Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

The words do not have to be perfect.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

This fight is for everything.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Everybody saw this coming.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Something Good Open Thread / Friday Evening Open Thread: Xmas Eve

Friday Evening Open Thread: Xmas Eve

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163Comments

  1. 1.

    Urza

    Ok, why do we not have robotic snowblowers going around all the neighborhoods. It could charge you for the service, and give a discount if you let it plug in before moving on. Could have swarms of them follow snowplows.

  2. 2.

    Jerzy Russian

    If it were about 40 or 50 degrees colder here (San Diego), we might have a white Christmas. As it is, we are having a wet Christmas.

  3. 3.

    Poe Larity

    We are still airing grievances here, with feats of strength scheduled for tomorrow.

    @Urza: Snowblowers are next, now that leafblowing banhammers are spreading.

  4. 4.

    Another Scott

    Q: “Children, on this Christmas Eve, can you tell me the difference between God and Santa?”

    A: “Santa doesn’t wait until you’re dead to decide if you’ve been naughty or nice!”

    — Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) December 24, 2021

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  5. 5.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Urza: That’s actually a brilliant idea! [I wonder why it wouldn’t work?]  B/c in addition, you could have those robots out there continuously, clearing sidewalks of, y’know, a half-inch of freshly-fallen now, before it got really deep.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    @Urza:

    Here, leaf blowers double as snow blowers, especially when there’s a dusting of snow. Apparently there’s no thought about the heat melting the snow and turning the sidewalk icy.

  8. 8.

    Urza

    @Baud: I’d kill for someone to replace the stupid noisy street cleaner that comes by twice a day with some sort of mini swarm.  Tough to do here with the large tree branches that come down frequently though.  In other areas I don’t see it being an issue.

  12. 12.

    HeleninEire

    So my sister Mary has tested positive today as have all of the people in her group home. I’m actually surprised it took that long. Luckily they are all boosted and asymptomatic. Clearly omicron is not fucking around. Dad went to see her on Wednesday. I saw him on Thursday so Christmas is fucked. Dad was going out to the steps so he cancelled. I was doing absolutely nothing but had some plans with friends for Sunday. And I’ve got work I Monday. Damn.

  24. 24.

    dmsilev

    @HeleninEire: Sorry to hear that; hopefully the vaccine shots do their job. Omicron is scary contagious, that’s for sure. Very glad that my parents and I decided to ‘nope’ out of holiday travel.

  27. 27.

    dmsilev

    For those interested, tomorrow morning, the world’s most expensive origami project will get launched into space, at 7:20 Eastern. Good luck, James Webb Space Telescope, it’s been a long and bumpy road to get to this point. Hopefully Santa’s sleigh will be well clear of the range safety limits.

  28. 28.

    Ohio Mom

    @HeleninEire: Here’s hoping you and your dad, if you are infected, are asymptomatic too.

    In the bigger picture, this might be the best time for your sister and her roomies to get Covid, after their boosters and maybe it’s true that Omicron is milder.

    We were going to meet up with some old friends tomorrow for Chinese but decided to hunker down at home with take-out instead. Bored is beginning to feel normal to me.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    @HeleninEire: Sorry to hear about all of that!  I imagine we are going to see a lot more of that sort of thing over the next several days.  You are a trend-setter.

    Hopefully it will just be an inconvenience and no one will be symptomatic.

  32. 32.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev: Let’s just say that I am not regretting my decision to skip the holiday travel.

    I had my best friend over for a couple of hours this afternoon.  Lucky it was about 55 degrees so we could bundle up and hang out on the screened-in porch.

    We had cookies and adult beverages and exchanged gifts and just talked.  It was very nice.

  33. 33.

    delk

    I used to live next door to a christian that had a snowblower. If you were ever curious about where his property ended and the dirty fags property started all you had to do was look. Laser. Like. Precision.

  35. 35.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @HeleninEire:

    Sorry you’re going thru all that. Omicron is upending everyone’s plans and lives. Glad your sister is doing ok. Like WG said, hopefully it will just be an inconvenience

  36. 36.

