awaiting outcomes

It seems my skeletal friend at the college got a job in facilities. I spotted him riding shotgun in one of the maintenance trucks. Safety goggles protecting the non-existent eyeballs.

My ballot tracker service has informed me that my ballot's been received. We dropped ours off over the weekend. It was quite lengthy - lots of proposed ammendments in addition to the big thing on the ballot. We'll see where we are in a week. It's likely to be ugly no matter the outcome. 

This looks to be another busy week of stressed out students as the semester winds down. Over in testing, Blossom is still often out. Last week, it seems, she actually was battling a real illness. All that slacking has come back to haunt her because she's out of sick days. 

She was in yesterday, and I asked how she's doing. She admitted that she needs "to take better care" of herself. After battling real health issues, she's already sick of going to the doctor's. Will things turn around? We shall see.

go forward, move ahead, crack that whip

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Her: Uh.. no. 

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

Her:  I can show you my instagram?

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

The entertainment does help make up for the wage. 

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

face appreciation?

I just found out that today is "Employee Appreciation Day".  Well... what does that mean?  

It so happens that I have the day off from work today.  They tryna tell me something?

Actually, our boss is pretty good about showing the appreciation for us underlings.  Especially this semester, with the increased COVID requirements, some days can be a b*tch.  I don't think we've had one day go by without incident of someone being turned away for lack of proof of either vaccination or recent negative test.  

The students aren't a problem, but we also serve non-students who are unaware of the requirements.  Sure, it's spelled out in their appointment confirmation emails, but who reads that stuff??  Not everyone, it turns out.

Really, though, it's gone relatively smoothly.  Most people have been nice about it and able to come back later with the goods.  One notable exception is a guy who had an absolute hissy fit, made a bit of a scene with security, then broke a door on his way out.  His exam certification had to do with physical training, and we highly suspect a bit of roid rage was going on.  He's not allowed to come back.

Too bad for him because *HOORAY* the powers that be told us that the mandates are being lifted after next week.  No more required proof of vaccination/ negative test.  Masks won't even be required anymore.

This because our county and those of other branches of the college have moved into "low risk of community transmission".  The major state universities have already stopped their mandates this week. Case numbers and hospitalizations have significantly dropped, so time to move on.  

All good news, of course.  

But it will be weird to see the naked faces at work again...

and to be a naked face.  

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

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

lunchtime, pilgrims

 Happy Thanksgiving, 'merica!  

It's a quiet one around here.  A few weeks ago, my boss asked us to rank the five upcoming holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas eve, Christmas day, New Year's eve, New Year's day) in order of importance for wanting the day off.  Old people need care every day, so someone's gotta work the holidays.  

I ranked Thanksgiving first, so I'm off today, and we're not planning anything.  Our county went into stricter COVID-19 guidelines this week, and when Chaco and Wolfgang were over a couple of weekends ago, we decided we wouldn't gather since the family is made up of  four separate households, one including college kids.  Seems like the responsible thing to do.

So while it doesn't feel like Thanksgivings of the past - Turkey trot in the morning, then family fun and food at the sister-in-law's - I'll try to make the most of it.  It's a pretty and sunny day, and I'm thinking I'm due for some nature time.

And there's still  much to be thankful for.

I'm thankful I have a job from which to request the day off. And I'm thankful for the good people working today.  Yesterday, some of us were reminiscing about pre-pandemic days.  Someone mentioned missing salad bars.  Who would've predicted a whole conversation about missing salad bars a year ago?  Will salad bars become relics that today's children will never experience?

I'm thankful for my and my family's health. While we're not getting together, we had a little extended family zoom with Magnum's side last weekend.  Easy and no pondering what to wear.  I'm now doing twice weekly COVID testing for work, and am remaining negative.  Remember when being negative was a bad thing?

I'm thankful for the IRS.  Who says that??  Earlier this week, we got a check from the IRS.  Seems suspicious, right?  They explained that they found an error in our tax return, explained what the error was and from which line item of our return.  The legit check they sent included interest from the time we paid our taxes.  What??

I'm thankful for diversion.  We started watching The Queen's Gambit on Netflix.  Just one episode in, and I did fall asleep for a bit, but it looks to be well done so far.  I've also been watching A Teacher on Hulu which is a series of (I think) seven episodes depicting the development and fallout from a sexual relationship between a female high school English teacher and one of her male students.  I think it's well written and acted, and it's appropriately creepy.  It's not a romantic situation.

