Klem’s Goals for 2021

 

As the year of Covid concludes it’s important to keep looking ahead. Here’s my plan for maintaining forward progress into 2021.

 

1)   Change to a tankless water heater.  Our current 30-gallon water heater is 15 years old. We’re on borrowed time, given the typical life span. The plan is change it before it becomes an emergency, like it was last time.

 

2)   Have my kneesperused by a professional. These things, both, have been the source of mild unpleasantness for two decades. With an eyeball looking toward the future quality of life, this is the year I seek a professional’s assessment. Can they be improved or is this it?

 

3)   Finish a draft of Magglio Cervantes, a novel. I’d begun writing it years ago and haven’t touched it in a decade. Would be neat to be able to say that I’ve written a novel. Here we go.

 

4)   Don’t get Covid.

 

5)   Wife Klem and I will update the Trust. Our piglets are not infants any longer. Maybe we give the document a once over.

 

6)   Get poked when the Covid vaccineis made available to me and my family.

 

7)   Learn to play backgammon. All work and no play makes for a boring fellow. Plus I can’t seem to get the hang of Twitch, so I’d better stick with a game that can be played without a screen. Although, who am I kidding, I’ll learn it by means of an App on a screen.

 

8)   Make crepes. I dig pancakes quite considerably. Aren’t crepes just very thin pancakes? I bet I’ll like these things, too. Eat ‘em.

 

-Klem 12/2020

The COVID Chronicle, December 1-15, 2020

 

 

December 1 [Tuesday]

Our detox table by the front door remains in force since the first days of Covid. Any packages and mail received, they sit on the detox table for a few days to contain possible virus taint. Covid’s capacity for spreading by touch is a minor concern compared to airborne, though this was not known in the early months of the virus. But I reference our detox table to document its permanent position in the office since March.

 

December 4 [Friday]

My optometrist appointment today. Dr. Akamatsu in Glendale was not as ‘in your face’ with the procedures as the routine typically entails. Masks were in force, plastic screens were employed where possible, including on the ‘vision test’ goggle machine. They scrubbed down all the glasses frames after I touched them, whether or not I put them on, before reinstalling them on the inventory wall. Anyway, my prescription hasn’t changed in two years, and at my advanced age of 53 this is a victory.

 

December 5 [Saturday]

A surprise happy birthday Zoom with [our niece]! [My brother and his wife] had arranged for a few of her close friends, and us, to sing Happy Birthday to her. [My sister-in-law] activated the computer’s camera to capture the surprised [birthday girl], then brought it into the dining room where she was awaiting dessert. That’s when she saw the Zoom participants also singing. She was appropriately embarrassed and it was fun! We disrupted her birthday dessert, a homemade ice cream sandwich made by her papa. Maybe after Covid we can revert back to celebrating birthdays in person. Although, maybe I’m horrible for admitting, this does not tear me up to avoid social gatherings.

 

December 6 [Sunday]

Wife Klem and I placed two online orders for pick up this morning, Best Buy and Bev Mo. Our pick-ups at Best Buy [curbside pick up] and Bev Mo [walk-in] were very efficient and we returned home in good time. So good was the time that we caught [our daughter] in a furtive visit with her boyfriend from school. He had parked the family mini-van across the street and she was standing in the street talking to him. The rascals. So, it was an exciting day. 

 

December 10 [Thursday]

Virtual high school is of disappointing quality and quantity. Class is held from 8:00 am to 12:30 Monday-Friday, with a ten-minute break between classes. Wednesday is the exception, 8:00 am to 10:30. Homework is very light, as is, I imagine, the level of knowledge being conveyed. These kids are being cheated of an education compared to their counterparts around the world. I know, I know, my opinion. My beef is not with the teachers, they are proceeding under difficult circumstances. My beef is with . . . well, I guess I’m not sure with whom. Those in charge pulling the strings and levers? With vaccines on the horizon school should be very exciting in the fall of 2021 as we approach the restoration of live instruction.