    Anne Laurie

    @dr. bloor: Probably not of general interest, but…

    Our holiday tradition (because Spousal Unit is a fan of both Tchaikovsky & ballet) is attending a production of the Nutcracker.  Which, this year, meant the Fathom Cinema screening of the Bolshoi Ballet’s ‘original Petipa choreography’ version.

    (We we boostered, and masked, as were the other 8 or 9 people in that room.)

    Cannot recommend, alas (except as a historical curiosity).  Without the child dancers, it’s just not the same.  There is some excellent dancing, and Herr Drosselmeyer gets a lot more to do, but an obviously 20something Clara is… not compelling.

    Spousal Unit was distinctly put off by the ‘1960s educational television’ atmosphere.  Also, the cinematographers put a lot of energy into capturing the facial mugging, all too often cutting away from the dancers’ legs & feet to do so.

  38. 38.

    narya

    My friend is on his way, but, as noted, he has been quarantined w/ no symptoms for five days–and no known exposure–and the same is true for me. We are both inclined to stay away from everydamnbody for . . . as long as needed. My MRI is the first week in Jan, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve peaked by then. if it’s still climbing, I will reschedule as needed. Meanwhile, my brother is being pissy about the precautions my mom wants to take (and I think SIL is part of the problem), and I’m really annoyed. Older nephew won’t vax, and none of their family seem to realize that any exposure is a risk to my parents. OTOH, my cookies got to my parents today, and yesterday was the 12th anniversary of my mom’s new kidney, so I”m trying to look on the bright side rather than only air grievances. Be safe, all of you!

  43. 43.

    HumboldtBlue

    Busy night for Elvis Elfington. The list of kids to call has grown to 10, four down, six to go. Little digitally aware smartasses have been checking out where Santa currently is on google which throws my standard “he’s somewhere over Piscataway New Jersey right now, headed to WV”, now I gotta be aware of new tech!

  47. 47.

    Mary G

    Lots of lovely rain. Yay!

    Power outage on half of house after power came back on. Boo!

    It’s my birthday. Yay!

    Spent the first couple hours of it calling emergency electricians with no hope. “Maybe we’ll call you back on Monday?” Boo.

    Finally got a guy and he was here an hour earlier than he said and found the problem. Yay.

    The GFic or whatever it’s called had tripped in the new bathroom. I had checked all the old ones, but the teen was performing grooming rites and wouldn’t come out, and no reason why the 6-month-old would trip, right? Boo.

    Paid $250 minimum visit fee and the teen will repay weekly. Yay.

    Blessings to all Juicers wherever you are.

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    It’s not too late to send in holiday photos from when you were little – for On the Road next week.  We just got a really sweet entry and that reminded me to remind all of you.

  50. 50.

    Anyway

     

    @zhena gogolia:

    I watched Christmas in Connecticut today. I’d never heard of it before your mentions of it here — an old-fashioned rom-com with the owner of the Blue Parrot. I had no idea.

  51. 51.

    Kelly

    Negative PCR covid test! My sore throat, sneezing and headache is probably just some combination of low humidity, allergy and according to Mrs Kelly my recent epic snoring.

    Could not find a over the counter test. Turn around for the PCR Saliva test at our small community hospital was just under 24 hours. Saliva samples collected in the parking lot.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    @Mary G: I once had a refrigerator repair person come out because my old fridge started sounding like an airplane taking off and landing.

    The guy got here, pulled the fridge out from the wall, pulled one of those crinkly plastic bags away from whatever it was stuck to, and said “there you go!”.

    I asked if there was a special “i’m an idiot” discount and he said no, that he had already reported in when he had arrived at my house so there was nothing he could do.

  55. 55.

    Almost Retired

    The clan has all arrived in Los Angeles, and I asked my 88 year old mother what she would like to do today, before we all leave tonight for my sister’s place up the Coast.

    She wanted to go to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to see the backlog of ships in the harbor and the stacks of containers onshore.  Um….okay….

    And so we did.  The ships in the harbor looked a bit like D-Day, if the allies were bringing automobiles and electronics to the Germans to convince them to switch sides.  And the containers stacked port-side looked like industrial Legoland.   I think Mom was on to something, tourism-wise.

  57. 57.

