Prepping for Monday

 

Monday will be my first time working from onsite since the end of March. I haven't been in the clinic since April 1 when we all were removing our personal items from the premises, because the entire floor was about to be converted for use as possible overflow beds for the hospital across the street.

I just set up a bag with SOME of said personal effects to bring back in, and rummaged up my work ID that I have not used in over 6 months. I am all set to go.

I will be carrying a carafe of coffee into the building in the mornings for the time being, as I am not sure what is up with the break room or if we are still doing things like sharing the coffee machine. For that matter, I have no idea if they have even been keeping up with providing the supplies for said coffee and tea, because COVID has trampled all over every budget everywhere on earth.

In other news, we got some dreadful news on Thursday. JFM's cousin, with whom I went to high school, had recently been getting some medical tests done to discern what was causing her to be sick. The worst possible answer came back: she had stage 4 breast cancer and the prognosis was that she had 2-3 weeks to live. What a horrendous shock! 😢 

The situation became even more difficult today. After swiftly declining on Friday, she passed away this morning. I am heartbroken for her, her husband, JFM, and all her loved ones. She and her husband were inseparable. 

I thought two weeks would be a hard time frame to acclimate to what was happening, and we didn't even have two days. So please send up some prayers for her and her family and friends. What a sad day it is!

Recruiting Volunteers

Some of the recent text-message batches are geared toward recruiting folks to take part in phone banks for the Candidate Of Our Choice.

I am delighted to report that there is no shortage of people who responded that they were ALREADY volunteering to make calls, send texts, mail postcards, and so on.

I sincerely hope this bodes well for the outcome on November 3.

Oh, also, I got the email yesterday that my mail-in ballot has safely arrived at our county's election office. So now I know that my vote will be getting counted when the time comes, and I need not brave the crowds. I regret to report that the COVID numbers are starting to creep upward in this region, and who knows what they will look like in three weeks' time? So hooray for not having to go out into crowds of people to cast a vote.

Blue Wave 2020! 

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

Sign Language at the NHL Draft

I watched the NHL draft last night, as I am a hockey fan. The first round was on TV last night, and the rest of the rounds are going to be conducted today. The NHL draft consists of teams choosing from 18-year-old players in juniors, college, or in European leagues.

When we don't have the freaking plague shutting everything down, the draft is held in a hockey arena, with players and their families sitting in the stands, along with hockey fans, and the teams go and announce their draft choices, one by one. Cameras turn to the players and their families, then the kid goes up and puts on the jersey of the team that selected him and poses for pics with the team's GM and staff. They know which players they want to choose because they have spent time with their scouts going to games, and watching videos and looking at the stats of the young guys. They talk to players and their families, too. They do their homework.

This year, we have restrictions against travel and convening in large groups, so it was handled differently. Teams had their general managers and staff all in one place, and cameras where there when they went up to announce who they chose. There were also cameras in the players' living rooms, where friends and family were gathered around televisions waiting to see who was chosen by which team. They must have had a lot cameras set up in a lot of houses, knowing which of the very top players were most likely to be selected in the first round.

So, fast-forward to the last selection of the first round of the draft. The San Jose Sharks director of scouting goes up to the microphone, and says, "The San Jose Sharks select", pauses to fingerspell OZZY, then resumes, "Ozzy Weisblatt."

Ozzy's mother is Deaf. His family signs.

Cut to the camera in Ozzy's house, as they are all jumping up and down and cheering in a massive family hug. Then they started turning to the camera in their house and making ILY signs into the camera.

It was great! I am a Flyers fan, but I will keep an eye out for Ozzy as he makes his way from juniors, to the minors, to the NHL. And kudos to the SJ Sharks for adding a touch of consideration to the selection process. That was a classy gesture on their part, making sure his mom was fully involved in enjoying the sight of her son being chosen by an NHL team.

This article provides both text and video: https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/10/07/sharks-use-sign-language-to-draft-ozzy-wiesblatt-in-touching-moment/