A Melancholy 2022 Thanksgiving Holiday

Chances are many people experienced a rusty 2022 Thanksgiving weekend. The expectations were high. The holiday was an underachievement. People wanted a Thanksgiving miracle all is better. Many people forgot how to behave. Many people either forgot what Thanksgiving meant or thought about something else.

There was too much on many people's minds they couldn't stop thinking. There were too many worries. There were too many problems. They thought there was not enough time. There was not enough time to relax. Break time was too little. The holiday went by too fast. The time feeling didn't slow down. People needed more time to take a breath.

People felt unsatisfactory during the final hours of Sun Nov 27, 2022. The holiday failed to meet expectations. There were disappointments. A minority of people shopped successfully on Black Friday. Learn from the mistakes for the 2022 Christmas holiday. Make adjustments for the 2022 Christmas holiday. Don't take the next holiday for granted.

Update On A Past Blog

I remember my first week of the Winter 2010 Quarter at De Anza College. I wrote, "Many students and even my teachers were tired and continued to be in adjust mode after the holidays" from De Anza Week Jan 4, 2010 written on Jan 7, 2010. I remember many students including myself and many teachers were unsatisfied with the 2009 Christmas holiday. 2009 was a year during the Great Recession. Nobody wanted to be at school.

Five More Minutes To Prevent Problems

I dreamed last night I traveled to a Riichi Mahjong gathering. I drove southbound on Saratoga Ave making a left on eastbound Stevens Creek Blvd in San Jose, CA during the early evening. I drove on Stevens Creek Blvd passing a Japanese Daiso-like store at the Barnes & Noble bookstore building. I entered the store to purchase ramen. I asked the cashier for chopsticks. The cashier gave me half a sandwich instead. I woke up.

I thought about the point of last night's dream awake. I made up the point of the dream I should have paused for five minutes. I should have taken an extra five minutes to go home. Why should have I gone home? The answer was I needed a better jacket. The evening forecast was cold temperatures. Another reason was get better food. Eating ramen was insufficient calories. Eating ramen was insufficient energy to focus on Mahjong. If there was no food at home, then I shopped at a market. The minimum beef jerky, bread, banana, and bottle water were better than ramen.

Take five more minutes to minimize the chances of anticipated problems for the rest of the day or evening.

Update On A Past Blog

A common concern is children interacting with technology too much. I wrote the concern on the blog Reflecting And Connecting Both Technology And My Childhood on Jan 16, 2017. Many parents are stressed. They need a break. They need quiet. They need to destress. Their children are second priority for the short time. Let the children look at the smartphone. Let the children play the handheld console. Let the children press the video game controller. Give parents their peace.

No Mulligan, No Do-Over, No Second Chance Going Back To San Jose State University

Today's blog is what if I take back my top mulligan from my life mulligans.

Update On A Past Blog

I wrote Top Ten My Life Mulligans on Mar 12, 2016. My number one mulligan is graduating with an accounting degree instead of an economics degree at San Jose State University (SJSU). I explore what if not doing a second chance going back to college. The short answer is too easy. Going back to SJSU is not real. I don't earn it. I admit reliving the 1990s correctly is the best opportunity to establish a solid baseline to become successful instead of being George Constanza unemployed and living with my parents. I also admit how I live my life mulligan is subjective; for example, do I relive the mulligan with the knowledge I know or do I relive the mulligan as if I never experienced SJSU graduating with an economics degree? I don't know the correct answer. I took a time machine back to my first day at SJSU without disrupting the time continuum. I blog the logical timeline the best I can.

My first semester I changed my major from mathematics to accounting. The degree change disrupted everything. I didn't need to take one computer science class. I didn't need to take three physics classes. I didn't need to take math classes calculus and above.

My second semester I didn't take volleyball on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was stupid to drive to SJSU for one class. I could have realized I scheduled my classes for at least one day off a week. Also, I chose a new primary parking garage to park. If I parked at a new primary parking garage, then I didn't get a traffic ticket in front of the initial parking garage. And there is no volunteering for the Student California Teacher's Association which is the student version of the California Teacher's Association.

I concentrated on general education classes during my first year except for Calculus I during my second semester. I might have switched Calculus I for Accounting 1. All of the semesters thereafter were unknown because I took accounting classes for my major and economic classes for my minor. Maybe I double major in accounting and economics. My GPA went up continuously when I changed majors from mathematics to economics.

I had courage to take advantage of student services. I used their workout facilities to exercise. I read more books for which I buy used books at their library used bookstore. I watched more movies checking out movies at the library. I purchased condoms at the Student Health Center. I joined the anime club in my junior year.

I corrected my mistakes outside the SJSU campus. I focused less time studying because grades were overrated. I used the free time socializing. I find a part time job to improve my college resume. I learned basic stock investing outside the classroom. I quit piano. I watched less TV.

There was a drawback majoring in accounting. I didn't take my Economics Writing Workshop class. The professor taught my writing style today. Another drawback was a possibility I didn't get first day class registration priority. I was diagnosed with a learning disability on my third semester. Students with learning disabilities were given first day class registration priority. My English 1B professor submitted a request to the Disabled Services Center to be tested because I had reading problems.

In conclusion, reliving my SJSU years and reliving my 20s were too easy. Maybe thinking about life mulligans are a waste of time. Nobody can't go back to the past to correct mistakes.

Some Parents Can't Teach Their Children

Parents are people. Parents are human beings. Some people can't teach to save their lives. If teaching is a requirement to become a parent, then there are fewer families.

There are multiple reasons why. The reasons are valid or invalid. I let the reader make the choice. I put my parents on the spotlight. Sometimes they fake knowing the questions asked. My parents don't want to be embarrassed they don't know enough. They're ashamed of their ignorance. They're lazy to learn what they don't know. They're lazy to research for a deeper understanding. My parents don't take responsibility teaching me and my siblings the basics. The school system is responsible.

My parents are poor teachers. They can't teach and do both at the same time. Sometimes they avoid our questions because they're afraid they teach us wrong. Unfortunately, most of what they actually taught is wrong. I unlearned and released their incorrect teachings myself. My parents are slow teachers when they taught us. Their teaching is boring.

Update On A Past Blog

One of my philosophies is the chances of a good week starts with a good Monday. I wrote Monday is an important day at The Philosophies Of Raymond Mar 3 on May 25, 2014. I reinforced a good Monday at The Philosophies Of Raymond Mar Which Changed on Oct 21, 2016. Sometimes the Sunday day is the start of a good week. The chances of a good calendar week starts with a good calendar Sunday. For example, devote more time to rest, complete outstanding errands, prepare the upcoming week responsibilities, and relax.

Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog October 2022

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. Early Black Friday sales were seen in stores and in advertisements like 2021. The Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is part of the COVID-19 headlines. On the other hand, headlines for the COVID-19 winter surge were minimal; although, I suspect many people aren't reporting their positive results. I received my omicron booster.

Mon Oct 3. The Norwegian Cruise Line ended all COVID-19 testing, masking, and vaccination requirements starting on Tue Oct 4. However, passengers must follow local government COVID-19 protocols in each country.

The Center For Disease Control (CDC) no longer maintained travel advisories outside the United States related to COVID-19. The reason is fewer countries are testing or reporting COVID-19 cases. Less information makes accurate assessments difficult. The CDC releases a notice if a country experiences a COVID-19 variant. International travelers should update their vaccinations and minimize the chances of infection.

Wed Oct 5. I assisted my dad's friend hauling junk.

Fri Oct 7. I shopped at Safeway and Costco first thing in the morning. The crowds were bigger than I expected at both stores.

