To-Do -> Done

A constructive start of the week ground to a halt today.  Monday - took the afternoon off and drove out and up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park to do the Hurricane Hill hike.  I've been there plenty of times before, and I think I've posted photos from there multiple times in this blog before, but it's still one of my favorite places to go with one of my favorite views in Washington State - once I've had a chance to go through my photos from this time, I'm sure I'll post some of these as well.  Tuesday - long overdue, but finally went to an opticians and got my eyes re-examined.  Even with all the flashy expensive equipment they were using to test everything they could on my eyes, ultimately it seems my prescription hasn't really changed over the last decade plus, however I wanted to get a new pair of glasses so I was able to do that there.  Even with vision insurance, the cost of these was still exorbitant - though I did go for a lot of top end features like progressive and transition lenses etc.  Hopefully for the price I paid they are worth it.  But I want to also get a second backup pair, so I think I will order these online at a much cheaper cost and see how they work out.  And today, was planning to take yet another afternoon off work and go to Mount Rainier - but work got in the way of that one, and this isn't a quick trip because the road I would normally take there is still closed due to wildfires so you have to go a longer way.  Which is a shame, because today seemed to be the last sunny day there for a while.  Hopefully I'll have a chance to go up there before the end of the month - once it's November it's winter season there, which means that you're required to carry tire chains to drive up there.  Which I don't have, and have no plan of getting.     

Song of the Week #26

New Order + The Smiths = somewhat disappointing.  But I like this.

Meetings

Who the heck decided to schedule regular study team meetings at 9 am on Mondays?  This is like the 2nd worst time of the week to schedule meetings - topped only by Friday afternoons.  I had some real difficulty dragging myself out of bed and making myself presentable for the meeting this morning - though I never needed to turn my camera on in the end fortunately.  In fact, these meetings are a bit of a waste of time for me at the moment, but I am required to attend them - we're only in the study start up phase, we haven't even got a protocol yet, and it will be a long time, well into next year, until my tasks really start.  So until then, my workload remains entirely lacking (as it has mostly has been since July).  I'd rather have too little work rather than too much work, but I feel my brain needs to be more engaged than it is currently.  And I can see my lack of workload being used as an excuse for me to be denied a future promotion, over others.      

Pleasure

One of life's greatest pleasures - watching a shambolic Manchester United getting absolutely humiliated and humbled.  I don't care if they're just a shadow of the dominating team they used to be, it is still extremely satisfying.  More satisfying than even Liverpool letting in 7 goals.  Maybe Palace's victory over Manchester United wasn't really all that - as backed up by their subsequent results.

Flu Shot

In classic American style, I got a drive-thru flu shot yesterday.  Normally they would offer these in the office and I would get it there, but obviously not this year.  So instead booked it through my doctor's medical center - drove up, put my mask on, confirmed my identity, stuck my arm out of the window, got my shot, easy peasy.  I didn't have to pay a co-pay which is a good thing since it should be free for me to get a flu shot, so hopefully I don't get a bill for this later otherwise I shall be kicking up a fuss with my health insurance company.  Sometimes I can suffer from some soreness in my arm where the shot was, but inexplicably woke up this morning with my opposite arm sore.  Whatever.    

Irony

I think it’s absolutely hilarious that Trump has contracted the virus.  Such poetic justice for someone who has constantly downplayed it, doesn’t wear a mask, doesn’t socially distance and who was still holding these big political rallies that were a serious public health risk.  I see that there have been lots of well wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery shared by celebrities, politicians and leaders from both sides of the political aisle.  I disagree with these.  Of the 7.5 billion people in the world, I would only say this about a handful of people (and he is one of them) – I hope he dies from the virus.  The irony of that would just be perfect.  At the least, I hope he suffers some serious symptoms – and then perhaps the devastating reality of the virus will finally sink into that thick head of his.  Perhaps he should ingest some bleach, or take that unproven medication that he was constantly shilling for.  The lack of federal response to the pandemic has needlessly cost thousands of American lives, and he should be held accountable for that.  So no, I have absolutely no sympathy.  What this means for the election – I have no idea.  I don’t think we’ll have any more presidential debates (which is probably a blessing in disguise, considering how embarrassing the first one was).  I dread the braggadocio if he survives the virus.  But will it change votes?  I doubt it - I cannot believe there are still undecided voters.  Once again, something else he has said or done has eclipsed whatever headlines we had previously – if it’s a direct attempt to deflect from the outrageous and scandalous tax returns leaked just a few days ago, well mission succeeded.  Yet another twist in this clusterf*ck of a year. 

Elections

As a permanent resident but not (yet?) a citizen I am not legally entitled to vote in the US, so I am no longer being mailed ballots (I was mailed one when I first moved into my current residence, oh how easy it would have been to become the kind of illegal voter that Trump exaggerates about!).  However, I am still sent the official "voter's pamphlet" - and I thought I'd share a screenshot of Trump and Pence's statements.  It's quite interesting to see how Trump is selling himself (I have no idea whether these statements are universal, or whether they are geared specifically to the Washington State voters - home of the CHOP).  Regardless, even something as small as this is still full of inaccuracies and misinformation.  Oh my god, he is going to be even more unbearable when he wins re-election (or even if he loses, when he contests the vote).  And after flicking through the pamphlet, what you don't realize is that in addition to the general election, there are a ton of other measures and proposals and local elections also being decided on November 3rd.  Nothing that particularly caught my attention, but there is every chance that there are some important local things there that might affect me in one way or another - does anyone really read through the entire pamphlet (it's nearly a 100 pages!)?!