babies, pandas, grannies

"Go look at the cupboard door", he said, enticingly.

Boss directed us to look at the cupboard door in our breakroom that serves as a bulletin board of sorts. Intrigued, the three of us, Mango, Sarge, and I, went to the cupboard. Clearly, none of us had paid any attention to it earlier.

But there it was. An invitation to a baby shower. A baby shower for Kitty. Alas, Kitty is pregnant!

Okay, THIS sheds a little light on the reason Kitty is joining our campus earlier than expected/ necessary - and maybe why Boss was avoiding talking about it before now.

I won't bore with details, but suffice to say that GrandBoss is a good guy and is helping Kitty out since she's wanted to work primarily at our location for a long time. I've said it before, I don't always like working with GrandBoss, but I like working for him. 

I'm happy for Kitty. She's mid-thirties and has eluded to her biological clock ticking getting louder. 

In other clock ticking news, the semester is winding down. One more week of panic before finals. I've had a crew of nice tutees this semester, and I think they'll survive.

Speaking of teaching and learning, recall that I've been fantasizing about getting a tablet I can draw directly upon. I've picked one out, but haven't shelled out the cash for it. 

In the meantime, I've been playing with my little Wacom tablet that I've primarily used for online tutoring.

Figuring out the tools and quirks of using it for digital art play is fun/ frustrating.

And lastly, a Penny update. She seems to be progressing out of the slugfest she's been on since Wednesday. 

She's not yet 100%, and there's still no clue as to what turned her into a granny dog overnight. But she seems to be getting her appetite back and not being such an old lady.

wednesday waiting

The semester is winding down, and I'm ready for it. Barely one week and a half to go. Tutees are fretting as happens at this point in the game.

One of my students traveled to Texas to meet up with family to see the recent eclipse in totality. When they arrived, they saw that the forecast where they were called for overcast skies at eclipse time, so they actually travelled 10 hours further to have clear skies. They were motivated!

It paid off, she got the clear skies they were after. During her time away, she actually zoom tutored her scheduled sessions with me, speaking of motivation.

Party Girl had a pow wow with Boss earlier this week. We are now fully staffed after operating lean throughout the fall semester. With the onboarding of assistant boss Mango and transferring Star from another campus, we are now a well-oiled machine.

GrandBoss is offloading another part-timer to our campus, and now Boss is struggling to find spots for everyone for summer semester. We've asked him why we're getting another person now, and he really didn't have an answer. He's not one for confrontation however, so he continues with the struggle.

So Party Girl drafted an "email of discontent", basically saying this other who is joining us is messing with her morale. I told Party Girl I thought the transfer made no sense, regardless of who it is, and we do know who it is - the aforementioned Kitty, who previous to that was known as Slacker.

So Party Girl's discontent is real since 

1. We don't need an additional person, and this transfer threatens others' total work hours.
2. The additional person is a known slacker.

I've taken a wait-and-see attitude after voicing my confusion at the whole thing. Party Girl is being more proactive since she's got much seniority. I don't know how the pow wow with Boss went, but I'm sure the office gossip will deliver soon enough.

*sigh* the struggles of the hourly employed.

In other concerns, our pooch, Penny, is not herself today. Lethargic and quiet, unlike her typical bouncy self. 

All was fine yesterday, and she was her typical self when we packed off to bed last night. But today, she's like an old lady dog. 

We wait.

sloughing

 The view outside my window:

Last week, we were out in the sunshine, whooping it up at Bucee's, now we've got snow, a.k.a. "April Showers".

It's probably my fault. I'd put most of my cold weather clothes away and shook out the summer stuff to be greeted with highs in the 30s. 

Oh well, good moisture happening. Good for the plants and all the way up the food chain.

This was another good week that was. Got in some PEO, some testing, some tuting, checking things off the to-do.

Yesterday, I went for a haircut, and my stylist was making the small-talk that she does when she mentioned something about her "ex-husband", which took me a bit aback. All this time I've been going to her for cuts, the husband's always been "husband", not "ex-".

So I was curious but not that curious. I don't really know her that well. I pop in for a 30-minute cut every couple of months, so there's not a whole lot of dishing to be done. And it's not like she just came out with "I'm getting a divorce", she nonchalantly mentioned the ex-husband in reference to some general thing, like he'd been an ex for a long time. And I know she's only had one husband, so this had to be that guy.

Honestly, I'm not a super chatty person. In fact, I'd be perfectly happy to just sit while she cuts, no words needed. But I know others who like the social aspect of going to the stylist. I think it's something stylists are aware of, so they make conversation out of obligation. I can go along with it if I must.

So, should I have asked what's up with the "ex-"? Or just let the comment go by, like I did, not to be nosy. A couple of months ago, he was a several-years husband. 

I did wonder about her daughter, though. She's the youngest kid and still in high school. What does she think of this ex business? Right smack dab in the middle of prom season? This too shall pass.

I finished up my scheduled physical therapy sessions. Not surprisingly, Dr. J tried to sell me some more, but I think I'm good for now. Not quite feeling like a 17-year-old again, but good enough not to throw any more money at the troubles for now. 

I'm happily running again, slow AF, but it kind of looks like running.

need gas?

 I've been thinking that I want a new toy. A tablet. A tablet that I can draw directly upon. I justify it by saying how handy it would be for tutoring and for P.E.O, which it totally would, but I really want to play (a.k.a. draw) on it.

And then I'd have to learn to use all the tools for digital drawing. For now, I can only do cartoony things. I do have a tablet that is separate from my screen that is great for online tutoring, and I can use it to play draw. So I did this a little while ago.

Know this guy? Do ya?

Magnum and I made it to the ridiculous gas station that is Buc ee's on Friday. 

I mean, he needed some gas, so why not?

We knew ahead of time that it was huge - 74,000 square feet of convenience store. 116 gas pumps.

A large portion of the pumps were strangely occupied when we arrived. The novelty is still wearing off a bit since this Buc ee's opened about a month ago. Just across the road sits a standard Loaf 'n' Jug. It looked like a Lego® replica in its juxtaposition with Buc ee's.

