Tag: COVID-19

UPDATED! Pandemic Diary, April 26th, 2021: You Can’t Fix Stupid

Hundreds of mostly-maskless, non-socially-distanced Manitobans crowded the grounds at The Forks in Winnipeg on Sunday, April 25th, 2021, in protest of COVID-19 restrictions (Source: Global News)

Today is official Day 376 since I first began working from my home for my university library system on March 16th, 2020. Today, and every Monday (at least until the government announces a third lockdown which I feel is inevitable), I am working in my office, weeding the reference collection of the agriculture library, which remains closed to faculty, staff, and students until further notice. I am making slow but steady progress in determining what to keep in reference, what to move to the circulating collection, what to upgrade to a full-text electronic version, and what to throw away.

Yesterday, hundreds of Manitobans gathered to protest the current COVID-19 restrictions at the Forks in Winnipeg, next to the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. Global News reported:

Hundreds of Manitobans gathered around The Forks on Sunday, rallying against COVID-19 restrictions.

Most protesters could be seen without masks and not social distancing while dozens of signs were posted in the ground surrounding a podium for speakers.

…

Clare MacKay, vice president of strategic initiatives and executive director of The Forks Foundation, told Global News on Friday the group was not granted access to the space.

“We have not been asked for, nor would we be in a position to grant, permission for this group to be on site,” MacKay said.

The Forks closed its doors Sunday afternoon due to safety concerns surrounding the rally.

You can’t fix stupid, people. And this pandemic has certainly shown us all just how many stupid people there are here. I have zero sympathy for these idiots, who are putting themselves and their contacts at risk. Here’s video of the event:

These protesters will soon have even more to complain about. This afternoon, the Manitoba government announced a new series of public health orders. The new restrictions, starting April 28th, 2021, and in effect for at least the next four weeks, include the following:

  • Zero visitors to private residences, either indoors or outdoors (except for one designated visitor for those people who live alone);
  • Indoor gatherings are prohibited, and outdoor gatherings are limited to a maximum of 10 people in public spaces;
  • Outdoor restaurant patio dining is restricted to a maximum of 4 people;
  • Food courts in shopping malls must close;
  • Retail stores will be restricted to 25% capacity or 250 people, whichever is lower. Shopping malls will be restricted to 25% capacity (although how they are going to enforce this part in malls with multiple entrances is beyond me);
  • Church, synagogue, and mosque services will be limited to 25% capacity or 10 people, whichever is lower, and mask-wearing is required;
  • Gyms and fitness centres will be limited to 25% capacity, and all gym users must stay at least 3 metres (9 feet) away from each other.

I’m very glad I visited my mother and stepfather on Sunday, and brought some home-baked cookies as an early Mother’s Day gift; it looks like we will not be getting together for Mother’s Day this year.

In my opinion, the incremental approach of the Manitoba government is simply not good enough at this stage of the pandemic. The majority of new cases are coronavirus variants of concern, most of which have been shown to be more easily transmissible, and some of which make younger people sicker. Lacking any domestic vaccine production, we are still far, far behind the U.S. and other countries in our vaccination program. Under the circumstances, I feel strongly that non-essential retail stores, churches and gyms should be closed completely, as they were last November during our second wave, in order to bring the number of new cases and deaths down to as low a level as possible (the so-called “zero COVID” approach taken by the three Northern territories and the Atlantic provinces here in Canada, and in countries such as Australia and New Zealand).

The government says that they are trying to avoid a full shutdown, but I predict that they are going to be forced to implement one anyways, as cases and deaths increase. They are promising to crack down hard on people who are flouting public health orders, but they’ve been saying that all along, with little evidence of success. For example, the premier stated that some of the people who attended Sunday’s rally were issued tickets, but he had no specifics (you’d think he would have gotten that information before the press conference today).

There just seems to be a whole lot of stupid going around, both in a government that is too timid to take the necessary bold steps to halt transmission in its tracks, and in a populace who are getting lazy, rebellious, and non-compliant after more than a year of restrictions.

Under the circumstances, the best that you can do is to take care of yourself, STAY HOME as much as possible, and listen to the doctors and the scientists.

