Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Kayla had a big day today, and went to breakfast at the Wigwam this morning instead of her normal Thursday, for reasons she explains on her journal. While she was right with me here all day, it was a a long work day, with some pretty intense work keeping us busy. It's a good think she went to breakfast today, because there won't be time for it on Thursday, on account of I have to do some work early in the morning to take the place of our person in India who normally sets up our daily workload because he has the day off. In the meantime, I'm running short of sleep, so I'm going to see if I can stop Kayla from bouncing off the walls (understandably so) and get some rest tonight.

Because of the long day yesterday, I slept in until nearly 8 AM, which is very late for me. I decided to go ahead and have a weekend breakfast at the Wigwam, although the place is much busier then. To help reduce their capacity issues at that peak weekend time, I volunteered to sit at the small table they have near the window rather than use up one of the booths. (This also means I don't feel any pressure to eat quickly and leave. On weekends, I don't want to be rushed.)

Diagonally from me was a family of our: two girls and what I take to be their parents. One of the girls had very pretty earrings. At one point that girl sneezed, and the other one started to chew her out for not covering her mouth and was lecturing about it. This was about the time I was getting up to leave, and I put on my N95 mask and decided to go over and in what I hoped to be a friendly way said, "I didn't intend to evesdrop, but I heard what you were saying and [addressing the second girl] I'm glad to hear that you understand the importance of this." I then told them a short and edited version of how I ended up with the first airborne illness in five years at the lottery center back at the end of December. I finished by turning to the other girl and said, "An also, I want you to know that I think you have very pretty earrings." The parents did not appear to seem offended by either of my statements. The younger girl (with the earrings) seemed a little stunned and had to be prompted to say thank you. I pointed out my own little earring studs and said, "I just had these done three weeks ago." Both girls seemed fascinated and one said, "Is that emerald?" and I explained that it was peridot, my birthstone. I finished by saying something I've been saying a lot lately: "I may be old, but I'm not old-fashioned!" And the parents both laughed. I was a little worried about addressing anything to the kids, but I looked to the parents as I was doing so, and they didn't seemed bothered by the Old Guy with the Hat.

I walked to the post office after breakfast to collect the mail. (The renewed tags for the Rolling Stone, which is alas still hors de combat, had arrived.) As per the instructions from M-Spa, I was lathered up with SPF 70 sunscreen, was wearing my Jacaru hat, and kept my face mask on even outdoors to cover some of the most sensitive areas (i.e. where most of the laser work is being done). I may get a bandanna to cover more of my face when having to go outside during daylight. I am taking the warnings about sun exposure seriously, particularly given our 4000 ft / 1225 m altitude.

On the way back from the post office, I had a small crisis in form of an urgent call of nature. Had it come a little bit earlier, I would have popped into the donut shop and used their restroom and bought a single donut, but now I was is "no-man's land," and I started to think I wasn't going to make it home in time. Luckily for me, the Imerys Minerals plant has a portable toilet set up for the benefit of the truckers to serve the plant, and they don't lock it when they're closed because trucks come there at all hours, sometimes arriving and parking overnight. Whew!

I considered changing into my coveralls and old shoes in order to start clearing tumbleweeds and other noxious stuff from the fence between our two properties, but decided that while the temperature was good, I would be better served by doing this when the sun is not high overhead. Evening would probably be best, followed by pre-dawn twilight, although that's colder.

I have to get blood tests tomorrow for my annual medical exam coming up in a couple of weeks. That means needing to fast for at least twelve hours, and thus means I'm not going to be able to have my usual breakfast at the Wigwam Restaurant. So this evening Lisa and I went to the Wigwam for an unusual breakfast. They were doing an evening breakfast-for-dinner buffet. It actually cost slightly less than my usual breakfast. It was certainly not as good as the one we had a couple of times in Iceland, or what the Peppermill served back when they used to have a buffet, but it was worth what we paid, and I'm well fed and unlikely to fret too much tomorrow morning.