Then we parked the car and headed to the store, glancing back frequently as we're taught when hiking in an unknown area of the woods. Look backwards often so you know what your return trip should look like, to prevent getting lost in the vast wilderness. It applies in the Buc ee's parking lot.

There were plenty of people there, but the store was so huge, it was easy to walk around. We were instantly struck with the smell of barbecued flesh as there was a LOT of food being freshly made. In addition to all that, there were rows and rows of typical convenience store fare - snack bag stuff, a whole wall of jerky...

So I wasn't too shocked at any of this as I'd heard stories of the Buc ee's experience. What I wasn't prepared for, however, was... the restroom.

I'd heard they had "the cleanest restrooms", but by gas station standards, that's difficulto get too excited about. But Buc ee's outdoes them all by miles!

The bathroom was huge and sparkly clean. You could throw a high school prom in there. And the stalls, omg the stalls - each with its own nearly floor-to-ceiling heavy door with Schlage indicator lock. Inside was plenty of TP, and a private hand sanitizer dispenser. Super bright and cheery because of the individual skylight.

It was quite ridonkulous.

So now I've had the Buc ee's experience. Apprently the chain has a nearly cult following, I mean...

SOURCE

We didn't try the barbecue or the "Buc ee nuggets", as we were fresh from lunch. No tattoos are planned either.

We did bring home a so soft plush blanket, though. 

The cat promptly let us know that we got it for him.

missives

"Me and S send our deepest apologies.  We have other circumstances that prevents us from attending the tutoring session..."

 - a last minute cancel text I received from a tutee this week. It's so... formal.

If not for the grammatical errors - "Me and S" *cringe*; "...circumstances that prevents..." *frown* - I would highly suspect he asked ChatGPT or similar to write the text for him. It's what all the kids are doing these days, right?

This particular tutee is young, intelligent, and personable, but his texts are so formal. Deepest apologies? Circumstances?

Anyway, it was another busy week, and I am now basking in un-busyness. The only scheduled thing I have today is an annual well-woman check later this morning. Coworker Star is back from her worldly travels, so my Fridays are free once again, for now.

I was at work on Monday during the eclipse. We had just a little over 50% of totality here, so no biggie. The campus observatory had their filtered telescopes available, but the line was very long, so I skipped. At least the campus had a large stash of eclipse glasses, and Work Study grabbed a pair we all took turns with.

So I popped out and oohed and aahed a bit with the cardboard glasses, then went back to work. Wolfgang had road tripped to Texas with some friends to see the totality, so after work, I fed his cat. That sums up my 2024 eclipse experience.

Apparently the next eclipse to cross the U.S. will be in 2045. Its path will go right over Colorado. If I'm still alive and in Colorado at that time, maybe I'll have my nurse wake me from my nap.

And speaking of nurses, this week, we got the sweetest gift at work from one of the nursing students. 

We provide testing for several nursing students each semester.  And nursing students take a LOT of tests - sometimes 2 or 3 a week. So we get to know them quite well over the two year program and vice versa. 

They're often understandably giddy and thankful around graduation - "might not see you again... unless you're in the hospital?"

This week, one particularly pleasant student dropped off a box of donuts along with the sweetest thank-you note, even mentioning Boss, Sarge, and me by name. 

It prompted quite the onion-cutting fest, it did. 

And, the donuts? No grocery store donuts. They were from Lamar's. 

"He went to Lamar's" is the donut equivalent to "He went to Jared"

fancy pants in the wind

Like many across the country right now, we're fighting the wind wars. I trekked the one mile to the gym this morning and saw lots of tree trash and bowed fencing from yesterday and last night. It's predicted to taper off this afternoon and evening - something to look forward to.

I worked yesterday with Triple-D and [Chili], which I didn't mind since it was a good day to be stuck indoors. And it was a nice time.  Everyone seemed friendlier than usual, and I'm chalking that up to Chili's presence. 

Also as predicted, my stepfather-in-law did pass away late Thursday/ early Friday. I'm relieved for him as his quality of life was very low by that time. Thankfully, he was able to live with home hospice care with my mother-in-law until the final breath. I'm relieved for her too and hope she can relax some now.

So yesterday after work, while the wind was howling and rattling the windows, I stayed in and did some much needed cleaning. Seems like I could produce a whole dog out of the hair I vacuum up each time - the downside of dog ownership.

I also played with my sketchbook and pencilled another of these Akira Toriyama characters. 

This one is named Kid Buu and is apparently "pure evil".

I really know nothing about the whole Dragonball scene, just find the characters so expressive in their posturing.

Kid Buu or not, after the exercise, I think of him simply as "Mr. Fancy Pants"

We watched a movie - The Novice - about obsessive compulsive behavior and perfectionism (I guess). It got a high rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but I didn't care for it.  And it wasn't just because it was about womens collegiate rowing, I mean, the main character had to have something to obsess about to get the points across. I just didn't care about the character.

Yesterday, I learned that one of the nursing students who tests with us at the college had been a vet tech for years. She said the sick animals made her too sad, so she decided to switch to nursing people because she figures people won't have as much of an effect. Hmmm.

Today's agenda includes a coffee walk in the wind and a dog food and cat litter run. Excitement.

barometers and babies

Going in to work in a couple of hours. I think this is the last Friday afternoon that I'm covering for coworker Star as she vacations around the globe. Or maybe I've got one more cover, I don't remember at the moment, but I'll be there today. 

A little weekly recap:

• I was zoom tutoring yesterday with a student who attends one of our other campuses. Student lives near my brother, Hagrid, and we were talking about the incoming weather warnings. This weekend is set to be windy and low humidity - a bad combination because it raises the fire danger.

So I asked Student how he fared a couple of years ago in that very scary Marshall Fire - the one that [burned Hagrid's house down].

Well, Student didn't lose his house, but his wife went into labor at just 8 months pregnant. AND, the hospital they were sent to actually was the one that had to be evacuated because of the approaching fire, AND the second hospital they went to was nearly out of beds because of all the birthing women. He said it was because of the pressure drop.

The windstorm that whipped up the fire was the precurser to a significant snowstorm, so the barometric pressure dropped suddenly. After a quick google search, I learned this may affect pregnancies (makes me wonder about other mammals) and send women into labor. Studies are "inconclusive", however. Like full moons making people crazy(er) - mostly anecdotal "evidence"  from nurses saying it's so. Who knew?

