casualty

I worked yesterday at the testing center. It was my one day of gainful employment for the week since tutoring ended the week prior.

Working  just one day a week there, I often miss out on worthwhile shenanigans, so I had to get caught up. Turns out they had both a cheater and a secret shopper.

• The cheater had snuck a cheat note in, had it tucked in his sock - verified from video recording after the fact. Boss noticed the little note, sticking out from under the keyboard, mid-test. It was strange because it was for a professional certification test. We catch cheaters every once in a while, but they are typically for student exams, not the professional ones that people pay good chunks of money to take. I was kind of sorry to have missed the momentous once-in-a-lifetime event. 

• The other was a secret shopper. As the name implies, secret shoppers are sent by various test companies, come in pretending to be test takers, but are actually checking to see if we will catch them breaking any rules. This particular SS broke all kinds of rules and never even made it into the test they were supposedly there to take.

After being told they would not be allowed to take their test, they even offered a bribe to be allowed, which I find quite funny. Another missed performance I wish I'd seen.

In high school, I had a friend who would sometimes wear flowy skirts when it was a test day in our History class. She would affix a cheat note in the folds of her skirt and nonchalantly "flip" to the note as needed.

I recall that she was actually a pretty good student with a strong work ethic, and I'm pretty sure she never got caught cheating. I guess she just wanted the extra insurance. 

Kind of ironic, now I think about it. That was the exam that Cheater Guy was taking: 

licensure for casualty insurance. 

work it

I've made it through this first week of winter break. There's more free time on my hands and I'm trying to use it wisely. A little recap

• I had "The" talk with Boss. I've mentioned contemplating staying or going from the testing center. Pros and cons are pretty balanced, and every end-of-semester, I contemplate some more. Boss makes our work schedules a semester at a time, so it was time for another fresh calendar.

This semester, he's facing a few scheduling challenges from all us part-timers. As per usual, he asked for our availability for spring, and also to let him know our maximum and minimum number of preferred hours. 

I listed my minimum preferred hours as "zero", which prompted a one-on-one. I explained that he should feel free to "take me off the schedule" if it's too much of a hassle for him to work around my tutoring schedule. The word "quit" was never uttered by either of us.

He said he didn't want me to q-word, but he's hiring a new person to fill some gaps, and wants to be able to offer a decent number of hours to the newb. He was actually quite relieved that I was happy to reduce my already meager hours.

So, bottom line, I'm scheduled for a whopping ONE shift per week plus the Saturday rotation in testing for spring semester. The best of both worlds, I feel. I'd originally thought I would need to work at least two shifts or nothing. More available hours for tutoring while still keeping my foot in the testing door, and I'm happy with that outcome. 

• We got together with Wolfgang and Meego yesterday for our monthly breakfast outing. There was a short wait list, so I gave the host my name and party of five. Duh, we're a party of four. I was either Freudian slipping missing Chaco, or my brain is mushy from the downtime. 

• Speaking of menopause brain *ahem*, coworker Party Girl was complaining about trying to find pants that fit.

"If they fit my waist, they're too big in the butt. If they fit my butt, they're too tight in the waist. It's this &%#!  menopause body!"

We were working with Blossom and Kitty. I told her to stop scaring the young ones.

Merry Christmas.

 

June parade, and Grinch no more

Last weekend, I volunteered at a happy/sad event. Happy/sad because it was well attended fun meant to raise awareness after tragedy.

[Ollie's Bike Parade] is a charity organization that grew out of the death of 10-year-old Oliver Stratton. Ollie was killed after he was hit, while riding his bicycle, by a woman who was texting while driving. She received the maximum penalty of...drum roll... one year of work release. Talk about salt on a wound.

This was the second annual Ollie's Bike Parade. It was a beautiful day featuring lots of vendors, food trucks, lots of cute kids and their families, and yes, a cute and colorful bike parade around the CSU campus. The organization is about raising awareness and advocating for stiffer penalties for those who choose to text while driving.

And of course, there were somber reminders

Fifty-five ghost bikes representing 55 traffic related deaths of bicyclists in Colorado in 2024. Those children's bikes are the hardest to fathom. Sheesh, there was a tricycle among them!

Another large tent featured stories and mementos of several victims. It included pedestrians and motorcyclists as well. Ollie's ghost bike was in that tent.

Now, I've driven in the area where Ollie was hit. It's a residential area with wide streets, high visibility, and homes of young families. It's almost like one would have to go out of their way to collide with anything, let alone a person.

Yeah, don't text and drive. Please.

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Speaking of advocates, Grandboss is on my A-list now.

In the past, I've whined here about Grandboss. He's the biggest sufferer of Main Character Syndrome I think I've ever known. Woe to anyone who gets caught in one of his super boring stories about himself.

Apparently, I started working for him in June of 2021. I don't work as much in testing as I used to as I've gone more over to the tutoring side of things, but I'm still a "valued employee" of the testing center according to Greatgrandboss - my boss's boss's boss - Grandboss's boss.

Each month Greatgrandboss sends out emails to our organization, recognizing anyone with work anniversaries, so I made the June announcement... kinda.

