There are now more than 2 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus worldwide. One article I came across pointed out that it took 4 months to reach the first million cases...and only 12 days to double that. This is far from nearly over. And today, for the second day in a row, we've hit a record for the number of virus-related deaths here in this country. Jeepers!
The president continues to blame his inaction on the coronavirus on the World Health Organization. The W.H.O. responded by saying they did alert the world as early as January 5th. Republican politicians and FOX News are adding to the president's claim, by saying that sources believe (with no tangible proof--but they don't mention that on FOX) the virus was created in a lab and accidentally released. Clearly they are trying to create a smokescreen for the president as it has already been proven the virus is natural and not man made. CNN had a similar article about the Republican belief that the virus was created, but also said:
"The theory has been pushed by supporters of the President, including some congressional Republicans, who are eager to deflect criticisms of Trump's handling of the pandemic."
New York Magazine goes so far as to say that President Trump's entire coronavirus response is massive political corruption.
Yesterday I mentioned that the president wants his name attached to all of the paper stimulus checks. My friend Erich sent me this meme about that.
Meanwhile, as the situation in South Dakota heats up, the governor refuses to issue a shelter in place order. Still others try to undermine the efforts sheltering in place has done in keeping viral deaths lower in areas, to encourage states to go back to work.
Work for a vaccine sounds more promising. One article mentions that there are more than 100 different vaccines in the works.Hopefully one will be successful soon. In the mean time, the FDA has approved two more antibody tests to start checking the population to see if they've had the virus and just not known.
A 106-year-old woman survived the virus. Amazing and hopeful.
On Tuesday, my friend Nedra sent me this brilliant (and super short) song about quarantine:
My friend Sue Nan sent me some birthday wishes yesterday morning, along with a funny take on keeping a coronavirus diary.
My Self-Isolation Quarantine Diary
Day 1 – I Can Do This!! Got enough food and wine to last a month!
Day 2 – Opening my 8th bottle of Wine. I fear wine supplies might not last!
Day 3 – Strawberries: Some have 210 seeds, some have 235 seeds. Who Knew??
Day 4 – 8:00pm. Removed my Day Pajamas and put on my Night Pajamas.
Day 5 – Today, I tried to make Hand Sanitizer. It came out as Jello Shots!!
Day 6 – I get to take the Garbage out. I’m So excited, I can’t decide what to wear.
Day 7 – Laughing way too much at my own jokes!!
Day 8 – Went to a new restaurant called “The Kitchen”. You have to gather all the
ingredients and make your own meal. I have No clue how this place is still in business.
Day 9 – I put liquor bottles in every room. Tonight, I’m getting all dressed up and going Bar
hopping.
Day 10 – Struck up a conversation with a Spider today. Seems nice. He’s a Web Designer.
Day 11 – Isolation is hard. I swear my fridge just said, “What the hell do you want now?”
Day 12 – I realized why dogs get so excited about something moving outside, going for walks
or car rides. I think I just barked at a squirrel.
Day 13 – If you keep a glass of wine in each hand, you can’t accidentally touch your face.
Day 14 – Watched the birds fight over a worm. The Cardinals lead the Blue Jays 3–1.
Day 15 – Anybody else feel like they’ve cooked dinner about 395 times this month?
To which Sue added, "I think the next pandemic will be Cabin Fever."
Speaking of birthday wishes, yesterday turned out far, far better than I ever imagined it would. I had lots of texts, phone calls and emails. Oh my stars.
It started off badly. I was having an awful night. I couldn't sleep and ended up taking part of a sleeping pill at 3 a.m. I woke up around 8, but was back in bed a half hour later or so. I finally got out of bed around 10:40. When I made my way out to the kitchen, Shirley was at the sliding glass door, waiting for me to let her out into the backyard. She had waddled under a bar stool somehow, but could not clear the other side...so she was dragging the bar stool with her towards the door. Silly Shirley.
Christa had sent me a small box of tiny chocolates a few weeks earlier. (Thank you, Christa!) I had saved them to enjoy on what I thought was going to be a lonely, solitary birthday.
I spent the bulk of the morning reading emails and texts and answering calls. How nice so many people remembered (or maybe they'd read the blog? Ha! Oops--didn't mean to advertise...). Sometime after noon I was in a group text with several co-workers, but I couldn't really chat as my phone keep ringing. I eventually got myself showered and cleaned up and thought about lunch.
