ring of power

Our power went out last night. I do what most people I imagine do when that happens. I immediately check to see if neighbor homes are without power as well, and usually that's the case. This time, however, the evidence confirmed it was just us. 

It was eerie because we had JUST finished watching [Bugonia]. Honestly, I'd just exited Netflix as the credits had been rolling. For those not familiar, Bugonia is a Sci-Fi, alien conspiracy story starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. It kept me guessing until the end, and I found it brought up several thought-provoking themes. 

So I was deep in the throes of pondering, "what the heck did we just watch?" when *ZHUUUP* Power outage and total darkness and quiet.

We managed to locate our main breaker, which had been tripped, and get the juice flowing again. Logic says it tripped from larger than typical energy usage - likely our AC units - but maybe the aliens were just messing with us. 

We did discover bees or wasps starting to make a hive/nest in our breaker box, and it so happens that bees/beekeeping is a theme in Bugonia. Call me crazy... (or don't. That's okay)

We also watched [Apex] starring Charlize Theron. It was predictable, rather implausible, but entertaining enough. Met expectations, invoked no power outages.

We did a "heated" bicycle ride this morning. Apparently, exerting oneself in the heat has certain health benefits as long as it doesn't kill. We both survived, so I'll consider it a beneficial morning. Shady stretches were much welcomed, sun drenched stretches felt like riding over hot coals. Good balance.

Last weekend, I got a pneumonia vaccine. I noticed that the friendly pharmacist jabbed me nearly right on top of my smallpox vaccine scar. Those of us who own one of those are becoming fewer and farther between. 

Enhanced mine for clarity in the photo. Got one?

It's like having a special license plate that says "vintage" or "classic".

Right??

the bithentennial

My fellow Americans, hope you all had an enjoyable 4th of July however you celebrate. 250 years young.

I, for one, am old enough to have been around and remember the bicentennial in 1976. My main memory of that celebration was that, at school, we took a special class picture in the spring. We were told to dress in red, white, and blue.

JUST prior to that photo shoot, I had broken my two front teeth in a glorious skateboarding incident. I put on a fave red, white, and blue button-down shirt and took up my place in the far right of the front row. Several of my classmates - part jokingly, but not really - gave me pointers on how to "smile" for the photo. Basically, they said not to.

I recall my two front teeth being a jagged mess. I didn't know what to do with my face for photos. In fact, other than the x-rays at the dentist, I doubt any other photos of me were taken during my "toothless era" .

It wasn't until I was seated among my classmates, facing the photographer, that I realized I should've come up with a face strategy rather than put all my efforts into what to wear. 

Then *FLASH*, the deed was done. 

The result was not awful, I suppose. My fellow middle-schoolers and I, in our red, white, and blue, flanked by American flags, holding a "1776 ~ 1976"  banner. There I was on the end of the first row, my face slightly turned, giving a side-eye, mouth slightly opened in a confused not-really-a-smile. 

I no longer have that photo, but I can picture it in my brain. In hindsight, my look was much like this now-famous meme kid, except brunette with worse teeth.

Now, here we are, 50 years later. If any kid found themselves in a similar circumstance this year, how lucky are they?? The look is all the rage.

My timing was off by just 50 years.

dinner and a show

The fire engine pulled in slowly, parking next to my vehicle. I sat a few feet away with my new friend, Jerry. We watched as three young, burly men, oozing testosterone, stepped from the cab. 

"Is that your husband?", Jerry asked, indicating the driver and largest of the trio.

"PFFFT, I wish!", I replied, giving Jerry an elbow as he gave me a big toothless smile. But really, I probably couldn't handle that much husband.

"Husband" and another approached us while the third guy took up his position directing traffic. They began talking with Jerry while I hung back like Casper the friendly (and invisible) ghost. Feeling like the 5th wheel, I decided it was time to go.

This went down yesterday around 6:30pm. Chaco's in town, and the gang was all at our house for Thai takeout. I was returning home with the goods. As I approached a main intersection near our house, I saw a heap of something in the road. It soon became clear that it was a bicycle and a person. Someone was helping the person up, and another ran over to move the bicycle from the road.

Aha, another bicycle accident I'd just missed witnessing. I pulled over to put in my two cents if needed.

"Has anyone called paramedics?" I asked the other two assisters. The one helping Jerry to the curb wagged their head, no.

So there I was, making a 9-1-1 call as my Pad Thai, Curry, Se Ew, etc. sat simmering in the front seat of the car. 

