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12:15a – I made chicken and potatoes for supper. Skip asked me to make it. Then he got pissed off because I used ALL the chicken. Why do I bother? I did not know he did not want me to use ALL of the chicken in the package. He did not say. What ev!
12:40a – I am watching a documentary on the History Channel about Greece, Athens and the Parthenon. I am once again in awe of history. This building, the Parthenon, stood over 2,500 years ago, before the birth of Christ, in perfection and majesty! They had running water, true democracy, and other aspects of civilization that we think are reserved for modern times. I am (once again) just in awe....
12:59a – I am cooking some rice, and have added some 'cream of celery' soup to the left over chicken & potato concoction that I made tonight. This should provide me with lunch tomorrow.
1:00a – I just finished making my "August 2006" header for this page. I based it on some of the peppers I grew and picked today.
4:12a – I just got up to let Kira out. There appears to be something going on in the back yard... or rather, the neighbor's yard. At first, I thought they were cutting down a tree. That seemed odd, at this wee hour. Then I thought I saw part of the A-frame of his house. Had a tree fallen and crushed his roof in? Then I realized there were emergency vehicles a... and smoke! I think his house burned down! I got my camera, but I am not sure how good the pictures will be.
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4:19a – Anyway... back to bed...
11:41a – The house is definitely burned down. I don't know if anyone was hurt or not.
12:34p – Time to head off to work. Day 1 of 3...
OMG! I did NOT have a clue that today we were to begin taking Adelphia calls... ONLY. Comcast is no more (for us, that is). This was a day of mass chaos. No one knew what they were doing. The queue was stacked all day. I (and everyone) was stressing out big time. They have not provided adequate training, the tools don't work, there was very little assistance from anyone. We had one message that said that if we had a problem, to raise our hand. I did so the first time, and Rich bitched me out about it saying this was "best effort." (Which I don't think our customer would be happy with). I really need to focus on finding another "real" job, but on the other hand, I just the six-month point today.
2:13a – I can't believe how much I am dreading tomorrow.... and all the following days at work. It is an oppressive miasma which looms before me, taunting me with the bleakness of what my life has become. The saddest thing is, that I must swallow my pride (for now) and stick to it. I must have the work, must pay the bills, must meet my obligations. I am just so angry and disgusted that I have spent so much time developing myself into something that was respectable and moderately lucrative, only to find myself struggling to make ends meet along side high school students ... and imbeciles!
2:20a – I have a nice chuck roast in the upper oven baking with jalapeño strips, oyster mushrooms, and sprinkling of minced Valencia onion which has been marinating in Chipotle sauce for several days.
3:20a – Supper is cooked with beef and mashed potatoes. I need to eat and crash, but I am so upset about work, that I don't want to go to bed because it means I will wake up to another day at this nightmarish job. <sigh> I can't go on this way....
12:17p – Time to leave for that job again. Something has to change. I cannot feel this awful about going to work every day.
Work sucked slightly less than I thought it would. I still wish I were somewhere else, but at least it is getting "better" (however so slight...).
Skip called me right at the end of my second break tonight to tell me that someone shot out the window in the living room with a BB gun. He called the police and has a police report number on the icebox. I expected to come home and find a disaster of glass, but it turns out to be just a tiny little hole in the window from what I could see in the dark.
3:21a – I am fixing a stir-fry of beef & chicken with onion, celery and mixed nuts for supper.
One more day of this job and then I can forget about it for a few days. Of course, I will have to work many consecutive days to make up for this five-day period. Oh well...
3:55a – I just ate one of my Thai peppers by accident. It ... is.... HOT!
11:24a – I am up, but not thrill about another day of work. At least I know I have the next 2 days off. The schedule DID show that I have 5 days off in a row, but the next week is not showing on my schedule now, so I am not sure. I have the printout though. So we will see if they stick to it or not.
I took about 30 calls today. I learned hour to provision a modem today. I also swapped a modem on someone's account. I even rolled several trucks in the DST program, which is an unbelievably antiquated text base DOS program with hundred of little two-letter codes. Most of which make no sense.
Three of my DVD's from Block Buster arrived yesterday and I watched "BloodRayne" tonight. It was not bad. I enjoyed it.
3:20a – Ricky just left a few minutes ago. He was pretty drunk. Apparently he is going to court tomorrow and expects to be incarcerated for four years. What can I say?
11:22a – I got up precisely at 11:00a. Doing nothing at all so far. I plan to do a lot of that today!
