Blogger 365 Day 272 - Side effects

     I can honestly say that I am exhausted.  The hours I kept this weekend at home were such that last night I just couldn't sleep, I was too used to either being up or someone else being up most of the night and as a result last night I was up most of the night.  I didn't get to sleep until almost 5am, which meant of course I overslept when my eyes finally did close and I showed up to work roughly a half hour late, though technically I do not have a start time I do like to be in the office by 8:30, I strolled in today a little after 9am.

     Because I wasn't there on Saturday a lot of what I would have had done wasn't done yet, plus I did have the three orders to sort out once they came in, which was very shortly after I arrived.  Then Kara, our grocery rep, showed up and I had to go over ordering Easter candy (yes they are already pitching Easter at us retailers kids so be warned) as well as go through a promotion book for upcoming sales and then go through programs which we are already signed up for and close to fulfilling, so I had to pick some items just so we could hit our rebate numbers.

     I also had to see if I could offload the store's baseball tickets for the wildcard playoff game on Wednesday.  While I would love to go myself I do get a cut if I can sell them at a profit.  We have four seats for the game and the face value on them is $45 each, or $180 in total.  By the time I left work today I am pretty confident that I will have someone coming into the store on Tuesday who will take them off my hands for $650.  Any time I can turn almost a $500 profit selling tickets I can't complain too much.  It will be interesting to see what Ed says is my cut for doing all of the leg work on this. 

     Till I got all of that squared away and did all of my paperwork and then stopped by the store formerly known as Gus Millers to pick up their order for Tuesday it was going on 6pm by the time I got home.  The only thing I wanted to do was sleep but I haven't been able to get my eyes to stay closed long enough for that to be a reality.  Another side effect from my trip home perhaps, I don't know. 

     I am still plugging away on my book on the early days of World War I, I am almost 400 pages in now, but still have over 10 to go, so it will not be on the bookshelf next to this for a while yet.  Just haven't been able to find enough time to read much recently.  Part of the joys of management I suppose, no time for myself save for moments like these where I am too exhausted to do much of anything. 

     Well I should get up, see about making some dinner even though I look at myself and it just feels like I have gained weight recently.  Probably because the only thing I really did this weekend was eat, I didn't even get out for a nice Sunday walk like I would have done had I stayed here.  Not saying starving myself is the answer, but I do not look like I have missed any meals recently because I haven't. 

      So I guess I will get up from here and try to be functional, worst case scenario is a burn off a couple of calories.

Blogger 365 Day 271 - So what did you miss exactly?

     Let's try to see if I can recap the weekend in all its glory.  First I am going to need some blogging music.  Yes, I know it disrupts the rhythm of reading the blog when I go all song and title in the middle of a thought, but I am in the mood for music and since I run this hear thing like a boss music we shall have.

"Sleep to Dream" - Fiona Apple

     There, that's better.  

     This was weekend number two where I was supposed to go home and help with the process of getting the place ready for the new carpeting.  Mind you all of the hard work was done last weekend, all that really needed to be done this weekend was to take some stuff out of the bedroom that was left in there and find a place for it.  In all it would be a project that would take maybe an hour, but with everything that has been going on with my mom recently I went ahead and talked to Ed at work about getting Saturday off.  Of course he was accommodating, he almost always is and truth be told I need to start burning off vacation days anyway, even by using one on Saturday I still have 7 paid days coming to me yet before my next vacation comes due in January, in which case we will add another 5 to the total, provided I do not work Thanksgiving or Christmas, in which case there could be even more paid time coming my way.

"I'd Rather Go Blind" - Clarence Carter

     I may end up just asking to be paid for the days I am owed rather than taking them, I will need the money around Christmas so I don't need to cash them in at this very moment, but in the near future it might be a good idea. 

     Okay, I am getting sidetracked here, suffice it to say Ed said I could take Saturday off, using one of my vacation days, which meant that everything I would usually do on Saturday I had to do on Friday instead, all of the ordering and the invoices and what not.  Plus I would have to run out to the store formerly known as Gus Millers and pick up their Monday order, something I usually do on the way to work on Saturday but since everything was being done on Friday that meant I had a bus trip to take in the middle of my day.

"Cities in Dust" - Siouxsee and the Banshees

     I got all of my normal Friday stuff done on schedule, which for me meant by 3pm, then I hopped a bus and picked up the order I needed, hopped another bus back into town and put that order as well as a second one I received earlier on Friday together for Monday.  I also banged out about a week's worth of invoices, they had started to fall a little behind and before the bills can be paid I have to break them down by category so I went through the invoices, getting all of them done and ready for Monday morning, then I went upstairs and reloaded the Freal milkshake machine, which I usually do every Saturday morning.  I also remerchandised a Coke cooler, we are close to the time when we renegotiate our next contract with them and the last time the regional manager was in he noticed that some of the product in one of his cooler was items he doesn't sell, so I had to take that product out and find something of theirs to put in its place.  For the time being I just doubled up on our Minute Maid juices that are on the floor.  Nothing overly complicated, but something that needed to get done and if not by me then who?  I have come to just quit relying on anyone else to do things, it is better that way.

"The Killing Moon" - Echo and the Bunnymen

     Have I ever said that I have the coolest Pandora station?  Yes, I do believe I have but I want it on the record just in case.

     After redoing the cooler I went downstairs and placed the two orders I already had, then I started doing the order for my store, beginning with our GFS order which was already partly done, Stephanie had already placed an order for the things that the deli needed, I just had to add a few odds and ends that I also need because GFS will not deliver unless you spend $350, so I spent just enough to make sure we would get a delivery on Tuesday, a case of jalapeno dogs, a case of kielbasa and some breakfast burritos and all was good on that front.

     Next was tackling our grocery order, which comes in three parts, the deli order which is just me ordering things on a list that they give me, a tobacco order which consists of both tobacco related items that Belinda gives me and cigarettes which I put together by following a simple list I keep in the cigarette stockroom, all I have to do is count the cartons we have versus the base counts that are on the sheet, if we are short then I order enough cartons to make up the difference and the grocery order which is the hardest part because I have to walk around the store and make note of everything we are missing or low on on the shelves, plus because I am doing this a day early, I have to anticipate what we may sell over the course of the next couple of days.  

"Fascination Street" - The Cure

     It was a time consuming process to be sure, made longer because we misplaced Belinda's original order sheet and had to start from scratch on it and by the time I had gotten everything done it was just about 9pm.  I sent the orders in and called it a day, though the day wasn't over for me, I still had to get back to my apartment, grab a shower, call my family and say I was ready to be picked up and  pack my things to go home for the weekend. 

     I hop a bus and get home, it is about 9:30 now and I hop into the shower and try to get some of the day washed off of me, then call home and say that I am ready, even though I wasn't but I figured they had about an hour in the car and that would be enough time for me to pack some things for the weekend. 

