Good news! Covid cases are down and, have been down for a few weeks, and vaccinations in my area are high.

The bad: There are too many cooks in the kitchen at this point. Not enough work for too many people. We're through the overnight cases in 30 minutes because there are 10 of us for 30 cases and 25 of those 30 cases are uploading errors that get closed immediately, and then it's just sitting and waiting for more to come in, and there aren't a lot coming in. And for some absurd reason, the fiscal team thinks we can only do Covid, even though that's not how the grant is worded and I'm trained and know how to do plenty more than that. So I'm spending a lot of time of my day sucking up your hard taxpayer dollars to dick around on my phone, which gets old after 20 minutes. I asked my boss what she needs help with, and she said she didn't and to just make a list of frequently asked questions for my replacement. There are none. They've all been asked and are in response to new guidance being released. So I can only anticipate guidance to come and questions for that, but that's about it. And that's an hour, not 30/week.

The other bad: finding a place to live in the south is going poorly. While I'm looking for jobs, right now I don't have one so I don't want to spend >1200/mo on rent but that's what it's looking like it's going to be. If you didn't see it:

And if you're thinking "hey c, didn't you say a few weeks ago you were trying to buy?" Well yes, I did, but that's going just as poorly. Fuck everything about this housing market. At this point I'll just live in my car for a few months while I figure out what to do.

And to end on a high note: I finally was able to close the outbreak that's been open for over 1 year and 2 months. They finally made it four weeks without a case. In that time, ~13,000 outbreaks have been open statewide based on sequential state-wide outbreak IDs.

More work on the painting:

I also built a shelf with two of those reclaimed wood boards:

I removed user promotion when I added email activation to the sign up, but it seems that spam bots are getting through more easily. I'm going to think of something...

Nothing hit me as hard the past weeks as Bo’s new special.

It’s not particularly funny. It’s painful, actually, to watch Bo’s mental health decline over a year of social isolation, trying to write jokes for an audience of none, publically wrestling with his self-esteem, fully self-aware of it all. The reason it does me so much, the reason those songs made me bawl my goddamn eyes out half a dozen times the past week, is that it both captures and capstones the past sixteen months.

It captures the weird getting-adjusted phase in the beginning. The annoyances of socially distanced life. The time distortion, the feeling of numbness that has been layered over the outside world. The dark months of despair. Grappling with the realization that your pandemic self is so much like your old self, too much like your old self, the self you thought you had left behind. Dealing with the realization that the rest of the world’s problems haven’t gone away. Having to deal with a planet that’s still going to hell, the clock that still marches on. That there’s that not much to say, or joke. And much like the pandemic, the ending feels just around the corner, but it drags on longer than you expect.

I watched this while it was still uncertain when I’d be in line for vaccination. Over here they announce between zero and two birthyears each day that then become eligible to book a vaccination appointment. My guess at the time of watching the special was that they’d do another (random) pause and that I'd get my shot somewhere in July.

_We were overdue, but it’ll be over soon._ That line was maybe the first time I’d allow myself to feel, to accept the end of this pandemic. The deep yearning for it all to be over that I had been bottling up for the past year was finally let loose. The weight of it all lifting ever so slightly up felt like such a relief, such a bittersweet relief considering how hard it has been and continues to be for so many people.

This past Sunday my year was finally up. Instead of waiting another two and a half weeks, we found a slot for next Sunday in a village an hour plus drive away, with the second shot just before our summer holiday. I couldn't be more thankful.

My boss had a 3-story, 5-bedroom, 5-bath house in primo Bellevue (high-priced area just outside of Seattle, close to Microsoft), and saw what houses were going for, and that he had the ONLY house of this size in the area, so he decided to pull up stakes and make the Big Move to the country. Buy land. Put a couple houses on it for his family. Get away from The Big City.

The house went up for sale, sold for an astronomical price after a bidding war drove it way past asking, and got no inspections, no questions asked, and two months to live in the house free while they found a new home.

They scoured Eastern Washington, found the perfect place on acreage with property rights to build another house on the site, put in the offer, was accepted, and packed up all their things.

