Journal Home
MAY 7TH
Yard work in progress. Skip did most of the work, but I helped and the disaster of a back yard was changed to something a little more presentable today. BEFORE
PICTURES
AFTER
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12:41a – Wow... it is now May. I am off to bed about now. I got up around noon after the usual deluge of wild dreams. I had some Vietnamese style soup for lunch with roast port, rice noodles and some freshly chopped greens (mint, cilantro, parsley, etc.). I used drippings from the roast I cooked a couple of days ago, plus fresh onion, green onion, rehydrated shallots and seasonings. It came out quite tasty! The greens were added in fresh... not cooked, so the flavors were very typically Vietnamese and aromatic. I called DishNet Satellite today about the poor reception we have been having for the last week or two. The ran through some diagnostics with me and said they would have to have a technician come out and check the lines... for $99.00! I don't think so. First of all, I cannot afford it. Secondly, I think I should get credit for the time I have been down, not pay to have someone come fix something I am already paying for! I told them I would discuss it with my brother and we would consider whether or not we would continue to retain their services. Work was a bit of a drudge tonight. I only took about 25 calls and my handle time was too high. I did two "uniform lites" before lunch time and I can often go a week and never do one of those tedious forms. I did take my camera with me today and took some pictures in the parking lot.
When I got home from work and opened the front door, I immediately smelled burning food. Skip had left a pot of "something" on the stove for me. Very considerate, and I appreciate the sentiment, but he left it a notch too high and I could no longer tell what the contents been. The were now just black smoldering lumps! 2:23a – YUCK! Kira just pooped in the kitchen and I stepped in it! Damn! Barefoot of course (I never wear shoes in the house). 2:40a – I just ordered meds online for the first time in 5 or 6 months. Only my BP meds. That's all I can afford. 2:45a – Oh... interesting... the Sci-Fi channel (one that has been messed up) has been playing without interruption all night. Hmmm... and that is despite the fact that it has been overcast and raining out tonight. 4:01a – Off to bed. Kira is giving me a hard time tonight. 1:08p – I had another night full of chaotic dreams. They say dreaming is the process the brain goes through to file information away and organize one's memory. My nightly "filing" process seems to be done with a leaf blower! Anyway, I got up at 12:30-ish. I notice the Sci-Fi channel is not working again. I cleaned out the pot that Skip burned food in last night. That was a chore. I needed it to put some soup on for first meal. 3:08p – I am off to work now. Here we go. Another day... My call time at work was lower tonight. I was also asked to do some clerical work for Steve. I went through all our team's folders updating the records. When I got home tonight, I got industrious and got the dishes all clean up. 4:56p – I am off to bed now. 12:44p – Time to get up! My dreams were not quite so exhausting tonight for a change. Today was fairly productive. My AHT was at 10:54 (ideal is 10:50... can't get much closer!). We had a "Customer First" training seminar for much of the first half of my shift. I made the decision tonight to go to a 10-4 shift. Ten hours per day, four days per week. This will save me about 200 miles of driving to work per month! (that means not only money, but wear & tear on the car!). Two more hours per day will not be that noticeable, but 3 days off per week will be good! 4:17a – I have a pot of lentils & ham (pork roast) cooking for supper. There was a very scary wreck on 70 on the way home tonight. I had to hit the brakes. I saw at least four cars involved... and maybe a semi-truck. Emergency vehicles were still en route. I had to drive over wreckage debris. I try to drive careful. I pray I am never in that predicament! (again!)... My plans for tomorrow (today) are to deposit my rolled coins and to pay my back car payments of $500 due this Saturday; and to get lab tests done for Terri for our meeting on the 11th. I got clearance for my schedule change for today and May 11th today. So all that is good. 4:51a – Off to bed! 12:18a – ...and up again at 11:54. I had my usual cacophony of dreams. One of them involved Pete Spurgeon. He was wearing rubber surgical gloves and we were in a parking garage. There were several of us. I am not sure who the other people were. For some reason, Pete took the gloves off. They were filled with sweat and a tinge of blood. (Yes... kind of gross). He threw the gloves down and I retrieved them, took them to a big industrial sink, and rinsed them off. Once again, I have NO clue what this dream was about. 1:20p – I called the bank to see if there was anything special I should know about taking coins in to deposit. The said I needed to have the coins labeled with my name and account number. So, I just finished printing out and applying 120 labels to my rolled coins. Interestingly enough, I had printed EXACTLY the right amount of labels. I am going to fix a bite to eat, take a shower, and head out on business shortly. I have a doctor's appointment at 4:00p. I am not sure where there new location is. I supposed I should call them up for direction and the address again. 