the unfeverish

As with most workplaces that are open and operating, ours has a check-in station just inside the front entrance.  Sign in, take your temperature, declare yourself hale and hearty, don the daily facemask, etc...

One day last week, I went through the usual morning screening.  The thermometer indicated my temperature at 94.6F, which has been pretty typical lately.  A nurse happened to be following me in, and he noticed my sign in.  

"You should get that up to at least 96.0. 94.6 seems inaccurate."

Oh, okay, I'll just turn my heat dial a little more to the right.  What did he mean, "get that up"??  Like I can just regulate my body temperature on demand?  And what about "seems inaccurate"?  The company-provided thermometers are inaccurate, and somehow that's my fault? Was he asking me to lie on the sign-in sheet?  

I explained that I'd just ridden my bicycle in, and outside temps were in the low 20s, end of story.  I continued on in to work.  What was he gonna do, tackle me because my temperature was too low?  I kinda wish I'd asked him if he'd like me to lie about my temperature.  Yeah, that's what I shoulda said.

I'm recalling that now as I'm currently waiting for the outside temperature to "get up".  

I have an errand that I intend to run on my bicycle, but it's still quite chilly out. 


Come on, Earth.  Can't you get your Northern Hemisphere temperature up higher and faster?

Wolfgang borrowed one of our cars yesterday to go skiing.  His Jeep was having some work done at the shop, hence the borrowing.  He'd ridden his bicycle here on Saturday and left it when he got the car.  When he returned, it was dark, blustery, and cold out, so we loaded his bicycle into the car, and I gave him a ride back to his place.

After I returned home, we had the following long-winded text exchange:

Yep, we'd loaded up the bicycle but forgot the helmet - the helmet he'd intended to wear on his ride into work this morning.  Luckily, he has a spare helmet, so I plan to just deliver the left-behind sometime today once it gets warmer.  

But that pic... does the helmet look rather tiny to you?  I've noticed that effect a few times before when I've taken photos at arm's length of something I'm holding.  The thing I'm holding looks tinier than in real life.  

To me, this maybe looks like a helmet for a baby.  Maybe I really am abnormally inaccurate, and that nurse has me pegged.

And yes, I realize the photo was not necessary to get my point across.  But I'm of the generation that doesn't text at lightning speed.  A pic and an "Oops" says it.  Use the technology, that's what it's for.

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Linking up (a little late) with Mama Kat for the prompt:
6. Pick up your phone, tell us about the last text exchange you had.

keeping watch

A friend of ours had just gotten a new mountain bike and was trying it out on some dirt trails near downtown. While he was practicing and trying to avoid crashing, he noticed a growing police presence in the area.  Soon, he figured he needed to get out of their way as it looked like something was going down.

Strangely, it seemed wherever he went, he saw more cops.  Eventually, one pulled him aside.

As I remember the story, the police were called about criminal activity in the area - the bad guy was on a bike.  They saw Jerome and figured he must be the bad guy because he was black.

At the time, we found the story amusing.  Jerome himself told it in a joking and animated way.  Jerome?  A criminal?  No freaking way!

This happened about 30 years ago and was so wrong then, but clearly, things have not changed.

It's outrageous to me that such racism is still so widespread in the U.S.


Last week, I cringed while watching the video of Amy Cooper freaking out and then making false accusations to the police about a black man asking her to leash her dog in Central Park NY.

She lost her job, she lost her dog, and claims her "whole life is being destroyed".  I have absolutely no sympathy for Amy Cooper.



Before that, video of Ahmaud Arbery shot dead while out for a run.  And, of course, George Floyd.  I can't unsee these videos, nor should I.  Yes, we're watching.  And we're recording.

I think back to Jerome.  No one had smart phones back then.  No such thing as video cameras in people's pockets and purses and backpacks. The police left Jerome alone after a few questions, but it could've easily gone much worse.

Last week, while working at the hospital (before the anti-racism protests erupted), we were talking about how it seemed there were more speed traps and police presence in town than usual.  Since I rarely drive, I hadn't noticed, but I saw similar grumblings on social media.

My coworker Em, the chef, told us that she's been stopped by cops six times for "driving while black".  No violations.  No tickets.  But pulled over six times.

I've been pulled over twice in my whole life (oops, forgot to put on the new registration sticker 😶)

Yesterday, I took Merlin to the vet for a check up and vaccinations.  Because of COVID-19 precautions, I met with the technicians in the parking lot, and they took Merlin inside while I waited outside.

We had walked to the vet's, so I hung out under some shady trees while strangely talking with the vet over the phone.

I was near an apartment complex and wondered if anyone would find it suspicious that a 50-something woman was seemingly just hanging around outside.

Nah, nothing suspicious there.

But if I was black...?

quieter than a library

Kids have been back to school for... what... 3 or 4 weeks. I'm still not used to how QUIET it is around here.

I had errands to run this morning. It's chilly, I had to wear the fleece (bicycling of course). First stop was the Post Office. The Post Office just freaks me out. I mean, everyone there is just so eerily NICE. What is up with that? And I don't mean the other patrons waiting in line, I mean the actual Postal employees.

Not only are they NOT grumpy, NOT apathetic, NOT robotic, but they are just downright pleasant and helpful and weirdly friendly. I would almost think it was a private for-profit biz rather than a government funded entity. No, it's not that government funded entities are just better here. I've been to the local DMV, and that's just as insensible as anywhere else.

Next stop was the library. I was picking up a couple of books from the hold shelf for a couple of my local slavedrivers. As I was doing so, there's a mom there with her young son. I'd say he was about 5 or 6. Mom is gabbing on her cell phone while doing something on one of the library computers. Meanwhile, Junior is rearranging the precisely alphabetized books on the hold shelf.

Then, THEN he takes the big letter things - those big lettered tabs that show where the books are as far as the alphabetizing goes - and starts pulling them out and sticking them in at random spots on the shelves.

Is it me or is that just wrong? Sure, there are worse things he could be doing while mom is choosing to be oblivious. Sure, there are worse things she could be ignoring while talking on a cell phone. Anyway, it bothered me.

Think I'll go back to the post office to feel better.
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