I'm thankful for getting old, sorta.  Had another one of those birthday things this week...  Guess it beats the alternative.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

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Linking up with Mama Kat for the prompt:
3. Write a blog post inspired by the word: thankful.

open season?

Our governor announced this week that businesses will be allowed to start opening up again this weekend.  Hospitals can begin scheduling elective surgeries, dentist offices can open, etc.  It will be a slow ramping up of activity, and we'll watch and wait.

Restaurants, bars, and clubs are looking at mid-May openings.  Hair salons and spas can open next week.  All of this with precautions left in place - don't gather in large groups, wash your hands, wear masks...  School districts and colleges decided weeks ago to not reopen for the remainder of spring semester.



I wasn't too surprised about retail shops being allowed to open.  A lot of places remained in business, offering curbside and in-store pickup, throughout the "lockdown".



But I was a bit surprised that barber shops and hair salons will be opening.  Were the decision makers tired of their quarantine hair?





I attended a party last night. Woo, what a bash.

Girls gone wild, I tellya.

Really, it was better than nothing.  The isolation affects some people harder than others, so a gathering of any kind is good.

Jane says, "It's great!  I've learned how to order groceries online, I'm getting lots of sleep and reading lots of books!"

Sarah says, "The buttons on my jeans have started to social distance from each other"

Bottom line, no one is sick or destitute or lacking toilet paper.  Whew.

The hospital provides us with procedure masks, which are now mandatory for everyone in the building.  The masks aren't reusable after each shift, so I'm going to make a better and washable DIY one so I'm not dipping into the PPE supply each workday. 

Yesterday, I was out getting provisions and hit up the craft section hoping to find some 1/4" or 1/2" elastic.  All gone.  Sold to other mask makers, no doubt.

Time to get creative.

Got a homemade mask?  Care to share?

zoological

I was at the dentist a few weeks ago.  Our (now ex) dentist is quite chatty.  He was asking about what each of our kids is doing these days, knowing that we are a family of nerds/engineers with Meego being the latest to pursue a nerd degree.

He commented, "engineering is one of those majors where you can get a good job with just a bachelor's degree".  Then he went on to say,

"there wasn't a whole lot I could do with my bachelor's in zoology"

With that, the assistant perked up.

"You have a bachelor's in ZOOLOGY??"

Dentist immediately responded, "okay, what do you think that is?"  He had obviously had similar reactions before.

"Uhm...", the assistant replied, "Zoo... keeper?"

"No", he went on to humorously explain for what seemed the umpteenth time, "zoology is biology without the plants".

It's a very common pre-med/dentistry major, but people assume he really wanted to be a zookeeper.

I'm thinking of it now because I felt like a bit of a zookeeper this past week, helping our animals adjust to their new surroundings. 

We're having a new dog run delivered today - any minute in fact.  That will be nice for the dogs as we don't like to just let them out to run willy nilly around the backyard without one of us out there with them.  With that and the cold temperatures, they've been indoors more than they're used to.



Penny was due for a checkup and shots, so I found us a new vet and took her there on Wednesday.  She's such a drama queen.

When we got back, Merlin seemed sad that we'd had some sort of adventure without him.  I got out his harness and put it on him, and that seemed to make him feel better even though we didn't go anywhere.  He's so easy to please.



The cat, on the other hand, is chomping to go outside.  We weren't planning on letting him out for a good while since we moved, but in the meantime, we've learned that cats aren't allowed to EVER go outside within these city limits.  Well, unless he's contained within the yard (fat chance).  I think one of the main reasons he goes out is to get out and explore beyond his own yard.  Cat leash?  HA!

But he seems to be dealing with it, mixing it up with the dogs when he feels like a good scrap.

In the middle of all this change, Christmas is next week?!?!  

I haven't done a whole lot in that regard. I don't think we'll get a tree since we're in a rental, but I feel I should throw up some lights, something.  And gifts?  Is it too late to shop?  How about the old candle standby?

SOURCE

civic duties and boonies

We made yet another trip to the Lake House yesterday.  This one as Meego's final move out/in.  Classes begin in a week.

A couple of weeks ago, Meego got his first jury summons in the mail - ooh, how exciting! (not).  He wasn't sure what to do as he'd never been called for jury duty before and he wasn't planning to still be living here on his assigned day.

