%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
My thoughts released; a mind set free |
|
These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here, I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. |
| It went and got late on me --- now how did that happen? Seriously, I had big plans to get in here today, early. But, I also had to do a bit of work, some of the, off the clock stuff on my day off. I had planned to get up real early and get it done. Last night ended up being a kind of late night, however, so I slept in a bit later. Then, this morning, I was so enjoying coffee with my wife, that I decided to have another cup before going in. I did go in, but it was now late morning instead of early. No problems, though, the guard I was going in to review things with and do a bit of training did not know I was going to show up. We had a good review, did some training, answered questions and had a productive session. Then, it was about time for his shift to end, and my wife's to begin. So I just stuck around and talked with him a bit. When Rhonda showed up, he left, and I went over a few training items with her, then talked for a few minutes before I left. Of course, it was lunch time now, and since it was my day off, and I was done with training, I could resort back to being a husband instead of a boss, and went and picked up lunch for us to enjoy together. I know, technically, no visitors at work, and now, that's what I was. Hell, even the boss has to stretch the rule once in a while. Anyway, that put me home kind of late in the afternoon, and I was ready to dive into some off work stuff. But my headache was returning and I was much too tired. I decided I'd stretch out for a few minutes, and slept until about five. So much for today. It was a good day. I just didn't get to my intended tasks. I wanted to get online and especially in here for a bit, then I wanted to put on some soothing music, pick through the notes I wrote last night at work, and try and get some work done on the story I kind of got started yesterday. Yes, I started writing a short little story yesterday at work, and as I jotting it down, I continued to think of more content to add to it. I should have a pretty fair sized short story by the time I finish it. Now, I just have to make the time to do that, before it sits to long without being worked on. |
| What could be a better way to start the month, than to get into WdC and write in my journal? Okay, there are a lot of great ways to start the month, WdC being one of them. I agree, it would be better if I was writing in a story or poem, and certainly it would be better if, I was reading and writing some reviews, as well. For me, however, just getting enough time to log in here is difficult, some days, and then I also have to have enough focus and energy to write something when I do. For a while now, it has been quite a battle for me. Most work days I'm up at three in the morning so I should have time after work, being done and home about noon. I tend to be more of a night person, however, and it's been very difficult for me to get to bed before midnight. Also, I have long suffered from waking up during the night, having to run to the bathroom and pee numerous times. This has left me with very little sleep for days at a time, and as the work week progresses, I find I am so tired by the time I get home, I can't accomplish much of anything, except taking a nap. Now, mind you, a good nap should have me rested and ready to go. But, I have never been a nap type person. Even as a very young boy, my mother could not get me to take naps. If she did get me to sleep in the afternoon, it was hell at night because I wasn't falling asleep until the wee morning hours. She had already discovered the problem that still haunts me. That's right, I take a nap, and then I cannot sleep later that night, which of course, means I've now created a late to be, up early, then take a nap, cycle. Even that would be okay if I was functional. But I'm not. I get up after two or three hours of sleep, and I'm miserable. I make it through work, but six to eight hours with little sleep has me wiped out. So, I eat a little lunch and lie down to take my afternoon nap. I figure an hour or two should be sufficient, so I set my alarm and soon I'm out like a light. Somedays I don't even remember hearing the alarm, others I do. Either way, I'm so tired when it goes off, I cannot get myself to fully awake. I hit the snooze, a few times, but it just leaves me even more tired. I sometimes force myself to get up, but I'm not worth a damn, just too tired. I'll fall asleep at the computer, or in my chair. This has led me to not even setting the alarm, knowing I have to get more sleep, but without the alarm set, I'll sleep for three, four, sometimes five hours. Of course, that only adds up to eight hours in a twenty-four hour stretch, but it means my day is now about shot. Oh, and after a nap, I'm groggy and really out of it. It takes a couple of hours for my body to wake up and my mind to become functional again. Which means, it's now bedtime and I can't get to sleep. Anyway, that's the way it tends to go, but I have fought this and have made grounds towards sleeping more at night, getting to bed earlier, and not taking my afternoon naps. Habits, however, are difficult to overcome. I was feeling very good and had this working pretty well, except for a minor setback here and there. I was starting to see results in many areas, more time for everything, and looking forward to spending more time with my writing. I even purchased a book on grammar and mechanics, determined to improve my writing, and editing skills. Then I got sick. Nothing serious, just the flu. I had gotten vaccinated, so I did not get it real bad, but did miss a little work and was kind of miserable for a few days. Soon enough, I was feeling better and looking forward to getting back on task. But, work had me busy on my days off and it seemed something was constantly popping up. For example, this last week I had three days off, plenty of time to get a lot done. But, the corperate office called each of my days off, and I ended up spending my afternoons working, just not on the clock. Also, by Wednesday, I was feeling terrible. I did manage to work all week, but I'm still pretty sick. Fever, body aches, upset stomach, and this nonstop headache. Not a slight throb, but so intense I cannot do anything. Also, nothing seems to do much to take the edge off. I suppose it's still the flu, but I'm not sure. Today is my last day of work, then three days off, again. Already, as if yesterday, I have had something come up at work, and I will have to go in for a while tomorrow, off the clock, to do some training with the new guard. I hope that's it for a while, and I can get the rest of my days off --- off. Now, I'm running behind, I should be on my way to work, and I haven't even gotten dressed... It's already starting! |