Sun Oct 9. Another omicron subvariant was discovered in CA. The BA.2.75.2 was detected at Stanford University and in Los Angeles County. The subvariant is immune to current vaccines which means a higher chance of getting infected. The BF.7 is another subvariant which caused a surge in Europe.

FL Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo recommended males age 18-39 don't receive the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Ladapo said there is an increase risk of cardiac-related death.

Mon Oct 10. More cities in China were locked down. Travel restrictions imposed. The daily COVID-19 cases tripled. People were discouraged from leaving their cities and provinces. Hohhot prohibited vehicles and passengers from the outside starting on Tue Oct 11.

Small businesses employing between 1 and 25 workers in Alameda County were eligible for grant money for losses or increase costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Grants up to $5,000 for home-based businesses or up to $10,000 for brick & mortar businesses. The American Rescue Plan funded the grant money.

Tue Oct 11. The White House announced there are not enough COVID-19 tests for the upcoming winter season. White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said there are enough personal protective equipment for doctors and nurses. There is more money spent on vaccine dosages. There is less money spent on tests. Congress didn't pass legislation allocating more money to combat COVID-19. The CDC said 35% of eligible people received the booster.

The US daily average of deaths was 400.

Wed Oct 12. The Food And Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the updated COVID-19 booster shots or bivalent shots for children. The Pfizer is authorized for children ages 5-11. The Modern is authorized for children ages 6-11. The bivalent consists of 50% targeting the original strain and 50% targeting the omicron BA.4 and BA.5. 75% of Americans 12 and older are eligible for the bivalent because they received the initial vaccinations. 13 million Americans received the bivalent. 33% of American children ages 5-11 received the initial vaccinations.

Thur Oct 13. The US COVID-19 public health emergency continues through Jan 11, 2023. The emergency is renewed every 90 days. The first declaration was Jan 2020. The declaration gives COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and treatments for free. Medicaid coverage is expanded. Medicare recipients can access their doctors using telehealth. There is a 60 day notice before the public health emergency ends.

Fri Oct 14. The COVID-19 variants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are derived from the BA.5. 10% of US cases were BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. These immune-evasive variants are emerging from other parts of the world.

Mon Oct 17. CA Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state coronavirus emergency ends on Feb 28, 2023. The health care system remains in an emergency state for a possible winter surge. Newsom declared the emergency on Mar 4, 2020. 95,000 people died in the state. All of Newsom's pandemic executive orders end on Feb 28, 2023. Public health orders are not affected.

Wed Oct 19. The FDA authorized the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine as a third dose or booster for adults ages 18 or older. Novavax can be mixed with either Pfizer or Moderna. The vaccine protects against the omicron BA.5. The Novavax vaccine is administered six months after the two primary vaccines.

Stanford University lifts the mask requirements in classrooms and on campus on Mon Oct 24. Instructors can require masks in their classrooms.

67.9% of cases were the BA.5 in the US. The other cases were BA.4.6, BQ.1, BQ.1.1 and BF.7. BA.4.6 was increasing. The BQ and the BF were spreading in Europe.

The CDC authorized the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine booster for adults ages 18 or older.

Thur Oct 20. I received my bivalent shot. Waiting 15 minutes afterwards was optional. There were no lines. I shopped at Costco Business Center afterwards.

The CDC added the COVID-19 vaccine to the recommended immunization schedule in 2023 for children and adults. The recommendation didn't mean the COVID-19 vaccine is mandatory. The recommendation didn't mean the COVID-19 vaccine is required for school admission.

Fri Oct 21. Shopped at Grocery Outlet and Costco. Costco was busy at the 10am hour. Muffins are $10.

Sat Oct 22. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky tested positive for COVID-19. She is up-to-date on her vaccinations. Mild symptoms.