"Strangelove" - Depeche Mode

"Pittsburgh" - Lemonheads

     My family ended up being about a half hour late, they tried to go a way where they could avoid the Squirrel Hill tunnels and managed to get lost in the process an didn't arrive until it was almost midnight. 

"I'll Be You" - The Replacements

     We nonetheless head out, on the way back we stopped for something to eat at Eat N Park, which was fine with me, I hadn't eaten much all day.  They didn't want me too but I bought dinner, last weekend when I was home they wouldn't let me buy anything.   I would always get the line "You can leave the tip", which I hate because without seeing the bill I am not sure what to leave as a tip.  I wouldn't say I am a generous tipper, but at least a fair one, so on our check of $35 I left a $10 tip.  Cuteness may have figured into the tip, so could the fact she smiled at me a few times while we were there.  Sucker for a pretty face?  Guilty as charged.

"A Little Respect" - Erasure

    We got back some time after 1am, maybe 1:30 or so and after haggling with my mom to take her meds (after my last trip home she went to the doctor and was put on blood pressure medication because hers was 200 over 100) everyone went to sleep. I slept on the living room floor, I just tossed a blanket out and aid down on it.  The living room, carpet which can also use to be replaced at some point, has a feel to it that I would rather lay on a blanket than directly on it.  Don't know if that is from not being kept up, or if it has to do with the water damage or both but after last weekend I wanted to sleep on a blanket and not on the floor.

"Sweet Child O' Mine" - Guns and Roses

     I ended up waking up off and on all night long, which should come as no surprise to anyone that knows me, it is par for the course.  I would step outside and have a cigarette while staring up at the stars, something I do miss from living in Pittsburgh is actually being able to see the night sky, on this weekend I was not disappointed on that front, most nights were almost completely clear outside.  Maybe I should have just slept on the porch like I used to do as a kid. 

     Anyway, we get up off and on on Saturday, that being people would wake up then go back to bed so until everyone really started moving as something resembling a unit it was probably after 11am.  Little did I realize that my mom had plans to spend the day shopping with my aunt Mary, so one of the reasons I was going home, to keep an eye on my mom, was pretty much pointless because she wasn't even home for the better part of Saturday.  Not that I am complaining, she needs to get out, I just wish I would have known, I could have just worked on Saturday then, rather than rush home Friday night.

"Would?" - Alice in Chains

    That left Mike and I in the house by ourselves most of the day, we ended up doing the remaining work in the bedroom pending the arrival of the carpet guys on Tuesday.  There was a knock on the door though, I got up to answer it and it was a gentleman who asked in my mom was home.  Well he asked for her by name, I have reached the point age-wise where most people do not look at me and ask "Excuse me son, is your mommy home?".  I saw this guy was carry a clipboard and a badge that looked semi official, plus on his sheet he had a note saying that my mother's favorite color was purple.  Silly me, I thought that perhaps this guy was someone who was doing work on the place, so I called for Mike to come out.

"Rain" - The Cult

     I say silly because that wasn't who this guy was at all.  Apparently my mom, unbeknownst to everyone, had contacted someone about her future funeral arrangements.  I don't even know if my mom knows she did this or not, but this guy was there to talk to her about her future casket and what not.  The thing is, with the way my mom has been acting, I really am not even sure she knows that she had talked to this guy, tonight at diner she couldn't even remember that she ordered unsweetened iced tea when the server brought her a refill.  She looked at the glass and said that it wasn't what she ordered, even though she had the empty Sweet N Low packet right next to her glass from the previous one.  So yes it is entirely possible she spoke to some guy about her future funeral and doesn't even realize it.  That is becoming par for the course more often than not these days.  Whether that is related to her high blood pressure issue I do not know, I just know that it is becoming an ongoing battle to get her to take her pills, which isn't making anything better.

"Enter Sandman" - Metallica

     Since my mom wasn't around and the work I was home to do was done, Mike and I ordered a pizza and then went to our separate room, me the living room, he to his bedroom and I just watched TV the rest of Saturday  until my mom got back. When she and Mary returned Mary had brought some stuff for me, some steaks and ground beef she had in her freezer (I think she bought a cow or something from the butcher and was just storing meat in her freezer) and we asked my mom about the guy that showed up.  She didn't seem to know what we were talking about.  Again I don't know if that is because she really doesn't remember or just isn't telling, she can be stubborn when she wants to be and just not say anything.

     Saturday night just ended up being more laying around watching TV and not doing much of anything.  I spent most of the time just playing Marvel Puzzle Quest on my iPad. 

"This Time" - Tracy Chapman

     Break time, I like this song a little too much to type through it.

"Landslide" - Stevie Nicks

      Sunday was pretty uneventful as well, technically Mike didn't want to leave until after the Steeler game was over, which makes sense because traffic on game day is always a mess and with the Richard Caliguri Great Race going on in town this weekend, getting to and fro early in the day would have been problematic anyway, but then we didn't even watch the game.  Not that I much cared one way or the other, I like football but I do not live and die Steeler football, if it is on I will watch it, but if it isn't I do not miss it.  By the same token, if that is why we aren't leaving earlier, it would seem t make sense that some one wanted to watch it.  Instead it was just a lot of laying around doing nothing.  My mom ended up sleeping most of the day, apparently her shopping excursion yesterday as well as the late night trip to get me on Friday wore her out.  She woke up long enough to put Roseanne on TV, which just made me all the happier that I had my iPad with me.

"Nothing Compares 2 U" - Sinead O'Connor

     We left after the game ended (the game we didn't actually watch) and stopped for dinner at Golden Corral on the way back, again I didn't get to buy anything, I just left the tip.  I never know how to tip a buffet server.  Technically I don't think they are waiters or waitresses if I have to get my own food.  I'm doing most of the work, all they have to do it bring me drinks.  That's not that hard, and even the first drink they don't get, you get that when you buy the buffet, so what do you tip a person that only brings you a refill or two?  What is the proper tip percentage?  I don't know, I am unsure of the etiquette in such situations. 

     I got home somewhere around 7:30pm, put up a missing blog entry and have just been pondering the weekend ever since.  I know they want me to go back next weekend and start unpacking everything we have packed up, but I can't take full weekends off of work every weekend.  I have cigarette pricing that will need to be changed this weekend as well as two weeks worth of price changes to deal with.

"Forever in Blue Jeans" - Neil Diamond

     By the same token sitting at dinner tonight and seeing my mom not even remember what she ordered to drink, after the issue with the phone call a couple of weeks ago where she didn't even realize I hadn't been home since June just leaves me a tad bit frightened.  I know she needs to take her meds, but I can't force her to do that.  Ideally she should probably get a diet from her doctor to be on, and start doing some things to get out of the house, even if it is a simple walk around the neighborhood.  I am just not in a position to do that on a day to day basis, not unless I quit my job but then I would have no money to live on.  I don't know what would be the best course of action at this point.