| I slept away most of the afternoon, and still did not get rid of this headache. I'm trying a bit of coffee now, wondering if it's lack of caffeine. It's been throbbing all day, and all last night. I didn't sleep the best last night, but that's typical lately. I had a fever most fo the night, along with body aches and this terrible headache. In fact, my whole body was hypersensitive, it hurt to even lie down. I woke the last time around two this morning, an hour before the alarm went off, and for the first time in over two days, I wasn't freezing. Just the opposite, I was way too warm and had to throw off blankets. that means the fever finally broke, but it did not end the headache or any of the other aches. I've had a pretty good day considering, no fever anyway. The headache is the only real problem, although the body aches are kind of a pain, too. But, if I could lose the headache, I could easily bear with the rest of the aches. I was hoping a nice nap would help, but no luck. I think I have discovered what is wrong, but not why it's wrong. I have all the symptoms of severe dehydration. Like I said, I don't know why I'm dehydrating so bad, but that seems to be the culprit. I suspect it's something to do with the detoxifying soup we made. It's supposed to flush our systems while providing ample vitamins and minerals, but for some reason, it's preventing me from holding any water. Perhaps this is why they claim it can provide huge weight loss in a short time, it dehydrates. Makes sense, I guess. Anyway, I did eat a cup of the soup yesterday, and it seemed to have my fever back shortly after. Today, I stayed clear of the soup, and I'm hoping I will do better tonight. I have also drunk a large portion of water through the day. No, not too much, I have drank six eight-ounce servings of water and two eight-ounce servings of juice so far, along with my coffee. I have not drunk as much coffee, and that could be causing some of this headache, too. Anyway, I'm hoping with some re-hydration, I will sleep better tonight, lose the headache, and maybe, just maybe, wake feeling good tomorrow. |
| I'm just going to write a short entry this evening. It's about all I have in me to do. Not sure what's up, but I'm sure feeling wiped out. I felt fine yesterday, but by last night I was kind of achy. Nothing bad, and I'm sure it was only the three mile walk I didsince I'm not use to walking that far. Then during the night, I woke up numerous times to run to the bathroom and pee. That can be kind of normal for me, but I was careful not to drink too much before bed. What was out of the ordinary, was I froze the minute I got out of bed. Sure, our bedroom tends to be kind of cool this time of year, but I'm not talking cold, i'm saying I was freezing. I was shivering, and even upon geting back into the warm bed and snuggling up to my wife, I just couldn't get warm, She asked me each time I returned to bed if I had gone outside, because my body was so cold. that lasted until very early this morning, meaning I got very little sleep, and what I did get wasn't very sound. the last time I got up, I was still feeling cold, but upon returning to bed, my wife's warm body felt cold, and she informed me that I was burning up. I still got up and went to work, but I had to keep it very warm in the guardhouse all day, much warmer than what is normal. After work, I took a nap, but again, I just shivered and froze, getting only a brief nod off here and there. Then, the dogs insisted I get up, but I was freezing and shivering so bad I couldn't do anything. I wrapped up in a quilt, turned the heat up, and tried to nap on the loveseat. Normally I'm the one turning the heat down, or wearing shorts and a tank top because I'm too warm. Not anymore. I may be freezing, but my body is feverish, and it's a very high fever at times. nothing seems to help, and I'm sure that is making me feel more achy and sore. I have no idea what is going on, and I just want it to go away. I have an idea it may be something in the detoxifying soup we have been eating the last few days, that's the only variable that has changed. But, there is the flu going around and one of the people at work just came down with shingles. The easy way to see if the soup is the blame is to not eat any, and if I get over this quickly, then I will know. If, however, I stay away from the soup, and this continues, then I suppose it's time to go see my doctor. I can't tell how high the fever gets, our digital thermometer always reads 97 to 99. I know, get a new one. |
| Today was another nice day. Sunny and warm, only a light breeze; more like spring than January. We, Rhonda and I, took the dogs for a nice walk this afternoon. I hadn't checked the weather, and we did dress a bit over for the temperature, not knowing how it would be out of town, in the open. It was a nice walk, but pretty tiring. It's been a long time since I went for a long walk, and it was three miles of hill. Of course, it wasn't a steady incline, but some up and downs along the way. When we stopped, however, we had gained in altitude and were sitting as high as the roof of the old high school. Hyko, our old Golden Retriever, enjoyed the walk, but he started having some trouble on the way back. He has a problem with one front shoulder, and three miles was a bit much for him. Hopefully he can build up for a hike that long, and longer, but with his age, I just don't know. It was kind of tough for me, as well, but only because I need to drop some excess weight and get in better shape. Rhonda and our other dog, Hannah, did fine. I know I can lose some of this weight and with a little time, be in much better shape. As for Hyko, again, I'm just not sure. But, since he loves coming with, we will have to find the means to provide him an alternative to walking. I mentioned one of those jogging strollers or something similar, that would fold up and pack with us, then if he gets too tired or is having any difficulties, we could cart him back home. Well, looks like I have to finish this up. The office called and I need to take care of some business tonight. There's been a bit of this all three days I have been off, dealing with insurance coverage through work. First it was just information Rhonda and I had to give, and fax a signed copy that we were declining insurance. Now, another person has to do the same, but isn't answering his phone or returning calls. I know the person and his dad, and he does not want insurance through work, but I still need to get a message to him to sign the paperwork so I can fax it. So, I called his dad to relay the information. I also checked his clock-in times, and he was one minute later on Monday and seven minutes late today. I just gave him his final warning last week and was very firm in making sure he understood that if there were any infractions, no matter how minor, he was done. Now, one week later, and he was late for work two out of his scheduled three days. Technically, I should have informed the office that this person does not need insurance, they are out of work. But, knowing his dad, I informed him of this dilemma with the son, and that I have no choice left but to terminate him if he messes up again. I don't know if it will help, but I have given ample opportunity and gone beyond what protocol dictates for procedure. I'm pretty sure I will have to terminate this person, but it won't be for lack of giving him a second, and now third chance. |
| I was going to write earlier, then we had a change of plans and made a run into town for some shopping instead. I had come across a recipe for a very healthy soup and wanted to try this out. I don't go along with the rest of the diet, but I'm sure if I ate just what was listed, I would lose eleven pounds in three days. By the fourth day, depravation would take hold and I'd be gaining back fifteen or more, though. It's a vegetable soup, and has a lot of highly healthy ingredients, as well as full of health benefits, and should help clean out the system and boost metabolism. the only off the wall item it called for was seaweed. I did some research online and seen that there are lots of good things to gain from eating some, and I even discovered that if I purchased the right kind, it would provide my daily needs for iodine. We found a package at the health food store for just under seven bucks, and it's enough to make two batches of soup. I think a bit of chicken would add to the soup, but we are going to try it as it's given first. We have discussed, however, the idea of adding in some chicken, pork, or beef to make it a complete meal. Another thing we discussed and agree on, we will use a bit less ginger next time. It's good, very flavorful and rich, but it has a bit of a bite. We may also need to reduce the tumeric and the hot sauce. It's not overly hot, but it's close. I hope this does what it is suppose to and helps remove toxins from the body, and it should make a good filler to help reduce the quantity of food we eat. We are both good cooks, we both love good food, and we both have very large appetites. This leads to a bit of obesity, and we want to get it back under control. The plan is, not to follow the diet in the magazine. It's a good diet, but in a few days I'm sure we will be sick of chicken, sick of fish,, and sick of brown rice. We discussed it, and agree, the diet is ninety-five percent bogus. Oh, sure, it would work, but it would so limit good food that there is no way to stick to it. I even believe it's healthy, but again, it's too limited on good, rich, and tasty foods. I firmly believe that if a person limits or removes the real good foods, you just set yourself up to fail. No, the idea must be to learn to include more healthy foods along with the favorites, learning to stick to portion sizes, and enjoy in moderation. So, to hell with Dr. Oz, and Dr. Hymen and there detox diet. Even so, they do have some good points, and some good ideas. We will tailor this to fit our tastes and our ideals. The soup is good, it detoxes, and it is low in calories while being rich in vitamins, minerals, and fat-burning ingredients. It should be full of fiber as well, filling, and since it taste good, a nice addition to help quench our appetites. Instead of eating nothing but brown rice, chicken, and fish with it, however, we will add it to our regular diet. We try to eat healthy as much as possible, but still allow for the foods that would be taboo on most diets, in moderation, of course. The soup should cleanse our systems, reduce the bad effects of eating some junk from time to time, and it should help fill us up to eat less. At the same time, we get a good supply of vitamins, minerals, and metabolism boosting ingredients from a natural source, instead of from a pill. I figure, there has to be a balance; a means ot enjoy the good things in life without costing one there health. That's the key we need to find. I, in years past, could eat anything, and I could eat as much as I wanted without any bad effects or weight gain. Now, those days are gone and I have to learn to balance. |