I did get most of the bills paid, and sent a scanned copy of my most recent COBRA for to my new CHIC program. Next, I need to see if I can get the utility bills covered by Bethany. They are exorbitant and getting behind.
4:46p – I picked Skip up from the train station around 2:30p and we stopped by Wal-Mart on the way home. I picked up some household supplies.
Skip and I ordered Pizza for supper and watched "Chicken Little".
12:41a – I just finished creating a memorial on my July page for Robert Vegiard. He was an EASL member who died a few days ago. I first met him at the Banquet at Bevo Mill in December 2000.
Anyway... I am off to bed now...
10:16a – Skip got me up around 9:00a this morning. He got a call from Greg asking him to come in to work to help with a major flood, so I gave him a lift down to the train station.
1:05p – I went back to bed, and slept later than I should. Just got up. Skip called me as I was typing this and I am going to go meet him down at LaClede's Landing at Jake's Steaks.
I met Skip at Jake's and he was (surprise!) playing a video game. I went out and picked a table on the sidewalk where I play a game on my cell phone for a bit, then took some pictures. The waitress finally saw me and brought out a menu. I ordered a beer. Skip came out a bit later and he ordered a drink and I got another beer. A bum from the train depot who had tried to hit me up for two dollars came along and asked us if we would watch his stuff while he went inside. I thought he was asking me for more money and quipped at him, "I already told you NO." He insisted he just wanted us to watch his things while he went inside. Shortly thereafter he was all but pushed out the front door by the female manager who was obviously NOT having a good time. He argued and made scene and called the black gentleman who was helping her evict him a "house nigger" and continued to rant and rave. She eventually called the police.
Skip and I decided not to eat at Jakes. Not due to the "scene" really, but due to the high prices which are just ridiculous. So we decided to head to Fairview Heights and eat at the place we ate ate back in the winter (but we could not remember the name of the place). After going through a major fiasco trying to remember how to get to Fairview Heights, we finally found our way back to the "Long Horn" restaurant where we had eaten before. I got the "Cowboy Pork Chop" order with a baked potato and jalapeño cole slaw. We were both very pleased with our meals.
11:43a – I just got up a few minutes ago and was sitting in the living room 'zoning out.' Skip came out of his room and wants to go to "Ramon's." Yesterday, during our excursion to Fairview Heights in which we got a bit lost, we stopped at this place called "Ramon's" so I could look through my map printouts. Skip went inside and asked directions. Today, he wants to go there for lunch. I spent $23 on lunch yesterday, so I really can't afford to be going out to eat again, but he is insistent and says he will pay for part of my meal. I need to wake up first.
This has been a very entertaining day. Skip got me to go to Ramon's which was a very nice experience. The prices were not "cheap" but they were reasonable. I had the Chimichanga special and he had the Tostada entrée. Our waitress looked Mexican, but I am too well versed in such matters. I cautiously asked her if she spoke Spanish and she said she spoke a little bit. With confidence, I asked if she spoke Tagalog, and she looked startled (as expected). She exclaimed, "how do you know!?" I simply responded in Tagalog with "Kumusta ka?" and she politely responded with "M'buti!" I smiled and said "Salamat!" By this time, we had expended most (but not all) of my Tagalog vocabulary, but she was appropriately impressed and brought under my linguistic control! (lol!) ...
Marty & JR cam over this afternoon and helped Skip some with the never-ending fence job. I don't know where it stands at present, but I don't think it has progressed much. I am very embarrassed by Skip's failure to get the fence done in a reasonable period of time. It should have been finished by now.
1:44a – I had a good supper. I am now off to bed.
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11:49a – I was just about to make this entry in my journal when m cell phone rang. Some lady on the other end asks, "Are you satisfied with the second session?" LOL... she had a wrong number. I got a lot accomplished today. I got my utility bills submitted to my counselor for assistance. This is the first time this year that I had to use that small fund, but the bill should be paid now. I also got my car paid off and have the title in hand! I got $100 out of my change bowl, another hundred from my checking account and the final $63 from my wallet and the drove to Granite City and completed the deal. The car is now MINE! Unfortunately, I also learned that my blood work done last May did not come back very favorable. My number have climbed (or dropped) drastically in all the wrong directions. I am going to have to get back on my meds right away. |
3:25p – My last day off! Where has it all gone?! I am sure to have at least the next 5 or 6 days straight at work. This is going to be rough!