"The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death" - The Housemartins

     There, you now now just how my weekend was and now I am officially caught up on blog entries again.  I guess we both win.

Blogger 365 Day 270 - Karaoke Friday - Before I left

Well before I got a day behind on this [project of mine I was busy logging a very long day at work Friday so I could have Saturday off.  Part of that was getting all of the invoices caught up for when our accountant comes in on Monday, which amounted to almost a week's worth of invoices that had to be broken down by category and then put in the "to be paid" bag that I keep next to my desk. 

While sitting at Brian's desk (it was long after both he and Ed had left for the day) I fired up Pandora to give me some background music while I did the invoices as well as put together two of the three orders that had to be placed, and created bills for those two orders so that the businesses they were for could pay us on Monday morning.

Today's entry into Karaoke Friday actually did come from that Friday, it is he first song that came up on my station that I have not used in a Karaoke Friday entry previously, a list that gets smaller each time I do this.  Anyway, enjoy





"Radioactive"

Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa

I'm waking up to ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
I'm breathing in the chemicals

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

I raise my flags, don my clothes
It's a revolution, I suppose
We'll paint it red to fit right in
Whoa

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

All systems go, the sun hasn't died
Deep in my bones, straight from inside

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

Blogger 365 Day 269 - After these brief messages

.    I realize that as I am typing this I am now a full day behind on the 365 project.  I came home on Friday night, but for that to happen I had to do all of my Saturday work on Friday, which meant I pretty much doubled at work on Friday and until I met my family and we stopped for dinner on the way back here it was well after midnight.  I will try to catch up on Sunday some time, maybe do a double post kind of day, we will see.

    Certainly there will be plenty for me to write about, I would just rather do that elsewhere.  I am much more content to blog when the is no one else around, or if they are around that there would be no chance someone might pick up and read what I am doing or try reading over my shoulder.  Until then I am going to be a day behind. Que sera, sera.

Blogger 365 Day 268 - Return trip

    Well it looks like I will be going home again this weekend.  I pretty much expected as much, but I will probably be leaving late Friday night as opposed to Saturday, so tomorrow promises to be an incredibly long day.  I will have to bang out three different orders at least, plus make sure evrything I would normally do on Saturday is now done a day earlier. 

     I really do need to go home though.  My mo went to the doctor today, which is something because she is not much of a doctor person (or am I for that matter) but they found out that she is suffering from very high blood pressure, which may or may not be contributing to some of the delusions she has been having.  Once again she has been asking about where I am when I left there Sunday afternoon, so whatever rebound she may have been having when I got home is slipping away.  Th doctor gave her some meds for the high blood pressure, let's hope she remembers to take them. 

     Not sure what that will mean for my daily entry, I will probably take my laptop and iPad back with me, but if I am on the iPad, which is what I used on my last trip, the social connections (Facebook and Google+) will not be updated until I get back on Sunday night.  Just giving everyone a heads up on that. 

     Anyway, I am off to watch me some TV.  I know, odd of me but after a long day at work and what promises to be a longer day Friday and a busy weekend I just want my mind to turn to mush for a while.

Blogger 365 Day 267 - They are open

     Yeah, I am a couple of minutes late, I went and had some beers after work, then got home and ordered some food.  After getting my belly full I laid down and closed my eyes and I was out like a light.  It felt good actually, not the drinking part so much as the just falling asleep part.  In fact it felt so good that I am going to see if I can't get back to it before I am awake long enough that I am just up for hours on end. 

Blogger 365 Day 266 - Blah, blah, blah

     Just sitting around the house listening to my Pandora station on the iPad while I try to figure out just what it is I want to say tonight.  There really wasn't anything all that exciting or notable that happened at work today, it was very much just an average day.  No big highs or big lows, so I guess I should take that as a win. 

     Tomorrow is payday and really it couldn't get here soon enough.  Not that I am destitute but the last couple of weeks have been hard enough that having some money in my paws for dealing with it will make it feel somewhat worthwhile.  I may even treat myself after work to something nice, perhaps a trip to the Squirrel Cage or something. 

    I may be going home again this weekend, depending on how much will still need to be done at my parent's house.  The biggest problem they have and that I will be of no help with is that they just have too much stuff, there is no real place to put everything when the guys come to install the new carpeting.  They will either have to work around some things or people will have to vacate the house for a while and move everything from the bedroom into the living room.  That is the only options I can think of off of the top of my head.

     I did sneak in a nap today after work, I came home and ate a sandwich (ham and cheddar on an onion bagel) and then just put my head down for an hour or so.  Not sure why I was tired, work wasn't physically taxing, though it was a little mentally so.  I did have to place 4 different orders today, which is never fun but it comes with the job. 

     I will say since my promotion the lottery numbers continue to slowly tweak up, if only because I pay so much attention to them.  Not that simply selling lottery tickets would be enough to keep the doors open by any stretch, but every little bit helps.  Tuesday is the day when we get our report from the lottery for what our commission on sales is from the previous week.  Since I lobbied for our second instant ticket machine I would say our commission checks are up around 10% or so.  Not huge on a weekly basis, but over the course of a year it adds up to a significant amount of money.   Wish I could say the same for the rest of the business, but sales are flat.  That leaves three options; 1) Find news ways, ideas to generate sales, 2) find other places where we can save money or 3) lay people off.  There are some things I am working on regarding 1 and 2 and if it comes to 3 well, I have some ideas on that front too. 

     Well, I am going to go catch the rest of the baseball game.  The Pirates are 3 outs away from making the post season for the second consecutive season, after missing the playoffs for 20 straight years, so this little thing just might merit my attention.  Toodles.
    

Blogger 365 Day 265 - A single year

     I am not sure when the idea of today's blog came to me, I think it was on the ride to my parent's place this weekend, but I realized that it was the 19th on Friday and while that day means nothing to me is specific or the world in general, it meant that I made it through the last year completely single.

     Not sure things are all that much different now compared to a year ago.  Well not where my feelings towards Ruth are concerned anyway.  I still carry a very deep amount of anger and hatred for what she put me through with the lies and deceit and if given the chance I am still not certain I wouldn't be more than willing to pay that back in spades. 

     Don't get me wrong, I know that relationships end all the time, people drift apart and what not, but when you realize that you were being lied to not once or twice but for the better part of two straight years regarding pretty much everything, for that I am not much of a forgive and forget guy. 

     I realize that being this way is not going to win me many friends, but for that I pretty much don't care because I have never really been all that concerned with having any sort of mass appeal anyway.  I can live with me and I am pretty much the only one who has to.  The people I want around me are ones that are honest with me above all else, the rest can go jump off a bridge.

     Well that came out pretty cold and mean spirited, but then I have been that way for better than a year now.  I guess it is just part of my charm. 

