Sunday, August 2nd, 2020
For today I had this plan to head to Lake Arrowhead again for a day of fun, sun and swimming. Alas, EM on Friday already let it be known that she did not think she would have time. She had taken yesterday of from school-work and other duties and as a result needed to focus on math. Thankfully, I had had the foresight to book a one-hour lap swim at the Bethesda Pool a week ago, thinking we might just not show up if we went to the lake.
Between a double course load for summer school, dive practice an her babysitting job she has very little time for anything else and she is beginning to feel it. She is looking for a different family to babysit with, as the current brat is not only a piece of work, but six hours three times a week is proving to be too much. In the current environment there is no shortage of opportunities and a single mum with a nine year old daughter has reached out to her to see if she can do 2-4 hours a few days a week. This seem far more reasonable so she will meet the family tomorrow and then decide.
I do admit, I like her being out of the house a few hours a day. It is nice to have the place to myself. Not that she is in any way a bother, as we keep to our separate quarters and pursue our respective work. It is just a different feel to the house if I am all alone. In that sense the new work arrangement with Jennifer working Monday afternoons and Friday's all day is a real relieve; we are just all to close together.
I am sure EM feels the same and is not at all sad on the nights I head out to Aikido practice and she has free reign of the house; sadly at this stage it is one night a week only. Hopefully that will change soone rather than later. If not with my crowd, there may be opportunities with the folks over at Butternut.
Because we ended up not going anywhere, the day was spend mooching around the house. I fixed a dress, attended to my sewing box, an item I inherited from my grandmother which need some screws redone, clipping the roses, refilling the bird bath, which someone had yet again upset overnight, reading and cooking. Just as I was settling in to finish “The Warmth of Other Suns” friends from Bonn called. Apparently (not that I remember) I had given them an apple tree when they moved into their house in Cologne. The tree moved with them to Bonn, where it found a permanent home in the garden rather than a pot and today – twenty years later – they harvested the first apple, which was the occasion for the call.
Just as I had hung up my friend Danielle’s brother called. We had arranged to speak at 14:00, I had just lost track of time, to discuss expanding his business, of vaccinating fish, to Africa. I think I might be able to help with a few connections, beyond that aquaculture and fish vaccines are new territory for me. Then again it never hurts to help and who knows what may come of it as all of us thin “quo vadis”?
In the same spirit I spend an hour or so writing to my corporate leadership buddy who will be relocating from Dubai to DC and who is trying to figure out schooling for his 9th grader. Apart from the fact that this is probably the worst time to be moving to this country, I have been there and done that, so can offer some hopefully useful insights.
Relocating to the US our employer offers surprisingly little help and there is a certain sequence to things one needs to follow to get established. Firstly, people like us need to get register with the State Department. Secondly, we need to get a social security number. Thirdly, we need a legal address with two proofs that this is where we reside, and a lease to sign our children up for school.
EM and I ended the day with a one-hour swim, so while not productive, a good day.
Corona continues to spread across the USA, now moving to the Midwest. Confirmed cases stand at 4.75 million of the worldwide registered cases of 17.9 million with ~1200 new death every day. While the situation in this country is frustrating, not only because of the mismanaged pandemic control, but also the defunding of the postal system and a president sowing mistrust in the electoral system, there are people out there fighting very real battles caused by the Virus. For instance, I never thought about industries like circuses and the effect the virus has on the traveling folks. This is a happy, sad story of a circus stuck in Honduras, which managed to make its way back home to Guatemala. The read is a nice diversion, but also shows how uncertain life can and will be until there is a viable treatment or vaccine.
In Europe the virus is resurfacing as people relax their diligence, getting lax about wearing masks and socially distancing. Again, the same old story. The difference between Europe and the US is the scale. In the US daily new infections have plateaued at roughly 67k per day. In all of Europe total new infections are ~6000 and already partial lock downs are in place in the most affected areas. I wonder if people would behave differently if the virus were visible in the air, on the skin and on surfaces? 🦠
I also came across a students view on school reopening. It is interesting that students seem to have a better understanding of risks and returns than the administration has. I verified the view with the teen in residence and she thinks the same. She assured me that she would very much like to go back to school in person, but understands the risks so is willing to take one for the team and return to virtual school. How come 17-year-olds’ get this, when mostly white middle aged men do not?
I am convinced that if in any way possible, the administration will instrumentalize a vaccine for the upcoming election. In fact, I do not trust the vaccine developed by Moderna one bit, especially because the orange agent pushes it so much. Moderna creates a hype around its progress with press releases, but none of its results so far have been peer reviewed and the vaccine has only been tested on some 40 people.So, concerns expressed in this article are more than valid. If Moderna has a vaccine deployed in phase 3 trials in the next two month, I am certain the moron in chief will pressure the FDA to give it a license before the November elections, just so the Orange Cheeto can claim to have found a cure, whether or not it is safe and effective will be of no importance. Pray the FDA can hold its ground to go through due process for licensing and testing. Given the track record on medical recommendations coming from the WH resident, e.g. injecting bleach, shining UV lights up one’s A and use of hydroxychloroquine all proven to be ineffective if not deadly in connection with COVID, anything he promotes I would distrust. And Moderna especially given the CFO assigned himself a nice subsidy while in the administration.