7:48p – It's very sad, but I have spent most of today moping over having to go back to work tomorrow. Wasting the day away instead of enjoying it. Foolish of me. I just got back from the store. I was craving some greens again and got a couple of bunches of turnip greens, two turnips, a big, sweet, white onion, some spicy sausage (and a can of golden hominy for Skip). I have it all simmering now, except for the onion. This should be about three meals.
So the war between Israel and Lebanon continues. I understand why Israel is doing what it's doing, but it's brutal. I am so sorry for all the people whose lives are being destroyed in Lebanon. I am sure I do not see the entire picture, but it seems to me that Hizbu'Llah has been basically running the country of Lebanon and now their extremist position has finally pushed Israel too far. Israel seems to have gone berserk and is slamming Lebanon with unrelenting force. And the UN is working on this "Cease Fire" agreement, but they can't agree on the wording of it ... meanwhile people are dying, and war is being waged.
8:09p – Meanwhile, back in my mundane little life, "Eureka" is coming on. I am growing fond of this new series. I watched my first episode of "Dead Like Me" earlier. Not sure how I like it yet. I am not quite clear on the full story line.
9:25p – I just got into a "pissing contest" with Chooga. He has been pestering me all day, looking for attention or more food. I gave him a snack early this morning, but it was not long before he was back in my office, clamoring for more attention. I let him hop up in my lap and gave him some lovey-dovey petting and ended up feeding him yet another small meal. Later this evening he once again tried to work his wiles on me by sitting by the back door like he wanted out, but when I went to open the door, he would jump up on the washer/dry (his "dinner table") and expect more food. He did this to me several times and I admonished him. The last time this occurred I just happened to walk back to my room where I have the door open and the fan blowing across the hall to the office. I caught him up on my bed taking a pee on my comforter! I ran in and snatched up the comforter and dragged it to the kitchen floor, then went to look for Chooga. He knew he had done wrong and was hiding under a chair in the laundry. I dragged him out, none to gently by the scruff of the neck and took him to the comforter in the kitchen floor. I rubbed his face in his own urine and tossed him outside. No supper for him tonight. Now I am wondering if HE has been the pee-bandit all this time and getting Barnabas in trouble for his "crimes"? I don't know, but unlike Skip, who complains about Barnabas peeing on things and stinking up the house, I am DOING something about this. I don't like to be "cruel" to animals, but neither do I like to have them take advantage of my good nature. The pissing wars between the cats, combined with poor Kira's age and increasingly frequent accidents is making our home very unwholesome. It has to be brought under control.
10:32p – I just got into another couple of arguments with Skip. One dealt with his defending Barnabas on the "pissing wars" between the cats. Now that I caught Chooga "in the act" ... Skip seems to think that this vindicates Barnabas from all past 'crimes and/or accusations.' Not! Chooga was caught in the act, punished and I shared the entire affair freely with Skip with (of course) some vindication toward Barnabas. However, Barnabas is a confirmed violator and that includes destruction of the furniture which Chooga (being de-clawed) is 100% innocent of. I pointed out that Chooga has been locked up in my room ALL day on a couple of occasions and did not violate my room in any way. This was a deliberate act on his part and he was caught, and punished for his actions. Barnabas continues to piss on things, attack Chooga, and rip up the furniture with little or no intervention.
10:39p – How petty and inconsequential this must all seem to someone who may be reading this in my future! I must laugh to myself to think I seem so obsessed with cat piss when Israel are bombing Lebanon and people are dying. <sigh> What can I say? Such is the way of daily human life. Anyway, I have my supper waiting and its smells great.
11:03p – News on Joey. He is off the ventilator and improving. No lesions on the brain. (Thank you Marty, for keeping me updated!). Apparently the storm, the power outages, the lack of A/C, and finally, the shock of having the A/C *back* on threw him into this coma!
11:38p – Man... that meal was excellent! I really needed some greens in my diet. I had two bowls full tonight and had a big dish prepared for "lunch" tomorrow... at (ick) ... work. I still have some left over with a lot of broth. That may be for tonight, or for 'first meal' tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have my comforter in the dryer and a big load of clothes in the washer.
12:54a – Laundry is going well, but I have a bowl of food on the stove that I want to eat, but I should save that for "first meal" in the... tomorrow.
I got to work on time and maintained very good schedule adherence today. I took about 33 calls I think, which is not that bad since moving to Adelphia. My new TL, Josh, brought me a form to sign and it said something about "termination" and such and it got me all paranoid. Apparently he is having everyone sign the form. Nothing against me. However, I don't like signing something in advance. It is dated though, so anything filled in later is nor "relevant." I suppose they do not realize that.
