we got spirit...

1. Nobody is willing to take over as PEO president
   
   
2. HR is telling coworkers and I not to talk sh*t about Blossom's chronic absenteeism
   
   
3. Furnace crapped out after an annual tune-up NOT coincidentally. 

So those three things are at the forefront of my little world. Other things at the bigger world, but we'll keep it at the little one.

• I'm frustrated with my PEO chapter. I've never had this issue with the two other chapters I've belonged to, but it's like pulling teeth to get people to volunteer for offices. We have 7 officers, and we've filled 5 very easily, but the two remaining - including President, which I currently occupy - remain vacant for the upcoming changeover.

We had two members who had earlier agreed to co-preside, but now both are backing out. I feel like those astronauts who got stranded at the international space station when the Starliner meant to retrieve them went belly up. Will I have to call on Elon Musk to bail me out?

•  Boss told us about HR getting involved in the problem of Blossom's attendance issues, and he had to pen an "edict" that we can't talk sh*t about her or ask why she calls off so often. I asked him to clarify what we're being accused of. 

Boss says HR is also aware of employee "grumpiness" from having to pick up the slack when Blossom leaves us understaffed so often. 

"Her absenteeism and our resulting grumpiness are two different issues"

Okay, I just wanted to make sure that we were not being told not to be grumpy.

• We had our furnace annually tuned on Monday. Monday was a warm day, and we didn't really need the furnace, but Tuesday morning, I noticed it would not turn on. 

Fix-it guy came out and eventually determined that the filter Tune-up guy gave me was crap, blocking airflow. The safety features in the furnace told it to shut down. Now it has a new filter, the house is warm, I got a service invoice for $0.00 following Fix-it guy's visit.

I'm not mad about Tune-up guy. He only gave me the filter - which turned out to be crap - because our lame butts didn't have any spares on hand. The crap filter wasn't intentional, just a weird situation... pretty sure.

On the bright side:

• 5 enthusiastic officer volunteers
• Fun coworkers, including Blossom when she shows up
• Furnace working fine, and I learned some furnace stuff

How 'bout you?

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Hooking up with [John's Writer's Workshop] this week for the prompt:

1. What’s taking up the most mental space for you right now?

flux

It's a sunny Saturday morning after a somewhat tumultuous week. Not too crazy tumult, but the sunny weekend is welcomed.

The week actually started off pretty good with my PEO meeting and wrapping up that President letter. I'm currently working on recruiting officers for the upcoming year because I and others are ready to ride off into the sunset. People aren't exactly getting in line to be next prez. There are two who had sort of agreed to share the job, but neither has answered my message to confirm. Hmmm. They'll come around 🤞

I have a nice batch of dedicated tutees so far and more available slots in my schedule. I'm enjoying not having a full schedule just yet, though. Classes are coming up on their first exams of the semester, and that typically gets the tutor appointments filling up.

I worked in testing yesterday, and it was just a weird day. Fridays are typically busy, and yesterday was certainly no exception. Add several annoying technical issues, and the day was rather "tits up" as they say in the UK. 

In the midst of all that, at one point, a young woman came out of the testing room to turn in her materials. She was absolutely BAWLING, no holding back. I honestly thought she was going to hyperventilate.

"Are you okay?", which seemed like a silly thing to ask, but I didn't know what else to say.

"I PASSED!..." She loudly sobbed

This was happening as we had several people queued up to check in for their respective tests. I don't think the scene helped to quell the overall test anxiety. 

Additionally, I could tell that Party Girl was a little off her game. It was so busy from the get go, that I hadn't really checked in with her. When things quieted down a little, she sat with Boss in his office for a few minutes with the door closed.

A little while after that, she looked over to Boss, and said, "Y'know, I think I'll just go now", although she had a couple hours left of her shift, and we were still fairly busy.

I did manage to catch her in the break room as she was packing up. She closed the door and gave me the Cliff Notes version of her current life situation. In summary

• The facility where her elderly dementia dad lives is not meeting his needs and is not able to increase his level of care
• Her husband is... well, I'll just say there are marital issues.

She said she wants her husband to buy her a house (as compensation?) so she can move out. This so she can move her dad in with her, quit all her jobs (she also tutors) and take care of her dad full-time.

And I'm thinking, was it that recent full moon or what?

We've also got a situation at work where Boss is chastising - for lack of a better word - all of us unreasonably IMHO. I have thoughts on a rebuttal that I would normally bounce off of Party Girl, but now is probably not the time. 

So, back to sunny Saturday.

feels like

Happy February! It's not that I necessarily love February, but nice to know we're a little closer to spring, days are getting longer, bit by bit.

Last weekend was FREEEEEEZing cold. Today, it's forecast to be in the high 50s. Magnum and I plan to bike to some coffee shop in a little while. This to say, that I am not yet caffeinated while posting this, so bare with.

• This week felt like a productive one. Tutees are starting to fill my schedule at the college. So far, I have a couple of returners from last semester, and the rest are newbs.

• I worked yesterday in testing with Kitty. A little toward the end of the shift, Work Study stopped by. She was on campus for a class and found "everything is closed on Saturday!" Well, everything but us. She'd come by to use our microwave.

She told us that last week was her final week working with us. I'll miss her, but I'm happy to see her go because (1) we don't need a work study in testing - there is not nearly enough for them to do because of limitations in what the testing world allows student workers to do, and (2) I think her new (non work-study) job is a better fit for her. So I'd felt it was a waste of funding and a waste of her talents to have her in testing, but she'll be missed.

• In entertainment news, Magnum and I recently finished watching the Netflix series [Katla]. Watched it? It's "Nordic Noir" based in Iceland, and that's all I will say. I really liked it, although it can be dark and disturbing at times. Now I want to visit Iceland. 

• The [P.E.O.] year is wrapping up. As such, I'm required to write the year-end "President's letter". I had it pretty squared away, but was having trouble with a satisfying final paragraph. Not gonna lie, I asked chatgpt for a little help, expecting it to return something bland and/or irrelevant. But damn, I liked the suggestions and went with them, paraphrased. 

And speaking of not trusting the internet, I just checked my weather app to see about our bike ride. It says it's 38 degrees and feels like 52. Uhm... what?

Whatever, coffee's calling.

layered up

 "How many layers of bottoms do you have? I've got on three. I'm going to start unzipping now"
~ heard while standing in line for the ladies room last weekend.

We went away for an arctic adventure weekend, rented a cabin in Estes Park with Meego and Wolfgang. We'd planned it about a month ago. Little did we know last weekend would be one of the coldest in a long while. 

So we bundled up and headed to the mountains. It so happened to coincide with a [skijoring event].
I'd heard of skijoring, but had never seen it live. What a rush!

Skijoring is a lot like water skiing, except the water is snow and the boat is a horse. 

SOURCE

It looks really really fun... if you know what you're doing... whether driving the "boat" or skiing. For people like me, it's a guaranteed trip to the ER or worse. 

We layered up good since it was snowing and the temperatures were in single digits. Like my bathroom line companions, I also had three layers of bottoms (not counting the bottom bottom) - leggings, pants, snow pants. Thankfully, all my layers had elastic waist, no unzipping necessary.

The cabin we rented was on the grounds of a large YMCA camp, so there were other activities at our disposal. Since it was so blustery and cold, we did mostly indoor things - shoodoops at the basketball gym, play card games, cook, eat...

So a fun filled getaway for a couple of days. Then it was hit the ground running back home. The spring semester has begun, and my tutor schedule is filling.

On to February.

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.