Yeah, he totally misspelled my name. Both first AND last. He closed with:

"This group of employees brings so much positive energy in our spaces! We appreciate you and we’re glad you are here!"

So all of us in the testing center are having a good laugh at Greatgrandboss's blunder (because really, who makes a big deal about these anniversary emails?) when Grandboss chimes in on our team chat

Fully making fun of Greatgrandboss, but more importantly... he noticed.

Admittedly, my last name is often misread. 

My last name is Barker

Okay, be honest. What did you read?  Did you read Baker? Look again.

I've had this problem my whole married life.

Greatgrandboss went above and beyond, however, by mispelling my first name too! Yet, not only did Grandboss catch the error right away, he quickly informed Greatgrandboss about the mistake, and Greatgrandboss sent me a follow-up email, dripping with apology. 

Afterwards, I felt toward Grandboss like the grinch. You know the scene...

We'll see how many boring stories it takes to shrink my heart back, but I'm not holding my breath.

cancels, gatherings, and dirt

Random thought / moment from the week:

• At work, we had an unfortunate man take his teacher license exam. I think it was for middle school math. He worked away for a couple of hours, felt confident about his answers, then accidentally hit "CANCEL" instead of "SUBMIT". 
  
  Just like that, his test was gone. No pop-up asking "are you sure?", no way to restore the exam, no nothing. He'll need to wait 35 days before he can take it again - after paying for it again. Ouch!  Poor guy was quite shaken up. Probably didn't get any sleep that night.

News that caught my attention:

• Juggalo gathering 2023 happened last weekend. I learned about Juggalos from a weird news story a few years ago when a strange guy was busted for stealing neighbors' Christmas decorations. He'd steal them and then put them up in his yard, i.e. it wasn't difficult to figure out who the thief was. 

SOURCE

The story was quite bizarre, and one of the details that came out was that Christmas thief chiefly identified as a juggalo, which sent me googling. Interesting crowd.

Anyway, I came across a reference this week to Insane Clown Posse, which jogged my memory and had me wondering if the gatherings still happen. I learned that, yep, they're still a thing and this year's coincidentally just happened. It seems juggalos have the reputation of being both highly depraved and lovingly spiritual - with much help from various drugs. I can't attest to know either way.

Triumphs:

• We broke down and purchased an air conditioner for the bedroom. We don't have central air, which is not all that uncommon in Colorado. But it can get unspeakably hot sometimes, and we've used a portable evaporative cooler that has served us well in the past. Fort Collins, however, is just humid enough to make the swamp cooler less than useful, so we bought a 1-room unit with an exhaust hose for the window.

As such, I rearranged the bedroom furniture to accommodate the pristine spot for the new air conditioner. So far, the new bedroom feng shui is agreeable, although that first night, I woke up in the middle of the night and it took a while for my spatial recognition to figure out where I was.

Challenges:

• I got a quote from a landscaping company a couple of weeks ago for making the desired changes to our front yard. 

Bottom line: we DIY

Something learned from triumph or challenge:

• I enjoy farting around in the yard grass, weeds, dirt, etc. when time allows. However, removing poorly maintained landscaping gravel is a pain in the ass.

costuming

Mindlessly scrolling through instagram yesterday, and I came upon this:

Ain't it the truth!? 

Sometimes I'd get bored sitting in a class and get up to sharpen my pencil when unwarranted just for a change. We all did it, didn't we? And yes, it helped if the outfit was fire.

The pencil sharpener was one thing - maybe more a middle school tactic. In high school, my English teacher was quite fastidious and kept several bottles of Liquid Paper® on his desk - front and center of the classroom - handy for when we really thought we had something to share or for when checking out "feeds" from others.  Walk the "runway" to the front of the class and back under the guise of needing some Liquid Paper®. Does that even still exist?

Note: I shared the pencil sharpener meme with Magnum, he didn't get it at first. Then he assumed it was more of a girl thing.

Oh no no no. Boys definitely played that game. So Magnum said he didn't realize. He was trying not to be seen in high school. Okay, now that makes sense. 😂

These days, I stare at my closet... 

I get by with throwing together and mixing and matching the same old things, but I'm due for a shopping trip combined with a bit of closet purge.

I'm not a big fan of clothes shopping. It's so time consuming, not to mention the frustration of women's sizing.

I did, however, obtain some new shoes for running yesterday. I'd gone to the local running store a little over a week ago with the shoes I wanted already in mind.  The store was out of my size, so offered to order them in for me. 

I went in yesterday to pick them up, easy peasy. 

"Enjoy your new shoes!", the saleswoman said as the transaction completed.

"Thanks, you too", I said on my way out the door. 

Sheesh, I am bad at shopping.

when the student is ready

I did a brief exploration of becoming a high school teacher back in 2014. I enrolled in a program to convert people with STEM bachelor's degrees into high school teachers as it seemed like a logical path for me. Within one semester of the program, I was pretty sure it wasn't for me. 

But that's not to say I didn't learn some helpful tips. One thing I thought was useful was the idea of "Exit Tickets". Teachers out there? Know what I'm referring to? An exit ticket is a question or set of questions that each student answers individually at the end of a class. Ferzample, "what was the most difficult part of today's lesson for you?" or "how can you use what you learned today in your everyday life?", etc.