3:04a – I did some work in the kitchen tonight. Have not spent much time on the PC. I got the stove cleaned up... it was looking kind of gross. Also got some large items out of the sink. There is still a lot to do. I am just now getting supper going. I have some sliced potatoes in the oven, seasoned and baking. I will make some hamburger meat with some of the mixed veggies I chopped up tonight (onion, bell pepper, celery and herbs). I need to be going to bed by now, but I just don't have time!
3:45a – I am watching recorded episodes of "Dark Angel." An intriguing series. Supper is nearly done, and none too soon! I need to eat and get to bed soon! Tomorrow is going to come crashing in on me, no doubt.
4:21a – I am off to bed now. I should have been in bed at least an hour ago.
10:55a – I am up, but sleepy. I did not want to get up, despite some disturbing dreams. One of them involved Doug. He was painting and I noticed he got paint on the carpet. I asked him something about bills and he had me hand him my calculator (like he knew now to use one) and after punching in some numbers he handed it back to me and it showed $496. He said that's what he was owed for his contributions. I was frustrated with him because he did not understand what I was talking about, and he seemed to take delight in goaded me.
FRIDAY - AUGUST 11, 2006
Today in Connell, WA, the 30th anniversary of my graduating class is
being held!
I am in touch with Dale Jones again, but still no contact with Earl
Hart.
I submitted my bio to the very efficient Reunion Coordinator... so I
guess I am not forgotten!
(completely...)
1:01a – I just got home a bit ago. Nothing extraordinary today. I am doing ok with the Adelphia calls, but I am still only taking about 30 calls in a 10 hour day. However, they want "quality" service, and we are supposed to support nearly everything, so...
Oh, Kira pooped on the foyer tile again. Nothing messy, but it concerns me that she is not even bothering to get up. I think she just lays there and poops. Another aspect of her advancing age and arthritis. I can tell she is slowly getting stiffer everyday, and it hurts her to lay down. I watch her ease down on her front legs, and slowly lower her hind quarters as though it hurts. Sometimes she just changes her mind and gets back up. I wish I could at least hope she would get better, but I know she won't. Cycle of life and all... <sigh>
4:01a – Supper was good (with bacon, sausage, beef, & chicken over rice ... with lots of veggies too). Off to bed now. Way too late... again...
The day went by about the same as usual, except that I had two supervisor calls before my first break today. I also learned how to make a credit adjustment in the clunky old DST program. I had a lot of very long calls today, but I am just not letting it get to me. Skip called and asked if he could open my two new Block Buster movies. They turned out to be "Doe Boy" and "Waiting".
SATURDAY - AUGUST 12, 2006
Thirty years ago today I arrived in Orlando, Florida...
1:22a – I discovered that Kira appears to have an abscess. The left side of her lower jaw is all swollen up. I gave her a double dose of aspirin. My poor Kira... she is having so many health problems lately. :(
I slightly over slept this morning, getting up around 11:20a. I had to rush to get ready for work. Skip wanted a ride over to Wal-Mart and we went through the drive-through at Rally's so I could get some lunch. The work day was about typical, though the queue emptied for a while around 9:00p ... a brief and unheard of respite.
They had the I-64 East ramp closed on my way home tonight. (That's the one that goes to the Poplar Street Bridge to Illinois). I had to go all the way to 7th street exit, go down by Soulard Market and circle back down 70 to get on the bridge from the opposite direction. What a pain!
2:24a – Skip was up when I got home, still cooking (pinto beans and jalapeño corn muffins). Kira's mouth is swollen still... worse I fear. I am going to have to call the vet tomorrow and get her an appointment for Monday if I can. She can't go on like this. But.... I am so afraid she won't come back. I am so scared for her. She has been by my side for over 13 years and I know we don't have much time left, but I just can't bear to think of her being gone from my life.
2:55a – Skip was just finishing watching "Waiting" as I got home tonight. He restarted the movie before going to bed and I am almost to the end of it now.
3:28a – The movie was not bad. More Skip's style than mine, but still enjoyable.
3:28a – I just recorded me and Kira together. I am feeling very sad about her current condition and that we may not be together much longer. This is really eating at me...
Day five of five. I got up and managed to get to work on time, but it was not easy. Work was about typical. I have been lucky enough to continue sitting in the same general location with (mostly) the same people now for nearly 2 weeks (Quadrant A). That does help to provide some feeling of stability.
