Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (303)
March 23, 2026
Year 4 of COVID in the Bay Area
Year 6, Day 329: Heat wave time! For us, it’s very unlikely to be terrible. Everyone else is getting 90s and 100s. Our forecast is well under those highs so I get to enjoy this as our one random week of “summer” and then we’ll be back to our normally moderate temps.
Money: Most days it feels like we’re losing the neverending slog of people needing help, the list grows exponentially daily, so it was nice to have there two good updates: Nikos: Surgery went well on February 26th, and Niko has slowly been recovering in the hotel room. I’ve been contributing to keep Amber afloat for months and she’s finally starting to get her feet on solid ground. Winifred is a midwife now. Progress, any progress, is welcome and I hope they continue to improve.
Year 6, Day 330: My day is packed. Meetings, work, school meeting, work meeting, friend needs an ear, back to work, back to school to pick up, shovel down dinner, back to school for an evening math activity for the kids. 😵💫
I was deeply annoyed with SmolAc while we tried to get out the door. They eat at a snail’s pace and compounded that with whining they aren’t hungry. Our policy used to be “respect the kid’s intake assessment”. That doesn’t work with SmolAc because “I’m not hungry” actually means “I don’t want to eat this / I’m bored” and in short order they’ll be asking for a snack. They would live on snack foods if they could.
I insisted they eat almost a full serving (for them, that was a quarter of a serving for any other kid) before leaving and once we left, like clockwork the whining for a hot dog started. I refuse to negotiate with the terrorist so we marched them home to finish the perfectly good food we had waiting there.
The event itself was fun for both. JB did fifth grade level activities with their friends and we helped SmolAc try out the kindergarten activities. They impressed a second grade teacher with their penmanship. That was a bit of a surprise for me, too.
Money: Cigna keeps declining my wellness claim saying that the benefit is not covered for the insured. Except it is a covered benefit! Even their rep sees that it is. So that’s a 25 minute phone call to get my $50 payment. I’m willing to bet that this is some AI-powered bullshit in play. So annoying!
Year 6, Day 331: Summer weather means I get to hang our clothes to dry! As long as I get the timing right. Most of the year it’s too damp.
I can’t believe I missed the book birthday of the 15th Incryptid book: Butterfly Effects! I’ve put it on hold and it’s 8 weeks away. *Grabby hands* I’m working through Discworld again for now to keep my brain busy since all my library books either came in and were read or are on hold for weeks still.
Money: I earned a $50 gift card from our health provider researcher surveys. Chucked that into our internet account to pay a future bill.
Year 6, Day 332: Summer weather means summer smells in the morning that take me back to summer school and grade school days. That hit of baking asphalt rising up to mix with the nip of still cold air, maybe a concrete layer in there with some earthy leafy vegetation. I’d assumed that was mostly a SoCal combination of scents but turns out nope, it can be replicated just enough to make me feel like I should be walking to high school or something. Not that I ever want to relive that period. High school was fine but it’s not something I ever felt any need to go back to. There are a few people I miss from back then that I didn’t manage to stay in touch with but that’s all.
Money: We got a confirmation that bonuses will be paid at the end of March but we don’t know who is getting how much. S’pose that’s enough good news for one day.
Year 6, Day 333: Registration for summer camps feels like a contact sport. The regional animal camp booked solid in under 7 minutes. The number of slots available is low but good grief! Actually registering for anything in the city or county offerings is fraught, they all book up within the first half hour or less. It’s a good thing I’ve honed the ability to type really fast in registration forms but also they really need to offer more services. I do wonder if they’ll be able to offer more advanced swim lessons when they have the new pool built some far off date in the future. JB is at the most advanced level they offer for now and unless we want to enroll them in swim team (no, not really, that’s a 5 night per week commitment), they don’t have a lot more opportunities to hone their skill.
Money: camp registration has taken a chunk of my brain. I found a $50 off code for one camp ($600) but rescheduling to make it work with everyone’s schedules meant the other week of camp was 5 days and full price, so we paid $1126 instead of $1061 for both. It was initially a 4 day camp, then a 5 day, but now it’s 2 5-day camps. That’s fine, I prefer the new schedule that means their friends will be going to the same one and that’s an extra uninterrupted work day for me.
What I’m listening to this week: