CoViD-19 San Diego Stats | COVID-19 Tops 1 Million Deaths Globally | President's Debt Is A National Threat | SD Red Flag Warning Continues | Photos: San Diego Zoo

Mid-jump ring-tailed lemur at San Diego Zoo (Taken 9.28.2020)

My godsister works at a fancy salon where she does manicures and pedicures. On Sunday while working, a woman made the last appointment of the day then showed up 20 minutes late, causing Claudes to have to stay past regular operating hours. Then the woman berated her for the job she was doing and told her the "right" way to do her feet, and then left giving her a $2 tip. 

What. A Scumbag.

And the thing of it is, these are the people demanding the reopening of everything to full capacity. It's not the people doing the jobs, though I'm sure there are some, it's the people who want people serving them so they can go to One Paseo and make the young black girl take their shit for a goddamn $2 tip. Today, while flipping through channels, we caught Supervisor Desmond complaining about chasing metrics, meanwhile the world passed 1,000,000 deaths. But to him, they're not "pure deaths" so they must not matter. 

Besides all that, it was a nice birthday. Darren and I hung out in the speakeasy last night, I slept in, Darren made me a lovely charcuterie and cheese board for lunch, we went to the Zoo in the afternoon, and then resumed watching Utopia, which I'm gonna get back to now. 

And in case you're wondering, Michael told me that after doing the math, the County's Tuesday assessment should be 7.2 cases per 100k, putting us back at the purple tier, though we won't move because you have to have two weeks for movement.

CoViD-19 Stats | Masking Works* | County Asks State For Exemption of SDSU Cases | Board To Hold Special Meeting To Sue State | Governor Declines Data Exemption For San Diego

Gerenuks eating at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (Taken 8.30.2020)

Oh. My. Gosh. There is soooo much news drama today my head might explode. I woke up this morning to share some of the takeaways from a video I watched with Dr. Gandhi who is the head of the HIV/AIDS program at UCSF. Then I watched the County's media briefing and then the State's, and I'm glad I did in that order because Newsom and Dr. Ghaly are not budging on San Diego's stats. "As we look forward to next week, the potential that San Diego meets for two consecutive weeks the need to go to a more restrictive tier; if that's what the data shows, that's what the state is going to expect." So of course, now our Board wants to sue the state, which is a little scary because as we saw in Pennsylvania earlier this week, the court ruled in favor of the petitioner, that the state had overreached on constitutional rights. Which really just goes to show how political this whole thing is when it never should've been. You have Caputo taking a leave of absence, Trump shouting down Redfield, and a whole bunch of other drama. So I'm going to do two posts today, just because I still have so much to work through. Plus it's Fiestas Patrias, celebrating Mexican Independence Day, so I've got some margaritas with my name on them. Later, of course. Today's stats and news after the jump. Part two will be posted later. 

CoViD-19 Stats | Hiking Ramona Grasslands & Photos | Conspiracy Theories Run Rampant | Vaccine Equity Threatened | Wildfire Death Count Rising

A midday hike on the permit-only Ramona Grasslands trail (Taken 9.13.2020)

I don't keep it any secret that I have terrible sleep habits. If you've ever asked me (pre-pandemic) to get together, you'll generally get a hem-haw. Plans give me debilitating anxiety. I do well with spontaneity, where in that moment I can say yes or no and move on. 

When I actually got to bed before midnight on Saturday, I woke up rested at 4am. And I thought, no day like today to go for a hike. 

I thought I did my research. A couple weeks ago, we got permits to hike the Ramona Grasslands Old Survey Road 97 Trail, but obviously with the recent heat and fires, we hadn't really thought about it. I mean, just last week I was railing against people who were hiking in the dangerous conditions, being rescued, diverting frontline personnel. 

But I thought I did all the things. I got my map to Ramona Grasslands and screenshotted in case we lost service. I consulted the local hiking group on the essential things to carry on a hike. I filled water bottles and refrigerated them. I froze my cold pack cooler. I packed a basic first-aid kid and found my multi-tool. I packed snacks. I checked the air quality, local fire situation, and the projected weather forecast. When I finally woke Nova up to see if she was onboard (she's always game for something new,) I had her pack a bag for the hike and one for the car for after. Same for Darren. We had binocs and my camera and extra water and food in the car (probably enough for 3 days though we were only hiking 6 miles.) Once everyone was up, we all had healthy, energy packed breakfasts. 