 

December 11 [Friday]

I made my weekly visit to the local grocery store. The aim is to minimize my shopping visits to reduce the potential Covid exposure. Prices change on Wednesdays, so I need to get down there weekly to bulk up on sale items. Specifically, I need to know if the Yoplait tubs are on sale [so much tastier than the store brand, plus I’m not into Greek yogurt], cereal [I infuse my yogurt intake with cereal for texture] and chunky soups [my lunches would take a considerable downgrade if it weren’t for the occasional Progresso lasagna style soup or Campbell’s chili and mac soup]. No sale items of note today, so it was a quick stopover with no further visits needed until Wednesday’s price change.

 

December 12 [Saturday]

Covid vaccines are being unleashed today from Pfizer warehouses! Doses are in big rigs en route to their vaccine hopefuls! Well, this is certainly encouraging. It’s a long ways until this changes anything, some time after April it is being suggested until semblance of pre-Covid existence returns. I don’t know when we’ll be eligible for ours or how we’ll be notified, but I’ll gladly get injected.

 

December 13 [Sunday]

Mom has the Safehouse Christmas tree decked out with lights and decorations. I imagine the Safehouse is smelling Christmassy. But she’s bummed, putting it lightly. Naturally, she wants her family present for Christmas. [My sister] and her team had been planning a visit from Northern California, but this is called into question under the current Covid restrictions and bloating numbers of afflicted. I advised mom not to mail Christmas gifts to [the kids]. I’d be over at some point, possibly the whole team, but we’re waiting to hear more about [my sister’s] visit. If she’s there, we’ll mostly abstain to avoid cross-exposure possibilities. If she’s not able to drive down for the visit then I plan for a more considerable Christmas visit. Uncertainties, disappointment and hurt feelings abound.

 

Cucumber Cool

 

Cool as a cucumber, was Carl, always had been. Well, at least since high school, roughly the age where competitive matches started to have consequences.

 

The first time was the high school baseball playoffs for Mount Shasta High, his hometown in very northern California. The proverbial maximum clutch opportunity with two outs in the 9^thinning, two men on base, down by two runs, and here came Carl striding coolly to the plate.

 

He took the first pitch because its movement was unusual. The ball seemed to float to the plate as if in slow motion. Strike one. Second pitch, and again it appeared to be in slow motion as if the game had slowed down. Strike two. With this Carl smiled. He didn’t know what was going on, or rather, why it was going on, but he liked it. The third pitch and, he correctly surmised, his brain had piqued helping him thrive in the clutch. He was ready for this new perspective. He said afterward to the local reporter of the Mount Shasta Herald that the baseball looked as big as a beach ball. That was the pitch he hit over the centerfield fence. His walk-off game-winning three-run homer won the game. The youngster rounded the bases, smiling, victory was at his feet.

 

Then there was the high school basketball game. With six seconds to play, Carl’s team trailed by one and coach called a Timeout to strategize and draw up a play for a chance to win, a quality last shot. During the team huddle a brief musical vignette played over the loudspeakers. While coach called the play, Carl’s feet were tapping to the beat and his body started to move in rhythm to the music. Damn it he was cool, this guy. The game was on the line and he was grooving. The team took the floor, inbounds the ball, pass to Carl, and he took a jump shot from 15 feet, drilled it. Nothing but net, as the saying goes, and he headed off the court as if there had been no pressure and no possible outcome but a basket at the buzzer for the win. 

 

Captain Clutch, they called him. It held up through his senior year and into college. Didn’t matter the sport or scenario. The tighter the circumstances all eyeballs would turn to him to see what would happen next. And usually to favorable effect.

 

Professionally he strayed from the glories of the ball field and hoops court. But Captain Clutch continued his heroic antics. Whether a contract negotiation or a blind department audit, he had the right answer, the proper quip, or the correct action plan-audible. Unflappable was a term for which he uniquely personified.

 

The boss walked into his office one afternoon asking for an important report. There was so much riding on it and two days beforedeadline here comes the boss pining for it to keep some doubt or query at bay. Two days early the report, understandably, wasn’t ready to go, but there’s Captain Clutch taking the helm. He’d rattle off key statistics gathered during his prep work, talk down the boss’ concerns, retain the deadline and emerge three minutes later walking the boss out of his office. By then they were just milling about talking about the local ball club’s game that evening. Concerns quelled and cool reigned.