Mon Oct 24. The CDC changed quarantine and isolation guidelines in Aug 2022. A review. If a person is exposed or experiencing symptoms, then he or she take multiple in-home COVID-19 tests for two days afterwards. Wear a mask. Isolate for five days if tested positive or feel sick. Day 0 is the first day of symptoms. A health care provider can prescribe treatments within five days. End isolation after five days without a fever, no medications taken, and no symptoms; however, wear a mask for ten days. Continue isolation after five days if no improvements or as long as it takes to recover.

The COVID-19 pandemic is blamed for declining fourth grade and eighth grade reading and math scores nationwide. Reading scores dropped to 1992 levels. 4 in 10 eighth graders failed basic math. The tests were administered by the National Assessment Of Educational Progress.

75% of pediatric hospital beds in the US were full according to the Department Of Health & Human Services. The reason is RSV. RSV can be life threatening to infants and young children with health underlying conditions.

Tue Oct 25. A 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck at 11:42am centered in the East San Jose area.

The omicron variant XBB detected in Singapore is an international concern.

President Joe Biden received his updated booster shot.

British Medical Journal's Heart published a study people with COVID-19 are 2.7 times more likely to develop blood clots. People hospitalized with COVID-19 are 28 times more likely to suffer heart failure and 17 times more likely to get a stroke.

Wed Oct 26. Shanghai in China administered an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine is a mist sucked in through the mouth. There is no vaccine mandates in China.

Dr. Jha said a "tripledemic" threatens the US the upcoming winter consisting of COVID-19, the flu, and RSV.

Fri Oct 28. Shopped at Safeway and Lucky first thing in the morning. One checkout lane was opened in both stores. All of the customers' shopping carts were full in the checkout lane.

All 1.3 residents in the Shanghai district Yangpu in China were being tested. There was a lockdown.

The CDC released a percentage breakdown of the COVID-19 scrabble variants in the US: BA.5 49.6%, BQ.1 14%, BQ.1.1 13%, BA.4.6 10%, and BF.7 7.5%.

Mon Oct 31. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky tested positive for COVID-19 again. Walensky tested positive for the first time on Sat Oct 22, 2022.

The Disney Resort in Shanghai in China is closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Customers can reschedule up to six months later or receive a refund. Shanghai has 97 cases in the last 28 days. Guests must test negative up to 72 hours before entering the resort.

I Wasn't A Child Genius

I was a worrier. I worried too much when I was a child. I was scared something bad happened when I did something new. I must be assured there were positive outcomes for anything I did. The known positive outcomes I was happy. I did them. The unknown outcomes I worried. I did nothing. A grown-up must be present for anything new.

Ironically, how did I know the positive outcomes? I had to do something new eventually. Also, making mistakes was expected. Albert Einstein said, "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." I contradicted myself. I wanted to try anything new for which I didn't do it because I worried. Nobody told me to make mistakes because we learn from mistakes. There was no encouragement. There was no hand holding.

A common trait geniuses possess is cynicism. Geniuses think the world is dying. Geniuses think the world self-destructs. Was my childhood worrier a sign of genius? The quick answer is yes. I worried too much. Was my worrying actually being cynical? The long answer is no when I answer the first question with the second question. I did nothing new. There was no attempt.

Afraid Was The Answer

Afraid was the correct answer in my childhood years. I told everyone I was worried. I was actually afraid. Nobody corrected my emotion. Nobody told me to be brave. Nobody told me to be courageous from the small action answering a phone call to the medium action ordering at McDonalds and to the big action asking a grown-up for help.

I realized I self-trained myself to become a genius in Aug 2019. Geniuses are cynics by nature. I mistakenly connected the dots from today to my childhood. I was neither worried nor cynical in my childhood. I'm either worried or cynical in my present adulthood.

Update On A Past Blog

Another Einstein quote is, "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." The problems in the quote reminded me of My Six Guarantees blog written on Dec 11, 2021. One of the six guarantees is everyone has problems. I also wrote You Have Problems? So Do I written on Oct 8, 2016. The world has problems. Everyone has problems.

If you don't have problems, then be patient. Life finds a way to give people problems beyond their control.