Blogger 365 Day 264 - Explaining myself

         Now that I am back in my apartment I can blog a little more freely than I could last night.  I went home on Saturday to both check up on my mom, who seems to be better than when I talked to her on the phone Friday and to help with future repairs to their trailer.

      I am sure I mentioned it in the past but a little while back the trailer across the street from my mom's place caught on fire.  The blaze was quick and very hot, three people died in the fire including a nine year old girl, and because of the proximity of my mom's place to the fire, her place suffered damage both from the heat, which cause some of the siding to melt, and the water because the firemen hosed down their home to keep it from going up in flames also.  An unintended consequence was that hosing down my mom's place ended up damaging the roof.  

     So naturally there was an insurance claim filed to cover the damage and one company came out and gave the insurers an estimate, but then they never actually showed up to do the job.  This process went on for a good three months, and anyone who has been around here this summer knows that while we didn't have monsoon season, we did have extended periods where it would rain off and on for days, each day making the damage that originally happened even worse.  It was so bad that part of the ceiling collapsed in the master bedroom, making the room completely uninhabitable.  Water damage also got into the walls and floor, ruining the bed, the carpet and at least half of the floor.  So my project on my day off was to assist in moving the remaining furniture and stuff in the bedroom and then tear out the remaining carpet so the whole floor can be recarpeted. 

     This is when you come to appreciate just how much stuff people have, because there wasn't enough space in the rest of the trailer to put the stuff that was still in there.  Mike and I managed to bag up most of it, as well as dust all of the stuff that was coated from the work that was previously done, then tear out the rest of the remaining carpet.  Of course doing this might have shown another problem, as there is another spot in the floor that looks like it is water damaged and may need replaced as well.  We probably spent a good 5 hours just moving stuff around and removing carpet (which I did most of) before we called it a day. 

     I might end up going back next weekend and helping again, apparently the new carpet is coming on the 29th and everything has to be ready for it to be installed, though I still have no idea where a lot of this stuff will go.  Hopefully the installers will be able to work around it and move it as needed, if not I have no clue where things such as the giant vanity/dresser are going to go.  And I want no part of unpacking everything we packed up today, I swear I bagged up like 6 garbage bags full of stuffed animals that I do not want to put back when everything is finally done.  I'll leave the unpacking to the professionals, I am only good at breaking stuff, not fixing it.

Blogger 365 Day 263 - Home for now

I am not going to ramble on tonight, I just got in a little while ago to my mom's place and I am pretty tired.  I was up early doing laundry and then there was a full work day lol owed by the hour long ride back here and I am just tired.  Besides I am never comfortable blogging here, this is something that I am better at on my home turf.  So rather than type things while wondering if someone is looking over my shoulder I will just save it for tomorrow night instead.

Blogger 365 Day 262 - Scared, sort of

     Today should have been one of those typical days at work, with a few twists to be sure, but nothing out of the ordinary.  I did have some items that I had to enter into the system, we switched dairy providers on Tuesday which meant that all of the old dairy products that were in the system were no longer valid, and all of the new products had to be entered into the system.  Only two and a half pages of bar codes that needed to be entered, a time consuming process to be sure.  After all if you have seen the dairy case at your local grocery store, well, we carry pretty much everything they do, maybe even a few more things because of the variety of sizes involved.   On top of that I had my normal nonsense to deal with, but we had a keypad on a register go down so I had to try and fix it (but failed). 

     While I was working on getting all of the new dairy products into the register system I got a call on my cell phone.  That is not unusual, most of the calls I get are at work and are work related, but when I looked at the number on the screen I realized this wasn't one of those.  Instead it was from the same cell number as when my family showed up a couple of weeks ago and the casino excursion took place.  Since it was from home I figured I better pick it up.

     Turns out it was my mom's husband, he called to say that he was worried about her.  Apparently she has been experiencing some delusions, like when he would go pick things up for dinner or run out and get something, she would say to make sure that he gets something for me as well.  Mind you, I haven't been home since the family reunion back in July.  So Mike asked me to give her a call, which I did almost as soon as I got off the phone with him.  It was an odd sort of phone call, almost like she wasn't completely there.  In fact there were a couple of instances where she didn't even realize that I hadn't been around in a couple of months, she asked when I left.  Now my mom has been known to confusing names when talking, then again with the size of our family I am sure if you sat me down and had me try to name all of the cousins and aunts and uncles I have, I would be a pretty good bet to mess up a few myself, so if she were to juxtapose a name in a conversation, I never would pay it much mind.  But to have absolutely no idea if I was or wasn't even home.  Had I had the means I probably would have left work right then, it worried me that much.  But since I couldn't I called up my uncle Mouse (it's a nickname, he was not named Mouse at birth okay) and asked if he could give her a call, just a check up sort of thing in case I was being too worried.   If I was that is good, if I wasn't then he lives much closer than I do.

     About 20 minutes later I got a call back, Mouse said it sounded like everything was okay so maybe I am worrying over nothing.  But after I got home tonight I got another call from Mike, he wanted to know if I would be available this weekend, they need to clean out one of the bedrooms so new carpet can be brought in because of the fire damage that is only now being fixed.  I said I would be available Sunday, so Saturday night after I get off of work I am going to head home and have a Sunday full of furniture moving and carpet removing, but probably best of all I will be able to keep an eye on my mom, even if it is only for a day or so, just to make sure things are okay on the home front.

     Okay, enough rambling on about things no one else is interested in.  I am off to take a nap, do some laundry and bang out a Saturday full of fun at work.  Yay me!!!!

Blogger 365 Day 261 - I knew this day would come

     I knew today was going to happen some day, with the way things went earlier in the week it was only a matter of time before I was sat down to have a talk about my people skills or lack thereof.  The talk actually went better than expected, not that Ed ever really yells at anyone, but he manages to get his point across.  And I think I managed to get my point across as well, which I said in a previous entry but I guess it might bear repeating, that if he wants me to be a manager he s correct I need to handle people better, by the same token when I say something it should just be treated as a polite suggestion, it is something that should be done.  I should have people just ignoring me and doing whatever they want despite what I tell them. 

     I think I might have made some ground on that front because he told me if we need to we will put out a new ad and get people new employees in the store if that is what it takes.  Not that I want to go on a firing rampage (okay, some days I do) but I need to be able to rely on he people that are there, sooner rather than later because Ed will be doing his winter long sojourn to Florida in the near future and if I can't then I need to get some that I can rely on. 

Blogger 365 Day 260 - Biding time

Just typing a little bit while waiting for my Marvel Puzzle Quest guys to heal up.  I m really getting stuck on that game, probably more than is actually healthy to be, but it is fun in the way that puzzle games can sometimes be (think Bejeweled Blitz) but with a collectible card aspect to it as well.  I am sure that the collectible part is to try and get people to pay money for the app, but I will not be one of those people.  Usually I dedicate myself to it when I see a goal that is both attainable and one I can use, in this case there is a tournament where if you reach a certain point level you get a Colossus card.  The thing about the game is you collect cards so that your heroes (or villians) have stronger abilities. 

