How is it already April? Not sure, but here we are.

Fri March 1, When I came into work this morning I saw a whole mess of trucks filled with books.  Because no one wants to shelve books anymore.  I needed a truck to load the van, but all of the trucks reserved for that were filled with books.  I couldn't take it.  I took one of the trucks and took the books off.  But before that I became super frustrated, to the point that I couldn't take it any more and I kicked one of the trucks filled with books.  Later my a couple of my coworkers were saying how there were books on the floor.  I didn't pick them up, I was so disgusted with the situation.  So of course my coworkers pick up on the fact that the books are on the floor.  I didn't tell them I kicked the cart.  Fuck that shit!  I'm tired of all this fucking bullshit.

I've had a bungee cord in the van for years, but the last time I was at the 99 cent store I bought a few more.  Today they really helped me out.  First, they serve me well in that they help keep the bins from moving around the cabin.  I didn't leave them for the other driver, because I don't want him messing with them.  I did leave one in the back to hold up the extra bins, but not the two colorful ones showing in the picture above.  Best $3 I have spent for that job.

I was running a little late by the time I finally arrived at Adams this morning.  I had to go get petty cash from the treasury department, and that took extra time.  I thought about waiting until I arrived at Chevy, but I was already hungry.  It was nice to eat at Adams, since they have these new tables outside.  I might have to consider having lunch here more often.

On an uneventful route suddenly there was something eventful that happened.  While backing up at Brand I misjudged the distance of the van from the trash bins.  I just barely clipped the bin, but it was enough to hit the tail light.  It didn't smash the entire thing, but the hit was enough to break a portion of it (as seen above).  I'll have to report this to the boss.  Sucks.

On the way home I needed to buy some booze.  I got off the freeway before my usual stop and bought it at the drug store.  Driving home I passed where I would normally go, the former market that is now just a big hole in the ground (see above).  A year ago in February they closed the market to make way for a new and improved market.  They said it would be open THIS February.  Well, maybe that would have happened if they didn't sit on the project for nearly six month doing nothing.  Now they're full steam ahead, but of course they took so long to start that they aren't even close to being finished.  They literally just have the hole in the ground and not much else.  I figure they're going to have some underground parking and maybe make the new market super huge.  Only how long will it take?

I checked social media tonight and found the picture above from my San Marino job's social media feed.  The picture says it all.

This picture of a hoodie says it all... everything is fucked these days.  My two jobs are a mess.  There is a growing frustration from everyone that I work with that we can't change things.  That our best option is to keep our heads down and keep going forward.  But to what end? I've been thinking a lot about ends.  The end of all this for me, specifically.  It's hard to shake the idea that one day I won't exist.  I want to believe that something of my consciousness will be and I'll still experience something.  Not very likely, I know.  Really, all that will remain of me are these words.  Assuming they don't get lot to time as well.  My deeds, my time here, will all be forgotten.  I won't have a child to remember.  I won't have a wife to remember.  I'll just have these writing and my photography.  I think that's why I try to keep something of me here.  It's just not the same, but it's all I have.  This is why I try to keep this journal as up to date as possible.  And why I try to write it every day.

Sat March 2, A few weeks ago I told TheGirl that we should go to Downtown Disney to check out some of the new food at one of the places at the Disneyland hotel.  She agreed, but then earlier this week she mentioned that since it was going to rain that it was best we don't go down to Downtown Disney.  Oh well, I thought.  There goes that.  Still, it was fun going to the alternative, the San Antonio winery, for lunch.

There isn't much to say about the lunch.  The drive there took longer than expected due to the rain.  I ordered up some pasta with Italian sausage, and it hit the spot.  So did the wine, and the whiskey I had on the way there.  Certainly almost any situation will be greatly improved by having a little whiskey.

After lunch I came home and passed out.  Thank the wine and the food for that.  I've been good lately.  I haven't wanted to pass out every Saturday.  That's not to say I'm not tired, but for some reason I've been able to avoid sleeping all day on my Saturdays off.  Well, but today of course I was full of good food and good wine.  I bought TheGirl a bottle so that when I come over we can have some.  Yay!  I wanted to buy a case.

Mon March 4, I'll just leave this here.

Tue March 5, I went to the graphics department and found a new bookmark for the library.  A new, useless, pointless and most trashable bookmark.  The "Media" team is headed by a woman I'll now call TokyoRose.  Pretty much everyone that I've talked to says she's awful.  Now in fairness I have not encountered the person others say.  But, I will add that people tend to act different around me.  And, since I don't really give a damn about people their stupid actions sometimes go unnoticed by me.  That's not to say that I don't notice things, I just don't notice some real or perceived slights.  Given all that I'll say that she is not doing a good job.  Her fliers are ALWAYS full of mistakes.  The graphics department has told me that the library fliers are always something they have to redo more than any other department's fliers.  And of course they're always late.  In February I didn't pick up the monthly events until the middle of the second week of the month.  This time I picked up the March events on March 1st.  That's not OK.  Her latest creation is the above bookmark, I guess meant to showcase the different things available at the library.  Not one of those things are worth the price of admission.  Like I said, the bookmarks are trash.  I'm not surprised, given the source.