• Anyone watching the NCAA tournaments? I've never really paid attention to March Madness, but who can escape the hype around Caitlin Clark and Iowa?

I've not watched any of the games or even highlights, just sort of following along. She has certainly put womens college basketball on the map. But what to do with that basketball talent as a woman? I'm sure she'll be a force in the WNBA and get lots of endorsements, but how big of a following has the WNBA?

I have no clue, or interest, as to what's happening in the men's bracket.

There it is - work, weather, and sports. How's that for standard avoidance chit chat? 

I will mention that my 91-year-old stepfather-in-law is likely in his last few hours unless he's already passed away and I just haven't received word yet. He's become quite frail in recent months and took a significant turn for the worse earlier this week. 

Magnum is in Colorado Springs - where his mom and stepdad live - for work today and sure to be checking in with his mom.

break the silence

Hello, blog. It's been a minute!

This week got a bit busy, what with filling in at work for the vacationing Star and doing a bit of cat sitting. But all good. I am going to rant here for a bit about the two high school tutees I have because they BOTH stood me up this week... sort of.

Monday afternoon was the Alison Moyet look-alike. Ten minutes into our scheduled appointment, the mom texted me that they weren't coming - a last minute "unworkable" thing had come up. I appreciated the text, and yes, she paid the late cancellation fee.

Then yesterday morning, high schooler #2: "Omigosh, I totally forgot!" when I texted to let her know which study room we had at the library. She dragged herself in about 20 mins. late.

I get it. They're young. They're busy - theater, tennis, schoolwork, blah blah. But sheesh, THEY called me! I even agreed to meet each of them outside my usual tuting hours to accommodate the busy schedules. 

*EXHALE* Okay, rant over. And I'll add that the college tutees I have this semester are all delightful, so it balances. We still have no word on the replacement - if there even is to be one - for our recently exited tutor boss. She did mention, before she left, that much of the process of matching students with tutors will become automated, so maybe her job was being phased out, hence her jumping ship for supposedly greener pastures.

One of my students is leaving next week to witness the full solar eclipse in Texas. She conveniently has a sister in San Antonio. Not gonna lie, I've got a bit of FOMO around seeing this coming full eclipse after [witnessing the last one] in the U.S. in 2017. Really, a stunning phenomenon to see.

But alas, not this time.

As consolation, maybe Magnum and I will do the next best thing. A brand new [Buc ee's] gas station (for lack of a better term) has opened just down the road from us.  74,000 square feet, 116 gas pumps...

It calls for a field trip, and I'm not even close to needing gas. 

locking down

Wednesday, I was working with a tutee when a lockdown drill anouncement came from the PA. My student, another student who happened to be nearby, and I were shuttled into a smallish "interior, no windows, no lights" office. I learned it was one of the spaces Disabilities Services uses to evaluate and work with accommodated students.

As such we had a variety of options for seating: a modified chair that incorporated a big exercise ball, another with a fidget seat kind of thing, a beanbag that reminded me of the 70s, and a regular 4-legged chair. 

The whole drill lasted maybe 10 minutes tops. But sitting there in the dark with those two - me on the boring regular chair, my student in the beanbag, the other student on the exercise ball - it turned into sort of a therapy session.

My student, S, had made known to me, at the start of our session, that he'd "lost his motivation" a couple of weeks ago after I asked him how his spring break (last week) was. He did have a rather defeated demeanor about him. In the dark lockdown drill room, he continued to spill about his anxieties and frustrations about keeping up with everything. 

He's a super nice and hardworking student, so naturally, I felt bad for him. I'm just his math tutor, so I can mostly hope to alleviate his math stress. 

The other student with us was a girl I know from the testing center because she takes her tests with us. It was nice having her there, because she could commiserate with S on the college/ young adult  anxiety bits and offer some strategies that work for her. 

I found myself in a sort of impromptu facilitator mode. I have no formal training, I'm just there to do math stuff.

At the same time, though, I was happy that S felt comfortable being so honest.

On a related note, my tutor boss is leaving the college for greener pastures. She's taken a similar position at another community college nearby. In fact, ever since our change in leadership a couple years ago, a lot of our staff has jumped to that other ship. 

She assures us that her replacement will be announced soon, and today is her last day at the helm with us. 

Personally, I have no plans to join the exodus. I've perused the job openings at the other college out of nosiness, and they do pay better. But it would make for a not-so-nice commute for me, and my current commute is the bomb.

lead a snot into temptation

Did a bit more decluttering this weekend - I swear it never ends. Who knew I was such a packrat?!

This time I went through my art toys a second time and got rid of things I haven't used in *forever*. My art hobby is quite inexpensive. Pencils, pens, sketchbooks, etc. are so darn cheap.  It's easy to bring stuff home and let it sit. I swear they all get together at night and multiply.

Last weekend, Magnum and I were out for a walk and I wanted to walk passed a cute little art supply store I'd heard of but had never been to. So we walked on by and I caught a glimpse. Magnum noted that the store was open, did I want to go in?

NOPE! I'd end up bringing home something I don't need - like going to the animal shelter!

I drew this anime character on Friday during Snowday 2. I've never really drawn anime before, but I'd read that the creator of Dragonball books, show, and whatever else, died last week. 

I don't know the plot or characters of Dragonball, but I've seen them in the periphery - the weird hair, the baggy pants...

Anyways, good snowday fun.

We got a decent amount of heavy, wet snow, but not nearly as much as areas south of us. Ours was just a "normal" spring snow - about 7 inches - while I see friends to the south buried under 2+ feet. No thanks.

That bit of anime fun got me to declutter the stuff packed into my little art supply case after I discovered the cute graphic pencil I used to draw the weird-haired dude.

Now I'm just down to my faves, including the pencil. In celebration, I drew another anime weird-haired character

In the meantime, Magnum completed our 2023 tax return. I swear he has all the fun.

pow, right in the...

College is closed, having us a snow day, although there's not a whole lot of snow out there at the moment. Tomorrow is already a "remote operations" day, which in my case means simply another day of no testing center.

