getting out

It's a gloomy, grey day today. My spoiled, used-to-lots-of-sunshine self will struggle, but it's doable.

Mondays are typically my reset days - days to schedule floats and makeup tutoring appointments - of which I have neither today. I do have PEO later this evening to prepare for, so I'll need some alertness.

One of my current tutees is a precocious high schooler racking up college credits so to be well on her way to a bachelor's degree before she even graduates high school.

She asked the typical, "What is this for?" regarding her math homework last week. I think I explained its usefulness, but acknowledged that it was a good question regarding today's technology.

"I always like to know why I'm doing something", her reply.

On that note, and with the gloomy outside, I figured I would do a closet purge. Stashing summer things since it's October, and I don't think we'll return to temps in the 90's anytime soon. I plan to toss a few items to the "donate" or "rag" or "trash" pile while asking myself why I'm keeping some things around.

I was inspired by seeing a 9-item capsule wardrobe on Pinterest: 3 tops, 3 bottoms, 2 layers (coats, sweaters), 1 pair of shoes. And I'm thinking, sounds more like a packing list for a 4- or 5-day trip, not an entire wardrobe. I'm not at that level of minimalism.

In addition to Halloween scaries showing up around the neighborhood, I've noticed a few watchers while I'm out wandering about. 

This little guy thought he was being stealth, which he kind of was.

This cat, however, does not have the best camouflage. 

I think he wanted to make sure I saw the sign.

dodging runners, obligatory kisses

Fall is in the air, ya feel it?

Magnum and I enjoyed a noticeably crisp bicycle ride this morning. A welcome transition from the hot hot of summer.

It was a peaceful meander as he's just coming off a crud virus he caught from me a couple of weeks ago, and I just got my annual flu shot yesterday. It worked out since it so happened that this morning, there was a half-marathon happening on the path we took.

I'd hooked up the bike cam to catch some of the fall colors that have just begun, but we mainly had to keep our eyes out for the half-marathoners.

Coupla screen grabs from my grainy video:

I didn't get a covid-19 shot, partly because I highly suspect the crud virus I had was just that. It featured a tell-tale "razor blade sore throat" from the latest version, followed by what felt like a garden variety cold. So hopefully, I'm thoroughly inoculated.

In other news, I'd heard that this last week was homecoming week at my hometown high school. Their social media page listed the royalty, and I found it odd that for each female royalty, two male escorts were named. But, in thinking back, I remembered that yes, there were two boy escorts for each girl.

The escorts for the dance were all members of the football team, but the escorts for the parade and football game half-time were of the non football variety because the players were otherwise occupied. I'd forgotten about that, I mean, it's bean 43 years...

This had me flashing back 43 years to that whirlwind week where I found myself part of the homecoming royalty - this would've been back in my big-fish-in-a-very-small-pond days - and I remembered my full gamut of escorts.

Escort for the dance was the hunky football captain, Ken. Escort for the parade and half-time was the effeminate, good natured, Joe. Joe was clearly gay, but this was the 80's where such things were not really spoken of, but were just understood. I'm sure Joe had his bullies, but he had plenty of good friends, myself included, and he was a pretty popular kid. And again, clearly gay.

So this walk down memory lane took me back to the fun Joe and I had during the parade, and then it was on to the halftime show of the football game. This is a pic from my yearbook of halftime just before we paired off with our respective escorts.

Our names were announced, our escorts handed us a flower of some sort, then gave us a traditional smooch. Joe fulfilled this obligation, probably bregudgingly.

My boyfriend at the time - he'd graduated a year ahead of me and watched from the stands - said that Joe had a big ol' grin on his face after the smooch. I can imagine Joe thinking, "Geez, the sh*t I gotta do for school!", and just having fun with it.

As I was recalling that memory yesterday, I realized, I was likely the first and last girl Joe ever kissed.

fragmentary recall

This was a shortened weekend for me as I worked yesterday - Saturday rotation time again. Another seemingly productive week down. Let's bullet.

• I finished a novel this week - The Silent Patient. When I went to add it to my Goodreads, I strangeley saw that I'd already read it? Really? Apparently, in 2019. Well, it wasn't memorable the first go. And it even has a twisty, big reveal ending. Oh well, 4 stars.
  
