in conclusion

Aren't blogs handy? Before blogging became a thing, I'd never journaled or kept a diary or any of that stuff. Who knows how much I've forgotten??

But with blogging, we can dip into the archives an unearth all kinds of boring things. Let's recap 2023 on this new year's eve, shall we?

January - learned about the formation of pornographic ice

February - noped out of winter bike-to-work

March - did my last Tortoise-and-Hare race for the '22/ '23 season

April - went geocaching, thinking to restart, never to geocache again for the remainder of the year.

May - involuntarily listened to a family fight while dining out on Mother's Day

June - yessed to summer bike-to-work

July - partied with step-father-in-law for his 90th birthday

August - encountered a man in a public bathroom, only to realize "he" was a bearded woman

September - became a scribe for a college math student with cerebral palsy

October - completed all but one of the 31 inktobers

November - completed another year of life on Earth

December - gonna go make some fried rice, I think

See ya next year!

saddle, sorting, and needles

A saddle, in geography, is defined as the lowest area between two peaks. I think of the week between Christmas and New Year as a saddle week. This one's been pretty productive... mostly.

• I've been doing some tidying, which I have since learned is a tradition in some cultures so as to start the new year with a "clean slate". I went through some boxes of stored goods while grumbling under my breath, thinking it was "junk" we've been storing for our kids. I was all ready to unload it upon them, only to find that it was mostly our stuff we never unpacked when we moved here four years ago. Ooops.

So I'm sorting through that, determined to rid us of "stored stuff". If we're gonna use it, it should be out among the living. I did find a few kid things, so my grumbling skills weren't totally a waste.

• Christmas here was a pleasant low-key affair. Meego and Wolfgang came over for food, gaming, dog walking, puzzle building, etc. And we speaker phoned a bit with Chaco, who relocated to the DC area for work not long ago.

Speaking of food and storage, while I was doing some actual cooking for Christmas, I came upon this little cast iron skillet I "won" back in 2020. As I remember it, the nursing home where I was working at the time had daily random drawings for staff to select a gift from a pile o' stuff during the days leading up to Christmas.

My name miraculously came up, and I selected the cute skillet, I think mainly because it was nicely portable for bringing home on my bicycle. It came with a small packet of brownie mix for making one round brownie in the pan. I remember making the brownie on Christmas, and the 5 of us split it into teeny tiny brownies. 

If it'd been a marijuana brownie, I doubt it would've had much affect after divying it up 5 ways. 

The skillet then got stashed with its larger siblings, hardly thought of again. But this week, I saw someone on reddit, who had received such a skillet for Christmas, asking what to use it for. The overwhelming response was "an egg!!"

Omigosh, it's the perfect vessel for making a one-off poached egg. I've been doing that in the days since the discovery while needing to chip away at all this damn leftover Christmas ham.

• Also this week, I visited that physical therapy place about my fritzed foot. They'd offered a special promo, so I partook. But the foot's been feeling better, and I figured I'd listen to the assessment, then likely continue to treat it myself. 

Welp, that didn't happen. The good Dr. uncovered weakness in my right hip - not a total secret to me - as likely the root of my problem and mapped out a good sense plan of attack.  After the initial treatment hurt so good, I'd plunked down the HSA card and paid for six sessions. 

He wants to do some "dry needling" - a term of which I've heard for treating sports injuries, but know nothing. I'm about to access doctor google, but it sounds kind of like acupuncture, which I've never had. I'm going for it.

sporting

"Okay, stupid question", I began, "Which ones are the Eagles?"

And so began my experience watching live professional hockey. We went to a Colorado Eagles (farm team for the Avalanche) game yesterday and watched them lose to the Calgary Wranglers. It was much fun, I hope to do it again - maybe not the losing part, but either way...

A few weeks ago, when we got together with Meego and Wolfgang, we somehow got on the subject of hockey. They both claimed it was fun to watch, while Magnum and I had never partaken. We learned that the guy who owns Meego's company is good friends with the guy who owns the Eagles, so employees typically have a number of tickets available to them for free as well access to the company's suite seating.

So Meego invited us to yesterday's game, and off we went. I figured it would be an educational field trip, which it was. Wolfgang got me up to speed with some basic rules - as well as pointed out which team was the Eagles - and I easily got into it. We actually didn't use the suite since the owner's kid was using it for a good sized crowd, but our gen pop seats were quite good.

It was fun watching it live, and the arena was awash with lots of positive energy - never a dull moment. I knew that fights often happen in hockey, but it was a bit shocking to see players haul off and punch someone in the face, live and in real time. 

A good time it was despite the Eagles losing 5-1. But I'm totally new to this and haven't developed team loyalty yet. 

Now here it is Christmas eve already. After watching that hockey game and noticing the players with missing teeth and understanding why, I've had that song "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" playing in my head.

I've mentioned here before that I murdered my two front teeth when I was 11 years old. I won't rehash the story now, but the key players were myself, a skateboard, and the street. I remember my loving grandma singing that song to me...
Brother Guano referred to me as "toilet teeth" after I got them fixed because the crowns were ceramic - the material of toilets. 

Yes, a formative time in my life. I imagine the teeth voids are more a badge of courage for hockey players. 

Whatever wished for this season, whether having to do with teeth or not,  I wish anyone reading the happiest of holidays!

a break from this break

• We had our little white elephant gift exchange at work  yesterday - ended up just being five of us as Triple-D was sick, and Star and Kitty had other obligations. I was surprisingly content with what I ended up with - a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle, kitchen sponges, and a dental grab bag - HA!

