Erin's Journals

Just a thought… You’re entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts. [Daniel Patrick Moynihan]

As usual, you can watch a video version of this journal on my Facebook page or here on YouTube.

I hope that you had a restful long weekend. They say that a change is as good as a rest, and for many of us, change is just not an option. So we rest. We choose our clothes for the day based not on what fits or what looks good, but what’s comfortable and whether or not there will be Zoom calls or vlogs.

For some, of course, it’s business as unusual – the incredible people: health care workers, teachers, cops, drivers, mail carriers, people who keep us in bread and milk – who are going out into the world and working, trying to make life as normal as it can be at a time when two masks are being recommended as more strains of the coronavirus make it to our shores.

Wearing two masks? Not a problem. I will do anything it takes to help make the people around me safe – especially the more vulnerable – while we wait for vaccines to become available.

What I don’t get (and this is opinion) is opening up when we should be locking down. The science is here; the predictions for a third, even more deadly wave are too. And we seem to be heading towards it like a runaway train.

I understand human nature, the importance of a recovering economy and especially getting people back to work. I get that. But I don’t argue with science and I especially don’t listen to people who come up with insane theories about the vaccine or even the importance of wearing a mask.

Honestly – a year into this chaos – there are people who are refusing to wear even one mask over their face holes. Because they are selfish and, uh-oh, here’s a Colin swear word: “stupid.” How stupid? Have you heard the one making the rounds that because a fart makes it through their pants to my nose, a mask won’t keep viruses from spreading person to person?

If you haven’t heard this argument, well, lucky you. Because I’ve been thinking about it way too much. So, with the help of Snopes, please allow me to demonstrate the difference between how gas and a virus spread. Here’s the Snopes piece, by the way, for actual pictures of petri dishes and so on. 

Let me boil it down for you. For starters, people breathe far more often than they fart. On average, a person takes about 20,000 breaths per day. Conversely, the average person farts between 5 and 15 times per day. Here’s a tip: if you find yourself passing gas as often as you breathe, first of all – this could explain a very lonely Valentine’s Day – and secondly, see a doctor. Like right now. Don’t wait to read how this ends.

If these were equally viable methods of COVID-19 transmission (which they are not, but we’ll address that later), it’s clear why health officials would focus more on getting the public to wear masks instead of pants. Clothing, of course, is already widely used – legally required in fact – in most public spaces. So there’s that. No pants, no shoes, no service. No kidding.

It should also be noted that masks, like pants, prevent droplet transmission. Gosh, I hope so.

But how do we know this for sure? I was afraid you’d ask, but without getting into too much detail, there’s this guy who’s dubbed the Bill Nye the Science Guy of Australia who actually measured the wind of farts – so much less interesting a book, I’m sure, than the Winds of War, although if you’ve ever been subjected to a Dutch Oven (look it up), you’ll know that it can LEAD to war. But anyway, this Dr. Karl (how proud his mom must be!) determined through actual science and testing by the light of a full moon, believe it or not, that wearing pants – just like wearing a mask – can lessen droplet transmission.

There WAS a story going around that the virus could be transmitted through fecal matter. That was debunked and deemed unlikely. No surprise.

In the same way, a mask can prevent droplet transmission, slow the spread of COVID-19 and, like pants, at the very least, it can lessen the overall grossness factor. 

Look – we’re smart people. I mean you’re here, aren’t you? But sometimes if you come across a tweet or a post somewhere that makes you go, “yeah, what about that?” you need answers. Sure, you can block or delete, and that’s usually my first response. But if you think there’s even an iota, a droplet, of hope that some actual science might get through to a person whose whole life is about “keeping an open mind” then you can share this with them. Or, you know, tell them to replace the tin foil hat on their heads with a pair of underwear.

It can’t hurt and unlike their profile picture, it’ll actually show the world who they are.

Just a thought… Removing negativity from your life leaves more room for positivity to grow. [The Good Vibe.com]

A reminder that you can watch a video version of this journal on my Facebook page, or on YouTube.

I had a realization the other night as I was lying in bed, a puppy restlessly making her way around the covers and Rob snoring softly, rhythmically next to me: I feel…lighter.

My scale and FitBit might argue a little: being laid up with the leg thing has curtailed my steps and I’m not counting them for a few weeks, and that’s okay.

But it’s my heart that’s lighter. I realized it’s because something very heavy has been lifted: hate. Anger. The way that I was feeling every day about the unfairness, the injustice, the cruelty and the lies that were coming out of our neighbours to the south. Yes, a lot of those emotions are still being played out – I mean, it’s not suddenly Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood – but the person most responsible, the face of that hatred (at least to me) has virtually disappeared.

And so has my deep seated anger and fear and restlessness and, again, hatred. There are a lot of reasons for feeling all of those things, not the least of which is the Covid countdown to vaccines and worry about my dad’s mental health; he’s using the word “depressed” for the first time in his life, and this is a guy who lost his life partner nine years ago this month.

I know that a lot of people have anxiety over how to make the rent, when they’re going to hold their grandchildren and loved ones again – all of those things that are very real indeed in 2021.

