It’s me…remember I follow the rules and pay my taxes, and it is almost time for another installment.

I’ve been getting some push back on my cavalier attitude toward the pandemic in general and masks in particular. And I’m really after the politicians and public health ‘officials’ (who are often politicians too) who are micromanaging our lives.

Remember when Doctor Fauci told us one mask was good, and two masks, with one of them an N95 medical mask, was even better? Two weeks to flatten the curve? Someone chided me by quoting a CDC study and implying I might not believe it. Based on past public health proclamations I have cause.

The first 4 days of Mask Up Part 2 were interesting. Costco compliance was pretty good, even though at least 1 out of 5 people opted for exposed nostrils and un-fogged glasses. The only other two public buildings I entered were Jon’s Mini Mart in Martell and Pizza Guys in Lodi. At Jon’s none of the staff and very few of the customers were masked up. Also there was no “Masks Required” sign on the door. When in Rome…ditto for Pizza Guys. It is take out or delivery only, so there weren’t a lot of customers, but the staff was bare faced and there was no sign on the door.

The Sunday club ride stopped at the Fruit Bowl. Everyone inside had a mask on, so I pulled my balaclava over my mouth and nose when I got my coffee. And then, like everyone else, pulled it down to take a sip. The balaclava works as well as a cloth mask, which is what most people were wearing. And it helps keep my bare head warm, which on Sunday was very helpful. 41 degrees and foggy! Sometimes I question my cycling sanity.

And now there is this…

A microchip technology introduced in recent years by the Stockholm-based startup, Epicenter, is being presented as a means to store one’s COVID-19 vaccine passport under the skin, according to a video from the South China Post that went viral Friday.

A company is developing chips to embed in HUMANS so that their vaccine status can be checked by a scanner! Does anyone out there think this is a good idea? Remind anyone of anything? Use your imagination…

The state of California’s new mask mandate for indoor spaces goes into effect Wednesday. The guidance was announced by state health authorities on Monday and requires masks to be worn in all indoor public settings — regardless of an individual’s vaccine status — for the next four weeks.

Anyone want to bet that four weeks from now we will be allowed to remove them? This has been going on for almost two years.

The words chosen by our government authorities are starting to irk me almost as much as covering my fully vaccinated and boostered face does.

Consider that this is called a ‘mandate’, while in the very next sentence we learn that ‘guidance’ was announced by health officials. This ‘guidance’ REQUIRES masks. The word ‘guidance’ means suggestions or advice. ‘Requirements’ and ‘mandates’ are not suggestions.

There’s more…from Dr. Fauci, who utters a lot of words without saying anything.

And so, the message remains clear: If you are unvaccinated get vaccinated and, particularly in the arena of omicron, if you are fully vaccinated, get your booster shot,” he stated. 

If a person needs a booster shot, then how can that person be considered ‘fully vaccinated’? Just sayin’…

So on the first day of Mask Mandate Redux I went to Costco. There was an employee at the door handing out masks to anyone who didn’t have one. This person was probably also charged with reminding patrons of the Guidance Mandate. That is a job for a very tactful individual.

Most people inside, including me, were masked up, but the majority of us were wearing rather loose fitting and almost comfortable (on a cold day at least) cloth masks instead of the paper ones, and there was nary a medical N95 in sight. I tried this cloth mask trick at the SF Airport last August, and no one bothered me until I tried to board the AF Flight to Paris. The nice gate agent made me switch to a paper version.

At Costco about 20% or the people had their mouths covered, but their noses were free to transmit and ingest the pesky virus that no doubt was everywhere floating around looking for a home. And of course there were a few scofflaws with bare faces. Can you be considered a scofflaw if you ignore guidance? Inquiring minds…

It is hard enough to find items in Costco without foggy glasses. I accidentally discovered a new way to deal with that problem. If you inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth your glasses will stay clear! How come the CDC or the CA Health Department didn’t offer me that hint? They seem to have ‘guidance’ for everything else.

Remember that I broke a spoke on my old HED Ardennes rear wheel? I happen to have spare spokes, because I have taken those wheels on trips and you never know if you can find a replacement far from home.

I took the wheel to a bike shop to be repaired. I got it back in a couple of days. But before I put the tire and cassette back on the wheel I decided to try an experiment.

Mark Stemmy , owner of OCS, was going to pick up my Zipp wheels for a re-optimization. He last worked on them something like 10 years ago. He agreed to take a look at the freshly shop-trued HED wheel at the same time.

I didn’t quite know what to expect, but here is the result:

The left picture shows the spoke tension when the wheel came back from the shop. The right picture shows spoke tension after Mark adjusted them. The standard deviation went from 19.9 kgf to 8.8 kgf on the drive side (R) and from 17.0 kgf to 5.0 kgf on the non-drive side (L).

