closed for the day, turkeys in trees

Traditionally, the college has not closed for MLK day, likely because the first day of spring semester is the Tuesday after, as is the case this year. Our state community college system (something like 13 colleges) got a new chancellor a few months ago. She sent out an email declaring today a "chancellor's holiday" since it was not originally a holiday on the schedule.

"...it is important that we honor Dr. King’s legacy on the day our nation reflects on his life, courage, and lasting contributions... This observance aligns with our commitment to inclusive excellence and service and reflects the values we strive to uphold in our work and in our communities."

Nice. Couldn't have said it better. 

Shortly after we received this message, we were told that Great Grandboss (Boss's boss's boss) said testing, alone, would stay open on MLK day. To that, I thought, "PFFFFT, did he not read the email?"

Now, it doesn't affect me directly either way. I'm typically not scheduled to work on Mondays, but it's the principle of the thing. Great Grandboss's reasoning is that some students might need to take a last minute placement test - emphasis on LAST MINUTE.

C'mon, they've had a ton of time to get their ducks in a row. So somebody above Great Grandboss overrode his attempt to override the chancellor, and the entire campus, including testing, is closed in observance. And from what I've learned about her, I do like this new chancellor, even though I'm not really sure what chancellors do all day, honestly. And Great Grandboss has been a bit on my sh*tlist ever since [that time he totally botched my name]. 

Speaking of ducks in a row, how about turkeys in trees?

Magnum and I were on a coffee walk when this flock  (I counted fifteen) of wild turkeys was partying it up in one neighborhood. We snapped a few pics when I noticed two of them in a tree. See them? Since when do turkeys fly up into trees? 

I mean... I assume they flew. 

spring fever

I'm waiting for my hair to dry so I can do a grocery run. Exciting, right?

Despite pulling a few extra testing shifts, I've had a lot of free time during this lull between fall and  spring semesters, and classes thankfully start next week. I really should have planned better and done some projects around the house. For instance, every wall could use a new coat of paint. 

As I've mentioned, I've been reading more and have logged 5 books on the year. Technically, it's more like 4 books since I finished one on new year's day that I'd started in December, but let's not get obsessive.

I don't have particular genres or authors I adhere to, just go with whatever inspiration hits me. I check them out from the library, so if any is a dud, it's only wasted time. Here is what I've shelved so far

The Listeners. My favorite book of the year so far. I'd never heard of it, it just showed up when I did a random search of whatever was available.

The Mad Wife. Oooooh, this one was... eerie? Twisty? Is either the right word? Historical fiction based on real things in the 1950s. Could use several trigger warnings.

My Last Innocent Year. It's about a (silly) college undergrad having an inappropriate relationship with a (perve) instructor. 

Ghost Eaters. While riding the bus to work one day, the person across from me was reading this. Curious, I picked it up. It's about ghosts... or 'shrooms... or both?

The Make-Up Test. Formulaic rom-com about rival grad students. Not a typical genre for me. Truthfully, I picked it up because I liked the author's name.

In other winter break "accomplishments":

• I came in 4th out of about a dozen in our extended family's fantasy football league. I changed my email since our league was set up a few years ago, and I never was able to log in this season. Therefore, I never did a darn thing to my auto-generated player roster. That's the secret to my success.

• I have a doctor (nurse practitioner) now. I had been doctorless for about the last five months. The practice I was established with changed hands and was no longer in our insurance network, but I had a physical a couple of months before the switcheroo. When I tried to get into a different practice, I was told I couldn't because I "need 366 days since your last physical". 

The 366-day rule has not been met, but I'm now close enough to where I could at least get on someone's schedule. So there's that, I'm a name in a database now.

And... my hair's dry enough. On to more excitement.

HR logjam, diversions, over here gagging

I've got extra shifts in the testing center again this week. Our new coworker was scheduled to start last week, but they have to make it through all the HR onboarding tasks. Since everything came to a standstill over the winter break, nothing happened with the onboarding, so the start date was pushed out two weeks. So... more shifts for me, which works out nicely since tutoring has yet to begin. 

I'm about to finish another book. This will be number 4 for the year. It's all part of my staving off doom scrolling and social media. Who knew it could be so easy?

I often think I should just chuck the f4cebook account, but it is useful for some things. We don't have a good source of local news around here, so I follow the local law enforcement pages for news I shouldn't ignore. Then there's marketplace, which has come in handy, damnit.

In other diversions and despicables, we'd been watching Peaky Blinders, which is really well done IMHO, but with much violence and darkness and repulsive characters. I finally threw in the towel in the last season. I just googled the ending and decided, okay, no need to watch anymore.

I'm like our cat, Napolion, trying to hide in my mug. Okay, he was actually going after the dregs of my tea. 

I can't imagine he actually wants it, and he does have plenty of water bowls for pets to choose from. I think he's just asserting his alpha-ness and displaying his lack of respect for boundaries...

...and clearly I let him, snapping a pic instead of shooing him away. 

He kills mice with that mouth. Such a jerk.

the here and now

It hardly counts, but is that... is that... snow??

I headed out to the gym this morning, and bits of snow were sort of just spitting at me. It's been doing that for about 3 hours now, and this is the current grand total of  accumulation around the uninviting dog run.

"JANUARY 8TH!", another gym goer exclaimed to me as I prepared for the bike ride back home.

I looked up from my preparations to see a young guy standing there, "FINALLY!"

Our mild winter so far has been on many people's minds, so this parking lot exultation was actually not weird.

So far, it's been a good week to get back into the swing of things after the holiday break. I opened with Boss on Monday after the testing center had been closed for a week and a half. Sheesh, it was like Y2K happened, but 26 years late. Seemed like every computer platform needed CPR to get going, but we were eventually back in business.

