The NHL started it's COVID-shortened 2021 season last night, and tonight marks the return of Caps hockey!
It still doesn't seem real.
The NHL started it's COVID-shortened 2021 season last night, and tonight marks the return of Caps hockey!
It still doesn't seem real.
Today started off a good day. I got out of bed. I had breakfast. I logged into my work account and graded some papers, responded to some emails, filled out some paperwork.
I helped a student understand valence electrons and ion formation a little better, and conferred with my paraeducators about how to better support some students.
I graded some more papers, worked on some lesson plans.
Then, for some reason, I decided to search out how the elections in Georgia had gone. When I went to sleep last night, pundits were calling both races for the Democrats Ossof and Warnock, but I wanted to see what the vote tallies were looking like.
What I saw across the Internet was terrifying.
People who were protesting the election had become -- no, revealed themselves to be -- terroristic fascists, pushing past Capitol Police and forcing their way into the Capitol building while the senators were running their mouths instead of just certifying the election. Congress had to be disbanded, the electoral votes had to be protected, and everything went into a lockdown.
All because the man-child in the White House can't accept that he lost the election, and his man-baby supporters have fallen under his cult-spell and can't think for themselves.
The images from today will be forever seared in the minds of the American public... or they should be. There are still a lot of seditionists out there -- as evidenced by attacks on state capitol buildings in Kansas, Michigan, Oregon and other states. It's time to stop accepting sedition as expression of free speech and start prosecuting it as treason and hate crimes.
Some images.
Portland 2020 D.C. 2021 pic.twitter.com/10rAjb2mia
— Megan Reyes (@megreyes_) January 6, 2021
Cops are taking selfies with the terrorists. pic.twitter.com/EjkQ83h1p2
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 6, 2021
Mitt Romney yelled “This is what you’ve gotten” to Ted Cruz and his fellow Senate colleagues as protesters swarmed the building. https://t.co/Yt8ZPArYpE
— David Freedlander (@freedlander) January 6, 2021
That’s the confederate flag flying outside the Senate chamber pic.twitter.com/1XB5TlAsuv
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 6, 2021
There are some stark differences here between what we saw during the summer and the Black Lives Matter protests after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, and what happened today, and everyone sees it, at least anyone who isn't a racist.The same House chamber doors where the armed standoff took place hours ago is being cleaned for members to return for the joint session: pic.twitter.com/JlZgzwci8n
— Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) January 7, 2021
There are Senators back on the floor of the Capitol, running their mouths (and in some cases, trying to covering their asses) about unity and democracy and all that. STFU, really. Get the vote done, then expel the assholes among you.Day 1 vs. Day 1,448 pic.twitter.com/OohffkCQrc
— 11th Hour (@11thHour) January 6, 2021
Winter Break is over, and so I woke up with an alarm this morning. To be honest, I didn't sleep much at all anyway; I get super anxious on Sunday nights anyway, and knowing it was "back to work" today didn't help.
Things went pretty well for class, though. The students were engaged, and even had a few who I hadn't seen for weeks (not counting the break) show up. I had some work to grade that was turned in over the break, and I did that during my planning period, and go around to doing attendance and course recommendations after that.
That's about the time I received the text from my bank, asking about a "suspicious charge." I immediately responded that it was not a valid transaction, and I get an auto-responder telling me that I should call, which I did.
These fraudulent charges seem to happen to me at least once a year, and every other time, I've received a call and/or text from my bank that I immediately respond to. The bank stops the transaction, cancels my card, and then I need to go around and reset all of my auto-payments. As I sit on hold for ten minutes waiting for "the next available representative," I assume that the conversation will go just as the previous ones had.
But it doesn't.
I don't know if policies have changed or if it's because I had to wait so long to talk to a person, but the representative informs me that the bank can't do anything because the payment has been processed. So, I'm out nearly $300 at least until the payment posts, at which point I have to call them to initiate the fraud proceedings. Excuse me?
So, now I need to start off the next few days checking online to see if the payment has posted, then once it does, call the bank and tell them (again?) that the charge is fraudulent, even though they tagged it as fraudulent from the start! Worse yet, it seems that I might not even get the money back this time, at least not until a "full investigation is done."
In the meantime, I just get to hope that this doesn't cause an overdraft situation.
Sigh. There is a special place in the afterlife for thieves.
Since the pandemic hit the US and shut down school buildings, I've gone through phases where I read a lot. I've gone through phases where I haven't read enough.
On March 29, former Washington Capital Brooks Laich posted this on Instagram :
I decided to take the challenge.
Yay, it's 2021!
2020 ended with a whimper, as it should. The last two and a half months of the year were the absolute worst.
At the end of October, Pat and I suffered through the 'rona, after an anti-mask co-worker of his shared the virus with the office. Actually, "anti-mask" doesn't cover it; the moron is anti-science in general. The guy believes the Earth is a cylinder, for instance. Pat, being the loving husband that he is, brought it home and shared it with me. I was livid, and actually still am, considering at one point, I was so dehydrated and weak, I spent over 36 hours in bed and honestly thought I was going to die there. I missed Hallowe'en, of all holidays, because of illness. And, I had to do the calls of shame to those we'd most recently been in close contact with.
Antietam Aqueduct |
Cold hiking the Sunday before Christmas on the C&O Canal at Weverton (lock 33) |
A chilly day on Wye Island to see the Wye Island Holly Tree |
Harpers Ferry and Virginius Island have ruins to explore |
A ghost town outside Ellicott City along the Patapsco |
Gettysburg Battlefield at sunset |
Pat on the Catoctin Aqueduct |
My friends apparently really liked these earrings |
Pouring some small, vanilla scented candles |
Shoot for the moon |