Speedy's Cafe - General Chat about anything you like!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, I know what you mean.  I can generally remember my husband's cell phone number, and my one brother's, but as for my other brother's or any friend's number, I have absolutely no idea these days.  Used to be I could not only tell you any number that I called frequently, I could tell you what a friend's phone number used to be.

I do try to maintain my arithmetic skills by doing most calculations either mentally or on paper before double-checking myself with the calculator, but will admit that I'm getting lazy.  As for dates, I lost track of those when I retired.

 

[Artemis]

22 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

Related, do you guys feel dumber everyday?

I used to be good at mental math, and actually remember a lot of phone numbers and ID numbers, birthdays and everything. Now that I have smartphone that could help me with all that, I don't think I even remember those emergency numbers, I'm doubtful about my mental calculation and mix-up dates, I'd never able to precisely answer today's date in short notice.

They say you should force yourself to memorize things in order to improve/maintain good memory.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

58 minutes ago, Artemis said:

They say you should force yourself to memorize things in order to improve/maintain good memory.

I've always disliked "memorizing" (in the sense of deliberately committing something to memory), as opposed to learning it in the course of using it.  My memory seems to be quite good, so I trust that learning is as good a brain exercise as memorizing.

I will also mention that I've been taking a supplement called PQQ that has very clearly improved my memory in recent years.

 

[Fantasy Lover]

Maybe it's just a sign of you getting older.

[Carol the Dabbler]

15 minutes ago, Fantasy Lover said:

Maybe it's just a sign of you getting older.

Of course it is.  Everything is a sign of getting older.  I mean, what's the alternative?  

I see what you mean, but from what I've read, what's normal with age is absent-mindedness, but that doesn't mean you actually forgot something, it just means you didn't happen to think of it.  Actual memory loss, as in you are no longer able to remember some things that you've known perfectly well for years, tends to occur more often in older people, but it is not normal.

 

[Fantasy Lover]

I see, good to know. Maybe it's just the fact that you use less than you originally did. Math was required when you were at school, but in your job you don't use it anymore unless you work in NASA or are a math teacher.

[Carol the Dabbler]

31 minutes ago, Fantasy Lover said:

Maybe it's just the fact that you use less than you originally did. Math was required when you were at school, but in your job you don't use it anymore unless you work in NASA or are a math teacher.

I'm sure you're right about that.  It's the old "use it or lose it" situation.  Not all that long ago, people needed to keep using the math they'd learned in school, just to do ordinary things like balancing their checkbook.  Nowadays, if they don't just let the bank's website do it for them, they do all the math on their calculator.  And I've heard that students are allowed to use calculators in school, so they may never learn those basic skills in the first place.

Maybe that shouldn't bother me.  After all, hardly anyone knows how to ride a horse any more either, or how to grow their own food.  Maybe this is simply one of those things that only bothers the people who remember how it used to be.

 

[Fantasy Lover]

I'm probably the youngest of this forum but I took horse riding lessons, but when I got the lesson of jumping I quit. I was really frightened of the possibility of my horse becoming scared and throwing me of its back. I'm pretty sure young people still want to learn it, as for growing food I can't say the same. 

[besleybean]

Kids love growing stuff!

[Carol the Dabbler]

On 3/2/2021 at 3:38 PM, Fantasy Lover said:

I took horse riding lessons, but when I got the lesson of jumping I quit. I was really frightened of the possibility of my horse becoming scared and throwing me of its back.

I took riding lessons also, and quit after a low-hanging branch knocked my glasses off.  They were OK, and I wasn't hurt either, but I didn't really have the money to pay for riding lessons AND perhaps a new pair of glasses if they got knocked off again.
 

On 3/2/2021 at 3:38 PM, Fantasy Lover said:

I'm pretty sure young people still want to learn [horseback riding], as for growing food I can't say the same. 

 

On 3/2/2021 at 3:40 PM, besleybean said:

Kids love growing stuff!

