
n
Oh great. You had to share that. I was diagnosed with the flu yesterday. Am on quarantine for a week. Taking tamiflu to help mitigate the effects. We will see.
Our local Tactical Firearms store was shuttered last weekend with a sign “Closed due to Flu”.
I got a flu shot this year, and I’ve heard that this year the flu shot may be particularly ineffective.
I’ve seen reports that in any case, it reduced the severity of the flu.
sign “Closed due to Flu”
Sounds like a scene from “My Cousin Vinny”:
I bought a suit. You seen it. Now it’s covered in mud. This town doesn’t have a one hour cleaner so I had to buy a new suit, except the only store you could buy a new suit in has got the flu. Got that? The whole store got the flu so I had to get this in a second hand store. So it’s either wear the leather jacket which I know you hate, or this. So I wore this ridiculous thing for you.
@nick, I (and my Wife) agree with you on vaccinating newborns, with this qualification: the mother is up-to-date with her vaccinations and the baby will be breast fed. There is nothing that can compare to the antibody qualities of colostrum.
More info I should have added on my first post about flu shots. This year was the first year I got the flu shot. I did so knowing that it was not going to be particularly effective this year. Last year I got the flu and felt miserable, so this year I got the shot.
like the eye wipe to prevent blindness from gonorrhea, a lot of the newborn stuff doesn’t apply to white kids in the suburbs. Overall, the numbers come down because a shockingly high percentage of the urban population is disease ridden.
I object to the hospital’s “oh lemme get this, totally routine thing”, without explaining what it is or why we’re giving it, and “oh it’s totally safe, but just in case the blanket release you signed when you came in isn’t enough, here’s 3 pages you need to sign…..”
Saved $26 on a $200 grocery bill just with in store coupons, and a couple of clearance items. All good long term preps.
n
And meanwhile, over in the financial sector, it’s all doom pr0n…
https://www.zerohedge.com/
n
(Maybe the markets are finally noticing that all is not well? Race for the exits? Or is the memo big enough to cause world wide disruption????)
Anyone have a good brand recommendation for those tempered glass screen protectors for smartphones? They all seem to be priced within a few dollars of eachother.
And I’m AFK for a while as I go see my last remaining client…..
n
Thanks to Roy and Jeff for spending the afternoon with us at my sisters and brother-in-laws house for the drop in. I had to bounce around talking with visitors but everyone seemed to enjoy meeting strangers and talking among themselves. Ray and Nancy drove five hours down from Knoxville, TN.
And, thanks to all the cyber support and very kinds thought ans stories about Bob. For a man who never left the house he touched a lot of lives.
“DuckDuckGo moves beyond search to also protect you while browsing”
http://www.osnews.com/story/30172/DuckDuckGo_moves_beyond_search_to_also_protect_you_while_browsing
I’m getting older, but not so old that I should get the flu shot. I haven’t had one in more than a decade. I simply don’t seem to get sick very often, and when I do, it’s briefer and less intense than those around me.
Should I get the shot? I simply don’t know. I’m just paranoid enough that doing things because “I should” rarely persuades me. I have yet to see good, hard numbers that make it statistically better for me to get the shot.
My wife, who works in a medical lab, gets one every year, as do our children.
(Maybe the markets are finally noticing that all is not well? Race for the exits? Or is the memo big enough to cause world wide disruption????)
“Prediction #4 — Bitcoin stays crazy until traders learn it is not a currency”
https://www.cringely.com/2018/01/24/prediction-4-bitcoin-crashes-booms-crashes-booms-2018-traders-figure-not-currency/
And one of my partners wants to change our company name from XXXXXX Inc. to The XXXXXX Blockchain Company. I think he was joking …
@Chad – I don’t know that any one brand is better than any other. Unless you have a curved screen (like my Note 8), just about anything should be fine. If you do have a curved screen, be careful that the case and the glass protector are compatible. I had one that just snuck under the corner of the case and it developed a stress fracture in short order. Annoying.