| Alrighty then, here's today's journal entry. I'm hoping this will go alright and I don't start bleeding all over the keys. Nothing serious, just a bit of a cut on my finger. I was butchering a chicken, store bought but whole, and did one of those dumb things, like cutting towards a body part, in this case, my own finger. It didn't help any that I had picked out a very sharp fillet knife and was cutting through a rather stubborn joint at the time. The knife caught, I used more pressure and a slicing movement, and behold, the blade sliced right on through. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, my finger was on the other side and the blade also sliced right into the tip of my finger. I don't believe with went very deep, but it sure wanted to bleed out. Of course, I stopped processing the chicken as soon as I felt the blade against my finger. I went straight to the sink and washed my hands very well, paying special attention to the wounded digit. I rinsed my hands and then re-washed the end of the finger, cleaning the wound well. I then went to the first aid kit to retrieve a bandage and some disinfectant, but discovered we are out of band-aids. I did locate some sterile gauze and some tape, which served the purpose just as well, possibly even better than the band-aid would have. With my finger securely wrapped, I returned to the task and soon finished my work. Tonight, we will dine on chicken breast, sliced thin and seasoned with a blend Mexican blend of spices. I'm not sure at this time just what we will create, but the chicken breast is sliced and seasoned. I'm thinking of cooking up some vegetables with the chicken and putting it all in a tortilla, with some cheese and sour cream. I have some brown rice already cooked, al dente, and will season that as well. On the side, some re-fried beans, of course. Tomorrow the rest of the chicken will be fried up crispy and juicy, then served with potatoes and gravy and a vegetable side dish. After dining tonight, we may have a fire, but I tend to think it will get a bit late, and since Rhonda worked, she will be too tired to sit out around a fire. She and I are both off tomorrow, however, and it's supposed to be very nice out, again. So, if we don't make the fire tonight, we can still enjoy one tomorrow night. I know, it's the wrong time of the year to have a fire in this part of the country. But, we are having spring like temperatures and if we snuggle up with some blankets and a nice fire, we should be comfortable enough. Then, a little brandy to sip and it will be a beautiful evening. Well, it looks like my first aid did the trick. after finishing up the chicken, I had to remove my bandaging and wash my finger real well, again. Since I had used up the remaining tape, I had to try another approach to stop the bleeding and keep the wound sealed. I used some liquid skin, or new skin, something like that, to do the trick. I held it tight and compressed the wound until it had stopped bleeding, then I put the liquid bandage on the wound and let it dry well. It seems to be holding up, and it feels pretty good. |
| This feels strange. "What feels strange," you ask? Actually its a few things. Fist of all, being home on a Sunday morning. Then being in here and writing in my journal this early in the day, and finally, typing on my netbook. I will explain this further, starting with being home on Sunday morning. It's my job. When I started almost three years ago, I worked every other weekend. At least that was the principle, and the way the schedule was set up. In fact, the other person who worked the opposite weekends always took her weekends off, so the schedule was in constant flux, and I worked damn near every weekend. A few months later, I found myself promoted to the position of supervisor. The first thing I did was to uphold the schedule unless someone put in for and was approved time off. I also demanded that unless it was an actual emergency, they had to put the request in at least two weeks and before the schedule was posted. This helped get me a few more weekends off, but there were some emergencies and quite a few legitimate time off requests. Then, about two years back, I had to squeeze out some undesirable persons, and once again found myself working weekends. As I weeded out the bad and replaced them, I continued to have a difficult time finding anyone who was willing to work weekends. At best, it was every other weekend, except for one person, who was the guy who hired me. He worked another job and was only available to work on the weekends. He worked every Saturday and Sunday mornings. This coming May will be my third anniversary and the second year since this person left us. He got sick and had to take some time off. I would have been happy to have him take medical leave, but he wanted to terminate his position, which he did. I still asked him to put in a written two-week notice and to supply me with something stating his medical need to quit working. My intent was to use this if he was curable and wanted to come back to work for us. He gave his notice over the phone, but never worked any of the final two weeks. I understood, considering the nature of his sickness. But he never got back to me at all. I didn't hear from him for just over a year, when one day he shows up and wants his old job back. Of course, with no word at all from him, nothing stating why he even quit, and only his verbal resignation, I had no way to know if he ever intended to return. I had hired another, vamped the schedule to fit the new employees, and now worked every weekend, but only the mornings. My wife worked the afternoons, and the nights were split between a couple of other people. There was no way to grant him his desire to have his same shift back without taking time from everyone and changing everyone's schedules. I'm not certain, but I think I could count every Sunday I have not worked on my fingers. If not, then if I added in my toes I know I would be able to count them all. That's almost three years; in thirty-two months, I have had less than twenty Sundays that I have not been at work. At first, most weekends I worked at night, closing up. But, for most of the last couple of years I've worked mornings and opened. Now, there is some changing to the schedule again, and I'll no longer open on Sundays, but instead will close up. I still open Saturdays, but Rhonda now opens Sunday and I close. It's been a long tie since I've closed up, especially on a Sunda. That's why it feels so strange to be home this morning. That also explains in part why it feels so strange to be writing in my journal. The rest of this is just the fact that I work mornings and am not home to log in to WdC until afternoon. Even on my days off, I don't get a chance to log in until noon or later. But, since I don't go to work today until four o'clock and I got up early with Rhonda, I'm finding it nice to be in here and have this written already. Finally, it's very strange to type much of anything on my netbook. I do on occasion, but not very often. I usually use my laptop for this. It's not