But I’ve let go of the scourge that I allowed in. I don’t blame anyone but myself for the feelings that I’d experienced since the day he first came down that escalator; we are responsible for what we let in and what we let go of. I just noticed the difference, is all.

And do you know what? Since this transition, both inside and outside of me, that space in my heart has blown open and a wave of creativity has washed in. I’m sparking in all of these different directions: a video blog, tons of podcast work – the Elder Wisdom one for its humanity, which I love, and the Canadian Real Estate Association one which is always challenging and enlightening – plus something else I’m working on that is going to see me make a longtime dream come true.

I guess what I’m telling you is that if we clear that space, erase or put a blowtorch to the garbage and the dead wood that is weighing us down, we actually do create room for joy. For insight into how to do something that sparks us – our hearts, our souls, our brains – and we can turn this time of uncertainty and fear into something creative.

You don’t have to write a book; you can just take the time to read one. Do a deep dive into a show that you know will make you happy (and I keep mentioning Apple TV’s Ted Lasso for a reason) or just start that rainy day project (organizing photos, anyone?) that you always said, “One day…one day….”

We have one day. Today. And I wish you a lighter heart and the sight of sparks. Even tiny ones. It can be static electricity. The energy is around us, it’s within us and it’s driving us to find a way to get through this. With joy.

Just a thought… This too shall pass. When things are bad, remember: It won’t always be this way. Take one day at a time. When things are good, remember: It won’t always be this way. Enjoy every great moment. [Doe Zantamata]

I’m sorry there’s no written journal today – if you go to the video version you’ll understand why. You’ll find it on my Facebook page or on YouTube. And for the folks who don’t have speakers (I hear from one kind lady) just hit the CC under the YouTube screen and you should be fine.

I messed myself up skating yesterday. Fortunately, you can’t see the injury and neither can I. So don’t be squeamish – come in for a laugh and stay for the pathetic story. And have a safe and healthy weekend.

Just a quote… What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered? [Groundhog Day]

Yeah, it’s just a bit too true to be funny, but here we are. For a video version of today’s blog go to my Facebook page or YouTube.

Hey, welcome to February. I don’t really care what some rodent does tomorrow; unless it comes up wearing a mask, it’s really kind of out of tune with what’s going on in the world. And, honestly, why would you wake someone up who’s lucky enough to be sleeping through all of this, anyway? Let him get his beauty rest.

You might as well ask a raccoon for the lottery numbers. Makes about as much sense, whether you’re talking to Wiarton Willie, Punxsutawney Phil, Shubenacadie Sam…or whatever moniker they’re going by.

I don’t know if you’re like me, but I love to greet someone by their name. If you were ever on a listener trip with me, you’ll know that I studied names and pictures on the flight to our destination so that I’d have every listener and their travel partner’s name memorized by the time we landed.

It didn’t work every time – like if a couple wasn’t together and I had committed Mark with the mustache: Mustache Mark…Mork and Mindy…Mark and Mandy!­ to memory. It was all about association and, much of the time, it worked.

Why go to that trouble? It comes back to some wisdom a sales manager once told me – something that I think originated with Dale Carnegie, the self-improvement and public speaking guru – that went like this: “There is no sweeter sound to one’s ear than the sound of his name.” Perhaps this is truer in sales than anywhere else, but it was a nugget of gold that I tucked away as just another way to connect with people.

I do this a lot in my real life – whatever that is these days – although I do question it sometimes. I call servers by their names if they introduce themselves. If a cashier at the grocery store wears a name tag and I have a question or want to thank her, I’ll use her name. Especially to thank her these days.

I was talking with my son-in-law and his wife a few weeks back and asked how the person on the receiving end of their name feels about it. Both seemed rather lukewarm; they said it depended on the tone with which the person was using it. I get that; as a couple who’ve both worked in the food hospitality business, I’m sure that there have been plenty of rude or implacable customers who have connected Phil or Brooke’s names to a complaint or some snark. And that’s unfortunate.

Tone can also be used to imply that the person on the receiving end is somehow lesser than the one who’s speaking it. That pains me even to write, but you know it’s true because there are a lot of jerks out there who don’t recognize that a human being is serving their coffee or reaching out the drive-thru window in sub-zero temperatures or reminding them to please keep their grocery bags on the little pull-out shelf and not in the area where the items that have been rung through are sitting (of which I was guilty yesterday – thank you, Anna, for pointing that out).

Anyway, Phil and Brooke’s opinions were valuable, but I’ll never stop saying someone’s name, in hopes that my efforts land softly, as they’re intended.

One time I did it, and caused some all-out laughter. I was in a liquor store and the woman serving me had on a name tag. As she rang my purchases through, I looked at her little plastic plaque and said, “Oh, BYID! Is that Welsh?”

“No,” she replied, “It means Bring Your ID.”

OMG we laughed. That was just classic me: best intentions, but putting my foot in it. We’re still laughing – ’cause these days, you have to, right?

Have a great day – thanks for coming by. And we’ll be with you here again on Thursday with another journal.