Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Day 3967 - Election Day

Good grief. There's a bird flying around inside my office. How the hell did a bird get inside the house? Janet didn't want Dawn to notice the bird, so she shut the door to the office, leaving me inside to deal the bird. How do you reason with a bird? I opened as many windows as I could, but the bird wasn't very smart. It kept flying into walls and knocking things off shelves instead. Eventually, it flew into a bathroom adjacent to the office and sat on my electric toothbrush. It also started pooping. I opened the one bathroom window that wasn't jammed shut and closed the door. You'd think the bird would immediately fly out the window, but it took quite a while. I was afraid that when I opened the door again there would be a possum sitting in the bathroom with the bird. Everything ended well when the bird finally discovered the window and flew away. I still have no idea how it got inside the house.

Today's big event was a routine doctor's appointment. If you ever see a doctor for anything, they'll want to see you again and again on an annual basis. If they prescribed medication for you,  you basically have to see them again to get your prescription renewed. It's interesting how doctors choose to deal with the coronavirus. Some continue to operate more or less normally, while others tend to look at patients like they just arrived from Chernobyl. This clinic ran a tight ship. You had to check-in online before your visit. A nurse took your temperature and asked you a bunch of questions before they let you in the front door. There was only one person in the lobby at a time. I don't know how they scheduled this, but they did a pretty good job. I wore one of my Chinese KN-95 masks and imagined wearing the thing on a three hour flight to Florida. These are the same masks I see a lot of doctors and pharmacists wear, but they are hard to breathe through. I hope the genuine 3-M N-95 masks I ordered are better.

You'd never know it was election day. There are several polling sites in our neighborhood, but I didn't see any lines anywhere. Early voting is popular in Texas and I have a feeling that most people have already voted. I voted, but I won't be staying up late to watch the results. Somebody is going to win and I will adjust accordingly. I've seen plenty of bad presidents in my lifetime and somehow life goes on. Those of you who think the world is going to end if your candidate doesn't win are probably wrong. The world will end, but it will be something you never even thought of that seals our fate.

I can't remember a nicer Fall. We've been having beautiful weather this year. There have been a few rainy day, but mostly it's been clear skies with temperatures in the 60's and 70's. I can see why Dawn likes this weather. I'm kind of enjoying being outdoors myself. I should have mowed the grass today, but it's getting harder and harder to complete more than one task per day. With two long walks, leisurely meals, and a blog to write there isn't a lot of time for anything else.

If I don't hear from NASA soon, I'm going to have to make my reservations anyway. I'm trying to avoid this, because it almost guarantees that I'll have to change them later. I'm still excited to be attending a launch again, but Covid restrictions take a lot of the fun away. There are so many things that I did on previous trips that are off the table now. I'm sure the article I end up writing for SpaceFlight Magazine will be as much about the virus as about the launch. That's just the world we live in now. 

I need to go look for a dehumidifier tomorrow. I'll probably end up ordering something online, but I like to see what I'm ordering. I might go looking for a new carry-on bag too. I've got to streamline how I go through TSA checkpoints. It takes too long now to open up my bags for these guys. The only thing I know for sure is that we'll be walking with Dawn tomorrow morning. I sure hope only one bird got in the house. I'd hate to wake up and find another bird flying around in the dark tonight. Oh, well. At least it wasn't a bat that got into the house.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day


Watch of the Day