anything much, just ease of use, I guess. My laptop has a screen about twice as large so viewing is easier, and my laptop has a standard size keyboard and number pad. This makes typing very easy and very quick, with only minimal mistakes. Of course, I only type at about thirty-five words a minute, and I make plenty of mistakes. But, for me thirty plus words a minute is fast typing, and with the standard keyboard most of my mistakes are mechanics and spelling, not mis-typing errors. My netbook is smaller, so more difficult to view, it has a half-sized, if even that big, keyboard, and my speed is reduced to maybe fifteen to twenty words per minute. I've never timed my typing on here, but that sounds pretty accurate. It's a nice keyboard but it's very compact and I do not have the most graceful fingers when it comes to typing, so I also make many mistakes by not compressing the key down far enough or hitting the wrong key. I also tend to catch more than one key when I type on here. I have to slow down even more to type accurately. I know --- practice. But since I am so limited on time, I tend to just grab my laptop and put off typing on here. Today, again, I have a bit more time, therefore, am using it to become more familiar with this pint-sized keyboard. So, as you can see, today is much different for me. I'm at home instead of at work, I'm in here writing my journal before noon, and I'm writing it out with my netbook. Strange as it feels, it also feels good and I think I a going to enjoy this change to our schedule. |
| It's bedtime so this will have to be a short, quick entry. Not that I have to get up early for work in the morning; the first time I don't have to work a Sunday morning in a long time. Instead, Rhonda is going in to work tomorrow morning, and since it takes her a bit longer to get ready than it does me, she wants to get up at five, instead of our normal six o'clock routine. I will still work, but instead of going in and opening, I'm going in tomorrow afternoon and working till closing. It started when the guy who usually closes wanted to take the night off. But, then he got into a bit of a mess, and since he has had multiple written warnings, could easily gotten fired. I was nice and gave him one more chance to do things right. At the same time as he messed up, he decided he wanted next Sunday night off, too. With his write up, I easily could have cancelled his current night off, but didn't. But, I could not justify giving him another Sunday night off when he just messed up. There was only one way to get him his night off, and at the same time, show him that this is serious. So, from now on, instead of me opening and Rhonda working the afternoon, then this guy closing up on Sunday nights, Rhonda will open and work half some of the afternoon and I will take the rest and work until close. That's hopefully going to reinforce to this guy that he is on very thin ice, and doesn't allow any room for more screw ups. |
| Back to work today, and a pretty good day. It started out slow, but it got pretty busy as the morning progressed. I didn't come in to find any surprises, and that's always nice. But, after giving a guard his final warning yesterday and making sure he understood that if there are any more infractions, he's done, I wasn't sure what I would find. As it turns out, he called another guard and arranged to leave early, but refused to notify me. That would be enough for me to terminate him right now. It just doesn't make any sense, except that he wants to get fired. The guard that came in early also stated that he was asked ot work on Monday for this other guy. I guess I'll see what happens on Monday, but I have a feeling he'll find something, or someway to make sure he's out of a job. So much for my time off, and the extra time I thought I was going to have this winter to write and spend some time in here. I had one day set aside for fishing and spending with my brother, the other two were for spending some time with my wife, getting things done around the house, and of course, my time in here. Now, if this guy pushes it, I'll be lucky having one day off a week. Oh well, not much I can do about it, so I'll just brace for the worst, and hope for the best. |
| Well, I was doing pretty well at getting in here and getting things done. Not as much done as I would have liked, but it was a good start. I was sick, so had a little time off from work, and utilized it to get in here and get caught up. Then, it was back to work, which in itself would not have been a problem, but it seems while I was gone, someone had to mess up. Again, in itself this would not be a big deal, unless it was a major mess-up. But it wasn't. Unfortunately, this person has been written up three times in less than twelve months, and company policy is termination with the third written warning. I had a long talk and decided to give him another chance, and after talking to my boss, put him on thirty days probation. He made the thirty days, and then started in with being a few minutes late, and worked his way up from there. So, it was brought to my attention that he failed an audit by being out of uniform. Not a real big deal in most cases --- something that would warrant me having a long talk with the person and moving on from there. But, this person has been spoken to numerous times about this and written up for it before. Therefore, I should again be giving him his letter of termination. Instead, I put some time into thinking this out. I decided I would give one final opportunity since he did make it through the thirty days. It also meant putting in a lot of my time while I was off, and I even had to make a trip in to work, off the clock, and on my day off, to serve the papers on him. The sad part is, I doubt he will make it for one two-week pay cycle, a month at the best before he messes up and I have to terminate him anyway. |
