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Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Hong Kong Fluey Review for June 2020


Oh, so it's been another month of Covid.


Nationally, President Trump at the beginning of the month threatened to use the military to quell violent 'protests' across the country, spurred originally by the death of George Floyd. Though, anyone who pays attention can see that it is no longer about Floyd, but about tearing down the nation instead.

A big change this month for me is finally... finally... I went back to work. Kind of.


After some negotiating with my boss, we set a schedule of in-office hours on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday, 12:30pm to 4pm, and working from home the remainder of the week.

For the first week, I came in every day, taking care of some filing and such. Very few people were in the building (I think at most maybe 10 people? Out of 40?)

 

The second week, Boss Man told me one day I didn't need to come in, so I was only in for two of the 3 days.

The following weeks, I think I came in one day at most, maybe two. Why even bother? I'm an assistant... I need people to assist. If there are no bodies to assist, why is the assistant physically in the building?


Remember when it was 15 days to flatten the curve?


Somehow that's beginning to morph into Hide Until No Cases Exist. It's alarming to see how many people are voluntarily giving up constitutional rights in the name of safety.


Speaking of Floyd, the three police officers in connection with the Floyd murder were charged. Officer Chauvin's charges were later upgraded to 2nd degree murder. Many people believe that 2nd degree isn't warranted, and Chauvin won't be found guilty. With that being said, people think that's why he was charged with 2nd... The trial will drag on until autumn, he'll be found not-guilty, and riots will begin again, all used to hurt Trump during the election season.

Lightening things up again, Julie Nolke is back with a second installment of "Explaining the Pandemic to my Past Self." It got pretty woke, so not as big a fan as this one...

On June 5th, Governor DeSantis moved Florida to Phase 2 (excluding Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties). He emphasized that there have been zero Covid fatalities for minors under 18; 85% of all Covid deaths have occurred  in seniors over the age of 65; there have been more Covid deaths over the age of 90 than under the age of 65. (Florida was in Full Phase 1 since May 18th). Phase 2 means that there can be 50% occupancy for bars and pubs, while restaurants, retail, and gyms (!) can operate at full capacity, as long as social distancing and sanitization protocols are followed. More importantly, personal services businesses (such as tanning salons, tattoo parlors, and MASSAGE THERAPISTS) may operate while adhering to FLDoH guidance. (Reminder, I've not had a massage since March 25th... I'm in some pain right now).


Not to let a Republican governor tell the County how to live, my county, of course, implemented stricter orders (because, of course, they know better than the medical team the State has...) - so in my county, all businesses opened by the Governor may only open at 50% occupancy, and are subject to OSHA and CDC guidelines. They still require retail, grocery stores, and gyms to remain at a max 50% occupancy load; public gatherings must be less than 10 people; and facial covering in businesses and outside where social distancing is not possible. After many people pushed them on their vague wording, they clarified their terrible grammar; Masks are mandatory inside all businesses, and also outside where social distancing is not possible.

On June 8th, New York City began reopening slowly.(Phase 2 came a few weeks later on June 22).

On June 9th, the City began opening municipal pools, but citizens will still need to wear masks at all times, except when actively in the pool, and must distance while in the pool.

Locally, on June 11th, a large number of migrant workers in the county tested positive, driving liberals to scream louder for a second shut down, and driving conservatives to scream louder for immigration reform.

In a country that is already reeling from weeks of peaceful protests and violent riots, a man named Rayshard Brooks was shot in a Wendy's drive-thru in Atlanta, spurring another round of protests and riots. He was drunk, and he fell asleep in his car. Police were called, and at first he interacted peacefully with the officers, but when one officer turned him to cuff him, he went berserk, fighting off the officers, eventually getting an officer's Taser, slamming one officer's head into the asphalt and shooting another officer with the Taser, until one of the officers had no choice but to open fire. As with other events of this nature, one type of people said he was simply a silly old man who didn't deserve to be murdered for falling asleep in his car, while others of us were pointing out his criminal history and the violence he perpetrated in the event itself. So, of course, those of us who defended the cops were... again... called racist. The following day, June 13th, Brooks' girlfriend set the Wendy's on fire.