I do have a couple of tutees to zoom with later, so not a total day of langor. It IS Pi Day, afterall. I've showered. 

And we have a few signs of spring already. I snapped this pic a few days ago along the creek path.

So, yesterday morning I was at the gym and doing some of my PT exercises. Now, I'd gone to the PT originally because of a fritzed foot, and the foot feels fine now. But the issue exposed hip weakness as the likely cause.

I say weakness, and "Dr. J" countered with opportunites

"I'm a tutor, I play those same word games", I made known. 

Dr. J is a super nice guy and knowledgeable physician, quick to establish rapport. I've learned lots from him and am glad of my decision to give PT a try.

One area we've been working is my TFL muscle, which I'd never known of before. If one is wearing a pair of girl jeans with teeny girl pockets, and puts the finger tips in the teeny pocket, their fingers are on or very close to the TFL. 

I had dry needling in the TFL at my last appointment, and Dr. J was very keen on how that might be an emotionally/mentally sensitive area for him to be accessing - getting my reassurance, letting me tuck the drape into my elastic waist band, etc. - before him going in. 

Seriously, I had no qualms. He's a doctor, plus I knew from other dry needling sessions on other areas that this would be helpful, and it was.

So yesterday, I was at the gym, working on my opportunities, and I guess I stood up weird or something and felt a little *tweak* right near the pubic bone, right in the cooch.

It was at that point I wished I had a female PT. Although I'm sure the structure of whatever I'd tweaked is present in both men and women, how to phrase it if I asked Dr. J about it?

"... right in the vag/ cooch/ cha cha/ girly bits/ etc..."

Thankfully, it improved as the day wore on, and I've no more sensation of "it". But this is the main reason I typically prefer a female doctor. My PCP is female, and I have an annual checkup coming up shortly.

We'll probably talk briefly of "sensitive" topics - like allergies and stuff - before moving on to her updating me on her kids.

looking from a window above

Happy Saturday, it's been a busy week. Let's see, I...

• was installed as chapter Prez at PEO
• met with all the tutees
• worked an extra shift to fill in for a coworker
• had another dry needling sesh with the PT

All in all, a good week, and I'm ready for the weekend - only to lose an hour of it.

One of my tutees is a high school kid who is the spitting image of Alison Moyet from her Yaz days - complete with eye makeup and hairstyle. 

Seriously, it's uncanny, to the point I almost asked them (preferred pronoun) if they purposely modeled themselves after her. Good times, those '80s!

But I haven't asked. "Alison" is quite intelligent. Wants to go to Yale. We shall see.

I've got one more PT session scheduled in a couple of weeks, and that's meant to be the end of it. It's been a good experience, and it's up to me to keep up with the exercises. The dry needling's been interesting, and I'm glad I decided to give it a try.

In other health news, a couple of articles crossed my radar this week. One article touting several benefits of beer almost has me jumping off the wagon I decided to jump on last year. The article mentions that some of the benefits come from studies of non-alcoholic beer, but I never really understood the point of such a thing.

Another piece of info was from a youtuber saying that menopausal women should get a good amount of calories from fat. From that, I did dig a bit deeper and found that

"...fats can help your body absorb nutrients it needs and may reduce the frequency and severity of menopause symptoms"

Something to do with estrogen. And there's the qualifier "healthy fats" like avocados (which I can't stand 🤢) . So... no cheesecake then?

Anyway, eat, drink, and be merry. For tonight, we lose an hour.

hanging around

Ready for the chocolate shortage? Got a strategy? Our stash of dark chocolate Hershey kisses may soon become a product for only the rich and famous. Eat them or sell on the black market... hmmm...

So my decluttering continues. Just when I think I've gotten so minimal, I find other junk. I just chucked some dry erase markers - emphasis on DRY. During my last sweep of my office/ studio/ cat bathroom, I found a nice pad of bristol paper that I bought years ago.

Bristol paper is stronger and stiffer than "regular" drawing paper. I think it's actually sheets of paper that are pressed together to make it thicker and stronger and smoother. Anyway, it's very fun to play with.

Also, I worked yesterday, so this is kind of a short weekend for me. While at work, one of our testers was the cute emo kid who has been taking his HiSET (High School Equivalency Test - very similar to the more well-known GED) modules with us. 

He's actually quite intelligent and has been eating through his modules like nobody's business. This was probably his 3rd or 4th visit with us, and I got his station all set up. I turned around to check his pockets, socks, and sleeves, and he was standing there with his big cargo pants already all rolled up, with pockets turned out, all *I know the drill*

Then he went in and aced another module, came out and put away his scratch paper and pencils like he owns the place. 

I'm gonna miss that kid when he's done. Today, while going through markers and things, I found a sharpie that works and did a quick sketch of "Miles".

And the decluttering doesn't end with the physical stuff. I opened my Pinterest account - OH the crap it contained. 

Still deleting

what a feeling

 Congratulations, we made it to March, even with an extra February day.

It seemed like a good day for cheesy puns?

I had today off of work and got a few things checked off the to-do list. I typically have Fridays off, but this was the last one for a while. Coworker Star is leaving on a longish vacation, visiting family around the world, and I'll be covering her Fridays for the next few weeks. 

Around here, our March came in like a lamb, so should we be bracing for how it will end? We had sunny skies and temperatures in the 60's. I ran some errands and took my puttster car for a wash.

Ain't she pretty? Now for sure, we'll have a blizzard

She's 24 years old. Not too shabby for an old lady, I guess. 

She does spend most of her time sitting around in the garage, however.

And just between you and me, she is pretty  crap for driving in snow...

Speaking of old ladies, this week, I decided I should "not skip leg day" at the gym. I don't usually do much lower body strengthening, figuring bicycling and running had me covered. WELL, through my recent physical therapy Journey, the weaknesses have been revealed. 

And now I'm SO sore, youse guys. 

crashing

I was out running in the wee mornig hours on Friday and decided to snap a pic of this sculpture at sunrise. 

It's a bronze sculpture that sits along a popular trail near the bike racks for a a botanical garden attraction. 

It "shades" a bench and one of those public bicycle repair stations.

