finders keepers?

Magnum and I took a typical Sunday morning bicycle ride today. Temps were in the low 70s, which almost felt "cold" relative to recent weeks. Not complaining.

We pulled up to a red light at one point, and I noticed something interesting on the ground. So I picked it up, and popped it into a side pocket on my backpacket to scrutinize further later.

I've since scrutinized it further, and am left with more questions than answers.

The thing in question:

It clearly has a carabiner on the left there, but what was the rest? I figured it was some sort of multi-tool, but unlike my usual finds - as mentioned [HERE] and also [HERE] - in the wild, it had no sharp edges. 

Once we made it to our destined coffee shop, I whipped it out for research. It's apparently an "Artifaxing" caribiner, and other than the caribiner part, the rest is just a logo for ... some... thing?

I landed on the Artifaxing instagram page which seems like a bunch of random posts, but the page has over a million followers. Okaaaaay (I did not add myself to the following). 

There is also a website, showing the caribiner as SOLD OUT, and noting it is not to be used for any kind of weight bearing use - just keys, etc. But it appears to be a highly sought after item among the followers/ community, which appears to have started on instagram.

So the whatizzit? A small, weak, caribiner/keychain.

The whyizzit? I have no idea.

While perusing the instagram page, I noticed a screenshot where someone else had supposedly found one lying around, and advertised to get it back to its owner. Some speculated that the drop was a marketing ploy to ramp up interest in the... whatever they are.

Was that how it entered my orbit? 

I don't know what it is about. I also doubt I'm in the intended target market.

But it's mine now.

inks and perspective

October marches on! Leaves are in full fall mode around here now. Our young George (Maple in the front yard) is doing his thing along with the others. 

It's been a relatively busy month at work, but I'm still riding the inktober wagon. I'm surprised to have only missed one prompt so far.

I don't like that Instagram no longer allows sorting tags by "top" and "recent". Now the choices are "top" and "recent top". Bummer. I used to like sorting by "recent" to find other nobodies like myself who aren't trying to be influencers and snag a bajillion followers. 

But, I guess it has to be done to give the moderators time to weed out the bad apples. 

I was thinking that one of my tutees was going to drop his class, which would've opened one of my time slots for another who was waiting. I told Tutor Boss, "Jake's hanging by a thread" because when we met last week, he just wasn't into it. In fact, he'd brought a friend. Initially, I thought the friend wanted some help with the class too, but they told me she'd already dropped the class as she'd fallen too far behind. 

Anyway, that was fine as I figured she wanted to sit in to brush up for when she retakes the class. But after an unproductive time, we called it a day. Then, alas, Jake was back this week, all motivated. 

He apologized for his inattentiveness last week by sharing, "I was going through some family issues". Furthermore, "My friend, Corey, was having a rough day too."  

Then he elaborated, "We have relatives in Israel".

Hello!! Well, that put things a bit more into perspective, and I was thinking, what was he doing at the math center at all last week?! 

He didn't say more about the "family issues", and I see it as a good sign that he's coming to school and studying hard. 

And here I am playing with my ink pens. 

thinking thoughts

Tuesday, time to reflect I guess.

Random thoughts/ moments:

• We got together for a nice time with all the guys for Father's Day. It included another good restaurant discovery (featuring no adjacent table drama). My blackened chicken sammich was so good, but I didn't finish it. I actually woke up later in the middle of the night thinking, "Damn, shoulda got the to-go box!"
• My 19-year-old friend/former coworker CC had her baby. Everyone seems happy, lovey, and healthy in the filter that is facebook.
• Had a P.E.O. meeting last weekend. Our convention delegate came back with various prizes for us. I got the "Crunch" award, for coming through in a crunch, a.k.a. agreeing to be the next chapter Prez. I figured my award would have to do with that

News that caught my attention:

• Our local indoor mall is staging for a total redo that will essentially get rid of the indoor mall. It all makes good sense to me, but where are the old folks going to walk?
• I have no desire to go on any sort of "submersible tour" of the Titanic or otherwise be in a submarine. Certainly not to a depth of 13,000 feet. Especially not after such stories of the ongoing search operations.
• I read an article written by a local MD who is also a registered dietician. The article addresses why/ what to eat before running. I usually run in the morning and don't eat beforehand, but the article says, 

"Men and women's bodies function differently when it comes to burning fuel and things that have worked well for some men (i.e. fasted running) are dangerous and counterproductive to women."

