Category: Totally Random

Woke up this morning and found that we had a distinct lack of hot water. Went down cellar to check on it and found a flood.

Landlord was called , Murphy had fun, and we should have a new water heater in a day or two.

Phew!

As mentioned previously, we were unable to afford to send cards to what had become a list of about 140 people, including some who will see this. I didn’t finish an online card until yesterday, and didn’t yet get through the whole list of those who’d get a traditional one whose e-mail addresses I have. The cool thing is that I can be expansive, including people whose physical mailing addresses I lack. With this blog post, for instance, or Twitter, or a post to a mailing list I run.

Anyway, I have to go work on the turkey, but thought I’d post the link to the card, featuring pictures of the kids and art by me and Sadie. Enjoy!

I’ve been thinking that the only way I am going to post anything is if I post short snippets of news, commentary or announcement, without it being elaborated or in omnibus form as might be my wont. This is one of them. It’s an announcement.

On Christmas we are staying home. We are not going anywhere for dinner or presents. The kids take forever opening stuff and being avid about it all day anyway, but Deb works the days before and after, crappy hours, at the crescendo of the season. Just no. I have two days off then, unlike Thanksgiving when I had to work the morning of but had the next off, but again with the crescendo of the season.

We will not be entertaining visitors that day.

I might be persuaded to bring [lengthy pause here – this is why posts don’t get written, beyond the after effects of the threatening situation several months ago] [I have no idea what I was saying…] [ah, think I’ve got it…] the kids to one “Christmas” outside the house. [And here I pause again, thanks Valerie…] Once.

Last year there were four Christmases. No. We’re at one and counting. The special family dinner in a function room is not going to be an excuse for five of them. Don’t drop by. Don’t “forget” presents when we’re there so there’s an excuse to visit on a subsequent day. And for goodness sake don’t barge in on Deb’s next day off after Christmas and completely relax what little unwinding might be possible in among the vast amount of stuff to do that you will be completely devastating. Just like any other Monday you might waltz in and make yourself at home for a couple hours, only more so.

Short? Well, it was supposed to be.

I really must find time. Need to do a Henry update, though that can be summed up mainly by noting he seems to have grown significantly out of some of the more peripheral sensitivity, like to azo dyes and salicylates. At the same time, sometimes he breaks out mysteriously and in sufficient isolation that there could be a problem with, say, a specific spice, like nutmeg or such. Related to that, I should really do some food blogging.

Then there is the work thing. While some may sneer at a part time grunt job that supplements our income without totally rescuing us, while keeping us from having child care issues and leaving the potential for me to make additional on the side or build toward future returns, it’s helping, even as it’s disruptive and taking getting used to schedule-wise. The brutal grunt work? Not a problem. Even less so than I’d expected, and apparently they’re happy with me. The sleep deficit is a bit much though. Due to circumstances, I only just got boots today. That ought to save my sneakers from further trauma and help my feet.

Anyway, gotta go. Punctuated by my other computer having shut itself off. Again. This time without the browser running. It acts like it could be hardware, or as likely could be a software thing that seems to happen under the right circumstances, centered on what and how many web pages are open in Firefox.

If there’s one thing I can do with vigor it’s bleed.

There was one final truck, half full. I went on that with another guy, to blow through it and be done. Turned out it had completely trashed rollers. Not even sucky ones.

We ended up with a swarm of as many as five of us on it, initially brigading past the rollers while someone did a quick repair. It was a rush.

After a while, I notice blood starting to flow between my right pinkie and ring fingers, starting to get on my palm. Looking, there’s fresh blood centered on the middle of the back of my hand, flowing that way to where I finally noticed it. I tend to get cuts and scraps and bruises without ever noticing, and this job is rife with them. Surprisingly common working on computer hardware, too – metal parts and all. My guess is I scraped it on the metal ribbing in the truck.

I washed it off and put on a bandage. It’s a small nick just before the first knuckle at the base of my middle finger. Waaay too small for so much blood, but that’s me. I bleed like crazy. Well, same thing with sweating. I sweat so profusely under exertion, people worry about me.