It's titled "Cycologist" and actually makes me think of a multiple bicycle crash... in a tree?

Looking at the photo afterwards, it looks rather sinister and thorny in the darkness. 

So when I was in the area again this morning at a later hour, I snapped it again in the daylight. Still crashy/ thorny, but a little less sinister? Maybe?

So yes, I am able to run again and have been reminding my body of that for the last month or so. The physical therapy, including the dry needling, seems to have helped. I don't exactly feel 17 again, but I'll take what I can get.

Speaking of bicycles and crashes, Magnum and I were out walking around yesterday when we came across a fresh accident between a bicyclist and a (I think) pickup truck.

It happened on the other side of a busy road we were walking along. I looked over and saw a laid down road bike with its front wheel looking rather bent and possibly detatched? That's when I noticed the guy on the ground, the car with its hazard likes blinking and a pickup truck with its hood opened.

From my astute observations, I surmise that the pickup truck was going south and turned left to enter an apartment complex and hit the bicyclist going north in the bike lane. Probably a bystander then pulled their car into the apartment entance to block other traffic from the injured bicyclist.

Shortly afterward, all the first responders showed up - fire, ambulamps, po po. Traffic was blocked and rerouted at he intersection a little further south. I was actually impressed at the quick efficiency of it all.

The injured cyclist - wearing a helmet - was on his back and appeared to be conscious and speaking with his helpers. This was along a busy stretch that I personally wouldn't ride a bicycle on. There is a bike lane, yes, but PFFFT.  Now, I'm not victim blaming here, I'm sure he had the right of way. But a little common sense goes a long way.

Just about every close call I've ever had while bicycling in traffic involved someone turning left. In fact, [that one time I was hit], several years ago when I was bouncier, was by a woman who turned left into me. It seems that left-turning drivers are looking for oncoming cars and bicycles turn invisible. 

what's her face

She interviewed me, hired me, promoted me, then promoted me again - my boss from my job prior to me leaving to work at my current job. 

She'd been a good boss, I liked working for her, and I think it's safe to say she liked having me as an employee. I was a dietary supervisor at a full nursing facility where she was the dietary manager. Shortly before I left, she'd left for an administrative position at a largish senior living facility.

When I applied for my current job at the college, she served as a key reference. We kept in touch for a while after going our separate ways, but that died off as such things tend to do.

I've been working at the college for a little over two and a half years now. Yesterday, I got into work, looked over the list of people scheduled to come in for testing, and a certain name caught my eye. It was the same name as that former boss.

"Is it her?", I wondered. Her name is not particularly unique, but she spells her first name slightly different than is typical. 

Sure enough, PB (previous boss) came a-walkin' in at the appointed time. I recognized her by her hair and voice - which may sound funny, but when we worked together, we were deep in the throes of the covid pandemic, at a nursing facility no less.

Meaning, we were always fully masked and often moreso. I sometimes saw the faces from afar of coworkers as we took our socially distanced lunch breaks together. But the boss didn't eat lunch with us. I'd never actually seen her whole face and vice versa.

So, she came in yesterday, and I was all,

"Hey, I wondered if that was you on our roster!"

And she was all *as I imagine from the look on her unfamiliar whole face* "who the hell are you and why are you talking to me like that?", not to be fully attributed to test anxiety.

Pandemic Abby

I stated my name and the place we used to work, THEN she remembered me. We acknowledged the whole mask thing.

I recall one time I went in to speak with her about something on a day off, and she marveled at how different I looked. Although I was still masked, I wasn't wearing my hair band.

So, I see why I was so unrecognizable yesterday - no mask, no hair band - just out there, free range, spreading and absorbing whatever's in the air with my whole face.

And honestly, if I hadn't seen her name, I doubt I would've have recognized her either.

hi ho

Big, wet snowflakes are falling outside my window. Looks like it's gonna be a bus-to-work day. This image showed up in my fbook feed today - from my hometown's history:

Just a little reminder how posh most of us have it today.

We had a fire drill at the college this week. Thankfully, that day, it was relatively warm and sunny out. We had to scoot all of the people who were testing out to the gathering spot. 

Now, staff was given word of this drill several weeks ago so as to plan accordingly. We happened to have several students from one particular class taking an exam at the time. Later, their teacher emailed us, concerned about the students being able to collaborate during the fire drill "break", stating, "I thought the testing center was exempt".

Uhm, well, no. Fire drills are to be treated like the real thing for EVERYBODY, not surprisingly. We told the instructor that we were out there with her students, while not burning, and they behaved themselves, mumbling under our breath how she shouldn't schedule a large exam during a planned fire drill.

Left feeling rather underappreciated once again, I can now look at those early coal miners from my weird little hometown and realize I've got it pretty good.

cows and foodies

I have a super foggy, super vague memory of meeting Elsie the cow "in-person". Anyone familiar with Elsie? She was the real-life cow mascot of Borden dairy back in the day. Apparently, she toured.

I seem to have been enamored with Elsie at a very young age, and I'm not sure if the enamoredness happened before I met her or after. So I can't say how it began, but I do know I had an Elsie the cow plush toy for a number of years - probably a souvenir from our fateful meeting. God only knows what became of that plush toy. I just remember she MOOO-ed when tipped. Cow tipping, ha!

*On a side note, cow-tipping is not a real thing. I think I blogged about my failed attempt at it previously...*

Anyway, my bff Elsie is likely the reason I stopped eating beef several years ago. This week, I finally got 'round to trying rice "milk" as a substitute for cow's milk, and by George, I can do it. Now... about that cheese...

Somewhat related, we got around to watching "The Menu" this weekend. Seen it? I enjoyed it, i.e. I didn't fall asleep.

It makes fun of prententious "foodies". I confess to enjoy watching behind-the-scenes videos of fancy pants restaurants I will likely never visit, and that interest is more from my days as a kitchen worker myself - one of the "shit shovelers" (reference from the movie), rather than a patron. "The Menu" clearly makes the we-vs.-them distinction.

I thought the movie was well done and well cast. Can Anya Taylor-Joy act badly in any role?

So, that's about it for this week's accomplishments: I scored a minor win in fighting my bovine oppression and stayed awake throughout an entire movie.

