Afterthoughts : This Past Month

OK, now we're in 2021.  I feel that the year doesn't start until we're a month deep, and now we're over that point.  Things do look a little bit better, so far.  On to the update.

Monday, February 1, It was a year ago that Emma and I hung out and went to the Aztec hotel for a "haunted" tour.  I texted Emma to remind her of that fact and she mentioned how she didn't realize how much fun she was having until it stopped.  Yeah, I know what she means.  Soon.  Hopefully soon we'll be able to hang out again.  She has mentioned doing some things, but then she doesn't follow through.  It's best not to right now anyway.  Still, Emma is a good time.  I liked hanging out and going to these places with her.  Disneyland especially.  But like the Aztec hotel was a ripping time.  Sigh.

An observation after hearing something on the radio pertaining to TV theme sons.  I remembered one from a show called B.J. and the Bear.  The show revolved around a trucker named B.J., short for Billie Joe, that drove around with a monkey.  You see where I'm going with this.  My life has turned into a version of B.J. and the Bear, only I have a stuffed monkey.  Ha ha!  An aspect of the show I wish was also part of my life was how B.J. was always canoodling with many pretty ladies.  Sigh.  Emma is a pretty lady.

When I got home tonight I asked my aunt if she got an appointment with her new doctor.  She tells me that they said to her that she couldn't have an appointment until March, because that's when's she usually has her annual check up with the doctor.  Ah, she's not feeling well.  I asked her if she wanted me to call them and give them what for.  She said no, that she's been "feeling better lately."  Yeah, right.  She sleeps all day on the weekends, and then is up all night.  Also, she's just generally slowing down.  That might be because she's getting older, of course.  But she's had a cough that hasn't gotten that much better for the last few weeks.  She's also always tired and a couple of weeks ago she was saying that she felt, "drunk."  That can't be good.  Fucking doctor's office staff.

Tuesday, February 2, To jump to the point, one of the full timers came into Central today to process some checks.  During his visit he dropped the knowledge that the curbside program was going to start up again this week.  The twist being that the part timers won't be back.

That's right, only the full-timers will be working the curbside checkout.  I'm sure that won't last for long, because the full-timers are fat and lazy.  I tell you right now, they're not going to last for long.

Emma texted me after I had dinner to tell me that Montrose curbside service will also return next week.  Same deal, only full-timers.  She mentioned that it will be a full-time manager and a full-time library assistant.  This all feels wrong, because the managers aren't known for being hard workers.  The part-timers are the ones that do the actual work.

We shall see, Central's service starts tomorrow.  I joked to my buddy that they would be calling the part-timers back within the first hour.  Ha ha!

Yet another fail.

Wednesday, February 3, I was kinda busy at work today.  Mainly at the end of my shift, because two of my coworkers are terrible at their jobs.  Mei was busy on a phone call dealing with passport appointments, and Chris was dealing with processing a passport.  Mei took her sweet time with the passport appointment though, and because of that I had to deal with the curbside pick-up.  I'm happy to chip in, don't get me wrong.  But those two are the worst workers.  They are slow on purpose.  Oh well, the curbside allowed me to just cruise the last half hour I was at work.  The rest of my shift I was relatively busy.  Which is good, because we all know that when you're busy at work the shift goes faster.

On our way to the restaurant Cheyenne was poking her head by my shoulder.  I couldn't help but grab her hoodie from the sweater she was wearing and pull it over her eyes (see above).  TheGirl mentioned that Cheyenne's vet told her Cheyenne was nine years old this week.  Woo hoo!

TheGirl wanted to treat me to dinner tonight, despite the fact that it was my week to buy dinner.  But, she wanted to treat me because I helped her assemble her new desk.  That only took a little while, but they say never to pass up a free lunch.  Basically she paid tonight instead of me.  It was my week to pay for dinner.  I ordered up a Reuben sandwich, which is only on the lunch menu.  The waiter said it would be $3 more and I joked that "She" (meaning TheGirl) was paying.  I offered to pay for the first round of drinks, little did I know it would be the only round.  Our waiter didn't come back to ask if I wanted another drink until we were nearly ready to go.  What kind of service is that?  I would have liked a second Manhattan.  Alas, the poor dope missed us.  We left and as we were nearly TheGirl's car the waiter comes out and says, "What about my tip?"  I had specifically put a $10 bill in my wallet in order to have the money for the tip.  Traditionally on the nights TheGirl buys I will put up the tip, and vice versa.  It was no different tonight.  I put that saw buck in my wallet in the morning.  Well, here was the waiter asking where his $15 was.  Now I think about the fact of how did he know we left him $15?  Yes, that was about the minimum for the meal we had that we could have left.  But how did he know that amount?  What if we had left more?  Anyway, TheGirl tells him, "We left you $15 on the table."  He says no, but then proceeds to make it sound like we had stiffed him on the tip.  Mind you, a tip is not mandatory.  But, something happened to the money.  Not sure what.  When TheGirl arrived at the table she said another party was sitting there already.  Could they have taken it?  Maybe?  I think that from now on I'll hand the tip to the wait staff to avoid this again.