| It was a beautiful day here, today. I worked until noon, then stopped at my brothers for a cup of coffee. He was getting ready to head out to the lake to do some ice fishing, and I seriously thought about joining him. But, since I've been sick lately, I decided to come home and take it easy again today. I worked on a project after I got home, and it left me exhausted in a couple of hours. So, after a sandwich for lunch, I took a nice hour nap. Now, hopefully I will be up to an afternoon of fishing tomorrow. It's suppose to be even nicer out On Monday than it was today, and we made some plans to spend the day fishing. Not sure where yet, it depends on how well he does today. But, it doesn't really matter, just as long as we get a nice afternoon in. If we do well, that's an added bonus, but if not, it will still be a fun filled day. I also have to do some unpleasant business for work, and I just hope this guy gets the picture. If not, I may soon be looking to hire another guard, and won't have much for time off until we find someone. That's the way it seems to go, there always seems to be one person to keep things messed up. Hopefully this time he gets the point, but I doubt it. For now, it's time to work on dinner, Rhonda will be home soon. |
| Wow! Four days in a row, I must be setting some kind of record. Okay, I've done much better in the past, but more recently, I've had a tough time at getting in here at all. It feels good to be back in here, getting my mail cleaned up, and actually writing a bit. I know, it's not a story or a poem, but it's writing, and that's what matters. For some, it's all work and no play makes them a boring person, or whatever the result may be. For me, it's all work and no writing makes T.J. feel stressed and down. Of course, once a person gets feeling stressed out and down, it's even more difficult to make the time to write, and the circle is then completed. Only by breaking the cycle and writing can things start to change again. At least, that's the way it works for me. The other big factor is sleep. Not enough sleep has been a big problem for me for quite some time now. But, I think I have that cycle broken now, too. I know there will be more challenges to keep things working in the right direction, but just seeing these few results is motivating and has me feeling positive and self-assured. I already have one issue at work that should have me stressed and looking at the very likely possibility of losing out on a lot of the limited time I now have. There's this knucklehead who just insists on doing things wrong, and he's done run our of chances. I have to go in and talk to him next week, serve him a corrective action that is also his final warning. Then, even the slightest infraction, and he will be out of a job. The sad part is, he seems to want to get fired. I've tried my best to get him to comply with proper protocol, and he does for a short time, but then it's right back to the same problems. Oh well, I know I've given him ample opportunities and it's up to him to make the right choices. In fact, by all rights, he should have been terminated last fall, but I gave him another chance. I even went out on a limb with my boss the last time he messed up. Now, he's getting strike four and still not out the door. But, knowing how things have gone so far, I suspect he will not make it through the end of the month. Sad, but nothing more I can do. |
| I may not be recovering from the flu as quickly as I'd like to, but it's at least given me time to do a bit more in here. As for the flu, I'm not nearly as sick as many are, but still feeling pretty tough. Luckily, I had my immunization again this year, and did not get real sick. I missed one day of work, yesterday, but managed to make it to work this morning. I only worked four hours, and that was more than enough. After work, it was a bowl of chicken noodle soup and then a nap. I woke to the phone ringing but didn't get to it in time. My wonderful wife had called to see how I was doing. On the way downstairs, our dog, Hyko, slipped and fell. He's getting up there in years and has some problems with the steps from time to time. Today, it wasn't just a stumble, though. He slipped at the top and slid all the way down. Luckily, he didn't try and correct his slip, but just rode it out on his stomach, legs out in front of him. He scared the crap out of me. Thankfully, he did not suffer any injury; he seems to be doing just fine. Being sick has given me more time to get in here and get some things done, like writing in my journal every day. I also managed to get my email cleaned up, and even wrote to a friend in Facebook. On the flip side, however, I'm getting further behind in other areas as a result of not feeling well enough to do much. Even so, I'm doing pretty good at keeping myself caught up with most of my work, and I'm hopeful that I will be feeling better real soon. |
| I got another day off from work this week, instead of being at work, I'm home sick. I'm not sure what I picked up, but it has me feeling pretty beat. I actually got sick yesterday, or at least, that's when I noticed I was sick, but looking back, I'd have to say I was feeling some of the symptoms for a few days prior to that. I had some aches and pains throughout my body, headaches, chills, and feeling run down for about a week. The last few days also had me retaining a lot of water, especially in my legs. When I add up all the symptoms, it's looking like I may have the flu, even though I did get my annual flu vaccine earlier this fall. It's not surprising, considering I work in a job that has me coming in contact with a lot of people every day, and most people do not even try to turn their heads or cover their mouths when they cough. It's also a bad year for the flu, and it seems like everyone is sick with something. Even the weather has been prime for spreading sickness and germs. The temperature fluctuates between sub-zero and thawing, just like the humidity goes from humid to arid. We just sent through a few days of very dry air, and temperatures that barely climbed into the teens by day and dropped well below zero at night. The wind blew hard for the entire time we had the cold temperatures. Then the wind switched to the south, the temperature climbed into the upper twenties or lower thirties, the humidity shot up to eighty percent range, and we had a complete turn-a-round in the weather. It's been doing this since November's arctic attack. Just the jumping up and down in temperature is enough to get people sick, and the extreme cold spells keep homes and buildings sealed up, spreading the germs to everyone inside. Even resilient individuals