Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

Earlier this week I wrote Five Years of the Coronavirus Pandemic about what has and hasn't changed over the 5 years since Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic. I intended it to be a gentle reminiscing about how things have evolved. It turned, though, into a more strident criticism of the politically motivated denialism that reached fever pitch about the pandemic and then spread to other aspects of reality. So, how about those gentler musings? I'll cover there here in a part 2. Here are Five Things that have or haven't changed since the pandemic:

1. Remote Work. Working remotely was a reality for me for years before the pandemic. The crisis of the pandemic made it a reality for a lot more people. As business leaders praised how effective it was many of us thought it would become the new normal. Many leaders have subsequently yanked us back to the past with Return to Office (RTO) mandates. I've remarked before that there's absolutely value in teams being together in an office with low barriers to communication... but the reality of the business world independent of the pandemic is that companies have offshored or distributed so many jobs, especially in technology, that it makes only limited sense for people to sit in an office while still having to use phones, email, chat, and video to communicate with colleagues.

2. Prices. It didn't happen early in the pandemic, but at the impacts of supply chain disruptions, government stimulus, and changes in habits hit, inflation hit. Significant inflation hit. Monthly price changes came an annualized rates upwards of 10% at certain points. But while the overall full-year consumer price index never really rose about 5%, certain sectors saw way more inflation. For example, I've seen the prices of a wide variety of groceries increase by 50% - 100% over the past 5 years.

3. Eating at Home. Eating at home suddenly became a necessity when restaurants closed in March 2020. I'd made that shift a few days ahead of the shutdown. It was a big change for me as I was accustomed to eating nearly all lunches and dinners at restaurants. I made a knife edge transition from dining out 13 times a week to 0. As risks eased I added back dining out— or at least ordering take-out— at once a week, then twice, then more. I've gradually ramped up to dining out about 9 times a week now; but that's still down from 13 pre-pandemic.

4. Tipping is out of Control. Tipping standards increased during the pandemic. As people realized restaurants and take-out food were "essential infrastructure" even though food service workers are among the lowest paid people in our economy, people wanted a way to say, "Thank you for risking your life so I can buy this burrito." Tipping standards increased, and "Add a tip" interfaces appeared on payment kiosks where they hadn't been seen before. The sense of gratitude has lessened along with the risks of dying for a burrito, but the prompts on payment kiosks have not. In fact, kiosks prompting for tips have only continued to spread— including in silly places like self-service checkouts at grocery stores. There's now a widening backlash against expectations of tipping getting out of control.

5. Less Socializing. One of the most enduring social changes from the pandemic is that we all socialize less. Safety closures not only got us out of the habit of "third spaces"— places like coffee shops and bars where we can casually see & be seen outside of work/school and home— but also greatly reduced the second space, too, as work/school became remote much of the time. People got accustomed to living most of their lives from their bedrooms and sofas. Having gotten out of the habit of meeting people face to face— including spending the time and effort of going out to meet people face to face— it's hard to get back into it. And it's to our detriment as we humans are fundamentally social creatures. Depression is up, satisfaction with life is down, and record numbers of people report feeling isolated.

Today Hawk and I took a third Covid-19 test each. I'm happy to say we are both Covid negative now.

This "all clear" signal comes 12 days after I first started experiencing symptoms and 9 days later for Hawk. It took me a bit longer to get clear than her because my first Covid test was a negative one— presumably a false negative. Based on that negative result I treated my symptoms like a cold for several days instead of getting a prescription for Paxlovid. And thankfully my symptoms never were worse than a cold. I attribute that not to "Oh, Covid is no big deal, it's just like a common cold" but to the immune system response I've built by staying up-to-date with Covid vaccine boosters... the most recent one less than 2 months ago.

It feels good to feel well.

After I came down with a mild case of Covid-19 about 10 days ago I was on the mend by Wednesday last week. Symptoms were getting milder day by day. By Friday afternoon and Saturday morning I thought I was over it. But then yesterday afternoon/evening a few symptoms came back. Since then I've had occasional nasal congestion and a persistent though infrequent cough again. I took a followup Covid test this morning, and it was positive.

Hawk, meanwhile, has had a better go of it. She got the virus later but is getting over it sooner. We both took followup tests this morning. Hers was negative while mine was positive. Her symptoms have basically cleared while mine disappeared but then bounced back up last night and today. What's the difference? Hawk went on Paxlovid for her symptoms while I didn't.

Why didn't I get Paxlovid? Well, first I didn't know I had Covid until day 4-5 of symptoms. I took a test on Day 1 of symptoms, and it was negative. Three/four days later Hawk had symptoms and took a test. Hers was positive. So I tested again last Wednesday. That second test was positive. But I'd already been treating my illness like a cold for 4-5 days based on the earlier negative test. (It was a false negative.) The guidance on Paxlovid says to start it within 5 days of symptoms. I figured (a) since I was at the end of that window it wouldn't help as much. Plus (b) Hawk had a very bad experience with side effects when she used Paxlovid over a year ago. And (c) I had mild symptoms, on the level of a common cold, and was improving. I felt the risk of (b) given the minimal expected value due to (a) and (c) made it not worth going on Paxlovid.

