Sickness Continued

I woke up and went off to the doctor. They took bloodwork and tested for Flu A/B, Strep, and Covid. All negative. Fun, fun, fun… The doctor said my eyes looked glassy. No fever. Pulse was fine. Oxygen fine. Blood pressure was fine. I was not. I was tired, and the trip was an hour and a half just to get there. All of my doctors are in Fairfax or Arlington, since I have not switched doctors when I moved over the years, and some of them have moved as they progressed in their profession.

If the home tests had been positive for COVID, the doctor said they would have let me stay home and reschedule this routine appointment for bloodwork, but she wanted to see me in person and listen to my breathing. There is some wheezing in my upper chest where all of the mucus is building up. She prescribed standard antibiotics (Amoxicillin-clavulanate) to treat a bacterial infection, Benzonatate to suppress coughing, and the day and nighttime over-the-counter medicines I have already been taking. After stopping for my first meal of the day and picking up the medications at the pharmacy, I got back home around 3 and took a nap.

General Ledger

I got an update on some of the discrepancies that I sent to the county regarding General Ledger entries. They have taken some corrective action! Woo hoo! I did a thing! The Finance Director sent me a memo she had sent to the County Administrator and asked whether he had contacted me. I had not heard a thing. But this is the first objective evidence I have had of a corrective action performed. If this all sounds like sheer boredom, get ready for your eyes to look glassy, too!

Church

The pastor wants to hold a collaborative service with the Spanish-speaking congregation, including interaction between himself and the other pastor, with real-time translation in both languages. It is an interesting challenge. I have seen a few OBS plugins and services that support this, but the service is in two weeks, so I do not have much time to experiment at home. My dad used to minister to a Spanish-speaking congregation, so I will reach out to see if he is up for helping me test a few platforms.

Since I have been sick, I watched the live stream on Sunday instead of attending in person. I learned a few things and noticed a sound issue at the beginning, when the stream was muted as soon as the piano started playing. Since I ran the soundboard the previous week, I want to know how to prevent that from happening again.

AI Music

I have been posting reels on Facebook featuring some of the music I created with AI over the summer. Producer.ai has a feature that lets you download a video with synchronized lyrics, so I have been cleaning everything up, turning them into short videos, and sharing them. People seem to enjoy the catchy tunes, even when the message is a bit comedic.

United Methodist Church

Over the summer, I was approached about a possible project to digitize documents for a local church. Since I was already active with the Samuels Public Library (SPL), which had a Memory Lab and was doing weekly archival work with the Warren Heritage Society (WHS), I reached out to both organizations to see if they might want to help. At the time, neither had the resources to take it on.

Afterward, I submitted my own proposal to scan and catalog the materials – 80 hours of work, set up an Omeka site to host them for a year, and offer two one-hour training sessions. The estimate came in just under $4,000, and I made it clear that everything was flexible within a 90-day window.

Occasionally, someone would check in to see whether I’d heard anything back, but the answer was always no. Then, more recently, I began hearing that both SPL and WHS were getting involved. Today I saw an article (Grants from Front Royal church give back to the community) announcing that WHS received a $12K grant and SPL received $6K for the project.

I’m genuinely glad the two organizations I originally approached are now able to support this important work. At the same time, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little disappointing that nothing moved forward when I first stepped in, and that the church never followed up with me directly.

Still, the documents will be preserved—and that’s ultimately what matters most.

Rotary

The past president of the Front Royal Rotary Club and current District Governor reached out to request photographs of Rotary events in preparation for a history project for the 100th anniversary. I sent over about 20 images I had, mainly from a Christmas party and a roadside cleanup. I also said I’d be interested in helping if they had any documents needing to be digitized or donated to the Warren Heritage Society. Two weeks ago, I attended the Warren County Rotary Club as a guest. I didn’t make any commitments to join. I’ve got so much going on right now.

Masonry

Blue Lodge

Our election is on Wednesday, and it looks like I’ll be moving up to the next seat. I’m a little nervous, but also grateful to be progressing step by step. At some point, I’m going to need proper training if I ever hope to serve as Master of the lodge, but for now, I’m taking it as it comes.

Royal Arch

I haven’t been able to attend many Royal Arch meetings lately because they usually overlap with Board of Supervisors sessions, where I often speak or monitor what is going on. I received a gentle reminder to try attending more regularly, and tomorrow’s meeting finally falls on a night without a conflict. Unfortunately, I’m still sick—and to top it off, I’m waiting on a red jacket that may or may not arrive before I leave. Everyone else wears red, and I’d rather not stand out in a dark jacket if I can help it, but we’ll see how things go.

Shrine

There’s a Christmas parade and party this Saturday, which will bring the most active masons in community events from Front Royal over to Manassas. I ordered a Shriners shirt to wear at future events and mentioned that I’d be interested in a clown club shirt as well if they ever bring them back. One of the guys from the car club invited me to join after I showed him my CitiCar and explained some of the modernization work I’d done on it, so that might be another fun direction to explore.

Apple Valley Shrine Club

Last Tuesday, I was volunteering at “What the Tech!” in the Maker Space, though no one happened to come in for assistance. With the time open, I asked about the sublimation printer, and they offered to walk me through making a mug with a logo. We downloaded the Apple Valley Shrine Club logo, and the mug turned out great – just needed a little extra heat. Since then, I ordered a box of 12 individually packaged 11-oz mugs, plus sublimation paper and thermal tape for a total of $28 (about $2.33 each). The club is even considering selling them as a fundraiser, so this may turn into something useful for the group.

Order of the Eastern Star

The Worthy Matron of our local OES chapter asked if I played Pinochle. I told her that I used to play with my grandmother as a kid, but I’ve long since forgotten how. I also mentioned that I get asked the same question nearly every time I show up for Mah Jongg. I suggested she stop by the community center during one of the Mah Jongg days to meet the folks who always ask me about Pinochle. I also let her know that a few of the other masons play Mah Jongg occasionally. She did – and she ended up learning about American Mah Jongg, having a good time, and, as I suspected, being asked whether she played Pinochle.

Meanwhile, the Mah Jongg group has been encouraging me to come back more often. I finally bought my own Mah Jongg card, so I don’t have to keep borrowing one, which officially makes me a member of the National Mah Jongg League with my own registration number. Maybe one day I’ll even have my own set of bones.