ice, ice, and baby

During an outing earlier this week, maybe I was flashed?

A patch of ice in the street seemed rather happy to see me?

I remembered being greeted by a similarly frisky ice formation in our dogs' water dish a few years ago.

So no, it wasn't happy to see me. It was cold in just the right way. 

At the time of the dog dish incident, I was flummoxed.  I remember looking up to see if something was dripping down to form the phallic ice monument.

But no, I learned it can happen if conditions are right while making the transition from water to ice. In small bodies of water, ice begins to form on the outer rim and works its way in. Since water expands when it freezes, if conditions are right, a small hole forms in the center of the ice, and the expanding water pushes up while freezing, and... success!

Here he is, another angle.

They are given the so fancy name: ice spikes.  

I googled and found - among those things to stretch over shoes - plenty of photos of nearly pornographic birdbaths and such. 

So that was my exciting week. You?

Things got a bit busier at work with the spring semester now in full swing. Math students are already panicked, and there are not enough math tutors to go around to accommodate all one-on-one requests, so I've been asked to do some group sessions. Okay?

Speaking of groups, we got together yesterday with all the "kids" for a belated celebration of Chaco's birthday. It was a cold grey day that included a couple more inches of fluff snow, but a nice gathering. We placated our chilliness with heaps of good food at a nice local restaurant we'd been wanting to check out.

As always, it was good to catch up on everyone's doings. Chaco's shoulder is progressing as expected since the surgery last month. We played a couple rounds of "Wits & Wagers", and a question about Elizabeth Taylor came up. None of the young guys knew who she was. Sheesh, I'm old. 

And speaking of catching up, Magnum and I finished season 1 of  Yellowjackets. At the start of the season, I was under the impression that it would be a one-and-done season with beginning, middle, end. But NO! The final episode left more questions than answers, so... season 2. 

Everyone's hungry, winter's coming, they've tripped out on 'shrooms, and one of the girls is pregnant. Hmmm, what's to eat?  Helps to pass the time during these cold winter months. 

It's currently 3 degrees F outside, but I'm feeling a bit cabin feverish. Time to get my moneys worth from the outerwear, I suppose. 

iced, joyous, brokenhearted

It's a thankfully clear sunshiney morning as I sit for this weekly wrap-up post. There is a lot of snow and ice hanging around from this week's storm. We rely a lot on the sun for taking care of these things, and the sun's been slacking.

My less than 2-mile walk to work on Thursday was like crossing Donner Pass in parts, but I will give a shoutout to the parks department for promptly and thoroughly clearing the bike paths. Getting to and from the bike paths is another story. Good thing for spikey shoes. 

Speaking of clearing, I've started reading Marie Kondo's second book, Spark Joy. The "master class" follow up to her first book on tidying. 

The first book helps readers get rid of clutter, this book aims to help organize the remains. I think I have more clutter to get rid of first. It's not as joyous around here as it could be.

And speaking of clutter, things are still being sorted at work regarding much restructuring. Duties will likely shift a bit in my department once Boss fully moves into his new position, but no one knows when that will be and what precise shifting is to happen.

In the meantime, I've been training a new coworker whom I will call Gomer (he's an ex-Marine). Nice guy, catches on fast. He's confided in me on a couple of things regarding Boss, wondering if it's only happening to him, Gomer. 

"No", I assured him. "He does those things to all of us, and we are all annoyed by them" - mainly Boss's penchant for talking too much about himself and butting into business where he doesn't know the full story. It's embarrassing really. He's fine if he stays in the office doing Boss things, but whenever he comes out to deal with a customer or student, we all brace for the uncomfortable impact. Can't wait for him to move to his new location.

And speaking of annoyances, I was out enjoying a lovely run this morning. I'm thankful to still enjoy running at my age. No complaints from the various joints. But honestly, I've been sucking wind a bit ever since I had covid last June/July. 

Nothing terrible, and maybe "sucking wind" is a bit harsh, but I'm a little off and just don't have the same pace and stamina of pre-covid me. 

I've visited some discussion threads on the topic, and it seems recovery time for sucking wind is all over the place. So... patience.

As long as I can still beat the mayor.

what's cookin'?

 

We started watching Yellowjackets on amazon prime. Seen it?

Only three episodes in, but I was hooked after the pilot. That first episode was free, but the rest require payment, like a drug dealer. I've got some digital credits, so yeah, take 'em, amazon!

The series tells a story of a girls' high school soccer team whose private plane crash lands in the wilderness while they're on their way to the national tournament. It's told in flashbacks to the high school/ crash days - mid-90s - and 2021. Four of the girls, now adults, remain after their return to civilization.  I guess we'll slowly get the story of what happened to others who survived the plane crash, but most certainly, cannibalism was involved. 

OooOOOOoooooh. Sort of a Lord of the Flies, but girls.

So the cannibalism is eerie enough, but I'm a bit bewitched by the foreshadowing of some weird Pagan ritual type stuff we've only seen in little snippets.

