CoViD-19 San Diego: All Vaccinations Are Still Appointment Only | Biden's Busy Day of Executive Orders | No Duh: Turns Out Prop 22 Was Bad |

January 21 Was Squirrel Appreciation Day (Taken 5.17.2019)

I'm not gonna lie, last night was a pretty great one. Darren and I celebrated in the speakeasy until the wee hours and I slept the most solid sleep I've slept in ages, so I didn't get around to checking email and my daily reading and news and media briefings until late in the afternoon. It's a good day to be an American, that's for sure. Biden's Executive Order spree makes me feel like I live in the progressive country that takes care of the people living within it's borders. It's far from perfect, and there's so much to come, but it feels good. 

Today's San Diego County media briefing had a lot of information, but one thing you should definitely take away is that all vaccinations are appointment only. It sounds like the appointment system allows people to get appointments who are not supposed to, since they can't age screen because of health care workers, so unless you are 75 or older OR a health care professional, you will be turned away from testing sites even if you got an appointment. Don't be an asshole, stop creating traffic, and stop saying you didn't know. The information is out there and available to anyone. Additionally, the county finally set up a vaccine dashboard that shows the current status of vaccines received and shots in arms. 

I know I recommended these already, but everyone should watch Public Trust Feature Film | The Fight for America’s Public Lands (Free on YouTube) and Totally Under Control (Hulu) see why it was so urgent for Biden to sign so many executive orders. I think tonight I'm going to watch Stacey Abrams documentary, All In: The Fight For Democracy on Amazon. Stay safe out there! 

Inauguration Day!!! President Joe Biden & Vice-President Kamala Harris Take Their Oaths and Immediately Get To Work: Prez Signs 15 EOs, Senate In Session | CoViD-19: Variants, Vax, County Sets Single Day Local Death Record |

African Penguin at San Diego Zoo (Taken 6.28.2020)
Today is International Penguin Awareness Day

I don't have any fancy pictures of the Capitol and I prefer not using other people's photos, so instead of an Inauguration Day photo, you get a penguin in honor of Penguin Awareness Day. This is not in any way to diminish this historic day. It gave me chills watching the ceremonies and I'm looking forward to seeing what other EOs and legislation comes out in the coming days to attempt to reverse some of the damage done over the last four years, but I have to say the 17 actions today are a pretty great start, and it looks like Bears Ears and ANWR are going to be restored in the upcoming days, too. But if 'bold' is the word being tossed around, we certainly saw some of that today. And I unintentionally caught Marco Rubio on the floor and he is such a complete hypocrite. Nearly everything that comes out of his mouth can be factually refuted and his hyperbole of suggesting what 'most Americans want' just shows how clueless he really is. He's up for election in 2022 and it would be amazing if we could get him booted out for good. 

But I don't want that to ruin the day. I don't think this administration is going to be some miracle savior, but it already feels so good not to be thinking about what was left behind from that other guy. Me and Darren are gonna celebrate in the speakeasy tonight, but don't forget the rest of the week will be busy...our COVID numbers are still gnarly, reporting the most single day deaths reported in San Diego yet, and people are so confused about vaccinations it's sad. San Diego county's media briefing will be on Thursday because of the Inauguration, but I'm sure we'll be hearing more about variants, our incredibly high case rate per 100k, and hands up in the air about enforcement because all of the lawsuits are still pending (which they never mention). Meanwhile, it would be nice to see a rollout of a place to register for people who don't have health coverage so we can know when our turns are up and where we can go. If they can notify me of a missing person, they should be able to reach out when I can get my shots, no??

So besides watching all the Inaugural stuff all day, we did a Target pick-up order, and then we ended up swinging by Ross, because while I'd love to not go shopping at all, the 13 year old around here keeps growing and I can't expect her to go barefoot until she can go back to school (ha!). So we were less than 15 minutes in and out, did a quick dip to Big Lots and now we're settled back in and hopefully can stay home for the next few days at least. Testing numbers are really dropping in San Diego, perhaps because people were testing more around the holidays 'to be safe' but now are only doing so when more noticeably symptomatic, but you shouldn't hold back from getting a free test, especially if you're regularly interfacing with the public or have a known exposure. It's the only way we're gonna get control of this monster. Stay safe out there. 

President-Elect Joe Biden & Vice-President Elect Kamala Harris Give Historic Acceptance Speeches | Environmental & Social Justice Groups Lay Out Agendas | CoViD-19 Updates

First things first: deep breath. Today numerous outlets called the election for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, which sent the country and the world into a frenzy, and Biden and Harris made powerful speeches to accept the nominations. The current administration is acting exactly as expected and refusing to concede while also insisting that they will "begin prosecuting" their lawsuits on Monday. As I warned Nova earlier this week, no matter what happened with the election, the next 3 months could prove to be the most excruciating of this presidency and of the pandemic.

Still it was an exciting day. I had been up all night and when I did finally fall asleep, it was to people honking and noisemaking throughout my neighborhood. I snoozed in and out of the afternoon (lady cramps can be debilitating even during happy times) and I appreciate everyone's enthusiasm, but we're still in the middle of a pandemic. I'm not 100% sure, but looking back at old charts, today's total of 540 new cases, even with a previous testdump, is our highest number since August 7th, our hospitalizations are over the county's trigger, and businesses might want to prepare for next week's possible closures. I tried to fiddle with the numbers again but I still think I'm not doing the right math, but if I am, we're definitely sliding back, even with the adjustment factor. Maybe going out in large, chanting groups isn't exactly the way to fight the pandemic even though we're all ecstatic. Lots of news and reading today, though I'm sure you've already drank in your fill of information and punditry today.