Anyway, Hawk is now on Day 5-6 of symptoms and, thanks to Paxlovid, she's pretty much over it. She tested again this morning, on her Day 6, and came up negative. Meanwhile my symptoms dropped and bounced back up, and my test this morning— on my Day 10— was positive.

EDIT: I misunderstood what Hawk told me about her test. It was not negative, it was almost negative. The positive test line was very faint and took a long time to develop (relative to the 15 minute development period). By contrast, my line appeared thick and clear within the first 60 seconds. I know these tests are not calibrated to show intensity by how thick the line is or how quickly it appears, but it sure seemed like my test was the jury coming back with a guilty verdict in record short time.

Yesterday I wrote about how and wny I hate Las Vegas. Here's another reason to add to the list: I usually get sick after visiting Vegas. It's a combination of the latent cigarette smoke and all the people in close proximity to one another indoors. I am sick right now from my trip earlier this week.

On Friday I had no particular symptoms other than feeling washed out. I figured that was understandable as I'd been traveling for two weeks and was running a sleep deficit. I went to bed early, before 9pm. Overnight into this morning I developed a chest cold. My primary symptoms are a cough with a bit of phlegm, wheezing, and dull all-over body aches.

You might be wondering, as I was....



ArE tHeSe SyMpToMs CoViD?!?! Because the sad thing about Covid-19 having become endemic is that pretty much every time you get symptoms shared with the common cold you gotta wonder if you need an urgent doctor's appointment to get some Paxlovid.

Well, I took an at-home test today, and the result is negative. It looks like I just have a common cold. Yay, getting annual Covid booster shots!

Even so, this cold is likely to get worse before it gets better. Just 15 minutes before I started writing this I started getting chills and shakes. They've subsided now, but I think I'm still going to go to bed early, by 9pm, again tonight.

Update, 4 days later: It's Covid. I tested positive on Wednesday. This test was a false negative.

After being exposed to Covid-19 last week I took an at-home test on Saturday. It was negative, thankfully. But I didn't stop there. Guidance is to test again 5-7 days after exposure even if no symptoms have appeared.

But did symptoms appear?

Part of the New Normal of living in the post-pandemic world— more accurately, the Covid endemic world— is that every time I get a stuff nose, every time I cough more than twice in a row, I wonder, "Could this be Covid?!"



I tested negative again today, so those scattered coughs were just coincidental. I did not catch Covid-19. Hooray, immune system boosted by multiple shots of the vaccine!

I want to repeat that I'm happy my colleague told us he tested positive for Covid. A lot of people would not have. In this situation it arguably didn't matter to me since I didn't actually get sick. But I may have gotten sick, and quite probably someone in the room of 20-25 people with him did get sick. It's better to know and to know to get tested. Notifying us was a class act.

In a move that should have surprised absolutely no one, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. suspended his campaign yesterday and announced his support for Donald Trump. Well, okay, the exact timing of Kennedy ending his failing campaign— he was down to about 5% support in polling averages— was anybody's guess. But the fact he aligns with Trump should be no surprise to anybody.

Kennedy rose to national prominence as an anti-vaccine skeptic and crusader. In 2007 he founded a fringe nonprofit that has gone on to become the most well funded anti-fax organization in the US. He promoted health conspiracies during the Covid pandemic, argued that the government should force medical journals to publish provably flawed research, and wanted Anthony Fauci to be prosecuted. Oh, and recently campaigned on dismantling the HHS. He called the NIH, CDC, and FDA "corrupt" and called for replacing their leadership with "like-minded"— read: antivaxx, anti-government crackpot— people.

This is just one that Kennedy has championed, but it's a big one and it's clearly Trump/extreme right aligned. Still, Kennedy campaigned for the Democratic nomination in 2023 before dropping out and seeking the Libertarian party nomination, then running as an independent. Along the way he's done a lot of his campaigning through extreme right wing media.

Kennedy does have some credibility as a Democratic candidate. Frankly, though, his biggest credential is his name. He's the son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy.

Earlier this year it was widely reported repeated in the news that Kennedy's independent campaign was a big threat to Joe Biden, as he would likely siphon off more Biden voters than Trump voters. This argument was published in right-wing echo chamber media such as Fox News and the National Review. The craven mainstream media credulously repeated these claims, attempting no factual counterpoint— this is why I replaced "reported" with "repeated" above— not even scratching the surface of the claims to show audiences how untrue what they were repeating was.

Now we learn that Kennedy, in a Trump-like move, apparently hit up both campaigns (Harris and Trump) offering his endorsement in exchange for the promise of a cabinet level position. The Harris campaign rejected his overtures through intermediaries, while sources speaking on condition of anonymity say Eric Trump has been brokering conversations with him for weeks.

Kennedy's latest Trump-like move came in his public comments on his endorsement,. He went long on complaining about "attacks on democracy" while endorsing Trump, who's spent 4 years promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen. This is the mindset of the guy they thought would take votes from Democrats?