I also sketched a frog recently in an attempt to awaken my drawing slump since the end of Inktober.

police burritos and clueless exes

Winter Bike-to-Work day was yesterday. Does your city celebrate? Do you?

I had the day off, Magnum works from home, so... figured we might as well bIkE tO wOrK.

Temperatures were in the upper 20's, no real wind, so it felt right. We should be a little chilly for WBTW for it to count. Although there were several stations around town, we only made one stop at the university campus which sported one stop shopping for a variety of stations. 

Two local restaurants battled it out for best sweet roll, one of our fave coffee shops provided gallons of warm caffeine, the city police dished out what were surprisingly good breakfast burritos, and other goodies.

As expected, it's not as big of a deal or turnout as summer bike-to-work. I sent this photo to my boss to rub in the fact that I was at bike-to-work while he and coworkers were just at work.

They promptly replied with their sweet roll/ burrito/ coffee/ juice orders.

Later in the day, I had a haircut appointment. Recall that from my last appointment, my stylist informed me of another stylist's unexpected death. Welp, the plot thickens.

The woman who died has a sister who is a stylist at the salon as well. The sister was working the chair next to me. She and my stylist filled us in that the other stylist was going through a divorce when she died. Her soon-to-be-ex returned to the house and took EVERYthing. 

Although separated, they were still married at the time of death, so I guess it's rightfully his barring any legal documentation saying otherwise? The sister stylist says she mainly wants her mother's jewelry. He took the mother's jewelry!

...PLUS, he still comes around wanting free haircuts. Of course he does. 

no escribas

I had to open my own blog to see how long since I last posted anything. Okay, one week, not too much of  a slacking? 

It's been a busy time, but should now quiet to a gentle roar. My tutor boss at the college opened up for semester requests, and my schedule became instantly filled. I told her I'd take up to 5 students for the semester, and they usually trickle in, but this time, it was like flood gates opening. Whoosh, 5 in the inbox. After the frenzy of figuring out everyone's schedules, we can get down to business. Plus, I'd taken on a couple of high schoolers in the meantime, so they should all keep me occupied. 

The testing center runs hot and cold. We were swamped busy on Monday, and yesterday was lots of downtime. I spent a good portion of the day putting stickers on a new batch of test booklets for Spanish speakers ala, "NO ESCRIBAS EN EL LIBRO" That's about the extent of my bilingualism.

Mango, our recently hired assistant boss, usually rides the bus to work. She's a fresh university grad and said that people on the bus often ask her what she's studying at the college. She explains that she's not a student but a staffer, so this is inevitably followed by them asking what she does.

This got my coworkers and I pondering our actual job title - what it says in the staff directory and on our nametags anyways: Professional Tester. 

Kinda confusing, sounds like we take tests for money, which is, in most cases, illegal. 

In other news, I'm back to the running. The physical therapy, including the dry needling, seems to be helping and I've been out running around again. Not quite race ready, but it's coming along nicely. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as laying on a table getting needles stuck into various places. I have to do a gamut of exercises as well.

Doctor PT just welcomed a new baby and mentioned he was thinking of signing up for a "big" race to help him keep the running motivation during this life change. Next thing, he's suggesting that I sign up for a 30k trail race. 

What? No! What...? 

In a weird way, that sounds kinda fun and awful at the same time.

the heat

I'm off of work and scheduled a furnace tune for today. It's supposed to happen "sometime between 8am and noon". It is now a little after 9am. So I wait. I guess I'll do this little mid-week debrief exercise:

1. Name one new thing you learned this week

I learned that dogs should NOT eat grapes/ grape products. Who knew??

Someone on NextDoor posted that her dog ate a grape. She was quite worried, wondering what to do on the weekend since her vet office was closed. And I was all, "Dog ate one grape? What's the fuss?"  Well, now I know!

2. Acknowledge someone for a job well done.

I'll give a shout out to Work Study - our student employee at work. She's a military veteran who now gets paid by the VA to go to school. She admittedly is not passionate about being a student, but realizes it's probably the right thing to do, plus it pays the rent. 

In the meantime, she's trying to figure out what to be when she "grows up" while taking general classes. She comes in to work a few hours each week and is a total people-person - has a way of engaging people in conversation and taking their minds off of the stressful testing environment.

3. Describe a good idea you heard.

I didn't actually "hear" this idea, it's something that I discovered while decluttering. So maybe I heard it from some decluttering angel? 

Anyway, here's my tip: I used to keep shoes I didn't wear regularly in their respective boxes in my closet. Dress shoes, winter boots, summer sandals, etc. I decided to get a small shoe shelf and chuck the boxes. In so doing, I unboxed shoes I realized I didn't want anymore. Keeping them in boxes was outta sight, outta mind, and I'd forget I had them. 

Once I shelved them, I saw I had redundant / unwanted shoes that went into the donation box instead. I mean, now many pairs of black business casual shoes or casual canvas sneakers does one need?! 

4. Describe a feeling you experienced.

Sarge told us a story about a time earlier in his life when he briefly worked as a repo man for a rental center. The worst repo he ever did:

They were sent to a home to repossess a large entertainment center, complete with big screen TV and gaming console. When they got there, young kids were sitting there, holding their game controllers and crying. It was right after Christmas.

The mom made a dramatic scene in front of the kids about how she hadn't received her child support check that month, so all that new stuff from Christmas had to go. Sarge said it was almost as if she'd planned the whole thing - buy all that stuff on credit only to have it repoed in order to make the dad out to be the Grinch. 

I doubt the dad was innocent in the whole thing, but Sarge's story just gave us so many feels, and not the good kind. Disgust, anger, sadness, blech. Some people.

5. Describe something that pushed you outisde your comfort zone.

I've not done anything particularly "uncomfortable" lately. After covid precautions lifted enough, I transferred to a local [P.E.O.] chapter, and shortly after that, they asked if I would serve as chapter president when this next year rolls around. I said, "uh, okay?". The P.E.O. year ends/ starts in March, which is coming up. My turn at prez is right around the corner. Uh, okay?