9:05p – This has been a pretty good day. Productive. I got all my rolled coins labeled with my name and account number. Then, once I finally got motivated, I drove to Great Clips and got my hair cut (I had a coupon for $7.99). Then I headed to the bank with my coins. I went to the Band of America on Lindell Avenue. I had to park in their garage. My car seemed to big to fit, but managed to squeeze it in without scraping anything. It took about a half hour for them to get my coins deposited, but finally I got $505.00 worth of coins deposited (of which $500 will be my car payment). Then I headed to my doctor's appointment. I have never been to Dr. Park's new location, but I did not have much trouble finding it. However, I ended up parking in the wrong parking lot. I had not time to try to get to the correct lot, so I just left the car there and found the front entrance. I walked through the front door at precisely 4:00p. I saw Dr. T. McDowell (a distant clan relative?). I weighed in at 6 pounds less! Yay! I got the blood drawn for the lab work and checked up on my last test. It was all within normal and acceptable parameters. (Of course, I was taking my meds back then). From there I left to pick up Skip from work, since I was just a couple of blocks away from him. On the way to get him, I stopped on Forest Parkway to turn left onto Taylor. There was this brazen little Morning Dove strutting around in the median, completely unafraid of all the traffic. I scrambled for my camera, managed to get it booted up, and snapped these three quick shots from my window before having to move on...
I picked Skip up at about 4:45p and we headed home. That turned out to be a fiasco! The usual route home was under construction. We tried to follow (very confusing) detour signs to get back on 64 East and finally ended up on Choteau where we encounter a (the last?) sign that said "END DETOUR." What? We were no where near getting back on 64 East! These traffic construction people in this part of the world don't seem to have a clue. They could be covered in clue musk, doing the clue mating dance, in clue mating season, in the middle of a herd of over-sexed horny clues, and could STILL not get a clue! Anyway... I finally found my way home. I could have done so more quickly if I had not tried to following the nonsensical "DETOUR" signs!
Of course, it took me only a few seconds to circumvent the protections, since my intention was only to present a small thumbnail of bill (and of course, I have obscured the serial #). Nevertheless, I am impressed with and respect the protection features that have been set in place!! Awesome! 11:34p – The evening is going kind of slow. I spent some time peeling, bagging & freezing the yucca I picked up at Jay's. Now I have some yucca on the stove and some hamburger meat thawing out. I am not sure what I am going to do with it all... yet. 1:13a – I am not sure what to say... off to bed now... 1:08p – ...and up again at 12:54p. 2:01p – I just ran over to KFC and got lunch (and dinner). They failed to include my potato wedges! It cannot be that complicated of a job that they can't give a person what they pay for! jeez! 2:55p – It is just about time to head out to work. So, of course, I am getting sleepy! I officially requested a 4/10 shift at work today. Steve approached me later and explained that I would have to commit to working "all Saturdays." I am okay with that since I have no children, no commitments, and I don't party on weekends any more. There was a time when it would be "unthinkable" ... but I don't care these days. Instead, I asked to guarantee that I will have my monthly days off to attend my Esperanto activities. I seem to be having no problem there. My AHT tonight was really good at first... then I had a 1 hour call that through me all out of whack. However, I was able to get my call time back down from over 20 minutes to around 12 minutes. Still too high... but a good recovery I think. 3:29a – I got home tonight and got caught up on some movie called "Latin Dragon" ... or something like that. It was pretty good. I missed the beginning, but it kept me entertained... 4:18a – I am very upset with Barnabas tonight. He pissed all over Skip's clothes... which have been setting on the sofa in the living room for about a month now. All over my decorative pillow... (they are ruined). All over the phone book (who cares). And all over the sofa... gross. I dumped it all in front of his door. I am tired of him blaming this all on Chooga and trying to defend Barnabas. 1:54p – Skip and I just took a trip to Wal-Mart. I had to get some dog food for K-dog. Skip got some parts for the toilet, which broke this morning. I also picked up some food for us at Taco Bell (with extra for my 2nd meal tonight); then I filled the tank while Skip walked over to Q-Mart. Came home, scarfed down the food, and now I am off to shower and get ready for work. I work from 3:30 to 12am tonight. The toilet malfunction is becoming a major issue. 2:27p – Time to go to work. Another day.... <sigh> ... Today was very "blah" at work. I tried to keep my AHT down, but I kept getting these stupid "long" calls. I got home and Marty & JR were still here. Skip was still up. Marty had brought me some tomato and pepper plants. I have tomorrow off, so I will try to plant them. Oh... and one cantaloupe plant. 