I had a lesson on Tuesday and thought I'd go through an Exit Ticket list I found on Pinterest

*ahem*

1.  Summarize the lesson using only one sentence.

    Bicycle flat tires happen, so it's good to carry a spare tube and repair kit.

2. One way I can connect the lesson to my life is...

    The lesson revealed that I should improve on having my sh*t together. Just having a repair kit is NOT helpful without a spare tube.

3. Something I still don't understand about this lesson is...

    I don't understand why that bike shop near the trail doesn't sell a common type and size of inner tube... or have a bike rack.

4. State one important thing I learned from this lesson.

     I learned to always carry a spare, or I may end up spending $ for a questionable temp tube to just get me home.

5. State three facts I learned from this lesson...

    There are no bicycle maintenance stations between work and home, but a bunch beyond.
    It is easy to fix a flat on bicycle Daisy, but my carry-on pump is crap.
    Low levels of bicycle grime DO wash out of my pink pants.

6. Describe something I enjoyed from this lesson.

    I enjoyed the part where it wasn't raining or super windy or freezing cold or sweltering hot...

7. Describe something from this lesson I would like to learn more about.

    I would like to learn if it would have been quicker to just walk home?  Theory: yeah.

8. Describe something from this lesson I would like to change

    I would like to change the part where I went to my favorite bike shop the day after fixing the flat because my wheel was wobbly. I went to the bike shop thinking something might be awry with my rim? The maintenance tech took some air out of the tire, sprayed all around my rim with soapy water, then re-inflated the tire, and everything popped smoothly into place like a piglet burrowing in to nurse with Mom pig.

I would like to change that part to... I found a one-minute youtube video explaining how easy it is to fix a wobbly tire with some soapy water, so I never embarrassed myself with my ineptitude at the bike shop.

9. I used to think _________, but now I know ____________

I used to think that the bike shop close to where I got the flat was a cheesy shop, but now I know it is.

Got a lesson to share? Got an exit ticket?

be stupid, win prizes

Wednesday, I met wit a tutor student at the downtown library, and when I came out after our session, lo and behold...my car was MISSING! Seriously? Who would steal a little 2000 Toyota in the middle of the day from in front of a public building?!

The library is a decent sized building. Rather than having a designated parking lot, it has parking spaces all around the perimeter. I've only been there a few times, and usually I was on my bicycle. But yesterday, I drove there, parked, went inside, came back out, and gone. I was aghast.

When I'd arrived, it was pouring down rain. I realized that, Yay, I had an umbrella in the car, and I secured my bag o' tutor stuff before heading into the deluge and making my way into the library. 

All that to explain... I hadn't really paid attention to where I'd parked. *ahem*

The spot I coulda swore I parked in was actually around the corner from where I'd actually parked and where my little Toyota was sitting the whole time. But what a FREAK OUT! I was so happy to hunt down a thing I already owned!

Earlier in the day, I'd met with a different student at a different location: the student center at the college where I work. When I got home from that appointment, I realized I'd left my water bottle behind. Doofus. The campus lost and found happens to be right across the hall from where I work, and I know they get a ton of water bottles each semester, so surely someone would turn mine in. I'd hopefully find it across the hall when at work the next day.

But  nothing. There was one lone plastic lowly water bottle on the lost and found cart. Not mine. 

During a break in the work action, I made my way to the student center to see if there was any sign of my beloved water bottle. PFFFT, it was sitting on the table right where I'd left it the day before. 

Okay, there's not a lot of traffic in the student center since we're in summer semester. The few people going in probably saw a water bottle on a table and figured someone else was using that space. So BINGO, score another acquisition of something I already own!

Nothing special, but it had been a bicycle commuting prize from the grad school days. A Prize!

And speaking of tuting, I keep in my tutor bag a spare scientific calculator for when irresponsible careless reckless  students forget theirs. I don't want them borrowing my graphing calculator and do want them to feel the pain of not having their graphing calculators. So they can use the scab.

Well, when we moved just before COVID, my scab calculator went missing, never to be seen again. Then COVID hit and I wasn't meeting with students in person anyway. Now we're back, full face, so I asked the boss today if I could buy one of the several scientific calculators we have for people to use in the testing center. Employee deep discount used price, whatever that would be.

They're not all that expensive, but the principle of forking over for irresponsible careless reckless  students who forget to bring their own was off putting.

He thought for a second, and then said, "Y'know, back when COVID hit, the bookstore cleaned out a buncha calculators, so I got 'em. I've got a few of these that most tests don't allow, so we can't use them. You can have it."

Score! It's almost too shiny for a scab calculator. I'll have to scuff it up a bit.

Pretty good haul, I'd say. 

It's made me realize... 

a good way to solve a problem, apparently, is to first create the problem.

___________________________________________________________

Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

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

coming in hot

My mid- to late- 80s mother-in-law and her husband came to visit last weekend.  The drive from their home is about 135 miles. It can be an uneventful two to two and a half hour drive, but involves interstate driving through Denver along with traffic congestion, construction zones, and mishaps along the way.