 

How’d he do it? How’d he almost always get it done? Such queries were lobbed at him every so often and deftly fielded like an easy two-hop bouncer he’d glove to start an uncontested double play. An easy tip-in basket off a rebound. But he didn’t know how. He just did.

 

It was years later, a medical practice where people’s heart rate and blood pressure were tested. Some kind of medical protocol offered through work, a new wrinkle added to an annual physical. It first recorded measurements under normal conditions, then a second reading under stress. As would be expected, all numbers rose sharply when under duress. Well, all except one. Carl’s numbers inexplicably went in the other direction! His numbers slowed down when under stress. The Captain Clutch moniker of so many years ago had proven entirely befitting of this one. When under stress his surroundings slowed down while his brain continued to operate at regular speed. Cool as a cucumber. It’s just the way his momma made him.

 

 

[Inspired by Ad Astra, a movie starring Brad Pitt, plus that high school basketball game in Shasta and a lifetime of admiring clutch sports performances. Also, my friend Hal who really is cool as a cucumber. wdk 11/2020]

 

The COVID Chronicle, November 16-31, 2020

 

November 16 [Monday]

Our venture to Arizona has become a casualty of Covid. Grandpa has had a pacemaker for many years. His doctor advised him its time to replace it. He’s gone through two or three replacements by now. We’re told it’s not an emergency, it’s just time. A precursor to his upcoming hospital appointment is to eliminate contact with people ‘outside his pod’ to reduce the Covid exposure which could lead to complications with the procedure. Understandable, but it’s a bummer. This was going to be our first visit to their home in Arizona, plus I was looking forward to drinking all of grampy’s beer, even if it was going to hurt me.

 

November 18 [Wednesday]

Governor Newsom’s a bozo. Political critiques aside, that’s a commentary on his character. Certainly governing during a pandemic is not a cinch. Here’s my gripe. He and his ilk had been laying down Covid safety rules for the citizens while they themselves do not abide. He’d recently been outed as a participant in a dinner or some kind of festive event at a northern California restaurant, French Laundry in Napa Valley. The party exceeded the number of people allowed in a get-together, a limit that he set. Look, I’m not surprised, politicians have always set rules for the people that they themselves do not expect to comply with. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue, both teams carry out this grating hypocrisy with equal aplomb. The mood is getting testy with the citizens. People are fed up with the restrictions and this blatant boner may be a start to the unraveling with the holidays on the horizon. 

 

November 20 [Friday]

Los Angeles County imposed further restrictive Covid safety precautions on businesses effective today. Restaurants and bars must close by 10:00 pm until 5 am due to a spike in Covid cases. This includes outdoor dining. The number of Covid afflicted has increased lately, ill, not dead. This won’t touch us as we haven’t eaten at a restaurant since before Covid. Our predominant interaction with restaurants, even pre-Covid, has been to order online or phone, I pick it up and we eat at home.

 

November 22 [Sunday]

We’ve staggered Thanksgiving with our parents. Team San Dimas had our pre-Thanksgiving Café Bravo Thanksgiving lunch today, just us with the parents plus Uncle Joe. We maintained our part to promote safety by dining outside. We brought Mediterranean-cuisine, everyone had their own platter to minimize contact and the sharing exposure. [My brother]’s family is hosting dinner for them on Thanksgiving at their home. They’ll have separate tables each equipped with their own bins of food to also minimize the cross-pollination exposure.

 

November 23 [Monday]

I’m worried about my parents and their risky behavior. I know, total role reversal of my parents’ concern for me 35 years ago when I was in my teen driving years and going out late with my friends on the weekends. They went to Costco when it was crowded, the parking lot was full and they circled around until they got a parking spot. They went to fulfill a medical prescription, then walked the aisles shopping. I know my parents don’t like the Covid restrictions or being told by Governor Newsom what they can and cannot do. I suggested that victory over the politicians comes with outlasting the virus. If they get taken down then they simply reinforce those same messages causing the displeasure. Plus, of course, death by Costco would make for a disappointing epitaph.