  
• Speaking of memory, we watched Total Recall - the 2012 version with Colin Farrell.

It was pretty much what I expected. A lot of shoot-em-up, running around, heavy CGI, etc. But I won't say no to 2012 Colin Farrell. 

• Speaking of pastimes, it occurred to me, out of the blue this week, that I would probably enjoy bird watching. That made me feel old, where did that come from?
  *I know bird watching isn't just for old people, it just made me feel old to suddenly find it appealing*
  
  

• Speaking of hobbies, our tutor bosses at work asked each of us math tutors to put together a "tutor bio". It should be 100 - 150 words and include our educational background, which campuses we support, etc.
  
  

I typed one up, and the word count was 50. *SIGH*. I mean, I said all the things. What more is there? They encouraged us to add "fun facts" about ourselves. Ugh. 

The only maybe fun fact, if you would call it that, is that I've been a regular blogger for over 20 years, but I don't tell real life people about that. 

I'm not saying anything about bird watching either.

fall favorites, big hair

Happy fall, we made it through another summer!

With that, I saw there is another question posted on the adjunct instructor room whiteboard at the college: "What is your favorite thing about autumn?"

The first thing my eyes noticed is that the "super pretzels with cheese シ" is still there from the earlier question... or a carry-over?

I'm enjoying the cooler temperatures and am still getting used to the dark mornings and earlier sunsets. Time to break out [the vest].

In other news, coworker Sarge's ducks? One of them has become a woman. Sarge's family isn't sure which one, but they've been getting one egg per day, started last Sunday. I imagine the other two ducks will get in sync and start earning their keep very soon. Exciting times.

This reminded me of many years ago, when I worked as a 2nd shift quality inspector. I had three female coworkers and one male. The man's name was Rod, poor guy. 

We all worked very closely together, and when we weren't slaving away, we just shot the breeze, etc. as coworkers in a small lab will do. The result - all us "ladies" got in sync, yaknow whatIm sayin'? Yeah, we were all "laying eggs" together. 

I found this old grainy photo from that era. It was taken with a Polaroid. Back in the day, before digital cameras, if we needed to take a photo of something "top secret", we'd get out the Polaroid.

So we had someone take this photo on my 21st birthday :P. Yeah, not a whole lot of supervision on 2nd shift...

Anyway, there's three of us egg layers. The fourth was probably out sick as I remember her having a fair share of sick days.

The long suffering Rod is the moustache in the right rear. Our supervisor is on the far left, and the other guy is my boyfriend of that era - a lab technician. We'd met at work, neither of us having stalked the other to the workplace.

Boyfriend's a nice guy, just not big on smiling for pics, apparently. Rod was also a very nice guy. Sheesh, he had to be.

Besides the Polaroid and our big hair, I notice other blasts from the past. Mainly the cigarettes and ashtray right there on the table. I've never been a smoker, but all three other ladies were, so along with their cycles, I got plenty of secondhand smoke. 

Ah, the good old days.

toys and field trips

I'm sitting here in a state of languor, nursing a head cold. I was hoping I'd dodged the start-of-the-school-year virus as others around me at work were dropping like flies, but alas, no. 

I'd had a satisfyingly productive week prior to my affliction. Tuesday evening, I went to PEO and returned home after dark. Across-the-street neighbor had his vehicle parked in his driveway, facing our house. The headlights were on - or I should say - the long continuous horizontal beam of light was on. 

And I thought, "Is that a Cybertruck?", the light beam being too bright for me to really make out what was behind it. 

The next morning, I was out wandering the neighborhood and saw that yes, there was a brand  new Cybertruck in ATS neighbor's driveway. I've seen a handful of Cybertrucks around town, but never up close. Since ATS was out there with his new toy, I decided to go over and nose around. He seemed all too happy for a little show-and-tell.

One of my first observations was that they're not as big as they seemed when I'd seen them from a distance. I show it here only to display the juxtaposition against the adventure vehicle parked alongside - our trash day bins included for artful composition.

He opened all the doors and rolled back the cover to show the surprisingly large bed. The interior looked... similar to any other new truck.

Not for me, certainly, but he seems very happy with it. Said he'd been waiting six years, having ordered it when they first came out in 2019. 