Stay home, people! (graphic from the City of Vancouver)

UPDATE April 28th, 2021: Chris Sky, who spoke at the Winnipeg anti-mask rally on Sunday, was arrested after speaking at a similar rally in Thunder Bay, Ontario. And apparently, only two people were fined as a result of the Winnipeg rally (the tickets come with a $1,296 fine).

Pandemic Diary, April 23rd, 2021: Clubhouse Follies

Today is officially Day 373 since I began working in self-isolation from my home for my university library system on March 16th, 2020. All the summer courses at the University of Manitoba will be taught online and remotely, as in previous semesters, although the university is planning to conduct at least some of the smaller courses in-person come September (dependent upon the current pandemic situation, of course).

I have been on Clubhouse for (double checks) eight weeks now, and things are definitely getting a bit weird. Every second room seems to be about manifesting your first million dollars, or NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), or BitClout. And Clubhouse is starting to descend into endless petty tit-for-tat squabbles like the following:

*sigh* Could somebody please call these aggrieved people a WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-mbulance? 😉

And yet, at the same time, I have started two clubs (one for Winnipeggers and Manitobans, and the other one is called Ask a Librarian), and become a moderator for a third club founded by somebody else, the Virtual Worlds club.

And, in addition to running my own weekly rooms in those clubs, I willingly put up my hand, come up on stage, and speak in many rooms (not in the NFT rooms or the petty squabbling rooms, though). In a weird way, Clubhouse is like a comforting blanket I can wrap around myself whenever I feel the need of company. There’s always a conversation happening somewhere!

I particularly enjoy the daily News News News room, where everybody contributes to (and discusses) the headlines. For example, someone will talk about a breaking COVID-19 story, and a doctor or scientist in the room will provide some expert commentary. It’s fast becoming my favourite way of consuming the day’s news stories, particularly since I no longer watch the broadcast TV news!

News News News is the crowdsourced morning news show I never knew I needed!

And it will be interesting to see how Clubhouse will change when they finally open up to Android users (the app is still for iOS devices like iPhones and iPads only). Speaking of iPads, I finally decided to order myself a shiny new iPad, going through the Apple website rather than make a potentially germy trip to my local Apple store in a shopping mall at the other end of town! It should arrive in about a month. In the meantime, I am enjoying my Netflix, Amazon Prime, and OUTtvGO streaming content on my desktop computer and my trusty iPhone.

My new iPad arrives in a month

As for COVID-19, well, our ever-arrogant, pompous, gaslighting Manitoba premier, Brian Pallister, is once again stumble-leading us into a third wave of COVID-19 infections (mostly driven by variants of concern), and into what I feel is an inevitable third lockdown, after the ones we endured last March and last November. I feel it is only a matter of time that the problems experienced in B.C., Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec land here in Manitoba, too.

I find sometimes I need to stay off the local news media because I get so angry at how the pandemic is being mismanaged by the provincial government. Our local newspaper, the Winnipeg Free Press, has been unstinting and unprecedented in its criticism and even condemnation of Brian Pallister and his government’s policies. People are not happy, and the government is unpopular, but unfortunately we still have a couple of years to go until we can vote these clowns out of office in the next provincial election. Good riddance!

I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be largely face-masking, hand-washing, and self-isolating for at least another four months, possibly longer. I received my first shot of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on March 18th, 2021, but I am not due to get my second shot until July (the government has decided to get first shots into as many arms as possible, to provide at least some protection against the coronavirus, then focus on people getting their second shots).

However, at least until that third lockdown is announced, I am now going into my library every Monday (which is still closed to faculty, staff, and students), in order to do some collection weeding work. I find that getting out of my apartment one day a week does wonders for my overall mood, and I enjoy the opportunity to have face-to-face conversations with my coworkers (wearing face masks and socially distanced, but still face to face!).

Other than going in to work on Mondays, I barely leave my apartment. The only regular trips I make are to go pick up the groceries I order online from Walmart, and to go across town to visit my mother and stepfather at their seniors life-lease condo.

Anyways, I hope you all are holding up well under the circumstances, and taking good care of yourselves. Stay safe and stay healthy!

