The Return of The Conservative Wahoo

This blog has lain fallow for quite some time. It was once a passion of mine. It led to a short-lived internet radio show (before podcasts became all the rage), a good deal of social media exposure, and the small-scale notoriety afforded by the internet to narcissists everywhere. I took full advantage of it and although I often became a slave to it, I enjoyed the writing. I fancied myself a great political thinker and took great pride in that writing, yet time and again, the writing that seemed most likely to resonate across my readership base was everyday stuff.

Then came the election of 2016. I was from the get-go, decidedly against one candidate. That candidate went on to win both the Republican nomination and the Presidency. In the process, I used the blog to vent my spleen and take shots at those I considered to have compromised on whatever principle they once had. I grew more and more disconcerted with people I thought I once knew, and I grew more distant from the blog over time.

Truth be told, Twitter also got in the way. Why would I sit down and write a long form post on something of interest when I could pithily opine away in 144 (and then 288) characters for the instant entertainment of 6000 people? I've pretty much turned all my public writing into Tweets of some sort, with the exception of the Navy related stuff that one or two of you still read.

But things have changed. We are visited by a fast-moving, global pandemic that has caused our various governments to restrain our activities by force, and that has caused our society to exercise self-restraint through public spirit, along with time-honored acts of public shaming. Here in Maryland (for those new to the blog, I live on Maryland's Eastern Shore at the sufferance of a beautiful woman (The Kitten) and her two daughters (The Kittens)), our Governor has closed down most commerce and we are--as one used to hear back in the Navy--sheltering in place. The Kittens were cast out of their womb-like existences in modern university settings, only to land back at home under the command of Obergruppenfuher Momma, whose disciplined approach to social distancing was somewhat more stringent than either had considered.

My social distancing began two-weeks ago, when upon returning from a convention in San Diego early one post-redeye Thursday, I took myself to the local Doc-in-a-Box (from whence comes my "urgent care") feeling god-awful. I brought along a little bag of toiletries and chargers, thinking that I was sure to have the dread COVID 19 virus and would immediately head into immunological prison.  The good news was that it was plain old Influenza A, and since the Kittens were still at school and the Kitten was frolicking among friends elsewhere, I took to my sickbed and began an around the clock regimen of sleep punctuated by big shots of Vicks Nyquil. Always does the trick.

Since then, the virus has exploded and fuller measures have come into practice. We have--as many others have--provisioned ourselves for a long sequester, although I wonder (sometimes aloud, sometimes not) at the various products that find their way into the category of "staples". Somewhere in the last ten years, the number of things calling itself "milk" have proliferated, and there currently resides in the kitchen refrigerator almond milk of several varieties, cashew milk, vitamin D milk (natch), 2 % milk, and half/half. Also something called "Kombucha", which I dare not investigate.

I made the initial victualing run, returning home with pasta, mac and cheese, cans of tuna, bacon, eggs, salad stuff, veggies, etc, along with steak, pork, and chicken. You know. Stuff people survive on. My choices were instantly flagged as insufficient, and several additional runs have occurred since. Our cup runneth over.

I have an office carved out of one of the bays of our garage and the window to my right looks out
over the Miles River upon which The Kitten's house sits. Her people have lived in this part of Maryland for four centuries, and on this particular plot of land for something like seven generations. In my office are my books, a treadmill, some (little used) dumb-bells, a bit of furniture, and a giant flat screen. Ordinarily at this time of year, I would be social distancing in front of the TV watching college basketball, but you know the story there. One of the great regrets I have of this time is that there is no baseball, as it is a later in life goal of mine to once again become a baseball fan. Baseball could fill a lot of this time.

My business is defense consulting, and I can do a good bit of it right here in this office. My clients are also trying to figure out how to deal with all of this, but so far everyone seems to be behaving responsibly. I am determined to do all of the things I have been reading on social media for those who work at home every day. I am showering, dressing in proper button-down shirts, and wearing actual shoes (rather than the dreamy Bean ankle-high shearling slippers in which I generally knock-about. I even shaved today.

So--what is this blog to be? I'm not quite sure. Probably a lot like it was before the 2016 election, with some daily life, some politics, some pop-culture, and some Navy related stuff. Probably a bit of Dafoe's "Journal of the Plague Year". I don't know how long I will keep it up, but as I end this post, I find myself content with its resurrection.