They move this week.

Well... they WERE going to move this week.

Turns out the bank won't give him the money without an appraisal. Appraisers business model has changed dramatically since the subprime mortgage debacle (not going to get into it right now), but now appraisals are done anonymously, and at the appraisers discretion.

The appraiser said they'd be able to come out in 11 weeks. But for an additional $2500 they could come out this week. ahem.

Assessing the value of a home is done according to some fairly strict rules. Like, comparable homes must be within a certain distance of the appraised home.

Which is an issue when you move out to the country... my boss has ONE neighbor within the approved appraisal-comps radius.

So the bank has An Issue With The Appraised Value, in that it doesn't compare with the one other house in the area... which is apparently a doublewide trailer, not a new 5-bedroom home built in the last 10 years.

So the sale is on hold.

My boss is - literally today - moving all of his stuff out of his perfectly fine home in Bellevue, and moving it into 6 storage spaces in Eastern Washington. His family is moving into a hotel in Eastern Washington. The contractors that were supposed to start this week on critical renovations to the new home have been put off, and won't be available for another 2-3 months.

Real estate is fukt.

My home is paid off and my wife and I are leaving this house feet-first.

House is finally starting to look "done". Still so many projects, but the bulk has been tackled.

Before:

Now:

And:

Working on cleaning up the dog yard last week and ask my daughter to get something out of the basement. She comes back out and informs me that the basement floor is wet yet again. Go down and find a leak in the main water line before anything branches off. Shut off the water, replace the section of pipe, turn the water back on and another leak announces itself a foot from the section I just replaced close to an elbow. Looking at the pipes I realize that I would be better off yanking the cobweb of pipes added over the years and streamlining it. Needless to say I spent the day doing plumbing and didn't get anywhere on the dog yard.

Last night decide to get back to working on the dog yard. As we're wrapping up for the evening I hear what sounds like someone frying some food, but my wife is outside with me and my daughter doesn't know how to fry food. Crap. That isn't frying food, it is spraying water. Go in the basement and find that the waste line coming from the washing machine has come detached and is dumping all over. Thankfully a quick fix with some pvc glue and all is good. I hate this house.

Spent last Saturday with friends from several states that came down and camped in a friend's backyard. We hopped on our mountain bikes and rode the rail trail hitting several breweries and a few bars along the way. With my schedule this summer I don't know that I am going to be able to join in any other trips with the group so I am glad I went.

Youngest has completed her Junior year of High School. She was promoted to Deputy Commander in her AFJROTC program for the fall semester of her Senior year and will be Commander in the Spring. So proud of her. She is also going to be captain of her Marching Band Color Guard team.

Got to video call with middle child and our grandsons the other night. They seem to be doing very well. The infant is standing with very little assistance already. Everyone is healthy and happy. So grateful.

Oldest child's car needed a bunch of work to pass emissions inspection and then decided it was good time to have the alternator die. Looking at nearly $3k in repairs, he determined that his money was better spent in getting a new used car. Used cars have jumped in price, but he found one he likes and made the commitment. He even managed to sell his jalopy.

A few weeks ago wife and I went to visit family in Vermont and our van died a half hour into the drive home. Sister in law was generous and let us borrow her car so we could get home while our van was towed to local dealership up there. It took 4 days for dealership to say it was a bad battery and that the alternator was fine. Drive up the next weekend to return SIL's car and get our van, then an hour into the drive home the van dies again. This time had it towed to our local mechanic. Monday morning he calls us an hour after they opened to let us know that the alternator was bad. Had it fixed and back to us that day. What did the dealership do for four days? Geez.

The puppy has not been slowed down at all by losing a leg. She is still digging holes and chasing and tackling our big dog. New dog fence is too tall for her to climb or jump, but she is already trying to dig out. Might have to shore up a few spots with rebar in the ground so she cant get through. Ugh.

Got a raise at work and a bonus. Working at a non-profit I really didn't expect one. Thankful for whatever I can get.

Life is Good and I'm enjoying the ride.