The dispatcher asked me a series of questions other than "what's happening", "where are you"... Was he breathing, what's his age, was he conscious... He was conscious, breathing, talking. I guessed his age to be about 70, then I realized I could just ask him.

"I'm 80", he said with a mouth of few teeth.

The dispatcher asked me to stay with him until paramedics arrived, help flag them down if necessary. She had me describe my car, which I suppose is why they parked the fire engine next to it. 

As we waited, I gave Jerry a certified untrained bystander assessment. He didn't seem too beat up. He had some bruises and scratches, but they were not fresh. Plus, there was the teeth situation. No new injuries I could see. 

I asked him if anything hurt, and he said, "Naw, I'm fine. Really."

He struck me as a tough old guy. I noticed he wore a "Vietnam War Veteran" hat. He had been wearing a bike helmet, which lay on the road beside us. His bike was an e-bike with a few items bungeed to it. While I'd been talking with the 911 dispatcher, I overheard him make a call to "Mama", saying he was going to be "a little late for them steaks".

I'm still not sure what happened. I think someone may have cut him off, causing him to crash in reaction, but didn't crash into him. If so, whoever they were didn't stay on scene. One of the earlier helpers told me he'd hit his head pretty hard. Good thing for that helmet.

Later, I checked the dispatch log and saw that the incident was closed after 22 minutes. I'm pretty certain Jerry declined an ambulance. As we'd sat there waiting, I told him he looked really good for 80, which seemed to please him. To myself, I noted, not good in an aged-like-fine-wine kinda way, but more of a he-can-handle-a-smackdown kinda way.

Nice meeting you, Jerry. I hope you got to enjoy them steaks.

snow, sun, and an Armenian brain

We're back from our sunny getaway. It was nice to visit the in-laws, Father-in-law and step-Mother-in-law are 91- and 81-years-old respectively. FIL is pretty frail these days, but SMIL is a dynamo who will probably outlive us all.

We flew out of Denver last Friday. That happened to be the day of a messy snowstorm that canceled or delayed over 1300 flights out of Denver. Our flight was canceled, we got put on a different flight. All in all, not terrible. We landed 4 hours later than originally scheduled, so could've been worse. It marked the first time I've ever experienced de-icing.

It was Murphy's law at its finest (worst?). Denver hadn't had an appreciable amount of snow for all of February, then they got over 8 inches the day of our trip. I say the city of Denver should thank us for bringing the water. 

Once we got to California, it was warm and sunny. Hot, actually, and I'm not complaining. SMIL had arranged for a ride to and from the airport which was super convenient. Our driver was George, a friendly olderish Armenian man, for both trips.

Upon picking us up for our return flight, he announced with his Armenian accent, "There's a traffic accident on the freeway". Then added, "I'm going to choose a good route with my brain".

So I figured, welp, guess I gotta trust George's brain.

Turned out George's brain did good.

So a quick trip, but nice to see the in-laws and nice to just get a change of scenery - alien-to-us trees and birds. We visited Huntington Botanical Gardens, and Santa Monica beach. I'd been to that beach before, it's great for people watching, and I'd never been to The Huntington.

I took zero photos, social media rebel that I am. Magnum took one, though. We had gate checked our carryon bags to "help make boarding go faster". And this was the thanks I got.

See that bag lying in a puddle of slush? Yep. That's mine. Of course. It sat there for at least a half an hour while we looked on, expecting one of the wandering baggage handlers (they were right there!) to pick it up. So my PJs were wet, but no lasting damage. Magnum was sure to capture the indifferent airline name.

Wanna get away?

we got spirit...

1. Nobody is willing to take over as PEO president
   
   
2. HR is telling coworkers and I not to talk sh*t about Blossom's chronic absenteeism
   
   
3. Furnace crapped out after an annual tune-up NOT coincidentally. 

So those three things are at the forefront of my little world. Other things at the bigger world, but we'll keep it at the little one.

• I'm frustrated with my PEO chapter. I've never had this issue with the two other chapters I've belonged to, but it's like pulling teeth to get people to volunteer for offices. We have 7 officers, and we've filled 5 very easily, but the two remaining - including President, which I currently occupy - remain vacant for the upcoming changeover.

We had two members who had earlier agreed to co-preside, but now both are backing out. I feel like those astronauts who got stranded at the international space station when the Starliner meant to retrieve them went belly up. Will I have to call on Elon Musk to bail me out?