With these work gift exchanges, we try to do them without anyone having to purchase anything. I learned that the jigsaw had been gifted to Party Girl's dad, who has dementia and can do a 60-piece puzzle, tops. I suspect that she did purchase the kitchen sponges - they are new and in the shape of cat faces. The dental grab bag came from Work Study, who informed us that the college's dental assistant program had given them out for Halloween. Who knew?

As to why I ended up with gifts from two people, it's a roundabout story, but suffice to say that I almost ended up with that Zombie book that I brought after things had made the rounds. But Sarge actually wanted the book and traded up to get it. So all's well that ends well, and I don't have to buy toothpaste or floss for a while.

• In other happy news, I went running this morning. My foot had been on the fritz for about a month and a half, but had gotten to feeling better, so I rejoined the weirdos this morning. It did okay, but in the meantime, I had contacted a local physical therapy office that specializes in running injuries.

They're offering a $49 special with full analysis/diagnostics, plus they're office is really close to our house. So I made an appointment for next week, and they sent me a questionnaire which asked typical questions like, "what hurts", "what makes it better/ worse", "what have I tried doing for it", etc... And it also asked something like, "What are my goals from therapy and how meaningful will it be for me to reach them?"

As for goals, I just want to be able to go for regular runs again and make a decent showing at a handful of races - 5K, 10K realm - each year, blah blah... But meaningful? I had to think. I mean, I'm nearly 60 years old. I'd like to be able to leave other 60-year-old women in the dust, but I'm pretty sure I've passed my peak. I came up with something for the meaningful question (all fields had to be filled in), but I realized I could find meaning in other activities if push comes to shove.

I'm off work today, and we're closed all next week. I guess I'll start searching for some meaningful things to occupy my time.

Wednesday

Another Wednesday, and I am again without tutor detail since the college kids are on break. I'm trying to make good use of my free time, it's going so-so.

The annual Christmas haul from step-mother-in-law arrived yesterday. The Diabetes in a Box has somewhat toned down from years past, so that's nice. She also habitually sends a 1000-piece art themed jigsaw puzzle for all of us as well as an art-themed desk calendar for me.

I have received these desk calendars from her for about as long as I've known her. I can't remember the last desk calendar I actually kept. I vaguely remember using a few at my desk when I was a working girl - back in the days before shared digital calendars. But I haven't had a desk job in many years, and we have things like MS Outlook now.

I mean, it's a nice thought, and the high-grade calendars are from the Metropolitan Museum of Art - [this year's] is Van Gogh. But seriously, I haven't had use for a desk calendar in a long long time and don't know how to ask her to stop. So I donate them shortly after they arrive.

I did get started on the puzzle. Possible marks for productivity?

On that note, I thought I'd try this Wednesday 'podge I've seen over at Incognitus Scriptor:

1. Did you do more talking or more listening yesterday? Was it by choice or by necessity? 

I would guess that I did more talking, but really, I'd think it to be about 50/ 50. I worked at the testing center, which necessitates that I spew a fair amount of information, but I also must listen. Then there's always the sit-around-and-gab-with-the-coworkers.

2. Are you a tea drinker? Hot, cold, or both? Flavored? What do you like in your tea? Do you make Christmas tea this time of year? What time of day do you like to sip your tea? 

Yes. Hot. Green or black. No additives. No Christmas tea. First thing with breakfast.

3. What’s an activity you won’t try, an event you won’t attend, or an athletic challenge you won’t take part in not even for ‘all the tea in China’? 

• Activity = scuba diving
• Event = bull fight
• Athletic challenge = ultimate fighting

4. What’s something most people seem to love but is not ‘your cup of tea‘? 

Avocado anything

5. How does your family celebrate New Year’s Eve? 

Long ago readers might remember that we used to run a mile at midnight on New Year's Eve - "midnight mile" - no matter the temperature or conditions. These days, I'm tucked away in bed by midnight, ready to get on with the new year.

But hey, I'd stay up for midnight miling. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I went to the eye doctor today since it's been over a year, and I had the time. Nothing much has changed, and I almost feel the dr. just tweaked my prescription a little bit to justify my going in. 

But the bike ride to the eye doctor's and back was lovely. We've had nice mild weather most of this week, and I was reminded that this time last year, we were in a deep deep freeze and holed up indoors most of the time. What a difference a year makes.

weekend randomness

This week was busy at work with semester finals and year-end certifications. This coming week will likely be about the same until we hit a wall on Thursday with very little on the schedule. As such, we're planning to have our gift swap party Thursday afternoon. 

A few weeks ago, Magnum brought home [this book] that he won from a little contest thrown by the Employee Health and Safety group at work. 

Their EH&S does these occasional contests on various topics, then from the high scorers, a few winners are chosen. This particular contest had to do with emergency prep, and Magnum got the book plus a gift card.

The book went straight to the giveaway pile, and I figured, "welp, now I have something for the lame gift swap"

I skimmed the pages, and it seems to be parody disguised as serious self-help. There are a few worthwhile tips in there for general preparedness.

So... shouldn't the "losers" of the contest get the book instead? As they seem more in need of the information?

And I saw this meme this morning and thought, "AHA! I'm not the only one who thinks this!"

I mean, really. I see some of the filtered selfies and profile pics some people - mainly women - upload online, and I wonder if they realize they don't really look like that. At all? 

Sure, the filters are very flattering, but what happens when they go out in public? Kind of like makeup vs. no makeup, but those filters are next level. 