3:17a – I am just now finally fixing supper. I have been to family and Esperanto emails all night. The toilet still a problem. Skip replaced the "arm" in the tank. The previous plastic one simply broke. The new one is nice and sturdy, but now the flapper/stopper is not working right. I was never designed for this setup. It is sticking and one has to open the tank after every flush to release it. Very ANNOYING... to say the least. 3:27a – I just put on some leftovers and a pot of Jasmine rice. The aroma is starting to lure me back to the kitchen! 3:57a – I am off to bed now. This has been a good day. Skip did a lot of yard work in the back yard. I got my plants (that Marty gave me) planted. See pictures of the yard work in the right-hand sidebar. We did some shopping. We were both very tired and came home to the TV and/or PC. I made a big batch of burritos for supper. I will have them for meals tomorrow. 1:05a – I am tired, full, and ready for bed. That is whence I am now headed... 11:21a – I got out of bed, reluctantly. The plants have been watered and Kira is outside stumbling around the yard. RD says that the jubchuQun site is down. I am about to check that. 11:23a – Hmmm... I did have to reconnect to the file server. Anyway, its back up now. 3:23p – Skip and I just ran over to the hardware store. He picked up a stopper for the toilet. Skip installed the stopper and it looks like it works. It will be such a luxury to be able to flush the toile "normally" again for the first time in nearly a year! We have had to stand there holding to handle down with each flush. I wonder how much total time I have wasted standing in the bathroom hold that frelling lever down?! Work was a pain tonight. I got all the weirdest calls, including one sup call. My AHT went up instead of down tonight. That sucks. I got home tonight, opened the door, and immediately smelled a problem. Kira had another accident. Fortunately it was on the tile in the foyer, so I was able to clean it up very efficiently. It was odd for her to do that and continue to lay next to it until I got home. I guess it is a sign of her advancing age and health issues. I did not scold her. Skip probably did not let her out or think of her. I fed her supper (still keeping her on the leaner side for portions). She ate, the came to me for attention. Fortunately, I picked up on her intent and let her outside again. I kept watch on her and she had a bad case of diarrhea. That's not good. Hopefully it is a temporary affliction. 2:01a – My 4-10 work schedule is showing on my calendar at work for next week. The screwed up though and have me working from 3:30p to 2:00a... and we close our location at 1:00a. Oops. I have adjusted my calendar to reflect work from 2:20p to 1:00a. 3:42a – I just finished going through email. That took a while! 4:26a – I just loaded PhotoStitch back on to my computer. Excellent program by Cannon. I also realized that my rice is NOT cooking! DUH! ... I had to TURN IT ON. Jeez... I had it when I do dumb shit like that... 11:53a – My left eye has been bothering me for the last couple of weeks. It is as though I had looked into a bright light or something. This morning I noticed an entire section of my left eye seems not to be *seeing* anything... just blankness... great... just what I need... guess I'm going blind or something now. My vision problem has been plaguing me all night. My AHT was slightly better, but not too good at around 13 minutes. I am trying very hard, but ... <sigh>... 4:47a – I just cooked up a batch of rice with hamburger and chicken. I minced up some fresh cilantro & mint in it. It is sort of a combination of Mexican, Vietnamese and Chinese cooking styles. I hope they mesh well! The food was fine. It will be lunch today too. 1:42p – I slept until 1:30p today. I needed the rest. It probably helps that today is gray, overcast, and drizzling rain. This was a very weird day at work. First of all, it was raining and their was an accident on East bound 70 that caused a 'visual delay' on West bound. I was less that 10 minutes late, and got logged in, when I remembered that THURSDAY -
4:58a – I am cooking now. Need to review and fill in (post facto) my experiences from "yesterday." 5:35a – Damn... dozed off and burn supper... grrr! 5:54a – It is daylight outside! Ack! I need to go to bed and I am still cooking. I am making a concoction of rice leftovers, taco filling, and a half of a chopped up chimichanga. It should be edible, if not quite in the realm of "gourmet." 6:22a – I am just off to bed. Skip is up and taking a shower before work. What a mix-up. 12:49p – I want to sleep more, but I have an appointment with Terri today... so I got up. I have not necessarily woke up yet though! 6:22p – I got to my meeting with Terri right on schedule. We filled out all the papers I needed to sign and she gave me a number to an eye doctor to contact about my vision problem. I think I about half blind in my left eye now. When I got home, I called the auto dealer and got my car payment up to date again. There went my $500 in coins that I deposited! 6:40p – I am feeling very depressed this evening for no particular reason. I think I will go mow the front lawn. Maybe the physical activity will help. Then take a hot shower and and sit down with a cold beer. 7:10p – The lawn is mowed! I feel a little better.
