Remember, this is the blog where I share my opinions. So far I haven't insulted anyone enough that they wrote anything nasty in a comment....or perhaps blogger has some kind of censorship/editing method.
Anyway this is what happened Fri. July 19.
I woke up with major pain in my right lung...blowing my nose hurt the lung worse, and I cringed at the thought that I'd probably cough sometime soon. So I immediately took Tylenol. Then my temperature, which was normal. OK, maybe this would clear up, I thought. I tried to get in to see a medical professional to get my antibiotic boosted by steroids, which has helped in the past. No luck. I finally talked to my care coordinator, and he suggested Urgent Care to get an X-ray, and if that didn't work, go to ER. That's still in the back pocket, and I will have to be major sick to do so!
My friends who are aware of climate change, already know that we've passed the beginning of the end of our comfortable (?) life with techno gadgets, gas cars, plastics out the wahoo, and fake everything.
But for my life, I've been kind of waiting for some crisis that might mean the crumble of the infrastructure. That has certainly been given in many of our post apocalyptic movies (which I generally don't watch because I don't respond well to gloom and doom.)
However yesterday after I'd attempted to get an X-ray of my lungs, only to find the Urgent Care people's computers were down. I drove home, and as I walked from my car to my apartment, I wondered if this was the beginning of the end of our infrastructure.
I later learned (maybe a half hour later) that there was a world wide outage of Microsoft programs that had closed airports, banks, ATM's, and various schools. Since my little laptop is a Microsoft designated power-module, I immediately thought I'd better back up things. I'd had the thumb drive inserted already, thinking I'd take a few minutes soon to do so. But this made me immediately open it and begin the process of transferring all my recent data onto it.
I had to take a break and go to lunch. Fortunately Judy came to pick me up. My breathing was shallow to avoid the pain. I had done my 15 min. on the Tera-vest shaking my lungs, and about 5 minutes with nebulizer, to again shake the stuff loose. But I just couldn't do deep coughs because of the pain. I fiddled with my pulse-ox reader whose batteries had died, and charged some rechargeable ones. Good oxygen in my blood.
Ate well, with only small coughs and holding my sides from the pain. Back home, finished the backup to thumb-drive of most of my life. Not any blogs though. They are only out in the ether...through a google program.
If things like Australian and Asheville airports have to close (as well as Milwaukee, thinking of the GOP conventioneers!) this is really a BIG THING.
I read that much at noon on my iPhone checking a "news update" from our local TV station. When I tried live TV, various national news stations didn't have anything about it.
If it's all gone away by the evening news, it should be interesting. A possible interruptions of services.
The news program said our local hospital had internet and no problems. So I still have that ER option, with at least 3 friends offering to drive me, if breathing or coughing problems intensify. I found I couldn't lie down for a nap, even using my C-PAP because again I'd have the cough tickle, and would need to sit up to just to clear it. So sitting at the laptop is more comfortable for now.
AC - I have a recliner, but lying back is a position which triggers my coughing...so I just am using it as a rocker. Sleep with just one pillow, though playing solitaire in bed I do double it up. That sometimes pinches a nerve and my fingers go numb...so I have to be careful there.
Isn't life grand? I'm not ungrateful today. Just reporting on what's happening. The news was updated a couple of hours ago, with increasing statements by Associated Press. OK they have interviewed someone. The folks behind the Microsoft problem are the important ones...not the airlines or banks!
From cybersecurity company, CrowdStrike: they "... pushed a faulty update to its own software that caused affected systems to not boot up correctly. Due to the popularity and extensive use of CrowdStrike's services, the result is a widespread outage with global impact."
AP said: "the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue affected Microsoft 365 apps and services, and escalating disruptions continued hours after the company said it was gradually fixing it."
My conclusion, this early in the series of the reports of what has happened, is much the same as I arrived at following the recent assassination attempt towards Trump. We are going to be managed, as much as possible, by the media.
But the ground is shaking beneath our feet. Pay attention. Stay awake. Put your own opinions together.
And what is the good thing to look for from either of these recent stories?
People can find ways to come together, with humor, with softening of views, with support of our shared humanity. Yes that's the bonding of community which always happens with crisis. There may be some who prefer to compete for resources (and always will) but the majority of us will share with those who are hurt or hungry or suffering loss.
Just my humble opinion.
...don't get me going about Urgent Care, I've been there a few times and the send me to the ER or my Doctor. What are they there for?
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty much my experience too. I was just hoping they could run an X-ray to rule out anything more serious. Too bad.
