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  My blog was filled up. I'm too lazy to clean it out. So I started a new one. |
| I was supposed to be off from work today. At 6/:15 I got a call from my employer. I thought they might want me to come in late tomorrow because they're over budget. Wrong. They wanted me to come in right then for a few hours to help close out the day. Two people didn't show up. Two managers called out sick yesterday. So I changed clothes and went in. My next day off is Friday, but I will be working 6 hours that day, too. I can't believe so many people take their jobs so casually. I'm from that odd group of people that show up no matter what. We do what the boss wants. We may not like it, but we do it. We may not like the boss, but until we have another job, we cooperate. When we do have another job, we give a notice; we don't just walk out. We don't refuse to do something boring or uninteresting, only what may be unsafe or illegal. It's a different world, for sure. I don't know when people stopped respecting their employers or taking their work seriously. Why is it the old folks are doing the dirty work, picking up the extra hours, and taking on more responsibility, just when we ought to be cutting back? Some of it may be due to the companies taking short cuts and not providing better training. My HR manager and company manager have decided that as many new people as possible have to work with me, because I'm a thorough trainer. That's my nature. But the company should be teaching managers to train and not leave to someone who just happens to have a skill for it. If new employees, the kids, don't know what is expected, how can they perform? |
| Last Friday I lost computer access, and barely got it back last night. I feel so much better now, knowing I can have at least second rate computer access! Some months ago, the kids jammed paper in my printer and the roller came out with the paper. I packed it up and took it to the shop for repair. It looked simple, but difficult to reach inside and put it where it belonged. You could see how it should work. I don't think I can take the plastic case apart and reassemble it. But I was told you don't repair these parts, you replace the printer. The sales person convinced me for the small amount of printing I did in a month's time would only require a certain printer that was on sale. It was cheaper than my all in one that was missing a tiny paper roller. I'm intimidated by all the wires, even if they are color coded. So I didn't install the printer for months. What a waste of warranty! Finally, I had a form I really wanted to print, so I undertook the job. After attaching all the pieces and removing protective film and cardboard inserts, I discovered I didn't have an all-in-one. I had a printer. Period. No scanner. No copier. No wonder it was cheaper. Too late to take it back. Then I discovered the cord was too short to reach my hard drive, so I moved the hard drive up to the top of the desk, which I've considered doing before. I don't have to get down on the floor and use a flashlight to attach or unattach wires. Somehow when I reattached the monitor, it didn't come on. So now I need to replace the monitor. I blew an entire afternoon, not only couldn't print, but had lost the use of the computer. I had to enter my OctoPrep daily data by i-phone, which took me a while to figure out. I could read my emails from WDC, so I knew the assignments. I was handwriting everything. Finally, a light bulb went on late Saturday after I got off from work before midnight. I have a lap top I hardly ever use (back when they cost a lot more than they do now), I attached that to my ethernet, but it was worse than the i-hone. WDC was not accessible. I tried Explorer, the local phone server, and google. It was worse than my desktop for Internet. (Now I know it is the local service, and not my hard drive.) So Monday night, I upgraded Explorer to Foxfire. It took a while, but the result is amazing. I obviously can get into WDC. I could place my Avon order. I could read my Yahoo email and do group deletes! The deadline for the form I wanted to print is past. But I could hook it up to my lap top. I bought myself some time. I prefer the desktop and will get a new monitor. But I can use the lap top with Foxfire until I find the right one. If I were smart enough I could probably hook my hard drive up to my lap top and actually see my files. |
| I saw an old Smothers Brothers Show with Pat Paulsen and The Who. I still think it's hilarious. They were two skinny young guys in conservative suits, singing traditional folk music and doing silly things. But they had such provocative acts on their show for the time period. This must have been before The Who became such a huge international group. The guys seemed pretty young. There was still an air of humility about Pete Townsend and Roger Daltry. The drummer seemed immature and brash. They ended with smashing their instruments, speakers, mikes, and Tommy's guitar. Tom and Dick were in the middle of it, but by contrast very calm and unfazed. I was always a big fan of Pat Paulsen, "picky, picky, picky". Half of his routine was timing, the long pauses. He had dead pan delivery and almost never changed his facial expression. But always, of course, the highlight of the show was the sibling rivalry of the two brothers. They never took it too far. Tommy could play the buffoon in a very cute and charming way, while Dick played the superiority role without making you hate him for being a bully. |