1:38a – I am home, and so glad I don't have to go to work tomorrow! Only one day off, but I am relishing the fact. I am finally watching the movie "Doe Boy," which I have wanted to see for some time. It is (so far) not all that great.
Kira's jaw is still swollen. She doesn't *seem* to be in any exceptional distress... I hope not.
3:13a – I just finished watching "Doe Boy." It was not quite what I expected, although I did not really know quite what to expect. I had tears in my eyes at the end, so I suppose it moved me. I was hoping for more "Cherokee" topics or references, but I never heard the word "Cherokee" mentioned once. However, the story took place in Tahlequah between 1977 and 1984. I think that "Cherokee" was implied yet not implicit for this story.
I took a couple of TV screen shots with my camera. I will include them here if I can. 3:38a – I am trying to convert my video files to something that makes sense (from the "Doe Boy" movie). So far, my first attempt is completely BLACK and I deleted it. I am recreating it now... (I hope)... |
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I started watching "Broke Back Mountain" this afternoon. I seemed kind of boring at first, but it got more interesting. I had to stop the movie after a bit though.
4:44p – I am headed out to pick Skip up from 5th&Mo.
6:31p – And we're back. It has been raining out and the temperature is down to 80°f now. Dark Angel is on. I have taken to recording it on Monday nights to watch after work.
12:56a – I am back to watching "Broke Back Mountain" again. It is getting much more interesting. I am getting a bit emotional watching it in fact.
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1:32a – Continuing to watch "Broke Back Mountain" ... very emotional... 2:18a – That was a long movie... and 'bout cried through that last quarter of it. Jeez... my eyes are a mess. That was the most emotional movie I have seen in years. I have to go to bed now. I feel so sad after this movie. I'll probably have sad dreams. |
4:46p – This is neat! I am at work, remotely accessing my computer and updating my journal!
6:31p – Great. Our REMEDY software has crashed.
10:09p – All my calls seem to take forever tonight.
11:29p – The queue has dropped to almost nil. I went for nearly 15-20 minutes with no call. I am again in between calls at the moment. I really enjoy it with the call volume is so low. It is late enough now that the calls should remain low. This is really handy being able to maintain my journal DIRECTLY from work! I have even started up WinSCP and am uploading my changes directly to my server from here. Too cool. I hope I hope I am not violating some rule that I didn't know about.
1:54a – And now I am home again and my journal is already updated. This remote connection program is awesome!
2:23a – I just discovered that the cost for my medications have gone down. Instead of $220 per month for everything, it is only $140. Much better! Still high for me under my circumstances, but ordered my meds tonight. I think I only have 2 or 3 days of BP meds left, so I will probably run out.
3:41a – Jeez... it's late and I have not even made food.
12:50a – I did not get to bed until a little after 5:00a. Then I over slept and did not wake up until about 12:20. I need to leave the house at 1:15p, so that does not give me much time. I have already showered, let K-dog out, stocked the fridge with beer, and I have lunch simmering on the stove. All in about 30 minutes!
8:22p – At work. Almost time for lunch, but I have to get this one person off the phone first. RD just went to bed... now, if this person would just hurry up and get back to the phone with his cable...
8:53p – FINALLY! I am off to lunch. I was suppose to go at 8:15p.
9:21p – Lunch has been scarfed down and I feel nicely bloated. I had some of the left over Mexican style soup that I made for supper last night with pork, tomato, hominy, jalapeño, onion, etc. These 30 minutes lunches seem SO short.
I learned the name of the girl I have been speaking with off and on for the last few days is Kim Porcelli. I had a sup call which lasted quite some time and the queue was slow so we got to talking and it turns out that we both worked for MIR! She was there a while before me, maybe a year (in 1999). We both had about the same opinions of everyone there, both good and bad (and worse).
3:37p – I slept until 1:00p today. Soundly! Needed it. I need to get up and GO somewhere, but I feel like going back to bed again to be honest.
10:11p – I am about to reboot. Nothing on my TASK BAR is responding.
11:11p – I have what should be a very yummy supper in progress. I am making BBQ pork steaks, mashed potatoes with gravy and corn on the cob.
12:17a – I am off to bed now.
This has been a very fulfilling day, and also a day of tragedy. First, I got up early (for me) around 10:00a. I had trouble getting motivated, but eventually I got myself showered and dressed and headed out to the Zoo. As I was leaving the house, I remembered that I wanted to get my hair cut this "weekend" so I circled the block and went back in to get my coupon for Great Clips. It turned out not to be necessary, since the coupon was for July, not August. Oops. I got my hair cut anyway. Very short this time. Then I headed out to the zoo. I had to drive around the zoo a couple of times trying to find a place to park. I finally decided to park in the paid lot... until I saw the price was $9.00! No way. I ended up parking a couple of blocks down from the North Entrance. I took 188 photo and three video clips. It was hot, and I was exhausted. I ended up there toward the end of my trip hopping from one (shady) bend to the next. My back was killing me.