I checked and saw that there's an easy online form to fill out for disqualification - one of which is if your address is in a different county from the jury summons.  Click that box - BAM.  Of course, it asks to be provided with the current address.

So, guess what was Meego's first piece of mail at the Lake House?  Yah, jury summons.  New county.

Boy, they don't waste time do they?  He might qualify for a student postponement, or he can just let it ride and hope that when he calls in, he doesn't have to show.

We enjoyed a bit of roaming around and surviving in the forest, far from civilization.  Here are the primitives:

Actually, no.  We checked out the Heritage Gardens and Arboretum on the campus of the university.  Lots of different trees from all over the world, so fun to see trees we don't normally see in Colorado... or anywhere.

For more nature fun, Magnum and I hit the mountain bike trails this morning.  The area was quite crowded as it was a beautiful day on a weekend, but it's a large enough park that we had plenty of moving room. 

I think my skills are improving little by little by very little.  

We'll be dreaming of this in February.

they probably wouldn't want him anyway?

In addition to our on-street mailbox, we have a P.O. box.  We got it several years ago to handle mailings we want to keep secure - credit card, other financial stuff, and the like.  We don't check the P.O. box that regularly, about once or twice a month.  I empty it if we're expecting something specific or if I happen to be at the post office.  It does tend to get stuffed with junk mail, so it's good to swing by just to clean it out and make room for the next round of junk.

Yesterday, I was out joyriding around on my bicycle running a few errands and decided to swing by the P.O. box as it had been about 3 weeks since I last emptied it.  As I was going through the pile of sale flyers, insurance offers, and charitable requests, one piece of legitimate mail appeared:  a jury summons. For Magnum.

Apparently, he'd put the p.o. box address when filling out something related to his driver's license.  And apparently, driver's license info is a  main source of the jury duty pool.  Magnum's in Denver this week for some work related training, so I opened the jury summons to see his appearance date.

It was for last week.  *GASP*.

We're not sure of how much, if any, trouble he's in.  We couldn't find anything specific online.  I think he's going to try contacting the jury commissioner. 

Both of us have been summoned a few times, but have never had to serve on a jury.  The one time I made it to the questioning box, the defense asked for a recess before asking me any questions.  They came back and had decided on a deal.  That's apparently how formidable I am 😝

Magnum was questioned once.  He'd brought his Asperger's with him that day.  I think the case had something to do with a DUI.  In answer to his question, Magnum began with,

"The fourth amendment of the constitution states..."

After Magnum delivered his brief civics lesson, the lawyers didn't say much else.  Then they conversed quietly among themselves and sent Magnum packing. 

Want to be dismissed from jury duty?  Start quoting the constitution.

hi, don't mind me :)

I bought a new webcam last week.  My webcam is working fine, but I like to have a backup.  Meego uses my old webcam/backup, mainly for the microphone, when he's online gaming with his friends.  He needed to take an online test last week in order to test out of a certain math class for college.  That's when we discovered that the video on his/my backup webcam was on the fritz.

Take an online test to place out of a math class, and someone is watching. If your webcam doesn't work, you can't take the test.

Well, we just swapped out the fritzed webcam with my working one, and all was good.  Meego passed his test, and we wondered what it's like to be a proctor for an online test.  Do they really watch the whole time?  Are they looking at multiple screens/test takers?  What would they do if they see someone cheating?

I only connect my webcam when I need it for online tutoring.  For those with built-in webcams, do you cover it up to prevent the government from spying on you?

I have a student I've been helping with a college math class he's taking online this summer.  We were at the library yesterday, and he'd brought his laptop so we could work on his homework assignment.

As he was airing his frustrations with me, I was communicating my empathy:

"Yes, they could have explained that better"
"You're right, that's not a very accurate graph"
"blah, blah, blah"

At several points, we noticed the cursor on his laptop screen was spinning.

"They're checking on me", he says.

"Oh, they monitor when your logged in?", I says

"Yeah, we had to sign something that says we know and don't care when we enrolled in the class", he says.

I noticed the band-aid he had covering his webcam.

"Is that why you have a band-aid over your webcam?", I says.

"Yep, but they can still hear us", he says.

We continued to work through his homework and came across another poorly represented graph.  I made robotic note of it.

"Ugh, you'd think they would do these better, otherwise it's confusing", he expressed.

"I'm just your tutor.  I have no opinion".

