03.25.21: SLC, Arches, Vaccines

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Thursday, March 25, 2021:
Salt Lake City, Utah – Grand Junction, CO

With a heavy mind concerned about his upcoming Covid-19 Vaccination appointment, Oisin awoke after a good night’s rest in the car bed of his Mazda 5 mini-mini van outside of Brigham City, Utah. He was excited with the prospects of relaxing this evening to get ready for his appointment and take a hike at Arches National Park. He would also be climbing up to mountain mile-high elevation, hoping altitude sickness won’t have any impact on the vaccination. He noticed a lot of people around Utah were ignoring the mask mandates, even at the rest areas, which he found sickening.

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Back on the Interstate, Oisin departed the Brigham City rest area and started his drive to Moab. The snowstorm still behind him on his tail, he escaped the bulk of it. Having to stop for gas, he realized gas prices were still higher than expected. Usually, gas prices are lower substantially in Utah vs. the West Coast.

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After exiting the Interstate just outside of Salt Lake City, he stopped to admire some wind turbines nestled in the foothills of the mountain. While gassing up the vehicle, he saw he was in front of one of the pyramid scheme essential oil companies headquarters and was curious. He headed onwards through Carbon, Utah pit stopping at a quaint rock shop just off the highway. He found some selenite wands and a great polished Fool’s Gold (Iron Pyrite) egg for his son who is obsessed with anything gold. He continued onwards to Arches National Park.

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As he was getting closer to Arches and Moab, he realized Spring Break was still in play, and everyone was out and about in nature. Many entertainment options ripped from people for their weekends due to the pandemic, so they have obsessively going to outdoor parks and recreation areas. The Moab area is a hotbed of activity.

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Oisin drove an hour off the path to go check out Arches which is usually dead this time of year from past experiences. It was a nightmare. Longline of cars wrapped down the highway just getting into the park. It wasn’t worth it for Oisin to visit since he’d only have a few hours and the price would not match the lack of time, nor the aggravation of over-population at the park. He’s been quite a few times, so not worth the hassle this time through. He contemplated Canyonlands, but the same story. There were warning signs about traffic at the beginning of his detour, but he didn’t listen. Definitely Spring Break. While never subject to altitude sickness, the concern about the vaccination still stressing him out, especially as the clock ticked closer and closer to his appointment. He figured he would just head on to Fruita and Grand Junction, get some good rest at a hotel, the night before his vaccination.

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As he crossed the border from Utah into Colorado, the colorful landscape impressed him as usual. He canned thoughts of hiking, exited into Fruita, Colorado; stopped at the Starbucks for a Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino, and a late lunch from Taco Bell drive-thru. He stopped off at the Super 8, checked in, and took a swim in the pool. Some rowdy kids usurped the pool, so he hung out in the hot tub for the most part, until they invaded the space.

For dinner, he walked to Rib City Grill behind the hotel for dinner takeout of a rib combination platter and a variety of sauces to try with them. He called Cian, caught up, and checked in how he was doing with remote school transition to hybrid in-school with his mom. His mom couldn’t get it together with daycares and transfer to half-day attendance at the elementary school, so primarily kept him at the YMCA daycare where she had him doing remote learning after he left learning with dad the week prior. Oisin missed Cian badly, it been the longest he’s been away from him for the whole of the last year due to the pandemic.

Calling it a night early, Oisin passed out watching the most recent episodes of Superman and Louis, and The Walking Dead. A little blogging, client work, and then much-needed sleep.

In Pandemic news – Oisin received news from Cian’s school they were staging various grades for in-person instruction, in-home learning, and making a safe space for the kids. Custodians keeping classrooms and schools clean and sanitized, school bus drivers back on the roads, and staff working hard for concentrating on in-person learning. Apparently out of the 7000 families responding to the return to in-person learning survey -88% responded, with 51% stating they would return to in-person instruction, and 49% preferring to remain with in-home learning. Oisin voted in-home, and his ex voted in-school. Covid death numbers are bypassing the number of deaths annually due to pancreatic cancer (45,000/yr). This is still behind heart disease (650,000 deaths) or Alzheimer’s (125,000 deaths), but more than flu season (35,000), vehicle accidents (39,000), breast cancer (42,000), liver disease (43,000).

Vaccines and vaccination are increasing in numbers, but still having problems. AstraZeneca is still not approved in the United States. The United States is purportedly going to send its stockpile of the vaccine to other countries. AstraZeneca released more data from its U.S. trials stating its vaccine offers strong protection. Biden’s goal of making every adult eligible by May 1st is on track.

While Oisin was traveling he heard the horrific news of the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, Colorado then more shootings in Atlanta. Of course, such tragic events bring to face the issues of American life and mass shootings, guns, and rights. Everyone mourns the victims, but nothing changes in gun rights or legislation. According to New York Times, gun violence kills approximately 40,000 Americans a year. Republicans claim more guns do not increase gun deaths, and John Thune of South Dakota (Republican) dismissed calls for restricting gun availability. States that have fewer guns like California, Illinois, Iowa, and much of the Northeast have fewer gun deaths it has been proven. 1 out of every 400 gun deaths is from mass shootings, but more than half of gun deaths are suicides. The majority of Americans are behind gun registration and background checks, which help, yet Republicans generally dismiss this as does the NRA. The New York Times claims the filibuster is pro-gun, and this is part of the problem with gun control in America. Gun Control is an issue where the filibuster helps Republican policy priorities and hurts Democratic ones since Republicans are content with the status quo vs. that of the democrats. The filibuster requires 60 Senate votes to pass most bills rather than the straight majority of 51. The white house however is planning executive orders on gun controls, including strengthening background checks.

By The New York Times | Sources: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, Small Arms Survey, World Bank

In other news, a container ship nearly a quarter-mile long got stuck in the Suez Canal of Egypt since Tuesday, blocking a vital shipping lane. Virginia abolished the death penalty – the first of Southern states to do so the New York Times reports.

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