Unemployment, and the miserable job search that followed, was a wake-up call to me.

One of the things that I decided to do was go back to school to get a second master’s degree in a particularly esoteric and unique field of engineering that very much suits my fancy.

I was inspired by a former co-worker who earned that degree and now has a job I am envious of.

Right now I won’t tell you what or where it is, but suffice it to say I am neck deep in shock physics and jump equations.  When I am done with this new degree combined with my previous education, the tagline for my resume will be “Better Killing Through Metallurgy.”

It is finals week and one of my make-or-break classes has a take-home final due Thursday morning and I am still working full time at a day job.

As such, I am going to disappear for a while.  I will be back.  In the meantime, there will be lots and lots of math.

Like a boss.

When you are a recording engineer, you deal with a lot of people who are firmly deluded into thinking they are good.  Those are the ones that give you the most trouble because you have to work 10 times as hard just to make them not sound as bad.

Then again, a very few times in your careered, you are blessed with people who are truly gifted in their craft and your job is to simply mike them up, set levels, press record and just sit back to admire the moment while thanking the higher being you believe in for the glorious chance of putting this much beauty on tape.

And when you stoop as low as politicize the death of a grandmother, you fucking deserve to lose your jobs and wave cardboard signs at intersections.

Found in 90 miles From Tyranny

“Kristi Noem’s grandmother died in a nursing home hit by COVID-19 as the South Dakota governor continued to downplay the virus,” reads the headline published by Business Insider and re-upped by Yahoo! News.

The story acknowledges that “Arnold tested negative for COVID-19 before her death,” but goes on to focus on Noem’s COVID-19 policies, South Dakota’s rising coronavirus numbers, and the virus-related deaths in the nursing home where Noem’s grandmother resided. The article also criticized Noem’s decision to refuse a state-wide mask mandate.

Scum of the Earth. There is no other way to describe them. There are some things you simply don’t do and this is one of them. But they are the same people who have been taught to wave the bloody shirt of a victims to support their political mandates, so stealing a corpse for the same function is not a stretch for them.

So I found a big bag of chips in our pantry and since we are both on a diet, I figured the local wildlife would benefit from it.

I have been throwing a crunched handful about every 2-3 days and other than the annoying muscovite ducks and the visiting coot, no other animal would show up.

Today this happened.

If you look at the duck on top of the photo, you will see something dark right below: that is one of the half dozen snapping turtles living in the lake.

The crow kept cawing for its share and I could not help myself and demanded he say “Nevermore” before he got any.

The next door neighbors looked at me with suspicion.

Immunizations are not as simple as some make it look like and this vaccine is no exception. The fact that you will need three doses tells you that and yes, the card will be necessary because a lot of people are forgetful enough to remember the details of which dose and when was last applied.

And I am saying this as an old fart who had to travel to foreign lands in an ear where you had to have an immunization card because we were getting shots that may interact with other vaccinations. We are talking about a time when herd immunity was not yet status quo and specially for those coming from areas with endemic tropical diseases.

One of the things about a vaccination card was that you gave instant records to a treating doctor not your own about what was running inside your veins. In some cases, getting double charges of the same vaccines may end up sending you to ICU for an emergency cool down of your core because temp would spike till it killed you.

Also, some immunizations do expire in their effectiveness.  Knowing when you had yours helps to see if you need a boost if required or you are just under warranty. I am sure I have enough readers that do not remember when was the last time they had a tetanus shot and it is now expired. I know I have forgotten many times through the years only to be reminded when I need stitches at the hospital because the missus tried the new knife on my ass. (kidding) I did get my tetanus boost back in February when I went for the shingles and other stuff at my local Wally World but I could not tell you when I had one before that even under torture.

This Wuhan V. vaccine is new and we probably do not know what kind of interactions will it have, if any. Also and more than likely, you will be involved in your merry life and not paying attention to the latest edition of The Lancet so you will not know if you are in danger when taking a new prescription.

And if some non-medical place of government entity asks to see your card, you can always tell them to fuck off and go someplace else.

Of course, if you are not planning on getting the shot, then you can safely ignore this post. I won’t get mad.

PS: Some old school immunizations did not need a card or reminder. Smallpox vaccines would leave a small mark on your arm that could be seen for decades after. Mine is still visible (barely) after over half a century.