Houston will now suffer from the dumb decision by my professional organization to go all virtual for our annual conference at the end of January. There was already a requirement to be fully vaccinated to attend, but I guess that wasn't enough. Thus, Houston will be losing out on around 3,000 convention attendees hotel nights, recreational spending, etc. I know it's not a big convention, but it will still be a hit for the local hospitality and tourism industry in Houston.

Fortunately, my job was paying for my attendance this year, so I don't have to worry about reimbursement for funds spent. I don't plan on attending the virtual session, and I feel for my colleagues who were to present this year. I had the misfortune of attending and being a panelist for the virtual convention last year, and it was absolutely terrible. I'll not make that mistake again. Hopefully, next year common sense will prevail, and we will actually all get to meet up again.

Yep.... I was attended AGU in New Orleans and there was <50% attendance, which was pathetic. I know which conference you are talking about, and it's pathetic. This not a conference best done remotely, but in person through in-person networking.

I was supposed to relocate to the Bay Area last week as we were to return to the office by the 30th. Already had an apartment set up. Found out literally days before I was to head out that we won't be going back until July. Had to cancel lease and ended up losing security deposit but at least I save almost three grand a month in rent in the meantime. Needless to say, I won't make plans to move again until it's certain we actually return in July. Meanwhile, new cases in the Bay Area have been consistently low.

California appears to be getting their omicron spike this week. Especially LA County.

Actually, cases have been surging in the Bay Area. Look at this Google News Search: https://news.google.com/search?q=bay...S&ceid=US%3Aen

I'm not sure LA traffic will ever get back to what it was pre-pandemic. It certainly won't be as easy as 2020 was where you could get from Newport Beach to DTLA in 40 minutes and everyone was doing 75 minimum on the freeways (that was fun). But because of remote work I don't think transit is in the minds of many SoCal residents now since they aren't going into the office at the same frequency and daily traffic, although increased in 2021, is still not what it used to be.

When I first moved to LA I'd drive 15 minutes from Artesia to the Artesia station in Compton on the Blue Line and take it to my job DT. Then I moved a couple blocks away from the Gold Line in Pasadena and would do the same on it (except walked to the station this time). Moved to Inglewood for a bit so stopped using transit since it was inconvenient from north Inglewood and the Expo Line stretch near USC would make my trip longer than it needed to be (this section should be a subway). I used the trains because they'd often be within 10 minutes of driving (sometimes faster, sometimes slower).

When I moved to OC I used the Metrolink everyday. It was 9 times out of 10 quicker than driving from where I lived in OC. The parking garage would have levels 1-3 filled by the 7am trains and people start to use the 4th and 5th levels. Nowadays you can drive past it at 9-10am and the lower two levels are barely filled. What's going to make people want to use the Metrolink if they aren't going into the office or on the days they do go in the commute is now almost an hour shorter because people work remotely? I'd rather just drive at that point. My employer is one of several that has stopped looking for office space DT because business has been so good remotely. We may do some regional wework type spaces for staff that would like to go in, which also means they'd be less likely to use transit since the offices would be closer to where folks live.

Sometimes I do miss the rush hour commute. Getting my coffee, chatting with my train friends, seeing the same conductors, getting a second morning workout from all the walking and stair taking in DT, etc. But remote work is still way better for me. I do think some of the lines like Sepulveda and extending the Crenshaw Line into West Hollywood/south to LAX are very beneficial. But the ones used for everyday rush hour commuting like Metrolink and even a lot of the SGV portions of the Gold Line might need some additional help.

I'm kind of pissed off at all the assholes who were saying the Omicron is a mild variant. For the first time since this plague began, I have family members in hospitals this week. And yes, they're all vaccinated and one even had his booster. It's feeling like March 2000 all over again because it seems like everyone I know is getting sick. :(

Post from March 18, 2020. I think this was good foresight as the pandemic enters its 3rd year.

They are saying it because they don't like the restrictions. It's nothing personal but some people just can't handle wearing a mask to prevent children from going to the hospital.

This will be a right of passage. A great barrier for a ticket to continue living. Nature sometimes tests us. Now most can circumvent this, by medicine or boosters or whatever but for some... its a challenge they face. Sort of like the Gladiator awaiting the thumbs up or thumbs down. Unfortunately, some will not make it. Let's wish them well in fighting this but some will not make it. Just like some will not make it to the end of the day tomorrow, if its a car accident or an icicle falling on their head or because their ex wife butchers them in the shower... sometimes... life and nature throws challenges at us. But that is life. I mean from the minute you are born, the clock starts. Eventually, the energy system stops.