[Much later, because I have kids and stuff…]

Was I even planning to say anything else?

When I got back to the truck, it was almost empty. I helped with a few more boxes and then left for the day, forgetting to ask about paychecks (despite checking in with the manager), which I thought were in for us to get on Friday mornings, but perhaps it’s actually Saturday. By the time I got to the parking lot, the bandage was blood-soaked. From that tiny little nick! Took all day for it to crust over enough not to want to ooze some blood.

Anyway, there’s the post I tried to write for filler earlier today, longer than expected. Hopefully I can avoid too many injuries. Last night was the “pace yourself and don’t fill the conveyer too much for the people further down to sort” management message. The night before was the “go fast, here’s the impossible spec you all should manage and there’s a prize for the first person to do so but it’s realistic, really” management message. Previously it had been the “be careful not to damage anything or send up anything already damaged, take the extra time to be careful and to put aside QA stuff” management message. At least, on balance, they do seem more interested in safety, mindful efficiency and quality than in raw speed at any price.

And not “it’s better to burn out than fade away.”

Trouble is, the crazy schedule has created a mess and has thus far eluded my need to rule it. That has to change, and assuming I survive the part time job and adapt the rest of the way soon, which is mainly a matter of sleep and my old injury from Renovator’s Supply flaring only temporarily (since it does reduce the problem to build the arm muscle, and if there’s one thing I’m doing it’s moving muscle), it should.

One victim has been my time and energy to post, even though I have more I want to as a side-effect. Annoying.

I want to talk about the week working in Marion and how that impacted Halliday, Renovator’s Supply and how that impacted this job (and everything in between), how and why this is a reset, and so forth.

I’ve been getting up at 2 AM or so, following between 2 and perhaps as much as 5 hours sleep. When I get home, if I am not too wired, I might get an hour or so real sleep. Most days so far I am a zombie, and walk around varying degrees of sore. Sometimes I have gotten more sleep, or more meaningful napping, but usually any sleep I get during the day is a few minutes at a time, sometimes not even intentionally.

The work so far mostly consists of unloading packages off trailers, sometimes helping to route oddball items. I ruled the first few days, apparently managing almost full speed. Or as close as people get, because nobody actually manages the spec. I’ve slipped this week. Spec would mean 50 minutes for an entire trailer, with actual normal being closer to 90. I’ve gone 120 or so at least once. The first day after the weekend I could barely move and took most of the shift to loosen up. I’ve had trouble staying hydrated enough. My weight has fluctuated in a 15 lb range the past 10 days. I’ve already built a lot of muscle, which would explain any non-water weight gain.

Kids are screaming and stuff, and I need to check the stove and work on food prep and stuff some more. No birthdays tomorrow either, but perhaps I can post a picture or few. There are a bunch.

So I had my first orientation/training session last night. This is the wee hours, seasonal job in a distribution center, sorting and loading packages onto delivery trucks. Had to be there at 1:00. Skipped Chuck and Heroes in an effort to get some sleep. Got maybe 2 hours. Valerie helped.

Watching videos, standing in on the pre-shift meeting, and paperwork kept me there until a bit after 4:00. Came home. Tried to get more sleep. Valerie helped. Ultimately ended up sleeping until after 11:00. Valerie slept almost as late as I did, having missed the chance to go on errands with Deb and the other two kids.

Tonight I have to be there at 3:20 AM, slightly early for photo ID picture to be taken. It’s another night of orientation, so I’m not officially on the dock until the next night.

At which point I am supposed to have solid leather shoes, as opposed to my usual sneakers, however shoe-like they may appear in spiffy black. Doh! These things cost money, ya know.