Wed March 6, My aunt warmed me up some spaghetti and a store bought quesadilla this morning, as is the normal in our house.  Well, the quesadilla anyway.  I pretty much eat only those in the morning for breakfast.  But what I want to point out is the spoon instead of a fork.  My aunt will randomly bring me the wrong utensils for the job.  Like today, she gave me a knife and a spoon.  The knife is for the sour cream.

For some reason the last couple of days I've been receiving some spam emails to my main account.  I'm not sure why I'm suddenly getting these emails to my main inbox.  I tag every one of the emails I get as spam so that hopefully the filters will pick up more of these emails.  I'm wondering if my email was somehow sold to some spam service.  I'll just have to keep hitting the "spam" button.

I've said it before, and I guess I'll say it again... Wednesday is the best day of my week.  I not only get to have dinner with TheGirl, but I get to play and visit with Cheyenne.  Her time on this Earth is short compared to my potential time, but if you count the impact that she has had in my life then there is no comparison.  I think that we have been good for each other.  Much like how TheGirl and I have been good for each other as well.  Tonight promised to be cold, so TheGirl thought it best to leave Cheyenne at home.  I WISH I had the money to have a nice home for Cheyenne to live in, and in addition have a huge backyard where TheGirl, Cheyenne and myself (don't forget Chan) could have a nice dinner under the stars.  It's a pipe dream, to be sure.  But Cheyenne has reminded me of the concept of pure love.  I don't know if she knows how I feel about her.  There has been no other dog in my life that I trust and care for as much as I do Cheyenne.  I never want any harm to come to her.  I never want her out of my life.  I dread the possible near future of her passing away.  I don't even want to think about that eventual moment.  Cheyenne has changed my life for the better.

Thu March 7, I went to the city garage today to have them get the information they need in order to fix the broken tail light on the van, and also get one of the actual lights that burned out replaced as well.

It's funny that I delivered books to the city clerk's office the other day, because some of those books might have been featured on the library's social media, along with DrDeath (shown above).  Never mind that I deliver the books that go into that little free library.  Never mind that DrDeath had nothing to do with this idea.  But whatever.  I just wanted to leave this here.

When I got to Grandview today I noticed they had TWO large screen TVs in the back room.  I asked why they had these TVs and Becks answers, "Oh, those are for the 'stem space.'" This is yet ANOTHER stupid program that these library dopes are hoping will keep the library relevant.  The "stem" room was formally the teen area that no one used.  I love how these dopes don't get it at all.  Snow got rid of the office at this location in favor of a stupid teen room in a library that has nearly zero teens visit it.  The library is across the street from a school.  When I worked there I found it was mostly those kids and their moms that would show up to the library.  After 3pm the noise would die down and we would have a few adults show up, because they've always been going to that location.  That was pretty much it.  To build a teen room was bullshit.  It was literally never used.  This is why they are now changing the theme.  But of course did they do any kind of homework to see if this "stem" thing is something they needed? Nope.  It will fail like all their initiatives have failed.  Meanwhile, they have the money to spend on big screen TVs and not employees.  Priorities.

Fri March 8, When I pulled out the van out of its parking spot I noticed that there were some beer cans behind where the van was parked.  Clearly some dopes were using the van as a cover to drink the night away.  I don't know why these idiots forced me to park the van outside of the city lot across the street.  Not to say it would be completely safe there, but at least being inside the parking structure means that it's monitored in some way.  Because the damn building has cameras everywhere.  Whatever!  They don't care, I don't care.

There was some dumb event in the auditorium this morning.  Because of that the library reserved some parking spots by placing some no parking signs.  I even helped place them yesterday morning.  But did anyone heed the tow away signs? Nope.  I wonder why these dopes even bother.  I saw about four cars come and park there despite the signs clearly saying not to park.  But that's how we roll in this city.  Nothing really matters.  Nothing is really enforced.  Bullshit.

When I arrived at Brand today I was told by one of the librarians to not leave so fast, because she was going to bring out a cake to celebrate Misa's birthday.  I think Misa is cute.  Have since I met her nearly a decade ago. I'm not going to sit here and say she has the most amazing figure, but I think she still has "it."  It's hard to see in the picture above, but she has a nice butt.

I had to make my monthly trip out to Sun Valley to visit Judy and deliver her books.  When I got out of the car I noticed that the tree in front of the church had a bunch of trash on it.  I wonder how it's OK for people to just leave their trash on the street.  And it's not like it's just a piece of paper or something.  It's a whole child walker and behind that a coffee table.  So sad.

Mon March 11, The RFID tagging at San Marino isn't finished yet, but already there are reports of patrons peeling out the RFID tags.  In response to these actions the bosses came up with the idea to place these slips into the children's books, to hopefully prevent this vandalism.  I'm not sure it will work, because some dopes will just be vandals to be vandals.  But, at the same time it sucks that there are idiots that go and do this seemingly on purpose.