Anyway, I've got my Christmas shopping done - what little there is of it. But it occurs to me that I might be low on wrapping paper, ribbons if I'm feeling extra fancy. I might need to quick run to the store.

The Zombie apocolypse will hopefully hold off. 

when asleep

• Last week, I was bracing for this Monday because it would be the last day of finals and chaos would surely ensue at work. But I figured Tuesday would be a well-deserved lull. 

WRONG!

I was not wrong about Monday, which was the expected zoo. But we managed to get everyone in and accommodated as needed. Tuesday, however, was yet another zoo. I'd failed to realize that the EMT course just finished up, and all those wannabe paramedics need to come in and get certified for the registry before the end of the year = NOW.

Yesterday was a never ending stream of EMTs, the place was packed with them. The silver lining was, if someone were to have a medical emergency, we should've been in pretty good proximity to aid.

I'm off today, and it feels a bit weird because Wednesday is usually my tutoring day. But semester's over and so is the tutoring until next semester. The positive news is that a new assistant boss is on the horizon. The candidate, whose corner I was most in, was offered the position and has accepted.  Now it's just background check and other such mumbo jumbo, and she should be starting... just as we go on break.

• I went for a haircut appointment yesterday, and my stylist told me how one of the other stylists at the salon very unexpectedly died in her sleep on Thanksgiving night. Apparent anuerysm rupture. She was only 44. Her 12-year-old daughter was the one who found her.  Wow.

While dealing with the tragic loss of their coworker, the other stylists are taking over her scheduled appointments. My stylist telling me all this made me realize that my current work zoo is nothing compared to her current work zoo.

• Today's agenda includes various housewifery type things. The weather is crap, so that should help.

show me

 I was at work Friday afternoon. We were wrapping up the last few testers of the day while Boss and GrandBoss were conducting interviews for assistant boss. 

I mentioned a few weeks ago a student who was busted with a cell phone and also found to be spitting in his private room 🤢. He offered a lame excuse for the phone and denied spitting even though we had clear video footage. I don't know what consequences, if any, he faced for his sins.

Anyways, Spitman was in taking another test on Friday, and I just had a feeling...

I zoomed in on the overhead camera as he seemed overly hunched over. Sure enough, as soon as I had a view of his lap, brightly lit up cell phone, right there. I was working with Star, and as soon as the phone became visible again, I drew her attention to the monitor to verify I was seeing what I was seeing. 

Just then, Spitman actually picked the phone up and began typing something into the screen, so really, no further verification needed. I went in, guns a-blazin'!

"You can't have a phone in here", I stated the obvious.

"I don't have a phone!", the blatant lie response.

"Oh brother, here we go", said inside my mind.

"We clearly saw you using a phone on our surveillance camera", probably to no avail.

"I don't have a phone!", the brick wall response.

He stepped out of the room, indicated his jacket pockets were empty, walked over to the locker where his items were stored and showed me a cell phone in the locker. 

"See! There's my phone", because a person can't possibly have more than one.

I suspected the phone was, at that point, in his underpants, and I wasn't about to request a search.

I told him he could return to his test, but we'd have to file a report because he was clearly using a frickin' phone.

Sure enough, we saved the video footage of the bust, and he's clearly seen doing a quick *zhoop* of the phone into the sleeve of his slightly too big jacket when I first entered. Then as he stood, he popped the phone down the front of his pants. 

I don't get it. I mean, how can people just blatantly lie so easily? And the thing is, the class he keeps cheating in is a developmental math class. It carries NO college credit. It's a class to help students who are behind in math, to prepare them for college level courses. 

It would be like needing a cast to set a broken bone, being provided with a suitable cast, but chucking the cast and wearing a fake one to make it look like you're healing.  If he can't pass that class without cheating, he will absolutely drown in college algebra.

Not to mention, I was then faced with the inconvenience of having to file the incident report. I mean, how rude.

I just wonder what's up with Spitman. Is he trying to get kicked out?

all the things you do to me

Holiday season is here, and I'm thinking about minimalism. Well, I consider myself a minimalist, so minimalism is at least in the back of my mind most of the time. We will probably do another White Elephant swap at work - lame gift version - which I'm okay with as it's mainly for entertainment purposes.

But other than that, I'm not expecting any kind of "haul" as immediate and extended family don't really do up the gifts anymore. That said, I do somewhat expect the annual "Diabetes in a Box" to arrive from Step-MIL at anytime.

This work week has been pretty busy with it being finals time. It's looking to be peak chaos on Monday, abruptly followed by crickets as Monday is the last day of finals. Boss and GrandBoss are holding interviews for the assistant boss position this afternoon, so hopefully a suitable person will be hired and on board very soon.

In the meantime, with my minimalist mindset in running mode, I thought I'd challenge myself to do all of Mama Kat's prompts this week while keeping the post minimal  - minimal max. 

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1. Share a quote you love.

"No" ~ Rosa Parks

2. Write a blog post inspired by the word: new.

Someone(s) new is living next door. That's all I know.

3. November Photo Dump, share some one of your memorable photos from the month of November.

4. Best or worst gift you ever gave.

Best: [a doll for my mom]

Worst: I'm sure one exists

5. Describe how you would celebrate the holidays if it was totally up to you and money was not a factor.

Maybe go to Norway and freeze my buns off celebrating [Yule] the Scandanavian way.

might be done

As predicted, this past week was a busy one. It was good busy - productive. 

Between testing, tuting, scribing, and interviewing, it was like I had to remind myself that I work part-time and not full. But all good and temporary.