It's decent entertainment for these long winter months.

Speaking of which, today is a snow day. We've got about 8 inches, and it's still lightly falling. School districts announced around noon yesterday that they would be closed today. At that time, there was nothing other than a forecast. The college where I work and the local university announced "going remote" for today once the snow began to fall last evening.

We were out shoveling this morning, and I'm thinking things have gotten soft. Yes, there's a decent amount of snow, but there's not a whole lot more of accumulation expected, highs will be in the 30s, and there's really no wind. What's the big deal?

I can remember only one time my university shut down when I was an undergrad. There was probably a good two feet of snow and lots of digging out to be done.  But then, there was no such thing as going remote.

When we lived in Utah, snow days were nonexistent, but we had plenty of snow. After we moved to Colorado, and the kids had their first snow day school closure, they thought I was joking when I gave them the news.

Now it looks like the driveway could use another shovel pass, and I may venture out later for an adventurous trip to the grocery store. 

But it's not like I'll need to go all Donner Party or anything

The next morning, the group stripped the muscle and organs from the bodies of Antonio, Dolan, Graves, and Murphy. They dried them to store for the days ahead, taking care to ensure nobody would have to eat his or her relatives.

Nice. You should always label your food storage.

calling, falling, calling

 I got one of those texts from the eye doctor's office this morning:

"Hi, Abby! It's been over a year since your last eye appointment..."

Well, no, I was there about six months ago for an annual once over. Shelled out the money for new lenses, got told that cataracts are starting to form. 

Cataracts?? Aren't those for old people??

Anyway, their automated text was wrong. Clearly they care nothing about me as a person... but honestly, I don't get too offended with these things - a glitch in the list/ system.

This past week at work, we were tasked to make calls to students who were enrolled last semester, but had not yet enrolled this semester, which starts on Tuesday. Remind them that "registration is open and classes are filling up 😁". 

We've had to do this before, to maybe drum up more tuition money. Is it effective? I dunno. What peeves us most, though, is that several of the callees from the list - generated by whom, we do not know - have told us, "Yeah, that's cuz I graduated? Last semester?"

Ugh, how rude. They paid tuition, struggled though a program, and graduated to alumni status - only to be called about "how come you haven't registered yet, lazy slacker?!"

So I changed my script from the boring one provided - by whom, we do not know - to acknowledge they may have graduated and moved on to bigger things. My coworkers started using my script, and we're probably going to be branded Rebels of the Calling Campaign. So be it.

So yes, classes begin this week. Time to get rolling. 

Speaking of rolling, I'm thankful for the mild weather we've had recently, helping to melt old snow and ice hanging around. I was able to have a normal week of bicycle commuting without freezing. 

One morning, however, did present as The Land of Black Ice. Magnum learned of it the hard way while riding his bicycle to the gym, of all places. Rounded a corner, and *ZHOOP* , surprise black ice, and he took it on the chin, upper lip. But hey, he's got all his teeth, so what's the problem?

I did venture out that same morning, on foot. I can vouch for the slipperiness. But if one managed to remain upright, it was actually a "pretty" start to the day, and I found this hidden goose playground.

On Christmas morning a few weeks back, I was near this neck of the woods when I heard what sounded like someone either really excited or really pissed off. Like REALLY. It was an eerie sounding primal scream, and I thought, "someone's not happy with how Christmas is going".

I told the family about it later, and Wolfgang suggested it might have been a mountain lion, so we googled, and yup, I'd say that's what I heard. Ever heard one? Sheesh!

"My" rendition wasn't nearly as long as in the video, but more like one big "AAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!" at a bit of a lower timbre. Mating sounds? Okay, big guy.

sharpest tool in the shed?

Walking along, minding my own business, and there it was. Yet another one.

On a typical sidewalk along a regularly traveled street, right in my path, I came upon a cleaver pocket knife. I didn't even know of such a thing as a cleaver pocket knife, but I picked it up, opened it, and thought, "Hmm, looks like a small cleaver in the form of a pocket knife". And I learned that's what it is. 

Why does this happen to me?

This cleaver pocket knife is now the 5th similar pocket knife thing I've found while walking along, minding my own business - over the course of a couple years. I rarely discover anything else while out walking around, other than trash, dog poop, etc. It's knives or nothing. Here's the collection:

Standard household item for scale

All of them are similar in size, function, and materials. Not a red Swiss Army or other among them. The cleaver is the latest addition to the involuntary collection. I'll note that all of these implements are in pretty good shape with sharp blades - effective for cutting down corrugated cardboard boxes for recycling - among other things, I imagine.

What is the universe trying to tell me? Why is it sending me these handy sharp things? Do I seem vulnerable, weak, in need of assistance and weaponry? Is it prepping me for some approaching apocalypse? An apocalypse where I will need to cut various boxes and such?

I don't know what to do with them all, and I realize they're starting to cramp my minimalist lifestyle. 