I’m not criticizing anyone here. I don’t really know how important it is for a wheel to have even spoke tension. But I do know that I want MY wheels to have even spoke tension.

Servicing a wheel the way OCS does it takes time and costs money. At least double what a shop charges. It is worth it to me to know that the person working on my equipment really wants to do it right, the way I would if I had the skill and tools. I have neither, which is why I’m glad OCS exists.

Long ago I paid for a life membership in the Cal Aggie Alumni Association. If I had known the direction my alma mater would take in subsequent years I would have saved my money.

First some wisdom from American Musical Theater Classics, soon to be cancelled, from Annie Get Your Gun:

My tiny baby brother, who’s never read a book,
Knows one sex from the other,
All he had to do was look

Wrong Wrong Wrong! There are at least 50 sexes, and they all have their own pronouns.

So today I got an e mail from my Aggie Alumni Association asking for money and featuring a Filipinx student success story. Which was also spelled Pilipinx in the same paragraph.

I have been dimly aware that the term ‘Latino’ has been under fire lately. In Spanish a word ending in ‘o’ is masculine, while a wording in ‘a’ is feminine. If want to refer to a group of men, you say ‘ellos’, which means ‘them’. If the group is entirely female, you use ‘ellas’. And if the group contains both men and women, and I suppose any of the other 48 genders, Spanish grammar says ‘ellos’ is correct usage.

This blatant sexism in language does not sit well with the woke crowd, and they have offered up the term ‘latinx’ as a gender neutral alternative. Not every ‘latinx’ is pleased with this. But this sterilization of language seems be catching on, at least with university alumni associations.

There was a Filipino who used to glean walnuts from our fields after harvest, and if he still came around I would like to know his views on the subject. I do know his views on pet goats however. He took one look at the pampered animals in our back yard and said “you wanna sell, I buy!”. I told him they were pets, which didn’t register with him at all.

If the new standard is to replace all the words in romance languages ending in ‘o’ or ‘a’ with a trailing ‘x’ a whole bunch of beautiful music is going to disappear. Bésame Muchx just isn’t as romantic.

One of my favorite terms of affection for Stoker, besides ‘Stoker’, is to call her esposa. Esposo means husband and esposa means wife. Such beautiful words, much more suited to romantic talk than their English counterparts. But since they are limited to two gender roles (see the lyric above) I suppose they have to be replaced.

The new PC Spanish word will be esposx. Pronounce this and it will sound like something you can find splashed all over the internet if your ‘safe search’ feature is disabled.

Dr. Fauci on Face the Nation:

“But if they get up and really aim their bullets at Tony Fauci, well people can recognize that there’s a person there, so it’s easy to criticize, but they’re really criticizing science because I represent science.“

There is science behind the vaccine. The FDA has the data and documents used to get the Covid vaccines approved in 108 days. But they want to keep them under wraps for a little longer…

(Reuters) – Freedom of Information Act requests are rarely speedy, but when a group of scientists asked the federal government to share the data it relied upon in licensing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, the response went beyond typical bureaucratic foot-dragging.
As in 55 years beyond.

Those scientists/plaintiffs do not seem to be a group of lunatic anti vaxers either:

The plaintiffs, a group of more than 30 professors and scientists from universities including Yale, Harvard, UCLA and Brown, filed suit in September in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, seeking expedited access to the records. They say that releasing the information could help reassure vaccine skeptics that the shot is indeed “safe and effective and, thus, increase confidence in the Pfizer vaccine.”

The article goes on to state that FDA cannot just press ‘send’ and release all hundreds of thousands of pages of vaccine related documents. Trade secrets and personal information about subjects in the trials must be redacted. Fair enough. But 55 years does seem like a bit of a stretch.

Every day on the radio I hear multiple commercials from various government health agencies assuring me that vaccines are safe and effective. The PSA’s are mostly upbeat with a kind of undertone of ‘we’re all in this together’ so get a jab for yourself and the ones you love. All well and good. I have done so, as soon as I could according to “My Turn, California”.

But shouldn’t these same officials want to get that ‘science’ and the data behind it out in the open as quickly as possible so people would have confidence that getting vaccinated is a good decision? The reticence to release makes me wonder what is really in the numbers. I don’t know. Even if the numbers are released I’m not competent to interpret them. But there are scientists and physicians who are. Let them have a look!

Dr. Fauci claims he represents science. If so he should get on a crusade to let everyone see the ‘science’ and not take 55 years to do it.

I was riding along with a few of my cycling friends doing the Tuesday club ride. We were headed back to Lockeford in foggy, dreary and frigid conditions. I felt a bump from my rear wheel and wondered what I could have hit on a smooth and pothole free road.

I didn’t hit anything: one of the spokes on my rear wheel decided it had been under tension long enough and and went ‘ping!’

