Pandemic, Week 89 (Thanksgiving)

This week, the three men that ran down and killed jogger Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia while claiming it was a citizen's arrest, were found guilty of murder. A jury awarded $25 million in damages against organizers of the Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally of 2017. In Wisconsin, a man drove into a Christmas parade, killing at least 5 people and injuring 48 people. Ohio revealed its new, heavily gerrymandered congressional map despite a state constitutional amendment that bans such practices. Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim died. Clair, a four-year-old Scottish deerhound won best in show at the National Dog Show. 

The world reached 261.3 million cases and 5.2 million deaths, of which the US accounted for 49.1 million cases and 799,000 deaths. 231 million Americans (70 percent) have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 196 million (59 percent) are fully vaccinated. Cases in the US jumped by 18 percent this week with Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Hampshire and North Dakota each reporting per capital increases of over 60 percent. Meanwhile, a new COVID variant of concern, Omicron, has emerged in South Africa that may be more more easily spread and who's mutations may make current COVID vaccines less potent. As a result, both the US and EU have issued travel bans to South Africa.

For us the week was about family and Thanksgiving. The kids only had two days of classes, though Owen's last day was longer than intended when Dave Chappelle arrived an hour late for a surprise meeting with students to discuss the recent controversy involving his statements regarding transgender people and renaming Duke Ellington's auditorium after him. In response, we decided to watch his latest special as a family on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Elaine worked and baked before joining a friend for premier seats (and free food and drink) at a Capital's game, while Allen and the kids mostly hung out. Thursday, the whole crew went up to Nancy and Danny's for our traditional Thanksgiving meal complete with three different potato options and lots of photographs. Friday, Allen and Elaine purchased, set up and decorated the Christmas tree while Owen and Nora watched videos, though we did manage to get them out of their rooms to meet up with some friends for dinner and a movie. The week culminated in John's 78th birthday on Saturday, whose celebration involved a yurt, beer, and not as many blankets as initially expected (given it was 34 degrees).

(To see this week's pictures, click here.) 

Pandemic, Week 88 (The Quiet Before...)

This week Steve Bannon pleaded "not-guilty" to criminal contempt charges associated with failing to testify before the January 6th Commission. The House voted to censure Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), who posted animated videos of himself violently attacking President Biden and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). The House passed President Biden's Build Back Better Act, which expands Medicare, lowers prescription drug costs, subsidizes childcare and provides hundred of millions to combat climate change.  Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teen that drove to Wisconsin with an AR-15 and his mother to protect private property and provide medical assistance but ended up shooting three people, two of them fatally, was acquitted on all counts. Kim Kardashian and SNL star Pete Davidson are officially dating.

The world reached 257.6 million COVID cases and 5.2 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 48.6 million and 793,000 respectively.  230 million Americans (69 percent), including 2.7 million children between 5 and 12, have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 196 million (59 percent) are fully vaccinated. The CDC has endorsed booster shots for all adults, making them available as soon as Monday. Meanwhile, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that starting Monday DC will relax its mask mandate for private businesses, despite concerns voiced by the DC Council and local businesses and that neighboring Montgomery County, MD just reinstated its mask mandate.

We had a relatively quiet week. Owen completed 3 volunteer hours of the 100 required to graduate high school (I think his current tally is 10) at Martha's Table, where he helped set up its Winter Coat Giveaway for DC residents. As the press continued on Allen's recently published collaborative Science paper, a colleague suggested some stunt casting for the unplanned Avengers: Net Zero, with Allen as Hulk (to which Allen responded, "Hulk smash GHG emissions"). Elaine and Nora made what the New York Times calls Bolani with Morgh Kofta (albeit with sausage in lieu of chicken) and what Nora calls, "a thingamawhatsit." But most impressively, Nora was inspired to create their own stuffed animal using a sock, buttons, pillow-stuffing, and a pompom they repurposed from a Santa hat. The result is Boba-Kiki, our newest – and arguably most adorable – family member, who weirdly channels Max Scherzer.