Pandemic Diary, April 5th, 2021: So Close, So Close and Yet So Far

PLEASE NOTE: My blog is still on indefinite hiatus; I have made a single exception for this blogpost. After this, I will be going back on my self-imposed break from blogging.

My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you,
My eyes adored you
Like a million miles away from me you couldn’t see
How I adored you…
So close, so close and yet so far

My Eyes Adored You, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Today is officially Day 386 since I began working in self-isolation from my apartment for my university library system. Since my last Pandemic Diary post, two significant things have occurred:

  1. On March 18th I received my first vaccine shot, and
  2. On March 22nd, I returned to my office at the University of Manitoba Libraries for the first time in over a year.

As someone who is older (age 57), and with several underlying health conditions which put me at risk of a severe, possibly even fatal, response to infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (I am severely overweight, plus I have asthma, hypertension, and type II diabetes), I was among the first Manitobans under the age of 60 to get vaccinated at my local pharmacy. I received the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, with a follow-up shot sometime in July.

I have been following the news reports of possible blood clots in a few people who have received the vaccine, and I am not worried; I know that the chance of me getting a blood clot from the AstraZenca vaccine is much lower than the chance of me getting a blood clot from COVID-19! As a science librarian, I trust the science behind the vaccines, and I am eagerly looking forward to getting my second dose.

Canadians are watching the U.S. roll out an aggressive vaccination campaign with envy. Canada is far, FAR behind the U.S., the U.K., and other countries in its COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Up here in Canada, we already have had serious outbreaks of variants of concern from the U.K. and Brazil in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec, and it seems all but certain the we will experience a third wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths here in Manitoba soon, with a third lockdown (and we never really opened back up from the second lockdown imposed in early November!). We are, indeed, so close and yet so far. It is frustrating beyond belief!

As for my return to the office, I was sitting on the fence about taking an extended sick leave for treatment of depression, when my supervisor told me that the buildings on campus could now be staffed at 40% of regular occupancy (up from 25%). I leapt at the opportunity to be able to work outside my home, after over a year of working from my home, being stuck within the same four walls day after day! I am starting off with just one day a week in the office, but I do have the option of coming in more frequently than that (at least, until the third lockdown happens, and it will).

In fact, the mood improved immediately after spending just one day back in my office, chatting with the few coworkers who are here (masked and socially distanced chats, but still, actual face-to-face conversations!). I even wandered around the library, taking a few snaphots. My office looks much the same as when I left it over a year ago, in near-pristine condition which will not last very long:

My library is still closed to non-librarian faculty, non-Libraries staff, and all students. The library, usually a quiet place even when it was full of students, is now eerily silent:

And I finally brought my work Oculus Rift VR headset back into the office from my apartment, where I had taken it when the pandemic started in March 2020, and spent part of my day today setting it up again. I popped into AltspaceVR and Nature Treks VR, and of course Sansar, just to test that everything was working okay. Instead of having to install countless updates to my Sansar client which had occurred during my yearlong absence from the office, I simply deleted the program and reinstalled it from scratch from the Sansar website, and then I paid a visit to my world, Ryan’s Garden, and its animated carousel, still one of my most cherished virtual possessions!

Yes, I do still have an Oculus Rift headset, which I had originally purchased for my suspended research project. I have an Oculus account for it, and I have absolutely ZERO plans to set up an account on the Facebook social network for it! Good thing that I don’t need to make any account decisions for at least another two years, during which time I will probably spend some of my accumulated Travel & Expense funds to upgrade the Rift to a Valve Index, like I now have at home. This Rift is my final link to Facebook, and I am itching to get rid of it! (I have yet to come up with a new, replacement research project involving virtual reality and libraries, but I have a few ideas.)

Stay safe and stay healthy!

Pandemic Diary, March 16th, 2021: What I Have Learned from One Full Year of Working from Home in Self-Isolation During the Coronavirus Pandemic (BONUS: Ryan’s Recipes!)

PLEASE NOTE: My blog is still on indefinite hiatus, but I wanted to post an Pandemic Diary update today, on the first anniversary of my working from home in self-isolation for my university library system. After this, I will be going back on my self-imposed break from blogging.