Meanwhile, Magnum has taken our little gas-only truck up the road to Cheyenne, WY for it's first oil change. Recall, we bought the truck about a year ago - as a second vehicle, worthy of winter driving. Welp, last winter was such a mild one, the truck did a lot of sitting in the garage. 

I decided to hang back so to not expose the Cheyeneites to my Colorado germs, and Magnum keeps sending me pics of the surrounding sights.

Yep, that's a big cowboy boot, alright.

Wyominging.

polishing

Way back in the days of my illustrious but short career as a middle school lunch lady, I was the Grill Queen. Nothing gustatorily creative, of course, but I whipped up many grilled cheeses and grilled ham and cheeses. Too many to count.

These days, we have our own little griddle. Neglected thing. I bought it shortly after we moved here, got it all seasoned, used it a couple of times then realized, "it is way to freaking hot on that back patio, let alone slaving over a hot griddle!", and there it sat, covered for seemingly all eternity.

We have since built a patio enclosure, including an overhanging roof where the little Blackstone has been living its lonely existence. After much procrastination, I finally got around to cleaning and re-seasoning over the weekend. Now, what to do? Grilled cheeses?

Meanwhile, I am currently doctorless. Not that that's related in any way to grilling. 

I had a nearby doctor - a PA really. That practice got bought out by a bigger fish, and after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, most of the staff jumped ship, including my PA.

I got shifted to another doctor that I'd never met before she, too, left. Just before my most recent checkup, I was shuffled to yet another, who miraculously, is still there. Since then, the company that caused all the drama in the first place sold the practice off to another. Now my doctor is no longer in our insurance network, wouldn't ya know. 

Magnum found another practice and got signed up. I lazily piggy backed off of him since he did all the legwork of review-reading, etc. So the dilemma = they can't sign me up with a doc until I make an appointment for a general checkup. I'm not eligible for a general checkup until next spring. 

Bottom line, no doctor for me.

Doctor YouTube, it is. So basically, nothing's changed.

climbing and floating into fall

Happy Sunday, y'all. One week into September, it's time for a wrap up.

• Magnum was away for Labor Day weekend - went out to California to visit his dad and stepmom with his siblings. I typically have Mondays off anyway, or at least a light load on Mondays, so it felt a pretty normal week to me.
  
  
• I did meet up with Wolfgang and Meego for breakfast one day. Meego had just gotten back from a bachelor party weekend for a good friend who's got an upcoming wedding. He shared with us his adventures, including climbing the [Colorado Via Ferrata] - not for the acrophobics! (me!).

• Speaking of mountains, Wolfgang was off to pick up a new mountain bike. His previous one was stolen - STOLEN! - a few weeks ago from the secure storage at his apartment building. The thief or thieves clearly knew their bike specs and targeted Wolfgang's specifically with their brazen act. It's a common problem with high-end bicycles around here. 

But, his renter's insurance came through like a champ, and now we've got a grandbike in the house while Wolfgang works out a way to store it inside his apartment. 

• And speaking of bikes, recall the local [Tour de Fat] I mentioned a couple of weekends ago? Wolfgang shared that he made the photo gallery in the local news.

The event theme for the parade was "Come as You Are", so pretty much no theme. Wolfgang's group decided their theme would be "dress for the wrong party", hence the beachwear and unicorn floatie.

• Speaking of floaties, we just finished the third week of classes at the college. These first few weeks feature various "welcome" events, and this week advertised hot air balloon rides "up to 50 feet with beautiful views of the city".

The balloon would be tethered, go up 50 feet, come back down to take another batch of riders. I went to check it out with Boss, and this is what we saw.

Yes, there was a hot air balloon. Yes, there were people waiting to go up. No, it was definitely not 50 feet. But, they did say, "up to", so not a lie. The beautiful views of the city, replaced with beautiful views of the parking lot. 

In the ballooner's defense, it was already pretty warm by 9-ish AM - low to mid 70's. It takes a lot of propane to get a hot air balloon off of hot asphalt in those conditions. 

•  I think we might finally be done with welcome events, the semester is well underway at this point. As such, my tutor schedule is chock full of anxious students. Math nerd delight.