{"id":48554,"date":"2021-02-20T18:19:08","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T23:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=48554"},"modified":"2021-02-20T18:19:08","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T23:19:08","slug":"the-culture-of-waiting-for-a-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=48554","title":{"rendered":"The culture of waiting for a shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether one focuses obsessively on getting that Appointment or behaves like me — checking in a couple of times a day — we have to face the uncomfortable fact: we are captured by a culture.<\/p>\n

The good thing is, it isn’t a cult. Because we don’t have a Dear Leader.<\/p>\n

Today Walgreen\/Duane Reade transformed itself on line from a general store\/drug store into a big tease. Here’s how they did it:<\/p>\n

Earlier today I made the move, now rote, into the NYC vaccine finder and, also rote, clicked into the Walgreen\/Duane Reade opening vaccine page. My fingers entered the few lines required and…OMG! I sat up sharply when I saw, for the first time, the sentence (in green) “Appointment available.” Or something like that.<\/p>\n

It was an invitation to accept an appointment (!!) at a Walgreen\/Duane Reade somewhere on Third Avenue (I didn’t care where) at 10:30 am (I didn’t care when, I’d get up in the middle of the night for a shot), on Monday. This coming Monday.<\/p>\n

Be still my heart. I accepted the invitation! And read that, oh, gee, we aren’t actually ready to see you (me, that is) at the specified time and place so maybe try again later.<\/p>\n

Big Tease.<\/p>\n

But I can feel it in my bones. My left upper arm is getting closer to the syringe.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, with time on the very hands which are the termini of both my arms, I began thinking about Plattsburgh International Airport. Why is it international?<\/p>\n

Well, here’s a current flight schedule board.<\/a><\/p>\n

No destination on that board is international, as far as I can make out, although Punta Gorda sounds exotic enough to be in another country. Although it is attached by a slash mark (\/) to Ft. Myers.<\/p>\n

So what makes an airport international? This:<\/p>\n

The International<\/b> Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) told us that in order to be defined as international<\/b>, an airport<\/b> must have customs and immigration services, as well as an emergency medical centre and a quarantine zone for animals and plants. Around the globe, there are more than 1,300 international airports<\/b>.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

That is<\/em> informative, especially that “emergency medical centre” (the spelling of “center” must be the international part) and quarantine zone for animals and plants. However, being international doesn’t seem to require an airport to land and\/or take off international flights.<\/p>\n

And Plattsburgh doesn’t. It doesn’t even fly to Qu\u00e9bec, probably because it’d be quicker to stroll there. Maybe the airport is desirous of attracting tourists from, say, Sochi, and set up its international services as a kind of flag: “Come here, you’ll like it, here’s what we look like, here’s a list of major things to do in Plattsburgh<\/a>, we have only one runway but it’s long enough…”<\/p>\n

The airport has a restaurant. One restaurant. Then, in town, check out especially Elf’s Farm Winery and Cider Mill, as well as the Imaginarium Children’s Museum of the North Country.<\/p>\n

I just spent a lot of time trying to grab images to paste in here of (1) a map with directions from my location to Plattsburgh and (2) pictures of Plattsburgh, but as usual I’ve failed.<\/p>\n

Here’s a street map of Plattsburgh. Why? Because it’s the only thing I’ve been able to copy and paste here:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Other than that I’ve got nuthin’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether one focuses obsessively on getting that Appointment or behaves like me — checking in a couple of times a day — we have to face the uncomfortable fact: we are captured by a culture. The good thing is, it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5369,1175],"tags":[6858,6859,6856,6855,6857],"class_list":["post-48554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-covid-19","category-the-facts-of-life","tag-ft-myers-florida","tag-international-civil-aviation-organisation","tag-plattsburgh-international-airport","tag-plattsburgh-new-york","tag-punta-gorda"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t