Beyond Tired

I'm tired.  No, I'm beyond tired.  We all are out there.  A couple of days ago, I overheard a coworker telling someone, "I'm so exhausted.  That's why I wasn't here Monday, I am just exhausted."  Later that day, another coworker told me she'd missed a day, because she went to bed at 6:00 and didn't wake up until after noon the next day.  "I guess my body needed that rest."  

That being said, I don't plan on doing anything -- much -- this weekend except knitting and playing on my new Kalimba.

 Yes, I broke down and bought myself a Kalimba.  I hadn't planned on getting one just yet.  I was going to put it on my Christmas list, but then Amazon had a daily deal on this one:

It was 25%  off, so I hit that Buy With 1-Click button.  It includes a waterproof, shockproof case, 

which, if you know me at all, is a good thing. 

Inside that case is this:

My kalimba!  It's not really that red, though.  The camera flash did some weird things to the color.  It's  mahogany. Now I need to learn to read Kalimba tabs. They're not the same as guitar tabs.  

I've already found several YouTube channels with tutorials, so I'm good to go there. 

Speaking of going, third shift is going to be in trouble pretty soon. They've always had a problem with absenteeism.  We tried to warn them, but they just wouldn't listen.  It's like countries trying socialism.  "It'll work this time.  For reals."  But it never does.  A couple of times, they had so many people out, they had to shut down the one, yes one, count it one line they run on third and send the few who did show up home.  Well, word has it, when that $2.00 shift differential didn't show up on their paychecks yesterday, a lot of them walked out.  I don't know if they came back or not. 

I do know one of the brazers on second shift quit.  She said, "It's hot in here, and now they want to tell me what I can eat and drink?  Forget this place."   OK, I translated what she really said into family friendly.  This is a PG raged blog, after all.  Point is, people are still quitting because of them putting us on water rations.  But they're still so obtuse they can't figure out why the turnover rate is so high... go figure. 

And now, for some more bad news.  We've had several new cases of COVID in the plant during this Delta surge.  I don't know who all they are, because they don't tell us any more.  We only know when we see the man with his little spray bottle of disinfectant walk out onto the floor.  Yesterday, as I was waiting to clock out, I saw him in my department, spraying down a few machines.  I asked a coworker, "Who's got the COVID?"  She said, "It must be [So-and-so], because she said she was feeling bad and left."  It was nice of them to tell us, wasn't it?  

I'm telling ya, Mississippi is getting slammed by this Delta variant -- or as Dr. Dobbs said, "We got hit by a tsunami."  They've had to convert a parking garage down in Jackson into a COVID ward, but the biggest issue is lack of staffing.  There are two floors in the local hospital that have been closed down for years.  The problem is, you can't just flip the lights on and stick patients in the beds without adequate staff to care for them.  They've sent out requests for medical staff to be temporarily assigned here, but I don't know how that's going to work.  The Governor and Dr. Dobbs talked about it in yesterday's press conference, but I didn't completely follow all the ins and outs of how it's going to work.

They also put in a request for the Navy hospital ship Comfort to come, but that was denied by the federal government.  The Governor didn't say why.  

Heh, there was one reporter who kept badgering Gov to institute a state wide mask mandate, and Tate said repeatedly it's not going to happen.  He got a bit irked at one point, because he said, "I'll get back to you, and if you would stop interrupting these other people, we'll get through this a whole lot quicker."  

Don't underestimate the Tater Tot.  Dude's got stones.

Anyway, he repeatedly said no to mask mandates, vaccine mandates, and vaccine passports.  Someone asked him why he wouldn't issue a state wide vaccine mandate and he said, "What makes me think I'm so much smarter than you that I should make your medical decisions for you?*"  Someone else wanted him to issue a mask mandate for schools, but he wouldn't do it.  He said, "You should go down to your local school board and make your case to them.  If they won't mandate them, then you're free to put a mask on your child yourself.*"  

Dr. Dobbs said that this variant is affecting younger people more so than the original virus, but kids are still the lowest risk group.  For most of them, this will be little more than a bad case of the sniffles.  

Back to the Governor, the reporters kept asking him what if scenarios, and Tate said he wasn't going to get into hypotheticals.  They still kept badgering him, until at one point, he laughed and said, "Y'all are going down some silly rabbit holes now!"  

His prepared remarks are a bit stiff, but it's really fun to watch him when he gets to the Q&A with the reporters.  

And lastly, I finally gave up on my MyPillow.  I was determined to learn to sleep on it, but after some 8-ish months, it just wasn't happening. I got up in the middle of the night one night and got my old pillow out of the closet...and slept better than I have in a long, long time.  Then I bought a new pillow.  

A super cheap $3 pillow that sleeps so much better.  Then I got a throw pillow for my chair. 

Because 'Murica!  That's why. 

*Quotes from the press conference are paraphrased due to my bad memory, but are as close as I remember them.