A few weeks ago, step-father-in-law had an incident that helped him come to the realization that he probably shouldn't drive anymore, so now MIL is the sole driver.  I'm not necessarily convinced she should be behind the wheel, but it's the lesser of two evils. And they have an SUV with all kinds of sensors and control systems, so we keep our  mouths shut. They seem to do fine as long as they are in familiar surroundings during daytime. 

They made it up here just fine and attended Meego's graduation with us, Chaco in the role of chauffeur.  After the grad ceremony, we gathered with other families at The Lake House -  Meego and his roommates' college rental house. The house is a typical college rental house on a typical college rental house street and nowhere near any lake that I know of. 

Not surprisingly, MIL and SFIL were ready to turn in while the grad bash was in full swing.  I walked with them to their car and asked if they could make their way back to the hotel okay. It wasn't far away, about 3 miles.

"SFIL says he knows from his phone", MIL replied.

They typically don't use GPS, so I saw this as a sign that they're finally ready to embrace the technology.  So with that, I saw them off with confidence, adding that it was still light out so, no worries!

They did eventually make it to the hotel.  About an hour and a half later?  It was good and dark by then. SFIL rehashed their adventure for us the next day -  about how it was too dark to see any street signs, how they often didn't know which direction they were going, etc.  I'm sure they were exhausted by the time they made it to bed, but I'm glad they weren't in an accident.

Coming home from work on Monday, traffic was light in the area since the high school had the day off for some reason.  Good thing, because just beyond the high school is this 4-way-stop intersection where I turn left to head home.

There was no one behind me, and I eased myself to the left turn lane and approached the intersection.  A cute Miata convertible approached from the right, totally blew through the stop sign, then turned left into oncoming traffic.  Oncoming traffic = me and Daisy, my commuter bicycle.

Cue bike cam footage:

We managed to avoid each other, as the driver seemed to realize her mistake.  But strangely, she swerved around me by pulling further to the left?  

Thankfully, there wasn't much traffic around, and we easily avoided one another.  As she went by, I noticed she was an older woman - 70's maybe?  The Miata had dealer plates, so a new acquisition?  

I thought maybe she was meaning to pull into the cul de sac on her left and was cutting corners by driving down the wrong side of the road, but she actually continued down the left side, all the while, going upstream like a salmon.

She went over the crest of the hill and beyond toward the high school, never to be seen by me again.  

Cute car, though? 😕

testing... testing... testing

Work crews are ripping apart our sidewalk as I type.  They've been repairing gutters in our neighborhood for the past few weeks and are on our street this week.  Jackhammers, bobcats, dump trucks... much excitement and noise to be had on this good Friday.

I got the dogs all inoculated this week.  Recall we were testing out some chill pills - namely Trazodone - for Penny as she's historically been a big old Drama Queen at the vet's.  She didn't seem to have any adverse effects from the drug, so I wasn't sure if she'd be any different for her vet visit.

But I'd say it went a little better than past experiences.  She wasn't thrilled to be there, but didn't put up as much of a fight.  Where normally she'd wriggle and squirm and whine, this time, she sort of just froze in place, seemingly trying to make herself invisible.  Actually a pretty workable response when it comes to being examined and vaccinated.  

In my last post, I showed Penny looking a bit stoned on the futon while on the Traz.  This is her off of it later:

A little more alert and sober looking?

Merlin was his usual gentlemanly self, and both dogs got an overall clean bill of health.

In other  updates, remember that library book I ruined?  Well,  I took it back this week.  

I'll note that I did actually try the iron test to get the pages back into smooth submission.  From my experience, ironing does NOTHING to remove wrinkles from paper.  NOTHING, I say!

I didn't feel right just plopping the book unceremoniously into the book drop, so I walked it up to the desk. There was a young guy, probably a student worker, at the desk when I fessed up to the tea damage.  He looked it over and said, "Hmmm, lemme ask my supervisor", and took it to some mysterious out-of-sight realm of the library.

He returned a couple of minutes later and said it was fine, they would just note the damage so that future checker outers won't get the blame for it.  I was then free to go about my life without ever showing my shameful face to the mysteriously realmed supervisor. 

Speaking of tests and shame, earlier this week, I read that the SAT cheater who took tests for rich kids was sentenced to a couple months in prison and two years of supervised release.  Okay, but what bothers me is how some refer to him as a "really smart guy" and "test taking savant" or "guru" because he could take those tests without knowing the contents ahead of time and get the score close to what the bribers wanted.

Puleez, SAT and ACT are for assessing readiness for college. Most of the test takers haven't even graduated high school yet.   Mark Riddell was the test prep director at a  boarding school. I've tutored these tests for years, and there are LOTS of others doing the same thing.  Any grown a&& adult tutor - again, LOTS of people - worth his or her fee can do what Mr. Really Smart Guy did.  

I just don't like seeing him put on some sort of pedestal.  Exceptional traits about him, apparent from this story, include his greed and lack of morals, not his intelligence.  

...Okay, rant over.  Love you too.  