So that caught my attention, which is mainly why I read the article. But I never found what was "dangerous and counterproductive to women". Anyone?

Triumphs:

• Is it a triumph that I thought about eating a graham cracker, like the good doctor's article suggests, before heading out for a run this morning? But then I said, "Nah", went for an enjoyable jaunt and survived?

Challenges:

• We've got landscaping ideas for the front yard. I actually like working in the yard, but it's time consuming. Do we just throw money at it and let some pros do the main bits, then happily maintain it afterward? Or keep chipping away and have a never-ending-WIP?

One thing learned from triumph or challenge:

• As mentioned, sprucing up the yard on our formerly-a-rental-enjoying-a-mere-modicum-of-lawncare house, I'm learning, is a good sized project.

end of week bullets

• Last Sunday, I went for a run in the rain. It was actually quite nice - just rain. No lightning, no hail. A couple of weeks prior, I'd got caught in a rainstorm while running. At the point of getting rained upon, I knew if I turned around to go home, I'd become fully saturated anyway, so I just kept on a-going... and got fully saturated.

So last Sunday, it was already rainy when I left the house, and I wore my nylon shell, which did a good job of keeping me relatively dry - between waist and neck. My shoes got fully soaked, however, from all the puddles. Add the soaked shoes to the fact that my left sock had a small hole from which my pinky toe had pooched out, and I ended up tearing a small patch of skin from said pinky toe.  

Surprising how annoying a skin patchless pinky toe can be. Talk about your first world problems.

• Work at the testing center was very slow yesterday during my shift. I was there for four hours and gave three tests. But there were a few other tasks to catch up and occupy my time, so I ended up feeling quite productive. Plus, Work Study - our student employee - was there with a pile of math homework.  Summer classes are more concentrated than Fall and Spring, and she's in the thick of it. So I got some tuting done, and she got her homework done (while getting paid). Win-win (win).
  
  
• A Youtuber I check in on now and then (I don't subscribe to any Youtube channels) announced this week that he's going to stop doing daily vlogs. And I was all, "Good for you!" He's vlogged every day for the last seven years! 

He's a likable guy, and his channel is centered on running. That's how I found him - via his well done, informative shoe reviews. He lives in nearby Denver, and he attended the same university I did, so there's a local flair. He makes his living off  Youtube and supports his family of wife plus five-with-a-sixth-on-the-way kids, so it's clearly a lucrative gig.

But EVERY DAY??

I wonder how that affects a person's off-camera life: to be on camera every day for a channel with a large following - while raising a family, no less. Out there every day with the selfie stick and whatnot. His growing family is naturally often featured on his vlogs as well. So I'm glad for him and the family that he's decided to back off. 

• We've been watching Beef on Netflix. Seen it? Finished it? We made it to the final episode last night and were about halfway through it when - ZHOOOP - power outage.  By the time the power was back, I'd shut off the laptop and was ready for bed.
  
  Ironically, the title of that last episode is "Figures of Light", of which we had none.

baby maybe

"I'm gonna take the kids up to Horsetooth (reservoir) tomorrow. They've been really good with their school work lately", she told me. 

This was a typical thing for my coworker, CC, to make. She often commented on "the kids" and what they were up to.  I worked with CC at the nursing home. She was assigned to train me on my second day at that job. 

She was 16 years young.

She was 16 and seemingly more mature and responsible than a lot of "grown ups" I've known. Because she was still in high school, her hours were limited at work, but she had proven herself over the previous seven months to be reliable and responsible.  Our managers often tapped her to train new people.

"When I first started working here, I was really uncomfortable, and didn't want to come back. But I made myself keep it up, and now it's okay", she confided to me. 

As with some of the other teens I worked with at the old folks' home, CC activated my maternal instincts. I worried about her working too hard, about her taking too much responsibility for "the kids" - her younger siblings. Later, when I would become her supervisor, she'd sit in the office with me after she'd clocked out and tell me stories about her "crazy" and large extended family.

And I always enjoyed working with CC. As her supervisor, I knew I never had to worry about her slacking off or not following certain protocols - this was in the peak days of covid. There were a LOT of protocols to follow.  We went through a lot of crap together, literally. We got our covid shots at the same time, hanging out for the 15-minute wait-and-see periods. 