 

November 24 [Tuesday]

Steffi and I needed supplies and placed an online Target order. After so many months of shelter-in-place the idea of bumping around a big store like that is unappealing. We preferred a delivery, but many desired items were not available for home delivery for some reason, so we placed the online order for in-store pick-up. I went to Target this morning for its retrieval. It was a really smooth and easy process. I dropped by the store at 8 am, the store opens at 7 am, but that early hour is for high-target Covid risks, oldsters. At 8 am I entered the store and their pick up station was right there by the front door. The barcode was scanned from my phone’s Target App. Boom, our order was brought right out, no lines and I was out of there in five minutes!

 

November 25 [Wednesday]

Well, that escalated quickly. Further California restrictions put a three-week ban on indoor dining, also no outdoor dining, either. Only take out or delivery. This is a bummer. Sure, I know, this’ll allow for people to mitigate Covid exposures after a few days of Thanksgiving with family, then cool off for three weeks before also inflicting more people leading to a super spreader event before then giving to more family during Christmas. The bummer is for the restaurants that have spent money to comply with the outdoor dining prerequisites now to find that also shut off. With the weather turning cold, or already too cold pending where you live, the ban will sunset when it’s too cold for restaurants to reopen outdoor dining.

 

November 26 [Thursday]

Happy Covid-Thanksgiving! For the first time ever in my memory, we’re having a Thanksgiving without seeing any family outside of our pod. We spent the morning taking an urban walk through downtown San Dimas with Ghost Dog, culminating at Starbucks for a fancy coffee and hot chocolate.

 

November 27 [Friday]

[Wife Klem] been getting into painting stones. There are a few people locally who have been painting images on stones then placing them throughout the neighborhood for fellow walkers to find and admire. I’ve found a few of them, stones not the people. Her artistic interest has been piqued, she’s acquired a few smooth stones, and has commenced the painting of images or clever verbiage. After painting, the stones are lacquered to better endure the rigors of outside. Then for her triumphant walking about and placement. She’s a fun monkey, and a pretty mommy!

 

November 28 [Saturday]

I visited [my brother’s family] briefly this morning to drop off birthday gifts for [my niece]. I was speaking with [my sister-in-law] on the porch when [my brother] came home with groceries. Before departing I gladly offered Covid-distancing as a reason why I was not going to help carry in bags. I felt no guilt and smiled at my devilry.

         I was three blocks from the Safehouse so I called mom, then dropped by to see her and dad. A brief ten minute visit talking in the driveway while distancing. I’m eager to hug these people when Covid wraps up. I also mentioned the coming vaccine. Mom doesn’t want it, and I feel the need to start talking it up to try to persuade her. The battle of wills commences.

 

November 29 [Sunday]

There has been vaccine talk over the last few weeks. There are as many as four U.S. companies each with their own vaccine approaching the final stages of success, plus other international pharmaceutical companies. I’m not one for getting an annual flu shot, but this vaccine may be the route we need to get back to vestiges of pre-Covid existence. I’ll do it when it comes available. Mom, though, is adamantly against her vaccination. With her regular ventures out into the public I’ve come to the realization that this is a race against time. She won’t stop shopping, so will the vaccine come available before she gets Covid? The next step in the equation will be how to induce her to get vaccinated? We’ll see how this plays out, but step one is getting the vaccine available.

 

[Sunday]

Here’s a fun Covid note. The Denver Broncos have three quarterbacks on their team and all three were ruled ineligible to play today due to Covid precautions. One tested positive and the other two were required to sit out due to proximity with the afflicted QB. They instead played the game with no ‘real’ quarterback and soundly lost 31-3 to the Saints. Kendall Hinton, a wide receiver from the practice squad, filled in at quarterback. He last played the position in college in 2017. He threw nine passes, completed only one, plus two interceptions. Rough day, but amusing if you’re an impartial fan.

 

November 30 [Monday]

Governor Newsom kindly waited until after Thanksgiving week before delivering an enhanced Covid safety precaution. No getting together with people outside your immediate pod for the next three weeks! I understand the reasoning, people got together over Thanksgiving, maybe spreading around some Covid, now impose the three week break to keep the afflicted to their own family and hope to heal up before super spreading again for Christmas. Family get togethers, we’ve been told, have recurred in past months as ‘super spreader events,’ to document the term.