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. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

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?