My hiring committee cohorts and I finished up first round interviews for the assistant boss position. There were eight applicants in all, and we ended up recommending a whopping two for second/ final  round with Boss and GrandBoss.

I mentioned a while back that two of the current part-timers expressed interest in the position. One is great, as everybody agrees. The other, not so much. WELL, the Star ended up being filtered out by HR for not having the requisite 2+ years of administrative experience. Bummer. She is young, so just starting to build her skill set. She was fine with it, no worries there.

The other - formerly referred to here as "Slacker", but I feel I should change that, let's call her Kitty - applied and made it through the initial HR filter.

We interviewed her, and it did not go particularly well. In the end, we decided that, just because we know her and like her and work with her, that wasn't enough to grant her a 2nd interview along with the two strongest cadidates. 

So, things could be awkward at work for a while. We shall see. But the whole "be objective" and "beware of implicit bias" was constantly drummed into us from HR, so hopefully Kitty will understand. She is just so not ready for that responsibility. Honestly, I have a hard time believing she actually wants it? I think she mainly  wants full-time benefits. Understandable.

In other recruitment news, it appears that we have new neighbors after the house next door sat vacant for the last two months. 

I haven't seen any actual people, but I did briefly encounter the silhouette of a smallish pooch wandering around their yard. We've had decent enough neighbors since moving here 4 years ago. Fingers crossed that remains true. Either way, I suppose I can stop shoveling their snow now.

We watched a weird movie last night. May December is streaming on Netflix. The names and some circumstances are changed, but it's clearly about Mary Kay Letourneau and the tabloid romance rape of Villi Fualaau.

It takes place years later as their kids are grown and leaving the nest. Natalie Portman plays an actress researching the family so she can play Mary Kay Letourneau in a movie. It had a dark, slow vibe, and then ended abruptly. Good performances, but a bit strange. I'm wondering what message the writer was going for?

50 shades of grey

We got a decent snowstorm on Friday into Saturday, still digging out a bit.  I guess I'll accept that winter is here. As such, I sorted through my clothing, and put away the warm weather stuff. As I looked at my satisfyingly tidy closet, I couldn't help but notice the near monochrome wardrobe left for the next few months.

Really? I had not noticed this happening. When did nearly every warm top I own become some shade of grey?

These are work tops, and my putz-around-the-house tops have slightly more color variety, but Magnum and the pets likely don't care.

While not one to wear ugly Christmas sweaters, I'm still thinking I should make more of an effort with color.

It was a satisfying few days off from work before the remainder of the semester. This coming week is chock full of stuff - panic stricken students hitting me both from the testing side and tutoring side. In addition, I've got two afternoons of interviews scheduled for the assistant boss position. 

I'll be glad to be done with that and have someone to onboard. We've been short staffed all semester, and I'm glad to see several good candidates to sift through. It could be a difficult choice. Fingers crossed we make the right one.

Now, what to wear for interviews? I'm thinking grey? Maybe black?

fourth thursday

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all  'mericans!  

Today is actually looking to be a quiet day for me. Magnum, Wolfgang, and Meego are going to Magnum's sister's for the big gathering. I'll stay behind and chill with the dogs since we had no one to unload them upon. Chaco recently moved out of state for work, so will also be thankful in abstentia.

It's just as well with the mystery dog illness going around. This is no doubt a busy time of year for dog kennels and other boarders. I know there are heightened restrictions in place, but don't know the extent. Turns out it's a good thing to have antisocial dogs - currently anyways.

The four of us plan to get together on Saturday. Might go downtown to check out the Christmas elaborations. Either way, I'm off the hook for cooking this year.

In other mysteries, I parked my bicycle after getting home from work yesterday. I keep the two bicycles I ride most often in the house because I'm a wimp and don't like retrieving them from a cold garage they're precious.

Soon after I'd settled my commuter, the cat snuggled in beneath the bicycles and was rolling around in some sort of bliss. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought he found catnip down there. 

He hung out among the tires and chains for a good couple hours before deciding to, once again, join the sober. He hasn't returned to the seeming euphoria, and I have no idea what that was about.

I'm looking forward to four relatively quiet days off. I worked the last three days, and the place was a bit of a zoo. We thought it would be slow with the students on break, but it seems that everybody and their grandma decided this would be the time to get their professional certifications in. It was like a Black Friday version of testing. Door busters!

As I mentioned earlier, no Thanksgiving day road race for me this year. Recall that last year, I managed to beat the mayor. She no doubt has something to do with sabotaging my foot this year.

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Linking up with Mama Kat for the prompt:

1. Happy Thanksgiving! Share your Thanksgiving Day plans.

... or are you happy to see me?

Thanksgiving week is upon us. At this time of abundance, I'm doing all the prompts from Mama Kat:

1. Tell us about a current interest.

I've been following the Kaitlin-Armstrong-killed-Mo-Wilson sentencing and trial recaps. Sheesh, what a bizarre case. 

2. Write about something you gave a negative review.

This week I bought some cajun flavored sesame sticks from Natural Grocers. After eating a couple, I realized they were not cajun flavored but garlic flavored and mislabeled. And I was all, "gross", because I quite dislike garlic. But thankfully, no one here is allergic. But what if someone was allergic? That could be bad. 

I let the store know about it via their online contact page. Who knows if anyone reads the submissions? Not necessarily a negative review, but mislabeled food products could land them in hot water.

