COVID-19 Diary | San Diego Ties Highest Weekly Community Outbreak Record | Old Dude Explores Pandemic Disneyworld | COVID Kills Cain | Sexist COVID-19 Data

One of the many amazing birds in the San Diego Zoo Africa Rocks Aviary (7.30.2020)

I woke up bright and shiny this morning, then I saw the voting tweet from the CoVIdiot-In-Chief and decided I would go right back to bed. It probably doesn't help that I'm currently reading a book about a high school athlete who gets hooked on opioids. It's a great book and I've been cycling through every novel by Mindy McGinnis, but Heroine is super intense. I'm gonna read till the end but am having a hard time getting through it. 

I spent the afternoon trying to get through email, but sometimes it's a long slog. I had a free online photography class, but it was by a Nikon rep and was way, way out of my skill level and out of my budget with respect to all the gear he was recommending for dream photos, so I quietly exited the WebX class and went to the San Diego Zoo. That mostly lifted my mood, though I'm gonna write to the powers-that-be that they should adopt that Disneyworld policy, that if you're eating and drinking, you must be stationary and maintaining social distance, because I'm getting a little sick of people coming up in my space with their masks off while shouting to their families while they have a beer in their hand and thinking it's totally okay. It's really one of the only places I've felt safe to go recreationally, so I'm not letting some a-holes ruin it for me without at least saying something. 

After that, we fed the pets and went to my mom's for my niece's 13th birthday. They just bought a really nice Adirondack-style patio set and put new slab in the backyard so I can say we were certainly distant with masks and separated even more when the masks came off for cake. I'm trying now to catch up with the rest of my things so we can hang in the speakeasy, so I'm gonna keep it short today. News and stuff after the jump.

COVID-19 San Diego Updates | Dr. Fauci Talks To Wired | Johns Hopkins Researches Ask For COVID Do-Over

Malayan Tiger At San Diego Zoo (taken 1.15.2020) #GlobalTigerDay

I'm not gonna lie, I was super bummed today. There's supposedly a heatwave coming on hard this weekend so I wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo this afternoon for a couple hours, but I woke up with gnarly allergies, which incidentally, manifest a lot like COVID-19 symptoms, so I realized it's my personal responsibility to stay home if I'm snotty and sneezy. Of course I have allergy pills and was fine after I took one, but I couldn't honestly answer the Zoo's three health screening questions, and considering they're worried about reverting back to lockdown, I'm not gonna be the jerk that ignores the rules. So it was a day at home feeling Claritin hazy and listening to the County Media Briefing and Carlsbad Councilmember Cori Schumacher's daily Facebook update and Nathan Fletcher's update, too. I'll go another time, but I guess we'll mostly be on lockdown if it's as hot as they expect. News stuff after the jump.

COVID-19 Updates | Venues In Crisis | SD Workforce Partnership Supports Unemployed | Betsy, The Idiot | CDC Thinks Humans Have Any Sense

Nova at open skate at Derby United (7.28.2020)

Well, I told you on Monday that I was feeling revitalized and rejuvenated after a weekend (mostly) without my laptop working. I'm so happy with all the changes we've made on our deck and our studio and the backyard, and we (finally) sucked it up and bought a weed whacker so Darren went to town on the yard and it looks fantastic. It would be awesome if we had a lush green lawn, but I think it's impossible in Normal Heights. We had a fun night in the speakeasy and after a disagreement about the necessity of holding onto CDs, I dove into some of my 90s and early 2000s CDs and rocked out to make my point. I spent the majority of Tuesday sitting on our balcony, enjoying the sun and so glad we're finally taking advantage of this underutilized space instead of just storage and one singular chair. I was definitely having one of those days where every time I tried to start working or check Facebook or get through email, I would last about 3 minutes before I'd have to shut it down. So it pretty much took all day and night to get through all the things. We did get to take Nova to Derby United, the new name for the new facility and organization fka Derby Dolls San Diego and she had a blast on skates. The facility is completely outdoors and everyone has to wear masks the entire time they're on grounds with no more than 15 people allowed per session, so it felt really, really safe. I wish I could say the same about her soccer, which seems to be dropping their standards pretty quickly. , so  the Today's news (and catching up with the weekend), after the jump. 

CoVid-19 Diary | San Diego Stays Closed Until We Get Fewer Than 234 New Cases Per Day | MLB Marlins Outbreak | Fingers Crossed For Stimuls

Sea Lions at Boomer Beach La Jolla (7.27.2020)

When I was younger than I am now, I was obsessed with home makeover shows like Trading Spaces. I would watch a two-hour block on Saturday nights as I was getting ready to go out and think that I was $250 of MDF away from my dream home or backyard. 