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
5. Write about the last lie you told.

informed

Do you have informed delivery from the US Postal Service?  I do!  It's a helpful thing!

Each day we have mail on the truck, I get an email letting me know what's coming.  It even includes a scanned image of each piece of mail. That way I know to freak out if something doesn't show up, and it also allows me to fret over how often stuff goes missing. 

I can click a link to let the USPS know if something didn't arrive.  I've done that a couple of times.  Nothing further happened, but I had the satisfaction of clicking the link. 

There was one instance, however, when a package went missing.  Magnum ordered something online, and we got an alert saying that it was delivered to the mailbox.  Turns out it wasn't.  The product itself was a minor thing, but it bothered me that we didn't get it when the post office said we did. 

Magnum, a.k.a. worst-case-scenario man, immediately surmised that low life hoodlums had stolen it from the mailbox while leaving all the other mail intact.  I held out on the hopes that the package had just been misdelivered - as has been known to  happen all too often. 

I went to our online USPS account and reported the missing package.  The next day, I surprisingly got a call from a real person!  She was quite friendly, and not in a fake kind of way.  Apparently, it's her job to train mail carriers and punish them soundly when they deliver things to wrong addresses. 

She assured me they were working to track down the package and sincerely apologized while adding, "Oh well, job security I suppose!"

The postal service never found it, but that's because our non-hoodlum neighbor who'd accidentally received it just did the job for them by bringing it to our house. 

So where was I?  Oh yes, informed delivery.  It's a good thing. 

This morning, I opened my email to see this lovely image:

Well... crapola.  If it gets lost, can I pretend I never knew?

monkey

I haven't participated in Illustration Friday in a while, and I'm probably in need of therapy, so I drew this freakish monkey toy to... relax?  Well, the prompt this week is "Monkey", and this is the thing that came to mind.  Remember these creepy toys?  SO glad I didn't have one.

But it seemed appropriate for tax season.  Have you completed yours??  Magnum is wrapping up ours, so we should know the bottom line soon.  I helped Meego complete his last week.  It took us about 10 minutes, so what's taking Magnum so long?! Kidding... don't tell him I said that!  He might go all crazy cymbal monkey on me.

the cops, deflation, finders, and losers

A police car pulled in front of our house this morning.  Then another.  Then another... Eventually, I think there were six.  I have no idea what it was about, I was just seeing to important operational matters (laundry) when it began. So this was me for a while:

 I still don't know what happened.  They had a guy in the back of one of the cars and an officer was questioning him, but I didn't see who it was.  I could just make out the back of his head, and from that angle, he didn't look particularly familiar.  Young guy.  Teenager maybe.

I got tired of gawking and went to take a shower.  When I came out, they were leaving.  Mystery abounds.

Other than that, there was an election this week.  I will not share any more commentary on the presidential result, as we all know there is PLENTY of that available.  I instead offer a reprieve.  I will say that I was glad to see more states legalize recreational marijuana.  Now all the stoners who come here for, literally, greener pastures have more choices.

I got a flat tire on Friday, deemed it "Flat Tire Friday" (FTF), and posted the pic of poor Alice onto the facebook Bicycle Commuter page

One cohort offered, "At least it's only flat on the bottom".  haha.

But I was thankful that it was a mild and sunny day, and that I was near the park-n-ride where I could easily perform CPR near the bicycle garages.





Magnum and I got in a bit of geocaching again yesterday, to keep the streak alive.  We didn't make it to the boonies, but found several caches within walking distance of home.  I swear those things are everywhere, who knew?!














This one was underneath a traffic signal pole, like I need an excuse to rummage around the underneath of a traffic signal pole.





The high school football team made the playoffs and had their first game at home last night.  Magnum and I went to show our support while Meego banged his drum for the pep band.  It was close, but our team lost.

It happens.

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life and taxes

The sun is shining!  Spring is springing!  That cat is killing something in the backyard!

I'd say April is coming in like a lamb.  I know the lamb/lion thing is typically for March, but I'm running late I suppose.

This was a productive week, once I got out of spring break mode.  I've been feeling a bit restless because I cut back on the tuting this semester so I could focus on finishing up with school.  I find that I kinda miss the tutees, but it's nice having more flexibility in my schedule.

And speaking of being a freeloader... shout out to Magnum for completing our taxes.  He does them every year, wading through the piles of forms and instructions.  I just stay out of the way.  I did, however, walk Meego through his first experience of being a United States Taxpayer.  Yay.