Ever since the night a few weeks ago that they found a naked patron in the staff lounge at closing time there has been a call to keep the lounge door locked throughout the day.  But of course one of the pages forgot to bring the key from the circulation desk and ended up taking the key from the key locker in the office.  That's not great, but it's not something that's out of the ordinary.  Anyone could forget to bring the key, since it's a new procedure.  However, leaving the key in the lock was not OK.  When I went to the lounge for my break I found the key in the lock (shown above).  Bad.

I had lunch today, but it didn't fill me up.  Despite the fact that I had lunch late today.  I bought a instant noodle soup a while back for just such an occasion.  I remember this stuff tasting much better than the one I had today.  While it didn't taste all that great, it did fill me up.

There isn't much to say about my visit to TheGirl's place tonight.  I roughhoused with Cheyenne and pooped each other out.

Tue March 12, I went upstairs to do my usual base touch of administration when I walked by the book display that DrDeath works "SO HARD" on in days past.  Well, I wanted to illustrate what exactly the hard work has lead to (shown above).  To me this display looks like a hot mess, bullshit, and stupidity all rolled into one.  I notice that the books are pretty much in the same place all the time.  In other words, I would really like to know if circulation has improved at all with these stupid changes.  Probably not.

There's this thing where people tend to park next to me while I have lunch in the park.  I was driving down to the park when I notice this one car in the far left lane that waved down a police officer parked across the street.  The police officer used their squad car to push the car away from the left turn lane and to the shoulder.  In the photo above I show the location of where the car stalled to illustrate just how far the car had to travel to park near me.  I'm not sure what makes people ALWAYS park by me.  No matter where I park these dopes will follow me.  Like in this case.  Dopes.

Grandview used to be a main stop on the route.  I would often eat lunch there.  I would often take an extended break there.  It was a cool spot... the "in" spot in many ways.  Not only did I take my break there, but the janitorial guys would often be there for their lunch.  It's all gone now.  No more of that.  It's just another stop now.  Sigh.

As I was leaving Grandview this idiot that was parked in front of the driveway kept waving me off, because of course he is picking someone up.  Well, too bad, get out of my fucking way.  This is what happens in this town.  No one obeys any traffic laws.  I've seen so many terrible things on the route with these dopes that can't just obey the traffic rules.  They do whatever they want, damn the consequences.  And that's because there never seems to be any consequences.  Fuck this guy!

I told Krishna today that I couldn't make it to the April 1st so-called "re-opening" of Grandview because I'm working at San Marino.  I basically dodged a bullet, because today I saw the flier that points out that the costumed figure I wore a couple of years back, and baked inside, is one of the two featured costumed figures scheduled for that day.  Of course.  If I had worked that event I would surly be in that fucking suit.  No thanks!  I hated being in that suit last time.  I was not only burning up, but my sweat got into my eyes and I could not see.  Bad.

I'm a fat fuck.  I have ballooned up thanks to a sedentary life and drinking a lot of booze over the last couple of years.  The pounds I've put on have been added at at steady pace.  But it's most recently that I have felt the pounds on me.  My stomach feels like I'm carrying a basketball on me.  But it's a basketball of fat, not air.  I nearly bought an exercise bike online the other day and thought better of it.  I think most people buy those things with the best of intentions and then it sits in the corner forever, until it's sold.  No thanks.  What I think I'll do before I go down the exercise bit route is to play a little indoor nerf basketball.  To that end I bought some nerf mini basketballs online this weekend and I went about playing a little "pick-up" game to fifty tonight after dinner.  It broke a little bit of a sweat.  It's a start.  I'm not in the shape I want to be, and playing this in my room when I'm usually just sitting around will go a long way towards hopefully getting rid of some of these pounds.  I plan on playing until I score fifty points, and then upping that to one hundred points.  We'll see how this goes.  I may still buy an exercise bike though.

Wed March 13, My buddy Vagabundo told me to check out our work email.  When I checked I found an email from DrDeath (shown above) stating that the marketing lady was no longer employed.  The way the email was structured made me automatically think that she had been fired.  Sure enough, my contact in administration confirmed that she had been fired.  They escorted her out.  Look, let's call a spade a spade, she wasn't very good at her job.

The weather warmed up and TheGirl and I were able to go out to dinner with Cheyenne.  We went to get hot dogs.  I hope to many many nice meals during the spring and into the summer.  Hopefully it won't be TOO hot.  As nice as the weather has been lately, I wonder if we're going to be paying for it come summer.  I sure hope it's a mild summer.

Thu March 14, When I arrived at work today I notice that there were more A frame shelves in what's known as "the marketplace."  Of course the shelves are empty, probably because DrDeath hasn't come down from his ivory tower and fill those shelves.

