Batten down the hatches

It’s funny how events repeat themselves. This time last year we were precautiously sent home from campus due to the raging omicron COVID variant. In 2023, we’ve also been sent home during the first week of January, but for a different reason. During New Years Eve, the San Francisco Bay Area experienced heavy rainfall, leading to multiple cases of flooding. Well, today marks the beginning of another round of storms. With the ground already saturated from the rain four days ago, the results are not going to be pretty.

Obviously it’s plenty safe to actually be on campus. It’s getting there and back that’s the problem. The commute today is going to suck really bad, so best for those with a long commute to stay home (my guy with a ferry ride across the bay is happy to not have to do that). San Francisco State is not the only campus to ask staff to work-from-home if possible the next few days. I’ve got friends at other universities in the area with the same directive. If you have the privilege to stay home, do so.

The real MVP during these times of severe weather are the folks who have to be outside. Shoutout to the mail carriers and package couriers still striving to get packages to us. Shoutout to the food delivery drivers getting food to us from restaurants. Shoutout to the first responders clearing road hazards and making sure things are as safe as possible. Modern society would not be possible without these heroes. The rest of us who Zoom’ed our way through the pandemic should count our lucky stars.

That said, I’m going to be watching the mayhem from the comfort of my room window this entire day. And praying nothing foul lands on and damages my car. 40 miles-an-hour winds are no joke!

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Stay in the middle.

No calm before storm

Well I guess I won’t be taking the GT3 out for a drive this weekend. It would be highly uncivilized to contribute to the already horrible air quality caused by the many wildfires that are burning in the Bay Area. Somewhat ironically, the areas of fun mountain roads that us local car enthusiasts frequent are almost all on fire right now, so it’s not like I can take the 911 to its usual spots, either. This is not a complaint, but rather an observation. Of course I am hoping the best for those living in the affected areas, and a hearty Godspeed to the firefighters and first-responders.

The Fall semester starts next week, which is quite difficult to believe that it’s here. These days I don’t really notice the passage of months, not with being in lockdown since March and each day largely blending into the sameness of the next. There’s no freedom to go anywhere or do the things I’m used to, no room for spontaneity, so I’ve settled down into this new rhythm, one of not noticing the usual big events on the calendar. Does it really make a difference that a new school year starts next week? Not at the moment, no: I’ll still be doing the same thing I’ve done since March for the foreseeable future.

Again, not complaining, but a statement of facts.

Under normal times I would indeed be taking the GT3 out for a spirited drive this weekend, to clear the mind and have some joy of machine before the looming Monday arrives and I’ll have to deal with the super craziness that the beginning of Fall semester typically brings. No such luck this year, obviously, and honestly none of us on the tech support side knows what a fully remote start to the school year will look like. It’s unprecedented for sure, and I hope we never have to go through it again after this one.

Stay safe. God bless.

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I need it.

Well this is not good!

I opened up the blinds this morning to an intensely smokey sky, immediately knowing that it’s not the usual fog we get here in San Francisco, an ominous sign for what’s currently happening in the Bay Area. As I’ve written on Monday, the region is experiencing a historic hot weather pattern, combined with freak thunderstorm conditions this past Sunday. This uniquely combustable mix have finally cracked open the gates to hell as the lightning have lit several wildfires that are burning right now. Evacuation orders are in affect for areas in the Santa Cruz mountains and Vacaville, some homes have already been destroyed; and lest we forget, we are still in the middle of a bloody pandemic.

This is not good at all.

Slightly better news for San Francisco is that the heatwave is largely over for us; we’re solidly in the 70s during the day (some of us would say that’s still rather hot, spoiled brats) while rest of the Bay Area continues to suffer through high 90s and 100s that will last for the rest of this week. Surely that’s not going to help the fire-fighting efforts, and judging from what I’m reading on the news, we’re only in the beginning stages of containing the many blazes in the area. The governor of California have declared a state of emergency, which is somewhat hilarious because haven’t we been in a sort of state of emergency since early March?

2020 cannot get any more weird and horrible if it tried, and try it will: there’s still more than four months of the year left, and November elections are looming in the horizon. At this point it’s probably better to be prepared for the worst than holding to an optimistic position that things will only improve from here on out, that surely this is the bottom. I have no doubts that all of this will pass and we’ll get back to our preferred normal, but any thoughts of a fast resolution should be out the proverbial window by now. I certainly did not think that we’ll be sitting here in August facing another school year of remote learning, and yet here we are.

Right now I can only pray that the wildfires aren’t going to get much worse, and people in the area will be safe.

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My constant companion.