Any month that includes a trip out of town can't be all bad.  All I'll say is that this month was a mixed bag.  On to the update.

Thu Nov 1, Today's route was pretty chill.  There weren't that many bins, thankfully, and no special deliveries.  However, I did have a special assignment today in the afternoon.  More on that in a bit.  The day of the dead is coming up, and the library has made a big push to celebrate this event year after year.  It gets bigger and bigger.  This year they created an altar where patrons were invited to leave remembrances of their love ones.  On the altar someone did put previous workers at the library that have now passed.  A picture of Misa's old boss was there.  I took a picture of it and sent it to her.  She thought it was nice of them to put that there.  Actually yes, it was.  If I had had the time I would have liked to have placed a picture of my mother there.  Next year.

Since the change over to me starting at 8am and delivering books to Pasadena I've been eating my lunch at around 2pm.  I'm usually starving.  I thought to myself that I'm usually hungry pretty early in the day, like before noon even.  I figured that I should follow my stomach and eat when I'm hungry, not some arbitrary time I've set for myself.  I started last week by eating after Montrose, which is usually when I eat when I'm starting at 9am.  So far I've eaten about four meals on the new modified schedule and it's been better.  I'm not starving later in the day, and I'm also not as hungry during the rest of the day.  I think I'll stick to this new lunch schedule.

Tonight's special assignment was to take a picture of the library Foundation so that they could use it on their website.  It's an assignment I didn't really want to do, but when one of the big muckety mucks from administration asks for something it's not polite to decline.  Especially when it means good vibes in the future.  And I want to keep in good standing for when the slashing begins.  I busted out the picture above in about a few minutes.  It was the best I got of the small amount I took.  I stopped because I could tell people were wondering what was taking so long.  Hey, this is "high" art.  Ha!  Yeah, right.  Whatever, I got it done and I got out of Dodge as fast as possible after that.

Last week I told myself that I wasn't interested in talking to my buddy about work related bullshit.  He texted me to ask if I was busy, Thursday night.  I told him I was celebrating my aunt's birthday.  While it was her birthday, we weren't celebrating.  And then on Friday he called and I just let it go to voicemail.  I guess I should have told him that I'm not interested in talking about work shit on my weekends.  But, I guess he got the message, because he didn't even try to call tonight.  Whew!  He does have information to tell me, and I do as well.  But by Thursday I'm already exhausted from work.  I just want to decompress and not think about dummy work.

Fri Nov 2, When I arrived today I noticed there weren't that many bins for delivery.  I'm glad, I don't need a lot of work on Fridays.  The only special delivery I had today was to take back some books to Vroman's in Pasadena.  Aside from that I knew I would have a chill day.  And even dropping off the books isn't hard.

A couple of things about the books.  They are for author events, but the author events lately have not been attended by many people.  The head librarian mentioned to me this morning that they didn't have but twenty people show up for the event.  Of the thirty books I picked up last week they only sold three.  That's bad.  The authors that come to these talks rely on people shelling out a few bucks.  I think they do get paid to appear, but they also appear in order to promote their book.  If they show up and there aren't many people it means the library isn't doing its job to promote the event.  Not that it doesn't' absolve the author, because they have their own marketing that they have to do in addition to the library's marketing team.

This is why I end up taking back twenty-seven books back to Vroman's.  The "profit" the library made wasn't even enough to pay for the gasoline and my time going there.

When I got to Montose and found Emma wearing a skirt that showed off her legs.  When she sat done the skirt was far up her legs.  The pervert in me wanted to get even a small glimpse of anything above where her skirt finally came to rest.  I don't know if it's just wanting something I can't have, but every time I see Emma I want to go out with her... I want to sleep with her.  I suck.

Sat Nov 3, My aunt asked me what I wanted for lunch today and I immediately answered that I wanted a sandwich from Mick's subs.  I jumped into the car and sped to get my food.  I returned home fairly quickly and ate the sandwich.  Oh man did the sandwich really hit the spot today.  Everything has gone to hell these days.  It's just nice to have something from the past that works and that hasn't changed.

Sun Nov 4, Work was bullshit today.  For all my juggling of dopes today I get a nice "pie in the face" for my efforts.  I don't want to go too deep into this, but suffice to say my desk mate and myself have to battle it out EVERY FUCKING SUNDAY.  Today two full time librarians were in the building, but did either of them throw in and help out?  Nope.  Instead, because I was busy I didn't check on the volunteer's shelving.  Not that it's my life's dream to check something so stupid.  But then TheLamp was telling me how I had to do it, because no one else does it either.  Whatever.  Just when you think you've been demoralized all you can be, there comes a little moment like today in which you understand there is no bottom to hit when it comes to life.  It's a bottomless pit of humiliation and stupidity.

I had this idea that I would go down to Disneyland tonight after work.  But, then my coworker came into work dressed extra nice and saying that she was going to "Dapper day" tonight.  Well, that did it.  The park would be filled with a bunch of dressed up dopes.  No thanks.  I guess I'll go next week.  Most of the Christmas decorations aren't up yet.  Some, if not all, should be up next week.  I hope.

Mon Nov 5, What can I say that I haven't already said about my cousin's kids showing up super early every morning.  I could just repeat myself and simply say bullshit.  I guess I'll just leave it at that for now.  But this idiocy goes to a core truth these days... that everything sucks.  Here is a partial list of things that currently suck:
How my cousin's kids show up earlier every week (duh).
Not getting laid.
Work and supervisors at said work.
This identity theft thing.
Not having the money to simply pay all my bills and take some nice trips somewhere.
Not getting laid (wait, I said that already).
Being tired all the time.
Feeling like I'm falling apart.

Yeah, for now that's where I'll leave it.  It's a small list, but like I said it's partial.  It's certainly not complete.

When I arrived at work today I honestly didn't want to even enter the building.  At the time TheLamp talked to me yesterday I didn't think much about her remark, and even less of her tone.  But the more I thought about her tone last night the more I disliked it.  She has this tough attitude about things that I do admire.  But I go above and beyond with my work every day.  So, to hear her harp on one little thing just made me rethink her attitude, and I didn't like it.  It just goes with everything else that's wrong these days.  This is why the desk shift today sucked.  As I mentioned in my last entry, life is a bottomless pit of humiliation.  There was a point where I was walking up to the building where I had the thought that I simply wanted to quit and get a job at a market instead of this stupid place.  I really need TheDesire hire me at county.