I buy whatever is second-cheapest on the Big River when I shop. It just works well for me that way.
Prediction #4 — Bitcoin stays crazy until traders learn it is not a currency
The situation is beyond crazy. Try to buy a high end graphics card or ‘E’ series (35W TDP) AMD Bristol Ridge APU at suggested retail right now.
I’m waiting for the first Bitcoin “short” ETF. A few are in the works. I’ll throw a little money into one just for giggles.
SpaceX fired the Falcon Heavy engines today.
From the camera angle of the video, it looks like NASA and SpaceX finished removing the Shuttle payload access structure from the tower at 39-A. End of an era.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/01/spacex-has-test-fired-its-falcon-heavy-rocket/
Anyone have a good brand recommendation for those tempered glass screen protectors for smartphones?
My recommendation is to skip the screen protector. It will not protect during a drop and is generally only useful against scratches. Such scratches appearing on the screen protector which scratches more easily then the screen of the device. I used one, once, for about a month, then took it off.
In 10 years of owning a smart phone I have never cracked or damaged a screen. I did damage an iPad as I dropped it and it hit on the corner producing a small dent. The stress was enough to crack the glass. No screen protector in the world would have protected against the drop.
So save your money, skip the screen protector. All they do is scratch easily and make it harder for the touch interface.
Anyone have a good brand recommendation for those tempered glass screen protectors for smartphones?
I went with BodyGuardz urethane front and back on my iPhone X. The back has little flaps to fold on the edges. Hard to line up and one is unflapped. They also have glass screen protectors and cases. I wanted to try something caseless this time around.
Lynn, can you get a “trade dress” or whatever it’s called in Texas for your business to use another name? You’d keep the original name but also be able to lay claim to the other. The blockchain fad is probably going to burn out at some point (not the blockchain technology, which is highly useful in appropriate domains, just faddishness of it) but it’s cheap to get trade dress and you might as well jump on the fad.
Suggestion: do not call your company XXX Blockchain, Inc, not unless you want that kind of business.
@Chad:
I got these SuperShieldz protectors from “Big River” http://amzn.to/2DAXm0m . A two-pack for $8.00. Worked well; easy to apply if you are very careful and precise in placement (they have a video that shows you how to do it).
Lynn, can you get a “trade dress” or whatever it’s called in Texas for your business to use another name? You’d keep the original name but also be able to lay claim to the other. The blockchain fad is probably going to burn out at some point (not the blockchain technology, which is highly useful in appropriate domains, just faddishness of it) but it’s cheap to get trade dress and you might as well jump on the fad.
The terminology in Texas is DBA = doing business as. It is a County registration, not a State function. And he was joking. Maybe. We would have to go public as we are a private company in order to get involved in the craziness of the stock market.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/12/iced-tea-company-changes-name-to-long-blockchain-stock-immediately-skyrockets
Several months ago David (SIL)and I went down to Borrego Springs to see the Trevor McSpadden Band at Carlee’s Place. We greatly enjoyed the honky-tonk country music and I mentioned to Trevor how nice it would be to see them at our nearby Mother’s Tavern. He expressed some interest and when we got back I mentioned it to Alison (Mgr) at Mother’s, leaving his card and a CD from him there, and then relayed her phone number to him.
I was very happy when they told me at Mother’s that they had arranged for the band to play there this coming Saturday afternoon. (Noted starting time at 3:00 and then until 6:00, although the bands often start somewhat earlier.
https://www.facebook.com/MothersTavern/
http://www.motherstavernsunsetbeach.com/
https://www.facebook.com/trevormcspadden/
http://www.trevormcspadden.com/
@dkreck; Trevor’s website shows that he will be in your neck of the woods, Bakersfield, to play at Ethel’s Ole Corral this Sunday, starting at 1:00 PM.
