What a BuzzKill

I’ll admit it: I’ve had a few drinks tonight.

I then made the mistake of browsing Facebook and when I read a reply to a post saying “Those masks have tens of thousands of little holes already” in regards to the use of cloth masks to slow the spread of COVID-19, I about lost it. So since I can say whatever the fuck I want here, I’m posting my response to get it off my chest…

“Uh hahahahahahahahahahahaha yep. But a mask will definitely slow the force of your breath and coughs, thus reducing (that’s the key word: “REDUCING” come on, say it with me, then look it up in the dictionary, if you’re still confused) the distance it can travel, and the chance of spread of whatever germs you may be carrying. This, applied to everyone, will mean collectively (I know, I keep using the HUGE words) the risk of people who are infected, even if they’re asymptomatic (crap, I can’t help it! This English language just has so many of these hard-to-understand-words!!! Look that one up, too OK?), from spreading this novel (I’ll save you yet another trip to that dictionary this time, it means: “NEW, NEVER SEEN BEFORE”) virus to others. See, you simpleton, it’s not about 100% blocking you from getting infected or others being blocked 100% from getting infected, it’s about REDUCING THE CHANCES. If you look at large enough numbers, the reduction (that means “the lessening of something” by the way) of infected cases dramatically falls and less people die from – or have to suffer life-long health issues as a result of – contracting COVID-19. If this concept is too difficult for you to understand then you should step away from the conversation entirely, as you are sorely ill-equipped to contribute to it in any meaningful way. Good day, sir!”

This type of post might become more common in the future.

I have to say that there is a heck of a lot of change going on in my life right now. At times it can feel almost overwhelming. Most of it is good, which is nice. You’ll have to settle for this vague post for now. At some point all will be revealed.

_{This entry is shifting daily.}

Our office got a call from one our clients today reporting a problem. We checked and quickly learned that their Internet connection was down. Nam took the call and immediately went to their office to help them get it back up.

15 minutes later, I get an email from one of the other users in their office:

Subject: Internet not working

Message: Our internet is not working

Obviously Nam was successful in quickly restoring their connection.

I replied back to the user to let them know that a phone call was the best way to report loss of internet, since an email won’t get sent until their internet connection is restored.

_{This entry got a good chuckle.}

Week 1 of 52 has passed and I’ve taken at least one picture a day and uploaded it to my 365 Day Flickr set. I’m slowly working on expanding what I do with my photos and have been happy with what I’ve come up with so far. What’s been a (pleasant) surprise to me is how much easier this project feels than the previous Month of Pictures project did.

Here are my favorites from week one:

One thing I find that I’m fighting is my tendency to (over)use familiar techniques and post-processing effects. So it’ll be interesting to see what I can come up with over the next 51 weeks.

_{This entry has caught the shutter bug!}

Tomorrow we’ll be taking off on another road trip. This time we’ll be driving up the northern California coast and almost all of the Oregon coast (we may skip Astoria, but who knows?).

I have to say that it’s been difficult for me to focus this week. My thoughts often wander into daydreams of walking in the Redwood Forests or staring out to sea from some lush-green vista.

Without a doubt, I’ll be snapping a lot of pictures along the way. I’ve added a few things to my camera bag – which is also new. So I’ll be better prepared to take a wider variety of shots this time around.

Here’s the basic itinerary for our trip:

Friday afternoon/evening: leave work early and drive north as far as we can along the I-5 and find some place to stay once we start to get tired

Saturday: get off to an early start and drive through the Bay Area, continue north along the 101 – drive to the redwood forest and stay in a cabin

Sunday: morning drive through the redwoods and into Oregon – meet with some friends near Newport, Oregon for dinner and drinks, then stay in a hotel

Monday: drive north to Seaside, Oregon – stopping at a few places of interest along the way, check in to our suite for the next few nights

Tuesday & Wednesday: check out Seaside and find something interesting and/or relaxing to do around the area

Thursday & Friday: drive up to the Vancouver, Washington area and visit with Christine’s family – check out Portland

Saturday & Sunday: drive back home along the I-5 at a comfortable pace, stay some place along the way, check out anything we find interesting along the way

One thing that has bothered me on all of our trips so far is that I don’t take the time to write about it along the way. By the time I get back home I can’t remember all the small details and the feelings I felt are diminished from when I was actually in the moment – and I end up typing up an incredibly long post that is probably not as interesting to read. This trip I’ll have my laptop with me and I’ll do my best to try and blog, or at least prepare a blog post (when I don’t have Internet access) each day of the trip. Since I’m already in the habit of backing up my pictures to the laptop as I go, I’ll even try to post some pictures, too. We’ll see how it goes this time around.

_{This entry just can’t wait to get on the road again.}

I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of this Craigslist ad. Here’s an excerpt:

WAKE-UP: Wake up will be at 5:30am each morning. All ceiling lights in the suite will be turned on automatically.

LIGHTS OUT: Ceiling lights in the suite will be turned off at 11:30pm.

The ad has apparently been removed from Craigslist a few times and the poster just doesn’t get it.

_{This entry was considering some sexually deviant behavior.}

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhmIrM_CRGQ]

_{This entry giggled its ass off!}

NASA has officially announced that water has been discovered on Mars. This is exciting news!

_{This entry feels thirsty for some reason.}

This interesting article did little more than solidify my belief in how people (myself included) are becoming increasingly spoiled and self-important. I’m not in the mood to discuss my views about this right now, but if you have a few minutes, take the time to read the article.

_{This entry is a little sore from hiking yesterday.}

Over the past week I’ve received a few emails from family members asking if we were being impacted by the fires. I suppose that with news headlines like “Southern California is Burning” from news organizations looking to grab a few more eyeballs, it may sound as though all of SoCal were a charred ember.

The fact is that the fires started around and mainly consumed open/ wilderness/ forested areas and homes within or bordering those areas. I live in the middle of a very suburban area, so it’s highly unlikely that a wildfire will overtake us. We’re probably more likely to get hit by “The Big One” earthquake and/or slide off into the ocean. Okay, probably not that remote of a chance, but I’m just saying. Fine … I don’t know what I’m saying.

The only real effect the fires had on us was from all the soot in the air, which made eyes itch and sinuses irritated. I imagine that people with allergies experienced more problems, but thankfully I’m not one of them.

Today is Halloween, in case you’re stupid and didn’t already know this, so I’ve been kicking around the idea of dressing up tonight. Either way, I’ll be accompanying Rece, Sam, and some of Sam’s friends for trick-or-treating. Maybe I’ll wear that dress again …

_{This entry uses sound scientific methodology in order to reach its opinions.}