I suspect some kids nowadays think that both of those would be fun, but that's all it is to them, something to do now and then for fun.  What I was talking about was when most kids learned both of those things as a matter of course, because they were necessary skills for rural life, which was the life that most people lived up until very recently.  I can't offhand think of a current-day equivalent.  Using a computer, maybe?

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

On 2/14/2021 at 2:35 AM, Artemis said:

10 days out, here’s what I’ve experienced so far.

In the first couple of hours after the vaccine, shortness of breath and hot flashes.  A tad of numbness in my arm.

In the first couple of days, an extremely sore arm and heavy fatigue.

Right after that, I developed a very tender lump on my collarbone, which Google tells me is probably a swollen lymph node circulating white blood cells to fight off the infection.  I hope it’s that, anyway.

It’s still there, but as of yesterday, the tenderness is beginning to subside, as long as I don’t accidentally pinch or bump it.

How are you doing now?  And do you happen to know which company's vaccine you got?

 

[besleybean]

My son and daughter-in-law both had their vaccine on Tuesday...

and were both consequently very ill.

Discussing with school staff:

1. Apparently young, fit people do suffer the worst...as their healthy immune system launches a massive attack on the vaccine.

2. Apocryphally, nurses have noted that those who have already had Covid, often have bad reactions to the the vaccine...

No I don't know which they had.

But they do live in Italy and there is a chance they did(unknowingly) have Covid, right at the very start...

I still can't wait for my vaccine!

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

25 minutes ago, besleybean said:

My son and daughter-in-law both had their vaccine on Tuesday...

and were both consequently very ill.

Do you mean just a couple of days ago, or last week?  Did they say what sort of symptoms they had and/or how long they lasted?

Alex is scheduled for his shot tomorrow, or rather later today (Thursday).  I've got some other physical issues right now, and plan to wait till I'm feeling better, so that just in case I get significant side effects I'll be better able to handle them.  I hope!

 

[besleybean]

Yes, 2 days ago...

my son phoned me first thing yesterday morning.

Said they'd both had rotten nights, his wife still wasn't out of bed!

Shivery, numbness, all down the side of his body of the vaccine.

[Artemis]

On 3/3/2021 at 11:01 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

How are you doing now?  And do you happen to know which company's vaccine you got?

I was given Moderna.

I got my second dose on Thursday.  So far I have the exact same symptoms I had the first time, with the addition of bouts of sudden lightheadedness.  The good news is, I was expecting to feel a lot worse after the second dose, but actually I'm about the same.  I'll let you know if anything else develops.

 

[besleybean]

Yep, cos people are saying the second one is supposed to be even worse...

I haven't spoken to my son again, yet...

I will call him today.

[Carol the Dabbler]

14 hours ago, Artemis said:

I was given Moderna.

I got my second dose on Thursday.  So far I have the exact same symptoms I had the first time, with the addition of bouts of sudden lightheadedness.  The good news is, I was expecting to feel a lot worse after the second dose, but actually I'm about the same.  I'll let you know if anything else develops.

Thanks!  Hubby got his first shot (also Moderna) on Thursday, and now just two days later his arm isn't even sore any more, which was his only symptom.  At this point I have no idea what to expect!  

 

 

[Artemis]

3 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

At this point I have no idea what to expect!  

Symptoms and severity seem to vary widely from person to person, so it’s hard to predict how much it might affect you.  You’ll just have to go with it and hope for the best.  (If you do decide to go with it, that is.)

No fair that your husband’s arm is better already!  Mine is still sore.  I’m glad he’s not experiencing any other adverse effects though.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

After watching  a video about Girl Scout cookies, I read some of the comments, and this was one:

A few years ago Girl Scouts were selling cookies outside of a Wal-Mart store, close by where I live, in Texas. A man drives up, gets out of his car & grabs their cash box. They ganged up on him, took it back, screamed & yelled at him A LOT!!! One of the girls took his car keys. Lots of people gathered around for the girls. Cops showed up & hauled him away. His car was towed. I guess they charged him with attempted robbery of Girl Scouts. He was found guilty. He wasn't in jail long enough. He couldn't afford to get his car out. No one would help his sorry butt either

Yay!  Girl Scout Power!!!