Abby, ruiner of library books.

a most absorbing read

When some mishap happens (mishappens?), I usually try to look on the bright side. It can always be worse, right? 

So earlier this week, after my initial "*GASP* sh&t!", I began picturing worse things like

• the entire cup of tea
• milk instead of tea
• the loaded potato...

Okay, so the thing what happened...

Tuesday, I'd just come home from work.  It had been a somewhat long day, and I'd ridden my bicycle home with a blustery headwind bullying me the whole way.  Earlier, I'd picked up a library book from the campus library that I'd put on hold and had come up available. 

Once at home, I settled in, fixed a pot of hot tea, loaded up a baked potato snack, and began perusing the library book.  The book is "The Child Is the Teacher:  A Life of Maria Montessori".  Earlier in my mom career, I'd learned a bit about the Montessori method and felt supportive of it (although, our kids all went to public school).  I'd also had a tutor student who taught at a Montessori school.  She had interesting things to share.

But I'd never learned much about Maria Montessori herself.  This book is hot off the press and popped up in my "suggestions", and I thought I'd check it out and was happy to see that the local library had recently procured a copy.

So there I was, chilling at home with some hot tea, a savory potato, and a newly published hardcover library book, of which I'm probably the first person to ever check out.  

I think I got a text notification or something like that, and I stood up, tea mug in hand, to fetch the phone.  In so doing, I managed to dribble a bit of tea.

A dribble is all it takes.

That dribble of tea splatted onto the open pristine virgin page of the book.  I didn't even notice right away, but I turned back around and saw the page all splotched, wet, and wrinkly... NOOOoooooo!

I took a napkin and hoped to sop up the wetness in time.  Alas, the wrinkly splotch remained.  Next, I took my hair dryer to it on low cycle.  Mmmm, maybe dried it off, but the damage was done.  I closed the book and put it under a box of about 5 pounds and left it overnight.

This is what it looks like now.

Pretty noticeable?  Yeah?

The wrinkled pages are noticeable when the book is closed too.

Now, if his were MY book, one that I'd purchased for myself, I'd chalk it up to clumsy and move on.  Or if it were an older, previously enjoyed, worn-and-torn library book - fine. But it's a brand new library book!  

But if I think about it... Maria Montessori would probably be okay with it.  

Principle 5: Auto education

Auto education, or self-education...This is one of the most important beliefs in the Montessori method. Montessori teachers provide the environment, the inspiration, the guidance and the encouragement for children to educate themselves.

Welp, I guess I educated myself.  I wonder if the librarian will be happy about that?

I'll remind her that, at least it wasn't the loaded potato.

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

the world is gonna roll me

It was a dark and stormy night...

No, wait.  I think it was an afternoon.  Slightly overcast.

Anyhoo, this was way back in the college undergrad days so... 30-something-ish years ago?  I lived off campus and typically rode my bicycle to and from.  I was heading home after another day of classes and was still on campus, going past the law building.

I was pedaling on this little stretch, and there was a BMW something or other heading in my direction, going pretty slow - maybe about 10 mph.  Then, just as we're about to pass and then never see each other again, the woman in the BMW turns that hunk of metal and rubber left RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.  

Next thing I knew, my front wheel hit near her passenger side headlight and I was soon no longer on my bicycle, but floating ever so gracefully toward her windshield.  Since I was much younger and suppler then and aware of The Matrix, I managed to slow time and do a quick little herkie-doo

Uhm, actually no.  I mean FAT CHANCE of THAT!  What followed was the much more expected

minus the dinosaur onesie.

I was wearing, however, my backpack laden with a hardcover textbook or two, hence it took the brunt of the impact.  Next I knew, I was sitting on the ground while other students scurried to my assistance and a frantic woman exited the BMW.

I remember one bystander in particular, a youngish guy with dark hair.  

"I saw everything!  I'll be a witness! Here, I'll write down the license number!"

Did I mention this was near the law building?

But really, I do appreciate the speed at which people came to check on me.  Actually, though, I was not hurt.  the MOST freaked out person on the scene was clearly the driver of the BMW.  Middle aged woman, looking for the law library, and kind of, 

"oh, there it is" *turn*CRASH!*

She took me and my injured bicycle back to my apartment, gave me her contact information and money to cover all repairs.  And that was that - the episode had a brief life as a short story to tell my friends.  

These days, it might have become a viral video or gif to live on in infamy.

Ain't that the truth, Martha? 
Clearly, I was ahead of my time.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

1. Write a blog post about a time you were in a car accident.

see beyond the road I'm drivin'

On Monday, I made a lousy batch of French press coffee.  I guess I wasn't paying much attention to my process, and it was really *bleccch*

I'd made the awful coffee for taking in to work, and it was there that I realized it was awful and just would not do for a rousing day of invigilating.  During a break in the action, I ducked out to get a cuppa from the campus coffee kiosk.  Nothing fancy, just hot and caffeinated, please.

The coffee kiosk is a satellite operation of a well-liked coffee shop downtown, but I'd never been to the downtown location.  Since they saved the day from my pressed sludge, got me going with a punch card (buy 9, get the 10th free), and it was an unseasonably nice day today, Magnum and I decided to bicycle downtown and check out the mother ship coffeeshop.