The Wigwam Restaurant in Fernley stopped serving dinner a while ago, but they were open this evening for a special buffet.

( The Big Dinner )

I'm glad I got there early before the place got busy and filled up. Being properly filled up myself, I went for a walk around downtown during twilight before waddling home.

Meanwhile, with tomorrow being the day that Lisa checks out of the apartment in Munich by Noon local time there, I need to be ready for a phone call in the late-night/early-morning hours my time (nine hours behind her) in case of any last-minute changes she'll need from me. In any event, it's going to be the last time she can easily telephone me, because it requires her internet telephone, which only works in those rare cases where there is a wired connection, not a wireless one. The next couple of weeks will be a new challenge.

When the bills came in for the Astro, I knew I needed to do a little bit of cutting back, and one thing I started forgoing was breakfast at the Wigwam on Saturdays. Today, however, after Lisa and I went to Reno at 2 AM for groceries at WinCo, I decided that I could go ahead and get breakfast there. I'm a regular there, and they wondered if I had been away on another trip. I explained that $10K in auto repair bills obliged a bit of a rethink in my finances, especially when we have a short trip to Westercon in a couple of weeks and then a long trip to Europe in August. Still, it was nice to get one of my favorite breakfasts.

It snowed last night for a short time, dropping an annoyingly wet and icy bit of "corn" snow that make clearing the porch difficult. This morning, snow started again, with lighter, dryer snow. I swept the porch and set off for the short walk to the Wigwam restaurant.

( Strolling Through the Snow )

It was, as usual, a good breakfast. Now I need to get started on editing the March Railway Legends, Myths, and Stories. If I'm lucky, we might even get the April episode done by the end of this month and thus posted at the start of the month instead of the end.

Friday wasn't a great day for either Lisa or I. We weren't actively sick, but besides our arms hurting badly, we were both deeply tired. I was able to log out from the Day Jobbe by Noon, whereupon I fell into bed and slept for about four hours, after which I was up for a few hours and then got a full night's sleep. Both Lisa and I are feeling better today. I walked down to the Wigwam and got a take-out breakfast. Maybe later this year I'll feel safe enough to start going to restaurants for dine-in service again.

I booked our first hotel stays since January of 2020 yesterday: three nights at the new Belvada Hotel in Tonopah. Instead of going to Westercon (which as I hope you all know has been nominally postponed, canceled in the original Seattle location, and combined with Loscon 47 over Thanksgiving weekend at the LAX Marriott) this year, we're going to go to Tonopah and check out the hotel in which we intend to stay during Westercon 74 next year. Indeed, we'll actually be there during part of what were the original Westercon 74 dates, but now we'll get to see what Tonopah is like over Independence Day weekend, and we'll be able to report on the new hotel.

About 7 AM Sunday morning, I decided to see if if the Wigwam Restaurant, which reopened a week ago, was sufficiently lightly loaded to risk having breakfast there. On the way, I spotted one of the local rabbits, and it spotted me as well and dashed over to what it presumably thought was a safer location.

( Keeping an Eye Peeled )

There were only two other patrons in the Wigwam, so I decided I could risk having breakfast. The previous morning, the parking lot was full of cars and I didn't even bother going inside. The staff of the Wigwam all are wearing masks, half of the tables are marked off to preserve distance between them, and there are no condiments on the table. Everything is brought to you so that they can wipe them down after you're done.

I enjoyed my breakfast, and I still think the risk under these conditions is low, but I do note that I'm the only customer who wore a mask into/out of the restaurant. (Obviously, I had to take it off to eat.) There have been very few cases of COVID-19 in Lyon County, and only one death, but that doesn't mean I won't take precautions, including making sure there are a minimal number of other people around.

I wonder if the people complaining about restrictions as being contrary to their Freedom think that all science can be put to a vote. Maybe they don't think the law of gravity is real, either, and it infringes upon their freedom to jump off a cliff without dying. Maybe they should organize a cliff-jumping protest to Show Gravity Who's the Boss.