DeleteDo not hesitate to go to urgent care, please dear Barbara. At least, I’ve had good experiences with ours. I usually check around first and see which one is busiest so I can go to the other one.
ReplyDeleteBoth our motor vehicles division and Social Security offices were closed today because of the Microsoft problem. Agencies and businesses need to have a back-up plan. It’s appalling that they can’t do business at all when the computer goes down. Some stores close down because they don’t even know how to Operate manually. How can that be sensible?
We are so vulnerable to power outages and mischief, to say nothing of cyber attacks. I naïvely thought that after 911, we would move to protect infrastructure. People were talking about it but very little was done. Government should have appropriated money and come up with a master plan back then. It’s been over 20 years and it’s like we didn’t learn anything.
A master plan through the government would be fun to see...slightly unbelievable, since there are so many fluctuations in who's in charge at the moment. A plan made by say the environmentalists (and I bet they would have one in a minute) won't get anywhere with the oil industry. A plan made by the educators to demand gun control won't go anywhere with the National Rifle Association's influence. Congress is maybe divided between 2 parties, but there's this very conservative 3rd faction...which seems to put it's foot down quite often. The President might have a plan for his 4 years in office, but then foreign affairs may smash it with wars that were unexpected when he was elected.
DeleteI wasn't aware that anything amiss had occurred. I guess I live a sheltered life. I am very concerned about your health and hope that you can find resolution. Sorry the recliner doesn't work for you.
ReplyDeleteGoing outside my apartment has been aimed at just the lunch program and health care providers. But my electric company thanked me yesterday for paying $150 on a $400 balance, and another $150 due that day...by email. Of course I'll have to straighten this complete fabrication out and take hours on Monday to do so. I'm glad I have a copy of the correct bill which has a credit balance!
DeleteI hope you get over this. It is wretched. I was awake until 3, rolling around in bed. Sleep would really help us both.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. Resting is called for with healing. I'm sitting erect at computer because any reclining makes my cough come up, and I'm trying very hard to cough through the pain...rather than make sissy coughs that do nothing. Hope you can rest somehow!
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI heard a lot about the so called CrowdStrike patch going wrong. I felt sorry for all the people stuck in airports, waiting for their planes. I do hope you would feel better, I have had good luck at my local urgent care. They diagnosed my Lyme disease just by hearing my symptoms, of course I had blood work was given meds immediately. I hope you get the help you need. Take good care of yourself. Sending prayers and good wishes for your recovery.
Eileen, that's exactly what Urgent Care places are good for. I'm glad they could help you. I really appreciate your good wishes.
DeleteIt is indeed a sad situation when anyone who needs assistance from medical professionals cannot be seen because of failures in technology. It's good that you have friends there ready to assist and that you can be seen at the ER department, although I can understand your hesitation, if needs must it should be considered. The issues you described were widespread even to the extent that the RI hotel we checked into yesterday explained they could only issue a single key card, which wasn't an issue for us, but we heard that other guests were "quite upset." My thought is that there are far worse things to be annoyed about, but such is the state of the world, sadly.
ReplyDeleteI did stop after lunch on the way home at a new rendition of a nearby restaurant. I get their menu on line, and it sounded interesting, with some "take home" items. I just picked up chicken salad and a slice of potato/beet/carrot salad with hard boiled egg crumbles on top. The reason I mentioned it was that they were so glad to get cash, because the banks weren't working correctly. Incidentally they insisted I taste everything I was interested in, and they were both delicious, though a bit pricey. But at this point, having food I want to eat and doesn't take a lot of prep is important.
ReplyDeleteSaturday's Letters from an American (Heather Cox Richardson) just gives one paragraph to the IT story. ". . . a faulty update of software from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike crashed computer systems all over the world. Banks and hospitals were locked out of their own programs, and government services shut down. In the U.S., more than 2,600 flights were canceled and 9,000 were delayed. Bloomberg’s David Rovella quoted Australian security consultant Troy Hunt: “I don’t think it’s too early to call it,” Hunt said. “This will be the largest IT outage in history.”
ReplyDeleteI hope you get better and won't need to go to ER. I read an interview with the writer T.C Boyle in a German paper today where he expressed his fears, in fact he stated that he is very afraid, and that if Trump is reelected, "every living thing on earth will suffer". I often think of my parents, school kids, teenagers during WWII in Germany and after the war, figuring out how to survive, lost families, almost no food, no housing, no medicine, black markets, and trying to understand, find their places, forgiveness, hope. I know that my mother thought for most of her life that she was on borrowed time and would have to pay for her parent's sins.
ReplyDelete