We often go out for coffee on the weekends and sort of fell into a rut of the same 2 or 3 places, so we were due for a new experience.  It was a beautiful day for a ride, so I'm glad we took advantage because temperatures are set to plummet this week.  

So we're out enjoying our coffee run, headed east near the university.  In my rear view  mirror, I saw a guy coming up beside us on his bicycle, so slowed a bit to allow him to pass.  The three of us continued single file in the bike lane going east until we approached the bike path that would take us north to coffee.

Turns out, Bicycle Guy - now in front of us - was also turning north (left) onto the bike path.  He didn't even check behind him for motorized traffic before beginning his left turn.  Keep in mind that we were all in the bike lane on the right side of the road.

It's like I could see it happening before it happened.  I saw two vehicles approaching from behind us, I saw Bike Guy starting to turn left... Luckily for him, both vehicle drivers were paying attention.  The one in front hit the brakes, avoiding a collision with Bike Guy, and the one behind hit the brakes in time to avoid a collision with everybody.  

I'd guess that Bike Guy was in his 40s or 50s, and not some cocky college kid being a daredevil.  He was an older guy riding an average bike.  He stopped among the burned rubber and just sort of,

"Oh, heh, sorry.  My fault", and waved the cars forward before proceeding onto the path.  

And I'm thinking, "C'mon, you're giving us all a bad rep", and "so everyone knows, I look behind before turning left!"

All that to say we tried a new coffee place because I  made a lousy batch on Monday.

I added a couple of people drawings to the sketchbook this week too.

One with a pen.

One with a pencil.

The randomness abounds.

how smashing

I had a routine mammogram scheduled for last August.  The doctor's office called and said the mammo-machine was on the fritz, and I would need to reschedule.  

I got rescheduled for September, and they called again to say that the new mammo-machine was great, but they were still working out a few bugs and I would need to reschedule.

I got rescheduled for October, and they called to check if I'd had any recent vaccinations.  If so, I would need to reschedule.

This, a couple of days after I got my flu shot. wouldn't ya know. Okay, fine.

I'm now scheduled for the end of December.  Any bets that the mammo happens?  That new machine's gonna be old by the time I get in there.  Honestly, I'm not disappointed to have these mammograms cancelled.  I've not gotten a COVID booster and was planning to wait until early next year anyway.

But yeah, that flu shot.  I noticed the morning after I got it that my left armpit was gelatinously swollen.  I'd taken the shot in my left arm and hadn't noticed the swelling until I went to shave and was all,

"WTF is THAT?"

I googled and of course learned that I was dying, but that it could also be a reaction to a vaccine in the form of swollen lymph nodes.  It took almost a week for the swelling to go down.  Anyone had that experience before?  For all I know, it's happened to me before, I just had never noticed.  I take it as evidence that my flu shot - and my lymph nodes - did its job.  

Now, onward to a completed mammogram for Christmas.

the tooth, dark books, and old folks

I almost lost my fake tooth again.

Honestly, I'm embarrassed to admit this since I just got that fake tooth replaced and was all, "Oooh, this one's so much better!  I'm gonna fer sher take good care of it forever..."

Part of the thing's allure is that it's nice and tiny compared to that whole-mouth appliance thing I had previously.  

Long story short, it almost went out with the weekly trash.  I painstakingly rummaged through food scraps, coffee grounds, etc. and happily found it.  I now have tooth cases throughout the house in addition to my mouth!

Also this week, I finished reading My Dark Vanessa.  I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5.  It told a difficult and sad story well enough.  I usually enjoy these "forbidden relationship" novels for the psychological study.  Indecent, for example, was a fave and probably the reason My Dark Vanessa showed up in my recommendations.  But it was challenging to get through - blech, dark, and creepy.  Don't know if I would recommend it.  Now I'm reading something fluffy and light for contrast.

I've been lost on and off all week as to what day it is since my work schedule has changed. It's all good though, I'll get the hang of it.  So far, I enjoy the new position - more taking care of the young people who take care of the old people rather than taking care of the old people myself.  

Admittedly, geriatrics is not necessarily an interest of mine.  I can't imagine that anyone wants to end up in a nursing home, but there they are.  More often than not, I feel relieved for them when they pass away.  And it will  only be a day or two until someone else takes their slot.  It's most difficult for those who have a full grasp of their situation, which they thankfully, sometimes forget

So it's nice to see these caring younger workers handling it all so well.

And speaking of young people, we swung by Wolfgang's yesterday for some cat-sitting instructions for an upcoming fun trip of his.  He was convalescing after his second hit of COVID vaccine.  Achy, blah, with a headache.  From my small sampling, I've observed that younger people in general seem to have more side effects than older from the vaccine, whether Pfizer or Moderna.  My reaction was noticeable, but mild.  Yay for being in my 50's.  

Happy May.  I plan to watch The Kentucky Derby later.  

Today is Saturday, right?

foster feet

Later today, I'm off to the dentist to sheepishly get fitted for another fake tooth.  Please tell me I'm not the only one whose dog ate their original.