I only remember one time CC was late to work. This was alarming, because she was so responsible. I worriedly texted her. Turns out she was so tired after doing her homework the night before, she had inadvertently set her alarm on her calculator.

Yeah, there is no alarm on her calculator.

Around the time I left to take my current job at the college, our then-manager left for a new position at a larger, more upscale senior living establishment. She intelligently recruited CC away to the new place with her. CC and I have kept in touch sporadically since going our separate ways nearly two years ago. 

Earlier this week, I pulled up my facebook, and there was CC, all aglow. All pregnant in photos from her weekend baby shower.  She and her boyfriend looking happy, but SO so young. 

I congratulated her and told her she looks beautiful, which is true. I always figured she'd make a good mom someday, but I've got mixed feelings that it's happening this soon. She is now 19.

Well... at least she's got the crazy and large extended family?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

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

made for selling?

I was working yesterday when 18-year-old girl came in for a test. I got her checked in and went to do a final "pocket check" before seating her for her exam. She wore a fashionable hoodie, black leggings, and... there they were: a pair of Nike Air Jordan 4s, fire red.

youtube

How did I know, and why did I notice? Welp, for some reason, my reddit feed started including posts from the r/sneaker subreddit.  I follow very few subreddits - our city's, and a couple "mathy" ones - otherwise I just lurk and see what crosses my path.

So these "sneakerhead" posts started showing up, probably because I showed an interest in fashion or style or culture or some such at one point or another. So I was all, "what's up with all these shoes in my reddit?", "what's up with a subreddit = r/sneakers?"

I knew a little about people paying exorbitant amounts of money for certain shoes.  But I had no idea how big of an industry it is. Yeezys come to mind, in light of Kanye West's recent fallout.

I don't even remember how I came to know of Yeezys (Yeezies?) and the like. Maybe because I often breathe the same air as millennials and gen Zer's?

Anyway, in a nutshell, "sneakerheads" are people who buy, sell, and trade highly sought after shoes. They also, apparently, sometimes wear the shoes. Y'know, for street cred.

Having this parade of sneakers show up whenever I opened reddit plus having time on my hands during winter break, I googled and youtubed a bit, and learned sneaker trading is a billions of dollars industry, expected to continue to grow. This Ted Talk was well done and informative. It's 7 years old now. The phenomenon has since grown even further.

I find it rather bananas. It's like the stockmarket with no fees, no regulations. Middle school kids are playing with thousands of dollars, tens of thousands. Social media has added fuel the fire. I'm glad there was no real social media in the Beanie Baby days.  I let reddit know that I'm not interested in seeing people's sneaker acquisitions/ collections, but it was kinda interesting to learn of this economic subculture.

I complimented the young test-taker on her sneakers, figuring they were probably a prized possession for her. She was noticeably giddy that someone - an old lady, no less - had noticed. 

Here I am, this 58-year-old clutterphobic mimimalist, opening my reddit to a parade of thousands-of-dollars pairs of sneakers and whole-closet sneaker collections owned by "kids". 

Well, it gave me something to draw.

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Linking up the week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

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

I should go

I enjoyed an easy going run along a quiet pathway this morning after another busy week. Or I should say that this particular path is normally quiet, which was why I chose to go there. Lo and behold, not long after I hopped on the path, I was met with participants of a charitable 5k.

So I ran with that pack - them going both directions - for a mile or so before reaching their turnaround point. They seemed to be a happy crowd including some little kids and people dressed in superhero costumes. I will note that I passed Wonder Woman. 💪

I've since learned it was the 4th annual Be a Hero 5k, raising proceeds for victims of child sexual abuse. My running club was one of the sponsors, and clearly I haven't been paying attention to local charity runs. I'm glad they had a nice morning for it. Once they all turned around and I kept going on my merry way, I did enjoy the rather placid run I'd intended.

In other peacefulness news, I decided to remove Instagram from my phone. I would habitually open it only to be hit with a bunch of ads, stupid reels, and ultra filtered "influencers" with fake faces and fake lives. I used to enjoy seeing occasional updates from my handful of non-influential friends, but now there's so much crap to get through. Plus, I rarely upload anything myself.  I had an epiphany and uninstalled. I still have an account, but its days are probably numbered.