Tue Nov 6, As I am bound to do from time to time, this morning I checked on the Cerberus machine.  As you can see from the above photo, the machine sucks.  I have no idea how the sensors don't initiate the plate to lower, but this is typical of the big fail that is this machine.  It cost a ton of money, and yet it can barely do what's it's supposed to do.  The marker of big fail can be applied too many things in this library.  Pretty much everything.  But this machine might be the emblem of fail.  It's a good representation of all that went wrong with the renovation.  it cost too much, and it didn't really address the fundamental problems with the situation.  Oh well, not my problem.

I'm grateful for the fact that in the shuffle I was forgotten, and I was not placed on the slaughter desk.  The poor souls that have had to deal with that desk have come and gone.  The turnover on that desk is amazing.  I have no idea what the upcoming budget cuts will mean to the library.  As it is we are running very lean.  Yet somehow there are still a lot of administrators for the amount of actual workers.  And while they cut the part time budget, the supervisors get raises.  I never got my raise.  Kvon just blew me off by saying he was going to, "Look into it."  Oh well.  It's been nearly a month since I asked for my raise.  They can eat me.

Wed Nov 7, On this day, back in 2006 I went to the re-opening of the Griffith Observatory.  For about three years, if I remember correctly, the observatory was under renovation.  When they announced that it was re-opening I quickly bought some tickets.  I can't believe that was so long ago.  I took my aunt up to the observatory on that night.

I'm starting to wonder if TheLamp is taking a hard line on some of the projects I've been given over the last few weeks.  I say that because there seems to be an attitude change in my dealings with her.  Nothing too bad, but something I feel more than know.  It might be nothing, but this stupid poster is one of those projects that they've been pressing me about.  Hey, I don't get paid to do this job outside of the allotted time given to me.  And, it's not like I don't have a bunch of projects going on at any one time.  Whatever, I do my work and I do it well.  You can't have speed and quality.

And now we come to the latest fail.  The new phone "system."  I skipped out on the "mandatory" training, knowing that I could figure this system out by myself in a short amount of time.  The first thing I wanted to do when I started on the reference desk today was to see how this system worked.  Just before relieving TheLamp from the desk she told me that of the three phones on the desk only one of them rings.  The "south" phone, as I call it for now, will ring three times.  If no one picks it up then the other two phones will wrong.  I like to sit on the computer nearest the "north" phone, as I'll call it.  Why all three phones don't ring at the same time, like before, is beyond me.  Already one problem there.

When I tried calling the circulation desk.  In the past I could dial seven three times in a row and it would connect me to the circulation desk by ringing all three phones on that desk.  But now the triple seven number is used to turn on the P.A. announcement.  Truly genius to take a number we know for one thing and turn it into something completely different.  The other funny part of this is that there is no way to ring all three of the circulation phones now.  I happen to know the individual extensions on the desk, which is what I dialed the second time I tried to contact the circulation desk.

What I did after reaching the circulation desk is ask them if they were getting any calls.  They said no.  I then called up the library as if I was a patron calling from the "outside" world.  I was greeted and taken to the phone tree.  I hit the button for the option to renew my books, thinking that that move might take me to where I could then ring all three of the circulation phones.  Wrong.  It went dead.  The renewal line just hung up on me, and there was no way to renew my books.  That is, if I had any books out.  Another fail.

Then I went over to circulation and talked to them, and the phone rang.  But not any of the circulation phones, but rather the children's reference desk phone did.  I went over there to pick up the phone, but by the time I reached the phone it had stopped ringing.  I then checked the phone and found that it had about twenty-five missed calls.  Ha ha!  Another fail!

In short, the new phone system sucks.  But I'm not surprised.  The best part was when P and the rest of the circulation desk staff agreed to not mention any of these problems to the administration dopes.  Because, fuck'em.  I had heard that the boss was making jokes during the training.  Yeah, making jokes instead of asking questions about the functionality of the fucking phones.  Whatever!  It's just another thing I can walk away from because I don't care any more.  This is the person they created.

These days my Wednesday night dinner with TheGirl helps me get through the week.  It's practically the only thing I look forward to during the week.  These days are so difficult to deal with.  But dinner is always great because of the good company and the good times.  It's getting chilly now when we go out.  Pretty soon we'll only be going to the places that have heaters in their patios.

TheGirl, her daughter, and I are going to go to the Descanso garden's annual "Enchanted Forest" event in December.  In anticipation to that I went ahead and bought a bunch of glow sticks to wear.  I showed TheGirl the surprise for that night by having Chan model the lights.  Hims styling.

Thu Nov 8, The new doors on the north and south of the library have been a mess lately.  Well, really from before they installed them, for many reasons.  One reason being that you can't physically lock the doors with a lock.  They are locked in place when the motor is turned off.  Besides that, there is no way of totally securing the doors from opening.  It seems to be a feature of these doors to fail.  Today I was driving to the side when I noticed that the south doors were WIDE open.  And not just open, but the kind of open that only happens when the doors are pushed out in an emergency.  It seems that the super air pressure of the HVAC unit strikes again.  The pressure is so strong that it is pushing out the doors as if a person was doing it.  I also suspect that there is something wrong with the magnet that keeps this from happening.  Oh well, another fail for the library.

Kvon wanted me to "teach" a class in the mockery space, but I really couldn't do it in good conscience.  I like Kvon, but for one thing I never received my raise.  In addition to that, there is no way I'm going to go above and beyond to help these dopes.  They have taken advantage of that part of me that wants to help, in order to exploit me.  No more.  No thanks.  I told him I'm unable to do it since I have something of a "personal" nature going on.  Something like that is a good blanket statement that people won't question.

Fri Nov 9, As I drove to work this morning I noticed a lot of smoke coming from Griffith park.  Sure enough, when I was able to check the news it showed there was a fire behind the zoo.  It's nuts.  There is currently a huge fire in Thousand Oaks.  This one at Griffith wasn't as big.  By the tie I went home it was extinguished.  Thankfully.  But there's always the fear that things could go really bad really quickly.  These days it's apropos that everything is falling apart.  It feels like nothing is stable now.