This morning, I went to the gym, which is about a mile away.  I felt like walking to/from instead of riding my bike, so that's what I did.  As I was returning home, I saw a guy out for a run on the other side of the street.  He was sort of prancing/running, like he was working on his form or something.

Then I noticed his bright shoes and figured he was breaking in a new pair by overemphasizing things, getting a good feel.  Kinda high-steppin' it.

Back at home, I opened my instagram and saw that a local running store had some shoes for demo.  Get a pair, put them through your paces, bring them back and report.  Free.  On closer inspection, I was pretty sure they were the shoes prancing guy was wearing this morning - conducting research for his demo survey for the store, most likely.

So of course I had to join the fun and bring home a pair for myself.  It's like being a foster mom.  For shoes?

What will they tell me?

I checked online and learned they retail for $130.  Buyers can pay in 4 easy payments of $32.50.  And now I'm wondering, WHO makes shoe payments??  I won't even do car payments.

Anyway, I'm caring for them until Sunday when I will report back on their disposition and what kind of home would suit them.

Until then, I must keep the dogs from eating them.  Pretty sure I can't use HSA money for foster shoes.

the week that wuz

I'm happy to say that my Wednesday Monday blahs disappeared as mysteriously as they arrived.  I guess Yaz and I will never know what that was about.  Nauseous girl chalked it up to a change in a prescription dosage, and thankfully we're all none the worse for wear.  The remainder of the week unfolded in its own unique way.

Wednesday, during my stupor, I managed to make it possible for our dog, Penny, to get hold of my partial denture.  It's the cheapest form of tooth replacement, and I have it for that bum tooth I had extracted a couple years ago.  I like having the freedom to take it out.

I know better than to leave it laying around willy nilly, but that's what I did when I was potatoing on the futon.  I thought it was out of Penny's reach, and then I forgot about it.  Later, as we were eating dinner, Magnum noticed her chewing on something.

He reached down and, "Oh, it's yer tooth", then placed this pink mangled thing on the table.

"Ah, Fudge!", or something like that.  Couldn't believe I let that happen.  Anyway, I had to make an embarrassing call to the dentist the following day.  

The director of the care facility where I work made the happy announcements regarding loosening of COVID restrictions this week.  Family members can come for inside visits again, complete with hugs.  He also mentioned that dog visits will start again.  These are dogs that are trained for "comfort care", not family pets.  I've only seen their photos.  

And now I'm thinking, "They let those dogs in, I'm not gonna get much work done."

Today was the final Tortoise and Hare race for the season.  This one a 12K, or 7.5 miles. Beautiful morning for it with temps about 40F, sunny and calm.  

My designated start time was 8:57am.  I was at the park with time to spare, but wasn't giving strong attention to the time clock, and was nearly late.

bringing up the rear,
two seconds late, still getting dressed

It was a good time with a good turnout, and I'm happy with how my run went.  Nice way to finish out the series.

almost managed to catch one more "tortoise" 

but she wasn't having it

Such a nice difference to two short weeks ago when we were struggling through two feet of snow.  Much more fun than shovelin'.

the unfeverish

As with most workplaces that are open and operating, ours has a check-in station just inside the front entrance.  Sign in, take your temperature, declare yourself hale and hearty, don the daily facemask, etc...

One day last week, I went through the usual morning screening.  The thermometer indicated my temperature at 94.6F, which has been pretty typical lately.  A nurse happened to be following me in, and he noticed my sign in.  

"You should get that up to at least 96.0. 94.6 seems inaccurate."

Oh, okay, I'll just turn my heat dial a little more to the right.  What did he mean, "get that up"??  Like I can just regulate my body temperature on demand?  And what about "seems inaccurate"?  The company-provided thermometers are inaccurate, and somehow that's my fault? Was he asking me to lie on the sign-in sheet?  

I explained that I'd just ridden my bicycle in, and outside temps were in the low 20s, end of story.  I continued on in to work.  What was he gonna do, tackle me because my temperature was too low?  I kinda wish I'd asked him if he'd like me to lie about my temperature.  Yeah, that's what I shoulda said.

I'm recalling that now as I'm currently waiting for the outside temperature to "get up".  

I have an errand that I intend to run on my bicycle, but it's still quite chilly out. 


Come on, Earth.  Can't you get your Northern Hemisphere temperature up higher and faster?

Wolfgang borrowed one of our cars yesterday to go skiing.  His Jeep was having some work done at the shop, hence the borrowing.  He'd ridden his bicycle here on Saturday and left it when he got the car.  When he returned, it was dark, blustery, and cold out, so we loaded his bicycle into the car, and I gave him a ride back to his place.

After I returned home, we had the following long-winded text exchange:

Yep, we'd loaded up the bicycle but forgot the helmet - the helmet he'd intended to wear on his ride into work this morning.  Luckily, he has a spare helmet, so I plan to just deliver the left-behind sometime today once it gets warmer.  

But that pic... does the helmet look rather tiny to you?  I've noticed that effect a few times before when I've taken photos at arm's length of something I'm holding.  The thing I'm holding looks tinier than in real life.  

