the news of tom brady's departure from the patriots roused me out of bed this morning. i had to read it a few times to make sure it wasn't a mistake. on st.patrick's day no less, where all the bars in boston are closed due to the coronavirus. it's also fittingly enough evacuation day, the sham of a boston holiday which is just an excuse to let the irish get off from work and get drunk. this brady split is just like a divorce: even if it's supposedly amicable, there has to be some hurt feelings, especially in a relationship this long (20 years). rumor has it that the organization offered brady a deal that was lower than his salary last year; feeling under-appreciated, tom brady did the unspeakable and left new england and patriots nation, a fan base that considered him the greatest of all times, nearly god-like in the sports pantheon.

the fairy tale ending would've been for brady to continue playing with the patriots until he retires, but that rarely happens with NFL quarterbacks. even the brightest football star, in the waning years of his career, most often times leave for another team, that's just the way it is. athletes think they can play forever, stay forever young, but sooner or later everyone faces the ravages of time, even tom brady. leaving for another team to play out his last remaining years seems to be how this always ends.

i don't feel bad for brady: makes more money, plays somewhere warm (word on the street is tampa bay buccaneers), plays for fun, none of that pressure. i feel bad for patriots nation though, but we had a good streak, far longer than any sports team should. we still have belichick, and given the choice, i'd pick the coach every single time, in belichick we trust. the 2020-2021 season won't be the same, and it'll be bittersweet to see brady in a different uniform, but at least now the proverbial question can finally be answered: who's actually the best, belichick or brady? we don't see tampa bay in the regular season schedule, so the only way brady and belichick could meet would be in the playoffs. but the following year? the NFL would be insane to not table a buccaneers-patriots matchup.

to be honest, there were a few things about brady i didn't like in recent years. always known to be a modest team player, he started flexing his star power more often, a touch of the prima donna creeping into his normally staid persona. like skipping voluntary workouts, something he never did before. or complaining about his young receiver corp when the problem could very well be the inaccuracy of his aging throwing arm. plus that whole TB12 method is one big sham concocted by his trainer alex guerrero who has a svengali-like control over brady. selling vitamin water and clothing that can turn you into tom brady? who honestly believes that? and i still never got over the fact that he broke up with actress bridget moynahan while she was pregnant with his baby so he could hook up with supermodel gisele. all these little things that we as patriots fan tended to overlook now begin to surface with brady playing for somebody else.

i actually called me mother this morning to break the news to her but she already knew, said all the channels were broadcasting the story, which got me to turn on the tv. i'd forgotten that this would be top story here in boston, the few things that can upstage the non-stop coronavirus coverage. she said she stopped watching tv because of it. this was the first day of my parents' social distancing; there were at the cafe yesterday to clean-up, but now for the next 2 weeks (at least) they're closing shop temporarily.

thank god we have the coronavirus to take our mind off of brady's departure.

the important thing i had to do this morning was to put on my blood sugar sensor, the brady news nearly made me forget. i'd reviewed the instructions yesterday, but took a look at them one more time. the sensor i was putting on was the freestyle libre. it comes with this fancy applicator, the sensitive sensor in a separate packaged container.

i knew it involved sticking a needle into your body to monitor your blood glucose level, that was the part i was most afraid of. i searched for some info online (this 2017 blog posting from a german woman was really helpful), they never call it a needle, but refer to it as a filament. when i finally saw the thing for myself, it didn't look like a filament, it looked like a needle, about 1 cm long, that would be embedded in my body for the next 10 days, like having a tack stuck in your arm. instructions told me to get somebody to help, but i did it by myself in the bathroom mirror. after picking a spot on the back of my right arm and clean the skin with an alcohol pad, i placed the applicator to my skin and pressed down. i was ready to feel the pain but all i heard was a sudden pop as the spring-loaded applicator suddenly attached the sensor to my body. the weird thing was it didn't hurt at all. by psychologically, knowing that there's a needle embedded in my arm, left me anxious, like at any moment i could start feeling the needle.

afterwards i paired the sensor to the reader. i think it uses NFC technology because i needed to put the reader up against the sensor for it to work. it was all very easy, and very high tech, glad i got a chance to play with this cool new toy.

this was day 2 of kevin's work-from-home siege. every day that he's here feels like 2 days, as i'm very aware of his presence in the house, even though i hardly see him. while making an omelette for lunch, i saw him rolling up his blankets like maybe he was making the bed, then i saw him putting on his jacket, like he was going out. could it be? even if he was just to leave for the supermarket for 20 minutes, that's 20 minutes where i can be alone in the house, have some privacy. but then i noticed he'd opened the window, in an attempt to air out his room, obviously because of some coronavirus scare. it was 40°F outside. "kevin, you can't open the window," i told him, "you'll let all the heat out." but he wouldn't listen, said he'd close his bedroom door instead. i agreed to it, but immediately went and turned off the heat; why should i bother to turn up the heat in the house when he's just going to waste it? he left the window open for a few hours, even when he came into the living room to watch a presidential press conference. he wore his winter jacket the whole time.

also we were talking about food, and he said he was going to start using peapod to get his groceries delivered from now on, even though we practically live across the street from a star market. peapod is $10 if your delivery is below $100, $7 if above. i mean, he's a twentysomething millennial, if he ever got the coronavirus, he wouldn't even have any symptoms, and he's afraid to cross the street to get some groceries?