Four Million Reasons From Twitter

Today's blog is an update on a past blog.

Update On A Past Blog

Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44B which closed on Fri Oct 28, 2022. All shareholders receive $54.20 per share. Twitter becomes a private company. Musk's first business move was firing CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Sagal, chief legal affairs Vijaya Gadde, and head general counsel Sean Edgett. Musk played the Steve Jobs card. Jobs fired 25% of the executives and senior managers in his bozo list when he returned to Apple in 1997.

Musk tweeted on Nov 4, 2022 Twitter loses $4M a day. The screenshot above is timestamped today at 3:50pm. Layoffs began on Nov 4, 2022. The recent Twitter events reminds me when I worked at a retail start-up from Nov 2013 to Sep 2014. I blogged Another Start-Up Business Is Out Of Business written on Aug 14, 2021 and Three Years Later Scanners For Bar Codes written on Oct 22, 2020. I mentioned bad management or bad ownership in the first blog. "There are no such thing as bad companies; it's bad management makes companies bad" is a common business knowledge. The business sold high-end wine, beer, and sake at discount prices. Great business idea. Poor business ownership. One example of poor business ownership was the second blog. It took three years for ownership to invest in a barcode system for inventory and sales. Barcodes existed for decades. I mentioned make changes when problems are clear and present. Fix the problems now.

Twitter is a great business idea. Twitter is a social media service for people micro blogging. Musk is doing his best to turnaround Twitter with good ownership and good management solving problems now.

Life Can Go In A Straight Line

Everyone knows life is not a straight line. However, a person can be in a streak of everything is going his or her way. No winding. Life is great. The flow goes his or her way. There are tailwinds. He or she is moving forward positively, and not moving forward after a negative moment. Get everything done. Check off all the checklists. Complete the priorities. Delay the non-important responsibilities. Wait for comfortability. The plan succeeds by following the plan, and no need for the backup plan.

Here's what happened to me. I didn't need to cook on the weekends because I cooked enough meals on Fri for the household. I completed all my planned job trainings. I worked out my physical workouts as scheduled. I watched documentaries. I learned more life skills. I watched my movie of the week. I either watched selected football games or listened to selected football game while completing Sun errands. The rest of the errands were completed in the mornings. There were no new books to read.

There were no emergencies. There were no unexpected events. No diversions. Nothing unplanned happened. Adjustments minimized.

Further, the weather assisted in my life going in a straight line. The summer like mild temperatures dropped to autumn cooler temperatures quickly. The temperatures decreasing wasn't gradual.

Update On A Past Blog

I wrote a past blog on life not going a person's way titled Your Life Map Is Full Of Colors, Scribbles, Eraser Marks written on Aug 1, 2016. A person's life map is not a straight line.

I Owe The World By Making A Difference

Today's blog is an update on a past blog.

Update On A Past Blog

I thought about all my past friends and my past co-workers. 95% of them got my backs if anything bad happened. Good people support good people. Good friends support good friends. I failed to realize all 95% supported me. My past friends go as far back as junior high school.

I questioned did I make a difference to the 95% from the blog Did I Make A Difference? written on Jul 7, 2015. I said the 95% made a difference to me. "They made my life better. I'm a better person today."

I failed to be a difference maker to the 95%. I could have been and I should have been a better friend. I have no excuses. I owe the 95% something in return. I don't know what is the something. My feeling tells me the something must be multiple permanent life changers big or small.

I can't explain what I did correctly to earn their friendships. I thank my intuition. Was it I showed up? Was it I listened well? Was it I smiled when they needed a smile? I hope my self-pity didn't attract people.

The minimum owing back the 95% is become stronger. Don't be a jerk. The world needs one less bad person. I assure the 95% and the world I practice personal responsibility. I wrote I Owe The World on Apr 8, 2018 I take care of myself in a positive way such as working hard to earn freedom, stay healthy, and never stop learning.