Day 236 - just two

Today is the 5th day of the 34th week, the 24th day of the 8th month, the 236th day of this experiment in babbling [with 122 shopping days left until Christmas], and:

• Can Opener Day
• Independence Day - Ukraine from the Soviet Union in 1991
• International Day Against Intolerance, Discriminations, and Violence Based on Musical Preferences, Lifestyle and Dress Code
• International Strange Music Day - celebrated since 1997, but I don't think there are any offerings of Klingon opera this year.  
• Kobi Bryant Day - a reference to his two jersey numbers and the day after his birthday
• National Burger Day
• National Knife Day
• National Maryland Day
• National Peach Pie Day - they used to sell small pies at the MD State Fair; that was one of the things Frank and I would always buy there.  Didn't see them the last time I went, but that was well before the pandemic 
• National Waffle Day or Waffle Iron Day
• Pluto Demoted Day
• Shooting Star Day
• Vesuvius Day - on this day 1,944 years ago, the volcano exploded that wiped out Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae.  It erupted again in 1631, and has been fairly quiet since 1944, but the volcano is still considered active.   
• Wayzgoose Day
• Weather Complaint Day
• William Wilberforce Day - born 264 years ago this day and an early abolitionist 
• the first quarter of the moon at 5:58AM EDT as for the first time, the south pole is explored
• and Voyager 1 is 22h 15m 58s of light travel time from Earth 

Quote of the day:
"My head aches and my back hurts and I don't feel like talking
Don't want to go the show to see Doctor Zhivago"
Don't wanna take the dog out walking
I'm going to sit right here in this easy chair,
And read the paper alone..."

~ Roger Miller, cover of  "1492 Franklin Pike Hero" by Bobby Russel

There is an end of summer vibe in the air, helped by the unusually mildness [for August at least] of the past couple of days.  Starbucks is advertising their pumpkin spice latte.  The Maryland Renaissance Festival starts this weekend.  Halloween decorations are starting show up for sale.  School starts this coming Monday [and how I hate that it starts before Labor Day!  I wish Hogan had not rescinded the order that all counties would start the first Tuesday of September].  There were many school busses out and about as I drove to work this morning, as the drivers familiarized themselves with their routes and got the timing of the traffic down.

Traffic is picking up for the morning commutes.  Wednesdays are almost back to pre-pandemic levels as anyone working hybrid schedules seems to be in the office that day.  When the federal workers are dragged back, the congestion will increase and rush hours will become miserable and gridlocked again, but the CRE [commercial real estate] moguls will be happy that their investments' values will rebound.   They of course, will not be commuting. 

While checking on the status of vaccinations offered at my local Walgreens, and trying to decide what to get when, I stumbled across this summary of the costs of medication for me this year so far.  Now this is primarily insulin, with two inhalers added in, as my pills come through the home delivery pharmacy Cigna uses.  It is a grim reminder of the costs of healthcare and the challenge the uninsured face, neh?

When Grandmom Riley was ill, back in the 1990s, we found she had no health insurance - none other than Medicare and many of the drugs they were prescribing were not covered or covered only partially.  My mother was retired and couldn't afford to pay the $2K+ each trip to the pharmacy entailed, so I was picking up the orders and putting it on my credit cards.  I've often wondered what would've happened if she had needed more care long-term after my credit cards were inevitably maxed out.....

I have two more family birthdays coming up in the fall.  There are only two of us in the office today and except for the music I am playing, it is very quiet. There are just two days between me and the weekend.  And yesterday I scared my two coworkers when I went to sit down on a chair that had tipped over from the weight of my pocketbook hanging on the back and landed on the floor, cracking my head on the wooden edge, so it is day two of a headache.  

It's Thursday, that too.