We did all the things. 

(More after the jump.)

CoViD-19 Stats | Youth Are Not Immune | CSU System Will Remain Online For Spring 2021 | Streetlight Surveillance Shutdown | Valley Fire Reaches 55% Containment | SDSU Confirms 562 Cases

Saturday is National Aunt's Day, so here's a pic of my nieces and sisters. (Taken 5.1.2020)

On my dad's birthday, my brother called to wish him a happy birthday. And also to defend the president. "What they're saying about him, it isn't true." A NAVY captain, he was defending the accusations that the White House occupant defamed dead and injured soldiers. 

Then we got the Woodward tapes admitting that the American people were repeatedly and intentionally lied to about the severity of the novel coronavirus and the pandemic.  

The gaslighting happening right now is simply unbelievable. We are told that we can't believe what we're actually seeing and hearing with our own eyes and ears. 

Earlier tonight, Politico dropped a story that confirmed what we already believed to be true; the administration's health department communications aides have been editing CDC reports because the TRUTH reflects poorly on the way the pandemic was handled and is still being handled. 

We're lucky we don't live in an information bubble and can trust people who know what they're doing or have the scientific curiosity to admit that we don't know what we don't know. But the terrifying reality is that there a lot of people playing politics with this pandemic and I seriously hope we see major changes come election day. 

Anyway, last night Darren and I had a fun night in the 'speakeasy' and distantly cocktailed with our neighbor as she told us how things happening right now correlate to the Jewish end-times prophecies. 

Fun times. 

Today was a relatively quiet Friday with a zillion emails and I binged The Duchess on Netflix. It stars (and is created by) great stand-up comedian Katherine Ryan and definitely locks in on her awkward/funny humor. The short 6 episodes are a breezy watch, though the dialog is fast so you've got to pay attention so as not to miss her quips.   

CoViD-19 Have We Learned Anything? | Valley Fire Containment Increases | San Diego Museums: What's Open

Greg Laswell at Belly Up (Taken 9.11.2019)

I'm sorry about how many people are struggling during this pandemic, but I have to say, I am naturally a homebody. We *almost* went to the Safari Park today, but by the time we ate a late lunch, double checked the weather, and I realized how much email I had to get through, it was a no-go. Darren and Nova went and played tennis again while I had an hour of quiet at home. 

I watched a local news clip where the reporter was trying to explain the tier system and the current San Diego numbers and he kept saying that our cases per 100k were "6.9 percent" which is not accurate. He also said we're being adjusted for not enough testing whereas I understood the opposite. But either way, the point is that the County is basically objecting to the current numbers because of data reporting issues from some of the testing centers back to the state. So I'm not the only one who is confused, but I think I have it all somewhat sorted in my brain now. 

Since we've been home a lot, we've been watching a lot. We're watching Away on Netflix but it's super dramatic, so we're sticking to one episode a night. I also watched Krystal on Netflix which, despite being directed by William H Macy, I don't really recommend, unless you can sit through a couple hours of literally the worst acted southern accents you can imagine. Does this ever appeal to anyone from the actual south or midwest? And then the background music is always some slow strum banjo or some bullshit. I watched the whole thing (because I can't start something without finishing) but you've been warned. 

I also watch Chemical Hearts on Amazon Prime. It's about a high-school kid who lives a very normal, uneventful life until he meets the new girl at school, who is sorta the opposite of the manic-pixie, but no less a trope: dark, mysterious, walks with a cane from a traumatic injury, and has a very bipolar vibe as she works through her shit. Still, I enjoyed it enough that I checked out the book it's based on from the San Diego Public Library app immediately after I watched it. Anyway, lots of news and stuff, but you won't find any links about Fury or any of the outcry by the tapes here. We already know where I stand on this, I've already blocked family from Facebook, and I'm gonna try to temper the rage until the election is over. 

CoViD-19: Mass Testing Only Way To Resume Festivals, Schools, "Normal" Life | CA Prioritizes Small Biz Recovery | SDSU Case Counts Continue To Rise

Hummingbirds love the flowers at Africa Rocks at San Diego Zoo (Taken 8.2.2020)

Okay, okay. We got the clarification we needed. Kind of. On the one hand, there are San Diego County testing counts that are somehow getting boggled when reporting to the state. Dr. Wooten says those will take two weeks to work out. Additionally, Supervisor Fletcher maintains that you have to reach a new tier's base level for two weeks before moving, in both a positive or negative direction. Then there's an "adjustment rate" that San Diego received based on testing; we're being adjusted to lower numbers because our testing exceeds minimum required amounts set by the state based on tests/population.