Today is the ninth day of the month.  I know that the November "kids" events were picked up and distributed before the end of October.  I know this because I picked up those fliers and distributed them before November started.  But, do you notice that the October adult events are still showing?  That's because the brilliant marketing team hasn't finished with the November events flier yet.  Simply amazing that they can keep doing this month after month.  Last month the children's fliers didn't get distributed until mid October.  How is that OK?  It's not.

And talk about a fail.  The above photo is of the Adams delivery bins.  There was ONE book going back Pasadena.  These bins are the last line of symptoms that show me this patient, the library, is dying.  DrDeath is talking in the newsletter that circulation is way down.  Why?  The answer to that is long and involves many factors.  Suffice to say, the actions and policies of AD and Maleficent have caused all this.  They have been neglectful of a great many library things, in favor of "flashy" things such as the stupid mockery-space.  DrDeath is supposedly making moves to turn around this trend.  Good luck with that.

TheWish texted me out of the blue.  She said she thought of me the other day.  That was nice of her, because I was thinking of her yesterday.  She told me she dressed up as a pigeon from a children's book.  I told her I needed to see a picture, or it didn't happen.  She sent me the above photo.

I haven't thought of TheSilmarillion in a long time.  But, as with so many memories these days, a picture of her popped up on my photo feed.  Not that it hasn't popped up before, but here I am writing about it now.  The picture above was taken on my cousin's wedding day.  It was after we left the reception, and she's laying on my bed.  I don't know why I didn't kiss her that day.  It would have never have worked out between us, that I know with absolute certainty.  It would have been a fun ride while it lasted.  Just like all my relationships.

Sat Nov 10, A few months ago the Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney was said to be closing due to the fact that Disney was going to build a huge new hotel on that spot.  No matter that the hotel was meh, or that it felt like it was crowbarred into a space that had three restaurants and a movie theater.  Disney had a dispute with the city of Anaheim about the placement of the hotel, and to make a long story short, they cancelled it.  This meant that the area where Earl was/is was now not going to be raised.  But what was to be of the empty restaurants?  The Rainforest cafe and the ESPN zone were meh.  I've eaten at both and I was not impressed.  Well, I did kinda like the ESPN zone burger, but it wasn't so wow that I had to have it again.  And then there's the Earl, which makes a really solid sandwich.  I've had many of the sandwiches, and they have not disappointed me.  It was sad to see that location go.  But then, after the announcement that the hotel had been cancelled there was the announcement that Earl was coming back.  On the world wide web people speculated that if Earl was back that it must mean that area of the park won't be worked on for a long time.  Because why would the owner of that come back for a short amount of time?  Who knows, all I know is that TheGirl, her daughter, and I went down there to get some food.  And to get our drink on.  As always, it was a good time.  I do love day drinking.

My washroom sink has been clogged for a while now.  I'm not sure why it is, since a plumber came and "fixed" it just a few months ago.  My aunt has this wild idea that my cousin's kids are putting something into the sink to clog it up.  I don't think she's right, but I also don't have evidence either way.  There is a possibility, but at the same time I don't think it's likely.  The likely problem is that they are old pipes in an old home.  Still, because we can't afford a plumber just now my aunt and I took our clothes to the laundromat to wash.  After my day drinking and yummy food eating it was a bit of a letdown to then go to the laundromat.  But, luck shone on me when in front of me was a vision.  This woman was doing her wash, and it was all I could do to not stare at her the entire time.  I hate being "that guy," that insists on being an outward creep.  I rather be a more subtle creep.

A thought just came into my mind.  I wonder if I'll ever be in another relationship.  It's quite possible that my relationship with TheGirl was the last one I'll ever have with a woman.  It sure doesn't look like I'm on a express train to any new relationships.  TheWish was a potential relationship that I now feel I might have sabotaged.  Because, quite frankly, I'm not very good at this relationship stuff.  I'm surprised I've been in any relationships.  Being a creep, secret or not, isn't going to help matters, that's for sure.  Yeah, I'll be alone.

Sun Nov 11, I had the day off from work today, but I didn't want to tell my aunt that I did.  I had plans to go to Disneyland after I dropped her off at my Godmother's.  But when it was time to go down there I felt tired and felt that I would be better off going home and just chilling.  That's what I ended up doing.  Later I came to find that that the park was packed, and that made me glad I didn't go today.  Still, part of me wanted to go.

Since I had the house to myself I figured I would dump a lot of stuff while I could.  Not that my aunt would care about some of this stuff, but just didn't want to hear her questions.  I didn't get to throw much away, but I did get to clear up some room in my closet for other junk to come.  Ha!

Mon Nov 12, After work tonight, and before I went to TheGirl's place, I went to der Wienerschnitzel for dinner.  When I was going to school at Santa Monica College I would often eat at the der Wienerschnitzel on Pico.  When I was going to CSUN I remember going to Wienerschnitzel a couple of times.  Mainly because it was across the street from the school.  Tonight I went to the Wienerschnitzel in Burbank.  That location was formally the home of a place named Harvey's.  They had some of the best hamburgers I've ever eaten.  They also had some great milk shakes.  One day I drove out there and they were closed.  They never came back.  Tonight was the first time I've ever been to this Wienerschnitzel.  I ordered a corndog and something they call a "junkyard dog."  I hate to say it, but the junkyard dog really hit the spot tonight.  I might have to make this place a regular stop from now on, before I go and visit TheGirl.

Tue Nov 13, When I arrived this morning I noticed a truck of books sitting near the table that is used to sort Pasadena books.  Of course the truck is all Pasadena books that haven't been sorted into bins.  I took it upon myself to sort the bins.  Partially to get the job done, but also to sort some bins the RIGHT AWAY.  No one at circulation that sorts the bins does it correctly.  I made quick work of the books and then made my way to Pasadena.

When I arrived in Pasadena I took my phone with me knowing that there was no way that fate would have me see the attractive page in the workroom.  Sure enough, she wasn't there.  But just as I got into the van to drive back to Glendale THERE SHE WAS.  The above picture is from a screen capture that I made from a video that I recorded from my iPhone in an effort to catch her as she moved.  She was going with a fellow coworker to the backdrop on Wilson.