The officer who shot Rayshard Brooks in Georgia was arrested on June 17th, and charged with murder and aggravated assault... before the Georgia Bureau of Investigation even finished their investigation. Not shockingly, the Fulton County District Attorney, Paul Howard, is currently under investigation for funneling at least $140,000 in Atlanta funds to supplement his own salary. He is also currently in a runoff election with Fani Willis in the race for Fulton County District Attorney, a contender that Howard has labeled "a friend of police," like it's something abhorrent.

Continuing with the liberal push to make masks normal and good, on June 18th, they begin sharing stories from LaLaLand, Los Angeles.


Eager to get out the vote, Trump held his first re-election rally on June 20th in Tulsa (after an amazingly stupid backlash involving Juneteenth). Thanks to a lot of bragging by his election committee, and assholes from TikTok, he had a very low attendance. Apparently there was a coordinated effort by social media to request tickets to the rally to drive up numbers (which Trump was bragging about), and then not show up. Socialist Barbie, AOC, took to Twitter to thank social media

Locally, on June 23rd, unhappy that the peons dare to defy the mask enforcement, the County began to up the enforcement of masks, including fines, and visits in front of a Hearing Officer. Commissioner Mike Byerly said, “It’s gonna get ugly… the more we do, the more divisiveness we will create, the more it will become a political rallying point…” He said that if you drive outside the county, you’ll see “we are very unusual, VERY unusual… In the grocery stores, in the restaurants [in other counties], very few people wearing masks…” He added that it will “very rapidly become common knowledge that all you have to do” is state that you have an exempt medical condition.Commissioner Hutch added that, when asked what would happen if someone told the Code Enforcement officer that they were medically exempt, he said,“They can explain that to the hearing officer.” So, in other words, he's perfectly fine that people with ADA disabilities being fined and hauled in front of an officer. He proposed issuing warnings for only a few weeks (how magnanimous of him), but eventually word would get out and "it will get them used to the pattern." (In other words, threaten the masses, and soon they'll fall in line.)

On June 25th, the CDC estimated that 20 million people in America have been infected with Covid, ten times higher than the number of confirmed cases. So... if that many people have already been infected, and the death rate (in comparison) is still relatively low... why are we all still locked in our homes or having to wear diapers on our face?


To go with the new enforced Mask Mandate, the county also begins to require that all businesses hang signage to make patrons aware of the enforcement.


After a lot of pushback from citizens of the City and County, the County started defending allowing BLM and Floyd protests in the area, saying that protests don't increase Covid numbers. Well, of course they don't... the people doing the testing aren't allowed to ask if the person being tested was recently at a protest!

By June 28th, the worldwide death toll passed half a million people. I'm heartbroken, of course, but in the grand scheme of things, it could be a lot worse.

By the end of the month, there are 146,000 cases in Florida, and 3400 deaths.


Locally, on the last day of June, my county had 1,197 total cases and 12 deaths.

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Hittin' the Road!


Do you ever fall down a rabbit hole on Facebook? Like, someone posted something that made your brain record-scratch and you had to keep digging?

That's how this entire idea was hatched.

Sometime in 2019, I was bored and scrolling Facebook, and came across one of those "You'll never believe THIS could be REAL!!!!!!" click-baity posts. I can't find the post anymore, but it was about a lake in Georgia that you needs to make reservations for. Yeah...

So I followed the link and watched a small video about some lake in northern Georgia, called Lula Lake. Lula Lake is owned by the Lula Lake Land Trust and is only open a few days a month. Reservations are needed to keep it from becoming too busy, and the entrance fee of $15 also helps to off-set the cost of running the Trust.

So, I'm thinking with my Photographer Brain... that seems cool. I'd love to drive up there for a day and check it out. I love nature shots, and waterfall shots, and it would be a great overnight trip. So I pulled it up on the map... it's only 7 hours from home! We could even stay the whole weekend!

Oh, but then... I noticed something... do you see it?

Not sure why Interstate 75 would take me this far out of the way...
It crosses into Tennessee!

My mind started working, you could hear gears in my head...

I mean, if we're going all the way up there, we might as well go to Tennessee as well!

So, that's the very basic story of how this started. A day trip turned into a weekend trip.

Oh, but then... More gears. More cogs. More smoke coming from my ears. I began playing "How Many States Can We Touch?"

Round Knob is there SOLELY so we can cross into Missouri
My first attempt (yep, I said first) had us visiting or traveling through eleven states (Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and back home), for a total 33 driving hours, and 2,175 miles (not counting any detours). We'd try to keep the trip at around 7-8 days, to allow for sightseeing time in many of the bigger cities we'd stop at for the night.

