Tallahassee Area Mensa
Welcome to the home page of Tallahassee Area Mensa!
Tallahassee Area Mensa a local chapter of the High IQ Society, American Mensa. The Tallahassee
area serves Florida from the Apalachicola River east through Taylor County including part of
Madison County and even a bit of Dixie County. Our area is also the only area in all of Florida,
Region 10 of American Mensa, to include a portion of Georgia. For a full view of the area we
cover, visit our map.
Interested in joining Mensa? The only qualification for membership is a score at or above the
98th percentile on an approved IQ test. There are two different ways you can join. One is by
submitting evidence of scores from any of a number of approved intelligence tests that you have
already taken, or you can take the Mensa Admission Test. For more information about qualifying
to join, visit the Join Mensa page.
Robin's Roost - rest your feathers!
As July winds down and August gears up, kids are preparing to return to school, summer vacations are drawing to an end, and thoughts of fall begin to creep into the dog days of summer.
My trip to Michigan was overall excellent. The drive, as always, was brutal. Both on the drive up and the drive down we encountered
backups, slow-downs, and standstills that had no visible cause - no accidents, no lane closures, no speed traps, nothing. The traffic
issues added hours to an already long drive. While there, I was able to see all 5 of my siblings, their spouses, and several of my
nieces and nephews. The weather was not conducive to much lake time, we had a strong north wind most days and the temperatures, while
pleasant, were not hot enough to justify the chill of the water. Two days before our departure we all gathered for my sister's 70th
birthday. We began the party outside, but as the wind kicked up, the temperature dropped, and it was time to eat, we moved inside.
There was a fair number of us all gathered, including one unknown asymptomatic Covid-positive person. The first sign of trouble
appeared late the next day when my niece began sniffling and coughing and said she thought her allergies were acting up. We hit the
road on Friday and on the drive home learned the attendees at the party were dropping one by one into sickness. Ray got sick on Friday
and was unable to drive. I could tell when we checked into the hotel that he was unwell, so my focus became just getting us home. I was
feeling tired, but not yet sick. By Saturday I was getting texts from my siblings that they were all testing positive, and they were
concerned about us traveling. We finally made it home Saturday evening, we both did a home test and Ray was positive, I was not. Ray
spent the next few days in bed sleeping a LOT. I spent Sunday trying to get things unpacked and returned to normal in the house. By
Monday I was starting to feel sick, but I reported for work (remotely) and tried to work as much as I could. The brain fog was
unbelievable. I spent a ridiculous amount of time just trying to remember where things were in the software I was using. I called my
doctor on Tuesday and he got me on antibiotics and steroids to try and protect my lungs. He opted to not give me the antiviral because
of the problem it is causing with people's blood pressure going through the roof. He ordered a PCR test, which I had done on Tuesday,
and it was positive. That was not really surprising. I was in a car for 2 days with someone who had just tested positive, it would have
been a miracle if I had NOT tested positive!
The next two weeks were very difficult. I wound up with a secondary sinus infection, so they put me on a second round of antibiotics, but I did not tolerate them well at all and had to stop after 2 days. I would put in my workday, then collapse in bed for a nap before eating dinner and going back to bed. I learned several things had changed at work while I was gone and there are several people who are going to be gone within the next month. This has me more than a little concerned about the work environment I will be dealing with over the next few months. These issues may cause me to adjust my retirement timeline slightly.
My siblings and I had a group text going to check on each other each day, which was fascinating. Even though we are obviously genetically similar, the virus impacted each of us differently in how quickly it knocked us down, how severely it knocked us down, the symptoms we each had, secondary infections we got, and how quickly we recovered. I got sick later than everyone else, but it took me longer to recover than any of them (but I was also the only one who kept working and didn't just go to bed for a few days). My sister whose birthday we gathered for was knocked down hard but had no secondary infections and was fully recovered after 6 days. Some lost taste and/or smell, others didn't at all, some just had altered taste and/or smell. This virus is a geneticist's research dream!
Hope to see you soon, and safe travels for any who may be traveling.
Robin
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