Bill Roper's Journal

I am so *very* tired.

Today, I noted that the current travel advisory for the City of Chicago includes six states that measure *lower* on the criterion for inclusion than Illinois, arguing the case that if one sets foot outside of one's house in this state, you should in theory be subject to the same set of restrictions that you would be subject to if you went to, say, Wisconsin or Colorado, both of which are lower on the list. That doesn't appear to be the case, of course, which suggests a number of possibilities, none of them actually *good*.

I greatly dislike Naked Emperors and whether you believe that the current advice is either too strict or too lenient, the Emperor is drastically short on clothing.

In other news, it's a good thing that I managed to win my property tax appeal, because otherwise my property taxes would have been *stupendous*. As it is, they are merely *large*.

It must be time for dinner now...

We finished packing out the kitchen last night around midnight and got way too little sleep last night. Then it was up early this morning so that the plumbers could disconnect the dishwasher, sink, and refrigerator water. Meanwhile, K headed off to school and Gretchen delivered J to school, so they were where they needed to be. Ruby the Dog was decanted into her kennel, which we had moved to the living room so that she wouldn't be in the same room with the workmen, as we figured that would make her less sad about the whole experience.

The plumbers finished up quickly, so they had left before Gretchen and I headed off to Rockford for our second COVID vaccination. They were just as efficient and friendly as they'd been last time, so by noon we were back in Des Plaines, making the whole round trip in just three hours. We had given our contractor an alarm code, so he was able to get in and start demolition while we were still on our way to Rockford.

They finished up early in the afternoon. One of his workmen wanted the uppers for a project that he's working on, so they are in our garage and will be leaving tomorrow. I'm glad that someone else will get some use out of them, as the upper cabinets weren't too bad -- it was the lower cabinets that were becoming problematic.

Back to work, where I think we have sorted out the root cause of the latest crisis. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to solve it today, because exhaustion and lack of sleep was winning. (Not, I believe, from the COVID vaccine -- I just was really short on sleep.)

While we were on the way to Rockford, I was informed that our hands-on CPR training for the softball league was tonight at 7 PM. About 4:45, I decided that the better part of valor was a nap.

And the CPR training went well and I am now certified for two years, which is good. I hope never to need to use this, but as Gretchen frequently says, "Better to have and not need than to need and not have." The part of the course about the AEDs was absolutely fascinating. They are remarkable little devices.

Tomorrow, our contractor will be back to paint the kitchen. And on Saturday, the cabinets should go in.

So far, so good...