There is a restaurant a few miles from my house that is built in a literal pit. You can barely see the marquee sign from the road level, and, if you aren't already on the lookout for it, the building might as well be invisible. The property was built many years ago for a now-defunct family dining concept, and in the years since, one business after another has occupied the property for a brief couple of years, gone out of business, and been replaced by another business.

Driving past the building this weekend (and seeing only two cars in the parking lot), I caught myself wondering how much longer it could possibly stay open before it closes and the pattern repeats itself. Then I realized that the current business, a steakhouse, has been in place since 2020. That's six years, actually about average for the lifespan for a restaurant and even more impressive considering the Pandemic and malingering economic concerns.

Should I pretend that I didn't notice its longevity? When it does inevitably close, as all restaurants eventually must, should I still roll my eyes and quip that I was correct that their location doomed them to failure? Do I need to be right so badly that I'll ignore reality to salve my wounded ego? What would that sort of denial accomplish?

The restaurant is a success whether I want to admit it or not.

Let that be a lesson to myself: you need to recognize when you've allowed your biases to corrupt your thinking, because otherwise, in addition to the loneliness of living in your own alternate reality, you also just might stave to death.

Comments (0) | Leave a Comment | Permalink | Tags: covid19 morals newnan walter

Hannah, who last sent me questions in 2023, has broken her silence to write

"I was thinking about the post you made on May 17th, 2024, about taking your first COVID test. I remember thinking at the time that there can't be that many people left in the US who haven't taken a COVID test before, and I'm sure the number is even smaller a year later. I know a good chunk of people in the US say they haven't had COVID before (I only know two people who haven't had it) but I just think it's kind of wild that there are people out there who have never even tested for it."

For the record, I still haven't COVID (so far as I'm aware), so add me to your list, Hannah. And I haven't tested since that post in May 2024. But I agree with you, there really can't be many people in America who haven't been tested by now.

Nearly a billion tests had already been run in the US before widespread reporting ended in 2022. According to the CDC, the disease is still killing hundreds of people a week, so I assume testing remains widespread in medical facilities today. If you find someone who hasn't been tested in 2025, they're probably under 3 years old (although they do have tests for babies now, so even untested toddlers seem unlikely given how often rug rats get sick).

Hannah continues

"While I was looking for that post, I saw the one from January 24th, 2025. Why do you know that fact off the top of your head (that 10x more people in the US die every year from cattle than from sharks)? Do you peruse CDC data in your free time? Or did you hear it and then go to the CDC website to corroborate it? Or are you worried about getting killed by a cow? I'm just curious.

I'm flattered that anyone actually reads these posts thoroughly enough to criticize the sanity of my reading habits.

I know lots of facts off the top of my head. I should; I've been collecting them for almost 50 years. (I asked my parents for The Book of Lists for Christmas while I was still in elementary school.)

I'm pretty sure I first heard the cattle death statistic on Twitter, back when it was called Twitter and someone else owned it. And as I am prone to doing, I corroborated the basic veracity of what on the surface appeared to be an outlandish statement before repeating it. (I'm as gullible as the next Internet user, but I don't like repeating lies if I can help it.)

I do like to do research of that sort. Finding facts is fun, even when they run counter to my expectations. So, yeah, I've been known to deep dive in the CDC's data from time to time for giggles, just as I every once in a while wade through the Georgia Historic Newspaper archive when the mood strikes. Is that odd behavior? Doesn't seem so odd to me.

Comments (2) | Leave a Comment | Permalink | Tags: covid19 death by cows hannah walter

Lately, I've been thinking about writing another mystery novel. I haven't written one since pandemic 2020, largely because I couldn't get anyone to read that one.

I've spent a lot of time in my life pursuing hobbies without any expectation of an audience, but I'm not going to lie: it's been frustrating to discover how hard it is to get anyone, even "friends" to read anything I write. I mean, it's not like my books are bad, right? (If they are, who's going to tell me?)

It was one thing to write a book during the COVID-19 lockdown, but of all the things I could spend my time doing now, do I want to spend that time writing another story no one will read? Or would I get more satisfaction painting things that, at the very least, I could get a blog post out of?

Or will I waffle about what I want to do and end up doing nothing at all?

Hrm. I'll think I'll go play video games until I make up my mind.

Comments (1) | Leave a Comment | Permalink | Tags: apprentice to murder books covid19 walter

Today, while casually discussing bulls with my father (as one does), I mentioned that ten times more people in the United States die every year from cattle than from shark attacks. My father asked where I got my data, and when I told him it came from the CDC, he told me the CDC lies about its death numbers and should never be trusted.

I immediately assumed he was talking about COVID, which is a topic he likes to downplay, so I tried to be diplomatic and agreed that the pandemic was chaotic and the CDC was an imperfect organization hindered by politics and could only report what it was told by states like New York and Florida, which were both sued for intentionally misleading the public about COVID cases. I also agreed that the CDC even admitted that their numbers were sometimes flawed (sometimes by man, many thousands) and had to revise their numbers over time based on updated data and data collection methodology. I concluded that the CDC's numbers were probably now as close as we were going to get to accurate numbers and could still be useful.

And he said, "Of course they're correct now. Two people resigned over it."

Whether he was implying that those two noble souls refused to participate in the CDC's malicious miscounting or were taking responsibility for it, I cannot say. Whatever the case, if he was now agreeing that the current data set was useful and could be used for rough analysis why did he say it could never be trusted in the first place?

By this time I had already had enough of his bullshit, and I just couldn't take any more. So I stormed out. Was my response rational? No, definitely not. But it's the best I can do some days.