To me, this maybe looks like a helmet for a baby.  Maybe I really am abnormally inaccurate, and that nurse has me pegged.

And yes, I realize the photo was not necessary to get my point across.  But I'm of the generation that doesn't text at lightning speed.  A pic and an "Oops" says it.  Use the technology, that's what it's for.

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Linking up (a little late) with Mama Kat for the prompt:
6. Pick up your phone, tell us about the last text exchange you had.

running lost and thankful it's a UTI?

 I ran a 5K this morning.  A real organized event with other people at the same place at the same time.  The local running club I joined just before COVID shutdown happened has these "tortoise and hare" races once a month from October thru April.  

Other regularly scheduled events over the summer were run "virtually".  Pay a registration fee, go run a certain distance using an app, upload the "race", get a shirt or whatever.  Yeah, no.  The fun for me (and most participants) is the running and racing with others. Today's 5K was the first in a long time.

In short, for tortoise and hare races, runners start at different time intervals based on predicted pace.  Slower runners start ahead of faster ones with the fastest people starting last, trying to catch the people ahead.  

I ended up passing everyone in front of me and leading for the final mile.  This was a blessing and a curse because I was unfamiliar with the course/area and veered off course at the start of the homestretch.  I still finished first, but ran farther than I needed to.  So there I was coming into the finish at right angle to the actual course.  Not embarrassing at all!

Note that I did not run the fastest, I just passed the tortoises in front of me while keeping the hares behind me at bay.  It was actually quite fun despite my fumbled finish.  It was just nice to participate in a group event.  There were rules requiring masks and keeping people from gathering, but it was certainly better than nuthin'.

The park where the race was held wasn't far from home, so I jogged to and from.  As I was returning home, I got a text from a girl at work.  Could I finish out her shift for her?  I was looking forward to a shower and potato time, but I figured she wasn't feeling well or she wouldn't have asked.  Fine, I would only be there for about three hours.

After a shower and food, I went in, hoping she didn't have any COVID symptoms.  Our workplace has put strict rules in place, keeping staff away for even the mildest of symptoms.  We are already short staffed because of a few people with cold symptoms that likely just have colds.

I went in and learned that the girl I was replacing was suffering with a UTI, thank goodness.  No, wait, UTIs suck!  

But hey, it's not COVID. Another small victory.

when a stranger calls

The call came in at about the expected time.  The furnace technician I'd scheduled was on his way and would be at our house in about 15 minutes for an annual check and clean.  There was just one problem with his information:

there was already someone - who'd also said he was from the company I'd scheduled with - rummaging around in our furnacings.  The rummager had shown up about 30 minutes prior.  Who. Was. He. Really?  And just What. Was. He. Doing?

The most logical scenario was that he was an imposter.  He was not here to clean and inspect our furnace and heating system, but to knock us inhabitants out with toxic fumes or use such chemicals so to brainwash us.  There's a pandemic, there's a volatile upcoming election.  Of course he targeted us because of our influence in the community.  He'd obviously hacked into the heating maintenance schedule and usurped the true technician, now en route to our house.

I went to confront the fake technician, to find out who he truly was and who had sent him.  Naturally, he hit me with the noxious gas, and I was of no use to anyone.  I awoke in what felt like a couple of minutes, only to learn that six hours had passed and I had no recollection of what happened.  

Well... not really, of course.  Of course I just let the second guy know that someone was already here.  Scheduler made a mistake?  Then I drew a fish.

But I'm still wondering...

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Linking up this week with MamaKat for the prompt:
2. Write a blog post inspired by the word: fake

twinsies, tests, and tutee trepidation,

 I pulled into the parking lot and immediately saw where I HAD to park.

Yep, spotted a twin-mobile, so I parked right next to it.  Make other shoppers think there's a fancy car show going on.

Really, my 2000 Toyota Echo is such a puttster, I do get mildly excited when I see another rare gem.  As I left the two of them snuggled together, I checked the other license plate.  The registration had expired in May.

I checked out of curiosity because Magnum had a sudden epiphany a few mornings ago:  our car registration expired at the end of July.  Sure enough, our other car - Honda Fit - is past due.

Why is it that seemingly every piece of crap junk mail follows when a person moves, but important things like MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION RENEWAL NOTICES don't?!

Curious, I checked the Echo.  Expires, well, tomorrow.  And alas, "my" other car, which Meego uses, expired in June.  We're criminals!

Our county requires emission tests, so I took both the Echo and the Fit and alerted Meego to take the Civic.  Thankfully, they all passed.  I'll mention that the employees at the test center were super friendly and efficient.  Seriously, I wondered what substance they were on?

Speaking of tests, the College Board administered its first SAT test since pre-Covid yesterday.  Not a big blip in news headlines, but big in the land of tutors and high school seniors.  Many test centers cancelled, and only a few "chosen ones" were able to take their tests.  

Ugh, I feel for these kids (two of my tutees were cancelled).  Most don't know until the last  minute whether they'll be able to take the test or not. So many unknowns. Panic abounds.  I lurk around the SAT and ACT subreddits and the anxiety is palpable.  I do appreciate good meme efforts, though.