Omicron variant and my upcoming trip

The Omicron variant is threatening the holidays and more. I'm not sure whether it'll affect my travel plans just yet. The good news is that I can change my plane ticket details without a penalty, if required.

Booster shots in Canada are now available for folks fifty years of age and older. I still need to wait for mine. In the meantime, I continue to be cautious, which has always been the case since this pandemic started.

My guess is that capacity limits will be imposed in public places. The Omicron variant seems to be spreading faster in communities than through travel in Canada.

My worst fear is that the border closes between Canada and the United States, and I am in the latter country. Here's hoping that it doesn't happen and I can complete my upcoming trip.

Proof of vaccination and antigen tests

Ontario now has a COVID-19 proof of vaccination certificate. I downloaded mine a couple of hours ago.

I was eligible to download it on Saturday, but didn't know about it until yesterday. I like that it clearly lists both my shots. I no longer need to flag my two receipts on my phone. This one works well and comes with a QR code, which I hope works.

I have been researching places to get my COVID-19 rapid antigen shot here. I have read that Shoppers Drug Mart doesn't issue a professional-looking receipt according to some unhappy customers. Although valid for travel to the States, I have heard some horror stores of negative test results being written by hand and don't look professional when presented at the airport.

After doing quite a bit of research, I have found three other drugstores that provide certificates for the same price as SDM. So, I'll give one of them a try next month and will report back with my findings.

I am excited about travelling again. 

SIM cards for stateside travel

I have been looking at SIM cards to use while in the States. In the past, I used Roam Mobility and it was awesome. Sadly, the pandemic caused this company to close for good.

I have found a SIM card that provides unlimited calls and texts for thirty days, along with 5 GB of data. It sounds promising.

Down the road, I'd like to subscribe to Mint Mobility. There is a deal where you pay $15 a month for three months. You lock that price in when you buy in batches. The catch is that I would need to buy a SIM card when I am stateside. I can't get it shipped to Canada.

My plan is to get the first SIM card first. I'll then get the Mint Mobility SIM and use it going forward.

It has been fascinating doing research on details that I didn't have to pay attention to in the past.

Travel plans

I am contemplating travel. If I were to go somewhere, it would be stateside to pay my respects to my friend who passed away earlier this year.

It's not a normal travel goal to have. It is mine, which is normal to me right now.

I can fly to the States. I need to do a COVID-19 test, prove that I have been vaccinated, and take plenty of time to travel.

Part of me is excited. Part of me is not looking forward to the extra overhead associated with travelling during a pandemic.

I haven't decided when I'll head down, but it will be before this year is over. I'm hopeful and optimistic. I'm also overly cautious.

The ex who isn't swift

The guy that I dated briefly for two months earlier this year decided to write a brief e-mail to me the other day. I have since deleted it.

He said that he can't stop thinking about me and that I should come visit him.

Um, no.

First, he doesn't get that I want nothing to do with him. He proved that he doesn't and didn't respect me as a person. Second, the border between Canada and the United States is closed. If I were able to travel to the States, I wouldn't be visiting this guy.

He has reinforced why things didn't work out between us. He's not the sharpest tool in anyone's shed.

Working from home - company-wide till the end of March

On Friday, I received an e-mail saying that employees can work from home till the end of the month. It requires manager approval.

My manager is a control freak. Although I see myself getting approval, the fact that his entire team can potentially work from home this month without his full control over the situation will be difficult for him to digest.

I have been fortunate to have had support from friends and colleagues over his horrible delivery about my being banned from the workplace because I went to the States. It's one thing to be safe. It's also about being compassionate, which he lacks as a person.

Banned from the office for travelling to the States

My manager has given me a work-from-home sentence for travelling to the States. The way in which he did it wasn't nice.

To put things into content, I returned home from the States last Tuesday. I then got food poisoning. I worked from home last Wednesday, and took last Thursday and Friday off as sick days.

My first day back in the office was on Monday. I was tired from all the throwing up and not eating much, but I was fine otherwise.

Yesterday, I worked from home. I received an e-mail from my manager with two questions:

• Did I travel abroad while I was on vacation?
• Where did I go?

Without any context, getting personal questions about where I went on vacation was odd and really none of his business. Without having a chance to respond to this e-mail, he pinged me on our company instant messaging app to reply to his e-mail. I didn't like that approach, either.