I had decided to try Door Dash. I looked at Uber Eats and GrubHub, but decided that Door Dash had the better selection of restaurants. But better selection or not, I had to find a restaurant that was open. I settled on Cheesecake Factory. It took me a long while to figure out how to order and pay for my lunch. The restaurant offered bottled beer for delivery. I'm not a big beer guy, but I noticed one of the brands was Corona. Since the virus was hijacking my day, I thought I'd order one. But the program would not let me pay even though I tried over and over and over to do so. It was only after I deleted the beer (and it took a while to figure out how to do that) that I was able to pay for the meal.
I was watching a French (subtitled) mockumentary about this alleged old movie from the late 1800s that is supposedly cursed. (It would have been fascinating if you didn't know if was fake.)
As I sat there, I heard someone at the front door. I opened the door and there, staring back at me, was a box on the door mat. Huh?
"Are you Shawn?" I heard a voice ask.
I turned and saw the delivery girl on my walkway and told her I was.
"Those are for you. Happy birthday."
"Who are they from," I asked.
She didn't know. All she had was a phone number. She gave it to me and I plugged it in to my phone. Oh my stars! They were from my co-worker Sandy. Wow! It was a huge, unexpected surprise.
But just as the delivery girl was leaving, this other guy was walking up the driveway. It was the DoorDash guy with my lunch.
I took the box and the bag into the kitchen. The box had a note on it that read "Happy birthday Shawn. We may be sheltering in but here is a personal touch. Enjoy. Photo op plz💓"
Ha! Photo op indeed. Of course I was gonna take a picture and put it on my blog. I'm sure Sandy was thinking about when I used to buy goodies (cookies, ice cream, etc) at work, make up something to celebrate and then take photos of everyone enjoying their snacks. But that was later outlawed at work---and had been something I loved to do. Thank you so much, Sandy.
And DANG! Those cookies inside are H-U-G-E~!!!
I took a look at my lunch next. I ordered the SkinnyLicious Grilled Steak Medallions. I don't know how "skinny" it was, sitting on a bed of mashed potatoes, but it was my birthday, so I was going to enjoy myself. I had a slice of cheesecake for dessert. Mmm. Carb heaven...
Not long after finishing my lunch (minutes before the movie ended), I again heard someone at my door. Huh? I looked out the window in time to see a car pulling away from the curb and driving off. I opened the door and there were two grocery bags with an orange envelope on them. The envelope read: "Happy birthday 6 feet apart."
It was from my co-worker Alicia. There were a few groceries (a frozen lasagna, a Birds Eye frozen skillet dinner thing, some Balanced Breaks cheese and nut snacks, and two large containers of coconut water). The card was very cute. It lit up and was musical. And inside the card was a gift card. What the heck? That was amazingly kind of Alicia---jeepers creepers! (And I know she doesn't read my blog.) Thank you.
My brother Ron texted me this morning and later gave me a call. I also heard from my sister, Sara. My nephew, Brawn, sent me a short video (and was sporting...facial hair?! Zowie!).
Not long afterwards, my friends (Ricki, Erich, Vye and Shookie) had a birthday-themed virtual cocktail party for me on Zoom. We all wore hats again. (Why not?) Erich's hat was an amazing creation of rolled gift wrap and curling ribbon.
Ricki's sister Sheila, brother Dr. Stephen and his wife Beth briefly jumped on to send their birthday wishes as well.
Vye had a little quarantine-style birthday cake for me. She was my proxy blower-outer when it came time to blow out the candle. Ha.
Dr Stephen later sent me this brilliant illustration of the big, bad coronavirus being flipped off by a healthcare professional. Awesome!
It turned out to be an amazing and wonderful day. I'm still stunned by all of the kindness and generosity. In addition to those I've already named, I spoke to or had messages from Cathy and Travis in San Francisco, Alan in San Francisco, Eric in Costa Mesa, John in Frazier Park, Rosa in London, Kim in Wisconsin, David in Australia, Kirk in Fresno, Art in Boston, co-workers Melaney, Mike, Mandy, Jaspreet, and Christina via text and messages from co-workers Taylor, Miriam, Alexis, Rosina, Jenn, Dena, Erica, Tamra, Brent, Jerry, Yvette, Jessica, Jacque, and Cynthia. I had a message from Irene in San Francisco, my cousin Mike in Spokane, my author friend Scott, Ashley in Oakland, Greg in San Leandro, former Fresno Bee co-workers Monica, Sara, and Jenny. Did I forget anyone? Probably. (Oh...my Mom! Ha!)
But THANK YOU, everyone, for making this the best-ever quarantined birthday. Whoo hoo! I was so incredibly touched. THANK YOU ALL.
Stay SAFE. Stay SHELTERED. Stay ALIVE.
CHEERS!
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