Renee and I get our second doses of the Pfizer vaccine today. The communications from our county health department have been great, e-mail and text alike. Really a smooth process.
March 5, 2021
Friday
Second Dose Meat Mountain
Renee and I got our second doses of the Pfizer vaccine today, and Jake discovered a secret menu item.
The vaccination clinic is a well-oiled machine. They're processing a high volume of people and it moves along at a steady pace. You hardly have time to take a pic between stations!
Toledo and the NW Ohio region put together The VProject to encourage vaccination. I've seen some of the groups efforts and it feels like they've made a difference. People around here seem to be not only willing to get the vaccine, but excited to do it. They gave us this pin when leaving the vaccination clinic this morning.
Jake somehow discovered a secret menu at Arby's, and requested the Meat Mountain for dinner tonight. I didn't know if it was a real thing or not. But, sure enough, when I asked for it, they gladly made it.
Eight meats, two cheeses.
And he ate most of it.
I feel I had to tell the story of ordering the Meat Mountain at Arby's tonight.
Me, to the drive-through speaker: "Do you guys make the meat mountain."
"No, sorry."
pause
...I can hear someone talking to them in the background...
"Sorry...yes, we can make that for you."
Boom! It's real. Apparently you just need someone in the kitchen that knows about it.
History is happening in these vaccination clinics. I thought about what it would be like to look back on this in the future, either as myself or as someone learning about the COVID-19 pandemic, and realized photos might be a little flat as far as primary resources go. Some environmental audio might help to add some texture to the scene, so to speak.
So, I recorded this audio during my trip through the clinic today as I got my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. It captures almost the entire process - I cut the check-in procedure and a personal conversation I had with a friend during the waiting period after receiving the shot as both had some identifying information of other people. Otherwise, this is the raw audio (muffled as it is) of my trip through the clinic.
Listening to it while looking at the wide view of the clinic, above, is really interesting to me. I think, together, they do a decent job of conveying the scene of these clinics. They're organized and efficient. People are helpful. It's a process. An assembly line. Getting the shot takes no time at all (you don't even realize the exact time I received the shot in the audio, other than the nurse telling me "you're all set."). Organizers wonder about how they're doing ("How was everything?"). All of this against a backdrop of casual conversation in several groups of people as they wait in line beforehand and in the holding area afterward.
And, as I exit the clinic, someone entering the clinic tells her friends she was nervous about getting the vaccine, but that "Dave said it beats COVID, so...."
Yep, it captures the scene...and the moment we're in, quite well, I think.