That video was from Lost in the Pond [here], basically a man from England reacting to American stuff.  Most of his videos are funnier and/or more informative than that one -- you can get a broader sample by clicking.

The title is from the idea that the UK and the US are different because the people in one or the other "didn't get that memo" because it got "lost in The Pond" (i.e., the Atlantic Ocean).  He's been in the US something like twelve years now, and he's married to an American woman, plus he does a fair amount of research and fact-checking.  So (unlike another UK vs US YouTube channel which shall remain nameless) he rarely makes off-the-cuff remarks that may or may not be accurate and his humor is gentle rather than snarky.  I'm kind of addicted right now.

 

[Hikari]

Dropping in on Speedy's Cafe in the first time in forevah . . .

 

@Carol,

I discovered Laurence Brown (Lost in the Pond) during the pandemic year or maybe just slightly before.  He is very entertaining and still, quintessentially British despite all the things he has discovered that he loves about America.  The video where he sampled the Girl Scout cookies was hilarious.  He didn't really care for most of them as I recall, but a lot of the packaged 'biscuits' sold in Britain seem similar.  I guess maybe mint and peanut butter (particularly the latter) are more of an American obsession.  So another funny vid is Laurence attempting to make a PB&J sandwich, and his wife Tarah, showing him how it's done properly (ie, the way she makes it!  :))  Tarah is an Indiana girl, so regionally, I 'get' her.

Laurence is one of those people who is a lot taller than one is led to expect from his onscreen presence.  At 6'1" I think he's quite a bit above the norm for his countrymen and even above the norm for Americans.

******

Re. the Shot

I got my first jab of the Pfizer two weeks ago today; April 1st is my second round. My arm was initially fine for four hours and then from about 3pm through to the next day it was quite painful, like I'd been walloped with a baseball bat.  Then, at about the 24 hour mark from my injection, the pain disappeared like magic.  I felt a little hot and lightheaded immediately after the shot, while I was waiting, but it passed in half a minute or less.  I think it was psychosomatic, honestly.

A colleague just had her first round of the Pfizer yesterday from the same clinic and she had to go home sick this morning after a couple of hours.  But she's had Covid already, along with her whole family, and says the side effects feel just like her Covid symptoms. (backache, chills, tiredness)  All of the people I have spoken to who experienced more than a sore arm and actually felt sick are ones who previously tested positive for Covid, and of those, the Moderna seemed to have more of an impact.  We shall see what we shall see.  Fortunately I have the next day off work if it gets bad.  My sister sailed through both of hers with nothing.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

10 hours ago, Hikari said:

... another funny vid is Laurence attempting to make a PB&J sandwich, and his wife Tarah, showing him how it's done properly (ie, the way she makes it!  :))  Tarah is an Indiana girl, so regionally, I 'get' her.

I beg to disagree with Tarah's method!  Mom (who was also an Indiana gal) always put butter on the bread, and if Mom's not right, then who is?  I don't recall Tarah ever saying what part of Indiana she grew up in, though, so it could be a regional difference.

I agree, his videos are informative, but Laurence is also funny (in a stealthy, understated sort of way)  He could be David Brent's much nicer kid brother (from The [original British] Office).

10 hours ago, Hikari said:

All of the people I have spoken to who experienced more than a sore arm and actually felt sick are ones who previously tested positive for Covid

I shall cling to that datum while working up the courage to make an appointment!

 

[Arcadia]

I had the Pfizer shot, I felt pretty crap the next day but it wore off by afternoon. Talked to one of my students this afternoon; she had the same, is older and way more frail than I ... and had no reaction at all. Same for one of my younger students who has chronic, and pretty serious, health issues. No reaction. Go figure.