I left around 4:00p and headed home. I checked with Skip and he was already on his way home on the bus and we agreed to meet at Wal-Mart. I got there a few minutes before him and did some shopping. I bought a new "Clip Stik" Ultra Slim Desk Fan (by Lasko) for the office... something to keep my pc cooler. While shopping, just before I caught up with Skip, Marty called me. Bad news. Joey died today at around 2:30p! I was shocked. I really thought he would pull through this thing. I guess I did not realize how serious it was. I have known Joey, (JR's uncle) for about 6 years now. We were not close friends, but he was a part of my life almost ever since I have lived here in the St. Louis area. I am so sad about this. It's quite a shocker.
Skip and I got home and I only had about 30 minutes before I needed to leave for my monthly KoRo with the Esperanto Association of St. Louis in LaDue. I did not leave the house until 5:50p (and I needed to be there at 6:00p). I ended up getting confused (i.e., "lost") and did not get to the "Wild Oats" restaurant where we meet until about 6:30p (or shortly thereafter). And no one was there! I think I may have got the dates mixed up!
I decided not to let it be a total waste and made up my mind to go by Clementine's for the first time in ages. Maybe a year. This was the first time I went out to a bar, since getting my car. I am so paranoid about drinking and driving these days... which well I should be! I called Jeff (from my Tsalagi group) before going in. He lives in the neighborhood. I happened to catch him at home and he agreed to join me. I did not realize it was Friday, therefore VERY crowded at Clem's. I had a few tiny little draft beers, but even this worried me, since I had not had anything to eat all day except a bowl of very watery soup this morning. We left Clem's and walked down to Bastille where it was much quieter and we had a place to sit. We had a very nice chit chat and a couple of drink apiece. Then we left and headed over to his salon, called "Hair Fetish." He walked to my car and I drove him over to his car, then followed him to his salon. He has all kinds of absolutely fascinating objects d'art in the realm of (South Eastern) Native American, Egyptology, and various Asian items. He is designing murals on the walls himself and...well.... I was very impressed!
I left the "Hair Fetish" and headed home. Thoroughly exhausted! I got home without incident and warmed up my leftovers from last night. I was famished! I caught up on some email and chatted a bit with Skip. He was tired and went to bed early for a Friday night. I stayed up, and went through some more email.
Around 1:30a, there was a knock at the door. Yep... it was Ricky. I wondered if he was in jail or not. Looks like "not." He was even drunker that normal. Iih' ilst' aadh' ekse thwe iim' othe. Aanje ch'aasw' utge! Izth' aimt' iiw' othb' aatg' aafy' aach' iith' ems' aimte! :)
Anyway, Ricky left, promising to call me when (if?) he made it home. I was very concerned about him driving in his condition. I wrote my name & number down in his 'little book' and staple my "business card" into the back of it.
3:48a – Meanwhile, I am cooking some supper. A pot of Chipotle rice, and a pot of chicken & veggies in gravy. I need to get to bed soon. Work again tomorrow!
Ricky never called. I hope he made it home okay. He was was too messed up to be driving. And he was all depressed because it was his brother's birthday. (His brother committed suicide).
10:52a – I got about 6 hours sleep. Not the best sleep. I feel yucky this morning. Almost depressed. I don't know why. Well... I have to go to work, but I don't think that's it.
11:36p – I finally got a break between calls. The queue is empty. Only 8 minutes until I go home, so I guess I will get a call in a few moments that will go on forever.
The first of my meds arrived. Fortunately it was the BP medicine which I just ran on out of.
11:11a – I just got up. I am SOOooo sleepy. I really don't feel like going to work today, but...
9:40p – I have requested to take tomorrow off work in order to go to Joey's funeral. I don't know what time it is being held though.
1:13a – Well... I just looked over the directions to get to Neelyville. That is 168.8 miles! I was thinking it was 40-50 miles away. There is no way I can drive this car that far the way it smokes. I did not know it was so far. I got the day off, but I can't go that far in my car in its current condition.
My email appears to be down. Don't know if its a temporary problem or permanent. My websites don't come up either.