•  Boss told us about HR getting involved in the problem of Blossom's attendance issues, and he had to pen an "edict" that we can't talk sh*t about her or ask why she calls off so often. I asked him to clarify what we're being accused of. 

Boss says HR is also aware of employee "grumpiness" from having to pick up the slack when Blossom leaves us understaffed so often. 

"Her absenteeism and our resulting grumpiness are two different issues"

Okay, I just wanted to make sure that we were not being told not to be grumpy.

• We had our furnace annually tuned on Monday. Monday was a warm day, and we didn't really need the furnace, but Tuesday morning, I noticed it would not turn on. 

Fix-it guy came out and eventually determined that the filter Tune-up guy gave me was crap, blocking airflow. The safety features in the furnace told it to shut down. Now it has a new filter, the house is warm, I got a service invoice for $0.00 following Fix-it guy's visit.

I'm not mad about Tune-up guy. He only gave me the filter - which turned out to be crap - because our lame butts didn't have any spares on hand. The crap filter wasn't intentional, just a weird situation... pretty sure.

On the bright side:

• 5 enthusiastic officer volunteers
• Fun coworkers, including Blossom when she shows up
• Furnace working fine, and I learned some furnace stuff

How 'bout you?

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

Hooking up with [John's Writer's Workshop] this week for the prompt:

1. What’s taking up the most mental space for you right now?

peopling

It's noticeably denser here. Living in a college town brings fluctuations in population, and things become thicker in August. 

This week is Freshman move-in, and classes start at the university next week. The community college where I work started classes yesterday, so here we go. My tutor schedule is wide-open, we'll see where we are at week's end. Tutor Boss says she has lots of intake meetings scheduled - where she assesses student needs/ requests and matches students and tutors. I'm hoping to get busy soon before we're replaced by AI.

In the meantime, I'm in laid back mode still. Yesterday, I went for a haircut. Remember a few months ago, I blogged [that weird haircut experience]? At the salon I'd been going to for a few years? Welp, I'd decided not to go back there. Thanks to reddit, I found a different salon that is not only as good in both quality and price as the old place, but it's all around better - better location, friendlier, a little cheaper even. No more getting my haircut in the middle of a freakin' coffee klatch!

Later I went for a bicycle joyride cleverly disguised as errand running. I think I'm going to start using the GoPro again for these joy errand rides. My work commute is typically uneventful - knock on wood - so I stopped bothering with the bike cam, but yesterday included:

• I was coming up on three other bicyclists, about to pass them. The three entered an underpass/ tunnel and I heard a *clank-cah-clank*

Once in the tunnel, I see one of the cyclists has gone down, like she crashed into the sidewall of the tunnel. The man behind her stops and I stop as well, while the third guy just goes around and keeps on a-going. 

Amid the typical, "y'aright?", I'm assessing. The woman who crashed and the man who stopped appear to be riding together. They're both on "Rent Me!" bicycles and middle-aged. I'm guess they're from out of town - possibly dropping off a college kid and enjoying some kid-free recreation.

The woman says she's fine, landed on her foot, lost a shoe. I have a small first-aid "kit" with me, but more for cuts and scrapes than for a twisted foot. But she says she's fine, didn't hit her head or anything. The man thanks me for stopping, and then I continued onward.

• I was going around a right bend when these three hooligans - how's that for an eligible-for-the-senior-discount word? - these three hooligans come flying towards me on motorcycles. Motorcycles?!

This was on one of the friendly multi-use paths running through our county. Hooligans were on full-blown gas-powered motorcycles, which are most definitely not allowed. The only motorized vehicles allowed on the pathways are ebikes and scooters that max out at 20 mph. And these kids were going, I'd guess, at least 40 mph. 

Thankfully, they were single file in their rightful lane, but sheesh. In the flash that I watched them go by me, it seemed they were rounding that turn, pushing the envelope on how much control they had at that speed. They looked to be middle schoolers or high school freshmen at most. 

And so I'm wondering what went on after they're behind me? I went by a few law-abiding others in both directions. What of them? What of the "Rent Me!" crash couple?

Eventually, I dropped off a book at the library - one of my joyride enabling errands - and there are three librarians with walkie-talkies in the foyer, debriefing after some sort of incident at the library park. But that's just another day at the office for them. Those downtown librarians are tough. 

 

the sequel

For this final installment of the events of Thursday morning, I offer this birds-eye depiction. 

I've tried to show Alex, heading south on the bike path and crossing the road. The Prius that hit him was going west, I was going east, about to turn onto the southward bike path.

The red splotch is the approximate spot where Alex landed.

