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01/25/21 12:19 PM #8897    

 

Michael McLeod

Jim: You asked for a report about any after-effect of my covid 19 shot this morning and I thought I'd answer you here rather than via email, and flesh it out in terms of the whole experience in case anyone else is interested.

I thought I was going to get Moderna but they had switched to Pfizer. Fine by me. 

It was quite the spectacle, the whole affair - not sure what the staging of this thing has been like elsewhere, but the operation down here in Orlando may well be the largest in the country. It is at the massive ghost town called the Orange County Convention Center. I say ghost town because conveniently, the convention business is zilch, thanks to the virus, so we had the run of the place. There was plenty of room on the grounds for hundreds of cars to line up, surely at least a thousand on the winding roads around the center, leading to the massive garage beneath it where our shots awaited us.

First traffic jam in my life I was grateful to be a part of.

I had made an appointment via an internet site weeks ago. You had to have one, you couldn't just show up, and they had people posted at points along the road to confirm everybody's name and info via a verification stamp they had emailed out to us. This was only for folks over 65 so it was a pretty crusty looking crowd. The line of cars moved slowly enough and stood still long enough that now and then an old codger or two got caught napping and had to be roused. We all stayed in our cars through the whole thing, start to finish, and got our shots through the windows of our cars, after answering a few check-in questions, when we got to the garage underneath the convention center. 

Really well organized. Tracking every individual and every shot -- somewhere in a computer bank they've got my name, birthdate, address, phone number and time my shot was delivered.  I made a point to look everybody in the eye and thank them along the way, from the first wayside check-in to the dude who administered the stick when I got to the end of the line and rolled down the window. I didn't actually say "thanks for quite possibly saving my life" but that was sure as hell the point I was trying to make. 

As you pulled out at the other end of the garage after getting your shot they made you park in a big lot on the far side and wait for 10 minutes to see if anybody had a serious reaction - a rare, very rare event - before they got back on the road. It took me about two hours to get the shot, start to finish.

And that's the story of the most important drive-in I've ever been to. 

I've heard just a very few stories of soreness and headaches or fatigue post-shot -- but it's been four hours now since I got home and other than just a wee bit of stiffness in the arm and the typical soreness in my shoulder around the muscle where I got the shot, I've had no reaction -- well not unless you call a great sigh of relief a reaction.

As you know it takes a couple of weeks for the t-lymphocytes and antibodies to get the message and start doing their thing and even then you only get about 50% immunity from that first shot; it's not until after the second shot, which I'll go back for in three weeks, that it gradually builds up to 95% or somewhere in that neighborhood. And even then you're advised to continue wearing masks to protect others in case you have unknowingly contracted a light load of the virus prior to your shot or shortly afterwards - and are asymptomatic and therefore, theoretically, a potential carrier who can unwittingly "shed" the virus with a sneeze or whatever and give it to others. Sounds like a remote possibility to me but I'll do as I'm told.

I say all this and post it for the benefit of our classmates, knowing that when you read it, Jim, you'll correct any layman errors I have made.


01/25/21 12:45 PM #8898    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

At this point I have only two things to say.

For any of you that feel that any of my postings offended you, "I'm sorry about what I said when I was hungry."

Second:  "I don't care what anyone thinks of me.  Except dogs, I want dogs to like me."

Have a wonderful day; if that doesn't offend anyone.

Oh lighten uo, it's a joke.

Joe


01/25/21 12:48 PM #8899    

 

David Mitchell

To my way of thinking, Religion and Politics can make for a dangerous mix.

What disturbs me (acually, scares the livin' bejesus out of me) is when American Christians, or may I call them "psuedo-christians", (there is a difference - read; self righteous, holier-than-thou, finger pointing) zealots attach a level of divinity to political figures - or any popular social figures for that matter.