I asked him whether his line of questioning was due to COVID-19. He said yes and that it was travel policy. Interesting. Our travel policy has not listed the States as being a place where you need to self-isolate immediately when you arrive back in Canada.

So, I let him know that I was in the States. He wrote back saying that I was to remain at home for fourteen days from the day that I returned. He actually wrote, "DO NOT come to the office."

What annoyed me more was his tons of questions about who I came in contact with and for how long. I wrote back and asked whether this was truly policy. I then had lunch at 2 pm.

He wrote back and said that it wasn't a formal policy. It made me think that he was being cautious and paranoid simultaneously. He saw my car parked in the lot at work and put this association together.

He then pinged me on my instant messaging app and said that I needed to respond to his e-mail immediately. I'm sorry, but I had a ton of work that needed attention. He claimed that his request was top priority and a response would take "a minute" after I said that I needed some time. I finally put my foot down and said, "Not, it does not. Again, I need some time."

He is a jerk who has no compassion. I wrote back an hour later, indicating that having some context would have been nice.

I talk to a lot of people at work. It comes with the job. He decided well before my response to send my intern home. My intern and I had lunch together on Monday. I frankly think that my manager took things too far. I don't have any symptoms of COVID-19 and he made me feel like crap.

I let my intern and a friend at work know about this situation just after it happened. I'm glad that I did. My intern figured it out and let me know that he was sent home. My friend has been there for support since this situation occurred, which I appreciate.

I don't mind working from home. I get to save time and gas. I just don't like how this decision was delivered to me and his approach.

Chatting with my guy about stick shifters

My guy called me as he was driving back from a small town forty minutes away from where he lives.

"What were you doing there?" I asked him.
"I'm getting a shifter for my classic car," he said.

He explained that he can't shift between gears well on the existing one.

"The shifter needs to be tight," he explained.
"Yes, I have lots of experience with your shifter being tight," I teased.

He was telling me that he found some in the States, but duty and shipping fees would kill him. I reminded him that I was driving over the border in less than two weeks. I advised that he could ship it to the hotel where I am staying and I'd drive back with it.

He loved that I would do that for him. I just asked him to let me know when he has completed his order. I'd then drop it off to him when I return from my weekend getaway.

Road trip, food, and plans

I am doing a road trip to the States in a couple of weeks. I am away for four days.

I like planning such trips. I have already done my hotel reservations. I have been researching places to eat, which is fun. The downside is that I have more places bookmarked than meals to eat!

Variety is good. It's also nice to take a break from my hectic work schedule and relax.

Shopping and technology

My guy and I share a love for shopping. Just before Christmas, a number of items had arrived from the States.

I lived in Minnesota for two years. I developed a love for watching QVC and ordering a number of items at decent prices. At one point, after I had moved back to Canada, QVC shipped up here. It then decided to stop doing that.

I found a service that provides you an address in the States. You provide this address as your shipping address. This service then takes your shipments sent to your U.S. address and ships them to its Canadian warehouse at reasonable rates. Since I learned about this service, I use it as often as I need to.

The good news is that I work pretty close to the pickup location that it is effortless to fetch my shipments. The folks there are kind and helpful. I actually ordered a fairly weighty baker's rack. The gentleman managed to place it in my car, which included the two of us shifting it around in my car to make it fit.

One item that I love these days that I had ordered from QVC is my Amazon Echo. It's a speaker, but you can ask Alexa pretty much anything. I ask her to provide me the current weather forecast, play specific songs, lower or hike up the volume, set alarms, and more. It is a ton of fun so far. My Echo is white, which I didn't realize that it typically is black.

Amazon Echo is not available in Canada for purchase. I didn't realize that fact! It works wonderfully. The sound is great and it recognizes my voice!

During the Boxing Day sale at Best Buy, which ended up lasting for what seems to be weeks, I got a new printer. I haven't printed anything to it yet, as I just got around to unpacking it yesterday. I do like the fact that I can send files or photos from my phone to the printer. Fancy!

My guy isn't surprised that I have these items. I love technology and I am his geeky gadget girl. I tried to convince him that I am a good geeky gadget girl, but he manages to always tell me that I am far from being good.