The sun-looking things are to represent flashing lights that a pedestrian or cyclist is to activate to alert oncoming traffic. There is no stop light or walk signal at this particular intersection.

I didn't see the actual collision, but from what I gathered from those who did, Alex didn't stop at the intersection, and was going pretty fast. I don't know if the lights were flashing at the time, possibly activated by another cyclist who had gone through ahead of Alex. They continue flashing for about 5 to 10 seconds after the button is pushed.

I will say that those flashing lights aren't the greatest. They're the same as the yellow lights that flash in school zones during drop-off and pick-up times. 

As for the woman who hit him, she was distraught, not angry. Felt absolutely awful. When I went over to check on Alex, she kept repeating, "I hit him..." and "my baby is in the car...", so I told her we'd keep Alex safe until paramedics arrived and to go ahead and check on her baby - she'd parked the car a few feet west of where Alex was laying.

"No", she explained, "I want to stay here with him. Will you please go check on my baby?"

Oh, me? Okay.

I went to the car and saw a kid of about one year, secured in his car seat in the back passenger side, just as he should be. He held a small plastic Tonka dump truck. I'd say he was utmostly the least fazed person at the scene.

Back to Alex, where he remained motionless and disoriented. [Fresca] noted that he was most likely in shock. After googling the symptoms of traumatic shock, I would certainly agree. That combined with obvious head trauma would explain his seeming "calm".

He did look to try to roll himself - possibly thinking about sitting up - a few times. But his movements were too slothlike and ineffective. Plus, whenever he did that, we all told him not to move, and he complied, only to try again in a minute or so.

By then, a nurse was on the scene. Ever witnessed a medical situation, and a nurse seems to automatically appear?  I swear, they are everywhere! Thankfully.

About the time the paramedics arrived, the nurse told Prius woman that she'd done a cursory neurological test on Alex, and he did fine. By that point, we were nearly as concerned for Prius woman as we were for Alex, she was so beside herself. 

Competent paramedics arrived, west-bound traffic was re-routed, so I figured I should probably get out of the way at that point. I checked social media and incident blotters, but never heard anything else about the crash other than that paramedics spent an hour and nine minutes on the scene. 

I left feeling concerned for Alex, but at the same time wondering at his carelessness. Not stopping at that sketchy intersection, not wearing a helmet.

Noting the day, time of day, his age, and the direction he was going, I couldn't help but think he is a student at the college where I work. He had a messenger-type bag on, and the top flap was partially open underneath him, from where a mangled breakfast burrito peeked out.

So, to Alex, I'm thinking aboutcha. You too, Prius woman.

mammos and mamas

"You have a birthmark on your back?"

"Oh... uh, yeah"

"It's cool!"

"Hmm, thanks?"

Yesterday was a typical Monday. I did a shift at the testing center, came home and had an online tutor sesh. Afterwards, Magnum and I took the dogs for a walk before the predicted storms moved in. Mid dog walk, I suddenly remembered...

"Oh sh*t, I have a mammogram in about 15 minutes!"

I handed Penny's leash to Magnum and high tailed it home, trying to get the optimum balance of speed without working up much of a sweat - out of courtesy to the mammographer. I'm not sure what made me suddenly remember my appointment, maybe a mammogram angel. Anyway, I got to the clinic just in time, acting as if nothing was awry.

The mammographer was friendly as has always been my experience. I think being personable and competent are both parts of the job description considering the procedure. 

In between all the groping and squishing, she made the comment about my birthmark, which I often forget is there. The birthmark is quite large, and not really a single mark, but more of a splotchy pattern covering a good portion of my left upper back.

Some say that birthmarks are indications of how we died in past lives. I figure maybe I was a 3-pack-a-day smoker?

Either way, I'm glad that humiliation is over for another year. Thank you, mammogram angel.

In other news, we did attend coworker Kitty's shotgun wedding reception on Saturday. It was a nice, chill, intimate gathering at a pleasant outdoor venue. The weather cooperated nicely. 

There was an arch where a photographer was capturing pics of the evening. All except for Grandboss, Party Girl, and Sarge showed, and Kitty asked for the coworker contingency to take a few snaps.

We did a few poses for the photographer, and Magnum took a few like this one captured between poses. I think it's a more realistic display.

I'm contemplating if we should really be in charge of a pricey component of people's professional futures.

adventure - party - carnage

Some catching up to do, it seems.

Been out having little adventures, this morning's featured road side blood and gore, but more on that later.

