my dad was like that in his younger years. He did Winnipeg to Toronto and back in under 30 hours each way when he and my mom were a'courtin' and he was in the RCAF. March break when I was 8, he took us to Florida. I believe we made it to the north end of Georgia before he stopped for a rest (and to hook up with some waitress for after he'd gotten a nap in).
Ford. Diesel. Wakes up the whole fucking neighborhood when he starts it, and sounds like it has auto-peel-out when he goes down the street.
Feh, some people like driving, some people hate driving. Dad drove all over the country (including the SC trip), but I can't even consider it. Aside from sciatica and back problems that would make it miserable, my wife said she's probably have to kill me after a few hours of being cooped up together.
You just need a decent ride, man! GM couldn't make a door handle to save their life, but GM seats have always been top notch. Ford, on the other hand, can't make a seat that doesn't make me squirm, oh, and their transmissions suck too. But,...I forgot where I was going. Time for a nap. I had more than a few giggles this morning when I broke out the end-of-the-nose professor-like reading glasses this morning. Yeah, I'm old. Edit: Or, someone has made the text smaller in my pulpit bible... I'm gonna go with that.
Longest I've done is [does conversion] around 1250 miles, leaving at 10am and arriving around 4pm the next day.
I was in CVS today and the old biden looking guy hitting on the cashier said he didn't know what to do anymore because the virus meant he couldn't touch people anymore. This was in front of his wife who just said "That's my Herman." Old whypipo problems.
This whole thing has called into question the validity of superhero costumes. I walked into my comic shop last week wearing a mask and sunglasses, and the nice lady behind the counter said "Hi John!"
Went to the grocery store today and saw some disturbing things. Only about half the employees were wearing masks, and then only part-time. They'd pull their masks down to talk to one another, or when they were just hanging out at the register, but put them up after a customer got close to them. One customer was wearing a mask that she pulled down while she was in line, so she could tell the cashier that she was on kidney dialysis and her doctor had told her that she needed to wear a mask every time she went out. There was a woman in the store, who reminded me with the way she dressed, of January Jones' character from Mad Men. She was wearing a mask, along with the four kids with her. Most of the customers in the store weren't wearing masks. I went to Dollar General and one of the employees was wearing a mask with his nose sticking out. The other employees didn't have a mask on, and neither did most of the customers (I think that there were a total of 3 of us out of the 20 or so). The most "fun" was the liquor store, though. The lone employee wasn't wearing a mask, though he was behind a plastic shield, so a little protected. Only one other customer besides myself was wearing a mask and an Elvis impersonator (Why are they still a thing?) came in and bitched because this was going to be the last show he'd be able to play for a while. Kept calling the statistics about the outbreak "Fuzzy math." And if you have an Android phone, you'll find that your ability to upload images is being throttled due to the increased bandwidth demands caused by people being home all the time.
I don't share too much about my personal life here anymore, but I wanted to get this off my chest. I've been engaged for about 10 months and we had our venue and everything booked for this fall. We already sent out save the dates prior to COVID, but we were holding off on sending our invitations just to see how things progress. However, because of the resurgence in COVID infections (and the sheer stupidity of Americans) we've decided to basically postpone our plans. We're still going to have a small ceremony and get married at home in October, but we can't in good conscience invite so many people and risk people's lives coming from a bunch of locations. We'll have immediate family and our maid of honor/best man, and do a small ceremony and reception in our backyard. Our plan is to have a recommitment ceremony/reception next year and invite everyone we planned to invite. I'm still happy to be getting married this fall, but it really sucks because my fiancee has been so excited about the whole process. Thankfully, she is still excited about doing it in our own backyard (one of the many reasons I love her is her creativity and optimism). I don't know what else to say. It's kind of a relief, because we've been stressed about it for the past 3 months. But it still sucks.
So in recent days I've discovered that one of my coworkers had a grandparent die from the virus and another lost their father because of it. Because hardly anyone is working at the office now, I haven't actually seen these people since March, and must have missed it if/when they said something about it on their social media.
Interview with a local doc who's dealing with the outbreak. Last month, we had 1 case in the hospital. Now the hospital is at capacity and they're having to send people to other hospitals (in Nashville). He said that the surprising thing has been the sudden spike in cases this past week. Can't imagine that the packed graduation ceremony they had a week ago has anything to do with this.
You're not the only one. One wedding I'm invited to got postponed from September til July, and I've heard similar from 3 other friends.
One of the guys I work with, he moved here in the beginning of the year. He's having a hard time getting acclimated here. Because of the pandemic he hasn't really been able to do much other than work and be at home (his apartment). This week he was feeling extra worn out, not sick, just not resting. Which I think is because he's essentially cut off and not able to go out and do much. Meet people, hang out, etc. I can't do much to help him, other than make work easier for him. If he's working with me, I'll do what I can to make work easier on him. And if I don't need him or can do cam work done without him, I'll tell him to take off if he wants to. We're guaranteed full time pay even if we don't hit full time. He's told me more than a few times that he appreciates and respects me because I don't depend on him to get what's needed done, but more to make sure what we need to do is done correctly. Last week he told me that he thinks I'm more accountable than anyone else he has worked with. If it wasn't for the pandemic, and me worried about possibly getting others sick, we most likely would have had a family gathering tomorrow with foods, fireworks, etc. And would have invited him over,
Not different for me, since I've always thought that this guy was a giant douche, but it might make some folks rethink their support of him:
Every once in a while I email or FB message a friend at work to see if I can find out what's going on there. I get one of three responses: "Doing well, thanks"; "Work is crazy"; or no response at all. Frustrating lack of detail (and apparent brush-offs) when I'm trying to find out if any of the friends I left behind have gotten sick or died. I can only assume that once I retired, they figured they were well rid of me. I guess I'll stop bugging the bastards then.
Well, I was going to go down to the deli in town to pick up a sammich today, but I saw something interesting on our home town Facebook page - we're well-known for having the best Motor Vehicles office in the county, so people come from all over for fast license & reg service. The DMV has been closed for 2 or 3 months, though. Well, today is the day it opened. The line of people literally circled the entire strip-mall that the office (and the deli) are in. Hundreds! This video is mostly the back of the mall - it looks like the line loops around a couple of times! https://www.facebook.com/donna.luberger/videos/10222041655246822/
On the bright side, I dared email the lovely Karen, and she got right back to me with a friendly response. Damn, but I miss her.
I've got two nephews who had planned to get married this fall. They both got married early and streamed them on Facebook. ETA: Not to each other by the way.
My county has decided to require everyone to wear masks in public starting tomorrow. There's a lot of people butthurt about this, I'm sure. I'm debating if I should start streaming on the interwebs the next time I go to the store and don't see a lot of people wearing masks.
I did not bother to ask if he was republican like you, but takes one to know one so I will go with your claim on him.