I honestly desire her.  I'm sure I'm not the right man for her.  I'm sure that I'm going to just be a blip in her life.  I'm sure that I don't deserve her.  But I also honestly think that something between us WILL happen.  If only to be a cautionary tale in her life, and a marvelous tale in mine.

Emma created a social media channel on the major social media video platform.  I think it's related to her latest work protect.  I say this because a few weeks ago she and a coworker were looking at various channels that featured some social media people that have high number of subscribers.  She then told me that her teen project involved social media.  I went on a few of the channels and found that most of them just vlog about their lives.  Emma said that's the way of the world on social media.  Gee, to think that I've been doing this in words rather than video for how long?  I have some critiques for her channel.  I like that she does it in one take, but she needs to be more prepared.  She may have to take a speech class in order to have her thoughts lined up.  She also has to work on her vocal fry.  Also, I know Emma loves her dog, but she can't have her dog by her while she films.  At one point in one video her dog barks and it breaks Emma's train of thought.  Oh well.

I've been taking my lunch in the park lately.  The timing of lunch is important to me not starving to death while on the route.  I am usually the only one that parks on that part of the street.  But after I park the van it seems as though that area suddenly becomes super popular for other vehicles to park by me.  Case in point, the two vans that parked behind me today.  First was the one of the left.  It parked behind me, stayed in idle for a while, and then drove off.  Within a few minutes the other van pulled up and did the same thing.  No one even got out of either van.  It's just strange.

After work I sat outside in my backyard, since it wasn't THAT cold tonight.  My aunt came out to yap about some random thing when we both heard three deep thumps originating from the freeway.  About half a minute after my aunt went inside the house I smelled smoke in the air.  I looked over my right shoulder and could see a bright light coming from the freeway.  I went towards the front yard and saw the scene the phone above illustrates.  Actually, when I first arrived in my front yard there were more flames coming from the crash.  It's times like this I wish I had a drone to see these things.  The flames quickly went out and there was nothing else but smoke.  After that I heard a ton of sirens.  I went on my scanner app and sure enough it had been a crash.  It must have been a horrible one, what with all those flames.

Wed Nov 14, I was quite busy today at work.  Today was the first day of the bookmark contest.  I had most of the graphics done, but there also needed to be some last minute things done to get that graphic on social media, and the big TV behind the circulation desk, and online.  I barely finished everything on time.

I helped a really cute patron today.  I went onto her social media and found a picture of her (above).  She's so perfect in her own way.

The best part of the week is dinner with TheGirl.  Tonight we went out to get some burgers.  We had puppy in tow, of course.  I tried a new burger, which was good.  TheGirl had her usual.  And the wine flowed.  It was definitely good times, as usual.  Next week TheGirl wants to go to dinner without Cheyenne.  Poor thing.  TheGirl herself has pointed out how Cheyenne spends so much time alone at home.  She waits for us to take her to dinner with her.  But when we leave her in order to go to a restaurant that doesn't allow dogs it breaks all of our hearts.  We'll see where we end up next week for our "Thanksgiving" dinner.

After dinner Cheyenne had an impromptu "fight" verses her blanket.  (Click on the photo to view the video.)

Thu Nov 15, I ran into an old "friend" today at the library.  Pictured above with me is the girl that named herself LaCubana, which means the Cuban.  She showed up to the library a couple of years ago, during the renovation.  I tried my best to chat her up and perhaps go out with her.  But, it never worked out that way.  I had heard from the security guard that she had come around from times to time.

We chatted, we exchanged phone numbers, and she told me she had broken up with her boyfriend.  We'll see what happens from here.

I picked up the December children's events from graphics today.  It's hard to imagine that the marketing dopes actually printed this BEFORE the end of the month.  Mind you, the adult events of the month for November didn't make it to the branches.  It's amazing that something as simple as distributing some fliers is difficult for these dopes to do.  Shows you how everything these dopes attempt fails.

Fri Nov 16, I took this picture of the parking spots in the parking structure across the street from the library to illustrate just nothing makes sense these days.  Months ago my stupervisor told me that I wasn't to park the van in the parking structure any more.  They brilliantly had moved the parking spot for the van in the southern parking lot.  OK, I thought, that's fine by me.  Not that I have a choice in the matter, but I thought it was stupid to take the van out of the parking structure where it's relatively protected, and put it out in the elements.  But, it's not my van, is it?  I knew there was no good reason for this move, and of course this picture illustrates that the dopes in the parking structure don't even use those spots.  They were so important that we needed to vacate the spots, but of course since then NO FUCKING CARS PARK THERE.  I mean literally no cars park there.  What a load of shit.

DrDeath has a new edict in which the pages will arrange the books on the shelves with the book facing out, as he said it, "Like at bookstores."  With no direction other than that the pages have done a terrible job on the shelves, as you can see in the photo above.  I have no idea why some of these shelves are shifted to the right, and why, oh why, must there be some shelves that are PACKED.  This is just dumb.

I don't generally remember my dreams, but I did remember last night's dream.  In my dream I was walking to a building that turned out to be a museum.  I didn't get to do much when I arrived at the museum except to talk to a ticket agent.  I looked around and it was a nice museum with a lot of people milling around.  I turned to someone standing next to me and I told them how much I was looking forward to seeing something that was on the top floor.  After that I woke up.  The above interpretation says that dreaming of a museum, "Represents your own personal history."  Unfortunately, I don't remember any of the objects in the museum, though I do remember there were some.  And I wonder what was on the top floor that I wanted to see so badly.

Sat Nov 17, After supper tonight I became sleepy.  At some point my aunt came into my room to wake me up in order to ask me a question she could ask later or tomorrow.  But what I believe is that she hates me.  It's the only reason why she would be so thick headed about me not wanting to do anything on my ONE day off.  Week after week I shoot down any suggestions of going out to get food on my ONE DAY OFF.  I don't understand why she can't just leave me be on my ONE DAY OFF.

Sun Nov 18, My aunt and I have been going to the Honeybaked store in Toluca Lake pretty regular now.  I know that what motivated me from not going to IHOP any more was all the bad meals I had in a row.  Honeybaked is much better.  But, today we arrived and noticed that the tables had been moved.  One of the waitresses there mentioned that they weren't opening the grill today because they were focused on selling hams.  That is the main business there.  She said that next Saturday the grill will be open.  I'm not going to be in town on Saturday.  I decided to simply drive up the street to Bob's Big Boy.  I ordered a waffle that really hit the spot.