I told Hubby about this one night over dinner, and I said that it would be cool for us to do for our anniversary in 2020 (right about now, actually)... He said we should think about doing it the following year (2021) for our 25th wedding anniversary (who says men aren't sentimental?) So, with that in mind (and knowing I had a lot more time to plan), I went back to Google... How many other states could we touch?

So many more states! Will I be sad I missed Memphis? Maybe...
We were able to add 2 more states, to make it thirteen (Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and back home). The difference, besides the two extra states, was adding in the St. Louis Arch, and going pretty far into Oklahoma. This trip would be 40 hours, and 2,678 miles. We'd probably allow 10-11 days for this trip.

Yes, you could argue that we're missing a lot of America within that circle, but that's okay. As two people who haven't traveled out of our own state - except to see family - seeing any part of America is better than seeing none at all! I can tell already that this won't be our one and only road trip... I already have grand plans for Parts 2 and 3 in the next decade! (If I can get my phobic hubby on an airplane, that is). 

Hubby isn't super-involved with this trip (he never is, really)... He knows I love to plan things, so I'm running wild with ideas right now, and once I begin to narrow things down, I'll go to him with would you rather options and get his input from there. So, as of right now... I don't know if we'll do the big trip or the small one. Which would I rather do? The BIG ONE, duh! Which do I think I can handle? Probably the smaller one. That's more than a week of driving, traveling, hotel beds, ugh... I don't know...

But I really want the big one. 

So, what have I done so far? I mean, besides an awesome trip on Google? I have (at last check) a 21-page Word document for me to record my every single thought as it pops in my head. Hey! Beignets! Don't forget to buy socks! Oooh, the bed and breakfast in Chattanooga looks cool! Lots of random stuff like that. I have a running list of songs I want to download, which are either specifically linked to a state we'll visit (like "Chattanooga Choo-Choo") or just awesome songs that make travel fun (like "Born to Be Wild"). 

I have a running shopping list (and a coordinating Shopping List online at Amazon and Walmart) so I can spread out my purchases over the coming year (things like gift cards, clothing, snacks, camera equipment, and similar).  And as I purchase things, I move it from the To Buy list, to the Bought list, to ensure that I don't make any repeat purchases. I'm thinking I'll start buying stuff come this Fall, especially if anything shows up on Christmas or Black Friday sales!

Also in this document is a list of things we want to do in each state, broken down by state (to make referencing it easier). Things like Lula Lake, Lookout Mountain, in Georgia. National Civil Rights Museum or Beale Street in Memphis. I'm hoping to do a lot of "off the beaten path" types of experiences, or things you wouldn't normally think about doing in each specific place (like kayaking the Wolf River Harbor in Memphis). I'm also watching a lot of YouTube travel videos and making notes of places to stop, or more specifically, places to stop and eat at in each of these places!

Most importantly, I have a running budget... for each option (Budget for Option 2 is larger, since the trip is longer). It's actually saved in Excel, and then inserted into the Word Document, so whenever I update the Excel spreadsheet, it updates the Word document, too. Really cool! I break it down by what we'll need to pay for, how much we'll need (I tend to estimate high), and any notes:

This hasn't been updated since February
Then, I have a separate table for what money and funds I have available (this is very much out of date, as you can see in the notes):

This also hasn't been updated since February
And finally, the most fun part of the whole Word Document (for me, because I'm a logistics nerd), is the Day to Day Itinerary! It's laid out for each day:

This will be fleshed out much more in the months to come
It includes where we're starting from (Little Rock) to where we're driving to (New Orleans), and any notes or itinerary underneath. In this example, we'll wander Little Rock until after lunch, drive through a few towns on our way to Nola, then stay the night in Nola. I make a note of rivers because of Hubby's dislike of bridges so that I can warn him ahead of time. 

So that's it...  That's where we are right now. Covid is 'ravaging' the globe. Everyone is locked in their homes. People are killing each other. And all I want to do is plan an epic road trip for 2021. 

Over the next 10 months, I'll do a lot more research into what could be fun to do in all of our stops. I'll decide if I can really do the long trip, or if I need to settle for the short trip. I'll buy stuff. I'll plan stuff. I'm already looking forward to it, and it's still 12 months away!

I'll leave you with this terrible Dad Joke:


How long does it take to get from Louisiana to Alabama? 
One Mississippi