Last week, I was definitely feeling a rut. It felt like nothing but bad news and then to seal the weekend, my laptop completely stopped charging after two weeks of sometimes charging and sometimes not. But I also have a family and had to acknowledge how my downer attitude was rippling through our house. To be fair, I know it wasn't just me, maybe something in the stars, because it seemed a common theme across far too many of my friends, too. 

There was nothing really for me to do but not be online. And I'm sure you already know that there's a direct correlation between how much news we consume and our general wellness. And so I got my ass in gear. Sure, I watched my share of TV, movies, and comedy specials, but on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I was up by 7am and working. At home. On my home. (More after the jump)

COVID-19 San Diego Updates | Weekend Streaming | Protecting Teachers | AOC Rocks

African Penguin (Taken 6.28.2020)

So sometimes it really is all about positive mental attitude (and a little 5-HTP doesn't hurt). I made myself sleep at a somewhat normal hour even though there had been a lot of Friday napping already, but it meant I woke up bright and shiny at 6am ready for a new day. I read a lot, did some organizing and cleaning, and made myself a killer brunch. By that time, everyone else was up and we tackled the yard (butting heads at times) but I love the way it looks after a few hours of work, and it also made me want to go buy a bunch of plants to add, though I also came to the realization that without raised planter boxes, a food-producing garden probably isn't in the cards for this yard, and if we added raised planter boxes, we'd lose the bulk of the yard for our sporty activities. 

Anyway, all of this to say that I'm in a much better mood today and we're gonna check out the San Diego Zoo and see what the crowd is like. (Update: I messed something up, so this didn't publish earlier, but the Zoo was way too crowded for us based on the line still going in, so we drove through Balboa Park, Little Italy, the harbor, downtown, then returned to North Park to get my laptop which is still not fixed, so I may be offline for a day or two until I get it sorted.)

CoViD-19 Updates | State Pushes For Worker Protections | Community Spread "A Decrease In The Increase"

Ficus at Fiesta Island (Taken 7.14.2020)

I was really gung-ho at the beginning of the shutdowns and tried to take a very "we got this" attitude. We were cooking every meal, I would get up at 5am to go to Home Depot for supplies when they opened at 6am, we were regularly playing sports in the backyard, and would find some new project to spend our time on in the house or the yard or the studio. 

Nowadays I'm so media consumed and have certainly had my lulls in motivation to do anything, allowing myself to sleep too long, call a plate of cold cuts dinner because I don't want to cook, wandering from bed to couch, couch to bed. Perhaps it's the expiration of the EDD funds, of the inaction of our representatives to enact new plans, the arguing back and forth that it's safe to reopen when we can clearly see the numbers that it is not. 

I'll wake up on Saturday and I will shower and I will let the sun hit my skin and I will carry on, but like everyone, some days are just too much. I'll reengage, but for today, I'll let myself drift, crawl back into bed and get in a better headspace to face another day in a string of days. 

COVID-19 | Too Many Problems | Save Our Stages | Arts Industries Called Out | Stop Kangaroo Cleats

Kangaroo at San Diego Safari Park (Taken 6.28.2020)

Thursday was kind of a throwaway day for me. After a great Wednesday and a night in the speakeasy with Darren, I just needed a day of nothing. I didn't watch any news or briefings or do much of anything besides a trip to Costco. We love going right before closing, it's nice and empty right around 7:45 through closing and we had no problem getting everything we needed so that we won't need to do any shopping this weekend at all. I'm looking forward to this weekend with the Casbah's live show with Scary Pierre (I'll be watching from home like everyone else,) maybe a trip to the Zoo to see the new ring-tailed lemur twins, and fixing up  the backyard with some projects and setting up our new outdoor furniture. Still, I did some reading and writing, so all of that is after the jump. 

COVID-19 Masks Are REQUIRED Statewide | California Surpasses NY In Total Cases | Burger Records Folds | Disney Closes "Eating and Drinking" Loophole

Sea Lion at Boomer Beach/La Jolla Cove (Taken 7.20.2020)

I was feeling productive today. I finished reading The Down Days. I (mostly) stayed on top of my email, an almost always impossible task. I handled some Casbah stuff in announcing the Twitch Livestream with Scary Pierre happening on Saturday night at 8:30. I happened to look on Facebook at the right time and this awesome woman listed a picnic table and chairs on my local Buy Nothing group, so she kindly chose me and we went to her house, loaded it up in the van and brought it home and unpacked it. (It often helps to say you're available for immediate pickup.) I watched the full Governor's and San Diego County media briefings. And then I took a peaceful, quiet, restful long nap. Feeling dreamy. 