It was my understanding that you had to meet the new metrics for two weeks to move in less-restrictive categories, but apparently the same is for more-restrictive. So supposing we hit the purple tier metric when it's reevaluated on Tuesday, we'd have to hit it a second week to actually move into purple. Or something like that. 

This new tier system was supposed to be more simple, not more complicated, to allow anyone to look at the data and be able to assess where concerns should be, i.e. a restaurant owner could follow the data and know they'd have to be ready to close down some capacity or back to fully outdoor, but that's just not where we are with data anomalies and testing adjustment rates. So I'll keep it zipped, follow their reports and skip the math because it's all just too much of a headache. 

In the meantime, we're still mostly chillin' around the house, though we did leave for a couple hours to hit some tennis balls on some public courts and picked up some steaks from Vons that were still on Labor Day specials. It was my first time shopping there since March.

The County is moving to just one press conference per week on Wednesdays moving forward. Governor Newsom seems to be a little more random depending on the wildfires and information he has to get out. I'll still keep up my dailies here because I'm looking over the data anyway and it's somewhat calming in that nothing really comes as a surprise anymore. Lots of news from today's briefings and stats, after the jump.  

CoViD-19: San Diego Stays Red: "Hold Harmless Due To Data Issues" | Don't Sacrifice Teachers | Chill Your Need To Hike | SDSU Cases Continue To Rise

September 8 is iguana awareness day. Close enough. (Taken 8.13.2020)

Nobody likes to admit that they're wrong, so instead I had to dig deep to prove to myself that I was not. (hahaha). Tuesday came and went and San Diego stayed in Tier 2/Red Tier. Using the state's data, San Diego should've moved into the purple tier, and in fact, it is indicated as so on the state's California Blueprint Data Chart, but there's a caveat specific for San Diego to "hold harmless due to data issues." Whatever that means. 

If we already look into the future and use the current County provided data for the week ending September 5th, without any adjustments, our case rate jumps to 9.96 per 100,000 people of the population, well into the Purple/Tier 1. I'd be shocked if they can find some way to manipulate the data to keep us in red after that. But okay, I'll chill on my math and predictions and leave that to California. 

Darren and I hung out in the speakeasy on Monday night, so it was a low-key day around here. We'll largely be staying home this week just because we know how everyone was out raging this weekend and it always seems like a good idea to quarantine after visiting non-household members, even when we were safe, masked, distanced, goggled, and outside.  Today's weather was a nice reprieve, and hopefully the expected Santa Ana winds are overstated so firefighters can get a better handle on the current wildfires raging in the County and State. Today's stats and reading are after the jump. 

CoViD-19 Disney Clears Sick Employees To Work | Fall Virus Fatigue Inevitable | Valley Fire 3% Contained | Humane Society Aids Animal Evacuations

Darren, Nova, and cousin Robin (Taken 9.7.2020)

I hope everyone had a superb weekend. As I mentioned, we spent the whole day Saturday in the yard in the sprinkler, then all of Sunday in the house, bunkering like it was our jobs because of the smoke from the Valley Fire. 

For actual Labor Day, we got a text from Darren's cousin from Anchorage that she was in town for a flight layover. He hadn't seen her in over a decade, so we had to risk assess and opted to meet up with her. We picked up tacos from El Panson (because everyone should experience tacos from El Panson) and met her at the pool of her hotel, Carte, in the Columbia District of downtown. There are nice big bench seats so we were able to spread out while we ate, though of course we got scolded by hotel staff halfway through our meal because you're not supposed to bring in outside food or drinks. Uh, sorry not sorry. 

After finishing up, we walked toward the waterfront and decided to use the empty bocce ball court at Waterfront Park. It was nice of the County Parks people to be open on the holiday, so we played while the cousins caught up with each other. Nova and I beat them, but who's keeping track? ;)

We returned home to rest for awhile, then picked up a Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake to take to my parents' house for my dad's 72nd birthday. Unfortunately he's not in great health, so while the family masked and distanced in the backyard, he was stuck in the house, too painful to get on his scooter to join us. But it was still nice to all get together and we'll be doing it again soon as both my mom and I celebrate birthdays later in the month. 