6. How will you apply what you've learned?

Be careful with the grape-dog combo!

scratchings

I've got to head to work in a little bit. Another Saturday rotation. This time, Sarge and I are tasked with showing our new assistant boss - who shall be known here as "Mango" - the Saturday ropes. 

Mango is coming along nicely since starting the job a couple of weeks ago. She s a young fresh university grad, and this is her first "grown-up" job. I was working the late shift with her last night as we were finishing up getting the last few test takers done and out.

One guy finished up and returned his materials, including two pieces of scratch paper. We always give three sheets of scratch paper and must collect all before they leave.

"Did you have another piece of scratch paper?" Mango asked "I've only got two here"

"Oh, yeah. The other one is just in my pocket", the soft spoken man replied

So we told him we had to collect all of it before he could leave, and he agreeingly complied, pulling the folded paper out of his back pocket and handing it to Mango. We have to collect it all because people aren't allowed to take any test questions out of the testing center (other than inside their minds).

The guy was a friendly person, quite chill. Late 20s, early 30s I'd say. He'd come in for a couple of automotive tech certifications.

We tidied up after him as he collected his things and left. Mango opened the paper from Tech guy's pocket. There were no test questions on there, just a bit of writing to quote:

"F**k you b*tch  MotherF***ing b*tch..."

We both emitted quiet guffaws.

"Welp, we probably could've let him keep THAT little love note", I observed

We've no idea who the message was meant for. It seemed rather uncharacteristic since the guy was rather quiet and mellow. To add to the mystery. the "love note" was written in rather elegant, highly legible cursive.

Sometimes people make cute and/or skilled drawings on their scratch paper and we'll keep them around for a while. We were almost tempted to save this contribution.

Nah.

Thank your husband and electric needles.

"Tell your husband 'Thanks!' for shoveling our sidewalk!", he cheered from his driveway.

"Oh, sure, no problem!", I hailed back

Neighbor Guy next door. I noticed during our recent snow storm(s) that no one seemed to be home for a while over there, so when I was out shoveling, I shoveled their sidewalk as well. Tell your husband - pffft. 

And I did tell Magnum, we chuckled a bit over it. I don't hold it against Neighbor Guy. I guess it's "normal" to assume the resident man handles the shoveling of snow. Neighbor Guy is a rather burly manly man himself who takes care of the outside of the house. I don't know him that well, but he always seems friendly.

And honestly, I rather enjoy shoveling snow. As long as it's not bunches of it, wet and heavy. Magnum does share in the task, but for the most part, especially before he began working from home, it was one of my chief duties. It's only fair since he brings home the Lion's share of our income. 

My coworker, Sarge, is in a similar boat. His wife is the main earner for his family, so he picks up the "house work". Yes, out there clearing the snow, etc. and also doing most of the cooking and shopping, driving the kids around... Equity and Inclusion, we're on it!

I went for a sloggish run this morning. Recall I've been off the running while dealing with a fritzed foot. It's been feeling better, but then I caught a cold, and then we were hit with an arctic blast - neither conducive to start running again.

This week, I had another appointment with the physical therapist, and he somewhat "assigned" me to go for a short run-walk this weekend and report back. Felt pretty good actually, though a bit cold and I had to deal with annoying ice in several places. Plus being out of shape *huff puff*. But the foot held together.

We did the dry needling thing at this last appointment. It felt... interesting. I didn't watch the process at all - first hit was in the outside of my calf while I laid on my back, second was in my lower back/hip while I laid on my stomach, so I didn't exactly have a view of either anyway. 

But he inserted (I think) two needles each time, then added electric stimulation to the needles, so there was this pulsing going on in there - like in [this youtube short] I found. He did that to the areas for about 2 minutes each. 

It felt neither amazing nor painful, but it was a very gentle feeling. Like the cat when he prods me to let him under the covers.

places to go, people to see

Work was closed yesterday because of the weather. There were no classes scheduled because of the holiday, but "other stuff", including us, had to shut down.  I snagged this pic of my neighbor clearing snow with his leaf blower as seen through our frosty front window.

The sub-zero temperatures make for very fine, very powdery snow, so a leaf blower works quite well as a snow blower. I went out a little while later and cleared our snow the old fashioned way - shovel.

Today, the college is on a delayed start, so I have an extra hour this morning before heading in. The university and school district are both fully closed for the day. So much for peer pressure. 

I got the automated call last evening about the delayed start, the robotic voice stating,

All campuses will be on a delayed start for Tuesday 1/16/1924...

and I'm thinking what the heck kinda automated messaging service are we using that, 24 years into it, doesn't realize we're in the 2000's now?!

I think I was pretty productive despite all the cabin fever. After my big winter break declutter, I got going on a digital declutter - cleaning up and organizing files and getting rid of old crap. It was, strangely, nearly as cleansing as clearing the physical stuff.

My laptop's telling me that it's -14F and partly sunny. I'll leave the house in about an hour and the outlook then is for -3F. But by the time I get off work, we will hopefully be in the mid-20s. Above zero!

That sounds downright balmy!

so... what're you wearing?

Greetings from the freezer. I know we're not the only ones stuck in an arctic blast. 

Today we enjoyed some psychologically warming sunshine, and I noticed a reading of 12F on our thermometer earlier this afternoon. Strange how 12F seems so warm.

Yesterday, after I got home from work, we decided to test our outerwear on a 2-mile walk in 3F. We only got a couple inches of snow, so drifts weren't a factor.

So we bundled up, and I'm happy to report the gear did its job.

For reference, I wore:

• leggings under jeans under windpants
• turtleneck under hoodie under gore-tex parka
• balaclava under ski hat under goggles under hood
• wool glove liners under insulated trigger mitts
• two pairs of socks under water resistant hikers.

All performed wonderfully, and I remained quite cozy toasty, although I wouldn't want to make a habit of this. 

freezing and delinquency

I'm psyching myself to go in to work in a little while. My laptop says it's -10F outside right now. But clear. I'll latch onto "clear". Today's high is expected to be 3. Three whole degrees.

Forecast is for us being in the deep freeze for the next few days. I'm looking forward to Wednesday. It's just as well I'm scheduled to work this Saturday, because the weather outside is frightful. 

