An interesting time yesterday after the diagnosis with Covid.
We called our primary care (One Medical - affiliated with Johns Hopkins). They sent a prescription to CVS. We called CVS and asked them to deliver the prescription to our house since both of us had Covid and were supposed to be isolated.
This they did.
As the image indicates (click for enlargement), the cost of the medicine was $0.00 and the cost of the delivery was $0.00.
The medicine, Molnupiravir, works similar to Paxlovid and has a 3%-10% 'bounce back' rate of reinfection as does Paxlovid. One Medical said the former was somewhat milder and would not require Ann to stop beta blocker treatment.
To the left is the result of my test. Ann's was similar, although a different manufacturer.So both of us have Covid.
Blame Canada.
Symptoms mild so far. Scratchy throat for Ann and reduced appetite.
Occasional cough and reduced appetite for me.
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Yesterday I had some work to do in Rockville; namely work with a caterer.It was before the usual peak PM traffic but nevertheless, the roads were jammed in part of Rockville. The caterer's staff and I were all about 20 minutes late to start.
It turns out that President Biden was holding some sort of political rally at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville.
These were taken the morning of August 19 on the Athabasca Glacier which is a outflow of the Columbia Icefields. It is accessible from the Icefield
Parkway (route 93) in Canada. The second one me pretending to drive shows more of the extent of the glacier.
I am standing at about 6400'. The air temperature on the glacier was in the upper 50s F or about 10F below the temperature at the visitation center nearby. The glacier goes down to about 6200'.The source of the glacier, the Columbia Icefields are at about 9000 to 10000' (which includes about 1000' of ice on top of the bedrock). The icefields are about 120 square miles and lie roughly at the British Columbia border with Alberta.
No they didn't actually let me drive but did allow me to stage the picture.
The glacier is about 100 to 200' deep where I was standing. This glacier is retreating. The lowest extent of the glacier has been losing 5 to 20' a year.
Full blog of the Canada trip is here.
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We took a 3am Uber to Dulles and about 20 hours later, this is Ann in Jack Poole Plaza near the Vancouver Convention Center.It was the site of the completion of the carrying the torch for the 2010 Olympic games.
Lots of pricy yachts in Vancouver Harbour.
Across the harbour is North Vancouver with mountains in the background.
Also, max temp in Vancouver International Airport (~49N and near a body of water that is in the 50sF) was 80F. Max temp at National Airport (~39N) was 76F.
I remember my first encounter with "Italian Ices" was at the 1964 Worlds Fair. We went there during a major northeast drought and had to specifically ask for water with meals when we ordered. But for snacks, a product called "Italian Ices" was available at the Fair. It seemed to me that the company that made it was Luigi's.
We have been buying Luigi's and Lindy's Italian Ices all summer this year (yes they are both kosher).
At one point in the 60s I thought Maryland should declare the State drink to be iced tea and the State Dinner to be brisket.
I've been making that this summer. However, I use a fair amount of lemon flavoring with it converting it into an "Arnold Palmer". Since it is home made it comes out different each time but that's fine and, in fact, George sometime prefers it to Coke (I think that is when he comes in from outside when its real hot).
However, I almost never make brisket any more. The brisket sold doesn't have enough fat on it to taste the way it should and to flavor it I have to use BBQ sauce or soy sauce or something else. Since I can do flavoring for any cut I've been choosing cuts that are easier to slice.
The aquatic center I usually go to in Rockville was closed today (and for the next two weeks or so) for summer maintenance.
I went the one in Germantown instead. It is bigger and newer and more upscale. For example, most lockers are fullsize and all the showers work (about 40% of them don't work in Rockville - I emailed the county about it).
What was really nice but doesn't show in pictures was that the temperature of the leisure pool was about 4 or 5 degrees cooler than at Rockville. This lets me cool off much faster (from the thermal hydrotherapy pool) and begin stretching exercises sooner.It might be my imagination but I felt a bit better than usual when I finished drying myself.
First image shows the kids area.
Second image shows the entrance to the hydrotherapy pool (to the right), the leisure pool in foreground, leisure lap pool a bit behind that and the water slides above.
This facility is about 16 miles from my house rather than the 5 miles to the Rockville facility but almost the whole trip is on I-270 or Germantown Road so its not an unpleasant trip.
We plan to fly Air Canada later in August.
I wanted to alert them that we would need mobility assistance.
The Air Canada website has the user identify themself by
their booking number and last name. Our booking number
was AC/4I8KBF.
I misread it on our flight itinerary as 418KBF.
So I was thwarted from using their website to manage my trip until,
after about 30 minutes I figured out what the problem was. I called their actual phone
number in the meantime and was placed on hold.
While on hold I got to their website and
to the 'manage bookings' section but there was no place to request mobility assistance.
I ended up holding for about 2 hours (while I did stuff like put dishes away and surf the net).
I told the guy who finally answered about these two problems but I doubt anything will come of it.
Some of last week's lilies were still good.
I put a new topping of one of the lily trees into the same vase.
This was on Friday just before Shabbat.
Heidi's nails have grown.We want to trim them. It is a problem since Heidi doesn't let me hold her for long..
A few days ago, I held her long enough to do the nails on her front left paw. By the time I finished she was really agitated.
The
next day as she was sitting on the armrest next to me (I was on my
Lazyboy easy chair), I got out the nail clippers. Heidi saw me and
skedaddled quickly.
The
next day, I hid the clippers near me as I held her. I got one nail
clipped on her right front paw before she escaped my hold.
Heidi is in image.
I left the house and started driving to a mashgiach job yesterday. I was about halfway there when I realized I had left the house without my glasses.
I kept going, did the job and returned without incident. My long vision has improved steadily over the past few decades. Each time I go to the optometrist, they remark on it. Also, my short vision keeps changing too requiring a new prescription. The first image is famous nerd-glasses wearer Velma Dinkley of the Scooby Gang as played by, I think, Linda Cardellini (several people have played Velma).
The second image is Ginger (Tina Louise) wearing nerd glasses to use therapy to help Gilligan.
FWIW, I think a great opera could be made using the Scooby Doo plot. The audience could sing along a rousing "And I could have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for you darn kids".
Spoke to the Sleep Doctor today.
Ann diagnosed with Apnea and will, perhaps late this month, try out a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device.
I did not obtain a diagnosis as the various electronic devices showed I only got about 70 minutes of sleep that night with only about 5 minutes of dreaming. So I will have to do the lab again. I am getting a prescription for sleep medicine so it will work better next time.
