Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

I have not been able to get to the Bay Area to see my doctor for over a year now. Normally it has not been an issue, because I was obliged to visit the warehouse to which I nominally am attached to more or less prove to people that I'm still alive. When COVID-19 hit, the message changed to, "Unless you are vitally important to the operation of this specific warehouse, stay away." Besides, my manager is in Council Bluffs, Iowa anyway, and he sees me a minimum of 3x/week in our staff meetings online. However, Sutter Health, to which my doctor belongs, has become increasingly insistent that if I want my medications renewed, I need to have at least a video consultation with my doctor.

A video visit leads to a complication: my doctor (like all of the others in the group) is only licensed in California. Apparently it's the location of the patient, not the doctor, that determines the location of service. Consequently, I can't just do the consultation from my living room. I have to be in California. However, I really don't want to be in California that much, and I really don't think that going to the Bay Area is a good idea right now.

It is, however, possible to get to California — barely — and there was even a legitimate reason to go there today. It's fifty miles from Fernley, but that's a lot closer than Palo Alto! I already had today scheduled as part of my "use my PTO or lose it" program, so we hit the road for California, at least technically.

( A Bit of California in Nevada )

After my video visit with my doctor, it was time to justify this use of the just-barely-Californian parking lot.

( That's the Ticket )

Having spent enough money to deflect any accusations of freeloading, we headed for home. Even this was a challenge. Due to the impending snow, traffic westbound on adjacent I-80 was at standstill, and there was a backlog of cars just trying to get out of the Gold Ranch parking lot. Eventually we worked our way back to old US-40 and turned toward Reno, driving the old road through Verdi before getting back on the freeway eastbound.

We considered doing some grocery shopping in Reno, but concluded that the only things we needed were some perishable items we could get in Fernley, so we headed straight home. The storm passing through the Sierra chased us, and it was pretty windy by the time we got back to the house.

( Flagging )

This was a decently productive day. We both got out of the house. I got my necessary medical visit done. We put in some additional groceries if the promised snow arrives overnight. And we've taken a flyer on the billion-dollar jackpot. Had the reporter asked me what I planned to do if I won the billion dollars, I think I might have said, "I've always wanted to own a private railroad car, and with that much money, I might be able to buy a railroad to go with it!"

Thanks to cynthia1960, I have had it brought to attention that the city where I live, Fremont, California, celebrates its 50th anniversary today.

Fremont consists of four smaller towns that incorporated together. Apparently it was planned to be five, but one of the members of the party opted out, and that is why Newark, California is an enclave completely surrounded by the city of Fremont.