7:29p – I am touching up my roots before taking a shower. I meant to do this last week when I got my hair cut, but I have been procrastinating. 12:14a – I feel much better. The lawn is mowed, my hair is tinted and looks very good, and supper is cooked. I made a stuffed, baked hen. The stuffing came out fantastic! I coated the bird in Vietnamese Sriracha hot sauce, butter and garlic. The stuffing included celery and onion, with sage, garlic, and chicken flavoring. I made some fresh mashed potatoes (not "instant"), with a hint of parsley; fresh corn on the cob; and a pan of homemade gravy. Skip has eaten and gone to bed. He said it was all good. I am confident he was quite correct! 12:37a – I just got the cans dumped into the recycling can, and fed Kira and Chooga. 1:09a – I think it is time for me to go partake of that tasty supper I fixed tonight. Then... off to bed for me. 1:52a – OH ... MY ... GAWD! That was the best meal I have made it ages. I gorged myself, and it was delicious! But... time to go to bed now. 1:02p – I got up around 11:30a, got some bills done. Rent should be covered for June now, and the car payment is caught up (I did that yesterday). I tried to make an appointment with the eye doctor, but their computers were down. I will have to call back. I took about 30 calls at work tonight and was able to keep my AHT down to about 12 minutes. That's not too bad. I think I am starting to improve. However, they are starting up upgrade the pc's at work from Win2000 to WinXP. Normally I would be all for this, but they have restricted us from changing the position of the tool bar! This completely messes up my entire routine. I need the tool bar on the side for this job so I can find my tools quickly and easily. I discussed it with Chuck and showed him the various issues it caused and he completely agrees. 2:50a – I have been working on bills since getting home from work. I entered Skip's rent money into WheresGeorge and got all the bills I have on hand paid. Everything is caught up, including my car insurance. I have less that $100 in my checking to survive on until next payday. That will go mostly to gas I expect. And of course, I have a car payment of $150 due next Saturday. That will have to be delayed. But, June rent is taken care of, so I should be able to take care of the car from next paycheck. I think I only have about 5 more payments to make until I have the car paid off. 2:56a – Meanwhile, I have some yucca simmering on the stove for 3rd meal and lunch tomorrow. I will make something from the hamburger I have thawed. Something green would be good to go with it. Maybe some okra. 4:40a – Supper was not nearly so good as last night, but it was passable. Off to bed now... 12:00p – Up at noon, and email is now checked. Time for a shower. I work from 3:30 to midnight today. My last 8 hour shift. I start the 10 hours shift tomorrow. I can't believe it, but we actually turned on the heat this morning! It's the middle of May and cold. Strange weather these days. I think I managed to keep my AHT under 12 minutes today. 3:44a – I am making supper in the form of potato & carrot soup with the back & ribs from the chicken I roasted a couple of days ago. So far it looks and smells great. I have a bowl cooling down for me now. Meanwhile, I am trying to watch, "The Howling" in TV... but the satellite is so messed up I cannot view it. 4:07a – Off to bed... 12:14p – I got up at noon. Reluctantly. Today begins my 10 hour shifts. This is going to be a LONG day! I will barely have time to skim through my email this morning. 1:29p – Here we go... a 10 hour day. I hope it doesn't seem all that long. (And I am sleepy after eating a bowl of tomato soup for lunch). Wow... that seemed like forever. Long day! I took 43 calls. However, my AHT was up to about 13 minutes or more. I could not seem to get people off the phone today. 1:17p – I did not get enough sleep again last night. Or rather, I could have stayed in bed longer. I need to remember to go to bed early tonight since I have a 10:20a doctor's appointment in the morning. Anyway... I am getting dressed for work again now. I need to leave in a few minutes. I have not eaten though, so I think I will stop at Rally's and get a bite on the way out. I did go through Rally's and got a tiny little bacon & cheese burger. Not what I was expecting. The day did not go too bad. I had my AHT at 9:50 before lunch. After lunch it went up to about 11:54... but that's not too bad. I need to stop helping people so much and get them off the phone, but my "quality instinct" is too strong. It hard not to provide *quality* service. 2:41a – I have a chuck roast simmering in the kitchen and "Knight Rider" is on TV. I have to go to bed early if I can, since I have the doctor's appointment in the morning at 10:20a. 4:56a – Mmmmmm... supper was good. Chuck roast, potato, carrot, & gravy.... Off to bed now at (4:55a) ... I got up around 9:15am. I felt a bit rough! I got ready and went to my doctor's appointment, just barely making it on time. The doctors seemed to agree that I had a problem with a retinal infarct. They want me to go to a specialist. I did not learn much more from the doctor today. I looks like I have had a retinal infarct, as I suspected. They did about 2 hours of tests and I will have to see a specialist. I picked Skip up from the train station, then we went to Wal-Mart. I took him to Schnuck's after that, then we went to Q-mart. I got some beer plus butter, milk and sodas. Crap. I burned my supper and had to improvise wit home frozen hamburger meat. 1:00a – I am off to bed. What a sucky day. 2:48p – I got up around noon. It was good to catch up on some sleep. I think I will go to the zoo today. Chooga caught a bird today. I heard this god-awful screaming coming from out back and looked out on the patio. Chooga had a bird in his mouth. I guess I am proud of his clawless butt for catching a bird... but I could not watch. I got a voice mail this morning from Dana at Dr. Safi's office. They have scheduled me an appointment with the specialist (Dr. Akthtuban? ... or something like that), for Tuesday, May 30th. 6:22p – I just got back from my trip to the zoo. I stopped by the store and got some groceries which I have to go put away now. Today has been a much better day than yesterday.
