Ponderous thoughts I was pondering ...

The swab goes in, it stays there for five seconds, and then that's it. Whew!

Ponderous thoughts I was pondering while watching Mitch Moreland hit a walk-off home run and briefly being fooled by the recorded crowd noise:

** A happy bit of news to report; I had a swab test for COVID-19 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital on Saturday, as part of the preparation for my planned knee surgery on Tuesday. The result came in Sunday morning, and thankfully, it was negative.

I didn't believe I had been exposed, but I wasn't sure. I have been sniffling a lot and had occasional runny noses during the past week, and the accompanying post-nasal drip was causing a cough. Since those are two symptoms of a coronavirus infection, I had a reason for concern -- but at the same time, I believe this has all been a bout with my seasonal allergies, compounded by the fact that my lawn is again bone dry and there are more allergens in the air than usual because of it.

But I had no intestinal distress, no fever (in fact, my temperature is often below 97 degrees) and no body aches beyond current concerns such as my left knee. And my exposure opportunities have been few and far between -- maybe once in March before the shutdown, possibly in the early stages of the pandemic on my weekly trips into Boston before mask-wearing became the norm, and then maybe when I first went to the Cape for vacation at the start of July. And of course, supermarket trips scare the hell out of me.

The process was easy. Since I had an appointment, I just drove to the emergency entrance of Newton-Wellesley Hospital and followed the signs to the parking garage where the testing unit was set up. I was checked in and directed to a parking space, and within a minute, a young female nurse in a haz-mat suit came to the driver's window.

I told her of my deviated septum (a plague upon my existence since I was 6) and asked if it was all right if she stuck the swab into my right nostril, and she said it was perfectly fine. I followed her instructions, endured the five seconds of insertion with little discomfort, and thanked her for her gentle manner. And I was off! Simply done, and it took less time than for me to find an open Starbucks afterward.

The result came in this morning via the Partners Healthcare app, and the news was simple. No infection present. And now, my knee surgery can proceed as planned.

We are 23 weeks into the pandemic, and finally, I'm feeling a lot less apprehensive about the days to come. But I'll still wear the damn masks until they tell us we don't have to.

Perry Mason, then and now; Raymond Burr (left) in 1959;
Matthew Rhys (right) plays the 1932 Perry on HBO.

** I just finished watching the last episode of HBO's "Perry Mason" series, and I have to say, it was definitely a worthy successor to some of the best episodic TV on the premium channels. I'm also glad to report that it has been renewed for another season.

I and some of my friends aren't happy that a "season" is comprised of only eight episodes these days. In the old days of network TV, seasons were anywhere from 26 to 32 weeks long. Even later on, shows like "The Sopranos" put up 13 episodes in a season, and the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica" gave us as many as 23 in one of its four-plus seasons. But watching "Perry Mason" these past eight weeks has been like watching a meticulously-created motion picture each week -- and it costs money to create an accurate period piece, even if much of 1932 Los Angeles can be created through CGI.

I felt invested in this world, just as I did when watching "Chinatown" for the first many years ago. Can't wait to see more.

** I have to admit, it's not often when I get to crow when I have a "Fearless Forecast" come true.

In the first episode of my video podcast called "The Owner's Box After Dark," which made it to YouTube early in July, I said that the producers of "Perry Mason" would find a way to present us with the original theme to the 1950s CBS television series starring Raymond Burr. It's one of TV's iconic theme songs, called "Park Avenue Beat" by composer Fred Steiner -- and a stylized version of the song was the closing theme to the eighth and final episode of HBO's first season of the series.

I stood and applauded. It made what I pay Comcast every month worth every penny.

** All for tonight, so wish me luck for Tuesday when they open up my left knee and try to repair 48 years' worth of neglect. Stay safe and wear your masks!