Exactly one year ago today, on March 16th, 2020, I began working from home for my full-time paying job as a science librarian at the University of Manitoba. A week later, my library colleagues were all sent home to work and the campus was shut down. I never dreamed that I would still be working from home 365 days later, but here I am!

So, how am I? And what have I learned from the past year?

How am I doing? Well, this morning I tweeted:

I myself have found that the longer this pandemic drags on, my depression is slowly getting worse and worse. I am doing *EVERYTHING* I can to take care of myself, but so many others are struggling with mental health issues due to, or exacerbated by, the pandemic. Reach out!

One year in, I am starting to fray at the edges, and it bothers me a great deal. I am experiencing the worst insomnia that I have ever experienced in my life, sleeping four, two, or even only one hour per night, and operating like a zombie during the day. (In my last grocery pickup at my local Walmart, I included a bottle of melatonin. I tried it for the first time last night, and I am pleased to report that I achieved a record six hours of sleep! Woohoo!)

I have written many times before about my use of virtual reality as a way to help treat my chronic clinical depression. On May 4th, 2018, I wrote on this blog:

I first got my Oculus Rift headset back in January 2017, when I was on sick leave for depression from my job, and my life was feeling pretty bleak. Shortly afterwards, I also got the Oculus Touch hand controllers to be able to handle objects in VR.

I have no scientific proof, but I do believe that using that VR headset regularly—creating art using TiltBrush and Oculus Medium, using apps like Guided Meditation VR and Nature Treks VR, and interacting with other avatars and exploring new experiences in High Fidelity and the then-closed Sansar beta—was indeed a beneficial factor in my most recent recovery from depression. The best way I can describe it was that VR got my neurons firing again!

Photo by Michael Efemena on Unsplash

Well, I am pretty depressed at the moment, and I decided that I need to get my neurons firing again! So today I went on a shopping spree on Steam, buying the following five programs and apps for my Valve Index headset:

  • The Room VR: A Dark Matter
  • Beat Saber
  • Nature Treks VR (a longtime favourite)
  • Tilt Brush
  • Virtual Desktop

Yes, in moving from an Oculus Rift to a Valve Index (an upgrade in every single way), I have had to rebuy a few programs, but actually not that many. Most of the time I use my VR headset to visit social VR platforms like VRChat, Rec Room, NeosVR, and Sansar, which of course are free to use (although some now offer a paid-for, premium version, too). And Nature Treks VR helps me with my anxiety, too. It’s also a great place to meditate!

And I am struggling not only with clinical depression and major insomnia, but also some serious anxiety, which has gotten noticeably worse over the past twelve months.

For example, I find that even the slightest trigger events will make me feel a high, out-of-proportion level of anxiety, to the extent that my heart is actually pounding and my breathing becomes more shallow! It feels like a mini panic attack, and it is a most uncomfortable and horrible sensation, one that is brand new to me. I absolutely hate feeling this way. I feel like my resilience, my ability to bounce back, has been significantly impaired.

I have in the past taken prescription Lorazepam for my anxiety, but at my psychiatrist’s suggestion, I am now taking valerian root instead whenever I feel anxious. She also recommended that I investigate transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS; Wikipedia, Mayo Clinic) for anxiety. Here’s the 2012 journal article she recommended to me, to use as the starting point for my research!

Apparently, there are now relatively inexpensive devices which attach to your ears in some way? I have always been curious about TMS, and whether or not this would help me, and so I might be willing to try this out sooner rather than later.

So, a few stats from a year in partial or total lockdown.

I have not set foot once in a grocery store in a whole year (I shop for my groceries online using the Walmart website, then drive to the loading dock at the back of my local Walmart, get out of my car and stand at least 2 metres away while an associate loads it up, then drive away.)

Aside from ten trips through the McDonald’s drive-through, and half a dozen summertime dinners with my best friend John on the socially distanced outdoor patio at my local Boston Pizza or Smitty’s, I have not been a patron of any restaurants. All the money I spent on restaurants has gone to Walmart, which has resulted in some significant savings (a lesson learned, perhaps?).

