Day 3878

I got asked to join a Zoom reunion with some old classmates today. Hmm. I've never used Zoom. I've heard about Zoom meetings on the news, but I don't even have the application on my computer. I have no desire to install it either. I guess I'm officially a Luddite. I have no interest whatsoever in this sort of thing. I'm glad I retired well before Zoom meetings became mandatory in a post-pandemic world. Jeez. I didn't even like conference calls years ago. Why would you want to add a camera to a conference call?

We got started on our morning walk in the dark again. It's weird walking this early. There aren't many people out, but we certainly aren't alone in the park. Cyclists seem to get an earlier start than joggers. The main reason we take a flashlight is so these guys won't mow us down in the dark. Cyclists are relentless and don't slow down for anything. Before the sky started to lighten, we saw what looked like an odd, very slow bicycle moving in the distance. As we got closer, we realized that what looked like bicycle wheels were actually two dogs with red lights on their collars and the third light we thought was a rider was a lighted bracelet on the wrist of the woman walking the dogs. When joggers started to appear on the trails, many of them had little LED lights on their arms and legs as well. Some of the lights were red and green as if the joggers were trying to emulate the port and starboard lights on boats. Maybe Janet and I are even Luddites about walking in the dark. All we had was a flashlight.

My days continue to be slow and uneventful. Maybe this is why blog readership has gone down. Nothing to see here. Very few people read blogs anyway. They're all out doing podcasts and having Zoom meetings. Even some of my space and astronomy friends have their own podcasts now. When did things change? I remember when blogs were very popular. Lots of people used to write blogs. Of course I remember when everything on the Internet was just text because it took too much bandwidth to send a picture. I wonder if Usenet news groups still exist? There were thousands of groups and not a single picture among them. Those were the days. Luddites tend to be nostalgic. We long for manual typewriters, film cameras, and those old brick cell phones.

When we walk really early, we've noticed that the ducks and geese are typically on the water. Later, when the sun comes up they return to the shore. This makes me wonder what the ducks do at night. Do they swim around all night? Are they nocturnal like the coyotes? I guess this will always be a mystery. I'm certainly not going down to the park at midnight to investigate.

Tomorrow I get a haircut. It's about time. I haven't had a haircut since last March. If this goes well I might start going to the gym again. I'm still very careful and tend to avoid people altogether, but this virus is going to be with us for a long time. We've all got to figure out what kind of risk we can tolerate. I'll take one of the good masks with me tomorrow. The masks I wear to the grocery store and get gas are basically worthless.

I've taken the trash out to the curb and am ready for another early morning walk. There are no Friday morning breakfast restaurant outings anymore. Such is life in the new normal.

Margo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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