Supper was delicious. I made collard & mustard greens, potatoes, and pork chops. All came out fantastic! I learned that our first member of jubchuQun died today. Scott's brother, Iain, apparently took his own life last Sunday. No details yet. Scott is fairly distraught over it of course. My heart goes out to the family. 6:34p – The groceries are put away and I am sitting down with a beer and my camera to review the pictures I took today. I am shaking for some reason. Probably from not eating much and exercising more. I am sure its got to be good for me. 12:08a – It is time for bed. My supper/lunch is fixed for tomorrow. It should be a very good meal! 10:43a – I had some strange dreams last night. One of them involved a little rodent that came into the room with me. I could not identify exactly what it was. I seemed to be a mix of a rabbit, a squirrel and a kangaroo rat. It actually came up close to me and I reached out and stroked it's back. It did not flinch away. I pet it several times. Someone else came into the room and I was telling them what happened, when the rodent seemed to panic and bolted. It jumped into the front of a cabinet, or dresser of some sort ... and apparently broke it's neck. The poor little thing fell limply to the floor with blood running from its nose. In another dream, my sister, Calisa, was with me. We both had telekinetic powers and I was showing her some tricks. She was putting decorative door knobs onto something... not doors. I am not sure why. However, I showed her how to pick up 4 screws at the same time using telekinesis. It was tricky getting all four screws in mind at the same time, lining them up, and also hold the door knob in place. The hardest part, requiring intense concentration, was getting all four screws to spin at the same time and drill into the wood (or what ever it was). This dream changed, and I found myself in some kind of gambling parlor, I think. There were people sitting around a table and I think they were playing cards. Then there was this young man who came in and was juggling some white (or clear?) dice. In some way, I was aware that he too was using telekinesis. But he was using it to steal from the men at the table. While he distracted them with his juggling act, he would use his telekinetic abilities to pick their pockets. I decided to intervene. My powers were much stronger than those of the young juggler, so I reached out and somehow was able to make the dice multiply. Suddenly the juggler found himself trying to manage about 30 dice instead of three! 11:02a – It's back to work for me today. It was nice having two days off! Now I have to work for two days and I will have the weekend off too. This may be the last weekend I get off for quite a while though. 12:35p – I've checked email, ran to the store and had lunch already. I leave for work at 1:30p. I need to take my shower and stamp my money still. 1:03p – I am showered & shaved, and my money is stamped and entered into WheresGeorge. I jumped back up from 108 to 77. I still have not passed the "73 barrier" yet. In my first hour at work today, I had 9 calls and had my AHT below 6 minutes. Then we had a training session. My overall AHT for the day was around 12 minutes, which is not too bad. 2:54a – It took what seemed forever to get home tonight. My exit was blocked for construction and I had to take a detour. I did not know where I was going. I thought I was going the wrong way, so I turned around and some crazy driver got in my lane and the swerved out of the way. OH... oops... it appears I am going the wrong way on a way way road! Why can't the put up some detour signs!? I finally found my way ... completely by luck, back onto East 170. Then there was a train which blocked me on Route 3... and stopped. Then it backed up, and eventually let traffic go. Of course, I was right up front and had to wait for the entire thing to finish. Next, there was a car stall in the middle of Route 3 with no lights. Thankfully I saw it and got out of that lane. I hope no one hit him! I started to call the police... then decided to not get involved. It just doesn't pay these days, I am ashamed to say. Lastly, I had to stop to fuel the care. Gas prices are now a5 2.659, which is not as high as in some parts of the country which are $3.00 or more. 4:33a – I have a chunk of pork cooking with some of last night's greens, and pot of well seasoned rice cooking. This should cover supper and lunch tomorrow, but it's getting so late! I have to be up earlier than usual tomorrow... 5:01a – I am off to bed now. Much later than I would like. 11:44a – I got up, reluctantly, at about 11:00a. Kira wanted out. I had all kinds of chaotic dreams last night, but I couldn't remember them after I woke up, except for the tail end of the last dream. I, or a character in the dream, was escaping from some place by means of a hang-glider. This person had to land on top of a semi-truck. That's all I can remember. 