speaking of which, i had no fear of the supermarkets, even though i promised my parents i wouldn't go out. i went to market basket yesterday but they were out of a few things on my grocery list, so i went back today hoping to find them. i rode my bike with the newly-adjusted brakes: they worked great, but now my biggest issue is with the chain that keeps on slipping. i think the fix is to get a new chain, not sure how old that one is but it might've seen better days. market basket was less busy than yesterday; i think people weigh the risk of contracting the disease versus getting food, and a lot of the panic buyers had already been here over the past few days, so now it was fairly quiet. there was just 2 bikes parked on the rack, yesterday there were about 5.

they had everything - including instant noodles - but the pasta shelves were still bare (i wonder if they even got new stock from yesterday?) and the frozen vegetables were nearly picked clean again. canned beans and canned soups they had, but there spots on the shelves where people had cleaned out a specific brand or item. i saw a few more people with masks - it's kind of disconcerting, like seeing a woman wearing a burka, it looks very exotic, all i can see are the eyes, sometimes under a heavy coat i can't even tell if it's a man or woman. i picked up some ingredients for making a quiche (that's going to be one of my dinners for next week). i also wanted to get some flour, in case i wanted to make bread; it was strange, they had plenty of flour, but only this one brand i'd never seen before; i didn't not to buy. while i was paying, an old lady behind me was at least 8 feet away from me. at first i thought she was spacing out but then i realized it was because she didn't want to get close to me. was it me in particular or just everyone? i kind of got offended, and almost decided to give her a few coughs to scare her into changing line. also unlike yesterday, i did not touch my phone while i was at the supermarket.

back at the house, after i thoroughly washed my hands, i gave kevin the cowardly coronavirus dodger a report on what i saw. he thought it was a good sign that i was seeing more people wearing masks (even though it was just a handful), meant that people were taking the coronavirus seriously. after he retreated back into his room after he finished making his lunch, i snuck out again, this time to star market.

star market had a sale on clementines, but i couldn't find them, just the ones that weren't on sale. i left with some fruits: red seedless grapes and two variety of apples, honeycrip and envy. star market was very quiet, unlike when i was there on friday. there was almost a dream-like quality to the place, like i'd be browsing the aisles, everything well-stocked, but then come across a patch of empty shelves, where i then try to guess what had been there previously. keep continue to hoard the bread, even though there was plenty of bread to go around at market basket. likewise the pasta shelves.

while i was out shopping, i got a call from mass general hospital. it was listed as harvey simon, my old doctor who's long retired. why would he be calling me after all these years? turns out it was just the nurse from my regular doctor's office, calling to let me know that my annual physical scheduled for next week would need to be rescheduled. "so you guys are doing this," i said, and she told me they're cancelling all non-essential appointments in order to keep people away from the hospital. i won't be able to get an appointment until mid-july. in the meantime, my doctor will still call next week just to touch base.

i called fireman's fuel today and made an order for my parents. the woman on the phone told me they'd be out to the house by tomorrow. price? $2.14/gallon. with the ongoing oil price war, if we wanted another week or so, maybe the oil would be below $2. but currently the heating oil level the last time i checked was below a quarter tank full.

today was a dull and grey day. it was supposed to rain, but i never saw much of it, and the forecast just said it'd be overcast throughout the day. while trying to pass the time, i came across the doctor who channel on pluto tv and watched an episode with colin baker and peri, "the two doctors". colin baker is my least favorite doctor, he always seemed to be an asshole to his companion peri. i always associated this doctor with the late 80's, so i was surprised to find that this episode actually aired on 1985. back when local PBS was broadcasting doctor who episodes, they must've been delayed by a few years.

in the late afternoon, i saw kevin rushing out the door, like maybe one of his packages had arrived. but from the window i saw it was a girl. i thought they'd come in but they talked outside. i went to the bathroom because i felt like i was intruding even though i couldn't hear them. it seemed a little weird. the girl never came in, and later i heard kevin go back to his bedroom. i didn't see him the rest of the night to ask what that was, maybe i'll ask him tomorrow, out of curiosity.

in coronavirus news, donald trump is going to give every american $1000 (children only get $500, and if you're rich, you won't get anything). he knows he's unpopular, so this is like a bribe, in the hopes that people will vote for him in november. it's not trump's money but the government's money, and it may cost taxpayers $250 billion. the theory is interesting though, by giving americans money to spend, they will boost the economy. it's like an old casino strategy, where they comp you $50 to gamble, with the hopes that you will end up gambling more than what they gave you for free.

so while the coronavirus is still ongoing, on the sad day that tom brady is leaving new england, i also learn i'm getting $1000 from the government. plus i embedded a needle into my arm. what a strange day it's been.

i didn't eat dinner until 9pm, reheated a frozen container of leftover pasta meat sauce and boiled a cup of cellentani. it was a hearty meal, felt like i was regaining my strength. social distancing doesn't mean having to starve yourself; i played a dangerous game yesterday, eating so little in the morning, then feeling hungry and tired and cold for much of the day. that's how immunity gets depleted and sickness takes over. i did however go to bed quite early, before midnight, but only so i could watch the season 3 premiere of westworld from bed.

westworld season 3 premiere was 2 days ago but i finally managed to watch the episode last night. so far it's just setting up the stage for this season, which takes place in the real (futuristic) world. i like the little details of future world, like more robots, automated vehicles, flying hovercrafts, and a gig app for criminals.