Posted inCoronavirus Home life

The poetry of field mowing in our coronavirus era

I'm no poet. Far from it. But I guess I have some poetic inclinations. Just look at the title of this blog post. It's got "poetry" right there in the damn title! Anyway, what poetry really means to me is feeling something subtly indistinct, yet decidedly real, in an everyday activity. Today that activity was doing some mowing of open areas on our ten acres in rural south Salem, Oregon.  l use a walk-behind DR Field Mower with the lawn mower attachment. I used to put on the field mower attachment once a year to cut grass after it had…
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Posted inCoronavirus

Oregon looking good on the COVID-19 front

Today there were some positive mentions of how Oregon is doing in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. This should encourage Oregonians to keep on with physical distancing (better term than social distancing), as hard as this is on both people and businesses. In the White House coronavirus briefing, Dr. Birx, the White House coronavirus coordinator, praised Oregon, Washington, and California for the good job they're doing.  I recall that she was referring to cases per 100,000 population, but that figure depends on the amount of testing each state is doing, which varies a lot. Deaths per 100,000 population as…
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Posted inCoronavirus

In this COVID-19 era, let’s worry less about online ads

My wife, Laurel, has become a quasi-expert in how to use Zoom for online meetings. She's paid for an account that allows for unlimited meeting time, rather than the 40 minute limitation on the basic free plan. I've taken part in one of the three meetings Laurel has hosted. Zoom works well, though since people are new to it, typically the first part of the meeting is filled with "can you hear me?," "unmute yourself," and other sorts of how does this work talk. And since we live in a rural'ish area with crappy DSL, our broadband connection is slow,…
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Posted inCoronavirus

Oregon forecasted to have 469 COVID-19 deaths by August

Tomorrow it appears that the Trump administration will discuss the models they've been using to predict the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. But a Washington Post story about the coronavirus modeling says that a University of Washington researcher, Chris Murray, independently has been preparing forecasts for both the United States as a whole and each state that came up with similar results as the Trump administration model. Debbie Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said that federal scientists reviewed a dozen different models for how this pandemic might play out before constructing…
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Posted inCoronavirus Health

How to strengthen your immune system — advice from New Scientist

When I got the mail today and plopped the current issue of New Scientist, a British magazine, on a table, almost right away my wife started reading the cover story, "You're only as young as your immune system." (Online version has different title, "How to fight infection by turning back your immune system's clock.") That's the effect of the coronavirus pandemic. Suddenly almost everybody is concerned about their ability to fight off the virus, especially people over 70 like my wife and me, along with those with compromised immune systems and/or underlying health conditions.  It's a good cover story. So…
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Posted inCoronavirus Salem

Why we can feel good about living in Salem during the COVID-19 pandemic

It's difficult to maintain a positive attitude these days, given the constant reminders of the COVID-19 outbreak here in Oregon and just about everywhere else in the world. (Except Antarctica. So far.) So I thought I'd dredge the corners of my mind for reasons we're fortunate to be living in Salem right now, rather than somewhere else. Of course, I readily admit that some of what follows is by no means unique to Salem. But since I'm not in those other places, but here, I'm including those bits of positivity anyway. (1) Just the right size. I'd hate to be…
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Posted inCoronavirus Salem

Grocery shopping in Salem in the Coronavirus Era

Here's a report from the front lines of people venturing out to do some grocery shopping in what I've come to think of as the Coronavirus Era.  By "people," I basically mean me. But I'll start with a second-hand report from my wife, Laurel, who headed out in the morning in a (futile) search for toilet paper and facial tissue. Laurel was staring at the completely empty shelves where toilet paper used to be at the south Salem Fred Meyer store. A man walked up and said, "Wow, what happened to the toilet paper?" Naturally she said that it was…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Health

I’m not wearing gloves because of cold, but of old (COVID-19)

With fairly warm weather coming to western Oregon next week, I want to explain why I'll be wearing gloves when I go grocery shopping, enter a coffee shop, or am in other public places. As should be obvious, it isn't because I'm cold, but because I'm old -- and thus more susceptible to the nastier effects of COVID-19, or coronavirus. My wife, Laurel, is in the same situation, except a bit more so, since she has asthma and COVID-19 attacks the respiratory system. Today Amazon delivered four pairs of these oh-so-trendy gloves that Laurel ordered for me. (Via Amazon I'm…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Health

My thoughts about the coronavirus outbreak

Yeah, there's other stuff going on in the world right now other than the coronavirus. But since my mind is filled to overflowing with thoughts about this rapidly evolving tragedy, I figure I might as well do a brain dump into this blog post. So in no particular order... (1) Feel for us old folks, America. My wife and I are both over 70 by a year or two. So we're doomed! If we get infected. Well, maybe not mortally doomed, though this is possible, but likely we'll suffer more than younger folks. Yet the empty shelves of hand sanitizer,…
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Posted inHome life Web/Tech

Apple can’t tell me why my MacBook Pro Touch Bar stops working

OK, of all the problems in the world right now -- which includes the coronavirus pandemic -- having the Touch Bar stop working on my almost brand-new 16 inch MacBook Pro ranks fairly low. But it's still irritating. That black strip at the top of my keyboard is where the Touch Bar is supposed to light up. offering all kinds of nifty shortcuts, along with basic controls like changing the volume and brightness. For three years the Touch Bar on my 13 inch MacBook Pro that I bought in 2016 worked perfectly. However, the keyboard had the dreaded problem where…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Health