seem to be having a tough time with colds and coughs this year. It seems to be throughout the country, too, not just in a few areas or regions. It seems like this is my year to be sick anyway. I did pretty well through the summer but had a terrible time with allergies in the fall, and even ended up with a severe sinus infection and eventually pneumonia this past fall. I did get treatment and healed, but my sinuses have continued to give me problems. Part of it is the dryness, another problem is living close to a grain elevator and having some allergies. I suppose this had my immune system run down, and not getting enough sleep only made it easier for me to catch this when I was exposed. Since I did have my flu shot, and I'm getting plenty of rest, I'm hopeful that I won't get real sick and will be over this quickly. I didn't work today, and if I must, I can take tomorrow off, too. If I'm up to it, I may work a short day tomorrow and Saturday so that I can continue to get plenty of rest and recover quickly. One thing positive about being sick, it has given me a bit of time I wasn't expecting. |
| It's been a long time since I've made an entry in here, I just haven't had time. I had good intentions of writing in here daily, and was going to make a fresh start with the new year. Unfortunately time did not cooperate, but then, that is what time does; it slips past. I'm not going to let this be a setback, though. I still intend to make this a daily habit. In fact, I have even thought about the times when we are out camping and I do not have access to the internet. My idea is to still write a journal entry, but to do it on my computer and then upload it when I have internet access again. I also plan on doing more with my grammar and spelling, so that I can not only write better, but so I can edit my items I've already written. Now, it's just a matter of making some time to get this all going. I may have a jump on that this week, since I will get an extra day off, maybe more. I just hope I feel well enough to make use of this time. But, since it's time I'm taking off due to illness, I may not get as much done as I would like. Even so, it will be time I can use to write a little, and time to read. |
| For many of us this is Christmas Eve, and a very festive night. Tomorrow is Christmas, the day Christians, for the most part, celebrate the birth of our Savior. For many, Christmas has become something far out of context and all messed up. For stores, it's all about making sales. For public offices, it's all about not offending anyone, and for many individuals, it's about getting presents, Santa, and gathering together with friends and family. I have heard so many things about Christmas, but nothing yet has ruined my perspective of this holiday. I have heard that the time of year is wrong for the birth of Jesus. I have heard that this date coincides with a pagan holiday, possible a few different versions, and I have even heard that Satan himself promotes dear old Santa Clause. I have even looked into some of these things, as well as others. No matter what, there always seems to be something wrong with these arguments, and of course, even the arguers can't agree on any one argument against Christmas. I know that in the end, it's what is in one's heart that matters. In other words, it's what a person thinks. I think the birth of a savior for all mankind requires more than one day out of the year to be remembered. In fact, in that sense, everyday is Christmas. But, to pick out one day from the year and set it aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ is not a bad thing, and it does not matter what day is picked. Sure, it would be nice to know the exact date of His birth and celebrate it. But, I also believe that if that was important, it would be recorded in clarity within the Holy Bible. No, the exact date isn't important. In fact, it becomes a lesson in faith by not knowing the day and hour of his birth. In faith we believe, and in faith we live our lives as unto Christ. So why not use faith to celebrate His glorious birth together with other Christians around the world. And, if those who do not believe in the person of Jesus Christ also want to celebrate this day by giving gifts and adding a touch of magic through stories of Santa and Rudolph, what harm is done? I grew up believing in Santa, and we also always had gifts under the tree on Christmas morning, from that jolly old elf. It did nothing to repress my belief in God or His Son. In some ways, it added magic to Christmas until I was old enough to decide for myself to believe in the Salvation of Jesus Christ. Yes, lets keep Christ in Christmas. Yes, lets be politically correct and call the day what it is, Christmas. But, lets not push on others how they should celebrate, or argue with others what pagan days are also celebrated this time of year. I also say, to those who are offended by Christmas, be tolerant and let us have our holiday, just as you have your holidays. Merry Christmas to all, no matter how you celebrate, or what your beliefs. My wish is for everyone to have a day filled with love and happiness tomorrow, and for all the tomorrows to come. |
| I enjoyed a day off today, but didn't get to do much of what I had hoped. Instead I did some rearranging, some cooking, and some last minute shopping. It was a very good day, and I'm happy with how it turned out, but it sure is difficult to try and get enough time for everything. But, I have most of the week off, and don't have to be back to work until Friday, unless something happens. That should give me plenty of time to get some of the things I have had to put off, done. There are plenty others I won't get done, but at least I can spend some time with them, too. As for today, it was a good day. I was doing some last minute shopping and seen that the store I was in had some Android smart phones from Tracfone on sale. I looked through them, since I've been wanting to update my phone, and seen they had some real good deals on them. I was especially surprised to see one on sale for $11.99. I decided that I would get both Rhonda and me one, at that price. But, when I got to the check out, I was surprised to see that my purchase was over a hundred bucks. More than twice what I had been anticipating. I asked the casheer and was informed that the phones were indeed on sale. They were marked down to $39.99. I told her the sign listed them for $11.99 and she called back to electronics, and had this verified. I was just about to tell her I didn't want to purchase them at this time, but before I could, she said that they would honor the price, even though the phones were in the wrong place. I couldn't believe it! So, I got a very good deal, and an example of the magic of Christmas. |