Blogging remains my social media of choice, and I've missed catching up with blog friends this week. With the start of classes and tutor onboarding, I've been hanging out mostly in my left brain. It's good to get out for a breather.

But speaking of content creators, this week I managed to stumble upon my grandfather's IMDb page. I don't even remember what led me there, but there he was.  My dad's dad was a silent film director way back in the day, hence the IMDb page. The page doesn't have much content, but enough to know it's him, and I did watch snippets of his movies. I never knew him personally as he died a couple years before I was born.  Nice work, Gramps!

As far as updates go, I've got the cat on some new healthier food, and we're weening off the remaining Friskies. Friskies are back on the store shelves, but I'm thankful for that particular supply chain shortage. 

The cat will thank me later.

like we've opened up the door

She could feel the aloneness in her gut like a punch. She sat back in her chair, and the room felt empty even though her indifferent husband was seated nearby.

She realized that her days had become a series of mundane activities, centered around keeping the house tidy and stocked with food.  She hardly ever went anywhere except to the grocery store, and she couldn't quite figure out where the rest of her time went each day.

But who was she kidding.  She knew she wasted hours on facebook, lurking through overused memes, political rants, and gossip - rarely engaging in any of it herself, just spectating. This is what her life had become, and she accepted that it was her own fault.

Then one day, a private message. She didn't even know what the feature was at first and it scared her a little. 

"Am I being hacked?!", she wondered. 

Reluctantly, she clicked the message open. It claimed to be Bill, a boy she'd grown up with, who was now a facebook friend. She hadn't seen  him since high school in the 1960's, he being a couple years older.

All the girls had crushed on Bill. He was attractive, outgoing, and athletic and subsequently very popular. She herself was quite shy and tended to blend in to the background. But she knew Bill from her time spent working with him at the local Dairy Queen during summer breaks.  

Her friends back then would tell her how lucky she was to know and work with Bill.  She would blush and say how he just treated her like a little sister, that was all.  But it was better than nothing.

Many years later, social media became a thing and Bill showed up as a friend "suggestion". She'd nervously sent the request, and to her delight and relief, he accepted. 

But they never really engaged much one-on-one. She would often see photos of Bill on lavish vacations with his pretty wife or updates regarding his successful adult children. His profile listed him as retired from a prestigious financial firm. None of it was surprising, she knew Bill would achieve whatever he attempted.

What could this message be?  Probably a mistake... or more likely, a scam praying on an naive elderly woman.

"Hey there, Sadie", the message began. "I've been meaning to get in touch with you..."

And that's how it started.  Over the next couple of weeks, Bill and Sadie messaged each other back and forth. Bill told of his wife's sad decline and eventual death from a massive stroke about a year prior.  He hadn't shared any of that on social media, always wanting to project a happy fulfilled life.

But in truth, he was a sad man in his retirement. True, he had wonderful relationships with his children, but they had their own families now and lived spread far and wide.  Always so outgoing and friendly, he struggled with so much isolated free time.

And then, the clincher. He confessed to having a bit of a crush on Sadie in their Dairy Queen days. He didn't pursue it since they worked together, plus he knew he'd move away from their hometown to attend university while she was still in high school.  It wouldn't have worked out.

He was so happy to receive Sadie's friend request on facebook, but since she was married, he didn't want to make any waves.  It was one particularly lonely night when he'd sent the private message...

Long story short, Sadie saw the light. Over the course of a few months, she divorced  her  ungrateful husband and settled the assets - much of which she'd inherited from her parents, who'd never particularly liked her husband.  She got a beauty makeover that included a whole new wardrobe and new hairstyle and dye job.

Lastly, she got herself a sporty little Miata convertible. And her transformation was complete.

She and Bill currently reside happily just around the corner from me

...or something kind of like that or not at all. 

_________________________________________________________________________

Yeah, so yesterday, on my way to work, I rode past a cute little Miata convertible that I'm quite sure is the Miata convertible that nearly ran me over a couple of weeks ago during the intersection incident.

Same color scheme, same temporary plates.

Coming home later, I saw this smiling olderish couple, hand-in-hand, out enjoying an early evening stroll.  

They headed toward the Miata house, and I realized the woman was likely Miata woman of the intersection incident.

Clearly she was overly giddy that day, rushing to her first in-person meet up with Bill after all those years.  Stop signs and traffic lanes be damned!

I honestly have no idea who these people are, but I'm going with "Bill and Sadie around the corner". 