| I have been so good so far. No Halloween Candy! I haven't even wanted any! Tonight my snack was a cup of hot chai with honey. Dad bought some candy, but it's tucked away out of sight, so that all the grand=babies can't see it. I know it's there, but have managed to avoid it. I did decorate with my usual objects and paper skeleton. We have the annual scarecrows by the front door, just out of the rain. The dining room tablecloth is orange, and little pumpkins are in the middle. We've been eating butternut squash all week, very seasonal. (I just bake it and serve it plain. It's naturally sweet and nutty.) It's really warm out, but we still have that fall feeling. I guess the leaves will change color soon. We don't get many trick or treaters in my neighborhood, so I'm not worried about having enough goodies. Dad will eat the leftovers. I hope my ability to steer away from them holds out that long. |
| On the job, I am amazed at the attitude of younger workers or even first job employees. "i don't want to work over here". "I don't like it here". "If I have to work in that department, I'm going home now." I don't recall ever hearing a fellow employee saying that to a boss before. Someone may have muttered it in a low voice to another flunkee, but not to a manager, not out loud, and not over a walkie. I'm not the manager, but I would respond with, "Are you giving me your notice, now?" I've worked in a variety of businesses, and you went where they sent you, like it or not. You could make a kindly request in a private setting, but not on the spur of the moment when you were given an emergency assignment. You did what you had to do, whether it was an assembly line with too many call-outs, or a retail clothing department. I've worked in juniors, better sportswear, children's, etc., without prior training because there was a need. And that's what most people do. Or at least they used to do that. Somehow a large number of people have failed to understand what is expected of them on a job. When you take a paycheck from someone, you do what is expected, as long as it isn't illegal or immoral or unsafe, and do it without complaining. If you don't like it, find another job and give your notice. Until then, stop trying to control things. |
| This year October Prep seems harder for me than usual. I'm composing the story in my head, but I don't seem to have the time to do a good job on the assignments. I get through them halfheartedly, no editing, no extra time. I feel guilty, because I've enjoyed it in the past and found it to be a rewarding challenge. One reason may be that it's an election year, and there is so much vehemence in the air. Everywhere you go or browse, there is an abundance of opinion and anger. It's depressing. Then on the home front, my father is getting more feeble and needs more attention, more cleaning up after, which demands time I don't have. I've also started teaching adults at church which requires a lot of prep time. I'm not getting any younger, so I guess I'm just tired. Maybe in November I'll be able to put the bits and pieces together with the skeletal structure and still work and do church and have a family holiday which I have to cater. |
| Every time I'm stuck in traffic, I think about the news article I read that claimed if drivers wouldn't tailgate and minded the speed limits, there would be no traffic jams. As I sit through the same traffic light as it changes for the third time, I think, "Oh, really?" If we drove at appropriate speeds and stayed a decent distance apart and didn't jockey for position, we wouldn't get blocked up at the same spots at the same time every day? I polished off another book, No, I Don't Want To Join A Book Club. I can't remember the author. She's British, so again, there are many British terms like pension for retirement, and "lorry" for some big dirty truck I still don't understand. They retire at 60, not 66, and get their meds free. It's written like a diary with entries of uneven size. She's a granny for the first time, falls in love after swearing off sex, and has close friends with their own age related problems. She's a bit kooky and off-beat, having enjoyed sex, drugs, and rock and roll in her youth. What I liked best came at the end, when she dealt with the death of a very close friend. I felt like underlining a page or so to reread in the future. I'm still muddling through American Sniper. I'm not into guns and military terms, although he explains everything. It's just hard to stay interested for long periods of time. The girly stuff is lighter reading. I am going to finish it though. His story is worth telling. His wife's point of view, which is inserted occasionally, is also very revealing. It opens your eyes to the life of a military wife. I keep putting it down to go read something a little easier. Makes me feel guilty, like I'm a bubble head. |
