In The 750,000

I got to compete today with 750,000 of my nearest and dearest... uh, fellow Arizonans newly eligible to sign up for our first appointment for our Covid vaccine. February is the first available appointments, and they will, conveniently, be done as a 24-hour drive-through service at the State Farm Stadium, better known as where the Cardinals play. That is, when there's no pandemic preventing them. Right now it's available for vaccinations.

It's easy enough to find, as we pass it every time we drive the southwest leg of the 101. It's also where Steve is getting his. He qualified earlier than I did, being just past the magic age of 75, then the cutoff. Now it's down to 65, so apparently there are 750,000 of us within that 10 year age range. As for how exactly to drive there, which exit and which driveway for lining up, well, there will be a test drive scoping it out before Saturday night, Steve's appointment. We'll go together, during daylight hours, and look for signs and heavy traffic lines. Somebody suggested to Steve that he show up two hours ahead of his appointment, so we'll see if that looks sensible. Bring a book! Each. Maybe two.

We both tried the state's website to sign up. It was impossible back then, when they opened it up for 75 and older. It was impossible this morning when I tried. Fortunately, there was a phone number. The only hitch is waiting on hold for an hour and a quarter for him, about 4 minutes less for me. He made his call about two minutes before they officially opened, and went directly to hold. I tried two minutes after opening time for my group, and went through a long voicemail message giving choices which sounded like they really wished we all would make one of those choices instead of reserving our slot for vaccination. As soon as that finished, we were reminded for the third time up to that point that call volume was high, we should try later, and... it hung up on us. Over and over. And over. I finally tried just after noon, and it's possible either a new energized shift took over, or people gave up trying to get in and decided to go have lunch before continuing. By this time I was actually delighted to have the privilege of waiting my expected hour and a quarter. It meant I was finally getting to make an appointment!

The fun wasn't over yet, however. The person I was talking to apparently had faulty equipment, since every second or third syllable was cut out. When you're needing to spell out names and addresses, get times and dates for possible appointments, and finish off with an absolutely required confirmation number, every syllable is vital. She obligingly took a minute to replace her headset (I think that's what she said, but mostly that's a guess) and came back without having dropped my call to finish our business. 

I'm impressed!

My shot will be February 9th. Bedtime will be late, but I'll be there!!!!!!