New things as the world spins

 Life goes on... 

This morning I left my house with the thought of going to the bank's ATM to deposit a tiny little check that showed up in my mail yesterday.  Yes, a physical check.  Haven't seen one of those in, well, a while.  I have written some (the kid who mows my grass, the dentist...) since the pandemic hit, but this is the first one that came to me.  Everything is electronic these days.  I have not even spent all the cash that I withdrew to use as tips in March 2020!  I have gone to all on-line.  No touch credit cards, ordering and paying online, etc. has accellerated, even for many of us senior citizens.

I figured I might even dash into the grocery store and get some bananas (I'm out) and brussels sprouts, in case they have some better looking ones, because I plan to roast some for our little Thanksgiving get-together.  But as I turned the corner toward both goals, I saw flashing lights.  There has apparently been some kind of accident where the grocery turn in is, and the fire engine and other emergency vehicles are up there, flashing away.

Re-setting, I turned toward the bank drive-thru.  When I got there, all the drive-thru windows were marked CLOSED, and the ATM had extra protective rails around it... and... I chickened out, turned the other way, and came on home.  (Turns out it was just before they opened... when I drove by later, the drive-thru windows were open.)

At the time though, that meant I was about to be pushed in another direction.  Another nudge of accelleration toward the future (the present for the young folks in the world).  For the first time evah, as the kids would say, I used the bank's mobile app on my phone to deposit a check!

I had used the mobile check in app for my doctor's office last year, so I could see the advantages of such a thing.  I mean, using the phone's camera, that one would record my insurance card.  Why shouldn't a bank be able to do the same with a photo of your endorsed check?

And I could be safe at home.  I still haven't explored the feature that allows one to pay other ordinary people from the phone.  Nor have I set up the other phone as payment features, but I understand the Scandanavian countries have been paying with their phones for several years already.  I know it is how "the kids" pay for parking meters downtown, but I have yet to do that, either!

... as the case counts surge

One of the motivations for coming home lies in being in a "lagging" state that is only now surging with the rest of the upper midwest, in terms of Covid 19 cases.  Thursday we posted the highest case count identification, locally, since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the local news.  Of course, most of these are either people who have not been vaccinated, or those whose vaccination was more than six months ago, and they had not yet gotten a booster.  Still, as an "older" person, it's a scary time.

I have gone back to picking up my groceries curbside again, for the most part, in the past two weeks.  I don't feel particulary unsafe, though.  I am fully vaccinated and boosted.  I feel that I am choosing the people I am around unmasked carefully, and otherwise, if indoors or in a crowd, I mask.  I have done what I can, and I don't feel any more at risk than if there were a bad flu season.  I have perhaps become more cautious over the course of the past year and a half about these things, but it feels more normal now.  Adapting.

And the pep talk!

Time to get out there and live our lives, eh?  Best can do, this one and only Friday, November 19, 2021 we'll ever get.  Fuel for our bodies, activity for our minds, inspiration for our souls.

Oh, and yesterday I opened my mailbox and found out my old work team has not forgotten me... a card signed by the gang!  Made me smile... and ponder what nasty little bug they found in my code that made them think of me!