I got a little more information about the firing of the marking lady, aka Maria.  One person confirmed that she was escorted out.  Another person told me that her job had a one year probationary period, and that she was one month short of being protected.  I guess DrDeath didn't want her to be permanent.  Some people told me today that she was not OK, and that she walked around like she was better than everyone.  There's another angle that we can look at this.  Supposedly Maria and AD were chummy, to say the least.  DrDeath seems to not have liked that AD had an established "base" in the library of people that liked her better simply because they knew her before they knew him.  Not only does this move get rid of someone that couldn't do that job correctly, but it takes out a key AD ally.  In short, it's a shot across the bow.  People tell me that DrDeath doesn't like AD.  I thought I saw that too, but I don't know for sure since I don't see them interacting very often.  Either way, there are too many fails in that building to continue to do business as usual.  This might be the first real sign of what DrDeath wants this library to be and become.  Not entirely good, mind you.

I took twelve money bags to treasury today.  TWELVE bags!  I don't think I've ever had to take that many bags to treasury.  The reason why there were so many bags is because Adams decided to sent four bags and Grandview sent three.  In addition to that Pacific decided to sent two.  The second in command at treasury wondered why there were so many bags when the library only has eight branches.  In theory the maximum amount of bags that I should have would be eight.  To have four more than that is insane.  But it was having seven bags from two locations under the control of Krishna that put up red flags.  The second in command went into her office to call Central and talked to the money man there about this.  She later told me that they talked about how the branches need to send money every day, but that they did have a special dispensation for when the money is less than $5.  That's what I've been telling these dopes.  Also, Krishna can't claim that she's sending money every day, since four bags would mean four days.  And, of course the dates on the transmittals are not different, they were all the same date.  Which means they're holding back the money.  Anyway, hopefully this little talk the second in command had with the money man will prevent these idiots sending money in when they haven't collected that much.  Because these dopes, and I have to include Misa in this, will send the money in when they have $.60.  When they "do" the money it takes about a couple of hours to count and put that information in the computer, as well as have another full time worker verify that the amount is correct.  That is a lot of time spent to send in $.60.

Sat March 16, I saw on Knott's berry farm social media feed that they were introducing a boysenberry pie flavored yogurt.  I thought it would be sold at Knott's berry farm, but of course that would be too easy.  Then I come to find that they are going to be sold at Yogurtland.  I checked my maps app and found one close to home in Studio City.  But that was Thursday and I was tired so I didn't go there.  It's a good thing, because when I went on Yogurtland's website I found that I could find which location had a specific flavor.  It's a good thing I did, because it turns out none of the locations near me have that flavor.  If I want to try this specific flavor I would have to drive fifty miles to the east, at least.  Boo!  Guess I won't be trying that flavor for a while.  I hope that in time they start to serve it AT Knott's.

Now that I have my nerf basketball I'm trying to get my ass up out of my chair and get moving.  It's not that easy.  Last night I played a little and it exhausted me.  To the point that I went to bed shortly after 11pm.  I passed out super fast.  Today I played some more and I'm trying to use technology to keep myself honest.

The latest library fail is just over the horizon, courtesy of the "grand opening/re-opening" of the Grandview library.  I briefly wrote earlier in this journal about how that branch had some significance in the past.  It certainly doesn't have any of that any more.  Sadly, not only is the place a shell of what it was in my memory, it's a shell of what it was in reality.  Not to lay all the problems with the place on Krishna.  To be fair the destruction of that branch happened long before she was manager there.  You have to go back to the days Snow was still in charge.  She took the office she had and turned it into a "teen" room.  Despite the fact that very few teens actually go there.  And she oversaw the elimination of book stacks, taking away valuable shelf space.  The "teen" space ended up being a total disaster, and now that room is the new site of the so-called "steam" space.  The latest failure.  I love how these dopes cling on to stupid things like this "steam" thing as some way of staying relevant.  It's like a grocery store suddenly also turning into a video arcade because reasons.  As always, these idiots only understand the superficial aspects of what they are doing.  To use the market/arcade example... if a market did want to add a video arcade you would think they would research and find out if patrons that go to the market have an interest in playing video games.  If so, how much? Is it a passing fade? What are the consequences of adding games to the market? Will it push out product that needs shelf space? Will it, in the end, actually benefit the market to install expensive video games? Will the loss of those shelves be offset by the benefits of having those video games? See, these are the kind of questions I'm sure they didn't ask when they thought to convert the office into a "teen" space.  Nor did they ask these questions when the "teen" space was a failure.  Because clearly they just thought that if they built it they would come.  But no one did.  And no one will go use that steam thing either.  Just like no one goes into the mockery space at Central.  They have installed the expensive video games and they don't know why people are not playing them when they go grocery shopping.  A little thought would have told them that these things aren't library related and are irrelevant.  Not only that, these things are not going to save the library.  They aren't going to do anything but collect dust.

