Fireworks rang out. Ticker tape fell from the ceiling. A line of dancing penguins waltzed across the room waving flags that read, \u201cYou did it!\u201d and \u201cCongratulations!\u201d U2 burst from a closet singing their great rock anthem, \u201cIt\u2019s a Beautiful Day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, yes. Yes, it truly was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had just scored family members COVID-19 vaccines. The most exclusive ball of the season. The rock star event of the year. The Holy Grail of health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWow!\u201d my wife said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a \u2018We won the lottery\u2019 rush!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, maybe not quite that. Someone in Michigan just took home a billion dollars in Lotto. He or she can afford to get the vaccine while riding in a gold-plated rocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, still pretty darn exciting. Our own lottery win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe you know what I\u2019m talking about. The feeling? Along with frontline workers, anyone 65 and older is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. But just satisfying the age requirement is the easy part. Getting the actual shot is where the trick comes in. Here in Florida, it means trying early in the morning to snag one of the availabilities in our county\u2019s online reservation system. Frantically searching out days or times for available \u201cshot slots\u201d in the hope that you will be one of the lucky souls to come away with an appointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For my mother, it hadn\u2019t started out so well. She had failed a couple of times and called panicked one morning to ask why she had an error code on her screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoes that mean I did something wrong and am no longer eligible for a shot?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo! Just hit the \u2018Refresh\u2019 button!!!\u201d I yelled into the phone as if the fate of humanity rested on this one action. As if it would halt a thermonuclear meltdown in a power plant with the click of the mouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She replied, as if I was a complete idiot: \u201cBrian! There\u2019s no \u2018Refresh\u2019 button on the keyboard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know!\u201d I snapped before it occurred to me I had no Earthly idea how to explain where it was: \u201cIt\u2019s \u2026 um \u2026 up there by the \u2026 oh Hell. JUST CLICK EVERYTHING!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She missed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, my brother and I started getting into the great COVID lottery scrum to see if we could do any better. At first, we couldn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I thought I had success my first try on the county\u2019s system. A button popped up asking if I wanted to make a reservation, and with the graze of a strutting peacock, I clicked on it. How easy was that? Nailed it on the first go around. I\u2019m like a COVID Superman!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wheels started turning on the screen, and I got an encouraging message: \u201cHold on one second while we retrieve your ticket,\u201d it said, or something to that effect. And then, \u201cif it\u2019s still available.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Um, like, of course it\u2019s still available, silly vaccine system. Why else would you be going to retrieve my \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sorry. Your vaccine appointment is no longer available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WAIT \u2026 WHAT?!? But you just said \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My brother tried and came up short another time for a reason he claims was caused by upper atmospheric disturbances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we finally heard that Publix was opening their vaccine reservation system online for another round, we rallied. We re-grouped. We hatched a plan, and traded intel and advice from others who had successfully scored concert tickets \u2026 er \u2026 vaccines. We had lists of all the store locations in the county, and then ranked which would be our backups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The morning of, the two of us, along with my mother, got up early, fired up our computers, pulled out our phones and prepared to blitzkrieg the system from multiple devices while employing a litany of patented strategies. (Mine involved a fancy wrist-click with the mouse.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when the minute came \u2013 with adrenaline and anxiousness and determination coursing through our veins \u2013 we clicked on with thousands of other people across the state. And just like that \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We sat there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I expected it to be like a raging video game. Clicking through pages and hammering \u201cSign up\u201d buttons as quickly as I could like I was piloting a space ship through hostile alien worlds. Not patiently starting at a screen as it automatically refreshed every minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUh, aren\u2019t we supposed to be doing something dramatic or ingenious?\u201d I texted my brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNope,\u201d he replied. \u201cPretty much just sit there and drink some coffee. If you\u2019re lucky, the system lets you in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s it?!? I put on extra deodorant and a track suit for this!?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We sat at our screens waiting as minutes ticked by, and then a half hour. Suddenly \u2013 BOOM! Cue the fireworks! \u2013 he was in. \u201cI got one!\u201d he texted me. (I think it was the exact same moment my mother called to ask if she should hit \u201cRefresh.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Victory! Thank you Publix!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few minutes later, my computer got through and I hustled my wife to enter her mother\u2019s info. We had another one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both women were amazed. Neither had gotten through that morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow did you all do that?\u201d my mother asked. \u201cI\u2019m not even sure my computer is still logged on!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some technical prowess, maybe. Luck mostly. I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even in our excitement \u2013 knowing two people won\u2019t have to worry as much anymore \u2013 it dawned on me that thousands of others across the state were \u201cgoing home\u201d empty-handed that morning. For some, it was just the timing that caused them to miss out. For others, maybe it was computer speed or bad Internet connections or not being able to navigate as quickly through the forms to get an appointment before they filled up. That filled me with sadness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And maybe that\u2019s the lesson \u2013 the challenge for us: That we ALL need to pitch in and do what we can to help people out more. To reach out to family and friends, neighbors and parishioners, complete strangers even. Anyone who might need help. Because there are an awful lot of people trying to figure out the online reservation systems, and all of them could who use a line of penguins dancing to \u201cIt\u2019s a Beautiful Day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fireworks rang out. Ticker tape fell from the ceiling. A line of dancing penguins waltzed across the room waving flags that read, \u201cYou did it!\u201d and \u201cCongratulations!\u201d U2 burst from a closet singing their great rock anthem, \u201cIt\u2019s a Beautiful Day.\u201d <\/p>\n
Oh, yes. Yes, it truly was. <\/p>\n
We had just scored family members COVID-19 vaccines. The most exclusive ball of the season. The rock star event of the year. The Holy Grail of health. <\/p>\n
\u201cWow!\u201d my wife said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a \u2018We won the lottery\u2019 rush!\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, maybe not quite that. Someone in Michigan just took home a billion dollars in Lotto. He or she can afford to get the vaccine while riding in a gold-plated rocket. <\/p>\n
But, still pretty darn exciting. Our own lottery win. <\/p>\n
Maybe you know what I\u2019m talking about. The feeling? Along with frontline workers, anyone 65 and older is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. But just satisfying the age requirement is the easy part. Getting the actual shot is where the trick comes in. Here in Florida, it means trying early in the morning to snag one of the availabilities in our county\u2019s online reservation system. Frantically searching out days or times for available \u201cshot slots\u201d in the hope that you will be one of the lucky souls to come away with an appointment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[578,577,561,558,574,559],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-nutshells","category-coronavirus","category-family","category-florida","category-health","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2194,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193\/revisions\/2194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}