Here’s a tradition that should have ended during the pandemic and must never be revived: blowing out candles on a birthday cake. It never seemed very sanitary to have someone exhaling all over the food everyone is about to eat. Just put one candle in the piece they cut for themselves. Also, the older the person, the worse the spittle factor. “Mmm, what kind of icing is this?” “Grandpa’s saliva!” 

One of my pet peeves is when a company’s website has two-factor authentication and tells me it will text me a code before allowing me to log in, or send an email allowing me to reset my password, but then it doesn’t come for 15 minutes or more. This is all automated, so why does it take them so long when other sites do it instantaneously? I chalk it up to yet another example of technology set up by IT people who don’t experience their work as consumers do.

“Ask your doctor.” We’ve heard that phrase in pharmaceutical commercials for decades. I’ve also used it as a suggestion for those who aren’t sure whether they should get a COVID vaccine. But the sad fact is a lot of people don’t have a primary physician. They can’t afford even a single office visit. Or they have no health insurance. If they or someone in their family get seriously ill or injured, they go to a hospital emergency room or an urgent care center. But other than that, they go on with their lives with no professional medical input whatsoever. That often means going to work while sick, which was problematic before the pandemic, but even worse over the last 17 months.

It has only been a few days, but I already miss not watching the Olympics.