Sun March 17, On a whim I decided to check out what social media is saying about the library.  Most of the reviews were positive, but they also focused on the speed of the wifi and how "pretty" the building looked.  I only spotted one that actually talked about library things, such as the check-out process.  The photo above links to the full text of the review, but in short it was spot on.  She mentioned how going to administration is frustrating since there is never anyone there that will listen to a complaint.  She's also right about how the library has been turned, "Into a community center."  She goes on to say, "The Illiterate may watch porn on the free computers. The homeless may sleep in its chairs (that part is okay with me). Mothers do not have to tell their noisy brats to be quiet. On some nights, dozens of teens run around yelling and laughing."  All absolutely true.  She continues to point out an interaction with one of the librarians about how they couldn't give her a receipt for her returns, nor would she check them in at the desk.  The, "Librarian at the desk refused to check them in. 'Go drop them off over there,' she said pointing in a vague direction. I told her no. I need a receipt."  The direction she was sent was to the stupid indoor book drop that's attached to the stupid sorting machine.  They want to justify the price of that thing by directing people to use it.  Yet, they forget that not everyone is going to want to use it.  Especially if you just direct them to some vague location.  I love her last paragraph in her review.

"To me, this empty shell now called a 'library' by Glendale is a disgrace.  It dishonors the people who want to borrow its books and DVDs and CDs with its narrow focus and hostility towards its patrons who actually use their library cards.  And it would be great if they hired more staff with higher IQ's than are presently exhibited."

I'm sure the dummies upstairs just call her a nincompoop, but she's right.  I see it.  The library is an empty shell now.  Whatever soul it used to have is gone.

Tue March 19, Last week the front door was being "repaired," because it was banging on the frame.  Jade told me today that the reason why it's banging on the frame is that the whole door assembly is not square.  It wasn't installed correctly.  They would have to take the whole thing out in order to correct it.  And perhaps even that wouldn't fix it.  Just perfect.

It's not like I don't check out Emma every time I see her, because I do.  It's just that lately I haven't made a huge effort to check her out.  Mainly because I feel like I don't want to be "that guy" that is a leech.  Then there's a moment, like today, where she just looks really nice and I have to notice.  Yeah, I know, it's gay.

The countdown to the Grandview failure continues.  I was talking to Kvon about the rerereopening that's coming up and he told me that he was going to be there, because, "There's no tech guy available."  Like, what? He went on to say that he knew that, "No one is going to show up."  Even he knows this whole "re-opening" bullshit is nothing but a shit show.  I hope it exposes Krishna for the inept manager she has turned out to be.

I have made Adams my last stop on my Tuesday and Thursday route days.  When I arrived today I found that the 3D printer was sitting there waiting to be delivered to another branch.  It was also not packed correctly.  The part that looks like a lid is actually the base of the shipping unit.  The bigger part of the unit slides over the 3D printer in order to protect it.  Do you think I unpacked this thing and fixed their mistake? Nope.  If they can't take the time to pack something correctly I'm not going to fix it.  Fuck that shit.  If they say anything I will show them the picture above as proof I didn't alter the packing.  Fucking bullshit morons.

According to Knott's social media all Yogurtland locations will have the boysenberry pie flavor as of today.  Woo hoo!  That's great news.  Now I just have to book it to Yogurtland.

Wed March 20, I'll leave this here.

Thu March 21, The route today was a total shitshow, but I'm not interested in detailing all the shit that happened today.  What I'm more interested in is giving an overall view of how the culture of failure came to a head to ruin my day.  For years the rudderless ship that is the library has been heading straight for the rocks.  Little was done to change course and "right the ship," so to speak.  Maleficent sent this library system on that course.  DrDeath seems to simultaneously be moving the library in a new direction while maintaining the course to the rocks.  It's a talent.

The state of the library is poor, if you ask me.  If you ask the goons they will say what they always say, that everything is "fine."  Moral isn't at all time lows, everything is "fine."  The sorting machine isn't a colossal failure, everything is "fine."  "Floating" the entire collection isn't pooling books in one location, everything is "fine."  I could go on and on, but you get the idea.  Everything is "fine" is a lie.  Everything is NOT FINE.

The mockery space is perhaps the biggest of the fails of the renovation.  That room is a monument to their want to wanting to be loved, desired, and to remain relevant.  But clinging on to bad ideas, and throwing more money and people at the problem isn't ever going to make it viable or relevant.

I've said all this before in pieces in this journal over the years.  So, this should come off as something new.  What I feel is new is the new breed of administrators that seem to be racing towards the rocks by adding speed to the doomed ship.  AD champions everything that's wrong with the library.  RFID is yet another failure.  To have tagged all the books but to have security gates that don't work, and didn't work for over a year, is just stupid.

I could go on and on repeating what I've said here before, but I won't.  This library is doomed as long as it has people like DrDeath and AD in control.  I want to have hope that things will change, but that's a one in a million chance now.

You see, the "culture" of corruption runs deep at the library.  To the point that an honest person can't function within that system for long.  Because, an honest person will try to do the job the right way, without shortcuts or excuses.  That's not what exists at the library now.  If you do things the honest way you're pretty much doomed to failure.  It seems to be the way of the world, these days especially, that good is under the foot of evil.