    WaterGirl

    @Kelly: Congratulations!  The University here does the spit tests.  After yesterday they are closed until Jan 10, so I got tested just on general principles since I had done a fair amount of running around in preparation for the trip I ended up not taking.

    It does feel good when it comes back negative.

  58. 58.

    Mary G

    @HeleninEire: It’s just getting so hard. I canceled Christmas with friends because I have a cough. Rapid test negative, but I won’t take a chance with a 90-year-old.

    Hopefully Mary and her housemates all continue to be asymptomatic.

  61. 61.

    Almost Retired

    @WaterGirl:  I believe I shared with you an example of my photographic skills in the form of a blurry picture of a creature that looked vaguely like some sort of dog as my submission for the pet calendar.  So….yeah…On the Road would do well to avoid my efforts.

  64. 64.

    WaterGirl

    @Mary G: In my commiserating about the charge for the house call I missed that it’s your birthday.

    Happy birthday! All that rain is quite the birthday present.  You deserve it.

  66. 66.

    CaseyL

    @NotMax: That was adorable!

    I just finished a delightful book, The Night Circus.  It’s part steampunk fantasy, part mystery, part romance… and altogether enthralling.

  67. 67.

    Kelly

    @WaterGirl: Similar. I got this test kinda on general principles. Most days I do a few errands for my 85 YO mother who lives nearby. Several possible Christmas small gatherings coming up.

  68. 68.

    WaterGirl

    @Almost Retired: Well I admit that I was slightly razzing you because I guessed that you hadn’t taken photos, but it would have been cool to see it if you had, so I held out a small amount of hope.

    Glad it turned out to be an interesting adventure.

  71. 71.

    gene108

    @narya:

    Congrats on your mom making it 12 years on her new kidney! May it last another 12 years.

    Sorry for this family drama at the holidays. I hope the rest of your family comes around to realizing how at risk your your mom is.

  74. 74.

    Sab

    Well, my stepkids mom insisted that they all go to her family’s Christmas Eve gathering. Big family. They got there and no masks and hardly anyone vaccinated. WTF. Stepkid’s stepfather was furious. They sat masked in a separate room for a while and then left.

    This day and age, with NE Ohio hospitals swamped and the Republican governor sending in 1000 National Guardsmen to help, these bozos still think Covid isn’t real. And they have a niece/grandchild who is an assistant principal and has been counseling grieving children all through the pandemic. Nobody listens to her.

    I do not understand why the stepkids’ mother thought it was so important to insist on a visit to these clowns.

    Also too, that means the stepkids probably shouldn’t be around us for a while. They have all had Covid (being essential workers) and they are all vaxed and boostered. But my New Year’s resolution is to be more attentive to my dad in his nursing home, so I need to be very much more careful.

    Morons.

  75. 75.

    dr. bloor

    ‘1960s educational television’ atmosphere.

    Leonard Bernstein is the only one capable of pulling that shit off, and Lenny’s dead.

    an obviously 20something Clara is… not compelling.

    It’s like casting Romeo and Juliet.  If you’re making their choices in your twenties instead of your teens, that’s not tragedy, it’s character pathology.

  76. 76.

    Tony Jay

    It’s bedtime here in the Land of Unfortunate Everything, so before I totter up the stairs to await Big Beardie’s  Sack Attack, there’s just enough time to wish all of you Juicers, Jackals and Lovely Lurkers a Very Merry Christmas and all the Happiness your Holidays can stomach.

    Stay safe, be good, strike for the throat. That is all.

  77. 77.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Jerzy Russian:

    Folks to the east are gonna need those plows. Winter storm dropping heavy snow 2,000 feet and above.

    On the coast it’s all rain and hail and wind.

  79. 79.

    Sab

    @Tony Jay: You get two holidays not one, don’t you? We don’t have Boxing Day, so we are supposed to turn it into another nutso shopping day like black Friday after Turkey Day.

  80. 80.

    dr. bloor

    @Tony Jay:

    What a coincidence.  My grandma always told us to “strike for the throat” while kissing our foreheads and tucking us in on Christmas Eve.

    Happy Christmas.

  81. 81.