The bicycle wheel is an amazing piece of engineering. The spokes and rim look small and flimsy, but they are very strong. Even with the lightest wheel set problems are rare.

I started riding significant miles back in 1999, and I’ve done at least 130,000 miles over those two plus decades. And I only remember breaking a spoke 3 times, with last Tuesday being #3. That seems quite amazing, especially since I have some very light wheels not specifically built up as bulletproof.

I should mention that the wheel that caused the problem is from my oldest set of HED Ardennes, dating back at least 12 years. I don’t know if my Master Mechanic Mark ‘optimized’ them, but if he did it was over a decade ago and he certainly cannot be held responsible, especially since I know others have adjusted those spokes since then.

When you break a spoke the wheel immediately goes ‘out of true’, which means the rim wobbles side to side like a hula dancer. The rim rubs against the brake levers and the tire may rub against the chain stays.

If you are a talented mechanic and carry a spoke wrench, you can use it to adjust the remaining spokes and take most of the wobble out of the rim. I don’t carry a spoke wrench since I don’t have the slightest idea how to use it. So I loosened the brake cable to provide maximum clearance, but the tire kept rubbing against the frame.

I was going to wrap the broken spoke around a neighboring one and try to ride, wobble and all. My friend Steve carries a piece of duct tape in his saddle bag, which worked much better than bending and tying off the broken spoke. Self take note, add duct tape to the emergency supplies.

And for some reason, when I got on the bike and started to ride, the rim ran a little truer and the tire didn’t rub against the stays. So I was able to limp back to my car without calling Stoker for assistance or begging one of my fellow riders to come back and pick me up. It would have been cold and miserable waiting for a ride.

I have replacement spokes for the Ardennes. Since I travel with these wheels (including Idaho last June) I want to be prepared. I took the wheel and spokes to Lodi Cyclery for repair. These wheels may be near the end of their life or they may go many miles yet. But I think they have done their last trip.

When I was a little kid I remember hating to get a haircut from Alvin the barber who had a shop in Victor. But if I was good and sat still in the chair I would get a Tootsie Roll Pop when it was over.

But this takes incentives for ‘good’ behavior to a whole new level:

A brothel in Austria is offering incentives for unvaccinated residents in the European country, granting free entry and private sessions for those who get the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to a report from the Daily Mail, FunPalast, a brothel located in Vienna, “offers clients a 30-minute session in the sexual ‘sauna club’ with the ‘lady of their choice’ if they get the vaccine at the on-site clinic.”

Gotta love the establishment’s name FunPalast! Who knew Vienna was such a swinging place? I think of cathedrals and opera and Mozart and strudel, not red light districts.

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But aren’t the Viennese being a little narrow minded limiting the post shot treat to the ‘lady’ of their choice? What if a fellow swings the other way? Or what if a gal came in seeking a shot and a stud? Or what about the other 50 genders who want to choose their personal pronouns from an ever expanding list? Are they shut out of the ‘sauna club’ because the FunPalast services are discriminatory? Somebody call the Austrian Equity Police!

I wonder if masks are required at FunPalast? We are pretty sheltered here on Brumby Road, but even I know that masks have a role in fun and games time. But at some point they have to come off if the client is going to get his/her money’s worth. Even for a post vax freebie.

I got my booster shot yesterday at 4 pm. I had a restless night of trying to sleep, which I will not blame of the shot because it happens fairly regularly. I got up at 4 am and drank my coffee and gave Luke his 40 minute walk around 8 AM. But things were deteriorating quickly.

At 10 am I spent an hour in my garage using my torque wrenches to help a friend correct a shop mis-adjustment on his beautiful new frameset. When he left he said I looked tired. That wasn’t all.

I quickly developed a moderate headache. I have moderate aches and shooting pains. My back hurts. My eyelids are hot and heavy feeling. Of course I have two sore arms, since I followed CDC guidance and got both jabs at the same time. I have a low but noticeable fever.

I bedded down on the couch in my study at noon, piled on a couple of blankets and was quickly joined by Luke the Dog, who knows a soft warm place when he sees one. I fell asleep for a two hour nap.

Waking from the nap, I felt even worse. A planned date with Stoker will have to be postponed, although after so many years together I suppose a missed assignation is not such a big deal. I feel like I’m suffering from a hangover but without the fun part.

Now I know that the vaxocates (cut me some slack, it is hard to be funny when you feel poorly) will tell me this just means the vaccine is working. They might also tell me to quit complaining, since there are far worse conditions of suffering out there and this one is nothing. Having multiple dental implants, I would agree.

But the way I feel now has completely eliminated any trace of joie de vivre here on Brumby Road. If I felt like this all the time I might agree with Keats:

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
         I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
         To take into the air my quiet breath;
                Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
         To cease upon the midnight with no pain…

Things aren’t quite to that stage yet. But Pfizer certainly wins Round 3 by a Knockout.