11:48a – I am so sleepy this morning. I am glad I have the weekend off. Actually, I was supposed to have today off according to the agreement I made. I am supposed to have the 3rd Friday of each month off. However, I would rather have the weekend, so I am not complaining. 11:52a – Wow... I only had two emails this morning (not counting spam, of course). One from Grace Chewning, and one in one of my groups. 1:27p – Time to head out to work. I am so sleepy though. I hope I perk up. I kept my AHT down to around 10 minutes for most of the day, but then I got some long calls that push it up to nearly 13 minutes. Still... its getting better. 2:10a – I had problems driving home again tonight. The ramp onto East bound 70 was again closed and I had to take an unmarked detour. I nearly hit someone trying to find my way! I took a different route, and (I think) a shorter one to get back to East 70. Very confusing for me. At least no trains to in myway tonight! 7:05p – Blake (the landlord) just stopped by and visited for a bit to check out his property. It looks like we are going to sign a 2 year lease with him and keep the rent at the same price. He investigated the fence and its [lack of] progress. He said he would look into getting us a new electric range since the one we have was falling apart when we moved in and has not exactly improved with age! 9:20p – I have a pork loin in the oven to bake. I pinned chunks of pineapple to it and made a paste with flour and pineapple juice which I poured on top of it to create a sweet coating. I just made all this up, so I have no idea how it will turn out. We will see! Marty & JR came over, got the cans, shared some pics from CD and left. Supper was awesome! The pork was perfect, the potatoes flakey and well cooked, and the corn, soaked in butter, garlic & herbs, was unbelievable! 12:28a – I am off to bed now. Wow... supper was really good! 5:56a – I am up for a few minutes, letting Kira out. There was a squirrel in the tree out back and she did not even seem to see it. I miss watching her chase her squirrels. She tried to chase a a cat in the back yard yesterday, but it was a pathetic hobble. It was good to see her try though. I just hope it did not cause her much pain. Time to go let her back in now. 10:30a – I am up "earlier" this morning. Kira is outside again. I sat in the living room for a few minutes after letting her out and then I heard her barking... which is rare. I got up to go see and found Chooga in a stand-off with another cat, and Kira appeared to be trying to come to his rescue. She was barking at the other cat. An interesting exchange... My PC crashed and I lost all my entries for this afternoon. I went to my month Esperanto kunveno. Then I took a stroll down Del Mar Loop and took some photos. 11:06p – I am very unhappy with Skip tonight. He has been a complete ass-hole to me and, quite frankly, I wish I could move out and leave him on his own at this point in time. 12:18a – I am still fuming over Skip's behavior tonight. I know I goofed... I propped the back door open so Kira could come in or out. I was not thinking about Barnabas going out. Of course, he is terrified of going outside... so WHY would I think about that? Anyway, Skip swears he went outside. I think it is good for him. We let Kira and Chooga out all the time. However, Kira can barely walk and she has wandered into the yard next door. She has done this *many* times and I have complained about Skip not finishing the fence. I think this entire blowup is him being defensive about not finishing the fence, which he started a year ago. He is the only one who thinks it makes sense that he should make a commitment to build a fence ... and NOT think it reasonable that the fence should be finished in a year. He points out the hot weather and the cold weather. I point out that he knew this when he started. I did not want to start this fence project to start with, but he was insistent. I did not expect he would finish this project any more that any other project that he started and left hanging. One might criticize me about not "doing" something... but not about not *finishing* something that I started! 12:27a – Anyway... my entire weekend has ended on a sour note. It's like my entire 2 day weekend has been nullified. I really do not appreciate this. If it were not for me, Barnabas would not even be here. I am the one who fronted Skip the money and helped him bring him out here. And I am the one who brought Skip out here when things went sour for him. He says how he as paid me back... which is true as far as the contemporary times go. I am the one who has kept track of all the bills, expenditures, and so forth... so he really doesn't even know. And he has conveniently forgotten all the back rent and expenses from when I supported his ass back in Florida. Well... maybe it's time for a wake up call. He now has the "good" job and I am struggling to make ends meet... and he is now giving me grief. I can always find my own way. I have been doing so all my life... nothing has really changed. I can always leave him and Barnabas on their own. It's just not very practical at this time... but... very tempting... 