Let me get this out there. My family wants to go on a trip. That being said, my family is pretty good at staying home too, so as much as we can’t wait to travel somewhere, I’m finding a lot of issues with travel, specifically air travel in this post-COVID world.
Continue reading “Will you travel with a family in this post-COVID world?”I got a COVID-19 test. What to expect.
Seems that COVID-19 (coronavirus) testing is one of the best ways to combat this disease, as knowing where/who has this virus is a pretty good first step in trying to stop its spread.
I decided to go and get tested as a walk in clinic was offering tests in my area. I had some coughing and headaches for the past few weeks, normally it wouldn’t be anything I’d worry about, but the fact that COVID-19 is going around and with my family, I wanted to be safe and just get tested in case. I’m sure every testing site is different, but I wanted to share my experience. I sent a quick note to my internal medicine doctor to get some feedback on getting tested, and he did not have any concerns and suggested a walk in clinic near my home.
Why are we preventing a disease that we cannot get rid of or stop? Here’s why…
There’s been a lot of speculation in regards to COVID-19, and although I’m not an expert, I’ve been trying to keep up with what progress has been made recently.
Dr. Fauci had mentioned one of the points that has stumped him about this disease is why it has virtually no effect on some people (asymptomatic) and severe effects (including death) on the other. In watching some videos and reading about COVID-19 and various medications like ACE inhibitors, which many people take to lower blood pressure, early on the pandemic, there was much concern about ACE inhibitors and the potential of making patients more likely to die from a COVID-19 infection, however, in recent weeks, that tune has changed. Now, ACE inhibitors seem to actually have a life saving effect, almost 40% lower risk of hospitalization compared to other seniors not taking ACE inhibitors. (Point here, don’t stop taking your ACE / ARB inhibitors, and if you get sick with COVID-19, don’t stop treatment either)
What they seemed to be finding is that people with more of these ACE2 receptors are more likely to develop severe symptoms of COVID-19. Thus the wildly different results of getting this virus. I found this video extremely helpful in understanding this process (Skip to here to see how the varying effects in people could be explained).
So the point of me writing all of this is just to say, wear a mask, distance and stay home if you feel sick. Everyday, our medical professionals are making new life-savings progress on treating this. I don’t think this disease can be eradicated, but we can do our part to keep each other healthy until effective treatment and/or a vaccine is available.
Stay safe and healthy and take care of each other!
My idea of what the new normal will be…
COVID-19 (aka Coronavirus) has changed everyone’s opinion on normal, even those that think this disease is nothing more than the flu, are aware of better hygiene, social distancing, and mask wearing. Whether they agree with it or not is another issue.
Our new normal will be one where we now realize that there are viruses out there and that we can reduce it’s spread. People got used to getting sick and dealing with it, but now there’s more awareness that some sicknesses are really bad, and we should be more cautious and put effort into keeping from getting sick, and that is a good thing.
I’m not sure if distancing and mask wearing will become a part of our culture in the US, but I sure hope that people now realize that if they feel sick, wearing a mask is one of the best things they can do to protect others from getting sick, even if it’s the “common cold”.
Take care and stay safe out there!
Preserving all your images and messages for your kids
How do you keep your photos and various digital media preserved for the future?
Updated 07.07.2020
Not sure if I’m worrying too much or overthinking things, but I like to plan, and one of those things I plan for is my eventual demise. I realize life is fragile, and now with little ones to take care of, that realization is even more present everyday. I want my family to be okay even if I’m not here. One of the less important items is how to preserve all the images, videos, and random things for my kids, and just as importantly, how do I make sure they get them in the event I’m not here.
Continue reading “Preserving all your images and messages for your kids”
A little about myself…
I’m a 40 something, married with a family of 2 young kids. I work in the tech industry and have been for my entire career. I am an Asian American, born and raised in the USA. I’d consider myself middle class with a mortgaged home. I’ve lived in various parts of the country — both on the east and west coasts, but I have not lived in the middle. I love my country, but not the direction things are headed in.
I do know I have been blessed with many opportunities, and I believe in trying to give back. I try to surround myself with people who will inspire and motivate me to be better. I believe there is always room to improve things, even the smallest of things. I believe in trying my best.
I’ll share more about myself in the future, but I do intend to keep this blog semi-anonymous, but honestly, don’t actually expect it to stay that way. We live in an age when it’s better to live like anything you do online is publicly available. Maybe I’ll blog about that later.
Stayed tuned for the next entry. I’ll try to post a few times a week.
Whatever it takes to get people to wear masks!
I thought this was hilarious. Enjoy…and wear a mask!
I design unnecessary products so I made a shirt with a flip up mask that turns it into a deep V neck. from r/funny
Life Pro Tip: Use your credit card and pay it off monthly
Whenever you can, get a credit card with a rewards program and pay it off in full each month.
Paying the credit card off in full is CRITICAL.
Why use a credit card? You get a billing cycle to actually pay for your purchase and you typically get a % discount. Your credit card usually offers a purchasing portal as well where you can get additional bonus points.
The rewards programs vary, and some are better than others, but the point of this LPT is to use one that gives you some % off.
Google rejected my site for ads because I have no content 😢
As I learn, actually re-learn, many of the details of starting up a website, one of the things I’m currently working on is getting ads on my site. The reason for this is because it’ll help me pay for hosting this site and renewing my domain name. I just got denied, but hoping this time it goes through as I do plan to post much more about all the things I learn everyday about whatever.
In case you are trying to enable Google AdSense on your site, here’s what they sent me as suggestions on approving my site for ads. Maybe it’ll help you as well:
Continue reading “Google rejected my site for ads because I have no content 😢”
Why is whatever, whatever while wherever is not whereever?
Little odd nuances to the English language.
I still get confused with ending sentences in quotes like “. or .”
And now they changed possessives that ended with the letter s so you should use ‘s vs. just a ‘. 😠
Other words English things that mix me up:
- Some reason I always instinctively write “bear with me” when it should be “bare with me”.
- I’m pretty sure may be and maybe are different, but not totally sure.
- I still remember the first time I pronounced subtle in my English class incorrectly.
I’m sure I’ll remember more odd nuances in the future…tagging this as an in progress entry.