I mentioned privately last week that I'd been accepted for enrolment into the Canadian Dental Insurance Plan. The one that our federal government hired Sun Life to administer for everyone earning less than C$90K/year and not already covered by their employer or their province?

That one.

I finally got the card in the papermail from Sun Life today.

Orange and pink and white plastic.

It's just hitting me now that, after over three decades of paying out of pocket by instalments for my dental health basics - exams, fillings and repairs of same, that sort of thing - I no longer have to worry about that part of my life's financial juggling. It's already covered through my federal income tax from now on unless I land a sufficiently lucrative job with its own coverage.

Hoping it all works out.

I've been reminded over on TrekBBS that there's ongoing medical fundraisers for two writers whose work on comic books and on Star Trek I've enjoyed reading and re-reading over the decades.

Mike W. Barr

Peter A. David

I am wondering after today...what happens to the banking connections. The main credit card companies operating in Canada are American-based. I have one of those. All our major banks - including the one I deal with - now have American operations. The Boston Bruins operate out of a rink with the Toronto-Dominion Bank brand all over it.

I just self-tested again, and I still seem to be avoiding/delaying my second COVID-19 infection. So that's good news.

I'm scheduled to be laid off because end-of-contract on March 14th. This will have been a personal best at 15 months' steady work. That should improve the odds of being (re)hired somewhat.

The science-fiction club Zoom meeting last night fizzled due to various issues, so we're going to try again in two weeks.

I'm up to working on four map projects with the Tranquility Press fanfic collective.

More later.

Trying to shop for a 4XL winter jacket for myself without travelling too far out of my neighbourhood. My current jacket is about 10 years old, and the design works for my brain. Trouble is that retailers have their own ideas about what I should be able to buy these days.
No buttons in front, zippered pockets...these are features to my brain, not design errors.

Looking for recommendations, not financial support.

The logic of Stephen Harper and Donald Trump is at work here. If you make sure that you can't look for it, you won't find it. If you don't find it, it doesn't exist as a problem. If it doesn't exist as a problem, it doesn't have to be solved.

Linking to tweets by GP and occasional CBC News commentator Dr. Iris Gorfinkel:

https://x.com/DrGorfinkel/status/1841225759681364201

https://x.com/DrGorfinkel/status/1841285113486671877

I'm still here. Still working on the maps, still employed in the current day job, still hanging in here and elsewhere across sometimes-still-social media.

As regards today's op-ed cartoon by Greg Perry...

Whatever his own opinion, the family he depicted have a legitimate reason for a long, loud cry of frustration: COVID-19 is still very much part of the picture. So long as we don't require masking up properly and good air-cleaning measures in our workplaces - including public transit to and from those spaces - and our various levels of government are not dealing with the pandemic still in progress in the proper ways otherwise, SARS-CoV-2 and its medical consequences will still plague us. Socially, economically, in every way possible. The vaccines we have are still not enough in and of themselves to end the pandemic.

Therefore, Dads and kids everywhere have every right to keep crying.

I get reminded that it's this month - July - just as it's ending.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability_Pride_Month

Not feeling great about that for a number of reasons, some of which we've discussed here.

I had a chair problem start on Sunday: two of the wheel assemblies in my office chair just snapped right under me. Bought the chair barely half a year ago because the older office chair was starting to lean a bit to one side.

Bought the chair from Jysk barely half a year ago because the older office chair was starting to lean a bit to one side.

In theory, I could find replacement parts and install them myself. I don't think I can find the right part(s), though. Not fast enough. The chair that broke is a Snertinge from Jysk. Bought it six months ago. I'm currently down to two options from Staples:

1) Serta Brinkley
2) Staples Turcotte Luxura

Recommendations, anyone?