Hi folks! It’s been a bit of a rough day today, the first half, at least; and I didn’t recover very well during the much easier second half. Just… stayed in a quick-to-blow temperament having riled myself up with the many frustrations of the morning and early afternoon.
Anyway, I was tired and slept in until something like 6:00 again.
Once up, I didn’t get really anything done other than working on tax stuff, as I’d slept through the time I’d set aside for the other morning dailies.
Fortunately, I did get a decent amount of tax stuff done this morning, so that was good. I also called the state and got the answers to some questions that I needed answered to properly finish the tax stuff I’m doing.
What else… I put the finishing touches on a repair for the headlight assembly for my Nissan Sentra that I’m trying to get rid of. Finishing that means I can put the headlights on the car, and though it won’t be fully repaired, at least it’ll be mostly back together. I’m not gonna try and fix more of it, unless my neighbor Dan wants to help. He’d mentioned thinking he might be able to help fix it. But honestly, I just want it gone, even at a loss (not a huge loss, mind you, but I’m willing to take a loss on it to get it out of my emotional hair–too many things pressing down. Too many projects. Too much taking up the time that just doesn’t need to be taking up my mental, emotional, and temporal bandwidth).
Anyway, so I got a later start out the door today because I had my needle appointment at 10:40 today, and there was no sense risking missing the appointment in order to squeeze a morning repair job in prior to getting my jabs in.
I got out the door a little after 10 and drove to the travel clinic in Bentonville. While waiting for the doctor, I decided to double check all the travel requirements for going to Costa Rica, and guess what!?!?
The laws had changed since I set up the whole trip.
Uh-oh.
What did I find? I learned that even though I’ve had and have recovered from Covid, though I was still allowed to enter Costa Rica without a covid vaccine, I was no longer allowed to enter my hotel without a health pass, which included having been fully vaccinated for covid, regardless of whether I’d had it before or not.
Lovely.
And of course, the entry requirements also specified that my *final* covid vaccine dose be received no later than 14 days prior to arrival in the country.
Any guesses on how many days I have before my trip?
Yep, two weeks to the day. D minus 14 days.
So what exactly did that mean for me? Well, since I had to have a *complete* dose–today–that meant my only option was the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, because all the others were two-dose shots administered weeks apart. Fortunately, if I’m going to have to get a covid vaccine, then that’s the one that I would get anyway.
I didn’t, however, expect what would come next.
But I’ll get there in a moment.
Still in the doctor’s office, my doc finally came in and told me that I didn’t really need much for Costa Rica, just needed to get my last Hep A and B shot (because I never got my 3rd dose 17 years ago), and I needed a booster on my typhoid. That was it. She said I didn’t need to worry about encephalitis or malaria, so… just two needles for the moment.
I got one jabbed in my right arm and the other in my left arm. The doc also sent me with some prescriptions for antibiotics and anti-diarrheals, just in case Central America sent me away with the same parting gifts that South America did nearly 20 years ago now.
Gratefully, the doc also wrote me a letter saying that I’d recovered from covid within the last 90 days, which should help speed my departure from the States, even if it doesn’t really help with anything else.
So that was really nice.
Anyway, since it was D-minus 14 days to my trip, I had to try to find a place that could give me the Johnson and Johnson vaccine before the end of the day!
So from the doctor’s office, I drove to AutoZone, where I spent the next… long time… sitting in my van in the parking lot trying to find a place to get the shot, knowing that without finding it, I’d be sleeping in the car for the whole trip and possibly not able to do some of the activities even though I’ve already had and have just recovered from covid.
Funky laws.
Anyway, I started to call around but found out very quickly that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was going… out of style?
Nobody had it.
Most places didn’t even offer it as an option. The only pharmacies that did were Walmarts, but every. single. one. that I called was out of stock.
One walmart tech suggested I go online to make an appointment because the app would show which pharmacies had which needle options, but as luck would have it, and after spending a decent little while cursing and trying to figure out if it was user error, I learned that their scheduling app was down.