• On Friday, Magnum and I headed out for a commune with nature and hiked up to the summit of Arthur's Rock, a popular local hike.  I'd been up there once before with work friends, and Magnum wanted to give it a go with the aid of his new trekking poles. So off on our Arthurian quest we went. 

Magnum and the trekking poles, along with myself, made it to the summit and back. 

I highly recommend this invigorating hike. The summit rewards us with captivating eastward facing views where one (with super dooper vision) can nearly make out the cornfields of Nebraska.

Acrophobe me, hanging on for dear life

• Yesterday, we attended a large-ish family gathering to help Magnum's 90-year-old stepfather celebrate being 90 years old.

I grabbed a portion of one of the "Grandpa-D-with-all-the-grandkids" photos as it happened that our three contributions to the grandkid brood were right next to the man of honor. The landscape versions of the mass of grandkid humanity photos are much larger.

That's my MIL between Meego and Chaco, Grandpa D next to Wolfgang.

We each were supplied nametags with our "titles", i.e. "Abby - daughter-in-law" which made life easier at such a large gathering.

• This morning, Magnum and I headed out for a pleasant bike ride. Nothing strenuous, just meandering around our friendly town. We were rolling down a particularly picturesque street, me slightly in front, when I hear much scuffling from behind. 

I eventually looked around to see the end of Magnum's lengthy crash, he and his bicycle laying on their left sides.

The thing what happened: he was drinking from his water bottle, held in his right hand, as we approached an intersection. Upon noticing a truck approaching from our right, he instinctively grabbed his left-hand brake lever, which so happens to be the front brake. This caused his front tire to do a little hurky-doo, and the rest is self explanatory.

We assessed and briefly convalesced under the delightful shade of happy trees lining this particularly amiable street. It would've been a perfectly excellent little place of recess if not for all the blood and gore.

I whipped out my handy first-aid kit I always have with me while bike riding, almost happy for the justification to use it. It was reminiscent of that incident during my lunch lady days when young Mitch splashed nasty cleanser into his eyes, and I got to use the eye wash station for reals.

"I can fix this!", I told Magnum as I rifled through my little IFAK 

"Mammals are pretty much all the same except for the number of tits!", a line from a show we recently watched - quoting a veterinarian coming to the aid of her freshly stabbed wife.

For the record, I cannot fix a fresh stabbing, but a little bike crash road hash, oh yes.

YAY for allergies, mishap forensics, chicken

A little over a week ago, one of my tutees emailed me:

"My symptoms started Tuesday night and I tested positive for covid this morning (Thursday)..." 

Yeah, she and I met for a little over an hour that Wednesday. Honestly, I wasn't all that surprised at the email. She'd shown up for tutoring wearing a KN95 mask and admittedly feeling "like crap", but needing the help. During our session, she let out a few all too familiar sounding dry coughs as we sat closely - in hindsight - around a small table.

After receiving her email, I google searched to find the latest regarding covid reinfection. I found one article stating that people who are vaxxed and had covid should be fairly immune for about 10 months from their infection. Okay, I was getting behind that study!

In the days that followed, I had some paranoia inducing scratchy throat, sinus pressure... but YAY! It's allergies!

Welcome spring! Tomorrow is the official start, but I've enjoyed this week of saving the daylight. Can we just pick a time zone and stick to it already?

Spring break was this past week at the college and local school district, so work at the testing center and tutoring was relatively appreciably slow. Back to the grind tomorrow for the big push toward semester's end.

Speaking of big push, I was out running around on a recent morning, and came across this scene:

Curious, I've tried to piece together what happened. Something jumped the curb and crashed into the fence, but seems to me it wasn't a car but could've been. Looks like something tipped over and dragged into the fence. That dark smudge just beyond the fence break appears to be some sort of engine fluid, and there is a trail of it from the splotch indicating the driver turned and headed in the opposite direction.

Motorcycle? Scooter?  

In other imagery, who caught the google doodle for this past Wednesday? The 15th?

It was for Filipono adobo! That was my first thought upon seeing it, but then I thought, "Nah, there wouldn't be a google doodle just for chicken adobo"

But yes! There would be!

Apparently, it was to commemorate the anniversary of "adobo" being added to the Oxford English dictionary in 2006. Happy adobo anniversary!

It’s a symbol and expression of Filipino pride that varies from region to region, family to family, palate to palate.

Ask anyone with a Filipono mom or lola (grandma), "Who makes the best adobo?" The answer is, "My mom/ lola!"

And in MY case, it's actually true!