Afterwards, as I strolled by Magnum among the piles of forms on the dining table, "We're done with Meego's.  What's taking you so long?"

Not nice, I know.

Another highlight this week was a visit from brother Guano!  Y'all remember  him, right?  He sends his regards.  He'd told me a while back that he got a new Mac computer that allows him to read the blog, but doesn't yet let him post comments.  So we've all had to go without his wit and wisdom here in the meantime.

Anyways, he was in Colorado for a few days this week, and he and I managed to spend some quality time on Friday.  We had some business regarding the settling of our dad's affairs and ended up practically being held hostage by this financial guy, but that's a whole 'nother story.  Nothing negative, the guy just likes to talk and talk about stuff NOBODY CARES ABOUT!!  We managed to eventually get out of there without either of us punching him in the face.

It was a nice if short visit.  Guano then traveled a couple of hours to spend time with brother Hagrid before returning home.  I'll spare the references, but these guys help me to realize how nice it is to have siblings I like and get along with.

And I realize I have no photos from the week to decorate this post with. I could show you my sock drawer.  I've been tidying, remember?  Okay, never mind.

But on that note, the tidying does continue.  Although this is how I often feel:




via GIPHY

And there.  Now, at least I have some decorative imagery.  I should probably go clean up after the cat now.

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tags, I'm it

Happy Friday!  This has been a busy week, and now we're already at the end.

I have to go to the tire store in a little while.  Wolfgang bought a truck that desperately needs a set of tires.  Really, we can't believe the previous owner was still driving around on them.  When we first looked at the truck, I went to check the thread depth on the tires and couldn't find a thread to check!





So, since I'm the resident *Hop Sing around here (harumph!), I'm taking the truck for new tires.  This after I was subjected to the DMV yesterday.






Okay, actually I offered my services since I've got time right now,  Wolfgang has profusely expressed his gratitude, so maybe don't tell him about my typically frustrating time at the DMV yesterday.

I mean, I just don't understand this particular DMV office.  First of all, it's about two miles from our house.  I could easily walk or bicycle there, but yesterday I drove.

I walked into the comfortably air conditioned and pleasingly decorated office where I was greeted by a pleasant DMV person.  She quickly checked to see that I had the proper documentation, then issued my number:  703.

I looked up at the convenient monitor to see that they were currently serving 699, then settled in for my wait.  I also checked my watch.

At just under four minutes later, my number was called.  I had barely sat down and got a feel for the layout and counter numbering system of the place!  How rude, right??

Despite that, I managed to find the counter I'd been summoned to.  The helpful and efficient DMV person clicked on the keyboard a bit while looking over my documents, got up a couple of times, shared a joke with the next staff person over, took my payment, and handed me plates, title, registration, and receipt.  I checked my watch again.

The ENTIRE visit took 11 minutes.  That beats my previous record at that DMV of 12 minutes.

And the reason I drove there? I needed a few groceries, and this DMV happens to be conveniently located in a friendly shopping center that includes a comfortable grocery store.

Dare I say that the whole errand was enjoyable?

Don't be envious, though.  Our post office still sucks.


*Everyone knows Hop Sing?  Or is it just us old folks?

.

heads up

Chaco, Meego, and I are planning to take a little trip south to visit my dad later on and into tomorrow, so I thought I'd reflect on this past week and get in a little silver liningness now.

First of all, I was summoned for jury duty early in the week.  Oh, boo.  BUT, I called and was told I was on standby and to call again later.  Called again later and heard those lovely words:

"Your jury duty obligation has been fulfilled"

Whoopee, that was the easiest jury duty I've ever had.  I can remember being summoned three times in recent years, but have never served on a jury.  First time, we all got sent home after sitting around the courthouse for a couple of hours.  The last time, I was herded into a courtroom for jury seating.

They needed just one more juror for a trial dealing with drug possession with intent to sell (meth).  Three people ahead of me were questioned and excused.  They called me to the hot seat, and just as I sat down, the defense team asked to approach the bench.

Much whispering ensued, we went to recess.  When we returned, the judge told us that the defendant decided to change her plea to guilty and accept the judge's terms.  And I was all wondering, what?  What did I do?

Anyway, we were all then sent home, so my jury duties so far have been pretty painless.

On that note, how 'bout that James Holmes verdict?  I'm happy with it, and think he was crazy to think he would be found not guilty for being crazy.


