Day 4052

I used to own GameStop. I can't even remember how I acquired this stock, but I always thought it was a total dog and eventually sold it at a loss. Jeez. Who buys video games at a store anymore? Imagine my surprise when the stock went from 3 to over 300 in just a few days. Some kids on Reddit, cheered on by the likes of Elon Musk, decided to take down the short sellers and hedge funds and that's exactly what they did. Do I wish I'd held on to my shares a little longer? Maybe. It's a strange world we live in now. It's a little unsettling to see investing and sports betting converge, but I'll have to give these kids credit. I never liked the whole idea of short selling myself and always wondered why it was legal.

It was chilly today, but the skies were still blue and it was hard to complain about the weather. We walked Dawn earlier than usual because Janet had some things to do in the afternoon. I tried to give Dawn her second walk by myself later in the day, but Dawn was having no part of it. If Janet wasn't going, she wasn't either. I still follow the same trails where we used to take Dawn on a long walk. It's a nice walk and I still don't understand why Dawn doesn't like to do this anymore.

Wednesday has become the day I watch The Expanse. This won't last long because Series 5 is almost over, but for now it gives me something to do. I've watched Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, Farscape, Lexx, Firefly, and Dr. Who in the past. All these shows are kind of mindless and predictable, but so are Hallmark Movies. For now, The Expanse will have to do. I can't watch Dr. Who anymore. The writing is terrible.

I got a notice from my pharmacy today inviting me to schedule a vaccination. I went to the website and started filling out the application. I let them know I was over 65. I found a convenient location. I did all the steps until I got to the page where I was supposed to pick a date and time for my appointment. The entire months of January and February were greyed out and a note said there was no vaccine available yet. There wasn't even a place to leave your name. The page just said to try again later. Wouldn't it have been easier to just tell us this at the beginning? Why ask people to make an appointment when there is no opportunity to actually make an appointment? I don't think this appointment system is ready for prime time.

There were a bunch of small projects I was going to start today, but I didn't begin any of them. It's so easy to convince yourself that something can wait until tomorrow when it actually can wait until tomorrow. Last year I had some goals. It took me a year to get my story published in Sky & Telescope and almost as long to get press credentials at Kennedy Space Center. I had built up some some momentum but Covid has taken the wind out of my sails. What now? I've convinced myself that it would be stupid to travel at the moment. The virus is worse now than it was last April and with all these new variants cropping up, who's to say that the vaccine will even work on them? This is a time to find something that you really enjoy doing at home. Damn. I'm out of luck there.

Maybe I"ll start some of my small projects tomorrow. Maybe not though. Most of these projects are really just chores in disguise.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day