It was nice to be back and to catch up with the coworkers. Assistant Boss Blossom was out again for the first three days. Looks like she made it in today. I've mentioned her abysmal attendance, which has been a problem since she started. We feel she's taking advantage of Boss's friendly demeanor with all the time off she takes, but that's between the two of them.

Meanwhile, Sarge wants a full-time position after Mrs. Sarge was replaced by AI and laid off from her full-time job. Sarge would be great as Assistant Boss, and I know he'd snatch it up if it was open. But there's no opening because that's Blossom's job - that she is so often absent from. 

I honestly feel that, if this were a private sector workplace, that switch would've been made a while ago. In fact, I think all of us at work know that... except for maybe Blossom. 

ANYWAY, just venting. I'm off today and trying to be productive. I have already completed two books for the year, shooting to read 26 as I mentioned. My goodreads incentive graphic...

Ahead of the pace! I will say that the two books I read were not great, but at least I finished them. The book I'm reading now, I find pretty engaging: [The Listeners]. It's my fave book of 2026. So far - so not saying a whole lot at this point.

wintering

Back to work tomorrow after a 2-week hiatus. Part of me is chomping to get back to being a somewhat productive member of society, another part of me is thinking, "y'know? I could get used to this".

At least it will be an easy transition since tutoring won't get going for about another month, I just have my teeny schedule in testing. The new person can't start this week as originally planned, so I got two extra shifts until she starts next week.

The weather has been so mild here. Magnum and I went for a longish bicycle ride today. We were just going to ride for coffee, which we did. It was so nice out, we decided to take the long way home, which we did. It was SO nice out, I talked him into taking a longer long way home. Surely, this won't last.

So we have warmth, no snow. It did get cold enough last week for the ponds to freeze over. I got this pic of my goose neighbors waiting for the morning thaw out.

Speaking of enjoying the outdoors, a woman was hiking nearby on New Years day and ended up getting [killed by a mountain lion]. So tragic, and it's terrifying to think what her last moments were like.

Stay safe, please!

out with the old

I went to the gym this morning, not because it's New Year's Day, but because it's Thursday, and Thursday is typically a gym day for me. There were a handful of seemingly non-hungover patrons there as well. Just another Thursday morning gym sesh.

I was snoozing at midnight last night, but was awakened by revelrous popping of, hopefully, fireworks. On my bike ride to the gym, I rode through a hefty dose of confetti in one section of the neighborhood.

2025 - I fed some ducks

I took a look into my 2025 blog archives and found nothing very earthshattering, which is often a good thing. But it feels rather mundane, I took no trips out of state. For an entire year. No wonder I feel restless.

Will have to change that for 2026.

Speaking of escaping, one goal I had for 2025 was to "read more". I didn't specify a number or a genre, and I'm happy with how that worked out. My Goodreads wrap tells me I read 25 books. Recognize any?

So while I didn't plan to read 25 books, it feels like a nice coincidence. On that note, I'll set my reading goal to 26 books for 2026.

In addition to these 25, I probably had 10 or so DNFs as I have NO qualms about chucking a book to the DNF pile if it's not doing it for me. I also don't include non-fiction books here, because I typically read only parts of those - parts I was interested in - before returning them to the library.

On that note, all of these books were from the library - either physical books, audio books, or Kindle. Three cheers for libraries!

So Happy New Year! Magnum suggested we go geocaching today. Okay. Haven't been geocaching in forever. Our goal is to add 10 to our "found" list. Seek and maybe find.

ex encounters, nice hands, pain

Magnum and I were out at a coffee shop this morning. I noticed a couple of women walking in, and did a brief glance up. There was a nanosecond of eye contact recognition before I quickly looked away. One of them was none other than my ex. 

Yeah, my ex hair stylist. 

Several months ago, I mentioned here about [a weird haircut experience]. It was weird enough that I'd  decided not to go back and to find a different salon, even though I'd been going only to this same stylist for over two years. I've since found another stylist - great location, easy going atmosphere, very reasonably priced - and all is well in my hair world. 

I figured the ex wouldn't really notice my absence. She has a fairly large clientele, and all I ever got were cuts. No dye jobs, no other treatments. Get in, get out, every coupla months. But in that nanosecond of eye contact at the coffee shop, I feel quite sure she recognized me and probably thought, "Hey, that's what's-her-face", and then realized "She hasn't been in for quite a while". 

Had I still been going to her for cuts, I would surely have stopped and chatted a bit this morning, asked about her holidays, the family, etc. As it was, I continued whatever I was talking about with Magnum. The ex was wearing eyeglasses, which she didn't wear at the salon. I still recognized her, but could easily feign a Clark Kent phenomenon going on. Silly, I know. But it felt good to skedaddle outta there before things got awkward, ha!

In other news, I continue to celebrate Boxing Day by cleaning out a few unwanted items. Soon, I'll have enough for a thrift store drop-off. And I took down our sparse Christmas decorations yesterday.

We watched a couple of movies this weekend. [Watching the Detectives] is just goofy and quirky, starring Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu.

Is it a romcom? I guess it's a romcom. 

We've been watching [Peaky Blinders] and are on the final (6th) season. So it was fun and interesting to see Cillian Murphy as someone SO So so different from Tommy Shelby!

Same great hands, though. Ever noticed what nice hands Cillian Murphy has? Well... I digress.

The other movie was [A Real Pain], both in title and in watching it. Okay, it's gotten favorable reviews, but it didn't do much for either of us. 

Only about an hour and a half lost, though.

Now, we're in the lull week between Christmas and New Years. The college is closed. I will stay out of trouble. Maybe I'll schedule a hair appointment.