Anyone need a sharp thing?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

5. Share something that made you think this week.

ice and eggs

It feels like life returned to somewhat normalcy this week - back to work and all that. I'm not really used to these long breaks that the education world gets. Teachers have nearly a whole month off.

So it was a nice break and it's good to be back. There are changes afoot now that Boss has that promotion in hand. I don't anticipate sweeping changes other than us hourlies getting a break from having Boss around all the time.  

In other news, bought eggs lately? I picked up an 18-pack recently for a whopping $8.50. Inflation plus the deadliest avian flu outbreak ever really drove prices up. 

I came across this article that summarized inflation for November '22.  Eggs for the win! And I'd guess that percentage is even higher now.  Chicken eggs: the new caviar?

I find it interesting that "stationery supplies + gift wrap" gets it's own line. Are they that big a player? 

And I learned that Avian flu doesn't affect chicken prices as much as egg prices. They come from totally different "factories". In this case, it's better to be a "broiler" than a "layer". Who knew?

Same, Joe. Same.

To offset my fondness for eggs, I suppose it's nice to see major appliances in the negative - if ever so slightly - since this was our year of appliance makeover. 

The first full week of 2023 is in the books. It's crusty icy around here, I miss riding my bikes. But really, so far, so good.

made for selling?

I was working yesterday when 18-year-old girl came in for a test. I got her checked in and went to do a final "pocket check" before seating her for her exam. She wore a fashionable hoodie, black leggings, and... there they were: a pair of Nike Air Jordan 4s, fire red.

youtube

How did I know, and why did I notice? Welp, for some reason, my reddit feed started including posts from the r/sneaker subreddit.  I follow very few subreddits - our city's, and a couple "mathy" ones - otherwise I just lurk and see what crosses my path.

So these "sneakerhead" posts started showing up, probably because I showed an interest in fashion or style or culture or some such at one point or another. So I was all, "what's up with all these shoes in my reddit?", "what's up with a subreddit = r/sneakers?"

I knew a little about people paying exorbitant amounts of money for certain shoes.  But I had no idea how big of an industry it is. Yeezys come to mind, in light of Kanye West's recent fallout.

I don't even remember how I came to know of Yeezys (Yeezies?) and the like. Maybe because I often breathe the same air as millennials and gen Zer's?

Anyway, in a nutshell, "sneakerheads" are people who buy, sell, and trade highly sought after shoes. They also, apparently, sometimes wear the shoes. Y'know, for street cred.

Having this parade of sneakers show up whenever I opened reddit plus having time on my hands during winter break, I googled and youtubed a bit, and learned sneaker trading is a billions of dollars industry, expected to continue to grow. This Ted Talk was well done and informative. It's 7 years old now. The phenomenon has since grown even further.

I find it rather bananas. It's like the stockmarket with no fees, no regulations. Middle school kids are playing with thousands of dollars, tens of thousands. Social media has added fuel the fire. I'm glad there was no real social media in the Beanie Baby days.  I let reddit know that I'm not interested in seeing people's sneaker acquisitions/ collections, but it was kinda interesting to learn of this economic subculture.

I complimented the young test-taker on her sneakers, figuring they were probably a prized possession for her. She was noticeably giddy that someone - an old lady, no less - had noticed. 

Here I am, this 58-year-old clutterphobic mimimalist, opening my reddit to a parade of thousands-of-dollars pairs of sneakers and whole-closet sneaker collections owned by "kids". 

Well, it gave me something to draw.

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Linking up the week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

4. Write a blog post inspired by the word: cost.

day one, digout, and dishes

 

Looks like we've made it to the first of January. Congratulations, everyone.

The revelry at our house was pretty non-existent. We were up at midnight, having watched a weird movie. So I was up and not awakened by fireworks, brushing my teeth at the magic hour.

The movie we were watching was Sorry to Bother You, and it was strange. Had its moments, but then went totally off the rails for about the last third. Can't recommend it. Seems to me it was someone's drug trip/ dream turned into a movie.

We took Chaco back to his house on Friday, our dogs moping around because they miss him and Ella. He lives at what is typically a little over an hour's drive away in Westminster. Dang, they got about a foot of snow there last week from the storm that dropped around 4 inches here. 

Chaco's still in the sling and doing very light PT for another couple of weeks before the bigger PT kicks in. This to say that Magnum and I had some snow shoveling to do at Chaco's.

Otherwise, it's been a nice week of being off of work. I readied some items for donation and scheduled a pickup. Good to start off the new year with a little purge of the old.

We're scheduled to receive our 2nd new dishwasher this week. The first crapped out after a couple of weeks - got stuck in an error mode and couldn't be brought back to life, even after all the troubleshooting. We've been washing dishes by hand for a while now, and it's not all bad.

But in honor of Josephine Cochran, I will accept the new dishwasher - different brand than the first dud - with fingers crossed.

You go, Jo!