The County didn't report new stats today, but I still maintain that using their formula, San Diego will be moved to the purple tier tomorrow, reverting back to some older closures. 

I suspect Tuesday will be a busy day, since the state will be reassessing all counties for the new metrics, fires continue to rage out of control, and police continue to do whatever the eff they want. News after the jump. 

CoVID-19 Stats | As Election Approaches, Things Are Increasingly Terrifying | East County Fire Grows to Nearly 10k Acres

One of Many Summer Trips to San Diego Zoo (Taken 8.5.2020)

On Saturday, we spent the day in the yard with the sprinkler running to cool us off. We didn't expect that Sunday would be so drastically different with the Valley Fire burning in East County. We kinda all did our own thing today, with Darren making music in the studio, Nova and I watched a movie called Ride Like A Girl, based on the true story of the first woman jockey to win the Melbourne Cup. And then I slept. I took advantage of the air conditioned bedroom to dodge the record setting heat of the weekend. I also watched Wildlife on Netflix but it was pretty slow moving, and I'm not really down with the "floozy wife of the sixties" trope, so I'd maybe skip this one on Netflix. 

I have to say I was disappointed by the dozens of beach and hiking photos I've seen this weekend. But even more, I've been happily muting people on Facebook. We're about a month out from ballots being mailed out for the election, and I just have no capacity for non-voters or Trump supporters. So much is at stake and I just can't tolerate the nonsense. Sorry, not sorry. 
Today's news and stats are after the jump.  

CoViD-19 & CA Wildfire Updates | County Below 200 New Cases | 625 Fires Rage On In California | Sea World Lays Out "Zoo Days" Reopening Plan

Strawberry's pose when she's on balcony lookout (Taken 8.19.2020)

Darren and I had a late Sunday night in the speakeasy and when we were finally coming back upstairs, I dropped my laptop. Today it won't turn on and so needless to say I'm kinda freaking out about it. I'm using my old one in the meantime, but it has a really hard time typing the letter V, needs a new battery and powercord, which I guess I should've taken care of when I wasn't desperate for a backup. Hopefully Davey can take a look at it on Tuesday and assure me that i didn't destroy it. Nova didn't go to soccer because she had her mandatory online school orientation, which means we haven't been to La Jolla Cove since last Monday. I'm currently bingeing the second season of Trinkets on Netflix, a show I'd completely forgotten I'd watched before. I don't really have anything going on at all this week, but hopefully it cools down and we can do a couple trips to the San Diego Zoo or Safari Park or some fun stuff before Nova's days become filled with school stuff again. Monday's briefing notes and some reading are after the jump. 

CoViD-19: Governor Newsom Gives Fire & Covid Updates | Cabrillo Monument Extends Weekend Hours | San Diego News of Interest | Experts Weigh In On Covid-19

Fiesta Island Leash-Free Dog Park is fully reopened (Taken 8.24.2019)

About half an hour ago, Nova asked me if we were doing anything today. Darren is sleeping after playing music in the studio all night but I think maybe I owe it to her to go do something fun and before the weather gets unbearable this weekend. I don't really have much to say today that I haven't been saying every day so I'm gonna go offline and try and have a day with the kid. News after the jump. 

San Diego Fires: It's Raining!!!

It rarely rains in San Diego and when it does, it is always welcome because we're in a constant battle with drought, but after the week we had here, nothing could be better news than seeing raindrops outside my window. I think they dropped for only about 2 minutes, but the fact that the relative humidity is up enough even if for just a few drops is great news.

In a postscript on the the major damages from the fires, everyone has been moved out of Qualcomm stadium and the Chargers game will happen as scheduled. Last night I helped get some information for someone who had been staying at the Boat & Ski Club. We headed to The Rock Church (as an atheist, massive million dollar facility churches frighten me in a big way) where we found out that most people were gone and that shelter was closing up shop at midnight so they could be ready for Sunday mass. We met a woman who was helpful in trying to satisfy immediated needs, but we still didn't find the answer to our question: what help is available for uninsured renters?

Instead, we sat outside and fired up the laptop with The Rock Church's wi-fi. Basically we found that his rental is probably still standing and the landlord might be trying to dick him around. Weird shit. We went back to the boat and ski club with some dog food for his puppy and he was on his way to stay with friends until he find out more about the condition of his place. In the meantime, I'm still looking for answers. Even the Red Cross didn't know what help is available to uninsured renters. Anyone with info, please send it my way.