Earlier this week, a guy came in from Wyoming with a couple of teenage boys. He's been in before with one of the kids who is working toward his GED. I had assumed they were father and son. So, this week they were back along with another teen, and I thought maybe the guys are friends and arranged to take their tests on the same day so as to carpool.

Turns out that's sort of the case.

So we got them going on their tests, they were sitting a couple of seats apart while doing different GED modules. A little while later, a woman who was in the room taking another exam came out for a bathroom break and told us the two young guys were whispering and giggling.

"I've been a school teacher before, and I'm over it", her words.

Party Girl went in and gave the GED boys the what for, saying if they continued, we'd have to cancel their tests. In the meantime, Boss went out to the waiting area to let "Dad" know they'd been warned once, and if there's a next time, they're outta there.

So Dad says, "Tell 'em they get a RED DAY for today" and, "If they get kicked out, they'll have to discuss that with their probation officer".

Ooh, I finally put 2 and 2 together. We occasionally get these kids from a juvenile center in Wyoming to take their GEDs. They always come in with a nice adult person - some sort of escort/guardian. The kids are typically very polite - "please, thank you, yes ma'am/sir..."

They don't normally come in more than one at a time. Maybe they were going for efficiency this time.

It was then that I realized the boys were dressed the same: matching khakis, matching grey pullovers, even their black under armour shoes matched. 

Yeah, so up until that point, I guess my Situational Awareness was not quite up to speed.

Anyway, they completed their tests without further incident. Afterward, I was cleaning up their scratch paper and such. One kid had completed the math module, and his scratchwork showed much adeptness. Being a math nerd myself, I'd say his scratchwork indicated that he rather enjoyed himself. 

The next Elon Musk?

midweek check-in *YAWN*

The new assistant boss FINALLY started working this week. It was a good 2-month process from the time we stopped taking applications to getting through the hiring process to actually getting a person in house. She's fitting in nicely while we've been training her up. Classes start up again next week for the spring semester, so we'll be running on all cylinders shortly.

I've been feeling a bit restless with the downtime from tutoring and hoping my tutor schedule fills up nicely with the start of the new semester. I did get a lot of decluttering accomplished during the break. And I'm sure I can find more to purge. Seems like there's always more.

In other projects, I really want to get started on painting most walls of the house. EVERY wall is "rental white", as our house was a rental when we first moved here. Seems like a good after-purge project.

I'm off work today and have a few errands to take care of. It's crappy windy today, but wind seems to be the main weather phenomenon without rain and snow and whatever else the east coast is getting. I was reading reports of high risk for downed power lines and power outages in some parts of the country and thinking how we don't typically have that problem. Our powerlines are underground, so power outages are usually caused by some freak thing like a squirrel getting into a transformer box.

Now I probably just jinxed it, and our power's going to go out... Well, we do have a lot of neighbor squirrels.

Let you go

I've taken today and yesterday off of work since I'm still dealing with this dang cold. I feel okay, actually. I'm sure I could perform my "job duties as assigned" just fine, but I'm still a bit congested and scratchy and don't want to sicken my coworkers. Our work setting is an open "corral", so not much for social distancing. I explained to Boss that I wasn't quite fit for humanity just yet.

As such, I've been feeling a bit restless while holed up at home. But The Great Declutter of 2024 has been going quite well.

On Monday, I tried to drop a couple of bags of donations at ARC,  but they had stopped taking donations by the time I got there. Fine, I drove over to Goodwill, which turned out to be closed for New Year's Day.  So I came back home and scheduled a pickupplease.org truck. They're coming next Wednesday.

In the meantime, I've been working on filling up more stuff for the truck. I think I've gathered about all I care to donate right now, and the rest of the crap is going in the trash, unworthy.

I'd thought myself a minimalist, but still had much to answer for. For example:

• Handfuls of panty hose?? I rarely wear panty hose. Much of it must have been from my corporate working girl days 27+ freaking years ago. I've been schlepping that along each time we've moved?
• Extension cords. So. Many. Extension cords.
• Cinch sacks - from employee orientations and road race paraphernalia, cinch sacks are/were the handout of choice for so many. Be gone!

I also happily sold a couple of items through Marketplace: a fully waterproof backpack we hardly ever used and a double-wide computer monitor I haven't used since downsizing to just a laptop. Both items sold quickly and went to, I believe, good homes. 

• I met with a young "dude"  at a pizza place downtown to exchange the backpack. He plans to use it for rafting - perfect.
• A young dad met me in a nearby parking lot for the monitor. He said he has the same model already, so now he'll have double-double! 

Everybody's happy.

Lastly, I've been chipping away at this 1000-piece puzzle from step-MIL that we started on Christmas. Claude Monet. 

So much sky. So much water. So many pieces look alike. I hate/must finish it!  

Damn you, Monet!

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

Linking up with [John] for Mama Kat this week for the prompt:

1. Share something that you worked on this week.

moving on

Okay, holiday season is over. Time to get on with the business of getting through the winter. 

The break was nice, but I was ready to get back to work yesterday. As it was, we only gave four, count 'em FOUR tests the whole day. And it was only for two people because one guy did three tests. Talk about easing back into it. 

Boss had closed a bunch of things down, however, "just in case", so it was expected. I'm off today, but the schedule looks to be back to normal now.

New Year's Eve and day were non-events here. I think I was in bed by 9pm on Sunday. Plus, Magnum was down with Man Flu. Now, a few days later, it appears that I've contracted it as well. It feels like... a head cold.

Anyway, I "worked" with Sarge and Boss yesterday. We did a bit of tidying and updating things with all that free time. In discussing our New Year's reveling, theirs was as boring as mine. I mentioned my start of "The Great Declutter of 2024", and Sarge talked of painting his basement. Party animals, I tellya.

We did talk of "the old days" when we could go into work the following morning after a night of drinking. In my younger days, I'd worked at a hotel restaurant. Some mornings, the sight of the empty booze bottles from the bar the night before could make things a bit rough. Sarge told us that he'd worked on a garbage truck for a while and recalled collecting garbage while hungover. Ugh, yeah, that would've definitely been worse.

Now, here we are, cleaning house and painting basements. Did our younger selves see this coming?