We all know people in the public eye (and I know some personally in my church) who refer to certain figures as "God -sent", or  "on a mission from God".  We sure heard it in these last four years - Franklin Graham, Pat Roberson, Robert Jeffress, and Paula White, one of those "Prosperity Theology" preachers who, I believe are as far off base as anything I have heard in my life time. 

And we've long done this in the Catholic church. Remember those 5th grade Baltimore Catechism questions about the Cathoilic Church being "the one true church". (back when we spoke abput some of us having non-Catholic parents)

So easy to get lost in traditon, philosophy, dogma, and ceremony - even Theology. Who's right and who's wrong? Who knows better? Who has the correct answer?

But I don't worship a philospohy, a history, a set of rules - and certainly not a Pope, or a bishop, or a priest. And I don't worship a "religion". I think all that misses the point. 

I am one of those who believes that Christ came to free us from "religion". His message is about Hope, Renewal, Forgiveness, and Love - not about winning.

We can argue politics all day long (and I obviously love to). And yes, we should apply some moral standards to the candidates and issues. But placing a mantle of divinity around our politicians shoulders is very frightening.  

We needn't worry that Jesus never ran in a primary, or never attended a single fund raiser. But we should never forget that when they came to get Him, he never raised a finger to stop them.


01/25/21 12:53 PM #8900    

 

David Mitchell

Joe,

Though I loved his comedy, you and I would take umbrage with the great W.C. Fields, who once said, "A man who hates dogs and babies can't be all bad."

 

The trouble with dogs is that we fall in love with them.


01/25/21 06:52 PM #8901    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Time for a Visual Break

Snowing again today with more expected tonight. 

I love snow.

I love some dogs.

I don't mind shoveling snow.

I do mind shoveling after dogs.

That's why I don't have a dog.

I love icicles as the snow melts. 

Dog poop doesn't melt.

Icicles photograph well.

Enough said.

Jim

 

 

 

 


01/25/21 11:44 PM #8902    

 

Michael McLeod

Beautifully written Jim. I had no idea you could be so eloquent. The lyrical rhythms. The universal theme.

 


01/26/21 11:07 AM #8903    

 

Michael McLeod

Joe. My memory is fuzzy. Did you live on East North Broadway?


01/26/21 12:08 PM #8904    

 

David Mitchell

Jim,

I remember those CYC nights at Jet Stadium. I think we did several of those as a group from OLP. Tickets were something like fifty cents, I think. I always wanted to see someone like Johhny Powers hit one through that hole and win the $100,000. But Johnny Powers was always hitting them to the far right. He stood there in the batter's box with his wide-open stance - almost litteraly facing at the pitcher instead of sideways, trying to pull every pitch to that short right field fence, which if I recall correctly was only about 305 feet from home plate.

We got to see a lot of big league talent come through that stadium on their way up to the "bigs". I saw Richie (Dick) Allen hit 4 home runs against us while he played for the Little Rock "Travelers" on his way up to Philadelphia. And I mentioned "Boog" Powell - ther must have been many others lost to my memory. We had Don Clendennon, Al McBean, and Gene Alley (later to become the Yankees GM), And long tall Tom Cheney who spent a short time in Columbus and later struck out a record 21 batters in a nine inning major league game with the Washington Senators. And there was as I mentioed above, Willie Stragell - perhaps the most notable "Jet" of all.

I beleive the stadium was first named "Red Bird Stadium" - home of the "Red Birds" - farm club to the  St. Louis Cardinals. It did not become Jet Stadium until later when they became the Pittsburgh AAA affiliate. The name came from the detachment of Air Force Jets stationed at Lockbourne AFB sometime in the fifties or sixties. I remember hearing former catcher (and long time announcer) Joe Garagiola describing his renting a basement room with a family in Columbus, while he played for the Red Birds in his early years before reaching the Majors.