| In here a lot earlier today, and still trying different browsers. This time I'm in here with Apple's Safari, and it seems to work pretty well. It supports some of the add-ins I use, but it also falls short in some areas. One plus is it allows me to use LastPass, which I depend on all the time. On the down side, the browser does not support drag and drop in here. I could just use Internet Explorer, it does what I want and need, but it tends to get bogged down and it constantly wants to disable my plug-ins. Sure, they may slow it down some, but come on people, if I didn't want them active, I wouldn't have installed them. It just kind of irks me when it flashes the message on the bottom to disable the plug-ins because they are making the program open slower. Yeah, but a second or two, and all combined, it may cost me a whopping six seconds to load them. But, they are there because I use them, and want the active. If I'm going to disable them, why in the hell would I even want to keep them? Oh well, just needed to scream that out, I guess. It's not so bad, it's just frustrating. I used Firefox for quite some time, but then all at once it began to have issues. Then, it was a switch over to Chrome. That was a great move, it was fast secure, and worked like a charm. But, I reckon all good things must end, and so it was with Chrome. Some things just didn't work anymore in certain sites. So, it was back to Internet Explorer. They had a new version out and it worked pretty good. I really didn't have any complaints, but it wasn't as fast as some of the other browsers had been, and it did not have the options and plug-ins available that the other's did. Even so, it worked and I found other ways to use the items I liked, often from desktop programs or through links. But, in time, Internet Explorer updated to a very unfriendly browser, it began to freeze, it wouldn't let me make many of the choices I wanted to, and it just bogged down my system. Once again I found myself trying different browsers. I had the new versions of Firefox and Chrome downloaded, and tried them both out. Again, Firefox was nice, but Chrome was faster and more reliable. So, I used Chrome, for a long time. Just recently, after an upgrade, Chrome stopped working with my bank site. It also began to have a lot of issues with freezing. I was always getting messages like, the program has become unresponsive. It could take anywhere from a half a minute, to a couple minutes to get the program to respond again. On top of this, I would also get messages stating the web page was unresponsive and given a choice to wait or kill the page. Again, it was a long wait, either way. I found myself waiting more than browsing, and I also found problems with some content working right. So, I turned back to Mozilla. It worked fine with the bank, and everything seemed to be good. But, it updated and then I was waiting for pages to open, I was stuck with frozen pages, and shit just did not work. So, now I'm looking at some less popular browsers, and finding some that are lightning quick, and have a lot of benefits. But, they also have drawbacks, like no plug-in support. The one I like best has some plug-in support, but very limited, and only the ones they support. Like Roboform instead of LastPass. Or, like Safari, it supports the plug-ins, but it's slower and doesn't do as much of the other things. |
| It's late tonight, but I made it in. I'll have to keep this entry short, however. Let's see, a breif rundown of my day. I was up at three this morning, but I wasn't functional until about five-thirty this evening. I had only gotten two hours of sleep, and that wasn't even a hard sleep. I managed to get through work, even though I was very tired. After, I ate a sandwich, then took a little nap. Only, my little nap kind of extended into a long sleep. I didn't wake up until Rhonda called around five or just shortly after. I guess she called a couple of times, but I did not hear the phone until the second call. I woke, but was unsure of anything. My first thoughts were being late for work, and them calling. But, I couldn't even quite process that information right off. I came down stairs to get the phone and seen the kitchen light on, so I thought Rhonda must be up, but she was nowhere to be seen. I looked at the clock and seen the time, but couldn't process the information yet, thinking now, it's Sunday, and I'm not late. Then, as I pushed the talk button, I had a thought that it was a regular day, I was late, and Rhonda had gone it for me. I said, Hello?" It was Rhonda, she had gotten off work, and it was finally starting to sink in. I wasn't late, it was afternoon, and I had been napping. I still took about an hour to gain full functionability. Then, it was back to the task at hand, try and find a good web browser that doesn't hang up and give me so much grief. I found one to try, and am in it now. It's a freeware browser called Slimbrowser. I'm not sure about it yet, but it is fast, it seems to load all right, and it may be just what the doctor ordered. My only problem with it so far, is it does not support add-ons like LastPass. They have their own add-on that does the same, but that means I have to set up everything over again. I will have to look into this further tomorrow, when I have more time. If possible, I'll add LastPass, but if not, I may have to set up everything in Roboform or what ever it's called. For now, it's time to sit back, and relax. Oh, and before I forget, I apologize for my spelling and any other errors, I still have a few cobwebs clinging to my brain, and this browser does not have a spell checker active on it yet. I have to set that up, too. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
Puzzle Hub
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