San Diego Fires: Where do the ininsured turn?

I'm on a mad research kick now because even though it was all happy and shiny to see San Diegans come together over the last few days, there are still a lot of things that are going to need to happen to make things whole again. I understand that many people donated time and money to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, and I know FEMA and other agencies are in town to help people out, but here's my question.

Does anyone know of resources, agencies and charities specifically designed to help the uninsured? Many homeowners are going to find that their policies don't cover certain damage, but many apartments and mobile homes were lost and for the uninsured, this could be a devastating loss. If anyone has info, please send it my way. We have a project in the works to specifically aid the uninsured fire victims but if we don't need to recreate the wheel, we will glady take suggestions for other organizations who already have their hands in similar work.

San Diego Fires: Lost Animals

I just got some comments that I thought were worth reposting; as evacuees have filtered back home, at least those who have homes to get back to, there are many animals who are lost. If anybody has information about reuniting animals with their families, please let me know so I can repost the information here.

In the meantime, here's the message:

Is Del Mar Fairground taking found cats? My orange and white domestic long hair cat (Skittles) was lost in Carmel Valley near Torrey Pines High school during fires. Please email evemessages@yahoo.com if found...Reward

I'm gonna start making some calls, but if anybody has information, please send it my way, particularly if you were a volunteer at any of the shelters that were taking in animals.

San Diego Fires: List of Destroyed Homes

This will be my last fire post for a while.

A more thorough list of destoyed homes has been released. Click here for info.

Hope the fact that stations are back to regular programming is a positive sign and hopefully the remaining 500 evacuees at the Q can go home or be sheltered in indoor spaces soon.

signing out...
be safe, be well,
rosemary

San Diego Fires: Witch Creek Fire Photos

A fellow blogger has posted several pictures and his story of the Witch Creek Fire getting within 50 feet of his home. Read the full story here.

San Diego Fires: Idiot Patrol Part 8: Is Rod Luck Nutso?

Dude, isn't he such a close talker? And the hair? And the glasses? Is that a choker? wtf?? He's creeping me out and I'm not even anywhere near him.

San Diego Fires: Legal Advice

I love my married couple/lawyer friends, CatDirt and CDW (CatDirtWife). To people who do not regularly read my site, CatDirt is a defense lawyer (represented Peregrine official with jury deadlocked favoring acquittal) and CDW is a corporate lawyer(?) represents a water district or something? Anyway, CatDirt has a blog called CatDirtSez where he is known for his tell-it-like-it-is commentary about, well, pretty much everything: music, radio, books, capitalism, law, and now, the fires. He's been covering the fires all week and chances are if you landed here, it might've been through his site because he's getting some mad traffic over on his site.

But now, people seem to be less concerned about the actual fires, since many areas have been allowed to 'repopulate' and most of the fires have moved away from most homes (not necessarily true for Palomar Mountain, Jamul, Rancho San Diego and more) and are now more concerned with the questions of "where do we go from here?"

Well, CatDirt is your man. I'm sure he just considers it a posting, but I'm telling you, he's dispensing free legal advice to people who lost their homes in his posts about insurance companies. Do not be fooled. State Farm is not like a good neighbor. You are not in good hands with Allstate. Insurance companies are there to make money and to stiff policy holders. If you've ever been in a car accident, you know that is true with auto insurance as well.
I highly recommend following his posts, if you haven't been already, because he will surely be going through all the hoops as he and CDW assist her parents in getting dinero for their lost home in Escondido.

San Diego Fires: Sheriff Update 8:30 a.m.

Bill Kolender:

• 2 looters were arrested just north of the border taking items out of a burned residence attempting to cross back into Mexico
• 2 bodies discovered in a burnt out home in Poway
• Brings number to 8 fire fatalities: 3 directly from the fire, 5 indirectly related to fire (death in transport, etc.)

San Diego Fires: New Vocabulary: Megafires!!!

"We always knew this day would come. This is the day of reckoning."

I'm a proud liberal, but the global warming fear mongering is not helping anything. I have a strong stance against Absolute Fire Suppression, something I studied under Professor Bainbridge at USIU in the 90's, but really, your report doesn't help as you warn us about MEGA-FIRES! (Use the "Giant Used Car Sale Voice" as you read that.) Maybe a better, more graspable term for our generation is Xtreme-Fires!

Real news would be more helpful is all I'm saying.