I also recall hundreds of days and nights listening to the voice of the Jets, Joe Hill, broadcasting the games on WMNI. A neighbor of ours was a program manager up at WMNI and he sort of burst my bubble when he explained to me that Joe was not atually at those "away" games, but rather, he was reading a tele-type feed as it came over the wire. He read the results as if he were announcing a live game and actually played a feint background recording of some crowd noise. And he could raise and lower the volume to add a sense of reality. Listening to the "away" games was never the same for me after that. At times you could hear the clicking of the tele-type in the background. 

Joe had a long-time reationship with many of the regular fans at Jet stadium. Does anyone remember his frequent mention of a lady named "Aunt Mary Longmier, who would boil a big pot of spaghetti for fans as they tailgated in the parking lot. And when someone hit a deep home run out into the parking lot, Joe would yell "Spaghetti water Mary"

(kinda reminds me of hearing Jimmy Crum yell "Katie bar the door" )

For those of you who may have been away from Columbus for a long time, the City has a very nice "new" (maybe 12 years now) minor league baseball stadium, located right off downtown in the  "Arena District" just a block or two from the "Blue Jackets" ice arena - almsot exactly where the "Old Pen" (penitentiary) used to be. I have wanted to go to a "Clippers" game for some time now at "Huntngton Park". It seats about 10,000 and I beleive it also has some open seating in outfiled "picknick" areas. And they are no longer a Yankee franchise. They are now the Cleveland Indians AAA affilliate. 


01/26/21 12:41 PM #8905    

 

David Mitchell

This baseball talk just brought another intriguing "Jets" memory to mind. 

I remember a Jets game or two with the Havanna "Sugar Kings". But sometime in mid season of 1960, they suddenly became the New Jersey "Jerseys". It was a mystery to me (at th time), and I did not get a full understaading until years later.

The Sugar Kings had an "International League" AAA franchise from about 1956 to this time in July of 1960. Castro had taken over Cuba and there was talk of promising the Cubans a major league franchise in the future.

But the situation was fragile politically, and on the night of a game in July of 1960, the Rochester Red Birds were in Havanna for a series. It was a date of celebration for the "revolution" and a special short exhibition game was to preceed the real game. The first 2-inning game featured all political and military figures and the crowd began celebrating wildly. Gunfire erupted both inside and outside the stadium. A falling bullet landed on the Red Birds manager and one other player. The manager immedaitely pulled his team off the field and the team flew home to Rochester the next day.  The next thing I knew was that the Cuban team had left Cuba, and they had reconstituted tthe franchise to be called the "Jersey City Jerseys". I recall at the time I was sort of confused, but finally got a better understanding years later.

(NOTE: I think it was not long after that we had a new classmate at OLP - about 5th grade.  Her name was Elena Colunga, one of the most interesting and inspiring people I have ever met. I wish I could go back and visit with her now about those early days moving to America and living with the Seidel family.) 

 

Oh, by the way, the pitcher for the "Government team" in that short exibition game was the guy on the left;

 


01/26/21 12:53 PM #8906    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

No Mike your mind isn't fuzzy, it just needs to be processed through a wringer once and a while.

DISCLAIMER:   I don't think they would have allowed me near East North Broadway.  

And NO, although I visited East North Broadway a bit, I grew up in the (former) St. Christopher parish.  Lived on Virginia Avenue by the Kingswood School until 1964 when we moved into a place in Grandview near Summit Chase.  We were indirectly Neighbors of John Glen.

Joe


01/26/21 02:36 PM #8907    

 

Michael McLeod

Ok.

I think we did have a McCarthy family on our block.

But obviously they were the high-end McCarthy family.

Not the felonious, drunken, institutionalized, shanty-Irish McCarthy family. 


01/26/21 09:37 PM #8908    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Dear Mr. McLeod,

Before you start teaching and writing you should have spent at least a few years as a Reporter.  They are the ones who dig for the facts before doing a story.  Instead you just made assumptions.

I am Ukranian.  My Mother's parents were both born in the Ukranine and came to the states approximately 100 years ago (ERGO 50% Ukranian).  My Mother was born in Detroit, MI; as were I and my two brothers.