Cards are rated by stars, 1 through 4, the 1 star characters are the easiest to get, 4 stars are the rarest.  Getting a card s not enough though because each character also has either two or three abilities and you have to collect 5 of a specific color to max out that ability.  Characters with two abilities are maxed out at 10 cards (5 on each), characters with three abilities get maxed out at 13 (either 5,5,3 or 5,4,4) but collecting the cards to get to 10 or 13 is the long process behind it, and like I said, the higher rated cards are harder to get, so it takes longer to max out one of those characters abilities.  I have yet to max out any three star characters, s when an event comes along where one of the prizes is a card that I need for an existing character, I spend more time on it.

How's that for boring?  Probably makes you wish I had talked about my fantasy football teams instead.  Honestly I would prefer not to, thank you very much.  Both of my teams lost so I am 1-1 in both leagues, but my teams were just decimated with injuries after week #2.  I managed to lose 3 running backs on one team, all of whom are expected to miss 4 to 6 weeks.  If it were Texas Hold Em I might like having three of a kind, but it isn't and I don't.  The other team has two guys who are hurt, so right now all I can say is thank goodness for Obamacare.  

I did send out some early invites for a fantasy hockey league I want to run in a few weeks.  I would put a link o it here, but I know my chance of getting someone on this page who is interested in fantasy hockey is just about nil, so I will not go to that extent with it.  I will say that the league is called Vinegar Strokes, which anyone who watches "The League" will get that reference, everyone else probably not.

Work wasn't as bad today as yesterday, but that is because I am just now refusing to ask people to do things, I will just do them myself.  It's easier that way.  If people lose hours or responsibilities because of it, I don't much care.  Next time maybe simple instructions will be followed.

Well time for me to do some more hacking and slashing.  I need 3000 points and I don't get bonus points for words typed, so I am outtie like a belly button.

Blogger 365 Day 259 - Abuse of power

     No, I am not going to go off on someone who is on some sort of power trip, that isn't the meaning of the title at all.  Rather just the opposite.  As we all know I was promoted to store manager back at the beginning of June.  Now just because I have that title, I try not to let things go to my head too much.  I still do lots of things that others who held my position previously never would or could do.  So for me it was no big thing to be there on Saturday tearing apart the hot dog roller and getting it cleaned and working again.  It is just who I am and what I do.

     That being said, I am a manager.  When I say something ideally it should be followed, yet it seems like when I do say something it is treated as nothing more than a polite suggestion, then if the employees decide that it seems like a good idea they do it, if not then they just go about their business as if I didn't exist and what I said meant nothing.  And honestly it is starting to piss me off. 

       I even told Ed as much today, simply saying that if he wants me in this position where I am going to make decisions then I can't have the employees just ignoring everything I say.  I will gladly take responsibility if I say something or do something and it turn out to be the wrong course of action, I will not stand for asking people to do one thing only to turn around and have them do the exact opposite.
 
     So to say today didn't go well would be an understatement.  Just hope tomorrow is better.
     

   

Blogger 365 Day 258 - Yet again

     Another one of those days where my energy just eluded me.  I was okay when I first got into work and managed to power through some serious paperwork and other projects, in part because Ed was leaving early today and I wanted to make sure I had everything he needed before he left.  After he left I got the deposits ready, asked Sammy if he wanted to come to the bank with me (I was carrying about $20,000, so some backup was just a common sense precaution)) and after doing the deposits I bought us hot dogs from our favorite street vendor and we ate on the way back to the store.  But once I got back, just nothing.  Eating in the middle day either made me sleepy or something else did, because I just wanted to do nothing after I got back.  I checked in a lottery order and filed away some paperwork and then came home, albeit with a quick stop at the store formerly known a Gus Millers. 

     But once I go home it was all I could do to keep my eyes open.  And sure enough I was asleep by 5pm, how that affects how I sleep tonight I have no idea.

Blogger 365 Day 257 - Disappointments

     Not much to say today, I kept it a me day where I stayed in for the most part.  Went out and grabbed a coffee and took my normal Sunday stroll around the neighborhood but other than that I didn't do much of anything.  Another potential busy week is coming up at work, so I just wanted to rest and get ready for it and for the most part I succeeded on that front.   About the only thing I did was play Marvel Puzzle Quest and follow my fantasy football teams, who both sucked today.  Good thing I won both of my games last week because this week I almost assuredly lost at least one of them.  That's really it.  No long drawn out nonsense or complaining or me bitching about something or other.   Sorry to disappoint.

Blogger 365 Day 256 - Late again

     Just getting settled in after work.  Okay not just, but I need a few minutes to myself before I wind down enough to crack open the laptop and try typing something.  I actually got in about an hour and a half ago.  Honestly, I haven't even fed myself yet.  I had a hot dog at work, only after I tore the hot dog roller apart and fixed it, a project that consumed a couple of hours because I am the only person that bothers even cleaning it.  Shame to because our hot dogs can be pretty good, especially the jalapeno ones, which is what I had today.  

     It is actually kind of quiet right now, which is unusual for Oakland on a weekend.  Last night certainly wasn't quiet, people partying until the wee hours.  Thankfully I didn't have to be up early, though it probably would have been better had I done so, it wasn't mandatory so I didn't. 

     I have had a toothache for about the last day and a half now.  For most people I imagine they might schedule a trip to the dentist or something crazy practical like that, but working 6 days a week I am on the "numb my face with aspirin" plan, hoping I have more aspirin than the toothache has days where it is painful.  I keep a bottle of aspirin on my desk at work as well as one at home, so as soon as I start to feel a certain level of pain plying through I just swallow another 3 or 4 and play on.  Usually after a couple of days of this the pain subsides enough that I do not have to snack on pills all day long.

     I finally let my Pogo membership expire.  I could sign up again, but I just don't play games there enough anymore, usually I am playing on Facebook or on my iPad so I am not sure what the point is of spending money over there.  I haven't spent money on that site in years but because of my Coke reward points I had been able to keep up my membership.  Now the only thing being offered by Coke is one month subscriptions, they used to have 3 month, 6 month and year levels also, I just don't want to have to go through the hassle of applying a pass every month to keep playing for free, even though I probably have enough points for 6 months right now.  Plus I never won anything on the site anyway, at least anything of value.  The only prizes I ever won were stupid screen savers or wallpapers.  Hell if I would have even gotten a coffee mug after 7 years there I might be inclined to stick around but it just isn't worth the hassle.

     Well it is almost midnight I should wrap this up.  Lookie there, I got this done before the day ended.  Go me!!!!

Blogger 365 Day 255 - Karaoke Friday - "Pigs get fat.......