3. Tell us about something you are looking forward to.

I'm looking forward to a slowed week at work coming up. The test center is open through Wednesday, but students are on break all week, so it should be fairly calm and quiet. 🤞

4. Book review! Share a recent favorite (or least favorite) read.

I'm currently reading Happy Place by Emily Henry. I'm about halfway through it, and apparently it's a popular book. For me, I dunno, it's kinda... bad. It might end up a DNF for me.

5. Write a blog post in exactly 7 lines.

My fritzed foot is still not 100%.

But it feels better with each passing day.

I feel I could go for a short run.

But Dr. Internet says not to run for 4 to 6 weeks. 

So, no Thanksgiving race for me this year.

Boo hoo. 

Still very thankful for lots of stuff.

6. Write a blog post inspired by the word: over

We caught a cheater at work this week. Really, it's a rare occurrence. I've worked there for 2.5 years, and can remember just 4 cheaters, all of them college students.

But this guy, he hid a cell phone in the crotch of his pants, then began using the phone during his test. A coworker busted Cheater and took the phone. When going over the video footage, we also learned that Cheater was chewing tobacco and spitting in his testing room.

Party Girl had a justified cow when wiping down the workstation after Cheater finished, at which point he denied doing any spitting/ mess making.

He knew we have cameras, now he knows that they don't just watch, they record.

Game over?

mid-week mash up

• I mentioned a while back that a childhood friend of mine was (surprisingly and strangely) running for mayor of our hometown. I didn't think he had any chance at all, and the polls returned that prediction in staggering fashion.

I took a peek at his facebook campaign page, to which I never accepted the "friend" request, and he's been profanely ranting ever since - not surprisingly.

I honestly wonder about his mental state. 

He and I have been in and out of touch over the years, mostly out. A few years ago, he'd sent a request to connect on Linkedin. His Linkedin profile was very odd, and I wondered if it was a joke or if he's off his rocker. Could go either way. I never accepted that request either.

• The assistant boss hunt is proceeding. All applicants are in, and we're poring over resume's. First round interviews likely won't happen until after Thanksgiving because of... Thanksgiving.

We have two fellow part-timers who had expressed interest in the position. One has sort of developed a reputation as a slacker, while the other has been performing really well. I haven't worked much with either of them as they are very part-time at our campus, but the others have shared their thoughts with me.

SO, turns out "the slacker" applied for the position, but the "the star" did not. I don't know if Star just changed her mind or what, but the deadline has past, and she's not in the running. I shared this quietly with both Party Girl and Sarge, both were quite disappointed.

I think I'm doing well with keeping myself unbiased despite all this chatter. Slacker is not a shoe-in, as a few other candidates look well qualified.

• Screaching tires UPDATE: recall the ongoing screaching tires Magnum and I heard on Saturday night? We did a bit of investigating during a coffee & bagel mission.

Walking across the nearby high school parking lot revealed that our assumption of someone(s) spinning lots and lots of donuts was most likely true.

I can only imagine the heat and smells that were generated. 

And if it was some kid shredding their parents' tires? Consequences?

morning balloons, night donuts

My right foot is on the fritz. It doesn't feel like running. Doctor Internet tells me I have metatarsal(s) stress/ strain. Fine, so be it.

But walking is agreeable, so my feet and I went out and did that on this sunny morning. Not long after heading out, I heard the unmistakable sound of a hot air balloon torch. I looked up to confirm my suspicions.

Hot air balloons are such a strangely calming sight, quietly floating along in the early morning. If I was in that basket, however, I would be anything BUT calm. 

I'm sure the views from up there are stunning, making me a bit jealous of the non-acrophobes. I'll stick to getting awe-inspiring views from the tops of big firm mountains and foothills.

This past week was a good one - felt productive. I was able to stick to my plan of getting up an hour earlier than I had been, putting that dang time-change to good use. 

Last night, we were streaming a movie when I heard squealing tires from not far away. I figured someone was Starsky-and-Hutching it down the main drag. But then... the squealing kept on and on. It would pause then resume, pause then resume... this went on for several minutes. Finally, I paused our movie to listen. 

It was quite noticeable, and I was surprised how long it continued. We stepped outside and concluded that someone(s) who has no qualms about needing to buy new tires, was spinning donuts in the nearby high school parking lot. I'll have to go out and investigate in a little while to see if there's a mess of burnt rubber evidence. 

As far as we know, no one called the cops, although I'm sure others heard it. Maybe most, like us, figured "someone else will report it" or "as long as they're not on the street, let them have their fun". It eventually stopped. I checked nextdoor and reddit, my main go-tos for nosiness. Nothing.

That's about it for the excitement at my end: bum foot, balloon, burnt rubber.

in the middle of the street

The hiring process for our new assistant boss marches on... at a snail's pace. It's good that the process is so thorough, I suppose. My fellow committee members and I have hurdles to jump through, and each jump is evaluated by HR until we are given the go ahead for the next hurdle. We're getting closer to the finish line, the application window closed yesterday.

Once we pare down the candidates, the remainders will go onto second interviews with Boss and Boss's boss. Fingers crossed we get someone in before Christmas.

Boss is able to take a look at materials submitted from the approved candidates so far. A few days ago he noted, "I didn't see anyone with test center experience".

And I thought to myself, "Well, yeah, because if they had actual test center experience, they would know not to apply for a full time job of it...", but maybe I'm just projecting *ahem*.

But I'll say it again, I like the job - the part-time version of it. It allows me time for tutoring and other interests, and I, thankfully, am not concerned about not having employee benefits. 