11:55a – I got a decent night's sleep, though there were some odd dreams. In one dream I was trapped in a room and there was a train slowly derailing next to the building. I was hoping to find an opening to jump through when the building was torn apart. However, that never happened. Later, I found myself working with Mark Goldsmith (formerly of Orange County Probation, Florida). He was pushing a big sliding door shut, and I was trying to tell him about the experience with the train. He was not paying attention to me, so I let it drop. 11:59a – I would surmise from these snippets of dream that I am feeling "trapped" in a situation in which disaster may be just a short distance away; and that I don't feel I am taken seriously or listened to by others. 12:01p – I called Susan (attorney) this morning and provided some information for having a living will and power of attorney written up. Not that there is any immediate need for it, but it's a good thing to have done. 1:33p – Here I go... off to work again. 3:07a – I took over 40 calls today. My last call went to about 1:10a, but I did not get out of the office until about 1:30a. At 2:01a I was sitting on Rt. 3 waiting for a train to pass. I got home about an hour ago. I have a chunk of yucca boiling on the stove and some chicken thawed out. I am not sure just what I am doing with it yet. I am tired though. I should go to bed soon if I can. 4:43a – I am off to bed. So tired... 9:26a – I am up letting Kira out, then back to bed for a couple more hours. 12:00p – I am up for real now. I took my shower as soon as I got up and I am going to run to the store for some milk and something for lunch. I got my AHT down to around 9 or 10 minutes tonight. I think my monthly average is down to about 12 minutes. That's a good thing. 1:08p – I got up early this morning around 11:00a. Almost time to go to work again. One more 10 hour day and then I will have Thursday and Friday off. Boy, these 10 hour days are LOOOONNNNG! Today's AHT was not as good as yesterday. I was a bit depressed about that. We had our weekly team meeting today (with pizza). 5:30a – Ricky came over around 2:30a ... quite a surprise. He knocked on my window and I thought we had a storm brewing! LOL! I offered him a beer aanj' iiw' indijaapye ny'iith' edbeumre ny'ey inmetne! Later, he wanted to go to "Buddy's" for a beer, so I drove us down there, but then he said no one he knew was there, so we turned around and went back home (my place). Inth' iiw' entw' uut' aim' uumre yenge aanj' iih' uktf' iith' Elh' aoch' aavy' iime..... yenge! My heart reaches out to him, though he has brought his woes upon him self. I found out that he flipped his jeep (4 or 5 flips) right after I saw him last. Apparently he broke his neck and is just recovering. I did not know! 6:28a – Time to crash... the sun is like TOTALLY up.... Skip is just about to go to work... I got up around 12:30p, but I could have stayed in bed longer. However, I have an appointment with the attorney, Susan Simone, Esq., to draw up my Living Will. I left just about on schedule for my appointment, but got delayed by a train on Camp Jackson, and then I could not find the location of the office. I was one street over from where I should have been. I was about 20 minutes late, but it was not a problem. It took about an hour to go over everything. I named Skip as my agent and Calisa as next in line after him if anything should happen to me and I become incapacitated. 2:28p – Got up at 11:58a ... and have not accomplished a thing this morning. 2:49p – I took a shower and shaved... and feel a little more human now. I am going to go fill up the gas tank and wash the car now. 4:28p – I am pooped! I got the tank filled up. It took $40.33 to fill it! The gas pumps are very busy. I went to BP and there were no pumps available. I drove around the station a couple of times then just parked and wait for a car to pull out. After about 10 minutes, the car I was waiting for pulled out and I started to pull in, but some asshole from the street just pull right into my spot! I honked my horn and yelled an obscenity (which is not like me at all). How rude. I was so mad I left the station and went down to Quick Trip. It was full up with customers too! I finally got a pump and filled up. Then I came back home and pulled the car up onto the grass where I washed it thoroughly. After that, I drove over to AutoZone and got some spray wax. Skip called me while I was at the register to see if I will be picking him up (I said I would). I came home and waxed the car and Windexed the windows... and now I am shaky and sweaty, but I feel good about myself. I guess my trip to the zoo today is out though. I went to pick Skip up and we ended up going out to the Westfield Mall so he could find some new shoes. He went to about every store that sold shoes I think. I finally got a pineapple milkshake and sat down to wait for him. We met back at the car and then, instead of going