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Write a blog post inspired by the word: time.

onboarding

"Our dreams were to have land of our own, raise a family, train them to be assassins..."

Well, uhm, okay. I watched a video about young girls who are lured online and groomed into becoming ISIS brides.  Not all are young girls or necessarily naive, although many are.  In general, they join up looking for "adventure, camaraderie, and purpose".

Aren't we all?  I was a bit amazed at how easily these kids were lured and supposedly converted to Islam, if not already members.  Many were "normal" kids - bright, active, social.  Nobody would've guessed nor could fathom "why?".  They just didn't come home one day, and their parents eventually get a text.

I watched the story while playing with my pencils and sketchbook and drew this yogini.

Yesterday, we were in the neighborhood of a Best Buy, so we went inside and I played with a Surface tablet.  I haven't felt lured and groomed into digital artplay, but that little Surface tablet was nice.  

Not cheap.  Not necessary.  I bought nothing, then came home and played with pencils and paper.  

Of course the Surface tablets support much more than just digital artwork.  Maybe when my current PC departs this life.  Maybe.

Speaking of adventure, camaraderie, and purpose, we made it through another week.  A pretty low key one at this end.  I guess "boring" can be a good thing.  In contrast with sons and daughters running off and becoming terrorists, yes, "boring" is good.

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.

where in the world

January 2022 is nearly in the rear view mirror, meaning we're that much closer to spring.  We got more snow and ice this week, but nothing like what the northeast got, so I'm not complaining!

I got these bug-eyed goggles to keep my face warm for bicycle riding during cold weather.  I've tried other solutions, including just freezing my face off, and finally gave in to the bug eyes.  They work. 

I think they're mainly meant for night skiing, but plenty of winter bicycle commuters sung their praises, so here we are... not that I've worn them for actual bicycling because there's currently too much snow and ice around for my taste.

But I do appreciate the tips and discussions from the commuter group I follow on facebook.  I know others like me who have facebook accounts they rarely update, but they keep them around for the groups.  And Marketplace.

So while I don't update my own facebook page, I do "check in" somewhat regularly.

On Friday, I learned via facebook that the oldest son of a friend of mine is missing.  Apparently, he "ran away".  Click [HERE] in the off chance it helps to find him.  

This is surprising to me since I've known the family to be very close, no issues with either of their two sons.  Jack is the oldest, and I met his mom through volunteering at the elementary school.  We had a couple of years of overlapping volunteer momming there as Jack is four years younger than Meego, our youngest.

The family also lived just around the corner from us when we lived in Colorado Springs.  Although I didn't know Jack much in recent years, when he was younger, he always struck me as a "good kid" - mature for his age, thoughtful, and responsible.  

I have no idea what precipitated his leaving and it's difficult to even fathom.  There've been no updates, although many shares on facebook.  I'm hoping he just needed some alone time to stew and will be in touch soon.  Or maybe social media will come through and lead to a reconciliation.

I might bash social media sometimes - the narcissism and false celebrity side of it.  But it's not all bad.

you had me on the sunrise

 My days off are Fridays and Saturdays, so Saturdays feel like Sundays to me.  I was gonna say Happy Mother's Day, but nope, not officially there yet.  Not that I'm big into Hallmark holidays anyway...

I enjoyed a leisurely day yesterday, starting with a lovely morning run where I passed by this wholesome couple performing their morning preening.  

The male didn't seem to want his pic taken, but at least the female was quite into it.

I've never seen ducks nesting like the geese do around here.  Nevertheless, little ducklings seemingly pop out of nowhere each spring.  I'll keep watch.

Later on, I did some shopping.  I needed some shoes for work, and Sierra did me a solid once again.  I like to wear good quality running shoes at work since we're on our feet so much.  Good quality running shoes can be expensive, though, but I found these bargain basement pups for the ridiculous price of $15.

They felt super comfy in the store, but I was all questioning on account of how cheap they were.  I looked up online reviews when I got home, thinking maybe they're on par with grocery store sneakers,  but sure enough, they're legit.  

In fact, one of my favorite youtube shoe reviewers recently posted a favorable review, so I'm currently basking in bargain hunting success.

Later, I swung by Wolfgang's to look after his cat Maisey for a while.  Wolfgang and a couple of friends partook of some mountain biking fun in Utah and Colorado last week, so Magnum and I were on Maisey duty.  She is basically a sweet giant fur ball.