My Father was born in Canada, the Son of an Irish-American (New York City) Father (my grandfather) and an English-Canadian Mother.  Ergo again, I am 25% English and 25% a a former stumbling drunk low class person.

So there you scullywag.

Your's Truly,

Joe

P.S.  If we can't have fun what good is it being locked up. 

 


01/26/21 10:57 PM #8909    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Joe, 

Excellent point! Having fun is of utmost importance when we are all pretty much staying at home. That is a good topic for us to discuss. What are we doing to have fun?

We are running out of Netflix and Hallmark movies and the sitcoms of today are insipid! I await the mail daily as if something other than mattress ads was going to arrive. It came late today and as I walked out to retrieve it I was met by three adult does playing in the snow under the watchful eye of a well antlered buck. I talked with them for a few minutes but received no intelligent answers. I looked through the New England Journal of Medicine... surprise!, more on COVID! I shoveled more snow after it stopped falling, got the walk and driveway all cleared. Sat down with some coffee, looked out and it was snowing again. Good! Something to do tomorrow!

Have fun, 

Jim 

 

 


01/26/21 11:19 PM #8910    

 

David Mitchell

Hey Guys,

Don't forget Amazon's Disease.

It's more fun than just throwing your money away. And then you get an excuse to get out of the house when you have to take it back to your nearest Amazon return center. The guys at my local UPS Store just love seeing me every week.

Search - click once - click twice - wait on the front porch. 

Repeat.

 

(you would never believe how many varieties of small canvas tool bags there are - or custom made left-handed garden trowels, or egg warmers with pictures of giraffes on them - life is beautiful?) 


01/27/21 10:23 AM #8911    

 

Michael McLeod

Joe:

My apologies.

I will now apply my well honed journalistic skill to digging up some Ukranian-themed ethnic slurs, insults, and jokes in very poor taste I can use to attack and entertain you. I could go the Canadian route but that's too easy.

Here's one for starters:

 Did you hear about the Ukrainian who wore two jackets when she painted the house? The instructions on the can said: “Put on two coats.”

 

 

 


01/27/21 11:48 AM #8912    

 

Michael McLeod

I'll also have a go on Jim's suggestion that we weigh in on how we are having fun during this time of being mandated shut-ins.

I read online newspapers and magazines voraciously; watch movies on netflix and hulu on my laptop (I don't have a television in my house - haven't for years); teach a writing class on line; write stories for three local publications; have dinner every sunday with my girlfriend and her lovely, brilliant daughter; walk out into my backyard to watch the Florida sun set, tinker with my flowers and trees, and clean the pool; watch my girlfriend paint and redecorate the guest bedroom because she believed she would do a much better job than I would and she is right; go to her house every evening to massage her back and neck and console her for working long long long extra hours, pretty much 12 hour days six days a week because of how complicated it is to teach grade school children on line and she is far too dedicated to cut back on quality so she drives herself mercilessly (her Christmas tree is still up - that's how harried she is and how long the hours are); and visit with my son, who is a server at a very nice restaurant down here. Some of that is work but even the work has a fun side to it.  Basically I am staying very busy while in close contact with only three other people, all of whom are as meticulous as I am about wearing masks and keeping safe. We never go out. When I visit with my son it is outdoors and with masks on because he is in a high-contact job. Pretty sure, just judging by his symptoms, that he has already had covid; he recovered in about a week.

All this sounds more hectic than it is. I sleep late. When I awake I lie in bed just feeling -- ok this is going to sound creepy but it's not -- I lie in bed just feeling my body. Whatever that hormone is that overtakes you when you sleep, it's good shit. If you don't move and just lie there, it's a kind of a soothing high or more like a a natural sedative, which I guess in fact it is, in every square inch of your torso. A little like the buzz you get from pot, not that I remember those days very clearly. And I don't know about you but I swear I never paid any attention to this natural phenomenon when I was preoccupied with responsibilities and popping up to an alarm clock to rush off to work. I really felt a sense of discovery the first time I woke up and just lay there, not worrying about what I had to do that day but just thinking: "ooh. This is nice. Think I'll just stay here for a while. "

 


01/27/21 08:58 PM #8913    

 

David Mitchell

Mike and Jim,

For fun,,,,,,,,,,I read this doggone Forum - - every - - damn - - -day! 