Fri March 22, I convinced Kvon and Krishna that it would be better for me to do the special delivery this morning first thing.  I was just too tired last night to do it.  I was sure today wasn't going to be a cakewalk either, but I did think that I would avoid Krishna at the very least.  Nope.  She was at Grandview, because the furniture guys were putting together the new furniture.  I have only been hearing about this new furniture for nearly four years.  It's FINALLY here, and it's made of particle board.  I began moving the boxed speakers for the re-opening and that's when I saw Krishna at the desk with headphones on.  I knew I didn't have much time until she noticed me.  Of course immediately she starts to throw more requests at me.  I already had a bunch of boxes that were going to go to Central, but then she's also giving me some stupid story walk BS to take back to Casa Verdugo, and not satisfied with that she gave me four tables to take to Adams Square.  ARGH!  I piled them all into the van (as seen above) and finally went on my merry way.  I hit Casa and dropped of their stuff.  Then thought about taking some of the books to the recycling center, but what was the use of only dumping half of them? I took them all to Central, and then and only then could I pack the van up for the route.  I didn't get on the road for that until around 10:30am, I believe.  I did the city hall part, filled the tank on the van with gasoline, and hit Adams.  But I was already getting hungry, so I got something to eat and booked it to Adams.

I knew I needed all my energy today, and I needed to pace myself.  I decided to take a longer than usual lunch at Adams.  The weather was super nice out today, and the setting is pleasant.  It does surprise me how much foot traffic there is in front of that location.  Still, I had a nice leisurely lunch.  I was going to milk this for all it's worth.

I had the idea that my morning trip to Grandview would pretty much cover everything I needed to do there.  I thought of not only taking the giant speakers with me but also the route bins with me.  Well, even after I delivered their delivery Krishna asked if I could back later, because she needed to sort some books that were going to go back to Central.  Why this couldn't be done earlier, I don't know.  Either way, this meant another trip to Grandview later.  No way.  But oh well, maybe that new girl would be there, I thought.  She's cute, but more on that later.  Suffice to say Krishna used that second trip to pile on more junk.  She wanted me to take a book cart to Adams.  I told her that the van was already packed with her stuff as well as other stuff (pictured above).  That whole middle row was the books she wanted me to take to Central.  So yeah, next week.  I'll be glad when this so-called "grand re-re-re-opening" happens and is in the rearview mirror.  Oh, and I'll be super glad when Krishna goes on maternity leave.  No more of these "favors" for a while.

Before leaving Grandview for the Nth time today I rested up and looked around the library.  Not only was all the furniture in the former office, but there were some of the cuter coworkers there.  When I looked at the computers I saw the signs that the IT guys emailed about a few days ago.  They said that they were going around the entire system labeling the computers, in order to make it easier to identify a computer that was having issues.  They put little signs on each, and of course when I looked one of the signs had already fallen off.  Of the four computers in front of me two of them had the signs fall off (as seen above).  How perfect is that? It's an omen, I tells ya.  It's an omen of the failures to come.  Oh I almost wish I could be there opening day.  Maybe I can get Kvon to record it on the go pros he bought.  I'm sure it's going to be a fucking disaster.

I mentioned to Kvon that since we have so many new workers that it might be a good idea to feature them in an email.  That message was relayed to one of the guys upstairs in admin, and then picked up by AD.  In her weekly statement to the troops AD sent out pictures of the new people.  I have met half of them.  Included in the mix is the new girl at works for Krishna (last one from left on the top row).  She's cute, to say the least.  It's hard to see in the photo, but she has a really cute body as well.  I see her smile at me, and I should really just take it as a sign.  But you know me, I tend to be dense about that sort of stuff.  But then Emma asked me today if I liked her.  OMG, where did that come from? Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't let Emma know that I am interested in her.  What could happen, right? Best case, Emma tells her and there's a connection.  Worst case, she tells her and nothing happens.  So I'm right back where I am right now.  I guess I'm convincing myself of telling her.

I was told about this by P, but it was Ilsa that sent me the images of the new signs on the lounge at San Marino.  If you recall there was a crazy woman who hid herself after-hours in the staff lounge.  TheLamp discovered her in the hallway and freaked out.  After the police arrived they found her in the lounge, which had not been locked.  In typical fashion, these days, this incident caused an overreaction.  This has manifested itself as a policy of ALWAYS having the lounge door locked.  Mind you, this has not happened quite like this before.  Yes, we have found patrons that have wandered up to the lounge and thought it was a study area.  How someone could legitimately look at the kitchenette and the vending machines and think the lounge was just another study area is ludicrous.  I digress, because yes these dummies left the lounge unlocked after-hours.  The lounge should be locked at around 5pm, when the last of the full timers leave the upstairs area.  As I said, it's a overreaction.  Naturally people are going to forget this new policy and expect to go upstairs and not find a locked door.  Naturally someone already took the spare door key from the key locker and of course they would leave it in the outside lock.  Because people forget, and it's a new routine.  But these dopes can't just leave it at that and chalk up these "growing pains" as something that's naturally going to happen.  No.  Someone passive/aggressively wrote these signs for all to see.  Because hey, if you forget to bring the key to the lounge you suck and you're fucked.  I hate overreactions.

Sat March 23, I took my aunt to an appointment at the Olive View hospital up in Sylmar.  She needed to drink a lot of water for a test, so she was downing it as we drove up there.

