August 21, 2025

There were 4 posts published on August 21, 2025 (this is page 1 of 1).

Trying to find a COVID booster shot

Kelly and I are traveling in a few weeks so we both decided it made sense to get a COVID booster shot. COVID cases are ramping up again, with some cities reporting infections are reaching levels they usually do in February, which is concerning for late summer.

Kelly got a shot on Sunday and it absolutely leveled her for Monday. She slept until 5 PM, with fatigue, chills, fever, nausea, joint pain: all the typical COVID symptoms which apparently can sometimes manifest from the vaccine.

I am not looking forward to being similarly knocked out, though my previous COVID shots affected me very little. So I reached out to the Durham VA and asked if I could get a walk-in shot.

The nurse responded a few days ago and suggested I make an appointment to be sure that the vaccine brand I wanted was in stock. She later reached back out and said that neither the Moderna nor the Pfizer version are in stock and she would have to figure out when they might come in.

This is … concerning … as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is doing his damnedest to destroy our healthcare system and get us all killed. If we’re at February levels of COVID right now, imagine where we will be in the winter when more interactions take place indoors?

I am really glad I work from home right now.

I still remember the efficient operation the VA undertook to vaccinate veterans and their caregivers in 2021. It is a stunning contrast.

Back to East CAC duty for me

Since it seems 2010 is making a comeback in my life, it’s only fair that I am in charge of the East Citizens Advisory Council again. This happened today when the current Chair, my neighbor Jean, abruptly stepped down. As Vice-Chair, I’m now in charge for the first time in a decade.

I’d been working to mentor Jean in how to make things happen and made it a point to let her lead. As a fifty-six year old who’s had his turn already in leading this group, I feel strongly that it’s time the younger generation had a chance to try running things. My role was to be a coach and help get things running smoothly as we were starting essentially from scratch after the City of Raleigh abruptly disbanded CACs in February 2020.

Now I must spend time recruiting a new leader and reviving this organization on my own if need be. I have put in too much work in CACs over the years to let them wither, so I feel it’s worth a good push right now. Further, civic engagement is what this country so desperately needs at the moment.

I guess everything old is new again, eh?

Chasing hallieandtravis.com again

When the kids became young adults and I tapered off my regular blogging about them (and me – their blog was as much about my journey as a parent as it was about them), I opted to let the hallieandtravis.com domain expire. I’d always had far too many domains to juggle and I took a gamble that it might sit idle until I was one day ready to set it up again.

About two years ago, I saw that the domain was active again, serving as the wedding guest registry of a Nebraska couple.

Good on them, I thought. I hope they have a wonderful wedding. But I also thought that maybe when the wedding was done the domain might be made available again. When the renewal date came this spring and then got extended, my heart sank.

After rediscovering that post about the magic day in 2010 today, I decided I would try to reach out to the current domain owners and ask if they would be willing to let me buy the domain again. I sent an email to an address I had guessed about and it didn’t bounce, but I also didn’t receive a response.

I am hopeful I can reclaim the domain someday and perhaps share those writings with the world again.

Sweet memory lifts me today

I was working my way through the blog this morning when I found this post of a touching walk I took with Travis fifteen years ago when he was six.

A special walk home

I met Kelly and the kids at Hallie’s school to hear an update from the teacher on Hallie’s progress. I left smiling when her teacher called her “phenomenal,” but little did I know I wasn’t done with hearing good things. I decided to forgo hitching a ride home with Kelly in the van in keeping with my carpooling experiment today and opted instead to walk the 1/2 mile home. Travis decided to join me, so together we walked up the hill back to our house.

As we walked, we chatted about lots of things. He wanted to hold my hand and so we walked up the hill hand-in-hand. As the conversation continued, he said something that made me remark “that wouldn’t be my favorite thing.”

“You know what’s my favorite thing?” he asked as we kept walking. “My love for you.”

All I could say was “awwww” and returned the compliment. It was so sweet to hear but as I thought about it later I only appreciated it more. Travis will often tell someone he loves them but it’s rare that he offers it the way that he did.

His hand in mine, the pleasant walk, and words that would make any father proud: it doesn’t get much better than this.

This day came in the immediate aftermath of my friend Gerry dying. For many weeks at work, I would stuff earbuds into my ears and listen to yearning music as I worked alone in the aisles of the NetApp datacenter, sorting through my grief.

Wow, what a special day that was, lifting me at a time I really needed it. I’m still so thankful.