In non-legal system updates, I made the Pedal Perks prize cut again.  They gave out shirts this time, here's mine.

It's very... green.

I do like the world-in-the-wheels thing.  And the fact that the shirt was essentially free.  Nice people, those Pedal Perkians.

Oh, and in other prize news, I got an email from the HuHots telling me I got a medal for being first old lady at the half on the fourth.  Hu knew they had medals for such things?

So I got that.  It was sitting on the counter, and Wolfgang walked in.

"Oh, is this your medal?", he said

"Yup", I said

*looks at it* "Oh yeah, you're 50 now", he remembered

"SHUDDUP", I lovingly responded...
Like I need a reminder.

Silver Liningness Sunday

I haven't blogged since Tuesday?  Wow, it's like an alien abduction or something.  But no, I don't think so. Here's a shot of the toads during a rare break in sexual activity for no other purpose than to include a photo of the week:

I do appreciate the suggestions and sympathies in regards to my eye-skin dizeeez.  I've tried different things, and it's certainly manageable.  I think Doctor [Terri] is onto something when she suggested it was the colder drier weather having an adverse effect.

My bicycle commute does expose my fragile face to the harsh elements, moreso than being out walking school kids across the street.  Even with my Secret Squirrel glasses, I think the ailment is more of a windburn thing since it's mainly irritating my skin while my eyeballs and mucus membranes are fine.

With that diagnosis, before heading out this morning for a bike ride, I lubed my face up but good with some petrolatum-based healing and preventative ointment.   I'd gotten the stuff for Chaco a while back when he'd gotten sunburned at a pool party and was dubbed "The English Patient" for about a week.

I looked like a prizefighter, but, by gum, it made a big difference!

In other silver liningness, this was an election week.  Everything I voted in favor of won, and the corollary:  everything I voted against lost!  One of the issues up for vote was whether Colorado should tax retail sales of marijuana.  Well... YEAH.  Wasn't that the whole reason for legalizing the stuff in the first place?  All that untapped revenue?  The potheads aren't particularly happy.

I haven't mentioned good movies in a while mainly because I haven't seen any - but not from a lack of trying.

I finally stopped the downward spiral.  Magnum and I watched "Dead Man Down" and we both liked it.  It's not really for everyone since it does involve thugs and violence, but it's really a love story cleverly disguised as a shoot-em-up.  Strong character portrayals and interractions, plus I thought Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace especially pulled off nicely believable chemistry.  Plus... well... Colin Farrell...

.

wait... what?

I packed for the occassion:

• Novel I'm currently reading
• Nexus 7 tablet, fully charged
• Full water bottle
• Notebook and pencils

I was prepared.  Today was the one we'd designated as DMV afternoon.

I picked Wolfgang up at the appointed time.  He approached the driver's side, asking to drive.

"Nope, we have to keep this as painful as possible", I explained, "to further etch the experience into your brain so you don't lose your driver's license again".  Even though I'd prefer not to drive, this was a teaching moment.  We did what we had to do.

We arrived and Wolfgang told the touchscreen why we were there, and it spit out a number.  We looked at the printout, estimated waiting time was 23 minutes.  Wowza, sounded good to me!

We found seats and Wolfgang left for the restrooms.  I don't even think my butt cheeks were fully into sit mode when I disbelievingly heard what kinda sounded like our number:  L508.

I looked again at the slip of paper:  L508

I looked at the wall mounted monitor:  L508

I sat transfixed, staring at the monitor as the automated voice repeated the number:  L508

Then an inner voice said, "Damn you, GET UP!  Before they say L509!!"

I grabbed my bag o' stuff and practically ran to the designated station.

"Yes... we just got here....   he's in the bathroom...",  I stammered

"You're here to replace a lost license?", he asked, looking bored.

"Yeah, he's in the restroom.  I have his birth certificate", I said pantingly and slapped the document on the counter, hoping to keep the bored DMV man occupied so he wouldn't say something like, "Step aside while I take the next person"

As Mr. DMV clicked away on his keyboard, I covertly texted Wolfgang, "WE'RE  UP!"  under the judgemental eye of the "No cell phones" sign.

I'm still in a bit of a shocked state.  I have spent HOURS of my life at that very DMV in the past.  Going for snack runs, doodling the ankle bracelet tracking devices of various criminals, playing endless games of hangman as the phrases became more and more violent toward all things DMV.