The event people for today found me on the reference desk as I was on the phone.  This particular group might be a bit demanding, but nothing like in the past.  They aren't perfect, but who is these days?  Still, the problem today wasn't this group being demanding, it was everything else.  I went to the community room to unlock the door and of course the chairs are not in place.  Strike one.  The group wanted water.  I told T that they would want water, but that since the library bought a filtered water system we don't keep water in the fridge to stay cold... for JUST such occasions as THIS.  Thankfully I put some water to cool as soon as I arrived.  Strike two.  Finally, the final strike.

The group wanted mics and I go and find them, though they were not in the regular spots.  OK.  But then I try to see if they work and I notice the stupid iPad that controls the system isn't connecting.  I try a few things, nothing works.  I finally just give up and tell the leader of the group today that it's just not going to happen.  There's nothing I can do.  Strike three.

Meanwhile T was nowhere in sight.  I never told her about the issues with the iPad, or the water.  She never checked up on the event today either.  Whatever!  I don't care any more.  The children's library assistant told me that she thinks T is pregnant, because she saw on the browser history that it T searched the word pregnancy.  Ah huh.  I wonder what that's going to do to the scheduling on Sundays.  It will be interesting.

Mon Nov 19, As I drove into work today the thought that I had zero motivation came into my mind.  It's true, I honestly didn't want to go into work today.  It's a slog these days.  And nothing I do makes a difference there now.  It's just a grind at this point.

The cute patron from the other day showed up again this morning.  Boy, she's pretty.  I know I have zero chance with her, especially since I'm too chicken to ask her anything, let alone ask her out.  Dang, why must I be such a chicken?

I didn't want to have the same old McD's burger for dinner tonight.  I looked online today to see if I could get something different around Pasadena.  I looked and found a place called Tom's.  The pictures were OK, but at the same time it didn't inspire me.  Still, I figured I would give the place a chance.  Sometimes these joints have good burgers.  Or at least decent ones.  I arrived and there was no one in the place.  Not a good sign.  If the food is good a place like this should always be busy.  I ordered up a burger with fries and a drink.  Super simple.  The drink was a mess since they only served Pepsi products.  Already that's a bad thing for me.  Because that limits my choices to Dr Pepper or root beer.  But the usual brand of root beer they sell at places that serve Pepsi is an abomination to root beer.  Let's talk about the fries for a second.  They were OK, but also a bit too crispy.  I mean they were hard.  And now the burger.  What can I say but just awful.  I didn't photograph the burger, but this places makes a generic burger that I've seen other places make.  I should have known that it wasn't going to be good just from the fact that the burgers look completely generic.

These days I play roughhouse with Cheyenne and she gets tired MUCH faster than in the past.  It sucks to think that we only have the potential of a few more years with her.  Why can't it be decades?  For now all I can think of is enjoying every moment with Cheyenne.

Wed Nov 21, We gathered to take our staff picture today at the library.  There's not much to say about that.  Just that we had it.

There isn't much to say about dinner tonight.  We didn't take Cheyenne with us because it was cold.  TheGirl wished me luck on my trip tomorrow.  She said she wished she was going with me.  Me three.

Thu Nov 22, Day one of my Carmel trip and it was foggy as I drove down the street to the freeway.  It's supposed to rain in Carmel this weekend.  I do miss the rain.

I put on some tunes on my phone and the playlist I picked called "Road trip music" had a song called "Ventura Highway."  Apropos since I'm traveling on the 101, the Ventura freeway.

My first pee break was Solvang.  I didn't just stop and pee though.  I thought that perhaps I could walk around a bit.  It was quiet.

My next stop was SLO.  I stopped at a favorite deli that I knew would be closed.  But, I wanted to get a picture with Chan in front of it.

I also stopped at the Mission in SLO.  It's a nice place that I need to visit.  And not just the mission, but also the city.

Once I got into Big Sur I ended up driving behind a really slow dope.  As I reached the Salmon creek I figured I would stop and take some pictures.  This would hopefully put distance between that dopey slow poke and me.  It did.

My next stop was Linn's in Cambria.  I wanted to buy a whole pie for me so that I could eat something if I became hungry in the middle of the night.  They didn't have a whole apple pie though.  I did get a slice and a meatloaf sandwich.  But they overdid the toast and it was hard.  And quite frankly the meatloaf was just whatever.  I've had it before, but this time it was meh.  Oh well, it filled my belly.

I made it into Carmel just before 4pm.  I mean minutes before 4pm.  I had dinner plans at 4:30pm, so I quickly checked into the room and changed my shirt to get to dinner.

I walked into the restaurant at 4:29pm.  I was sweating and I must have looked like a loon.  Still, they sat me down and I ordered some wine.

I was then served a fancy Thanksgiving dinner.  Having had lunch only a couple of hours before, I wasn't super hungry.  But, I pretty much polished off the contents of my plate.  I've had better turkey dinners, but this wasn't bad.  I really loved the cranberries and the dressing.

On the advice of my buddy Vagabundo I downloaded and started listening to this particular audio book written and read by a well known chef.  He recently committed suicide, but that doesn't diminish the book.  It's a great book.  The chef has a way with phrase and is a great storyteller.

Fri Nov 23, Woke up to it raining steady but not too strong.  I thought to myself that perhaps I wouldn't go to Point Lobos today, because of the rain.  But then I thought, dammit I'm going to go no matter what.  When I arrived at Point Lobos most of the rain had subsided.

I returned to Point Lobos on this trip for one picture only... a picture of the tree known as "The Old Veteran."  Shown above, the Old Veteran is a cypress tree that is quite literally hanging off the side of, what you might best describe as a cliff.  It's a gorgeous tree, and the last couple of times I tried to photograph it I failed.  Failed in the sense that I didn't get the photo I imagined in my mind.  Failed in that the photo I did get was phrased by people who would like a photo of a dead baby, or a car crash.  No thanks, dopes.  This is why I have returned to point lobos, to finally try and do this tree justice.  I haven't been able to check the photos I did take with any scrutiny.  But, I think I have something I can use.  I shot the photos in raw mode, in order to maximize the information.