After her appointment my aunt suggested we go eat lunch in Burbank at a restaurant that we ate a few weeks ago.  I had the red enchiladas and they were super good.

I got an email about my credit score going up.  I'm not sure why, but it sure sounds like good news.

Sun March 24, I picked up my aunt after work and took her home.  She went to the store and bought some things, including some tortilla chips.  Earlier in the week she brought me some potato chips.  And, the week before that bought a huge bag of Doritos.  A bag I have hardly put a dent in yet.  I don't know why she continues to buy me so many chips.

Tue March 26, I walked into Grandview today with the intent on checking out the new furniture, even though I knew they had piled all the new furniture into the former branch manager's office.  When I walked around, low and behold, the new "circulation" desk was before me (see above).  Yes, THAT is the new desk.  First impression was, "This is it?" I also wondered why it was so short.  I wondered that out loud.  One of the ladies there told me, "Oh, it lifts."  Sure enough, it's a desk that has a mechanism that allows it to move up and down.  Just incredible.  The old desk wasn't a paradise, it had its problems as well.  But this desk is an abomination.  Krishna's folly is just under a week away.

Wed March 27, One of the cute patrons that I hadn't talked to in a long time came up to the desk to tell me about a patron sleeping.  I jumped at the chance to talk to her, even if it was only as we walked to the lifelong learning center.  Boy, if I wasn't such a coward I would ask this lady to dinner.  Alas, part of me doesn't even want to even go down that road.  Because, why bother?

TheGirl and I went to a pizza joint tonight, but we left Cheyenne at her place.  I feel bad for her, because I only get to see her for a few hours a couple of times a week.  And to then leave her at home really makes me feel bad, because then our playtime together is shorter.  She was full of piss and vinegar tonight.  Cheyenne wasn't feeling well the last couple of days.  She's getting older, and things seem to get to her much more than when she was a puppy.  I've said it a bunch of times, I never want anything bad to happen to Cheyenne.

Thu March 28, I usually try to tell the story of the day in a way of a story.  But today the story was just shit and fuck me.  I had two special deliveries today, one from Grandview and the other to Brand.  The Brand one was a piece of art created by some high school students (seen above), that I was asked to pick up today for an upcoming exhibition at the library.  That's fine.  But the other was to pick up a bunch of junk, anything, that was at Grandview and that needed to get out the door in preparations for the grand re-re-re-opening on Monday.

When I arrived at Grandview I saw the usual book bins waiting for me, along with a huge box that was about four feet tall and about two feet wide and long.  This fucking this was big, but at least it didn't weigh much.  In addition to that there were two boxes of books that I took to the recycling place.  And in addition to that there was a 3D printer case, one I've showcased here in a previous entry.  My telling Krishna that I couldn't take those items today set her off.  She told me that she NEEDED them out of there today, not tomorrow.  I informed her about the art I had to pick up and how it was fragile.  I'll leave the rest of the story to the email that I wrote to my supervisor, Kvon.

Kvon,

I wanted to talk to you about something that happened at Grandview today, but when I returned from the route you were engaged with dealing with the patron that was talking to herself and yelling at Central in the early evening.

When I arrived at Grandview Krishna informed me that she needed some items to go out with the delivery today.  In addition to the regular delivery she wanted me to take some sort of portable screen, a large box marked for AD, and the protective cover to a 3D printer, among other things to Adams.  I informed Kristine that I wouldn't be able to take all of them today, since I had that special pick-up for Brand of a delicate art piece.

Krishna was visibly annoyed by my response and reminded me that you told her I would, "Take care of it."  In my mind I felt that Krishna thought she had carte blanche.  While I can appreciate that she needed to get as many items out of Grandview as possible in order to be ready for the grand opening on Monday, I don't feel that what followed was a necessary and measured response.

I informed Krishna that I would take the delivery bins today, but that I couldn't take the other items today because I had to leave room in the van for a special delivery of a piece of art from Daily high school to Brand (as we discussed on Tuesday of this week).  I was not entirely sure what the size of the art piece was, which caused me concern as to it fitting in the van.  Furthermore, "name redacted" at Brand told me that the piece was "delicate" and made out of Popsicle sticks.  One of the boxes Krishna wanted me to take was labeled for AD.  This box was at least four feet tall, and about two foot wide and deep.  My main concern was that something of this size and weighing about fifteen pounds could cause the artwork some damage if it were to shift during transport.

I told Krishna that I could move the extra items tomorrow, meaning Friday the 29th.  This is when she responded with the phrase, "Am I going to have to get the assistant director to email you about this?" I felt this was a flat out threat to, at the very least get me in trouble, and at the worst to cost me my job perhaps.  I felt humiliated by her remark, but did not feel it was a good idea to tell that to her how I felt for fear of retaliation.  I felt her remark was uncalled for under the circumstances.  What I did say is that I have to balance the amount of items I take from each branch, since on a given day I may receive many items from a branch that I deliver to before and after Grandview.  I know that there are special circumstances because of the upcoming re-opening, but if this were a one time occurrence I would not feel that I needed to write this email to have this on the record.  This has been a continuing theme with Krishna over the time she has been the branch manager at Grandview and Adams.

