Ron Guest

In other, good, vaccine news

mRNA vaccine technology moves to flu: Moderna says trial has begun - Ars Technica

Saying goodbye: Today our 30 foot tall live oak was chainsawed, stump ground and tossed in a tree shredder - a victim of the record February cold. It never even put out a single leaf. Oddly to me our other 5 oaks are fine. 🌳

I usually watch international soccer/football matches from a recording due to the time zone difference. I’m finding I can’t open Micro.blog when I plan to do that to avoid spoilers. ⚽️

Hmmm another new console. What are the odds these will actually be available on or shortly after launch? Meet the Switch Pro: $350 “OLED Model” launches on October 8 - Ars Technica

Thanks to Capital One we got details of the credit card fraud my mother-in-law has experienced. Today we filled out the fraud affidavit and a sworn statement at the police department so that is off our mind. I could also help her put a fraud alert with the credit bureaus.✅😣😖

Our dog has built herself a fort under the ottoman out of her bed, her blanket and at least a half dozen of her toys. 🛡

Since the middle of June local hospitalizations have risen and the Covid positivity rate in Texas is nearly 5% again. Too early to tell the impact on mortality. I guess summer vacation + Delta variant + the unvaccinated population is, not surprisingly, a bad combination.

Hear me rooooaaaarrrr!

Our 12 year old son has had zero side effects from his first shot of the Pfizer Covid vaccine. 💉 Quite happy about that!

Our 12 year old son got his first dose of the Pfizer Covid vaccine. Uneventful so far. It will be nice to have this extra bit of insurance when we take our next trip in July.

Our son is 12 years old so meets the minimum age for the Pfizer vaccine (approved for 12 and up). The rest of us, all older, have completed our vaccines.

I’ve been hesitating this week regarding his vaccination. There have been amplified reports of a statistically significant rise in myocarditis and pericarditis in vaccinated adolescents and young adults. Especially in males. These are potentially life threatening side effects and are occurring with both Pfizer and Moderna shots.

Given a healthy 12 year old boy is unlikely to have a severe case of Covid the decision isn’t the no-brainer it was for the rest of the family. There also isn’t much evidence that this age group is a key spreader of the virus. Maybe it would be best to wait?

I’ve made him an appointment for a vaccine on Monday and I believe we will proceed with his vaccination. Certainly doing so benefits the community since it eliminates him as a potential spreader. At the moment I feel the benefits-risks for our son is pretty much a push: a small risk of a heart problem which will probably be temporary and minor versus the small risk of a bad Covid infection leading to longer term complications. My decision is partly influenced by the most recent data showing males 16 and over are more at risk of the heart complications.

We discovered today my mother-in-law is the victim of credit card/identity fraud that has been going on for so long and is so pervasive she can’t even access her online credit report. Not sure where to begin to fix this at the moment. The usual online tools are useless. 😡

I took advantage of a Best Buy sale today to pick up a new Sony TV for my study (X90J). It replaces a 14 year old Sony LCD whose picture quality had eroded and which lacked, of course, 4k, 120Hz and so on. The new TV looks great.📺

Today is Prime day. Also known as the day every media outlet becomes a shill for Amazon.

Photo of our 12 y/o son’s bedside table. He’s currently reading Leviticus from the Bible and book one of Churchill’s The Second World War. Nothing light about his bedtime routine. 📚

We’ve long been in the Playstation camp vs Xbox. But with some of the moves Microsoft has made, e.g. buying Bethesda and moving them to a Xbox only focus and creating Game Pass, it feels Sony has really been outmaneuvered. Can’t buy a PS5 yet anyway. Considering going XBox. 🤢

With our son starting middle school we thought it’d be a good time to do a book purge. We pulled roughly 100 books to be donated. Fells good. Well actually carrying them down the stairs didn’t feel good at all 😣 📚

We haven’t even been home a week yet and we’re planning another road trip for this summer 😛

My mother-in-law wanted to update her 4 year old iPad. I was surprised how much Apple gave for a trade-in. We sprang for courier delivery so she can get it tomorrow. It’s the little things.

This Girlfriend review of the game Days Gone is one of the funniest reviews I’ve ever watched.

Arrived home after 2 weeks on the road. 5 states, 6 hotels, 8 museums and a great family time together. Every place felt comfortable except an aquarium that was crowded in spite of stating admission was time-based and limited. Glad to be home but ready to go again any time🚙

University mascot with attitude.

Also, a number of protests against China’s suppression of Tiananmen square discussion written in chalk.

Yesterday was completely overcast but today’s hotel room view is a bit better

In our travels the past 1 week+ we’re hearing complaints about hiring. The gist is “plenty of people apply and we schedule them for interviews but they don’t even show up for the interview”. It’s easy to see nearly every place is shorthanded.

Two for one at the hotel, made with a local bourbon