Can you smell the rental car faux leather? Mmmm… so good against your skin… all night.
Oh well, not to worry. I slept on the rocks on the peak of Mt. Sinai in Egypt, as well as in the sand at the base of Masada and on the stony beaches of the Red Sea. I’ve stayed in a little tent on the side of a roaring River in the jungled mountains of Peru. I’ve slept on the floors of bus stations, rest stops, and airports. I’ve stayed at the houses of wonderful people who picked me up as a hitchhiker in England, Scotland, and Ireland. And oh yeah, I guess this is relevant: I lived in my car for a year as well. 🙃
Sleep in the car outside the hotel?
“Ain’t nothin’ but a thing.”
That said, I was still a bit nervous because I wanted the trip to go smoothly, as I haven’t done much with my buddy John for years and years and years, and I didn’t know what other issues I might run into for not being vaccinated, so I still wanted to find a place to get my vaccine.
Gratefully! after calling probably 10 or 15 different places, going through the automated menu each time before talking to someone live, I finally found a Walmart pharmacy, in south Rogers no less, that had some Johnson & Johnson vaccines left!
Wahoo!!!🙂
On the way over there, I needed to stop in and get some old receipts printed from the Ford dealer for a problem I was trying to figure out with my taxes, but wouldn’t you know it, my banking app decided it didn’t want to work either today (really?!?!), so I had to go in the store without the dates of the transactions (because I forgot to note them down before I left this morning). I only had just a ballpark handful of months it was narrowed down to in order to find the copy of the receipt I needed. What added to the challenge was that they’d accidentally used another company’s account multiple times when I went to buy parts (still my credit card, but showing up in their purchase history but not mine). So it wasn’t just like looking back through my history only.
With the stress of everything, and with so many things going sideways, let’s just say I didn’t win any awards for handling adversity patiently today.
Fortunately, I did remember the model of the vehicle the parts were purchased for, and after a bit of effort by the the local Ford dealer parts guy (Joe), the needed receipt was found, printed, and with a little help from my mother on the phone finding a check I’d left on the table, I was able to resolve the particular issue.
Wahoo! Again!
So after all that, I got to my first job of the day at about 3:30, and from there, gratefully, the jobs all went rather smoothly. First job was a no start. The lady’s brother (I think) had tried to change the battery, and he did mostly fine: He just didn’t tighten everything down, he lost a nut, and he somehow damaged one of the battery connector clamps, at least that’s what appeared to be the case. So I found a nut from my pile, and I put everything back together, and boom. All set.
Car #2 was a hood that was stuck closed, so I opened up the fender well, reached my arm way up inside, found the cable, and yanked hard on it. It broke the cable and damaged a protruding plastic dealy, but it got the hood open without have to cut through the hood or the front bumper. He’ll need a new cable, but I rigged the cable nicely to be pullable from the outside, so he doesn’t have to fix it if he doesn’t want to. I taught him how to replace the cable and told him he could call me for any help.
Car #3 was a no start that was just a bad battery. He was a fellow Utah transplant, having moved here a year and a half ago. I actually did a job for him last year some time as well, a late-night starter replacement in his Acadia. Gratefully, it was just a battery in his Accent this time.
Car #4 was a 2012 Toyota Prius that a squirrel had made a home of on top of the engine and had enjoyed sharpening its teeth on the fuel injector wiring. I stripped away the old stuff, and spliced the wires together with some heat-shrink butt connectors, and that was that.
Filled my tank at the CNG place as I always do when coming back from the south. I stopped off again at the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions, and here I am. Home. Late. Bit of a headache. Full of crap (more covid, heps A and B, and typhoid.
“Sarah has typhoid fever.”
“Sarah has died.”
(catch the reference?)
Loves and hugs to all. May we sacrifice a little today to bring a better tomorrow for those who come after us.
Lift the World.
~ stephen
Lift the World 