I have not had a haircut since January 2020. I now wear my hair in the tiniest of ponytails, and add a headband when my bangs get irritating. I have decided that I will only get my hair cut once I have received a COVID-19 vaccine.

I have only filled up the gas tank on my car three times since March 16th, 2020, and I am still near the top of my third tank of gas, so that tells you how often I have taken my car out over the past year. I never even bothered to take off my winter tires last summer! What was the point?

I believe that, in 12 months, I have only been touched by another human being a grand total of three times:

  1. the pharmacist who gave me my flu shot (wearing latex gloves and a facemask);
  2. the dermatologist I saw about my eczema (likewise wearing gloves and a facemask);
  3. my best friend John who, at one of our aforementioned restaurant patio suppers, reached out and briefly touched my forearm while making a point (I jumped out of my skin!)

I have, in 365 days, not had a single hug. I am absolutely aching for a hug. (Once all this is over, I plan to give many people some *BIG* gay bear hugs.)

Photo by Igor Érico on Unsplash

And finally, after all the statistics I have rattled off, the uncountable: I have participated in more Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Cisco WebEx virtual meetings with family, friends, and coworkers than I can count.

My arts and entertainment group meets virtually using Zoom

So, what have I learned over the past 365 days of partial or complete lockdown?

First, I have learned that everybody is struggling with mental health and/or addiction issues during the pandemic. For example, my psychiatrist told me (in our biweekly telephone conversations that have replaced in-person appointments since the pandemic started) that she had picked up smoking again, after 27 years! She also told me that all of her clients have been feeling more depressed lately. Apparently I am far from alone.

I have also learned, after over 30 years of eating out at restaurants at least once a day, that I can actually cook for myself—and enjoy doing so. And I find that as I build up my confidence in my cooking skills, I am getting more creative over time!

For example, I love lasagna, but I hate waiting for it to bake in the oven (like Garfield the cat, when I want lasagna, I WANT IT NOW). So here is my recipe for an easy 3-cheese lasagna that only takes 15 minutes to prepare using an electric skillet, or a deep stove-top skillet. Enjoy!

Ryan’s 15 Minute Three-Cheese Lasagna

You will need:

  • 500 g (1 pound) extra lean ground beef (you can use less lean ground beef, but then you will have to drain the fat from it)
  • one box (193 g) of Hamburger Helper Lasagne (NOT the Four Cheese Lasagne!)
  • 250 mL (1 cup) 3-cheese blend (I buy this pre-shredded, although of course you can save money by shredding your own cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses.)
  • Grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Prepare the Hamburger Helper Lasagne according to the package instructions in an electric skillet or a deep stove-top skillet. When ready, cover the bottom of a serving dish with the lasagna mixture, then sprinkle the shredded cheese over it. Keep alternating layers until you run out of Hamburger Helper and cheese. If you wish, dust the top with grated parmesan cheese.

Serve immediately with a glass of cold milk and a tossed salad. Yum!

That’s it! It’s so easy, and it satisfies that Garfield lasagna hunger very well. I also find that it keeps well in the refrigerator, and leftovers can easily be reheated in the microwave.

Here’s a second quick and easy recipe I whipped up during the pandemic:

Ryan’s 15 Minute Butter Chicken with Rice

You will need:

Prepare the rice according to the package stovetop directions (15 minutes). Five minutes before the rice is ready to serve, put the soup in a microwave-safe container and microwave on high for 5 minutes. To serve, simply pour the hot soup over a bed of rice! Add seasonings such as pepper to taste. Enjoy!

See? It’s easy, people. If a lummox like me can do this, anybody can be a cook! I might never again be the frequent restaurant patron I was before the pandemic hit.

Anyways, I just wanted to tell people how I was doing. I will resume my indefinite hiatus from blogging to focus my limited energies on my full-time paying job, and on recovering from this pernicious bout of the blues.

Stay safe and stay healthy!

The first 3 things I plan to do once this goddamned pandemic is over are:

1) Hug the stuffing out of as many people as I can
2) Schedule a bisexual/pansexual orgy
3) Travel around the world

My name is Ryan and thank you for coming to my TED Talk!