Man is that ever fun?

 

And I watch a bit of PBS - especially Masterpiece Theater  - and especially the new "All Creatures Great and Small"

I pretend to be a woodworker and fiddle with a few woodworking ideas. Moslty just spend time walking the aisles at Lowe's and Home Depot. And nights watching YouTube videos about woodworking, or cooking, or sailing, or photography. 

 

But Mike, if you need a break, I will be happy to come over and rub your girlfriend's back for you. I'm only about 5 hours away. 

 


01/27/21 09:02 PM #8914    

 

Michael McLeod

sorry you didn't get a chance to meet her when you visited me dave. you mighta had the chance to learn a couple things you obviously missed in grade school.


01/28/21 01:00 PM #8915    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Mr. McLeod,  may I give you the first warning.  My Grandfather (Irish) was a sparing partner with John L. Sullivan.   But first a little story from out west.

There was a rancher from Coloradot who had just picked up a new hired hand and were travelig in a carriage to the rancher's ranch in a snow storm.  After about a half hour the horse stumbled and went down.  The rancher quickly got down and helped the horse back on it's feet.  Then said, Thats one.  They continued on their way and after another twenty minutes the horse stumbled and fell down again.  The rancher quickly jumped down and again helped the horse to it's feet.  The hired hand heard him say that's Two to the horse before he got back in the carriage.  The hired hand thought to himself that the rancher was a terrific person for how he helped the horse.  Just as they were getting to the ranch the horse stumbled and went down.  The rancher got outof the carriage, walked to the horse.  Pulled out his gun and shot the horse; and said, that was Three.  The new hired hand looked amazed and said "why'd you do that?"  To which the rancher said "THAT'S ONE."

Joe

 


01/28/21 01:03 PM #8916    

 

John Schaeufele

For fun I have been cleaning out old files and organizing things I want to keep.  Here's something I found from 8th grade graduation at OLP.  A classmate insisted that I share.  I recognize most of the names except for one character who signed as "Mave Ditchell."  Can anyone help unravel this?  Sorry I did not get more names.


01/28/21 06:25 PM #8917    

 

David Mitchell

Busted!


01/28/21 06:39 PM #8918    

Mary Clare Hummer (Bauer)

A+ handwriting, all you Peace boys. You can tell your penmanship classes were efforts in perfection. (And taught by nuns!!!) 

Clare 
 


01/28/21 09:28 PM #8919    

 

David Barbour

Joe McCarthy, sir, did you order your Pliny the Younger yet?  If not, too late, they sold out in 5 minutes!

Maybe next year.  ( per SFGate)

DB


01/28/21 09:58 PM #8920    

 

David Mitchell

Clare,

I don't think anybody on that list would have made it through Medical School. Once they realized you wrote legibly they'd kick you out.  

 

I think our Dominican Sisters used the "Palmer Method" - or was it the "Zaner-Bloser Method"?

It actually saddens me that my grandkids will never learn to "write" right. Does anybody know if that is a copout by the teachers unions or is there some other reason? 

 


01/28/21 10:57 PM #8921    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Clare,

 The nuns did do a great job not only teaching penmanship but also the basics of sentence structure in the English language. By the way, did you notice all the upper case "D's" in those autographs were perfect and virtually identical?

 Dave,

 Those with good penmanship did get into medical school. The truth is that in many cases, mine included, med school RUINED penmanship. At least in the pre-computer and tablet days. (If needed I'll explain.)

 

Jim 


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