     The beginning of the quote in the title, which in its entirety reads "Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughtered." is attributed to owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban.  He made reference to that when talking about the NFL, how its size and air of invincibility might ultimately come back to bite it in the ass.  Already this week we had the Ray Rice incident rerear it's ugly head with a new video and now pictures of Adrian Peterson's son are on TMZ, showing the switch marks he left on his son's body after disciplining him.  I am already thinking about what the NFL's slogan might be for their upcoming Breast Cancer Awareness Month this season.  Probably something along the lines of "If breast cancer doesn't beat you, our players will." 

     Well I will stay away from the hogs for now, and just stick with the pigs, though to be fair they are Big Pig.   Sing along if you like........



Well let me tell you a story of Hungry Town
Where the men love men and women kiss the ground
I got my hat and a dollar bill
Lord I feel so hungry I'm feeling ill

Well Hungry Town people got nothin to eat
They're scratching the dirt trying to plant the seed
When night time comes it's time for bed
Well now I gotta fight just to lay my head

Well it's a Hungry Town
Where people kiss the ground
And the higher you go
That's where the feeling grows
There's a world out there
Where people just don't care
About what's going down
Right here in Hungry Town

Well let me tell you a story about Hungry Town
Where the men love men and women kiss the ground
I got my hat and a dollar bill
Lord I feel so hungry I'm feeling ill

Well it's a Hungry Town
Where people kiss the ground
And the higher you go
That's where the feeling grows
There's a world out there
Where people just don't care
About what's going down
Right here in Hungry Town

Well it's a Hungry Town
Where people kiss the ground
And the higher you go
That's where the feeling grows
There's a world out there
Where people just don't care
About what's going down
Right here in Hungry Town

Hungry Town , Hungry Town , Hungry Town , Hungry Town.
Hungry Town, I feel so cold.
Hungry Town, I feel so alone.
Hungry Town, I feel so cold.
Hungry Town, I feel so alone.
Hungry Town, I feel so cold.
Hungry Town, I feel so alone.

Bogger 365 Day 254 - What is wrong with me?

     I'll admit that often after a day at work I come home and I am tired but then I sit down in front of my computer and do some things and next thing I know time has flown by and I am up way too late.  It is not the best possible schedule for anyone, but it is one that I have managed to navigate for a bit. Until today that is.

     I am not sure why, but I just was dead tired today.  Absolutely zero energy to speak of.  The whole day just felt like I was walking in quicksand.  It could be that I worked a longer, and more physical day yesterday than I normally do.  We had a freezer delivered, one to take the place of out two door freezer that we were having issues with.  This one is a single door, so there is less room in it, but it will be easier to move around should we have any problems with it.  To get it installed though we had to take out the two door freezer, a process that eventually involved moving 4 shelf racks and 7 coolers just to get it out of the store.  Now I don't mind getting my hands dirty at work, I am more of a lead by example type, I will not ask anyone to do something I wouldn't do, so when a project like this comes along I am not going to just sit at my desk and hand down edicts of who should do what, I am most likely going to be in the middle of what is happening. 

     The project took better than an hour and a half to complete and by the time we were done I still had tons of work I had to get done so my day ended up being about 3 hours longer than normal and when I finally got home I just wanted a beer or three, so I went to my local watering hole and drank, probably too much.   By the time I got home and started making my dinner it was after 11pm, and till I ate and fell asleep it was probably after midnight.  Mind you that is still an early night for me, I can be up until 2 or 3 in the morning. But when I woke up today it was literally a struggle just to get into the shower.  Not a hangover struggle, I was fine in that regard, just no energy whatsoever.

     Even when I did get into work it just felt like I was plodding along, not really making any [progress on anything, though truth be told, the day went more according to schedule, but I felt more like I was along for the ride than an active participant in it.  By the time I got home it was all I could do to keep from falling asleep once I got in the door.  Still not sure I am all that awake, maybe I should have taken a nap, but I think if I would have done that I would have just slept straight through till morning. 

     Perhaps now would be a good time to go to bed, it is 9:30, most reasonable people would consider this a good bed time, and who knows, maybe tomorrow I will have little bit more ooomph than I have today.

Blogger 365 Day 253 - Really?

     So now the NFL is bringing in independent  investigators to see if the league handled the Ray Rice case appropriately.  Really?  Is that the best Roger Goodell could do to protect his own ass.  Let's not kid anyone, the video of Ray Rice striking his girlfriend and knocking her unconscious in an elevator was in the possession of the local prosecutor and Ray Rice's own attorney, so just because the video wasn't out there for public consumption does not mitigate the fact that the video was out there for the NFL's consumption, should they want it all that much.  The fact of the matter is they didn't.  Just like they didn't want Janay Palmer's testimony all that much, so they had her tell her side of the story while the man who beat her was in the room. Nothing screams coerced testimony quite as much as having the victim of abuse tell their side of the story while their abuser is in the room.

     I go back to what I said before, either the NFL had seen the video and was complicit in a coverup or they were willfully ignorant and didn't want to see what was readily available to them, that being the video of Ray Rice punching his now wife and knocking her unconscious.   Either option is grossly inadequate of the hierarchy of a professional sports league.  Roger Goodell needs to resign and he needs to do it today, each day that he remains in the chair of NFL commissioner is a day where the league gives tacit approval to beating women, as long as nobody sees it, or claims to have seen it.

Blogger 365 Day 252 - Aaaargh, there be glitches

     I am at a loss as to what just happened.  Well technically it didn't just happen, the just part would have been me fixing what happened previously.

     As anyone who has followed this little project of mine (I'm gonna let it shine....) knows, I have been trying to do a post a day for the entire calendar year.  There have been a couple of misses on my part, either due to me or to existing time constraints, but I have been able to double back and get caught up again, so while technically there hasn't been an entry each and every day, there has been one for each day of the year thus far.

     That brings me to today's issue.  Yesterday I had a longer day at work, though not so long that I didn't have time to post. In fact I managed to bang out a pretty lengthy piece (by Blogger 365 standards) and one that wasn't about me, also a rarity on this project.  I remember actually posting it, and yet when I went to my blogger page today the actual post wasn't there.

     This could be attributed to simply my mind playing tricks on me, maybe I though I had done something, namely post the words that I had already written, when in fact I didn't dot all of my i's and cross all of my t's as it were.  So I came back to the dashboard and there was my entry, still sitting in my draft folder.  Okay, so I obviously forgot to do a step.  Or did I?

     You see, because I was so sure that I had in fact done something I went and did some research.  I often cross post or cross promote what I write here on both Facebook and on Google+.  Usually those two places are what drives traffic on here, not that many people have my page bookmarked as must read material, and rightfully so.  As a result of that effort, pretty much every post I do here gets at least 10 views, some far more (though what makes one post more popular than another is like a woman to me, I will never figure it, or them out) but usually at least 10.  So why was there 6 views of a post that was in my draft folder, where technically only I could see it and I don't reread my material all that much?  And if I didn't post it, then why were there links on both my Facebook newsfeed and my Google+  feed?  I may be mistaken, but I don't think those buttons are available when a post is still in draft phase.