After watching everything, one thing I will say though is that I don't know how I missed that facial coverings are now MANDATORY in the State. I knew it was a "guideline" and "recommended" and required indoors in certain settings, but I watch every Governor Newsom briefing and somehow I missed entirely that it became required. Anyway, I'm putting the link below because if I missed it, maybe you did, too. Or it's just irrelevant because it was already required in the County. Either way, lots of sharing after the jump. 

CoViD-19 News | Comic-Con@Home | Evidence Mounts On Aerosolized COVID-19 Transmission | Mask Or Stay Home

Sea Lion Pups wrestle at Boomer Beach La Jolla (7.20.2020)

I guess my laptop is on the fritz again but Davey Tiltwheel is an amazing human and has ordered me a new charging port and hopefully that will solve my issues. If I disappear for a couple days, it will mean my laptop finally refuses to charge entirely until I get the new part. Anyway, tomorrow Comic-Con@Home kicks off and is free for everyone. I didn't reapply to press credentials for the online part because I spend most of my days watching media briefings and reading news. Though it's part of my world to help promote livestreams and online things to do, I'm not really into it. I don't really mind being in my bubble if I'm being totally honest. I stay up late, watch plenty of movies and shows, read a ton, track email, get out every couple days for shopping or Nova's soccer or a Zoo or Safari Park trip here and there and I'm good. Nova's soccer team wants to go to the beach as a group after her practice on Friday and just the request alone has me all tied in knots with anxiety that maybe she shouldn't even be on the team if they can't follow such simple rules as no gatherings. Am I to believe they're really following the right protocols for practice (which we're not allowed to watch)?? So frustrating. Wake me when it's all over. More after the jump. 

CoViD-19 State & County Reports | Contact Tracing: It's Up To You | Bye Bye Balboa Burgers Bankers Hill | Bad Week For Burger Record

A Sea Lion surfing the waves at Boomer Beach (La Jolla Cove 7.20.2020)

Today's State and County press briefings were pretty standard and nothing really new really to announce besides some updated guidance for what kinds of personal care businesses can move outside, but today I especially appreciated Dr. McDonald who is the Deputy Public Health Officer for San Diego County and runs Health and Human Services for the county. I'll provide what he had to say below. Nova had soccer today so me and Darren went to La Jolla Cove. It wasn't quite as frustrating as Friday, there was a lot more mask compliance. It was overcast and a Monday, so fewer people were there in general, but guessing locals are more committed to masks than tourists. I wish the City, County, and San Diego Tourism Authority would get together and create signage and marketing for our beaches and parks, because now the "safer outside" message is being conflated as "safe outside" and some people don't think they need their masks outdoors at all. Anyway, obviously I've spent the rest of the night catching up on Monday's emails and news, so please forgive the super-late post. Lots of stuff after the jump.

COVID-19 Diary | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | Wall Of Moms Takes Action In Portland | Federal Judge's Son Murdered |

Elephants at San Diego Zoo Safari Park. M'kaia turns 2 in September. (Taken 7.19.2020)

Today we watched more of Indian Matchmaking and I want there to be an indefinite amount of episodes. I love it so much. Then we met my sister's family up at San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Again, it's a calculated risk to mix households but I guess we're all making those calculated risks for our own families. And I realize it can go terribly wrong, as for this family. I don't really want to think about it too much right now. The Safari Park actually felt more crowded than yesterday even though it was hotter, so we spent less time with the animals and more time up in the higher areas where the succulent gardens and the native species gardens where there are some out of the way shaded tables and trails. When we got home, we could dimly see Comet Neowise from our balcony for about 15 minutes. Now me and Darren are enjoying the speakeasy with the new Phoebe Bridgers playing for the 100th time. Some links after the jump. 

CoViD-19 Diary | Streaming Watchlist | Music News | Finding Neowise

Cheetah Cub at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (7.18.2020)

Deep breath. So yesterday I was on a rampage, but today was a nice reset and a much more chill day. The world is still just as messed up, but sometimes you have to turn it off the best you can. So I did. Earlier this week I mentioned I spiderwebbed my phone screen and today my insurance (Asurion with AT&T) sent out a technician who fixed my phone in his van for a $29 deductible. We pay a lot for the insurance but was super impressed with the service and the guy was so nice and professional. 

As I'd said in yesterday's meltdown, we didn't plan on going anywhere this weekend, but after watching too much TV, Darren and Nova nudged me to do Safari Park. It was slightly more crowded than it has been the past few visits when we do the end of the day from about 5 to 8pm, but I think the anti-maskers just aren't showing up anymore, so even though there were more people, they're all pretty respectful about masks and distance, and I noticed even if people have drinks or food, they're masking between drinks/bites if they're doing it while walking around. And both the cheetah baby and one of the lion females came right up to me at their windows. We'll probably return on Sunday.