Pros and cons of being a 70-something white guy these days

Well, it was fun while it lasted... being a 71 year-old white guy. For a while recently, I was exulting in the ascendance of my 70-something peers in the Democratic primary. Bernie Sanders: 78 years old Joe Biden: 77 years old Mike Bloomberg: 78 years old Woo-hoo! The three most viable candidates left standing (albeit shakily) were white guys even older than me. Yes, Elizabeth Warren was still in the race for a while after Bloomberg dropped out, but by that time it was clear that Sanders and Biden were going to duke it out for the Democratic nomination. It…
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Posted inHome life

Toilet paper seems to be big concern of coronavirus worriers

I have breaking news on how people are dealing with the coronavirus here in Salem! And it isn't fake news, though I have to admit  it isn't real news either -- kind of in-between. My research, using that word as loosely as possible, consisted of my usual Monday afternoon grocery shopping excursions to Trader Joes, the Fred Meyer on south Commercial, and LifeSource Natural Foods. The only obvious sign of coronavirus frenzy was at Fred Meyer, where I observed some decidedly empty shelves in certain parts of the store. Notably... the toilet paper area. It was shopped bare, aside from…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Health Home life

Good news is, I don’t have a blood clot. Bad news is, Trump still is president.

Being an ardent progressive in election year 2020 means that I'm prone to view everything through the lens of what it means for the prospect of making Trump a one-term president this November.  Yes, even being tested to rule out a blood clot in my right leg -- which occurred yesterday. A bit over a week ago I had a physical therapy visit to get some advice on what to do about annoying leg pain. When Michael, the therapist, asked me what caused the pain, I gave this 30-something guy my 71-year-old perspective on health problems like this one. "Michael,…
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Posted inSalem

After criticizing its construction, Salem Health Rehab Center helps my sore leg

My right leg has been really painful, so yesterday I got a physical therapy referral from my family doctor. The letter said that I'd been referred to Orthopedic Physical Therapy at 755 Mission Street. I'd never heard of that name, and I couldn't remember any physical therapy clinic near that address. All became clear when I called the phone number on the referral. I'd been referred to the Salem Health Rehabilitation Center that was constructed a few years ago. Amazingly, I was offered an appointment with Michael that very afternoon. (Must have been a cancellation.)  "Do you know where we…
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Posted inHome life

My recipe for a fully satisfying car buying experience

Last Friday, one week ago today, I had one of the best car buying experiences of my life. And since I'm 71, I've had a lot of experience with buying cars, many of them frustrating. Before I share the recipe that was used to cook up my purchase of a 2020 Subaru Crosstrek Limited, here's the final product in all of its "cool gray khaki" glory sitting in our driveway's turnaround area. (Note: I agree that the color is cool, but it sure isn't gray, nor khaki.) Basic ingredients are simple:PatienceGood salespersonGood sales manager I contributed the patience, after deciding…
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Posted inEntertainment

Sexy Super Bowl halftime show by J. Lo and Shakira offends some, but not me

Call me courageous -- Brian, you're so brave! -- but I've got to take an outspoken stand on yesterday's Super Bowl halftime show featuring Jennifer Lopez, a.k.a. J. Lo, and Shakira. I am unabashedly in favor of beautiful women wearing as little as possible during a musical performance, and dancing in a sexually provocative manner. There. I said it. Let the .000001% of men who disagree with me take me to task, along with the almost equally small percentage of women who believe that female performers should cover themselves demurely on stage, and dance as if a Puritan God was…
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Posted inHealth

How a doctor’s waiting room suddenly turned pleasant

Almost always, in my experience, a doctor's waiting room has a funereal feel to it. Just about everybody sitting in the chairs is there because they've got some sort of medical issue, which isn't exactly a cause for joy. And if people were feeling good when they entered the waiting room, generally they soon understand why it's got the word waiting in its name.  But yesterday was different. Here's why. My wife had gone with me to an appointment I had at a clinic here in Salem. We arrived a few minutes early for my 1:50 pm appointment. After checking…
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Posted inBooks

The Unwinding of the Miracle — a marvelous book about cancer and courage

At age 37, Julie Yip-Williams was diagnosed with terminal metastatic colon cancer, a very rare disease for someone her age. It took me a long time to finish reading the book she wrote about her journey from diagnosis to death, The Unwinding of the Miracle. I'm not sure why. Maybe because... i have a fear of death; I have my own chronic medical problem, albeit much milder and not fatal;  her blunt honesty was both appealing and appalling, given that I, or anyone, could fall prey to a fatal diagnosis at any time. At any rate, after I finished the…
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Posted inEntertainment

Why my wife and I are hooked on The Morning Show

Since my male ego is so small, a fact I'm tremendously proud about, I readily admit that my wife was right. Laurel kept saying, we should start watching The Morning Show, and I kept responding, but the reviews I've read haven't been very positive. Well, we've been firing up Apple TV+ almost every night since taking our first plunge into The Morning Show, and now we're both enthralled by this compelling drama.  Rotten Tomatoes has it right. Critics aren't wild about the series. But viewers love it. Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon are indeed great in their roles. So are…
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