    StringOnAStick

    Here in central Oregon the mountains are getting pounded with snow; this morning’s winter storm warning was supposed to expire at 6am tomorrow but it’s been extended to Monday morning.  We did 4 laps of climbing then skiing 1,000′ of incredibly great powder today and I’ve got that exhausted glow from a day well spent burning many calories.  I’ll be snoozing by 8 tonight.  I’m so glad I got my knees replaced and got my sports back!

  82. 82.

    Rob

    We’re listening to Jon Solomon’s 33rd annual Christmas song marathon streaming on WPRB.com. It’s essentially our first, and comes after listening to the station a whole lot since March. It’s quite amusing, right now it’s all sorts of new-to-him songs. It is 25 hours (how does he stay awake?!), and will end at 6 pm New Jersey time tomorrow. At 1234 a.m. there will be a Ramones-inspired set, but, sadly, I won’t be awake to hear it. https://marathon.christmas/#nav–ghosts_of_marathons_past–desktop has the information.

    Visiting our mothers was cancelled because of Omicron concerns, with the three of the staff and two of the residents in her wing at one of their retirement communities testing positive in the past few days.

  83. 83.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Mary G:

    I liked this part:

    (One month later)

    JOSEPH: Oh, fer –

    MARY: What is it?

    JOSEPH: It’s from that dump we stayed in in Bethlehem. “Please rate our service.”

    MARY: Let it go, Joe.

    JOSEPH: (cracks knuckles)

    MARY: Joe.

    JOSEPH: Mary. Fleas, I’d let go. Bedbugs, even.

    MARY: This again.

    JOSEPH: NOT ANTHRAX

    And it’s even relevant given that conspiracy theory conference goers thinking they got anthrax when it was just COVID

  85. 85.

    Tony Jay

    @Sab:

    You don’t have Boxing Day? What kind of post-apocalyptic hellhole do you live i…. oh yeah. 8-)

    @dr. bloor:

    Wise woman and an absolute bitch to spar with. You wouldn’t think it to look at her but she taught Patrick Swayze how to take a punch, and boy could he take a punch.

  86. 86.

    MagdaInBlack

    It’s warm enough in Chicagoland I’ve been sitting on the balcony admiring all the lights on balconies.

    I have flamingo lights on my giant geranium ( she’s indoors for winter.) I think that sorta counts.

  88. 88.

    Sab

    Grocery store had very expensive stuffed unicorns with pink manes, pink eyelashes, pink tails and big pink satin bows on their butts. So of course I bought one and the seven year old is getting it tomorrow. I am sure we could have come up with something more useful. I picked the one with the best horn. The others’ kind of drooped.

    ETA Oops. When did I capitalize my nym. I hate typing with thumbs only

    This sortof horse is the size of a small german shepherd. BIG!

  89. 89.

    Tony Jay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    We adopted (with ‘we’ standing in for ‘people who gain pleasure or some form of validation that is alien to me but definitely a thing from shopping’) Black Friday from you guys a few years ago, but now it’s basically morphed into Black Week Leading Up To Friday, and get the hell off my lawn you kids!

    White wine makes me grumpy. Who knew?

  90. 90.

    Kelly

    @StringOnAStick: 6″ to 12″ of post Christmas snow forecast for us here in the western Cascade foothills. A few inches out on the Willamette Valley floor. Should be scenic and not too much chaos. Western Oregon doesn’t get snow regularly enough to be any good at operating in snow.

  96. 96.

    Dan B

    @HumboldtBlue: Up in North cloudless- Seattle – the forecast is snow Xmas night followed by at least three days below freezing and down to 15°.  It’s the coldest in a decade.

    We went to friends last night.  14 foot ceilings and windows open.  I gave them five different Satby soaps which they loved. Now we are hermits for several weeks.

  97. 97.

    Tony Jay

    @Sab:

    Isn’t that bizarre? I’m fine with red. Proper happy chappie with a couple of bottles of Shiraz inside me.

    Anyhoo. Definitely bedtime now. Rest well y’all. Tomorrow is going to be a damned fine day.

  99. 99.