I don't know how many times I've now visited Point Lobos, but each time is still an adventure.  This visit was similar to other visits, but at the same time I didn't remember some things about the area.  Either way, it was nice to be back, and nice to not have to deal with too many dopes.  Well, for a while at least.  I thought the rain would keep people away, but I was dead wrong.  I was on the trail for nearly two hours before I could see that more people had arrived in the park.  This was my cue to leave, besides, I was getting hungry.

I drove to Monterey to set up my moves for after lunch and to go to lunch at this one place I had researched.  It was a sandwich shop that promised to have decent sandwiches.  The woman behind the counter ignored my question as to what the specialty of the house was, so I ordered one of several tri-tip sandwiches they had on the menu.  Surly Duff practically threw the plate at me, and then forgot to give me my order of iced tea.  I figured it was coming, but it never came.  I had about half the sandwich when she finally came out to the front counter and I could ask her for my tea.  She acted surprised.  The tea was not good.  It had a hint of chili peppers in the taste.  Like it was "cross contaminated."  Probably used some pot or whatever to make the chili and then the tea.  Not good.  I didn't even finish it, but I did finish the sandwich.  It was good, but not so great.  It probably hit the spot more because I was hungry than anything else.  The lack of sides on the menu really sucked.  How hard was it to have a side of potato salad, or slaw, or even fries?  I guess it wouldn't have made a difference.  I know I won't be back, despite the fact that they also have burgers here.  I don't think this is a burger town.

After lunch I went to the Cooper adobe, which just reopened after an extensive renovation.  The place looks great.  It was cool to visit this place.  I have to say that I think I don't explore enough on my own.  I should go back to the old ways, and the old attitude, I had on my trips up to Carmel.  In the past I was willing to explore a lot more.  These days I'm content to just give things a quick look and bolt.  Not good.

I was pooped from just the little bit of sightseeing I did today.  I returned to my room early to rest up, but then I became hungry.  It was still early enough that I could go to the local market up the street that is said to have good sandwiches.  But when I arrived I didn't want a sandwich, I wanted something hot.  I ended up buying a hot dog with sauerkraut.  Boy did it hit the spot.  The soda they gave me was horrible, but the dog was so good.  I think I believe that because I was so hungry.

Sat Nov 24, Last night I got the idea to go out late at night and walk around the city.  Well, the town.  I started my walk a little after 11pm.  I took some pictures of the lights, it was good times.  I had a shot of whiskey before I left, and before I got too far I needed to pee.  I didn't want to go to the park and pee, so I just went back to my room.

I was feeling pretty good after peeing, and I took another shot before thinking.  I was texting Ilsa about possibly going out again.  My second walk didn't start until about 12:10am, which was nearly an hour after my previous walk started.  This walk was much different than the first one.  I got pretty far from my room when I spotted a guy on his cell phone.  The way he looked at me and then made a move to walk in my general direction was a huge red light to me.  There was something about that move he made that I didn't like.  Maybe it was all the booze talking, but at that point I felt that something was not right.  I booked it to my room.  I intentionally didn't walk on the sidewalk.  I kept to the street.  I made crossing diagonally.  I kept moving, and I kept my fancy new flashlight in my hand.  Ready to try to use it to blind the guy with the powerful light, or possibly defend myself.  I got back to my room, the hairs on my back still standing up.  I'm not sure that it wasn't all in my head, what with the booze coursing through my veins.  But still, the way that one guy looked at me and then walked scared me.  It did.

The events of the night now in the past, I drove down to Pacific Grove to get myself a Compagno's sandwich and have a picnic in a park right by the ocean.  It's a favorite of mine.  I took TheGirl here to eat.  What other park has such a view?

Compagno's makes great sandwiches, and they're huge.  I only ate half of it, and I know I'll still have enough to feed me tomorrow.  The guy, probably Compagno's himself, is a Surly Duff, but he makes a damn good sandwich.  I brought TheGirl to this place.  I'm not sure she likes it.  Men and woman like so many different things.  Hey, I have always tried to bring the women in my life into my world.

I knew by the look of the sky when I looked out my hotel room that the sunset had potential today.  I've taken pictures of the sunset before, but I wanted to get this one as well.  I wanted to try something different.  I don't think I did, but I did get the above photo as I approached the beach.

I had a couple of shots in me, whiskey of course.  I also had some time before sunset.  I didn't want to miss it, but I knew I had some more time to take some other photos along the way.  I stopped off in a garden in front of a church and heard the tweets of a hummingbird.  Hummingbirds are too small to make much more than a squeaking sound, rather than a full breath song.  But what they don't have in singing ability they more than make up with in plumage.  Their feathers are so beautiful, iridescent.  I tried to capture the hummingbird in flight.  The above photo is the best I could do under the circumstances.  I'm sure if I post it on social media people will like it, but I see the flaws in the composition.  Still, I kinda like it.

I made it to beach just before sunset.  There was a throng of dopes crowded around the mouth of the beach, an area just off the parking lot.  I knew I couldn't just stay in that area, so I moved father to the south.  I found a nice spot and started taking pictures.  I don't know, I think I've done better in the past.  Maybe not.  I walked back to my room, slowly.  Remembering what happened last night I didn't have the feeling that I wanted to be out at night.  But it wasn't late, and there were a ton of tourist on the street.  Still, I went up a side street and ended up going the long way.  I was OK with that, but I was also tired when I arrived in my room.  I passed out for about an hour.  I'm just tired all the time these days.  I'm sure my drinking all the time doesn't help.  I really have to cut back.  Every time I say I will I take another drink.  So I stopped telling myself I would stop.  And then took another drink.

I was texting Ilsa after I woke up.  In our conversation she mentioned that T had been featured in a social media post announcing her pregnancy.  Funny how she hasn't mentioned it to the library dopes.  Wait, maybe just hasn't mentioned it to me.  Oh well.  So much for being pals.  This is the second person to mention her pregnancy.  Only this time it comes with confirmation from T herself, in a way.

I've posted pictures of girls on social media here before.  This one is no more gorgeous than any other, but she's also no less gorgeous.  This woman, and every woman I view on social media, represents what might be, but won't.  I've been single for I don't know how many years.  The relationship I had with TheGirl ended so many years ago.  As long as we've had Chan in our lives.  And as much as I value that friendship, I do yearn for a new sexual relationship.  I've wanted to ask LaFlor out, along with so many other ladies out.  But, I'm a chicken.  So, I look at all the gorgeous ladies on social media.  Oh well.