Several months ago David (SIL)and I went down to Borrego Springs to see the Trevor McSpadden Band at Carlee’s Place. We greatly enjoyed the honky-tonk country music and I mentioned to Trevor how nice it would be to see them at our nearby Mother’s Tavern. He expressed some interest and when we got back I mentioned it to Alison (Mgr) at Mother’s, leaving his card and a CD from him there, and then relayed her phone number to him.
I was very happy when they told me at Mother’s that they had arranged for the band to play there this coming Saturday afternoon.
@dkreck; Trevor’s website shows that he will be in your neck of the woods, Bakersfield, to play at Ethel’s Ole Corral this Sunday, starting at 1:00 PM.
https://www.facebook.com/ethelsoldcorral/
YUUUP! I wish I could be there this Sunday.
Well, on my way now to Mother’s for a couple of Wed. afternoon PBRs.
The reason most screen protectors are sold in packs of 2 is that, unless you are experienced and very careful, you will ruin the first one at least and get air bubbles and or dirt under the screen at best.
Yes, I have used them. Yes, I do consider that I am experienced at applying them, but I have seen no value added except in the first couple of years of the smartphone and tablet.
@DadCooks
Yes, you can get air bubbles if you don’t clean properly – a speck of dust will cause a bubble. But a good clean/clear fit can be done.
The SuperShieldz company guarantees their product will apply properly. I had adhesion problems with one of the two-pack that didn’t apply properly (probably my fault). They sent me a new 2-pack free to replace it.
The key that I found is to position the top edge exactly right (just a bit away from top and sides, making sure the edges are parallel), and let it drop down slowly. You can then see the adhesion happen – the adhesion starts at the top edge, then adheres the rest in a linear fashion.
Good cleaning and ensuring no dust particles before application has worked for me.
As suggested yesterday, I attempted to contact OFD by email to get an update on his status. Well, now it does not look good as I perceive it. In my previous emails to him, he responded quite quickly, as if the laptop was open and he was browsing around and he responded to me within several hours.
With this attempt, it has now a passage of time of 28 hours without a response from OFD to my inquiry. Yes, I am very despondent regarding a positive, or any, response from Dave.
@ Jenny, I can’t think of anything more that I can do. Hopefully, you can find some information regarding his status.
CowboySlim, who is besieged with sadness.
@CowboySlim, here is a virtual arm around your shoulder for comfort. And I’ll crack a virtual PBR with you too.
I too am very concerned about OFD. I am thinking the worst, he has been abandoned by his “wife” and has probably lost all contact with his Vet Group. With his problems with the IRS his finances have probably all been seized. I cannot find even the slightest glimmer of hope.
Prayers at this point, while continuing, are not enough. I am praying for some Divine Intervention.
I’ve been checking for obits which might possibly be OFD. Still nothing.
I left messages with a couple VA hospitals, saying that I know they can’t tell me if they have a patient by such-and-such name but if they do, please tell him that such-and-such people would like to hear from him. No responses, but I have no idea if I got the right hospital, if they relayed the message, if OFD has internet access.
Yes I too am not too sure about OFD but hold out hope he is mostly just incommunicato right now. Not sure I ever felt he had much family support and mostly they were probably not aware of his online participation. Losing Jerry and Bob have been bad enough.
Unfortunately my long time boss is on his way out, now in hospice care. He was never my direct boss, just the CEO and major stockholder of the company. For the last several years he would call me whenever he needed computer help and usually after a quick fix spend an hour talking. At 90 years old he’s chosen not to under go treatment for cancer. Most likely a wise decision as he always was.
Speaking of pets we lost our 12 yo golden back in October. Rough on the whole family just before my daughter’s wedding. Still rough, best dog ever.
Vaccinations. Went to pharmacy today to pickup an rx and asked about flu shots. Wife’s been driving me nuts in spite of the reports of low effectiveness. They still had some and took less than 10 min and had a good talk with the pharmacist. Got the 4 level one with 2 national and 2 California strains. He said reports are all over the place and they are probably running between 20-50% working. Lots of people getting it and one women in her late 30s died locally. Avoiding sick people. Best just avoid all people.