    JMG

    Freezing rain in suburban Boston tonight, the all-time winter worst. Not enough (they’d better be right on this) to knock down power lines however. But since I don’t plan on going outdoors until the 26th, no problem. We’ve had champagne and smoked salmon and exchanged our traditional Eve one gift apiece for everyone to everyone else. Rest opened tomorrow am. May your day tomorrow and days thereafter be safe, healthy and happy, my friends I’ve never met.

  104. 104.

    sab

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Traditionally Boxing Day wasn’t for shopping. It was for giving leftovers and other charity to the poor. You had your Holiday. Now remember other people weren’t so fortunate.

    Americans ought to try it.

  106. 106.

    kindness

    The local supermarket uses those delivery bots.  I see them all the time but I had no idea they had audio.  I would have helped it.  Wouldn’t you?  Here in Modesto there is no snow though.  Gotta go up to 4000-5000′ elevation for snow out here.

  107. 107.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Sab:

    Grocery store had very expensive stuffed unicorns with pink manes, pink eyelashes, pink tails and big pink satin bows on their butts. 

    Bastards.  Killing and stuffing such magnificent animals…

  108. 108.

    Kalakal

    @sab: I always take Boxing Day as a holiday, one thing I didn’t leave behind when I crossed the pond. Back in Blighty,# Christmas  was for family, Boxing Day involved a lot of walking to try to combat the previous days debaucheries and was the day for visiting friends. Nice tradition, y’all really should try it

  110. 110.

    Round John Virgin

    Merry Christmas to all!

    Cabernet here, and dark chocolate chips straight from the bag, “left over” from baking cookies.

    Presents wrapped, stockings hung by the woodstove with care. Soon will be “to all a Good Night!”

  111. 111.

    Steeplejack

    I made a quick run around 5:00 to get a bottle of rum at the state liquor store and a few last-minute provisions at the grocery. Really tired and low-energy all week, which I have decided to frame as part of my recovery from surgery. I was surprised at much lower mask discipline in both stores (thanks for that phrase, someone earlier today); heretofore it has been very high here in my corner of NoVA. I wonder what that’s about. Maybe just COVID fatigue wearing people down? Or the idea that Omicron is no big deal?

    Of course, I say this as someone who is driving his brother and BIL to the airport tomorrow afternoon so that they can fly to London for a vacation. WTF. I do not understand this at all. London is a hotbed of Omicron, and, aside from that, they could get caught in a travel ban. But . . . ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    Other than that I have no plans, which is fine with me. I am well provisioned and content to bumble around the apartment and take it easy.

    Merry Christmas to all you Juicers! ??

  112. 112.

    Kalakal

    @Kalakal: Hah! And there’s another habit I’ve never managed to kick. The use of ‘holiday’ for ‘vacation’ . The British don’t really use the word ‘vacation’.

  114. 114.

    Jay

    Here in BC, we have blown up from just over 1500 new cases a day to over 2400 in one day. Test and Trace is maxed out, and they are reserving testing, for people who have to test to work, not travel or club around.

    On the bright side, scored a dozen of the good beer, two bags of crab, so set into Boxing Day. Not going anywhere.

    Happy Holidays to all the Jackals.

  115. 115.

    raven

    @Steeplejack: I’ve seen the same thing for the last few days here, especially old people.  I dunno, I think people have just had it come what may. We’re going to Virginia tomorrow, I don’t really want to but, after refusing several trips in the last year, I just don’t have it in me. Her Blacksburg family has been really good about masks and vacc’s and we just don’t know about her brother’s bunch. We’re going to do our best but we’re going.

  117. 117.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Made it to (spit) Texas without getting Covid!  Just passed our antigen test in the car and are now inside with family but with windows open and masks.  Stopped at a Starbucks in Denton cause I needed a pick me up and I was the ONLY customer wearing a mask ?

  118. 118.

    Another Scott

    @Steeplejack:

    Covid infections are exploding around DC. Fortunately, hospitalizations have not (yet…) followed suit.

    DCist:

    Virginia recorded 6,473 cases on Thursday, bringing the commonwealth close to the records for new cases it set during last winter’s surge. Several jurisdictions in Northern Virginia, like Arlington and Alexandria, have set all-time records in recent days.

    In response to the rise in cases, some local governments have announced new steps to increase access to rapid tests and reimpose certain restrictions.