Jack contacted me a little after 3:00p and let me know the problem was fixed with the server. I am not sure what it was, but its all better now. My email is back! YAY!
I got up at 10:55a. I sure did not want to go to work again this morning. What an awful feeling to hat going to work so bad. All my meds arrives today except for one item. A couple of DVD's arrived too.
10:29p – I went up to the security desk on my last break and got locker number 6 assigned to me.
10:52p – Calls are about 13 minutes apart now, so I have time to catch up my journal and such.
My home computer spontaneously rebooted again while checking email. At least, I think that's what happened. I will have to wait until I get home to be sure.
I got home and, yes, the computer had rebooted. I relaxed with a few beers and watched an episode of The X-Files that I had not seen, then I put my video tape in and watched a couple of Monday's Dark Angel episodes. Meanwhile, I put a chuck roast in the over to cook and then I made up a side dish. I made mashed potatoes, and ground up "Cheez-Its" with a little parsley, salt, garlic, butter & pepper, all mushed together. I put the mix in a muffin pan and baked them. They came out like little cheese-potato muffins. I pour gravy over them. Not bad.
WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 23, 2006
Began working for the City of Orlando 23 years ago today.
11:36a – I over slept until 11:15a. I hate getting up for work. I know, I sound like a broken record. I never claimed my journal would be exciting reading!
3:35p – What a beautiful day it is out there today, and here I am sitting inside. It's my first break (5 minutes left). I have tomorrow off, so I should plan to do something outside (with the camera, of course).
2:29a – I just took my first full dose of meds. I wonder what my dreams will be like tonight!
1:01p – I slept on until about 12:45p today. A nice bit of luxury. The dreams were intense, as expected. I forgot how complicated they can be. In one dream, this very masculine woman was going up some kind of sky lift thing, but she was with an older man. Some kind of struggle took place and she fell over backward. She dangled upside-down for a bit, frantically trying to climb back up into the seat (or whatever), but she slipped and fell. I was watching this from a vantage point above her in some sort of enclosed version of the lift. Others were with me and I commented to them the woman fell slowly from a great height that this fall would surely be fatal. No one could survive that fall. I have no idea what that dream was about.
I picked Skip up from 5th&Mo, as I usually do on my days off. We stopped by Schnuck's for some groceries. As we were leaving, I started to drive and immediately knew something was wrong. Indeed... the front-right tire had blown out badly. Skip was able to get the donut tire put on and we drove home. After much discussion and nail biting, I decided I would get up early in the morning and see about getting the tire fixed down at Dobb's Tire Center (just down the street).
I felt awful this morning. The meds are causing me some confusion, tiredness, diarrhea, ... the usual. I ended up not getting up until noon, despite my intentions of getting up early.
I finally got myself to feeling better and headed down to Dobb's. It turns out the tires on the car now are wider and more expensive than the recommended tires. However, to replace all four tires would cost me somewhere around $400-500, and I just can't swing that. So I had to go with the more expensive tire in order to keep them all the same size. Then I found out (no surprise) that my other front tire did not have long to live either. So, better safe that sorry, I got it replaced too. That cost me $246.00 that I was not planning on spending. Ouch.
Meanwhile, I called in and got the day off UTO. So at least it should not be an "unexcused" absence, even though I won't get paid for it.
I got up around noon again today. I have today off from work. By rights, I should go in anyway and try to catch up some hours, but these meds have tired out. I called in to see what my schedule is for tomorrow, and I have Sunday off too! Okay... I will take it! But, Monday I MUST get back to working hard.
Tomorrow is the Native American pottery class. It's $40, and after paying for the tires, I don't know if I should sped the money or not. On the other hand, what I am making money FOR if I don't use it to LIVE a little. I hardly ever get out and DO things anymore. I probably won't go.
Skip and I spent some quality time together and went to Ramon's again. I had their "Flautas" platter. I found them a bit to crunchy, but it was a good meal. I managed to get full without hurting myself today.
Marty came over and picked up the cans for JR tonight. JR stayed at home. I guess he was too tired. I sent JR a sympathy card for Joey. Marty had me scan in the card from the Funeral Home, and send it to several acquaintances.
Believe it or not, I actually got up early today, called the Cahokia Mounds, and scheduled myself to go to that pottery class. I was running late after giving Skip a ride to Rally's, but I pulled in at 12:02p by my car's clock. Nothing had started yet and Jeff was not there. He arrived with his friend, Grace, a little later. We had a great time making clay pots in the ancient way. Mine was "okay" ... but a bit simple. Jeff got creative and began making an animal effigy bong (uh oh), while Grace got equally adventurous with a clay teapot. I really liked Grace. She has a great sense of humor and a sharp mind. The class was held outdoors on the shaded back patio of the Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center. We were all quite a mess with natural clay from Etowah, Alabama.