In other unfulfilled positions, the rental house next door to us remains vacant. Magnum reports seeing a few looky-loos as noticed while working from home. He knows when someone is checking out the backyard because our dogs announce it from our backyard. 

Affordable housing is a concern around here, like a lot of other places these days. Are the landlords asking too much?

... it's not our dogs, is it? 

Nah.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
5. Write a blog post inspired by the word: future

see you in the morning

I'm up early on a Monday. Recently, I'd been thinking I want to get up an hour earlier than I had been. With the advent of the return to standard time, I figured I could begin getting up "an hour earlier" only as far as the clock was concerned. No jet lag.

So here I am with an extra hour before needing to go into work. I figured I'd get some tutoring ducks in order, which I'm obviously not doing.

I had to work on Saturday, so the weekend felt short. Party Girl, my functioning alcoholic coworker, has been caught up in legal proceedings involving the death of her dad's wife and his share of the estate. She'd hoped to reach a settlement with her stepmother's daughter (doesn't feel any sisterhood with her - not even step-sisterhood), but that hasn't happened so the whole thing's going to trial.

As such, she had "sober October" because she wants to be clear headed throughout the process. She does these dry months every now and then, but they aren't exactly "dry" as they include scheduled cheat days. "Makes it less awful"

Interestingly, she revealed to me that, by the end of the month, she no longer feels vengeful toward stepmother's daughter. She believes it was the alcohol that made her feel like putting up this whole legal battle, and now she doesn't really care. But they're so far into it, she's got to see it through. Plus, her brother (sober always) is a vengeful force and sharing in the situation.

She went on to explain that her brother is "this big, burley guy who can be pretty intense". Now, I've seen Party Girl's parents. Mom is average height and build, while Dad is a small slip of a man. 

"How did your dad make such a big burley son with dark hair?", I asked

"Oh, we just figure it was a 'milkman' or something", Party Girl explained in all seriousness. "My dad adores my brother, so we just don't talk about it."

This week, the hiring process for new assistant boss continues. We have to jump through a few hoops for HR before gaining access to the applicants, and I'm ready to get this show on the road. We'll likely get someone hired just in time for the start of finals - trial by fire.

go forward, move ahead, crack that whip

It's a relatively calm Friday, I have not a lot going on. So I'm doing some laundry and gonna rake leaves in a minute. Excitement abounds!

It also happens to be a payday. We get paid every two weeks from the college, and I never really look at my emailed paystub. But today, I decided to peak at it before discarding. Lo and behold, we've gotten a pay increase.

This is strange because, it being a state school, there are no merit increases. Everyone who works a certain job, whether they've done it for 5 years or 5 minutes gets the same pay. We get annual increases, typically in mid-summer. 

In July, my coworkers in the testing center and I got half the percentage increase as most other positions that we knew of, which actually seemed a bit silly and insulting. An informal sampling of others at the college revealed that most got the larger increase - my tutor wage, for instance.

Honestly, my working there is not so much about money at this point in my life. It's a comfortable gig for a variety of reasons, and better than a lot of other part-time jobs available to me. But I noticed, while perusing my pay stub this morning, that we got an additional pay increase a few weeks ago and are now being paid the full increase as the rest of the college over this time last year. Why nothing was ever said about it, I don't know. Maybe someone heard my somewhat internal bitching? 

New boss did mention to me that our old boss, now Director, has been adamant in meetings about sticking up for us part-timers and noting that we should not be taken for granted. We "are not easily replaced". The guy often drives me bananas, as I've mentioned here before, but he's a good guy to work for. 

And speaking of the job, a young student came in for a test yesterday. She did not have any photo ID - as required for testing - on her. 

Me: Nothing? No driver's license, student card, etc?

Her: Uh.. no. 

Me: Well, we need to verify that you're you before we can give you the exam.

Her:  I can show you my instagram?

...That struck me as such a gen Z thing to say. At least she didn't try a SnapChat

The entertainment does help make up for the wage. 

And no, an instagram account does not count as proof of identity. 

all I needed for another day

Happy November! This really is my favorite time of year. I feel I started the month off right with a morning jaunt at sunrise.  Had to snap a pic of the view

... to which the cell phone, of course, does not do justice. We did get our first snow this past weekend, a decent amount - 5 inches maybe? I was NOT at all aclimated to the abrupt onset of c-c-cold, but it was pretty.

Temperatures were not too too cold last night for the trick-or-treaters, of which we only had a handful. We've got leftover candy that I can take into work. Plenty of moochers to be happy, and better to have too much than not enough. 

Work is busy as we're still short-staffed. We haven't yet hired a new assistant boss, and one of the part-timers who left a couple of months ago has not been replaced. BUT, we finally got the ball rolling on hiring the new assistant boss. I'm on the hiring committee, and we've begun getting the ducks in a row as the job was posted this week.

Oh, and #inktober2023 is done. Whew, it was fun but for the pressure to draw everyday! Not that I had to do it, but y'know when you get a good streak of something going, and it's hard to quit? 

Well, I surprised myself by getting 30/31 prompts. I only missed number 15, which was "Dagger". Not going back. I think my pens are about out of juice anyway. So - yay! New pens for me!

Anyway, another pic that I took a couple of weeks ago along the running path... before it all turns to cold and ice.

We set our clocks back this weekend (really, can't we just pick one and stick with it?!). Darkness descends.

numbers

Sick of inktober updates? Grab the barf bag... 

I'm still alive with it, four more prompts to go. I think a couple of my pens are running on fumes, but they'll have to hold on a little longer.