So far today, we've had a bike ride, a quick check in with Wolfgang, and a coffee outing - lovely day out that it is. 


Snow is forecast for the upcoming week, but I don't even want to talk about it.

Until then, there's a few other things to check off the to-do list, but I think I'll go look up duck nesting first.

one of the good ones

I didn't really know Jackie that well until we were in high school.  She was from a large family, and I knew her sister, Laverne, better as she and I were in the same grade.  Jackie was a year older.  My boyfriend and Jackie's boyfriend, Andrew, were good friends with each other, though, so the four of us would sometimes hang out.  

She was sweet and sort of quiet back then.  She doted on her boyfriend, and never seemed to have anything bad to say about anyone.  She was mature and responsible for her age.  I think growing up in a large family often does that.

We grew up and moved on, left those boyfriends behind.  Jackie and I reconnected several years ago through facebook, and I was impressed by her travel adventures and her good looking, successful family.  I always knew she'd be a good wife, mom, aunt, grandma... such a large family!  She earned accolades through her many years of government work as well.

There are several friends from high school I've no qualms about losing touch with.  But I was glad to still be friends with Jackie and Laverne, even if just through facebook.  Jackie had remained her sweet self, but added some sassy!

So I was a bit frightened when Laverne shared that she and her husband had tested positive for COVID a few weeks ago.  Thankfully, they both weathered it, and she was so grateful.  Whew.

Then... a few days ago, Laverne shared that Jackie was sick with COVID.  She was in the ICU on a ventilator.  

Jackie passed away yesterday. 

RIP, sweet Jackie.  You will be greatly missed by so many.

P.S. I know you let Andrew win at Atari.

Thai Thanksgiving, hoarders, and fantasies, oh my

We ended up breaking the "rules" for Thanksgiving.  All the kids live close by and had the day off.  Magnum and I had the day off.  Nobody had plans.  Come on over, we said.  They came over.

I had  no turkey, no fixin's.  We had Thai takeout.  I'm thankful for Khon Thai Restaurant for being open on Thanksgiving.  Different Thanksgiving experience, but all good.

And we did get in a bit of a hike.  By the time we'd managed to gather, it was a little late in the day, but we snuck in a short hike before darkness and cold. I worked on Friday, had today off, and will work tomorrow.  Today was beautiful and Magnum and I did a bit more hiking, longer than Thanksgiving's.

yes, it's me
yes, I'm smiling

Plenty of others were out enjoying the trails, but really, we didn't need to mask up much. Plenty of social distance to be had for most of the way.  I just was feeling rather apocalyptic at picture time.

Speaking of feasts, we currently have a certified hoarder at our rehab facility.  It's weird and a little creepy.  He orders bunches of food, but doesn't eat it all.  Just stashes the food and - more importantly it seems - the dishes, glassware, utensils, etc.  His room isn't that big.  Why does he do this?  

We've taken to bringing him things in disposable containers, which stresses him out.  I can't imagine what his house looks (and smells?) like.

Speaking of strange activity, I went on facebook earlier out of boredom.  A friend showed results of googling [his name] and "fantasy outfit".  Why?  I dunno, that's what goes on over at facebook.  

Like a lemming, I tried it, with no intention of posting results to facebook.  My results weren't anything special, but then I thought, what if I just google [my name] and "fantasy", forget about the outfit.  Let's see what google thinks my fantasy is.

Here's my top hit:

Oh sheesh, yeah that's right. I share my maiden name with a known white supremist terrorist.  

Let it be known that this is NOT my fantasy.  

What does google think your fantasy is?

sun's out, buns out!

I went for a lovely bike ride this morning which took me through a ritzy lakefront neighborhood that Magnum and I discovered a while back.  

Lake access is limited to residents of the neighborhood only.  Bike riding riff raff that I am, I snapped a quick pic of the sunrise before continuing on through.  I checked out some real estate prices in the area out of curiosity, already knowing we are not in the target market.  Yeah, they have M's instead of K's after the sale prices.  

I noticed some decent condos nearby for the 62+ crowd.  I thought I'd check those out for future reference and found them to be pretty cozy and decently priced.  What's the catch?  HOA fees:  like 2K/month!!  

What does a $2,000 per month HOA fee get you?  