To her credit Krishna did ask me if I could come back to Grandview after I delivered the art work to Brand.  Under the circumstances I felt that was a good idea.  But on second thought I felt that I needed to take the extra items with me then and there instead of later.  My original plan was to visit Grandview first and then go to Daily high school, which is close to Central on Kenwood and Wilson, and pick up the art.  But having all those extra items made me wary of the prospect of delivering the art in one piece.  This is why I decided while at Brand to take everything out of the van and return to Daily high with "name redacted," in tow, to help me with the art piece.  One, because I felt it was better than trying to deliver the delicate item with all those items in the van.  Two, because I honestly didn't want to return to Grandview.

After a successful art delivery I then returned all the bins to the van and went on with the rest of the route as usual.  As I said before, I write this simply to inform you of the events of my interaction with Krishna today.  Just in case the claim that I didn't take the items with me comes up.

Thank you.
Bastardo

I wanted to talk to Kvon and not have to email him.  But there was a crazy patron yelling in the library and he was engaged with that.  I have some plans to avoid Krishna from now until she goes on maternity leave.  I don't want to be around her.  I may just pull a Benedict and go to her location first thing on the route.  It would be a bit of a hassle, but at the same time dealing with her is nothing but a hassle.

Fri March 29, I didn't mention this in yesterday's entry, which is why I'm putting this here on Friday.  This is the new and "improved" Grandview library, so ready for prime time.  Yeah, right.  I'm not going to say that this branch was a model branch for all to follow around the world.  It was a good little branch, where people could come in and find a reasonable amount of books, a few computers, and a place to escape the heat and read.  What is it now? It's a classroom.  The amount of tables and chairs has multiplied, pushing aside book stacks in their favor.  And of course computers had to move in and take more stacks out of the equation.  What we're left with is a near empty shell of a library that looks more like a one room school house.  And I love the continued and puzzling clinging onto the the suffix "space."  Everything in the library these days is a space.  It's not a circulation desk, it's a "info space."  What the fuck is an info space? It's not the teen area, it's "teen space."  Fuck you!  And now to really declare things we have a huge sign that proclaims this as the "Children's space."  Vagabundo and I used to joke that they would turn this library into a playground, with monkey bars included.  I guess we got THAT wrong.  They turned into a classroom instead.  Way to go.  Insert sarcastic clap here.

I picked up some fliers for Grandview yesterday and of course they were nothing but a snow job.  The first bullet point talks about this "steam" thing, because it's the trendy thing to attach to these days.  And of course the library system continues to pin all hopes of saving itself with 3D printers among other things.  The "make your own video game" kit is different.  No one will ever use it, but at least it's something new.  Prepare for fail!

Bullet point two is nothing unique to Grandview, but then again nothing on the first bullet point is unique either.  Most of those resources are not used by patrons.  And even if they are they don't always work.  There was a time when Vagabundo told me that the video/audio streaming service was out for three weeks before anyone noticed.  If only someone actually used the service they would find out about the outage earlier.

Bullet point three is literally filler.  They couldn't come up with any other shit to put on the flier, so they added that you can print from anywhere and, gasp, put a book on hold and have it show up to Grandview.  I wonder how that book gets to the branches.  Oh yeah, I take them there.

There is nothing re-imagined about this branch, about this library.  The only thing re-imagined is this idea that these stupid little side projects are going to save the library.  And that's the theme of the last few years.  The leaders of not just this library, but seemingly every library, have this feeling that they are obsolete.  That obsolesces is just around the next corner, and city officials will stop funding to the library, or worse yet, turn it over to a private company.  Because that's what happens these days.  Sadly the leaders of libraries just don't get it.  A coworker of mine main reference to a saying, "Stay in your lane."  That's right.  Don't go messing with things you don't understand.  Don't stray from your core.  I'm not saying play it safe.  What I'm saying is don't try to re-invent what's already a great idea.  Whatever.

To avoid Krishna I'm wondering if I should deliver the books to Grandview first and then do the rest of the route after that.  Just until she goes out on maternity leave.  For sure I don't want to even talk to her.  When I arrived today I was ready for her stupidity, and sure enough she didn't disappoint.  As I finished dropping off the delivery she shouts to me from the back door of the library, "Can I talk to you?" "Sure," I yelled out.  I wanted to bolt, but she had asked.  I went inside, stood there while she barked orders to one of her employees.  Then she asked the maintenance guy about the computer.  This while I stood right next to him.  I lingered for a little bit more, but clearly she was just interested in making me wait.  Fuck that.  I walked out and left.  Fuck this shit.

Sat March 30, The weather is finally warm enough, and the sun it out long enough, for me to finally go out into my backyard last night.  I'm hoping that this summer isn't going to be super hot.  I'm afraid it will be quite hot.  After the silly week I had it's nice to be able to sit and relax in my backyard.  I've missed sitting outside in the evenings.  But I did like the cool weather as well.