I find myself saying “what ever happened to my steel toed boots?” From 1991. “Would they still fit? Were they wearable? Bet they’re either buried good or got tossed long since.” Then I find myself saying “what about the boots I got for Christmas several years ago? Were they basically standard boots that worked for snow by being more or less waterproof? Or were they obviously designed mainly for snow? Bet those are around and if they fit at all could last me a night or two…”

Always something. Looks like they are reasonable at Wal-Mart. I still only have $30, which was going toward the $29 for car inspection this week (getting a rejection for possibly needing two 14″ tires gives time for cash flow to allow tires to happen). I have $135 in transit from a workorder I did last week, which might appear in my account tomorrow. Or as late as Friday.

Anyway, so far so good, but getting sleep will be interesting.

Update:

Amazingly, my combo boots are in a logical place, in the closet near the door, where I can find them in winter. The good thing is that they are designed to be easy to wear all day if you have to put them on to deal with snow, and they are steel-toed. The bad thing is that the lower part is rubberized, more flexible than a sneaker in places, and they look obviously intended for weather, and have a felt liner that can’t be removed without making the boot dysfunctional. If I had to I could sneak by a shift or two on them and they”d be better than sneakers, but not ideal, and probably too warm for this time of year,

So yeah. Gotta buy boots. Darn.

Sorry for the absence of any posting this morning. I’m off to do a scrap of work today, leaving kids with family on the way. Then shopping with them after.

In an effort to orient myself this feeling crappy, slept poorly, sick kid kind of already awfully late, rainy, possible impending hurricane morning, a list of stuff I need to do, even a few of which happening in one day would feel crazy productive, with limited explanation since it’s mainly for my benefit. And not necessarily including all the obvious “get a job” related stuff.

Write an e-mail about a business proposition.
Test a few additional elements of my niece’s computer.
Put said computer aside to get kitchen table back.
Put temp power supply from that back in computer it was borrowed from.
Move said computer off of kitchen table.
Swap sound card in Sadie’s replacement computer. (Ah, but the drivers…)
Try adding RAM to Sadie’s replacement computer. (Shame it doesn’t even see it…)
Deploy Sadie’s replacement computer.
Put away the carcasses of Sadie’s and Valerie’s dead/dying computers.
Write list of over the hill spices needing replacement.
Toss dead spices.
Clean shelves & walls of empty cabinet.
Clear counter of stuff waiting to go back into said cabinet.
Empty and clean two other cabinets.
Check and purge remaining stuff in those as needed.
Pack at-risk foods in zipper bags.
Put stuff back in the other cleaned cabinets (finishing the important set).
Dishes. Always dishes.
Freeze chicken bought last night.
Selected vacuuming.
Chip at the bookcase shelf project (clearing some upper shelves, storing some books & stuff, so things we are selling or need safe can have room out of reach and be more organized).
Followup yet more on my domain transfer.
Followup on my Arisia membership transfer and question of converting babysitting memberships to adult to sell more easily.

Then there’s the site work, posting, job hunting related profile updates, and so forth. All of which always depends on what the kids are doing or who is sleeping and where. Before I do anything, it’s getting toward time for a meal for them. Or a solid snack, anyway. Before they get cranky. Except Valerie, for whom it’s too late, though I think the ibuprofen has kicked in now.

Where does the day go?

No birthdays today.

Been turning the house upside-down looking for two lost cups. The kids are efficient that way.

Been cleaning cabinets and purging what’s expired and making sure we have no more bugs, after finding them in a couple things recently. Luckily some of the expired spices or spice mixes are things I don’t need or want to replace. It’s hard not to divert into things like “hey, the top of the range hood is gross, I’ll clean it… oops, cleaning it thoroughly removes the paint.”

I have bits of stuff like that to finish or stabilize, but this is also a day off for day and a “try getting work” and activities associated with same day for me, more than normal, with the kids being gone a while during the day.

Heroes was interesting last night. Not certain I love where they went with it, sort of like the fixation with time travel and consequences of same on Enterprise, but cooler.

Need to dismount the air conditioner today. I hadn’t done it yet, and it proved handy for the fan when it was warm again, but if it weren’t there I could simply have opened the window.

Trying and failing to remember other laundry list stuff I might mention here. Oh well. Back to the cup hunt! Which is related to filling the dishwasher the last few percent and running it.