But speaking of sun and sky, I saw this notion in my instagram feed:

And then of course, the comments...

Yeah, there's one in every crowd.  At least one.

Do you have an HOA?  Likes?  Dislikes?

a return to sunshine and walk chalk

Firstly, an update on the neighbors and the visit from the SWAT team:

I went to the police arrest info website and was able to discern that two arrests were made.  One was a 19-year-old male arrested on a warrant for DUI and DWAI.  The second was a 44-year-old male arrested for drug possession.

I'm assuming the two are father and son since they have the same first and last names, different middle names.  While unsettling to have this happen down the street, neither charge struck me as being particularly bring-in-multiple-vehicles-and-gear-along-with-a-SWAT-team worthy.  I figured either an overly aggressive response or there's more to the story.

And... HOLD THE PHONE!


I returned to the police info site this morning to get facts straight for the blog (yer welcome) and found a third arrest of a 43-year-old woman, with the same last name, about 20 minutes after dad and son.



Different address, but by stalking everyone on faceb@@k for about 5 mins, I'm pretty sure they're all related.  I'm guessing this is ex-wife of Mr. Drug Possession.

Omigosh the list of charges: multiple drug possessions... RACKETEERING... MONEY LAUNDERING!

Also, from my online stalking, I believe the woman I met while out walking Merlin is a daughter/ sister in the family.  She's younger than I'd initially thought, mainly because she seemed more mature than mid-20s to me.

So much for Thanksgiving plans?


Do you see news stories and then spy the people involved on social media?

keeping watch

A friend of ours had just gotten a new mountain bike and was trying it out on some dirt trails near downtown. While he was practicing and trying to avoid crashing, he noticed a growing police presence in the area.  Soon, he figured he needed to get out of their way as it looked like something was going down.

Strangely, it seemed wherever he went, he saw more cops.  Eventually, one pulled him aside.

As I remember the story, the police were called about criminal activity in the area - the bad guy was on a bike.  They saw Jerome and figured he must be the bad guy because he was black.

At the time, we found the story amusing.  Jerome himself told it in a joking and animated way.  Jerome?  A criminal?  No freaking way!

This happened about 30 years ago and was so wrong then, but clearly, things have not changed.

It's outrageous to me that such racism is still so widespread in the U.S.


Last week, I cringed while watching the video of Amy Cooper freaking out and then making false accusations to the police about a black man asking her to leash her dog in Central Park NY.

She lost her job, she lost her dog, and claims her "whole life is being destroyed".  I have absolutely no sympathy for Amy Cooper.



Before that, video of Ahmaud Arbery shot dead while out for a run.  And, of course, George Floyd.  I can't unsee these videos, nor should I.  Yes, we're watching.  And we're recording.

I think back to Jerome.  No one had smart phones back then.  No such thing as video cameras in people's pockets and purses and backpacks. The police left Jerome alone after a few questions, but it could've easily gone much worse.

Last week, while working at the hospital (before the anti-racism protests erupted), we were talking about how it seemed there were more speed traps and police presence in town than usual.  Since I rarely drive, I hadn't noticed, but I saw similar grumblings on social media.

My coworker Em, the chef, told us that she's been stopped by cops six times for "driving while black".  No violations.  No tickets.  But pulled over six times.

I've been pulled over twice in my whole life (oops, forgot to put on the new registration sticker 😶)

Yesterday, I took Merlin to the vet for a check up and vaccinations.  Because of COVID-19 precautions, I met with the technicians in the parking lot, and they took Merlin inside while I waited outside.

We had walked to the vet's, so I hung out under some shady trees while strangely talking with the vet over the phone.

I was near an apartment complex and wondered if anyone would find it suspicious that a 50-something woman was seemingly just hanging around outside.

Nah, nothing suspicious there.

But if I was black...?

(almost) wordless Wednesday

Spring semester for Meego ended last week.  I asked him how much of a break he had before his summer classes begin, and he said, "I have a paper due next weekend".  Sheesh, no rest for you!

As a little reminder, we received his summer tuition bill for the two classes he's taking.  Originally, both classes were to be held on campus, but there is no on campus.  As such, I'd hoped for a bit of a price break, but...

SOURCE

Yeah, no price breaks and all the fees for stuff that's not currently available.
I've heard grumblings from some students that class "quality" has decreased with the move to online.