     It should be noted that I did get a few error messages while putting together yesterday's entry, though most of them had a close option and after closing the error message I was able to continue typing with no real issue to my knowledge.  In fact I didn't know anything was wrong until I sat down and was wondering just what I would write about today.  I guess I found my answer to that question, didn't I?

     So I am gong to try to publish this, as well as look back on my page and make sure yesterday's post didn't disappear again into my draft folder.  Wish me luck.

Blogger 365 Day 251 - Ricecapades

     So it comes to this, Ray Rice has been cut by the Baltimore Ravens and subsequently suspended indefinitely by the NFL.   Let's go all Peabody and Sherman and do a way back thing here.

     The story begins when Ray Rice caught dragging his unconscious girlfriend (now his wife) from an elevator in a casino in Atlantic City.  The NFL and local prosecutors naturally investigate the matter.  The local prosecutors allow Ray Rice to enter a pre trial domestic violence program, thereby avoiding a trial.  The NFL, lead by commissioner Roger Goodell, as part of their investigation, meet with Rice's girlfriend (with Ray Rice in the room) and decide to suspend Ray Rice for a total of two games in the upcoming NFL season, a suspension that is met with a large amount of derision given how the league has handed down punishments in the past for violations which are arguably far less severe.

    Then last week Goodell admits that perhaps he got the Ray Rice punishment wrong, and that in the future the league will punish players who commit acts of domestic violence with a 6 game suspension for the first offense and a second offense will result in being permanently banned from the league.

     Within the last 24 hours though, TMZ has released a video of what happened inside the elevator, which consists of Ray Rice unloading on his girlfriend with a left hook and knocking her unconscious.  Here is the video goodness (or badness in this case)......



     Now anyone conducting any sort of competent investigation would have had access to this video.  when it comes to a casino, there are very few places that are not monitored by cameras, as anyone with half a brain would know.  If the local prosecutors wanted this video, they certainly would have had legal access to obtain it.  Likewise if the NFL or the Baltimore Ravens wanted access to this video, it would not have been all that hard to obtain.  So either the legal prosecutors and the NFL were incredibly inept or were content to keep their heads in the sand, or they did see the video and all of this has been a coverup.  Neither theory does well for those whose job it was to ascertain what actually happened.  It is a level of incompetence that for most of us would result in our termination.

     So far what has actually happened.  Ray Rice is technically out of a job, though whether that will be permanent remains to be seen.  A team may take a chance on offering him a contract in the hope that his indefinite suspension from the league is not a permanent one, though whatever team would make such a move would commit a PR nightmare.  And the people who were responsible for looking into the matter to determine what happened?  They all are still happily employed, because to them protecting people

Blogger 365 Day 250 - Way too fast

    My one day off this week and all I can say it that it went far faster than I would have hoped.  Then again part of the reason was that I ended up sleeping more than I had originally planned on.  After my long day at work yesterday I didn't get to bed until after 3am, then I woke up around 9am, puttered around the apartment for a bit and made some lunch/dinner.  That is where I make enough food that I just nosh on it all day, today it was a pot of spaghetti and meatballs.  Nothing fancy.

     I tried to stay awake for football this afternoon, but by halftime of the early games I was already napping.  Until I woke up it was after 6pm, and by then my thoughts of taking an afternoon walk were pretty much shot, so I am just wallowing in my laziness until work tomorrow. 

     Maybe after the late game I will get up and take a late night walk, work off some of the pasta I ate, who knows. 

Blogger 365 Day 249 - A pattern is developing here

     Another post that is coming in after deadline.  Not that I had much of a choice tonight either.  I started work at 12:30 pm and didn't finish up until almost 1am.  plenty of stuff needed taken care of and truth be told, I could still be there if I wanted to be, but at some point you just have to call it a day, and get geared up for the next one.  So that is what I will be doing for a while, just resting and getting ready for the next barrel of fun to come my way, either Sunday or Monday.  Or maybe I will just call off and let Melissa Rivers work for me, since she doesn't have a job anymore.

Blogger 365 Day 248 - Unexpected

     Yes I am late again.  At least this time I have a good excuse, one that doesn't even involve alcohol.  Imagine that.

     First I ended up getting out of work late, nothing all that unusual there.  Until I got home and settled in it was already 6pm, and then I threw a couple of chicken breasts in the skillet and made some sandwiches.  I did carve out a half hour for Quick Draw, one of my guilty pleasures on Hulu.  New episodes are posted on Friday, so it is a nice relaxing way to kick off my weekend.

     I opted not to do a casino run tonight, I was just going to be content sitting at home and relaxing.  Around 8pm I was just getting ready to open up Blogger, not sure what I was going to write but realizing I had to write something.  So I opened up a second window on Talk is Jericho on PodcastOne, figuring it would give me some background noise as I was writing.  Then my phone rang.  Or should I say my land line rang.

     The thing about my house phone is that there are times where I will not even be bothered to pick it up.  The voicemail kicks in after two rings, so it isn't like it just rings and rings, but I was just not in the mood to talk on the phone.  If it was important stuff from work then I am sure they will call my cell phone.  Not more than a minute later, the cell phone rings.  Oh boy.  I look and I do not recognize the cell phone number, only that it is local.   So I pick up the phone expecting the worst.

     Turns out it was my mom, she asked if I was at home, which I said I was. She then asked why I didn't answer my house phone, I lied and said I was in the bathroom.  She said that they would be here in 15 minutes to pick me up.  Of course I had to ask, pick me up to go where?  I am literally lounging in my apartment in nothing but boxer shorts and now someone wants to take me some place in 15 minutes.  So I quickly hop into the shower and splash water on myself, and then threw on some clothes and closed up everything on the the computer just in time to meet them. 

     Apparently they were just bored and wanted to go for a drive, though I think part of it was Mike wanting to show off his new truck.  They don't have four cars now, instead Mike traded in both his Corvette and his Avalanche to get this truck, which actually made them a little bit of money, they got more for the trade ins then they spent on the new truck.  Our drive ended up being a trip to Red Robin, since I already ate something when I first got home I had the smallest burger they had (Tavern Double) and some fries.  Afterward they decided that they wanted to go to the casino, my mom doesn't have a casino card for the Rivers yet, so off we went.  The thing is when I go I always take the subway which stops right outside the casino, I am unsure how to drive there or what turns to take.  Turns out I wasn't  the only one who didn't know.  our path to get there would have looked like one of those Family Circle cartoon diagrams, dotted lines going all over the place and never to the same place twice.  At one point we got stuck on the West End Bridge, so I snuck them in the back way to Mt Washington, via Wabash Street just so we could get back into the city. 