Sun Nov 25, Why is it that the best weather always occurs on the last day of my trips?  Not that I didn't like the rain, I loved the rain on this trip.  I miss the rain.  I wish it would rain more often back home.  But it is funny that this morning was absolutely perfect weather.  As has become a bit of a tradition when I leave Carmel, I drove down to the scenic route to look at the beach one last time before I hit the road.  Every time the view is perfect.

In previous years I've had to take the 101 freeway down back home, because of the repairs that had to be made to the 1.  But now that the 1 is all open I decided to travel up and down on the coast highway.  The problem with that is that there is only one lane each way.  Get stuck behind some dope that doesn't know to pull aside for faster traffic and it can really show one down.  I'm glad to say it only happened to me once in this trip.  But it was close to the end of Big Sur.  Once I got past that dope I booked it to San Simeon for a pee break, and then to Cambria to buy a pie for me and one for my buddy.

I was feeling hungry, and I could have gotten something to eat from Linn's, where I bought the pies, but I still had the sandwich from Compagno's in my lunch pail.  I decided to get a cream soda from Linn's and drive to Moonstone beach to have my lunch.  I bought a portable folding chair for moments like this.  It was perfect.

I arrived at home around 5:15pm.  Good timing, because it meant I could still find my aunt on the road.  And I did.  She suggested we get something to eat, and my new go to place if Fatburger.  They're not the old Fatburger, but they're pretty good.  I ordered up a large Fatburger charbroiled.  It always taste better that way.  I returned home with my aunt in tow and had my burger, which REALLY hit the spot tonight.

Mon Nov 26, As if to shit on my face after my trip, the universe today deployed its latest move to demoralize me.  I stepped into the shower and had a temped shower.  I knew immediately what this meant, but I didn't want it to be true.  After my shower, however, the news was confirmed.  The pilot light had gone out on my water heater, and of course that means the water was not getting hot.  I tried several times to light the pilot, to no avail.  Fucking shit!  I set up an appointment to have a repairman come in.  But this also means that tomorrow's shower is going to be extra cold.  Fuck!

I told TheGirl that tonight's visit would be shorter than normal because of the water heater issue.  I did play roughhousing with Cheyenne and did she get pooped.  Poor thing, playing that hard really wears her out these days.  I've mentioned it before, but in the past a short rest and she was good.  These days, she's out.  Like tonight we played hard, and as I was about to leave she just gives TheGirl this look (pictured above) and just sits in TheGirl's arms like a baby.

While at work I made an appointment with the repairman from the store I bought the water heater from in order to hopefully mitigate the possibility of cold showers in my future.  TheGirl suggested I go online and check to see if the internet had any answers for this problem.  I looked and found some videos that looked like they could help.  When I got home I got all set up, and most of that was cleaning the little bit of a long match I had used trying to manually light the pilot light.  A little bit of the tip fell in the water heater.  The owner's manual mentions that this is not kosher.  So if a repairman was going to show up I wanted zero traces of me trying to light the pilot light with a match.  Once all clean I placed the glass back in place and hoped to get the light to fire.  Even Chan was helping me.

I viewed one particular video that specifically mentioned this gas valve as having these issues.  The guy showed how to light the pilot light in the traditional way.  Then the guy shows that resetting a sensor sometimes will work when nothing else seems to be working.  I did as the video showed and tried again.  THIS time the pilot light stayed on.  Eureka!  Resetting that one sensor seemed to do the trick!  Immediately the boiler was rumbling with the sounds of water heating up.  I will not have a cold shower tomorrow morning... I hope.

Wed Nov 28, The last few months have really beaten me up.  From the identity theft to the stupid pilot light drama, and now add to that another talking to with the boss.  Yes, the boss and TheLamp had another talk with me today.  This time it was about something I did months ago.

Months ago a little old lady that used to be in the computer classes I taught came up to me while I was on the reference desk and asked if I could help her print out something on her own stationary.  I knew it was going to be a bit of a struggle if I simply sent her to the public computers to figure this out on her own.  She's just not that savvy when it comes to such things.  THAT's why she's coming to the library, in order to get some help from someone that presumingly knows what they're doing.

Enter me, the bastard who always helps little old ladies cross the street.  I helped her many months ago thought nothing of it.  Today I got "in trouble" because the little old lady came in on Sunday and wanted T to print it.  Of course T didn't want to print it for her, because reasons.  She told her that she couldn't do it, because it was against library policy.  The lady said that T was not very, "Nice," and somewhere along the line that T didn't seem to know what was going on.  T eventually did print out the letter for her and the woman was on her merry way.  But it had only begun for T.  I'm sure she told Irene, because of what happened today.

I was releasing TheLamp from her desk shift when she says to me, "When you're done at 5:30 please come upstairs... Boss and I want to talk to you."  Of course the entire time on the desk I started to wonder what I did wrong.  I had some clues, but nothing solid.  And then I went upstairs to take my medicine.

I was told that helping patrons, like this old lady, was against library policy.  The board, or someone, approved the change in the library policy, my boss told me.  Now we can't help people with their computer problems, like I did with the old lady.  OK, that's fine.  I'm not sure why this sort of thing couldn't have been said to me in an email.  Having yet another pointless meeting like this only makes me want to run away.  I did my job and went above and beyond to help a patron.  But, because I printed it off her email and used her stationary I'm the bad guy.  I'm breaking with new policy.  And for that sin I was called on the carpet.  I'm not sure when everyone in charge at the two libraries I work for lost their humanity.  But lost it they have.

To me this officially sanctions not giving a shit.  I was already on my way to not caring one bit.  Today they didn't have to pull me over, they pushed me.  There was a moment in which I seriously considered giving my two week notice.  But better yet, I'll stay and work and not do anything for fear I'll get told I'm doing too much... I'm going above and beyond when I'm on the desk, and that makes them look bad.  The boss literally said, "You're too nice... you're making us look like mean bitches."  Well, if the shoe fits.  I've wanted to leave San Marino for a while now.  I have to make the big push to find another job and finally leave those dopes.  In the meantime I'm going to only do what I'm "officially" supposed to be doing while on the desk.