Maybe this will help:

Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;

…so jab on MacDuff. And damned be him that first cries ‘Hold, enough!’

Six months have passed since I became fully vaccinated, and since I am 65 years of age I am eligible for the Pfizer booster. My appointment is this afternoon.

I have some friends who think I am making a mistake. I am being a lab rat for an experimental vaccine that uses new Messenger RNA technology that has unknown long term effects. The vaccine’s efficacy is questionable. With the number of high profile so called ‘breakthrough cases’ among fully vaccinated celebrities and politicians and sports stars, they have a point. And I’m trusting the government’s advice which may or may not be in my best interest. Given the proven efficiency of how government works in general (EDD’s fraudulent Covid payouts are at $22 billion and counting) I can see how someone might not be in a hurry to take the government’s advice.

Other friends applaud my decision as being best for me personally and for society. They maintain the vaccine is safe and effective and will either keep me from getting sick altogether or insure that any Covid I contract will be a mild case. I am doing my part to protect the vulnerable because vaccinated people are far less likely to spread the virus even if they get Covid or are asymptomatic carriers.

I’m not going to argue either way. I’m going to get the shot because of the three best ways to control people and get them to act a certain way: Fear, Guilt and Reward. Some religions and governments are masters of using these in combination to keep the rabble in line.

Here is how the big three are working for me.

Fear: I don’t want to get sick and wind up in a hospital dying while hooked up to a respirator. Anything I can do to make that less likely is worth trying. Supposedly getting vaccinated makes hospitalization and/or death from Covid almost impossible.

Guilt: If I don’t get the shot, I MIGHT be more likely to spread the virus to someone I care about deeply. If Stoker got sick because I gave it to her I would feel awful. If she got seriously sick and I could have prevented it by getting vaccinated I couldn’t live with myself. Ditto my parents. And it is easy to extend this guilt trip to strangers; no civilized person wants to cause harm to another (although there are some politicians I wouldn’t mind spraying a few virus laced water droplets at with a big, mask free sneeze).

Reward: This one isn’t working as well as I had hoped. Being vaccinated did get me to France and its hotels and restaurants, but it didn’t free me from having to take a Covid test to fly home. And if doesn’t seem to allow me to go mask free everywhere, despite the CDC initially saying fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear them. Many places require masks or pressure you to put them on whether you are vaccinated or not.

Stoker got her Moderna booster two weeks ago. Here is what she texted to me the day after while I was at work counting nuts: “Hot, red, painful swollen arm, headache, intense fatigue. The booster is a lot worse than the initial jabs. Oh and a backache”. It took her about 36 hours to feel better and her arm was sore much longer.

So I’m expecting Friday to be kind of miserable. Especially since I am again trusting the CDC, which says it is perfectly OK to get my Senior Dose Flu Vaccine at the same time. Two shots, with who knows what interactions. Jab on MacDuff!

…and starting from near zero.

I began my seasonal occupation ‘counting nuts’ back on September 22. For the next 31 days I spent most of the hours between 6 am and 5 pm at Avanti. I had Sundays off. My ‘contract’ said that this year I wouldn’t work on Sunday NO MATTER WHAT, and Avanti kept up their end. But in the middle of the busiest two week receiving period everyone else was going to come in on the Sabbath, so I did too. I’m a team player when the crush is on.

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I spent two of those ‘day off’ Sundays moving furniture. We got some very nice plank vinyl flooring (looks just like wood) to replace the 38 year old carpet in our bedrooms and hallway. I hired a strong college kid to provide some muscle and he and I managed to get everything out and put everything back a week later without breaking anything. But it did mean I missed all the club rides for a little over a month.

During my work month I did 4 road rides, all from home and completely flat, for a grand total of 101 miles. I also did eight 30 minute indoor cycling workouts. I hoped that this would keep my fitness at something close to normal. Hope may spring eternal, but it doesn’t give you good legs.

Yesterday I spent a beautiful Saturday doing the Stockton Bicycle Club ride from Ione to Volcano. 45 miles and 3600 feet of uphill. I hadn’t done that much climbing since August in the Pyrenees. And I suffered, especially on the 14 mile slog along Sutter Creek to Volcano. I got so far behind the others that they were well into the coffee break by the time I arrived.

Most of the riders headed up Ram’s Horn Grade after the break. Usually I would too, but today adding a 1000 foot climb to the ride seemed like a very bad choice. So Brian and I both headed back the easy way, which wasn’t easy for me on this day.

It is astonishing how quickly cycling form goes away. I was a little upset and thinking I was never going to feel strong on the bike again. But I tried to keep reminding myself that in August I did a big week in the Pyrenees and rode pretty well, and I came back with tremendous fitness. So this current state of under performance isn’t permanent. At least I hope not.