Wolfgang too.  "I told my friends I'd be gone for like three hours".  We were in and out in about 15 minutes.  It almost felt wrong.

We hightailed it to the parking lot and drove off before some mistake was righted, and we were corraled like captive beasts.  Like before.

Something's wrong with that DMV now.  I'm scared to go back.
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guess who's coming to dinner!

Brother Guano graced us with his presence, briefly.  And no, he didn't really come for dinner, but it seemed like a better title than "guess who's coming to crash on the futon!"

Just one of those passing-through-the-state visits.  Short but sweet and better than nuthin'.  I was glad my Tuesday class is in the afternoon, although if it were a morning class, I'd have good reason to ditch.











I played a bit with the new camera that I still haven't played with nearly enough (like, really, at all).  Note the grainy photo.  Back to the drawing board.  But still, I had to record the blogworthy event, since he's one of the sort of readers and cast of characters around here.

I thought I would also slap the photo on my facebook since a good number of my fb friends know Guano from our growing up days.  facebook kept trying to tag him as Wolfgang.  Really?

And speaking of Wolfgang, he lost his driver's license.  No, not as in had it taken away, but as in "had it at Elitch's (amusement park), didn't have it after".  *sigh*  You know what that means...

*MUSIC  OF  DOOM*

The dreaded DMV.  *SCREEEEEEEAAAMMM*

I said I'd take him this week since he doesn't have a car.  How ironic.  Since he's under 21, he's got to go to the Teens and Criminals DMV for a replacement.  Here I thought I was done with that place until Meego is of age.

So I'll take him.  Maybe HE'LL stay for dinner.

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Protest

This week, a quickie.  I went to a bridal shower earlier today for my niece - Magnum's sister's daughter.  Came home in time to get an Illustration Friday fix for the prompt "protest".

So I did this pencil sketch of a Guy Fawkes mask, popularized as a symbol of protest in the freedom fighter movie, V for Vendetta.  Didja see it?  The movie?

It was a dark, heavy, but good movie (IMO) based on a graphic novel.

I had fun drawing this smiley face of freedom, but it seemed quite a contrast from my activities earlier in the day that were all bright, flowery, lovey dovey.

I have no protest against bright flowery lovey dovey.
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my toes didn't curl, but it was still nice

The sequester is happening.  Have you been directly affected?

The Air Force Academy is located "just a little bit over there" from where we live.  Graduation comes every spring, and with it comes the Air Force Thunderbirds.

So every year at this time, on graduation day and the few days leading up to it, our skies are visited by this team of F-16's as they practice and perform and rattle our teeth and window panes and fine china (actually, I can only attest to the teeth and window panes, as we don't own anything resembling fine china, although they do rattle our fine China, the dog).



People stand around outside in their yards or pull over in their cars,  looking skyward, maybe hoping to be fast enough to snag a photo or video.  On the day of graduation, people take long lunches from the office to go outside and set up folding chairs in good viewing spots.  Kids, if they're still in school, get extra recess time to watch from the playgrounds.  Some diehards, who don't even have relatives at graduation, go sit through the looooong graduation ceremony just to get good seats for the show.

(scared the living what out of her?)

This year,  however, because of the sequester, the Thunderbirds are grounded.  I don't know how the cadets felt about it, but us taxpayers in the cheap seats were fine with it, although we would miss the annual exhilaration.

But then, in came the Cavalry!  Or more specifically... The Commemorative Air Force!

Several aviation organizations volunteered, at no cost to the government, to provide flyovers and displays of vintage WWII aircraft.

The kids (for lack of a better word) and I were all home at midday yesterday, so we grabbed a few pairs of binoculars and headed outside to see the graduation flyover.  And y'know?  It was really nice.

It wasn't the pull-your-hair-out-of-its-roots buzz that the Thunderbirds bring.  I don't even think I heard one reactive dog bark.  But it was just really nice.  And poignant.

I was standing in the sandbox at the elementary school, making roads with my feet,  when Wolfgang said, "OH, there they are!" like they just appeared out of nowhere, in beautifully perfect formation.

Denver Post

We watched, mostly in silence.  Then Chaco and Wolfgang started rattling off the names of the different aircraft, while I thought about "The Greatest Generation".

They made a few laps around the stadium, some other aircraft joined in, and then they headed off toward the far horizon.

Thanks guys!  You're still heroes!
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