I really needed tonight's dinner with TheGirl.  The events of today have let me know that what was normal is now normal.  Everything is upside down this world.  Fucking bullshit.

Thu Nov 29, During the night it rained.  Also during the night some dopes forgot how to drive in the rain.  When I woke up this morning there were already more than the usual amount of accidents on the roads.  One major crash that happened was on the 134 east bound just before Figueroa.  Which is right on my route to Pasadena.  The accident was reported around 2am, but by the time I was at work it wasn't even close to being cleared.  It would still be a few hours after that before the semi was cleared from the freeway.  I ended up bypassing the crash site by taking York through Eagle Rock.  I ended up only being about twenty minutes later than my usual rendezvous time at Pasadena.

It was no surprise when one of my coworkers mentioned that the roof was leaking again at Central.  In the past a small amount of rain has been able to pool on the roof, leading to a lot of problems.  I didn't expect anything less during this rain storm.  And the thing with this roof is that the leak is often after the fact.  It will leak a little during the rain storm, but it what it actually does it pool on the roof and then after the storm has passed is when the leaks really come out to play.  Good job, dopes.  The big solution, at least overnight, was that they had someone stay in the library overnight to monitor the leaks and I guess call someone if it all goes to pot.

Despite the rain today I was lucky not to get too wet today.  The timing worked out that when I arrived at Central and other locations that the rain was pouring, but it would soon pass.  This meant that my waiting out of the rain cell worked out for me.  It was also not a heavy route today.  The good thing about four of the branches having slow circulation is that I don't have to deal with as many bins.

I'm not sure if it was only my actions and the subsequent interaction with T that spurred this new round of bullshit at the library, but the other shoe dropped today in regards to the new technology questions policy.  To quote TheLamp's email, "We do not assist patrons in trouble shooting their devices or with extensive tech questions at the Ref Desk.  We also do not print anything out from patron's personal computers using their own stationery etc."  Shown above is the new sign that will now sit at the already sign heavy reference desk.  I plan on shoving that sign into nearly every patron's face from this point forward.  I did talk to my buddy Dane about how stupid patrons can't keep their mouth shut about special little favors that are being done for them.  Every fucking time they will throw someone under the bus by saying, oh but so and so did it for me.  Shut the fuck up, patron.  Read the fucking "signs" and know that this isn't something that's the norm.  The person helping you is going above and beyond to help you.  Don't come back two weeks later and let it be known to other dummy workers there that aren't going to help you out that this favor was done by another employee.  Doing this just assures that you won't ever get that help again.  Because, now I will have ZERO motivation to help anyone.  Not after this shit.  I really need to leave that job.  I texted TheDesire and she just didn't get it.  She just told me to check out the job listings online.  Yeah, I'm literally asking her because I wanted an in for a job at county.  Not to be one of the masses.  Whatever!  I won't bother her with this shit again.  Once again, people can't read the "signs" and don't really want to help.

The circulation office was pretty warm today, but that's no surprise.  During the renovation it was always the hottest area of the library.  Well, today it was advantageous to be circulation, because the rest of the building was a meat locker.  But, of course, the library dopes upstairs don't want the employees to not freeze to death, so they sent out an email that illustrates just how much bullshit we have to deal with every day (shown above).  I saw Ru wearing a jacket that is used when going out skiing.  She was cold, as well as a lot of others, since the administration dopes needed to tell us all fuck you and how cold you are, no heaters.  Now I know that it can be dangerous to have a space heater left on over night.  But these dopes always taught this whole idea that everyone is "an adult," and by that they should know what to do.  Well then by that logic they should know to turn off the space heater before they go home.  But we're also human, and we're forgetful.  It's messed up, but I'm sure some dope left their heater on and boom, no more heaters for you.

The marketing genius sent out a rare email to the dopes.  The music service she mentions in the above email was something that people could not log into for over a month.  It took these dopes nearly a month to figure out that something was wrong with the logins.  I like what this says about the service.  There must be nearly no one using it.  Love it.

Fri Nov 30, When I arrived at the parking structure one of the janitors that occasionally works at Central saw me and mentioned that I should go up to the roof and check out the library's roof.  I did, and just as he described it, the roof looked like a swimming pool.  There was so much standing water on the other two big sections of the roof (not shown).  I just love that these dopes at the city didn't oversee the project one bit.  Because something like this would have been caught, you would think, if there was a project manager that inspected the entire project every day.  Instead of showing up only at the home stretch.  Idiots!  One of my coworkers mentioned that DrG wanted to be able to do something about the roof, but that his hands are tied because the city is currently suing the contractor for this horrible roof.  Good, but in the meantime we still have a badly designed roof.  I hope they all drown.

Once again I walk into circulation and find that yesterday's delivery has hardly been touched.  Circulation is a shadow of what it used to be.  I hate sounds nostalgic for the old, pre renovation, circulation.  However, as much as a slaughterhouse that it was, it was at least a place where things were done.  MicroManager was not OK in many ways, but she cracked the whip and got people to do their jobs.  Now, it's a completely laissez-faire attitude, spurred on by AD's statement that everyone is an adult, and should know what to do.  Yes, we should, but we're also human and some dopes are also not mature.

The defecate space, as I call it, has exhibits in the hallway leading to the bathrooms.  They just ended one exhibit and when they took the stick on letters off the wall they obviously attached themselves so well to the paint that the paint came off with the letters (shown above).  I'm sure this little repair job for the paint will cost a pretty penny.  This library can literally get nothing right.

Wrap-up, A month that features a trip to Carmel is usually a month that I can declare it's a A grade month.  This last trip to Carmel was great, but it was tainted by the full lot of bullshit that has happened since.  Because of that I honestly can't give this month a super high grade, but I think the photos that I have yet to see completely will make up for some of the bullshit.  This is why I reluctantly give this month a B grade.

I became hungry one morning and I was craving a burger.  I stopped off at Tommy's and ordered a burger and it was perfect.

Just outside a bookstore that I frequently visit for work related things, I saw a cool new display just outside.  It points out directions to famous literary towns and landmarks.

I often go to the Counter in Toluca Lake, because TheGirl and I want to be able to take Cheyenne and Chan to eat dinner with us.  This time I ordered a "poblano burger," which was pretty good.