Trump, who previously called Kennedy "one of the most Liberal Lunatics ever to run for office" and "the dumbest member" of the Kennedy family, now calls him "a brilliant guy", "very smart", and indicates he may offer him a cabinet role in his administration.

I read a BuzzFeed listicle yesterday, "40 Forgotten Pandemic Trends From 4 Years Ago That Feel Like They Are From An Alternate Universe" (30 Mar 2024). I thought as I clicked into it, "I wonder how many of these trends, if any, applied to me?" Answer: ONE! One out of FORTY. Clearly I am NOT trendy. (Little surprise there¹.)

Among the things I did not do during the darkest days of the Covid lockdown that seemingly everyone else did— or seemingly everyone who Tweeted/Grammed/Tokked a lot on social media at the time did:

• I didn't hoard anything— or panic because I ran out
• I didn't do Zoom happy hours. ...Well, okay, I did, like, two then decided they were lame and I'd rather drink alone. Or in the words of George Thorogood: 🎵 When I drink alone I prefer to drink by myself. 🎵
• I didn't get super-into any TV series
• I didn't buy a Peloton
• I didn't buy a quarantine pet
• I didn't join any cooking trend.

The one thing I did, though only because it was practical and not because it was trendy?

• I cut my own hair. (#34 out of 40 on Buzzfeed's list.)

Oh, and none of these are trends I forgot about.

Like, really, people, you forget? C'mon, it's only 4 years ago, and it's likely the most singularly different time of your life. Don't tell me it's because you all became alcoholics. ...Which, yes, that's a 2020 social trend I do remember, but the BuzzFeed listicle-compilers forgot about or glossed over!

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I've been sick all week. Starting Sunday night I had a sore throat and slept poorly. Then other symptoms started to develop. Monday evening I had feverish chills. I think that was the worst of it. But that wasn't the end of it. I've had various cold symptoms all week. I think the most annoying is sticky phlegm in my lungs that I can't seem to cough out.

Part of The New Normal is wondering, "Is this Covid?" whenever cold-like symptoms appear. Every coughing fit, sneezing fit, sore throat, etc. is suspicious.



Indeed I did something Coronavirus-risky a few days before my symptoms started: I traveled on an airplane and attended a training session for 2 days with 25 colleagues. And judging from the conversations I heard over breakfast each day, an alarming number of my colleagues espouse all sorts of gloom-and-doom, the-country's-going-to-hell beliefs... except the belief that, "Hey, y'all, Coronavirus is a real thing, it's still potentially deadly, and there are simple things you can do to protect yourself... like get vaccinated."

So I tested myself for Covid in between gobbling all sorts of pills to treat cold symptoms. Covid: negative. It's just a cold. And not even a particularly bad one, though it is the worst I've had in several years now.

Earlier this week I posted Did I Dodge Covid Again? about not getting sick at a conference in late November. I'd seen by then that many of my colleagues who were there with me got sick the following week with some kind of cold, flu, or Covid. Like, half of everyone was visibly, miserably sick. By late this week it was closer to two-thirds. I saw, too, that it wasn't just my coworkers. A lot of customers I've talked to who attended mentioned getting sick, often in the form of explaining why they would be unable to attend a meeting or needed to cancel or reschedule. It seems that AWS re:Invent 2023 may have been a superspreader event....

Since getting my Covid booster and flu shot yesterday I've been feeling side effects. In the past I started feel achy 24-28 hours after the shots, so I figured I'd feel crummy this evening on through midday tomorrow. Nope! This time I got the side effects sooner. They kicked in around the 12 hour mark this time.

I woke up early this morning with body aches all over. I felt like yesterday I did... something strenuous, and way too much of it. I tossed and turned trying to get back to sleep before dozing off until 10:15am. To be fair, 10:15 wasn't as late as it sounds considering I was up until almost 1am from the night before.

I had aches all over once I got out of bed this morning. I tried a few pills of acetaminophen with breakfast. The pharmacist recommended that yesterday in case I had muscle aches as a reaction. The pills did nothing. I gradually canceled all the plans I had for today, opting to stay home instead. It's not like I had a lot of plans; but it was still a bummer to have to call out sick on them.

Around 1pm I went out for lunch and a few errands. With lunch I popped a handful of ibuprofen pills. Those worked much better than the acetaminophen. Within an hour I was feeling a lot better. I wasn't like, "Oh, boy, I want to go out and do stuff all day!" but at least I wasn't thinking, "Ugh, I just want to lie in bed and groan."

The aches came back late this afternoon as the pills wore off. I was achy and tired and thought about settling down for a nap. Instead I found a quiet activity I could do. That kept me occupied for two hours. Then I fixed myself a small supper. With another few ibuprofen pills in my system now (I only take them with food as they've caused upset stomach on an empty stomach before) I feel halfway reasonable again.

At this point I hope the side effects have largely run their course. I'll continue taking it easy tonight, get to bed at a reasonable hour, and aim to have a normal weekend day tomorrow.

BTW, as not-fun as this day of aches has been, I'd rather go through this several times than suffer even one mild case of Covid.