casualty

I worked yesterday at the testing center. It was my one day of gainful employment for the week since tutoring ended the week prior.

Working  just one day a week there, I often miss out on worthwhile shenanigans, so I had to get caught up. Turns out they had both a cheater and a secret shopper.

• The cheater had snuck a cheat note in, had it tucked in his sock - verified from video recording after the fact. Boss noticed the little note, sticking out from under the keyboard, mid-test. It was strange because it was for a professional certification test. We catch cheaters every once in a while, but they are typically for student exams, not the professional ones that people pay good chunks of money to take. I was kind of sorry to have missed the momentous once-in-a-lifetime event. 

• The other was a secret shopper. As the name implies, secret shoppers are sent by various test companies, come in pretending to be test takers, but are actually checking to see if we will catch them breaking any rules. This particular SS broke all kinds of rules and never even made it into the test they were supposedly there to take.

After being told they would not be allowed to take their test, they even offered a bribe to be allowed, which I find quite funny. Another missed performance I wish I'd seen.

In high school, I had a friend who would sometimes wear flowy skirts when it was a test day in our History class. She would affix a cheat note in the folds of her skirt and nonchalantly "flip" to the note as needed.

I recall that she was actually a pretty good student with a strong work ethic, and I'm pretty sure she never got caught cheating. I guess she just wanted the extra insurance. 

Kind of ironic, now I think about it. That was the exam that Cheater Guy was taking: 

licensure for casualty insurance. 

seize the moooment

I'm sitting here in long pants, long sleeves. We had us a cold front! 

Monday got to 100^o F and yesterday topped out in the high 60s. Magnum and I took advantage and went up to Helms Deep to do some trail bustin' in the great outdoors. We hadn't gone up there in about a month mainly because of the heat, wimps that we are.

The hill in the background took on a
fire in 2012,
so those are our burnt trees

It was a nice day and felt very productive and good to be out in the hills. I feel I'm getting better at the business of trail-building looking back on my sorry initial efforts.

We also checked our footage from the trail cam. Plenty of captures in the past month - mostly all dear deer.

Others in the area have reported bears, rattlesnakes, skunks, and a lone moose. We can personally vouch for the mouse population.

We didn't see any deer during yesterday's visit, but as we were leaving, we came upon this garden party going on at the neighbor's.

We'd heard the moos, but didn't spot any of the moocher cows while we slaved away on the trails, but there was a big old bunch of them just up the road. Too many to count.

This particular princess looked at us as if we were the intruders, inconveniencing her. She did reluctantly step aside just enough to let us through and leave her alone.

While there, I took a few pics of what is essentially our driveway. 

We're interested in getting some quotes on having it cleared out and smoothed out somewhat, as it's pretty weedy and rutty.

If only we could train the cows.

throwing hands

Official day 1 of "staycation". Fall semester begins in two weeks, so I'm currently coasting. I do still have a couple of shifts in the testing center and one day of scheduled tutor training, but that's it. 

Right now, I'm at the downtown library, which is one of my "artist date" places. The phrase was coined by Julia Cameron in her book [The Artist's Way] which I read several years ago. 

I'd checked her book out of the library where we lived at the time. I remember chatting with the librarian about it. She'd told me that the library held a series of workshop sessions built around the book, and a man tried to sue them because his wife asked for a divorce after completing the workshop - HA!

Personally, I got a few good takeaways from it, but overall, the book was nothing earth shattering. 

Anyway, I'd ridden my bicycle here, and as I was locking up, a mom and her two kids were unlocking, getting ready to leave. She has one of those "minivan" e-bikes that can hold cargo and kids. There was a girl of about 5 and a little boy about 3. 

The little boy, rather brusquely, asked his mom for something. 

Her: Can you ask it with manners?

Him: Pweeaase?

How to say no?

But speaking of instruction of children and saying "no", I've noticed an annoying (to me) trend.

Okay, first, how is a pen/pencil held? I hold mine as in this example....

Lately, I've been seeing this particular form:

And I'm struggling with that thumb placement.  I even tried to mimic that grasp and it's not working at all for me. My hand practically refuses to contort in such a way. 

These images were taken off of the tube-of-you thumbnails, and I have no idea who the perpetrators are. But I have seen a few such grips in real life, mostly young people - gen Zs and gen alphas.

What is our world coming to?

ring of power

Our power went out last night. I do what most people I imagine do when that happens. I immediately check to see if neighbor homes are without power as well, and usually that's the case. This time, however, the evidence confirmed it was just us. 

It was eerie because we had JUST finished watching [Bugonia]. Honestly, I'd just exited Netflix as the credits had been rolling. For those not familiar, Bugonia is a Sci-Fi, alien conspiracy story starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. It kept me guessing until the end, and I found it brought up several thought-provoking themes. 

So I was deep in the throes of pondering, "what the heck did we just watch?" when *ZHUUUP* Power outage and total darkness and quiet.

We managed to locate our main breaker, which had been tripped, and get the juice flowing again. Logic says it tripped from larger than typical energy usage - likely our AC units - but maybe the aliens were just messing with us. 

We did discover bees or wasps starting to make a hive/nest in our breaker box, and it so happens that bees/beekeeping is a theme in Bugonia. Call me crazy... (or don't. That's okay)

We also watched [Apex] starring Charlize Theron. It was predictable, rather implausible, but entertaining enough. Met expectations, invoked no power outages.