After Safari Park closed, we decided to try to catch Comet Neowise, so we wandered. Instead of going west on San Pasqual, we went east toward Ramona and kinda just cruised around until we could find a good elevated and dark spot which was a deadend somewhere off a road called Highland Valley Road, and though I hadn't even brought my tripod, we were able to see the comet with binoculars and eventually the naked eye once we knew what we were looking for. To be honest, just being out there so remote and seeing the stars was pretty nice. 

That led to a nice music-filled drive home and all of us content with our day. Darren's now playing music, Nova is asleep, and I'm catching up on Housewives and finishing this update. And we're maybe getting our ants under control with our Terro traps so gotta find the bright side, sometimes.  

CoViD-19 Diary | Governor Newsom Releases School Guidance (Spoiler: We're Not Opening For A Long Time) | Everything Is Terrible

La Jolla Cove Sea Lion (Taken 7.3.2020)

Today I suppose you could say I'm having a 'Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.' But before I get into it, I'll just say today the Governor had a briefing about schools, there's lots of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter and social justice issues and it just wore me down today, but now I'm home, back in pajamas, everyone is asleep and I'm watching Netflix, so things are already turning around. More after the jump.

CoViD-19: Masks Are Only Controversial If You're An Asshole | County Adds IB Test Site | LGBTQIA+ Pride | SD County Sets Record Death Count

Fiesta Island (Taken 7.14.2020)

I know that we are exceptionally privileged to be able to be home during this time as much as we're privileged that we can jump in the car or van anytime we need to get out of the house, and I hope I don't take it for granted, but days like today, where I haven't even left the house, make it feel so easy to just chill at home. I know not everyone has this luxury but I think for those of us that do and can just need to make room and space for those who can't. Like when I need to run to a store, I try to find the least crowded hours, and do my best to run in and run out. When we do get out of the house, we try to maximize errands to get them all done in one go rather than daily trips. I say this because all day I've been stalling to go to Old Navy to see if they have face masks in stock, but now I think I've lost motivation to go at all. I've got disposable ones on hand, and I'm not really going anywhere, so maybe I should just put on my pajamas and stop acting like I have anywhere to be. Who am I kidding, we all know I'm already in my "day pajamas" anyway. Today's links and articles after the jump. 

CoViD-19: Orange Plays Chicken With Governor | County Jobs: Become A Contact Tracer | Death Isn't The Only Metric That Matters | Wear A Mask

Darren dons a mask at Fiesta Island (taken 7.14.2020)

When I was a little girl, maybe 1st grade, I was in a school talent show. Me and two other girls sang a variation on the San Diego Zoo theme song and during my performance I kept shushing one of the other girls for singing too loud. 

Not much has changed all these decades later (The Bossy R) because while watching today's County Media Briefing, all I wanted to do was comment back to everyone still denying the virus, blaming the governor, arguing about having to wear masks, complaining that their gyms and salons are closed: STFU. WE TRIED YOUR WAY AND IT DIDN'T WORK, SO COMPLY OR FURTHER RUIN OUR ECONOMY AND LIVELIHOODS AND WATCH MORE PEOPLE DIE OR SUFFER THE LONG TERM EFFECTS OF THIS SCARY VIRUS AND DISEASE. Yeah, free speech, whatever, people are 'entitled to their opinions' but this virus and science in general does not care what you believe, there aren't always two valid sides to every story, and you NOT wearing a mask actually impinges on MY rights to LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Phew. I feel better now. /rant, as they say.

CoViD-19: The Myth of "COVID Parties" | Reopening Regression | Event Risk Assessment |

Black-Footed Cat at Safari Park (Taken 7.9.2020)

I got a press release from San Diego Zoo Global announcing that two black-footed cat kittens were born two months ago at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. "The kittens—male Ryder and female Skyler—were born to mother Arwen and father Sawyer on April 28, 2020," it says. They're currently off exhibit, but if I can find the b-roll or find a way to edit and share it, I will. Today is pretty quiet and we're going to head to Fiesta Island dog park, so I'm just gonna keep it short today. Some links after the jump. 