[kimber8ada]

I got my first Moderna shot last week and had just the sore arm for about three days. The nurse told me if you have a strong flu-like reaction it means you've been exposed to Covid, your body has recognized it and is fighting it off. I've also known people, my sister is one, who had a stronger reaction to the second shot, for possibly the same reason. I'm not scheduled for my second shot yet. I live in a rural area and the nurse said they weren't sure exactly when the next shipment would be here. So I'm waiting for a call. 

[Hikari]

6 hours ago, kimber8ada said:

I got my first Moderna shot last week and had just the sore arm for about three days. The nurse told me if you have a strong flu-like reaction it means you've been exposed to Covid, your body has recognized it and is fighting it off. I've also known people, my sister is one, who had a stronger reaction to the second shot, for possibly the same reason. I'm not scheduled for my second shot yet. I live in a rural area and the nurse said they weren't sure exactly when the next shipment would be here. So I'm waiting for a call. 

That seems to reflect the results of my informal poll, too.  Perhaps the people who have a bad reaction but have never officially been diagnosed with Covid actually had an asymptomatic case earlier or at any rate, enough viral exposure for the body to ramp up.  

The Johnson & Johnson shot is appearing attractive to a lot of people who are wary of getting sick on two shots . . maybe people who know for sure they've had Covid would be sufficiently covered by the one dose, since for them, the first shot functions like the second shot for people who haven't been exposed.   A nurse friend of mine had Covid in May or June of last year; she was working on the Covid unit in a nursing home, so that is hardly surprising.  As a health care front liner, she was in the first round of vaccinations.  After the second shot, she had to take a week off work because it felt like Covid all over again. 

Another friend had quite a Covid year . . She was expecting her first baby when her library was closed due to the pandemic. Initially this seemed like good timing, as she was set to go on maternity leave soon after, though she would have worked another couple of months.  It took weeks and weeks for her to get anywhere with the unemployment benefits office--if she ever did.  I hope she got some of that money because just before her baby was due, she was told that her job had been eliminated--bye!

She gave birth in July and her husband was able to be with her.  Their daughter is adorable.  Then she and her husband both got Covid, despite barely leaving the house. Daddy works from home.  Everybody got better, but then all three got Covid again within a few months--a variant version.  Lord knows how because they still weren't going out much.  Then, while still recuperating, they decided to sell their home and were on a time crunch.  She's only 30 so hasn't queued up for any shots yet, but she's got antibodies for at least two strains!  It's an irony that many of the people who are being *soo* careful, germophobic even, are still getting this thing despite taking every precaution while legions more who deny the whole thing exists are absolutely fine.

A colleague's immuno-compromised 80-year mother was infected at family Thanksgiving which she adamantly insisted on attending.  She passed away a month later, coming down with symptoms within 48 hours of that gathering.  She didn't live to see the vaccine that might have given her several  more good years with her family, so I think the vaccine is definitely worth getting.  If not for yourself, to protect vulnerable loved ones.

The colleague that went home sick yesterday the day after her shot is back today, feeling much better.  Another reported a bad headache last night but it was gone by morning.

[Carol the Dabbler]

1 hour ago, Hikari said:

A nurse friend of mine had Covid in May or June of last year; she was working on the Covid unit in a nursing home, so that is hardly surprising.  As a health care front liner, she was in the first round of vaccinations.  After the second shot, she had to take a week off work because it felt like Covid all over again. 

I realize that most flu-type symptoms are not caused by the disease as such, they're the body's attempts to fight off the disease (e.g., raising the temperature to a range where the germs can't multiply as fast).  And I realize that immunization is supposed to fool the body into thinking it's under attack, so that it'll produce antibodies -- so of course if the "threat" is realistic enough, the body will go all-out, thus producing symptoms.  But darn!

One thing that isn't clear from what little I've heard -- when people say it feels like having Covid, are they talking about just aches and fever -- or do they also start coughing, sneezing, etc.?