1.199 cleaning, queries, covid, model

The NBC World of Dance was meh, but I guess I’ll keep watching it. It has J-lo anyway. She and Padma Lakshmi of Top Chef are alike in being drop-dead gorgeous, seemingly gracious and graceful, and almost the same age, 50 and 49 respectively.

Thursday 6/18/2020

Veronica seemed to crank it up a bit in this morning’s aerobics; I was sweating and panting by the end. I got all the housecleaning done by 11, which was good because at 11:30 I had to receive a delivery.

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Two days ago one of my neighbors, Susan, fell and cracked her pelvis, so she was sequestered in the nursing facility. Not the COVID part, but still, isolated. One day ago she put out a call for help from the tech crew: she’d left the charger for her MacBook off-site (“the cottage” which is I suppose someplace she and her husband own). Did anyone have a charger to spare?

Everyone was immediately sympathetic to the plight of a Mac user, stuck in bed, watching the battery indicator drain away. Emails flew around, but nobody had one. So the next solution is to order one from Apple. At first we weren’t sure which type she needed. Some thought she had a new Air, which would be the 30W USB-C one. Eventually she pulled herself together and sent me the model and year, it was a three-year-old MacBook, so it needed the 60W USB-C charger, and as one of the tech crew pointed out, a charging cable as well. I ordered the parts to be delivered today (only $9 to have it “delivered by courier”). And in fact it came in the first minute of the 11:30-1:30 delivery window. So, Susan saved from a dead battery. Wonder can she charge her phone? Not my problem.

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I sent another batch of agent queries. It is so annoying; no two of these are alike. Some use a web form. Some take email. On the email, each one has a different requirement for how the subject line should read. And every one of them has a different amount of sample text they want included: first three chapters, first 5 pages, first 10 pages, 2000 words. Several have used a consistent web form provided by the QueryTracker site. But they still ask for different amounts of text. One today had their own web form, but you didn’t paste your text into it. Oh no. You put your query and your sample text into a file of type .docx (not .doc, mind you, .docx, which is different) and uploaded that document into the form. Of course I’m using OpenDoc and/or Pages, neither of which knows how to make a docx file. But I found an online conversion tool.

You have to scrupulously follow each and every detail, because you just know that they (or the minion that initially vets the email) is looking for any reason to reject. So you got to get it right.

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In today’s COVID update email from staff, two important items. Of 139 IL residents tested yesterday they have results back for 136 — all negative. Here’s the second item:

Previously, the Channing House position has been that residents and staff would be permitted to attend a public demonstration/protest and not be subject to the 14-day isolation policy. However, given the frequent images in the news and on social media of protesters without masks and in large crowds, we are reversing this position for the protection of the Channing House community. Effective immediately, attendance at a public protest is subject to the same restrictions as other Gatherings. The resident or employee will be subject to 14-days isolation… we encourage you to support the Black Lives Matter movement in manners other than by attending public demonstrations/protests.

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Worked on the car model, finishing up the front suspension and chassis rails.

Firestone tire. Eventually a chrome hubcap will cover up the carefully-painted lug nuts and bearing cap. But I’ll know they are there.

Front suspension. Rusty brake drum. The “rust” model paint isn’t quite dark enough. Slightly out of focus, note the detailed e-brake cable along the frame rail.