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 87 (Ordinary Time)

This week both prosecutors and the defense rested their cases in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year old who traveled from his home in Illinois to Wisconsin with an illegal AR-15 rifle in order to protect the private property of people in another state from Black-Lives Matter protestors, including the two he shot and killed. Meanwhile the defense attorney in the Ahmaud Arbery case, where a black man was chased and killed by three white men in Georgia who believed the jogger was trespassing in a vacant lot, drew criticism after he informed the court that, "[w]e don't want any more Black pastors coming in here... sitting with the victim's family." Republican House members that voted for the bipartisan infrastructure deal have received death threats after fellow republican Marjorie Tylor Greene, posted their office phone numbers on her social media accounts and are now facing calls from fellow republicans for the loss of their committee assignments. After two weeks of intense negotiations COP26 came to a close as nearly 200 countries signed the Glasgow Climate Pact agreeing to phase down unabated coal power, finalizing the Paris Rulebook, and raising ambition under the Paris Agreement to keep 1.5C alive. Britney Spears's conservatorship has ended.

The world reached 253.8 million COVID cases and 5.1 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 47.9 million cases and 783,000 deaths. 226 million (68 percent) of Americans have received at least one vaccine dose and 195 million (59 percent) are fully vaccinated. Over 1.1 million children under 12 years of age have received at least one does of the vaccine, 924,000 in the past two weeks, including Big Bird, who after tweeting that his wing was a little sore from the shot, drew the ire of Senator Ted Cruz who argued Big Bird's vaccination was government propaganda directed at five-year olds.

Things returned to some level of normalcy for us this week. Sunday we attended Meeting and its Open House where the kids volunteered to serve refreshments (in the hopes that Owen could make a dent in his graduation requirement of logging 100 volunteer hours). Allen's article in Science was published and his Spanish-language interview even made the rounds in our friend circle (based on Google translate we think he didn't say anything wrong). We had our holiday photoshoot on Thursday – this year at the Botanic Garden, where the annual holiday train display is being displayed outdoors. Nora learned how to make candles. Allen was the big winner at poker. Owen made significant progress on projecting his latest bouldering goal.

But probably the most significant sign that things are returning to some semblance of normal is that Nora went to their first sleepover in two years, to celebrate Harper turning 13. We're still a little anxious, given the mixing of households and whatnot, but as the kids are all vaccinated we decided that it was finally time to relax a bit. Hopefully, this all ends well...

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 86 (Boo!)

For once, it truly was infrastructure week, as the House finally passed the $1.2 trillion bill which had languished for months, and sent it to President Biden for signature. While world leaders (minus China and Russia) met in Glasgow for the COP26 Climate Summit and announced updated NDCs and Long-Term Strategies, and pledged to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent and halt or reverse deforestation by 2030, thousands of activists gathered to protest those leaders' lack of urgency. Meanwhile republican Glen Youngkin won the Virginia governor's race, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding the Texas abortion law, which effectively puts bounties on individuals that aid a woman in receiving the medical procedure and the Atlanta Braves won the World Series beating the Houston Astros.

This weeks the world reached 250.3 million COVID cases and 5.2 million deaths, of which the US accounted for 47.3 million cases and 775,000 deaths. 194 million (67 percent) Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 194 million (58 percent) are fully vaccinated. On Tuesday, the CDC signed off on the recommendations for children age 5-11 to receive the vaccine. 

We started the week off with Halloween, where for the first time, both of our children celebrated completely independently from us. Nora met up with their friends for a dual ghost-murderer costume (we didn't get it either) that we failed to photographically document. Fortunately, Owen gathered with his friends at Adam's house where we happened to be having cocktails, allowing us to snag a couple pics of him before they headed out for whatever 15-year olds do on Halloween, and we went to Steve & Megan's for a movie.

It was an odd week. The kids were off of school both on Tuesday for Election Day – even though no elections occurred in the District – and Friday for the end of the quarter. Allen's second Science paper was published and so he spent much of the week doing press, particularly with CBC (because they love him in Canada!).  Meanwhile, Elaine had her last day in the Office of Enforcement at EBSA, while preparing for her first day temporarily heading the new Offie of Research and Analysis in EBSA. But in the end, we managed to meet up for dinner with Billy, have the Sodermans over, and somewhere in there, Allen got in a couple of naps.

(To see this week's pictures, click here.)