home, we drove back to 5th&Mo, parked the car, and took the train to Union Station. We went to Hooter's and had some wings and beer, which I have not done in well over a year. 10:56a – I just got up about 10 minutes ago. I did not sleep well. Kira had an accident in my room last night and I had to get up around day break to carry my rug outside (that still needs to be attended to). Then about an hour later I had to getup to let her outside. I also had a lot of serious indigestion from the spicy wings we ate. I was going to get up at 11:00a, but Skip knocked on my door and woke me (again) at 10:30a. Something about Calisa needing an address. So I ended up getting up a few minutes later. Apparently, Calisa is going up to Washington to visit Mom's grave and she want to find the address. Apparently Calisa did not even know she was going on this trip! It appears to be a surprise for her from Mitch. I left for work at 12:30p and dropped Skip off at Wal-Mart. Marty called me just as I left. They are at Robertsville State Park in Missouri. I don't get to join them this year unfortunately. Marty needed Bill's number and I ended up giving Bill a call and leaving a message for him. Work went pretty good for the first 3 quarters of the day, but the last quarter had severs; irate and abusive customers giving me a hard time of it. I was supposed to get off work at midnight, but at about 5 minutes till, I had a customer call in whose service had been disconnected. He was over 65 days delinquent and said he had mail in his payment. I did not see a record of the payment being posted and he insisted that his service should be turned on. He asked for a supervisor... and the call went on (with the sup) for over an hour! He was finally turned back over to me and I put in 2 tickets for him. One disputing the charges and one for the payment that he finally made which let me turn his service back on. Then I had to spend another 20 minutes catching up on my TTS feedback data and after call works. I did not get home until nearly 2:00a. 2:19a – I am home late, and I am going to have to get up early for another day starting at 1:30p. I am having trouble keeping up with email and such. 11:58a – I got up kind of late (for my current schedule) at 11:30a. I need to leave the house at 12:30p. I have some food cooking now. I think the pork is going bad on me though... I hope it is edible. It was NOT edible... the pork was spoiled. I left it sitting on the stove. That was supposed to be my 1st and 2nd meal. I got a hamburger at the new burger place across the street and ate on the way to work (and I detest eating in my car, but I had no decent choice). For 2nd meal I got a Philly Cheese from the serving lady and a bag of Doritos. It was adequate. Work tonight was tedious. I had 42 calls and my AHT was way to high. At least no one screamed at me today. 2:13a – I have supper (3rd meal) cooking, email is caught up, journal in progress, and now I am about to try setting up an album page for Marty's pictures... I got up just after noon. I had to go to my eye doctor's appointment in St. Louis today. I ended up leaving the house later than I intended and was rushing, but then there was another frelling train on Camp Jackson, so I ended up sitting and waiting. Then I was even in a bigger rush! (And of course, everyone had to get in my way and block traffic). I got on 64, still in a rush, and headed for the Grand exit. I was all the way to Clayton before I realized I had PASSED my exit! Now I was getting a bit angry, so I turned around and headed back, watching VERY carefully for Grand. I found it, but I was confused by on-going construction and passed it AGAIN! Due to all the construction, there was only one more exit remaining in the state of Missouri before crossing the Mississippi into Illinois. Fortunately, I did not miss THAT exit (Jefferson). I was able to take Jefferson to Choteau, to Grand, to Shaw... and I then found myself at the Anheuser-Busch Eye Institute. I spent most of my time waiting in the lobby, so all my rushing seems to have been for naught. I finally got all the examinations over with, eyes dilated, and various chemicals squirted into my eyes. I learned that my eye problem was caused by a distal embolism. This has caused some tissue mortification, which means that the damage is permanent. I will not get my normal vision back in that eye again. I got copies of the photographs taken of my eye. Here is my edit of one of the pictures of my left eye.
1:19a – I am off to bed now. 3:29p – I got up pretty early this morning around 7:30a. I thought I would got to the zoo, or do something, but I have been unable to get sufficiently motivated to do anything. I took about a 3 hour nap instead. Now it has become overcast out side and not good for photography anyway. I gave Skip a ride home from the train station. On the way home I ran by Schnuck's and picked up some groceries, including a 10 lb. bag of leg quarters and two chuck roasts. |
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