We did a "heated" bicycle ride this morning. Apparently, exerting oneself in the heat has certain health benefits as long as it doesn't kill. We both survived, so I'll consider it a beneficial morning. Shady stretches were much welcomed, sun drenched stretches felt like riding over hot coals. Good balance.

Last weekend, I got a pneumonia vaccine. I noticed that the friendly pharmacist jabbed me nearly right on top of my smallpox vaccine scar. Those of us who own one of those are becoming fewer and farther between. 

Enhanced mine for clarity in the photo. Got one?

It's like having a special license plate that says "vintage" or "classic".

Right??

not grey gardens

This week, the summer semester comes to a screeching halt. All that densely packed material thrown into final exams, and then nothing for a couple of weeks until Fall semester begins. I'm thinking up a few small projects I can do with the downtime from tutoring.

One project I take no credit for is "our" bountiful garden. That was Magnum's thing - building the raised bed and framework to keep the greedy bunnies out, filling the soil, planting and nurturing... 

No lettuce parasites in our burritos!

It's been too much to eat to keep up with, really. Plants will likely keep thriving long after the humans are gone unless we nuke the whole planet.

Speaking of nukes, like many households, we have a microwave oven. I rarely use it, and really only for heating oatmeal or coffee that's gone cold. Magnum often uses it to cook, which kinda grosses me out. He doesn't use it to cook meat, at least (although there was that one chicken tenders incident), but anything else is fair game. 

When the kids were at home, it was useful, but now, I can most definitely live without it. But we keep it around for his sake. At least it sits in a corner under a cabinet, in a space that would be pretty useless as a surface anyway. And once the zucchini and summer squash is ready for harvest, I will confiscate them and bar them from said microwave! 

Speaking of kids at home, I find I get nostalgic this time of year with the back-to-school fervor. The school supply lists, the clothes and shoes shopping. Weird, the things we miss.

But I don't miss being responsible for dinner. Every. Single. Day.

a Friday five

 Another week gone, summer is winding down. I worked in the testing center this morning. The campus is still pretty quiet, but people are trickling in - getting advising, registering for fall, taking placement tests...

• Like many colleges, our enrollment is down because of 1) the "enrollment cliff" - predicted to kick in this year since not many babies were born in the U.S. in 2008. Those few who were born and made it through high school are the age to go to college. But 2) who can afford it/ go into all that student debt? Plus, 3)what to major in since AI is taking away many job opportunities?

And college isn't for everyone. But, our lights are still on.

• In other news, I'm happy to report that the missing kitty from next door seems to have returned. I spotted her yesterday running toward her house when a rainstorm moved in. I notice the neighbors took down the "MISSING" flyers, but don't know where she was during her 2-week adventure or how she reappeared. I honestly didn't expect her to return.

• One of the people I checked in at work today was testing to get her teaching license in "Family and Consumer Sciences".

"Is that what used to be 'home ec'? I asked

"Yes!", she enthusiastically replied. 

She went on to say that there's been recent increased interest among students - kids wanting to learn about nutrition, budgeting, etc. and turning away from getting everything off the internet and social media.

She felt optimistic about her job prospects. I remember taking home ec in jr. high. It was all girls. I wonder if that's changed. She told me she already has a teaching credential for art, but wants to expand her skill set in lieu of budget cuts. 

• Speaking of which, these doodles have nothing to do with anything. I dusted off the sketchbook and pens for doodling during evening TV time like when I was a kid. Just cartoony hooligan stuff.

• Lastly, this morning, I noticed some tidying up had been done at work this week. While preparing for the morning's appointments, I noticed an updated labeling scheme in one of the file drawers.

We do a lot of testing of water professionals. We provide them with reference materials based on whether they are testing for "water treatment" or "water distribution". The materials look very similar, but contain slight differences. 

We used to leaf through a pile and select the appropriate materials. So this morning, I noticed they've been separated into individual folders - "Poo", "Not Poo"

We're nothing if not up on the latest technical jargon.

gifted

I'd not thought of myself as one of those people who carries an umbrella to block the sun. But yesterday, there I was, undercover. The temperature was hovering around 100^o .

I was thankful to have that umbrella as the full onslaught of sun was bearing down as I waited for the bus to go to work. My pick up stop has a bench, and nothing more. 

The all-black backpack is no help to beat the heat. 

But, we're surviving, and I don't mean to complain. In fact, this is meant to be an appreciation post, starting with my appreciation for that umbrella and the ease of taking the bus on my short work commute on inclement weather days.

We got some welcome rain overnight, which didn't cool things down much, but we always need the moisture. I had a lovely jog around the neighborhood this morning, appreciative of the overcast skies.

I came across these two friends, living the good life.

The summer semester is wrapping up. POOF, ten weeks of frenzied activity. Tensions are a bit high among the tutees, working hard to keep their heads above water for about one more week. 

One such tutee end-of-semester-gift-ed me a [lovely Japanese mechanical pencil]. What a nice and unexpected surprise.

Now, I realize some may think a mechanical pencil is a strange gift, but I can attest to the fact that it is a wonderfully fitting item for a math tutor.

Well done, Tutee!

I've learned that this particular pencil is a fave among mechanical pencil aficionados. 

I've happily added it to my pencil case as part of my everyday carry in the aforementioned backpack.

The fuzzy thing in the background of the pencil pic is our cat - Napolion The Skinny. Can you see his butt bones?

I have begun giving him a daily can of kitten food, which he loves. It also makes him the envy of all other pets in the house.