| My hearing is not so perfect. It's a family trait. My grandfather, both his sisters, my uncle, now my dad. You always had to yell at them, but they never got mad about it. My dad gets mad when you raise your voice to him. You have to make it a little louder each time, and he keeps asking you to repeat it. So I try really hard to make it sound just loud, but natural, not angry or frustrated. Here's the zinger. He told my cousin I screamed at him twice. Twice! I was flabbergasted. He has very vivid dreams and talks in his sleep. Maybe he dreamed I screamed at him. But at any rate, that means he thinks I'm abusing him. He has no idea how hard it is to live with someone who can't hear you, who won't make any effort to learn alternate communication, like writing notes, or hand signals. Hearing aids won't help him. So often I want to tell him things, but I know he won't hear enough of it to understand the whole situation. There are other times, he pretends to hear me or he misunderstands what I've said, which becomes apparent at some later time. I build my schedule around him and his medical appointments. I clean up after his mistakes and spills. Tonight I got up to go to the bathroom during one of my old TV shows. He was sound asleep and snoring in the same room. As soon as I left the room, he got up, sat in front of the TV and watched the same old TV news shows, so that he can hear the same old reports over and over. So much for my show. We did fix the TV for closed captions; that helps him a lot. We don't have to blast the neighbors out now. Being a caretaker for someone, even if that person is still somewhat independent is a hard job. At least I'm not dealing with dementia, although we are seeing some personality changes and new bad habits that no one has ever seen before. I'm talking about someone who has led a good life and has been a good person. I can only imagine a selfish person, or really crabby person, declining and losing his or her hearing. That hearing loss makes the person feel cut off and alone and a little helpless. I would never scream at him. It really bothers me that he thinks I have. |
| Finally got around to reading this book from 2000. It made the word, "shopaholic", a part of the language. The author, Sophie Kinsella, is British, so the story involves pounds, rather than dollars. Many of the terms and store names are British. But the story is one anyone in modern culture can understand, our obsession with consumerism. The protagonist gets her thrills from negotiating a good sale from the best stores, on designer labels, and taking them home with no consideration for whether she needs them or can afford them. In fact, she owns clothes she has never worn. It's the getting, not the using that is most important. I suppose that's a step above what I know some people to do: wear or use the clothes, shoes, or handbags, once, keep it very clean, and return it with all the tags and bags for a refund. She further aggravates the situation by ignoring the unpleasant side--the bill collectors, the overdue bills, and warning notices. The irony of it is that she has a job as a financial reporter! She ends up happily though with a dream job and a handsome boyfriend. (totally unbelievable, but funny) However, there is a little twist at the end, when you think she has grown up and reformed, that leaves open the possibility of sequels. And apparently, there have been quite a few. It is hilarious light reading. It made me want to go shopping, but, alas, I'm too aware of my spending limits. |
| Unfortunately, I am in the lower level of a word and grammar snobbery. Upper level would be like Frazier Crane, extremely annoying. I call it unfortunate because I hear errors and it's like scraping nails on the chalkboard in my mind.Long ago learned to keep my mouth shut. A haughty speech professor told us that it was rude to correct someone's grammar. So I have tried to refrain. But that backfires, too, when someone who doesn't mind being rude, says, "Oh, you were an English major and you didn't catch his mistake! Ha ha!" I did catch it, but I ignored it. Now I'm biting my lip while while smiling at you. Things like split infinitives or the wrong use of pronouns as objects of prepositions get under my skin. And they're prolific in business writing, even highly paid copy writing. Try telling the higher ups in the company they're making themselves look foolish and uneducated. No, they can't make mistakes. If they say it incorrectly, then it will be considered correct. Some words are just wrong in popular usage. Like in cooking, a stalk of celery is the whole bunch with one common base. An individual piece is not a stalk, but a rib. Who talks about eating a rib of celery on a diet? And a clove of garlic varies inside. A bulb of garlic is the whole root vegetable, made up of many cloves. You can't tell whether there will be tiny cloves or huge cloves, or dried up and withered cloves until you peel away the paper skins and separate them. You think you're getting one medium clove and it turns out to be several smaller ones with a common paper skin. So if you're cooking and the recipe calls for a clove, you need to make a judgment call about whether you need only half or several to get one medium clove. (You might overdo the garlic, but it hardly ever ruins a recipe.) |
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. Isn't it funny how we take things like electricity and plumbing for granted... until we don't have them. Happy for you!