But at least students are still able to come up with clever (because they're true) memes.

hospital crickets and senior photos

I have a productive day ahead!  We'll see if it actually happens...

Normally, I'd be working at the hospital today, but hours have been cut.  Like many other hospitals, ours is nearly empty.  Elective surgeries and procedures have been postponed until after the quarantine, whenever that is.  Our Women and Infant Services unit (a.k.a "maternity"?) has closed, and moms are diverted to another of our hospitals.

So, we are essentially an ER with lots of empty beds and a skeleton crew in the kitchen and dining room.  We have taken in some covid patients, but they are treated and sent home.  If they need further  hospitalization, they're sent to our Mother Ship hospital in Greeley.

This is good news, naturally, in the grand pandemic sense.  News headlines highlight overwhelmed hospitals and staff, but that's just  not the case for many - most? - hospitals.  I'm lucky that my hospital job is just another side gig and not a full-time source of income.

On the other side gig side, I still have a handful of tutees.  A couple are SAT preppers, although SATs are also cancelled until maybe June.  These two need extra prep time, though, and they know it and are taking advantage.  With school activities cancelled, what else they got to do?

I feel bad for high schoolers, particularly seniors.  Looking back now, those things - banquets, athletic events, performances, prom, etc. - that seemed like big deals really weren't, but still.  Seniors today don't know that yet.  Have you seen or participated in the latest facebook photo challenge/game/thing?  Supposedly to inspire the class of 2020, post your senior class photo.  A few of my friends have participated, and it's harmless enough.  But really, I say...

Preach it, Picard!

With my downtime today, I plan on cleaning up and organizing some lesson plans, geeking out with a spreadsheet or two.  Maybe get in some housekeeping while I'm at it.

In the meantime, here's something I ran across on my instagram feed - a screenshot of a Tinder conversation.  Not MY Tinder conversation, mind you!  I don't have a Tinder account.
My tutees would probably get a laugh out of it, but they won't be seeing it from me!

socializing

I just came from Amazon.com where I ordered a pair of rain pants, and I'm wondering what life is like in an Amazon warehouse.  Are the workers congested together?  Or is there a lot of automation with humans well spaced apart?

We just had a very wet snow storm move through.  On Thursday, Magnum and I took the dogs out for a short walk - maybe 15 to 20 mins - just around our neighborhood.  My ski bunny parka did great at keeping me warm and dry, but I had to change my soggy pants and socks when we got back.  I'd been meaning to get some rain pants, mostly for bicycling, but this short dog walk served as a fresh reminder.

Back when Amazon.com was a wee baby, it only sold books, remember?  The thing people loved about it was the reviews.  No longer limited to official book critic reviews, we could read reviews from normal or abnormal people just like us.  That concept helped kick off other product lines, and now look at Amazon go.

It's hard to imagine a world without product reviews from everyday customers at the ready.  Most are to the point, some write near novels.  Other reviews seem to be written by grumpy people who hate everything.  Once in a while, I come across one that's nearly as fun to read as my blog friends' blogs 😊

I came across a review titled, "They're waterproof, and comfort-proof, and pocket-proof, and fit-proof..."  Needless to say, the reviewer was not very happy with the rain pants.  I appreciate this part:

They're loud and crinkly as hell. Not that I really care, since most rain pants are, but they're 

not really swishy-swooshy like regular rain pants. More chip-bag crinkly than anything else.

Yeah, I definitely prefer swishy-swooshy to chip-bag.  I ordered a different product.  We shall see.

In other networking-during-a-pandemic news, I joined a local running club this week.  Like most everything else, club activities and events are cancelled, but we have the online weekly leaderboards that tell me I'm currently in 63rd place out of 551 members.  It's strangely motivating even though I don't know who any of these people are.

Someone I follow on Instagram noted some silver linings of the current upheaval.  She ended the post with,

"This is a blessing in disguise"

I tried meditating on that idea most of the day yesterday, and also mentioned it to Magnum.  He says,
"It's a pretty good disguise".

Yah.



Still, I've noticed some nice things.  Little things, but still nice:  traffic is a lot lighter, families are playing outside together,  people are offering to run errands for those at high risk... some of the memes are quite entertaining.

And a lot of us are appreciating things we used to take for granted.  Like grocery shopping - a love/hate relationship for me.

Got any silver linings to share?