Hoping OFD will pop up. Hoping for better news ahead and best wishes for Barbara and Colin.
@CowboySlim: Thanks for the update. The lack of response is certainly not encouraging.
My December 8th letter to Mrs Hardy at the hobbit house has drawn no response, either directly to me or here on this blog. In the opinion of the group, is a second attempt worthwhile?
“My December 8th letter to Mrs Hardy at the hobbit house has drawn no response, either directly to me or here on this blog. In the opinion of the group, is a second attempt worthwhile?”
IM(not s0)HO, not worthwhile. OTOH, I did not consider my attempt to contact yesterday as most likely, not worthwhile, but I went ahead anyway.
OK, here is my latest. I went to both my cardiologist and my urologist in the last week for my annual checkups and there were no concerns expressed. Anyway, at 79 anything can occur at any time. In anticipation, I will tell my daughter and her husband to inform this forum, with all my friends, when I am no longer to participate, to provide my status in an ongoing provision of information.
For those trying call about OFD, perhaps call the St. Albans Bay Post Office. He mentioned talking to the clerk there several times. Or his Vets group. I believe he posted here somewhere its’ location.
40F this morning and damp here in Houston. Our short reprieve from the cold seems to have ended. The apple trees will appreciate the cold, but I think the rest of us are ready for spring.
My long range forecast for the Land of Sugar says that we get an awesome week and then another arctic front is coming to start off February. Of course, who knows how good a ten day forecast it ?
https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/tx/richmond/77469?cm_ven=localwx_10day
I do wish that we could save a lot of these nice lows in the 40s and 30s for July, August, and September. That would make my nightly walks awesome all year round instead of in the 80s (F and humidity both) at 11pm.
I suspect that OFD has been moved to a VA nursing home and does not have wifi or Internet. Those VA nursing homes are pretty rough, the one I visited my FIL in several times always smelled of urine. He moved himself to a nicer nursing home in less than six months. Of course, compared to a hundred years ago, any nursing home of today is nice.
“For a man who never left the house he touched a lot of lives.”
The first words I would use to describe Bob are: “selfless, mentor, teacher, advisor”. He had very strong opinions but never held anything against anyone who respectfully disagreed with him.
My interactions with him, both on this site and via e-mail were always informative and often enlightening.
A great man who will be greatly missed.
I think a second attempt is worth it. OFD said his wife is very casual with the mail and bills, she might not have seen it or opened it yet. She may be in major avoidance mode if she’s distraught with Dave’s illness.
My christmas card was not returned… I did change the text from “hey you don’t know me but we’re worried about Dave”, to normal Xmas greetings since we’d just heard from him at that point.
n
The get better soon card (with kittens photo) that I sent to OFD did not come back. I suspect that his wife is not highly organized and tends to ignore things like that.
Good cleaning and ensuring no dust particles before application has worked for me.
Like Ray, I have stopped using screen protectors (but not a thin TPE style case – find most phones too slippery without one). When I used to use them I would run a hot shower and steam up the bathroom and apply in there – supposedly the steamy air dealt with the dust particles (ymmv).
Would a screen protector have the same oleophobic coating as the factory screen? The one that makes your finger glide so smoothly?
n
@nick
The screen protectors I use are quite slick, and don’t appear to show finger marks very readily.
Shiny….but doesn’t affect the display visibility.
“California Democrats want some businesses to fork over half tax-cut savings to state”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/22/california-democrats-want-some-businesses-to-fork-over-half-tax-cut-savings-to-state.html
“Calling the Trump administration’s tax reform plan a “middle-class tax increase,” two California lawmakers introduced a bill that would force large companies to fork over half of their expected savings to the state.”
Oh California, you were once the shining light to our nation. What happened to you ?