It was after 4:00p when we left. I had made one "main project" ... a large bowl-like vase with short neck, and one smaller project, a simple bowl with traditional Cherokee patterns around the outside. Then I made one more item, a "pinch pot" ... a small toy-like clay creation. I put patterns on two side and curved handles on both sides.
All of today's creations will have to dry slowly for a month or two before being fired. I will probably fire them in the back yard when we burn all the limbs we cut down after the big storm of last month.
We left The Mounds and went off to get something to eat, deciding to go to Bob Evans in Collinsville. I was not sure where we were going, so I followed Jeff. (He sure did drive slow!). I splurged by eating out two days in a row. I tried to keep it cheap. I just got a half sandwich (pot roast), a small salad, French fries and a drink. It still cost me about $12 including tip though. Grace had a big ol' omelet, but Jeff is vegan and just had a baked potato. He is a picky eater. RD may have her match in him for picky eating! lol!
After a very pleasant and leisurely meal, we headed out. I had agreed that I would be coming over to Jeff's place to load some anti-virus software on his computer. I should have headed out the same way we came in, but I followed them back out to the highway. It was some time before I discovered that I was not on 255! I figured out where I was, but I had to come back in to Cahokia the long way around! I realized, however, that we were right over by were Marty and I went a couple of years ago to the HAM radio meet. I did not realize it was so close to the house! Of course, now I realize Marty took a long way to get there. I am learning my way around MO and IL ... slowly.
I got home and had to run Skip around first. He needed to go by Block Buster, Dollar Store and Q-Mart. I just sat in the car. I didn't need anything. I definitely didn't need to SPEND any more!
I took him home and picked up my software and headed over to Soulard where Jeff lives. Half way there, I realized that I had forgotten to take my camera! Me with no camera... sucks.
I found his place with little problem (using the cell phone while he gave directions). He has a beautiful and old (3?) story building which he rents out a portion. His dog, Leon, could not get over me and kept barking. He would calm down and I would pet him, then Jeff would leave and Leon would flip out again. Poor thing! But, he was just doing his job and protecting his turf.
Jeff's computer gave me fits. I removed his expired McAfee and installed Norton. Then nothing would work! I was about to get that panicky feeling! I finally figured out that he already HAD antivirus software running from SBC and it was conflicting with the Norton (big time!). After much effort and more than a little LUCK, I was able to extricate the Norton from system and get his computer functional again. Then I loaded PSP8 for him and gave him a brief introduction to it (which he will probably never remember a bit of).
During my efforts on his computer, (and 3 glasses of a nice red wine), he and Grace were in the other room ... still working on their pottery projects! Talk about dedication! I was impressed. And BOTH of their creations were really coming along great. I was more than a little impressed with what they had both done. I still have a lot of Etowah clay left, so I may just decided to start another project of my own.
I was a little late getting to work today since I drove through Rally's for some lunch. I took a lot of call before lunch. About 25. My AHT is finally starting to drop down some after a month of Adelphia calls. I switched lockers tonight since the one I was using had a tight padlock hole. I spent too much time trying to force my lock in and out of it. It was almost strange to have my lunch and listen to the TV... and not hear hardly any mention of Israel and Lebanon. It had almost become part of my routine to have lunch and listen to the current tableau of death and destruction in the Middle East. Today it's all about John Carr and how he is not being charged with the Ramsey murder of 10 years ago.
1:20a – Home again. No time to get anything done though.
3:19a – Kira just pissed in the hallway! Damn! This is getting to be very upsetting! I know she's getting old and all, but it's just very upsetting and stressful to deal with.
4:32a – I've been watching part of the last Star Gate SG1 episode. Very interesting, but... I have to go to bed. It's getting WAY to late!
11:20a – I am up, I am showered, I am grouchy, I am SO wanting to be back in bed and not going to work.
I tried to remote in to
my computer from work tonight, but it seems to have crashed again.
I got home and discovered that my computer seems to have crashed...
PERMANENTLY. The heatsink is clogged with a black sponge of dust. The
processor has fried from overheating. This totally sucks.
I spent this morning going through the phone book, yellow pages, and online searches (using my server pc) to try to find a cheap way to replace my computer. I discussed it with Skip later. I might buy his computer from him.
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