J: Jeopardy, Justice, Jury, Johnson & Johnson, Joe Biden

 

Jeopardy, Justice, Jury, Johnson & Johnson, Joe Biden

I was ever glad to see Joe Biden win the presidential election in 2020. I found and shared the cartoon below on Facebook in January, getting negative replies from those who did not like the outcome of the election. Their candidate lost, they needed to get over. Yet some still haven't done so. It was time to see the Orange Menace (one of several nicknames given to Trump last year) gone. And also to see Kamala Harris in office as well (more on her tomorrow). Yay to #46!

This is our homemade Biden-Harris poster,

hanging in our yard above our Halloween 

scarecrow.

On the other hand, I was sad to hear of the death of Alex Trebek, long-time host of the popular game show, Jeopardy! I have been watching Jeopardy! for many years now and just last August I read Trebek's memoir The Answer Is... I made sure to watch every last episode of his. His final week of episodes was originally going to air during Christmas week, but was pushed ahead to the first week of January 2021 in order to avoid preemption by holiday programming. One episode, that of January 6, did get preempted on some stations (depending on what time each station carries the show), due to coverage of the attack on the Capitol. The station on which I watch Jeopardy! airs the show at 7PM, and is the local NBC station. I was glad to hear that they would be showing the episode the following Saturday night at 9. It was odd watching the show then! But I was glad not to have missed this one.

As for the several guest-hosts of the show, I was not surprised to see Ken Jennings being one of them. A lot of people think he should be the permanent host. No real opinion on the other hosts, but I did not like Katie Couric.

I then sought out clips of the "Celebrity Jeopardy" skit on Saturday Night Live, with Will Ferrel as Trebek and Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery, who also passed last year, eight days before Trebek. RIP, both. 

Another death that was sad to hear was that of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. More than a year earlier, I had seen the biopic On the Basis of Sex, about Ginsburg. She was the second woman, after Sandra Day O'Connor, and the first Jewish woman to serve on the US Supreme Court for 27 years, from 1993 through 2020. She endlessly fought for women's rights. RIP.

And the word "justice" was everywhere, following the murders of Breonna Taylor and that of George Floyd. Protests were everywhere. Many people did not follow social distancing protocols and did not wear masks. Again, what were people thinking? Risking their health to protest? (More on protests later). 

And speaking of judges and juries, jury duty is one thing I always dread. I seem to be called every three years, and having been called in 2017, I was dreading 2020, thinking it would be. Then Covid hit and I wondered if they would still be having jury duty. No summons then, but I did get one for March 2021, which was canceled. Of all the times I have been called, all but one have been called off. The one time I served was in 2008. 

Once the Covid vaccination age in California opened to 50 and older on April 1, I began searching a website for open appointments in my area. For the first few days, I tried Rite Aid and Safeway, but nothing was open. On the first Monday in April (a week ago today) I was able to score an appointment for the following afternoon at the local middle school that I once attended. I did not know until I was confirmed that it was going to be  Johnson & Johnson, the one-dose vaccine. Nearly everyone in my family has had the Pfizer once, and other the Moderna. My cousin who got the Pfizer, had hoped to get the J&J but was unable to do so. She would have rather had it "one and done." She and my mom are both still awaiting their second doses. More details on receiving the vaccine to come.

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Ending for today.