Edie and I had not had Covid shots for about nine months, and didn’t think much about it until our son-in-law came back from Spain, felt bad a few days later, and had a positive Covid test. That reminded us that Covid is still around and we really (at our age) try to protect ourselves. So began yesterday’s adventure.

I think we have had all of our Covid vaccinations at CVS – at our neighborhood CVS on Connecticut and Fessenden, at the Van Ness CVS (known as the Never Again CVS), and at the CVS in Glover Park on Wisconsin Avenue. I knew that you had to make an appointment for Covid vaccines, so I decided to call the CVS just up the street. I did, got the opening computer welcome, but (just like I found when I called Jim Coleman Toyota some weeks ago) that things had changed. Up until recently, when you called our neighborhood CVS, one option was the pharmacy and, if you pressed the button for that option, someone from the pharmacy would pick up (or you’d get a “we are busy now, leave a phone number and we will get back to you as soon as we can” message). No longer. Now, it appears that it is impossible to talk to anyone at the CVS pharmacy by telephoning them, and your only option is to leave a “complete” message, and they will call you back. A complete message includes your date of birth, and you can’t leave two dates for two people. The CVS computer lady and I had a lengthy discussion about this, and she kept saying “Tell me how I can help you” and “I’m sorry, I don’t understand you. Tell me how I can help you.” Finally, I told her I was trying to tell her and that I was speaking simple English; I asked her if she was more comfortable in another language. Her answer? “I’m sorry, I don’t understand you.”

I had a prescription to pick up, so I decided just to walk up to CVS and make the appointments in person. Hah! Michael, the chief pharmacist for life at this CVS, told me that I could not make an appointment in person. I told him my problem calling up, and he said “No, never try to make an appointment by telephone. Make it on line. It is now so simple.” Okay, I said, and went home and tried, but I couldn’t figure out, on line, how to make two appointments at the same time, try as I might, so I gave up.

My next thought was to call CVS in Glover Park. The computer intro was, of course, the same, and because I had already gone through what I had already gone through, I left a message, not knowing if or when I would hear back. I got a phone call in, maybe, 5 minutes, from a very, very nice lady, who already had both my and Edie’s accounts pulled up on her computer and who told me that if we wanted to come in the same day, we could, and we could come in any time, other than 1 to 2, when they were at lunch. We came at 2:30, Edie got her shot and a blue bandage, and I got my shot with a plain white bandage. And that was it.

Now, tell me why Michael couldn’t have given me times when I was there in person. Does it make sense that he could only do it if he called me by phone?

Oh, if you are wondering why the Van Ness CVS is the Never Again CVS, it’s because a few years ago, just as quarantine was ending, Edie went there to get both a Covid vaccination and a flu shot, and the injector by mistake gave her two Covid shots and no flu shots. Caveat emptor.

In the meantime, the government continues to fall apart. And when a government falls apart, a country falls apart. Just saying.

My biggest concern today is not Jeffrey Epstein (it will be fascinating when it is decided that he was murdered), but the Supreme Court, which has determined that it can make decisions on interim requests (on its Shadow Docket) that are in-effect final decisions (i.e., decisions that, in a practical sense, cannot be overturned), without even issuing an opinion, so that no one can possibly know the basis of its rulings. You don’t understand what I am saying? Take the Department of Education. The litigation involves whether the president can simply abolish a statutory cabinet agency without Congressional approval. The Supreme Court has not ruled on this issue, but on an interim basis, without an explanatory opinion, it has now said that all, most or many of its officials can be fired. Once fired, by approval through the Court’s shadow docket, the agency itself becomes only a shadow.

Of course, there are many more things that I am concerned about. The Senate last night approved the claw back of foreign aid, PBS and NPR funding (previously approved), with two Republican defections. I have no interest in choreographed Republican defections, which are limited in number so that the bill will still pass.  Can’t wait until Nov 2026.