    My few-thousand people workplace in DC has had 3-5 active cases among employees for weeks/months. The count was 20 on a rapidly increasing trend line last Friday… :-(

    Be careful out there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  124. 124.

    Steeplejack

    @raven:

    Yeah, I think it’s like battle fatigue. The staff at the liquor store used to be hard-asses, but today they just looked beaten down. All of them wearing masks, though.

    Good luck with your trip. I remind myself occasionally that the odds of infection are low, even as I try to make them lower.

  126. 126.

    Jay

    @sab:

    we are mostly vaxxed here, highly boosted, have half the population, half of whom live in small population centers, isolated by hundreds of miles of mountains and rivers.

    In June, when they lifted the mandates, we were at 30 new cases a day, which when Delta arrived, climbed to 300-400 new cases a day. In two weeks it’s gone from that to now, exceeding the worst of past days of Covid.

    Luckily, I’m off til the New Year, so I don’t have to “customer service” 2,000 to 4,000 plague rats every day.

  127. 127.

    Comrade Colette

    This afternoon we simultaneously cancelled our plans for the evening (tiny get-together, everyone boosted, but would-be hosts are live-in new grandparents of preemie twins) and our own planned brunch with BIL and family (7 people total, all boosted) at our house tomorrow, due to teenagers on both sides falling sick. All those plans seemed perfectly fine when we made them a mere 10 days ago. Things change fast.

    Anyway, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and good wishes for a better 2022. And happy birthday @Mary G:! Mine is on Monday. Christmas-adjacent birthdays, feh.

  128. 128.

    Steeplejack

    @raven:

    I read somewhere today (maybe in Anne Laurie’s morning post) that the Abbott BinaxNow test is good at picking up Omicron, unlike some others, so I’m glad I scored a two-pack of those a month ago. Got ’em in the linen closet in case I need to test myself. But my main strategy is isolation—which I realize that many people cannot do.

  129. 129.

    sab

    @MagdaInBlack: Got my husband a hardback annotated US Grant’s Memoirs. I hope he likes it. He has been saying for six months that he wants to read an actual physical book and that that is the one he wants to read but too lazy to get to library.

  130. 130.

    raven

    @Steeplejack: That’s what we have. I came home from some errands and she was freaking out because she couldn’t find them. Then she did. In addition, she had me order her a sweater from China and I did on the 6th. Now I have nothing to give her because it didn’t come.

  132. 132.

    MagdaInBlack

    @sab: My old friend out in Lowell, MA sent me a fukity towel. Printed in lovely script on a kitchen towel is : fukity -fuck-fuck-fuck.

    I am delighted with it ?

  133. 133.

    Steeplejack

    @raven:

    Bummer about the sweater. I guess it’s still in transit? Hopefully she will appreciate that you are going on this trip despite some misgivings. That’s a gift.

  138. 138.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Comrade Colette: Madame was pretty upset about the kid and her bf not being able to join us tomorrow due to the bf testing positive and the kid(no results yet but also positive), I reminded her that it’s better they found out today, rather on Sunday.

  140. 140.

    Danielx

    Tested negative today but was hanging with brother last night and he tested positive so I am isolating on Christmas Eve and for the next five days. Dinner called off, the whole fucking bit. I am boosted, so maybe I will get lucky.

    Cannot express my feelings at this point, told spousal unit just to go away and let me be. Speaking of fuckity fuckity fuck….snakes on everything.

  142. 142.

    dmsilev

    @Another Scott: LA County reported nearly 10k cases today, which is a factor of several higher than the rate just a week ago. Joy. Hospitalizations are up, but only by about 20 percent or so. So far.

    We maxed out at around 20k cases per day roughly a year ago. That was Not Fun.

  143. 143.

    zhena gogolia

    @Danielx: Ugh.

    I hope we’re not stupid having two (careful) people over tomorrow. Also not happy I have to start going to PT Wed.

    We were going to hole up for the whole break, then I had to break my arm.

  144. 144.

    StringOnAStick

    @Kelly: The drive back home from Tumalo peak (across from Mt Bachelor) was an exciting mix of snow, ice, and some folks who really don’t understand the need for traction tires!

  145. 145.