Aside from that nonsense, October has seemed to have flown by. We've got real snow forecast for the weekend, so time for everyone to demonstrate how they forgot their winter driving skills.

Halloween isn't looking too rough, weather-wise. It's difficult to gauge how much trick-or-treat activity we'll have in our neighborhood. The college had a Halloween event this past Wednesday for students and staff with young kids. I'm guessing they chose Wednesday since that was the day closest to actual Halloween with the most in-person classes going on? Before the snow comes?

Anyway, the bits I saw were pretty cute. The school's mascot is the Wolves, so the event was titled "We're Wolves!" *snort*

I have no costume, the house is not decorated. There are a few houses in the neighborhood decked out for Halloween - houses where young kids live. Our neighbors have a young daughter, and their front yard features a glowing skeletal unicorn in the style of My Little Pony that is both cute and creepy.

Here we are being lazy empty nesters.

I have to leave in a bit to go scribe a test for "Ben", the calculus student with cerebal palsy. Someone asked what would happen if I wasn't there to scribe, and I'm pretty sure that someone from the math department would be called upon to do it. I rather enjoy doing it, though, and I'm thankful to have time in the schedule. Apparently, disability services is trying out some software that can do voice-to-text for math, and I'm curious as to how good it is.

For now, it's me. From the college's point of view, I imagine I'm a pretty cheap option.

rock punks

 Magnum and I both had the day off yesterday, a beautiful fall day. He asked if I wanted to do "a hike or something". 

Recall that he got himself some trekking poles a few months back to aid in this "hike or something" business. He test drove them on a short hike to Horsetooth Falls, then we did a slightly more strenuous hike to Arthur's Rock. With both, the poles did their job, and Magnum and his knees survived.

So now he was ready for Horsetooth Rock, which is a prominent landmark here.

It sits watching over us from the west, and as can be imagined, many local businesses like to ride its coattails a la Horsetooth Dentistry, Horsetooth Plumbing, Horsetooth [fill in the blank]... It was so named by early wild west trapper types for looking like a you-know-what.

Getting to the tooth is a popular local hike. I went up solo shortly after we moved here, but Magnum had only been partway. He deemed yesterday the day of the tooth. We set off, us and his trusty poles. 

It was a nice day for it, maybe a little on the hot side. I'm glad to report we made it up, and (more importantly) back down without a hitch.

The trail was not crowded at all. We got to the summit, where there were a handful of others, in mid-morning and met more people coming up as we were headed back down. 

It was a nice way to end another somewhat busy week. The weather's great, but it will be blustery and snowy soon. 

And I managed to keep my inktober streak alive for the time being.

Ten more prompts to go.  Paper and pens are in ample supply, so it falls to me.

inks and perspective

October marches on! Leaves are in full fall mode around here now. Our young George (Maple in the front yard) is doing his thing along with the others. 

It's been a relatively busy month at work, but I'm still riding the inktober wagon. I'm surprised to have only missed one prompt so far.

I don't like that Instagram no longer allows sorting tags by "top" and "recent". Now the choices are "top" and "recent top". Bummer. I used to like sorting by "recent" to find other nobodies like myself who aren't trying to be influencers and snag a bajillion followers. 

But, I guess it has to be done to give the moderators time to weed out the bad apples. 

I was thinking that one of my tutees was going to drop his class, which would've opened one of my time slots for another who was waiting. I told Tutor Boss, "Jake's hanging by a thread" because when we met last week, he just wasn't into it. In fact, he'd brought a friend. Initially, I thought the friend wanted some help with the class too, but they told me she'd already dropped the class as she'd fallen too far behind. 

Anyway, that was fine as I figured she wanted to sit in to brush up for when she retakes the class. But after an unproductive time, we called it a day. Then, alas, Jake was back this week, all motivated. 

He apologized for his inattentiveness last week by sharing, "I was going through some family issues". Furthermore, "My friend, Corey, was having a rough day too."  

Then he elaborated, "We have relatives in Israel".

Hello!! Well, that put things a bit more into perspective, and I was thinking, what was he doing at the math center at all last week?! 

He didn't say more about the "family issues", and I see it as a good sign that he's coming to school and studying hard. 

And here I am playing with my ink pens. 

weird and gross

Gosh, seems like I've been gone on vacation. But nope, not the case. This week just pulled me in other directions. So, happy Friday!

Firstly, the college students dealt with midterms earlier this week, so the test center was bustling. And, as a result of midterms, several students said, "Oh, fudge!" (or something like that) "The semester's half over and I'm in a pickle. Maybe I should sign up for tutoring!", and they did. 

So suddenly, my tutor schedule's full and I'm filling in here and there a little extra at the testing center. Sarge is on vacation, and we haven't even started the process of hiring an assistant boss. So, in the spirit of the holiday, we're operating with a skeleton crew.

So a little catch-up in bullets:

A moment I'd like to remember forget:

• I stopped at walmart on my way home one night this week. I don't like going there, particularly around 5pm. BUT, it was a convenient stop as walmart tends to be, and I needed some Flonase®, and walmart has cheap drugs. 

Apparently a man wet his pants just before I arrived. An employee was standing by the "wet cleanup" so shoppers would avoid it. Soon afterward, I saw the same employee wiping it up with a flimsy rag, about the size of a hand towel, by swishing it around under his foot. 

No mop, no water or cleanser of any kind. He was essentially just smearing pee over a large area of floor. 

That'll teach me. All for the want of cheap Flonase®.

