I know about 7 people in NY metro who are down with Omicron right now. All vaxxed and boosted, several with second booster, all very sick. All had loosened up on precautions, but not extremely so. One of them, a 30 year old woman with MS, had Omicron 9 weeks ago, and she is down with it again and having to go straight to monoclonal antibodies.
Here in SoCal, you'd think there never was a pandemic to begin with. Every store I go into I am the only person in a mask except in an Asian market, where many continue to do so (but not all). Even restaurant servers are unmasked and now ungloved also.
My daughter, who works in a sandwich shop, was vaxxed but not boosted. She took every precaution and still came down with Omicron a couple of months ago. It was like a bad cold for her, but still...
Fingers crossed that Moderna & Pfizer can update their vaccines in time for Fall. My understanding is Moderna is already in trials on the update.
@laura-f Thanks for your input, I am still getting August for when COVID becomes endemic.
So I was reading through various threads here and such and there is talk of aliens and also like Atlanteans and such things. And okay, I am a huge fan of Atlantis and such, but I can't really see Atlantis being a real place still surviving in the modern day. I was just curious on what people think about that.
Now I am not saying "well we can't see it so its not true" obviously, as I know there is more to this world than what we can see. More to humans then the concrete. But I do think that there is some sort of balance point. And secret atlanteans walking among us kind of stretches things.
As a note, I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this. But at least two people, if not more, in my life, at radically different times, and with no knowledge of each other said that there was something about about that stopped certain bad forces from manifesting when I was around. One guy pointed to a corner of a cafeteria and said "so there is something that inhabits there but whenever you are present it is never seen" and years later at a theater I worked with a person says "you know, its funny, but when you are in the concession stand the being that inhabits the area never shows up" out of nowhere.
So yeah, I'm just curious on what people here honestly think about such topics.
Hey there loungers!
No major things to report other than some random life stuff I'll share with you all.
Our new roof: It's looking nice, though - I'm now frustrated because it is costing an extra $5K because... you guessed it, the previous owners of this house didn't do the roof correctly. Apparently, there were parts of our roof with no roof at all (modern shingles patchwork quilted onto cedar shingles that were nailed down at the base but not to anything else!) and parts of our roof with so many shingles the contractor was surprised our house hadn't collapsed in on itself. That's now taken care of, and they say they'll finish the job tomorrow! Yay!
But seriously the metal shingles? They look amazing, and we're so happy we'll never have to worry about our roof again (70 year warranty on this, hence the incredibly hefty price tag. When the warranty is up I'll be 113 and I have no intention of living past 109.)
You'll recall that I was going to buy an eBike. Well it had been so long that I forgot all about it. Low and behold the day after spending an extra $5K on my roof that I wasn't intending to spend, I get to now spend more money. But this is exciting because I'll finance it and then pay it off in August when all the summer work I'm doing for my mentor gets paid for. And in the long run I know both the roof AND the bike will save us money.
But man, that wallet hit today! If I were still in my 20s I'd be crying right now. Those of you who haven't gotten there yet, your 40s are where things finally start making sense and you can have the occasional emergency.
Hope all is well!
@dannyboy OKay. That’s two posts in a row that made me smile tonight.
And something else, about that metal roof, I bet it reflects sunlight back into space, rather than absorbing it into the house, which, if true, is a very good and essential thing in the age of climate change. Especially if it is going going to last until 2092.
@jeanne-mayell I'm overall very excited about this new home improvement - just not excited about the extra monthly payment :-)
Glad I could make you smile! Sometimes the hits come and I get pulled under for awhile. Othertimes I'm able to see the humor right out of the gate. The words "bizarre luck magic" coming from the contractor made me giggle.
Light and love friends!
@dannyboy That's wonderful news... I am looking at getting a metal roof on my house soon too. I love the sound of rain on a tin roof!! Though vast improvements have been made in the roofing now. There is a lot of information to digest and research here!
https://www.georgiametals.com/products/metal-roofing
Who knew you could get such wide choices now!!!
First things first tho... I have to address a foundation issue and install some French drains first.
AS my Dad used to say " I don't have more... I just owe more " LOL
@journeywithme2 Ours look like shingles which was another thing we really liked about them. Really, once we priced asphalt and realized in 15 years we'd be doing asphalt again (at an increased cost because nothing ever goes back down in price) it was a no brainer to do metal now while we are still working vs being retired, and to never have to worry about this again. But that initial price tag was a gut punch. The company we went with was a little pricier but they offered a better product (and are a company that has been around a long time with excellent reviews - that was important to us too) and despite the surprises, which were not their fault, we're happy!
@dannyboy Yes.. for mine? The cost would run 7-12 dollars a square foot depending and at 1096 sq ft that's about 8-13 k. so.. bug outlay up front for security and savings down the road.
First priority tho is to address the foundation issues and the French drains here on this slope my house is on.
I'm here to work my morning shift at the Rooftop Revolving Lounge. Just wanted everyone to know that I hopped out of bed this morning and onto Artemis (my e-Bike's name... my Jeep Cherokee is Apollo so I really only had one choice in name for his sister!) and did my 12.5 mile jaunt to work. It took me about 38 minutes and let me tell you - that pedal assist makes all the difference in the world.
A few years back I drove my non e-bike to my mother in law's, about 4 miles from work and biked in. Most of that leg of the journey was fine because it was flat, but - there's a hill right before work that is obscenely steep (even though it doesn't look like it) I didn't make it, and I had to have a coworker drive me home. I haven't attempted to bike it since.
But this morning I was like - I'm doing it. And do it I did. The pedal assist on the eBike completely leveled that hill. And all the hills in from my house to my mother in law's (TO my mother in law's is about 8 miles. From there it's 4 to work) were nothing either. I got to work and cleaned up in the bathroom and now my bike is charging nicely next to me while I work.
The green panniers are great because they hold a TON of stuff. I had all my work stuff on one side (laptop in a sleeve, some files I need to work on today, and my portable hard drive with side projects) and on the other I had a change of clothes, the charger (I didn't want to risk running out of battery) and some food because I had a feeling I was going to be ravenous when I got to work.
Basically, just a post to tell you all I saved $5.19 today by biking to work. Bonus: I ate the donut in the office because... if I burned 800 calories going in as my watch suggests, it means there's another 800 on the way out :P. This bike was worth the cost and I'm hoping to bike to work every April-June, and August-November during a normal school year.