    Spanky

    Just the Mrs. and me tomorrow, with following days visits with the siblings very much in doubt, even though all are shot and boostered. We’ll play it by ear, but it looks like another deferred Christmas.

  146. 146.

    Comrade Colette

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    it’s better they found out today, rather on Sunday

    100% this, which is why we cancelled even though the sick teens tested negative a few days ago. This mf’er moves fast and they (or any of us) could easily have either missed the testing window or been exposed to the damned virus since then. Sorry about being without your daughter, though.

  147. 147.

    raven

    @zhena gogolia: A few years back we were at the beach for the longest vacay we’d ever had, two weeks. I caught a big ass redfish the first day and my bride fell and broke her arm the second. Our insurance wouldn’t pay for the surgery out of state so we went home.

  148. 148.

    Comrade Colette

    @Danielx: Goddamn. That’s rotten. So sorry to hear it. I hope you’ve evaded infection and that you’re able to have some rescheduled holiday cheer soon.

  149. 149.

    jackmac

    I finally ordered my Balloon Juice calendar tonight. I often procrastinate, but in my defense, it’s not 2022 yet. So for me I ordered early.

    HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

  150. 150.

    StringOnAStick

    @Dan B: I love it here.  I was born and raised in CO and never thought I’d leave but I prefer the weather here and the native plants just thrill me.  The front and back yards are being de-lawned and native landscaping installed in the front, a mix of native and waterwise in the back.  Emerald green lawns in the high desert are ridiculous. I love how the huge conifers make me feel small in the context of nature here.

  152. 152.

    Dan B

    @StringOnAStick: My cousin from Colorado Springs, now in Chicago, says she was outside year round with just a sweater and jacket.  She does not like Chicago weather.  I’ve not heard a peep from the niece or SIL about weather or scenery.  I don’t think they notice.

  154. 154.

    phdesmond

    @sab:

    from the favorable review of Samet:

    I want to reemphasize how much this edition’s notes enhance the main narrative. Besides providing maps and photographs, Samet draws on contemporary documents and the specialist work of many other researchers, including Margaret Leech, author of the classic “Reveille in Washington.” Most originally, though, Samet cites a wide variety of literary works that provide additional insight and context for Grant’s own observations. Besides classical authors such as Xenophon, Plutarch, Livy and Julius Caesar, she quotes, with often surprising appropriateness, passages from Shakespeare, Scott, Dickens, Tolstoy, World War I memoirists, Joseph Heller, ­Ta-Nehisi Coates and others.

  155. 155.

    phdesmond

    splat at the end of the thread.

    So let me end as I began: “The Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” is an outstanding example of thoughtful appreciation and long-considered scholarship. Still, a magisterial work — one that you will live in, learn from and regularly go back to — really ought to have an index.

    Michael Dirda reviews books each Thursday in Style.

    THE ANNOTATED MEMOIRS OF ULYSSES S. GRANT

    Edited with an introduction by Elizabeth D. Samet

    Liveright. 1,068 pp. $

  157. 157.

    sab

    @phdesmond: Yay. So he ought to like it. Only danger is the perennial trap of giving to someone else what you want yourself,

    I just thought rushing through a library book before the borrowing time expires doesn’t do the book or its annotations justice.

  160. 160.

    phdesmond

    @sab:

    i read a paperback edition of Grant’s memoirs 60 years ago, when i was a kid civil war buff.  this sounds like a really serious and comprehensive project to throw oneself into!

  162. 162.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: Really?  They start PT for a broken arm before the bones have had a chance to knit?  When I broke my ankle 3 ro 4 years ago, no PT until the x-ray confirmed at 6 or 8 weeks that the bone had knit itself back together.

    Maybe the difference between weight-bearing and not?

  163. 163.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    It may have to do with the functionality and location of the joint. I’ve had to do knee, ankle, shoulder and hands/fingers PT for damage to them and while the time of reviving the function of all was about the same the process was very different, because of what they do and how they function. Knee is of course full load baring, as is the ankle, a shoulder or elbow is not, they are more range of movement joints. Yes they do all have loads but not constant full load bearing. A good part of the time is getting the muscles back to full strength, as well as not damaging the supporting structures/connecting tissue.

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