Rob Reiner and Jerry Brown. We really are the land of fruits and nuts.
I think a second attempt is worth it. OFD said his wife is very casual with the mail and bills, she might not have seen it or opened it yet. She may be in major avoidance mode if she’s distraught with Dave’s illness.
ISTR that OFD was friendly with one of his next-door neighbors, a former IBM employee. Does anyone remember OFD mentioning his name? While it may be feasible to discover the house numbers on either side of the hobbit house and send letters to both, addressing them to “Occupant” would likely just get them round-filed.
Hmm. “Former IBM Employee”–I think I may have answered my own question. 😀
And I suppose a letter directed to the SAB Postmistress might also yield results.
Added: Before SteveF suggests “Father of Wallyhogs”, that’s just not gonna happen! 🙂
I suspect that OFD has been moved to a VA nursing home and does not have wifi or Internet.
I was talking to my BIL about guillain barre syndrome and OFD’s diagnosis. He has first hand experience working a nursing home as a traveling nurse where a young man was dropped with GBS and left to die (San Antonio). His parents came daily for a year, massaging him, talking to him and turning him ’cause the staff were negligent. He woke up after a year and fully recovered.
My outlook for OFD is he’s coming back.
Well, I take that.
n
and now perchance to dream….
n
Well, I will lighten the mood up a little bit. My 76 year old mother had a clean scan today so she is still cancer free. She has stage 4 endometrial cancer and has been in remission for a year now. The doc is telling her and Dad that it is just a matter of time before it comes back but not this time !
Mom had me when she was 18 so she is one tough lady. She and dad have been married for 58 years. I am telling my middle brother on their 59th anniversary this summer that he has to put together their 60th anniversary party since he griped so much about the one I did for their 50th.
@lynn: Ah, revenge, a dish best served with…dunno, maybe chicken fried steak? Now there’s something I haven’t made in a while. When I’m no longer sick with this intestinal thing, I think I’ll cook up a round. My wife doesn’t like the white gravy – I’ll do some alternative for her – but the kids and I sure do…
Our goofy 15 year old dog just staggered out on his four wobbly stilts for his daily walk, wagging all the way. Amazing guy. I hope I age half as gracefully.
I’m slowly on the mend from this stupid intestinal flu I picked up. If it’s making the rounds out where you are, it’s worth avoiding if you can. Man, I haven’t felt so utterly sick in ages. Sure glad the end is in sight…
Oh California, you were once the shining light to our nation. What happened to you ?
The mid-80s amnesty deal and Pete Wilson’s piss-poor handling of Prop. 187.
Texas is the target of the next amnesty, now 10 years behind schedule. Fortunately, Texas Democrats continue to botch state-wide elections.
I still occasionally see “Stand With Wendy” stickers driving around Metro Austin. Down in Travis County, they don’t quite understand that the secret is to bang the rocks together.
Oh California, you were once the shining light to our nation. What happened to you ?”
The mid-80s amnesty deal and Pete Wilson’s piss-poor handling of Prop. 187
I remember that vividly. “Let’s do it just this once, because we can’t possibly deport 2 million illegal immigrants! We’ll close the border then, right away, trust us.”
Sadly, most people did. So now it’s 20 million illegal immigrants.
Right. Because there was no way it could be done.
Our goofy 15 year old dog just staggered out on his four wobbly stilts for his daily walk, wagging all the way. Amazing guy. I hope I age half as gracefully.
Cool ! I take my 15 year old dog on my nightly one mile walks. She starts out in her wagon, which I pull, and rides halfway before she wants out. The last couple of times, she has ridden 3/4 of the way. And then when we get home, she runs into the house jumping up and down about a half foot off the floor, demanding her treats. Go figure.
Here is the wagon that I pull her in. Works just fine for a mile. Any longer and I might want bigger wheels for less rolling resistance.
https://www.amazon.com/Mac-Sports-Collapsible-Folding-Outdoor/dp/B00BUUUIGK/