CoViD-19: California Dials Back Openings | SD & LA: Schools Not Returning In The Fall | Global Testing Shortage | Navy Ship Fire Continues

Momma & Baby Ring-Tailed Lemurs (Taken 6.28.2020)

What a day of news. There was a lot of it so there's quite a bit of detail after the jump, specifically that indoor activities related to gyms, salons, malls, personal care, non-essential offices, and worship services have to reclose, SDUSD & LAUSD issued a joint statement that in-person classes will not resume in the fall, and there's a global testing shortage. I'm actually so relieved about schools because it was a decision we didn't want to have to make. It's bad enough that Nova's soccer league is trying to join some statewide petition for guidance on youth sports, a move I can't support. Distance practicing is just fine, thank you very much. I kind of base everything on my parents...if I can't visit and hug my parents, why would I want Nova making contact with some teammate, breathing in their breath, exchanging sweat? If I can't sit inside my parents house for an hour, why would I want Nova in six different classes for an hour everyday or even one or two days a week? I'm reading The Down Days right now (as recommendation by Wired) and it's about a deadly outbreak and it made me realize that not only should we continue to emphasize the deaths by COVID-19, but they should be talking every night about the sickness, how basically your lungs fill with pus that hardens and makes it impossible to breathe while all of your organs shut down. Or that your blood gets choked of oxygen and gets thick and clots and is spiking strokes, even after the patient is considered "recovered". Or read any online support group for COVID-19 patients where they're sharing stories of being sick for months, not weeks. But sure, go to Disneyworld. 

Let's get our shit together. Info after the jump. 

CoViD-19 Why The Virus Is Winning | November Elections Get Scary | My Movie Watchlist | At-Home Science (Get Used To Home Education)

Siamese Crocodile (Taken 7.12.2020)

I was up alone on Friday night trying to stay up to see the comet Neowise, but when 4am finally came around, it was completely overcast with moisture in the air, so much so that it was hard even to see the moon. I felt like such a dummy for not have checked the sky earlier in the night. I tried again on Saturday night/Sunday morning but we're just not in a place where it can be seen, and apparently all those pro-photos I've seen everywhere are misleading because many are saying it cannot be seen with the naked eye. 

Between that and being so hot and gross outside all weekend, I got my share of movies in already this weekend. I was stoked to see that an old pal, Andy Siara, was the writer for Palm Springs on Hulu. The old days with Henry Clay People were super fun and Joey and Andy are both super rad people and I'm stoked they're doing great things. 

There was also a lot of news on the political and CoViD-19 fronts, the covidiot-in-chief finally wore a mask in public (albeit under his nose), and our numbers continue to break records. And of course, we did another trip to the San Diego Zoo on Sunday. I feel like it is the lowest risk because mask wearing is actually kinda enforced (more than in public anyway), social distancing is possible in ways not possible in other public settings, and the greenery offers cooler temperatures than in most places in the county. A Zoo employee who was trying to take pics of the leopard cubs told us two more ring-tailed lemurs were born over the weekend and should be on exhibit this week. Of course, we'll be back. 

Now it's Sunday night and Darren and I are in the speakeasy downing tequila, listening to Sirius XMU, and besides dropping my phone and spiderwebbing the screen and also laying Terro ant traps everywhere that are seething with ants, life is pretty okay. I've got some links and such after the jump per usual.

COVID-19: Lincoln Project Resurrects Reagan | COVID's Lasting Symptoms |

Sea Lion at La Jolla Cove (Taken 7.10.2020)

We had a late night in the speakeasy so I took today off for the most part. Darren and I went to La Jolla Cove during Nova's soccer and it was really frustrating that nobody was wearing a mask, so we went to our little cliff spot away from any other people. I'm still trying to get through email but I just read a disturbing article about Southern California sea lions getting sick from domoic acid, which somes from algae. I can't link the article now because it's behind a paywall and I hate paywalls. Anyway, that article got me to reading about Oceano Dunes in San Luis Obispo and that was infuriating, too. There's an endangered bird called the snowy plover, and they nest on the ground. There's these dunes that people use with recreational vehicles but the park has been closed due to COVID-19 and so the birds are breeding successfully and expanding their nesting areas, but the officials there didn't like that so they did some crazy shit like moving nest and putting mylar flags up to deter their nesting but an environmental group busted them and so now the Coastal Commission has put the smackdown on the park and said they can't open to cars until after the fledglings leave their nests which will be after September. Victory for the birds! Anyway, COVID-19 numbers look grim again today, with five new deaths and 460 new cases. KPBS newshour ran a story on El Centro's hospitals being full and they showed blurred-out 40 year-old patient and said they were trying to do everything they could before they have to intubate him and the doctors just looked so devastated, working out of air-conditioned tents in the triple digit heat. Honestly, I wish more news channels would cover the hospitals and deaths like they did back when it was hitting Italy and Spain but haven't since. Maybe we would wake up and stop being such garbage humans. Anyway, just a couple links 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.