This pandemic is a much needed learning lesson for people. Made us appreciate the little things and how quickly they can be taken away. If its friends or family or actually seeing people's full faces.

But the nice thing is that its not the worse thing. You know had a shitty day? The guy who left on a train from Hiroshima to Nagasaki only to relive the same thing. I mean that guy probally lost everyone he knew. Or most people that day.

So while this pandemic might be a bad thing, its not the worst thing. Can you imagine being a villager in the olden days, with damn fleas spreading pneumonic and septic plague. Real plague. No antibiotics, nothing. Doctors wearing bird masks and thinking the color red would get rid of the growing necrosis on ones arm? Could be much worse folks!

It didn’t really take a lot of foresight. Viral mutation is inevitable but the strains that successfully compete tend to be more transmissible and less virulent, as we are seeing with Omicron.

Omicron is mild. I’m genuinely sad to hear that your family members are ill and I hope they do well. But anecdotes and personal experience are one thing apart from stats.

More people are in the hospital because Omicron spreads so quickly (which is why this attempt at mitigation is a colossal waste of time and resources) and even if it has a lower mortality rate than Delta, if the denominator is very high, then more people are winding up in the hospital.

This variant is badly needed. Quickly getting lots of people infected is the way we continue to grow our immunity to this virus.

I and one other provider in our office have not had Omicron (as far as I know). The other three already have. This thing is everywhere, mitigation is just a silly waste and a veritable handout to Abbott Labs at this point (which, suspiciously explains why we are still carrying out this nonsense. I guess this bodes well for suburban Chicago real estate, look for Abbott execs to buy even fancier houses!)

In other irony, the three females in our office have been most cautious about Covid—double masking, sanitizing everything, etc) and they GOT Covid. Meanwhile, I and the other male who have not taken such drastic steps are the two who haven’t gotten it (as far as we know). :haha:

Goes to show you how much theatre this nonsense all is....

This. It's objectively, scientifically-verified as being milder but more infectious than previous variants (hence how we have more cases than ever but a fraction of the hospitalisations & deaths of the first few waves). Doesn't mean that no one is going to get sick or die, though it's certainly much more manageable than it was in the past.

I just spent a week in Key West. Nobody cares. I came back to Portland. People are walking around and doing normal stuff, nobody appears to care. Old people in Florida and most people were wearing masks inside retail places. People eating inside anywhere in America appear to not care and are willing to take that risk. Portland restaurants are open and people are eating indoors. The local media is reporting like a hurricane is approaching and anecdotally friends i have in health care think its the ww 1 trenches. So I dunno. The electric company is very much open, ppl are working inside an office and our much unloved governor isn't making any new restrictions. Id say the lower the politicians approval rating, the more lax they are at this point. Corporate boardrooms seem to be the ones flipping out tho. Sigh........

Thank God people are less hysterical this time around. The news makes it seem like the sky is falling, but it seems like people here are still going out clubbing, eating inside at restaurants, and going about their day.

We just gotta' get on with it at this point.

^^^^ yes I agree. All my friends in Michigan keep posting, oh I got covid. Six days later they post their pictures of a red wings game. :/
Oh but Portland schools are shut down again. After the last two years I've decided the three groups that have the most power in America are school teachers unions, local district attorneys and corporate managers.

If your local teachers union is refusing to do in person learning, then take a pic of them eating at a restaurant, or going to a game, or any other indoor recreational activity, and post that pic on social media. I’ve been calling for that for a while. Do it!

CTU as one example, you can’t tell me at least some of those lazy fucks aren’t out eating dinner at Maggiano’s, or visiting the casino out in Joliet

A friend of mine said yesterday that if you haven’t gotten this strain of Covid yet, then you just have no friends and are kind of a loser.

And that’s probably true. Everyone in London has had Covid in the last 2 months.

I kind of wish some school boards outsourced their classes to professors in India. Honestly, there are a ton of Americans that just use schools as expensive daycares and are mad they can't drop their kids off to be babysitted from 7-5pm. Not everyone of course, but it is a segment of the population, unfortunately. Learn From Home could probably provide a better education in some of the Nation's shittiest school districts (I'm looking at you New Jersey) and would weaken the teacher's unions that are more concerned milking tax dollars than educating students. Put it up for vote.