For the record, if you can believe anything these days, the CDC counted specifically 22 cases where people were killed by cattle in each year between 2003-2008 (in just four states!). Meanwhile, the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) indicates that sharks kill fewer than 10 people globally annually, and only about 1 per year in the US. So I was wrong, you're statistically about twenty times more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark.

Some days I just can't be right about anything.

Comments (0) | Leave a Comment | Permalink | Tags: covid19 dad death by cows family statistics

I remembered that second (of three) thing I was going to post yesterday! I was going to say that I finally took a COVID test.

Not because I thought I might have COVID, mind you. I took it because our last government-provided COVID tests were expiring, and we were going to throw them away. As a shut in who aggressively shuns human contact, I had never had cause to take one yet, and I figured I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see what all the hubbub had been about.

For the record, yeah, that stick up my nose tickled... until it drew blood, so I might have been a little too enthusiastic. But it was all good news:

My memory may not be doing so great, but still no COVID. Yet.

Comments (0) | Leave a Comment | Permalink | Tags: covid19 walter

Today I returned to Sanford Stadium for the first time since November 9, 2019. This is the view from my newest tickets, 12 rows closer than the seats I had since 2002.

Wow, what a difference!

I was looking forward to this one, what with Auburn coming to town for something like the 126th time. To bolster my courage to go out in public again, I got Omicron boosted 2 weeks ago. I also got a flu shot. And, for good measure, a tetanus shot. Because, you know, some dawgs bite. Especially the drunk ones.

I wish I could I could tell you that I had a great time, but that wouldn't be true. The drive to Athens started me in a bad mood because I was my usually anxious pre-game self (that hasn't changed for the better in the past three years). Traffic (and my innate struggles at time management) meant that I arrived in Athens with barely enough time to sprint into the stadium before kickoff.

To make matters worse, since my last visit, Sanford Stadium has gone paperless and cashless, and it only seems to have slowed ticket taking and concession buying. Welcome to the future!

To make matters worst, after standing in a concessionaire's line for five minutes to buy a Coke, I discovered that particular concessionaire had sold out of regular Coke. "Will a Diet Coke do?" You might as well ask me if Pepsi is okay. IT. IS. NOT.

On the up side, Auburn did bring a marching band that performed at halftime, complete with a flag corps that had a real hard time holding onto their flags. I did enjoy that while I drank my Coca-Cola Dasani water.

I might have had more fun if I hadn't gone alone, if I had taken someone to bitch to. But I think the real lesson here is that I shouldn't go to games that have a 30 point spread. Frankly, Auburn is not good this year (especially since they're down to their third string quarterback), and UGA played down to their level for most of the game, striping the on-field product of any significant entertainment value. If the football game isn't any good, there really isn't any reason to spend 5 hours on the road and 4 hours in the sun watching it.

Try harder next year, Auburn.

Comments (0) | Leave a Comment | Permalink | Tags: athens auburn coke covid19 football georgia morals sanford

The University of Georgia football team is 3-0 on the season and looking in great shape in their campaign to repeat their National Championship. They play their second home game today. I am not going. And I feel pretty good about that decision.

In my opinion, the risk of getting COVID-19 is still too high. No one talks about it anymore, but infection rates are still 3 times higher than they were in the spring, and those are the reported testing rates. As I said, no one is talking about it anymore, so rates are indubitably higher than reported.

Despite the expense, I like having season tickets. I like that they give me the opportunity to attend games if I want to. But just because I want to do something doesn't mean I should. I have a responsibility to my family not to expose them to COVID if I can avoid it.

Omicron boosters are on the way, and I hope to have one in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, the best way I can be sure I keep my personal COVID-free streak alive is to not go where the people are. That means still no football games.

Maybe I'll make it a game before the end of the season ends in November. Or maybe I won't be able to make games again until next year. Either way, I'll go when I'm ready, and when I'm not, I'll support the Dawgs on television like almost everyone else.

Comments (0) | Leave a Comment | Permalink | Tags: covid19 football georgia illness

Comments (0) | Leave a Comment | Permalink | Tags: comic strip covid19 football havanese strip henry poodle strip walter

I think the COVID-19 pandemic might have permanently fucked me up.

I've always been anxious about leaving my comfort zone. I avoided my classmates' birthday parties in the 7th grade because there was definitely going to be socializing. I was the guy in my dorm who became known for refusing to participate in mandatory icebreakers. I never, ever turn on my camera during online meetings.

However, over the past few years, it has gotten far, far worse. Now I can barely stomach the thought of leaving the house. I haven't been to a football game since 2019, and I find I'm not eager to ever go to another one. I *hate* traffic, grocery shopping, and even answering the telephone.

Is this what "normal" is for me now? Is this what I have to look forward to for the rest of my life: crippling social anxiety and agoraphobia? I don't think I like it, but I don't like any of the alternatives, either.

Some years, life just sucks.

Comments (0) | Leave a Comment | Permalink | Tags: covid19 walter

All has been quiet on the Great Deer Uprising front for the past year. You might think that means the war is over, but you'd be wrong. The deer have just been preoccupied building WMDs.

From The New York Times:

Scientists have identified a new, highly mutated version of the coronavirus in whitetailed deer in southwestern Ontario, one that might have been evolving in animals since late 2020.

They also found a similar viral sequence in one person in the area who had close contact with deer, the first evidence of possible deer-to-human transmission of the virus.

The 1925 Geneva Convention specifically bans biological weapons in warfare, but deer never signed the damn thing!

He is wearing this mask for his protection, not yours!

Hey, humanity. If we can't start pulling together, those hooved bastards are going to take us out. And the worst part is I'll be dead and unable to say "I told you so."

Comments (0) | Leave a Comment | Permalink | Tags: adventures in photoshop covid19 great deer uprising of 2010 news