Something I learned and would like to explore further:

• I learned about Mike the headless chicken from Liz . Clicking on her provided link, I learned that Mike was from Fruita, Colorado - near to where I am right now! There's an entire festival commemorating a chicken without a head. Who knew? I might just have to attend this festival next year.

On a similar note, I learned about the Mothman and the resultant Mothman museum. How much further I wish to explore that one? Hmmm....

A news story that caught my attention:

• Didja hear about the vomit fee for people who can't handle their Sunday brunch mimosas?

Makes perfect sense to me.  Charge 'em.

There it is. A rather busy week featuring an unwanted bodily fluids theme. 

 

pump-kings and inkings

It definitely feels like fall now. I had to break out long pants and long sleeves this week - fleece even!

This morning, I was out enjoying a run around town with temperatures in the 40s.  I turned a corner and came upon this rival of Charlie Brown's legendary Great Pumpkin. 

 It was just sitting there next to someone's driveway in a residential neighborhood, and I thought maybe it was factory made? But no, upon further inspection, I saw it was an actual pumpkin. It had to be at least 3 feet in diameter. What sort of hoisting equipment got it up onto that wall?

I looked to the right and saw, lingering in a mess of foliage, the pumpking's possibly bigger brother laying about.

Such a massive mound of pumpkin, it seemed freakishly huge to me. What is in that soil?  Clearly, someone there knows how to  grow a squash. 

In other news of October, I've managed to keep my head above water with Inktober prompts so far this year, managing 6 ink drawings in the first 6 days. 

Birds, bugs, and rodents seem to be emerging themes. 

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Share something you made progress on.

Barbies and turtles

Happy October! Feels like it snuck up on us. 

October is typically one of my favorite months, weather-wise anyway. It also is the month of Inktober! 31 days, 31 ink drawings.

I've made it to the starting line at least. Today's prompt is "dream"

I always wanted one of these Barbie Dream campers, but alas, it was not to be. Maybe I'll have a real one when I'm an old(er) lady.

Speaking of starting lines and old ladies, this morning was also the first of the season for Tortoise and Hare races. It was a short and sweet 4K (2.5 miles). Big turnout because...

1. it's the first race of the season
2. it's the shortest race of the season
3. the weather was beaut

I managed to make it to the finish without succumbing to injury or death, so it was a win. I noticed another runner refer to the races as "Tortuga y Conejo", and I think I like that better. Maybe I'm getting bored with English.

knee-highs ftw

I don't think I was too much of a tortuga. I was slightly slower than my predicted pace as the algorithm is still adjusting to my post-covid self, but it was a fun time with the other weirdos. 

So a nice end to a decent week and a nice start to the month. See ya, summer.

fishing

Yesterday afternoon, I had a first meeting with a tutor student at the college. He's very nice and hard working and absolutely horrible at math. He told me he has dyscalculia in addition to dyslexia. Dyscalculia affects a person's ability to understand number-based information and math. I'd heard the word before, but never had a student diagnosed with it... as far as I know.

For example, he didn't know any mutliplication facts, couldn't count by 2's or 5's or even 10's. He struggled to add two single-digit numbers in his head. For me, as a math nerd, it was both appalling and fascinating.

After struggling through helping him prepare for a test he has today(!), I looked for more info.

Most of what I found pertained to strategies for kids in elementary school. What to do with a 20-year-old trying to do algebra?

I'll reiterate that he was super nice and friendly and "easy" to work with other than the horrid obstacle that is dyscalculia. I'll try to learn all I can to best help him before we meet again, and I feel a bit like Chief Brody

We're gonna need a bigger boat.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

3. A blog post inspired by the word: coach

style?

It was 44 degrees F when I headed out this morning for a little Sunday morning run-around. Happy fall! I'm not complaining and welcome the cool temps. Soon, I'll have to break out the full finger gloves for the bicycle commute.

I worked yesterday as my turn came around again for the Saturday rotation. It was Party Girl and me, and the day went smoothly. She'd been sharing that she's recently put herself on a clothes-buying budget... because she's needing new clothes after putting on some weight. 

I had noticed her looking nicer/ better and had previously thought that maybe she just liked to wear tight clothing. Not the case. Now, she's no "fatty", but she's a few years into her 50s, and the body's been responding accordingly.

This with the cooler temperatures reminded me that I could use some cold weather clothes, but I don't particularly like clothes shopping - the going to various stores, selecting, trying on, yadda yadda. Thank goodness we have the internet now, not that that's always successful. But maybe it's time for a little closet purge as I swap out the seasonal clothing. 

When I was a kid, I did a decent amount of back-to-school shopping via catalog - the precurser to online shopping, I suppose. My mom would have me go through pages much like this one and make a few selections. 

Mom would place the order, and in a week or two, the big bell bottomed, puffy sleeved, embroidered fashion disasters would arrive.  Good times.

At least the work "dress code" is pretty simple. Jeans are fine. No words on shirts unless it's gear from the college, and I have no gear from the college. When I worked at the nursing home, we were supplied a "uniform" of scrubs, which made life easy in the what-am-I-going-to-wear-today department. 

In other work-related news, I've been "voluntold" that I'm on the selection committee for the new assistant boss now that old Assistant Boss is now just plain Boss. After some thought, I think it will be a worthwhile assignment. 

It's a committee of three - an enrollment advisor and a disability services coordinator in addition to myself. We won't have the final say, but will do the first round of interviews and make recommendations. Naturally, I'm hoping for a decent pool of suitable applicants. 

Know anyone??