2021 inauguration

Watching, and listening to, the inauguration and Biden's speech.

I am profoundly relieved, that we got here. And pleased by some of what I'm hearing, including Justice Sotomayor swearing in Kamala Harris. Biden gave a good speech, though I hope, really hope, that we can do what we need even without the amount of unity Biden is calling for and saying he expects.

I liked the shade Biden threw at the beginning of his speech, by thanking "my predecessors here today, and Jimmy Carter," and the allusion to Langston Hughes when talking about racism. I was pleased to hear (the beginning of) "This Land Is Your Land" as part of the event.

But my music for the day is Phil Ochs, "Power and Glory": "But she's only as rich as the poorest of the poor, she's only as free as a padlocked prison door...Her power will rest on the strength of her freedoms, her glory will rest on us all."

dental work

I went to the dentist's office this afternoon to get my teeth cleaned. Everything went smoothly, and my gums are a lot better than they were when I saw here before the deep cleaning.

Nonetheless, she wants me to brush my teeth differently: use a dry toothbrush, use baking soda toothpaste, and brush starting with the inside bottom teeth, then inside top, and repeat with the outside bottom and top. I will try the baking soda toothpaste, but if it tastes as bad as I expect, I will keep using the stuff I'm using now, in order to brush long enough.

She also painted on a fluoride treatment, which she said would be good for the roots of my teeth, and at $47 I said sure.

At the end of the visit, the hygienist told me she was getting the Covid vaccine after work today, which I was glad to hear: that's patient care, with patients who have to be maskless for the treatment.

Also, I said yesterday that my only plan for today was to get my teeth cleaned, so it's fine that I've done almost nothing else except play Scrabble and poke at the Internet.