     Eventually we did get to the casino, I didn't take my pull tabs with me because I didn't know we were going.  The weekly bonus this month apparently is only $10, so I broke even.  Not sure how my mom did, though I think she only spent 3 or 4 bucks.  By the time we got done running around and I got home it was already after 11pm.  So see, there is a reason this is so late. 

     Now I think I am off to bed, I do have to work in the morning, no more holiday weekend fun for me.  Back to the 6 days a week grind which means I am in the office bright and early tomorrow, or dullish gray and late, whichever works.

Blogger 365 Day 247 - What will she do now?

     So apparently Joan Rivers passed away today.  I am neither saddened or overjoyed by her passing.  Honestly I have never found her to be all that funny or talented, but maybe I missed the boat on that and she was funny and talented before I was born.  It's possible I suppose. 

     While I am ambivalent about her passing, there is one person who most certainly isn't, that being Melissa Rivers.  Not simply because her mother passed away, but let's not kid anyone, without her mother opening doors, Melissa Rivers is a nobody.  An epidemic lack of talent who managed to ride her mother's coattails to what little fame she has gotten.  And now?  Who knows?  Is anyone really going to be pining for a Melissa Rivers solo act on the red carpet of any awards show?  Or for her to sit in for a vacationing late night host? Certainly with a plethora of cable channels one of the vast assortment of them may make a play for Melissa Rivers, hoping her now dead mother's name may draw ratings but there are so many cable channels nowadays that even shitty programming like Honey Boo Boo is out there, so simply being on TV is not all that much of an accomplishment, especially when the path has already been cleared based solely on name recognition.

      It almost makes me wish for a famous dead relative, but not quite.

Blogger 365 Day 246 - The pounding

Not going to type very long, I have a throbbing headache and while aspirin helps with it the best thing for it is sleep, because then I am not concentrating on it.  So rather than type and be awake, I am going to go back to bed and try sleeping.  More to report tomorrow.

Blogger 365 Day 245 - Sorry culture

     I sat down at my computer today after work, not really looking for anything in specific, just going through my normal routine including checking my Facebook account.  I don't do nearly the apps over there that I used to, about the only thing I "play" on Facebook is the Chess Puzzle of the Day, but I do see if some of my friends and relatives have posted anything new and I will scroll through the newsfeed.  Beyond that though I actually don't do much with it, much of what is mine that pops up over there, like this blog entry, are actiually created elsewhere and then just cross posted from other places.  I am sure that annoys the shit out of people when I am doing things like listening to Pandora, and my songs start littering my personal newsfeed.  At least it isn't pictures of cats, right?

     It comes as a surprise to me then that today's blog is somewhat inspired by my time spent on Facebook.  While there i noticed a note over in the trending section and I went ahead to click through and see what all of the trending fuss was about.  Apparently the singer CeeLo Green had deleted his Twitter account. Not exactly earth shattering news, but the reason for his shutting down of Twitter was from some blowback he received when he posted some tweets suggesting that a woman who is unconscious can't be raped.  This was in response to his pleading no contest in a case where he was accused of spiking the drink of a dinner companion.  Yes, that is some pretty horrific shit right there to be pleading no contest to, just to get an easier sentence, but to then turn to Twitter and defend your actions as if it is some sort of even remotely acceptable behavior is beyond the pail.

     Anyone who has learned anything about how the world operates tese days though should know how this plays out, after closing his Twitter account, CeeLo was back the next day apologizing for the words he typed or wrote a mere day earlier, because nothing is so bad that a simply apology can't make up for it a day later.  It is just standard operating procedure now, screw up, apologize, usually with a mea culpa along the lines of how much what happened really isn't like the author or actor in question and all will be forgiven. 

     Maybe that works in the grand scheme of things, but it doesn't work for me personally.  These rants, or whatever you want to call them, are more like windows to the soul, for the first time I get to see just who these people truly are.  I get to see what a Michael Richards thinks of black people, or CeeLo Green thinks of sexually assaulting a woman and no number of apologies can change that fact.  I have no use of the wash, rinse, repeat, repeat cycle their publicists have them put out in order to continue to cash checks from the public at large. And no, I am not going to apologize for feeling that way.

  

Blogger 365 Day 244 - What the fuck was that?

     Today was one of those long days at work today.  We weren't busy, we never are on Labor Day, even though the actual parade runs right out in front of the store.  The Labor Day parade is a lot like a Little League baseball game, a few parents and family members show up to view it and not much else.  So while there were marching bands and hundreds of laborers (on anti-laborers since they were not working) the actual crowd on the sidewalk could probably be counted with just your fingers and maybe a couple of toes.

     Still because I had the weekend off there was a lot for me to do, even if the store wasn't busy.  The accountant was still showing up today and I was about half a week behind on my invoices, the sales numbers still needed done, even if we couldn't go to the bank, Sunday marked the last day of the month so the paperwork would have to be done separately from the sales we do today, so it was easier for me to get it done now rather than tomorrow.  Of course when I got in one of the lottery machines was having an issue dispensing tickets, so I had to fix that, one of the slushie machines was down (I didn't fix that yet), I already had a large order I had to price and put together for Tuesday, the sooner I got that finished the less work I would have tomorrow as well.  I also did an inventory of our cigarette room, printed up our price changes that came in, looks like I will be repricing all king sized and concession box candies this week, went over question Ed had on our coffee prices and reloaded our Freal machine, since we now have Pumpkin Cheesecake milkshakes.

     By the time I got home all I wanted to do was sit down and relax, so I plugged in my laptop and fired it up and it was reading that I was running on battery power.  First I thought maybe something was wrong with the wall plug, so I switched outlets.  Still not working properly, I checked the outlets with other appliances, they worked so my electric wasn't shut off.  I then tried unplugging and replugging my laptop.  It would briefly say it was charging then go back to running off of battery power.  I tried rebooting the computer still nothing.  I even tried blowing the potential dust out of both the end of the cable and the input into the laptop.  Still nothing.  Finally I just disconnected the battery and then reattached it and now the outlet cable is working fine.  Don't know why my laptop would hiccup like that, hope it isn't a sign of bigger and badder problems.  I have been having an increased number of Shockwave crashes recently, I ran malwarebytes, got nothing.  Now I am running Avast, but I am expecting more of the same.  I just don't want it to be one of those buy another computer things, this laptop is a little over a year old and I kind of like it, I'd hate to have to replace it.  I like my iPad for some things, but web surfing and blogging are not two of those things, and I would hate to have to blow the cobwebs out of my desktop because it runs about as slow as someone trying to take a shit after eating government cheese. 

     Anyway I am off to finish this scan (57% so far, nothing found) and then get ready for bed.  Tomorrow will be another long day, I already know that much.