Anyway, my one Manhattan was good.  Too bad I didn't get a second one.  While this drama was going on a waiter that we know from this restaurant and others we frequent asked me what was going on.  I told him about the tip and then he says, "Next time ask for me."  He's right.  I figured we would be seated in our regular spot in the parking lot.  Ha.  But, we were taken to the back patio, where our waiter friend was not working.  Oh well, next time.  And like I said, next time I'll hand them their tip.

Thursday, February 4, My co-worker Tony has been going to a place called Tobin World for the last few weeks.  Tobin World used to be a school for special needs children, but they closed due to some funding issues.  A few weeks ago Mala asked if I could help moving some books from there to Central.  I couldn't make it, but I said that Tony would be great for it.  Anyway, that's the set-up, Tony has been going there.  Today he told me that he wanted my help with moving a door, because someone had broken in (see above).  Someone took some sort of tool and popped the glass out of the door and then just slipped in.  But not happy with that, they also took another door off its hinges.  Also not happy with that, whoever broke in also peed by the door downstairs from where they broke in.  Tony wanted me to help him put the door back, but I noticed that the door blocking the doorway was not the door that used to be there.  The actual door was a few feet away, and we couldn't put it back, since the glass had been popped out.  Tony went ahead and called Mala, because there wasn't anything we could do at that point.  Someone will have to board up that doorway.

I bought a lotto ticket yesterday at the market before going to work.  I do this in solidarity with Talia, who buys tickets practically every day.  She wants to win her way out of her current situation.  Which, is understandable.  However, as I scanned the ticket this morning and found that I didn't win, AGAIN, that I really should just put that dollar aside each week and at the end of the year I will have at least $52 in my pocket.  Hell, if I save $5 per week I could have $260.  That ain't bad.  Certainly better than throwing my money away on a losing cause.  I could also do both, play $1 on the lotto each week and save $5 every week.  Yeah, that's a thought.

(Later that night) I went ahead and found that I can make a recurring deposit into my savings account, so I went ahead and set that up.  Every week, on Friday, $5 will be deposited from my checking account to one of my savings accounts.  So that's a thing now.

Friday, February 5, I had a good bit of work today.  Not huge, but I was busy today.  But, I did have time to swap one of the monitors to the computer I normally use when checking in stuff on Tuesdays.  The monitor I swapped had a nice sound bar under it.  It was sitting there, and I figured I would swap it to my station so I could enjoy some music from time to time while checking in books at Central (see above).

As like every Friday these days the route was pretty chill today.  I keep reminding myself that a year from now things will be different, and probably return to normal.  So, I'm enjoying these days.

Yesterday my friend Sunnye told me not to bring lunch with me today, because she wanted to repay me for all the things I've helped her with.  I told her she didn't have to, but she insisted.  On the same idea of not passing up a free lunch I said I would agree to her buying me lunch.  Well, she surprised me today with a yummy individual pizza from Numero Uno (seen above).  I took my pizza up to Montrose and had lunch there.  Good times.

When I got home I had dinner with my aunt.  She looked tired.  She told me that she has an appointment with the doctor on Monday, but it's to fill out forms.  I finished filling them out for her on the computer.  I do still have to print one out, but for me it was simple.  For her it took her nearly all day to call about her prescriptions and to try and fill out these forms.  I can do it much faster, so I'm going to try and stay ahead of it.

Sunday, February 7, I get an email from the "Inns by the Sea," which is company that owns one of the hotels I've said in the past while going up to Carmel.  They send me this email bi-weekly trying to get me to book a room up in Carmel.  Oh, how I wish I could go now.  It's just not safe right now.  That doesn't mean I haven't been doing some research for a possible trip up to Carmel.  Because sure, right now I'm not able to go, but once things return to "normal" then I will likely go to Carmel again.  I feel like I should explore the Carmel Valley next.  It's just East of Carmel and might be a good place to explore.  I guess we shall see.

The rains that hit the region about a week and a half ago caused PCH in Big Sur to suffer damage.  To quote the Carmel Pine Cone newspaper:

"A debris flow from the hillside above Rat Creek on Highway 1 on the Big Sur coast overwhelmed drainage infrastructure, flowed across the highway, and eroded the road, resulting in the complete loss of a segment of Highway 1 at that location," Caltrans reported.

The washout is pretty bad, from you can see on the picture above.  I haven't heard anything about how long it would take to repair this break, but it will likely take some time.  The area needs to settle before they can start thinking about how to repair the road.  Assuming I get to travel later up north in this year I'll likely have to take the 101 up to Carmel.

What can anyone say... Brady did it again.  Seven time Super Bowl champion.  I could go on and say more, but really what is there to say.  Tonight Brady and the Bucs played a near flawless game.  The Bucs were underdogs in their own stadium, yet proved the reason why you still have to play the game.  Amazing.

Monday, February 8, My aunt told me last week on Friday that she was going to go to the doctor's office to fill out some forms.  These forms are pretty much bullshit, but she does still have to fill them out.  I filled out what I could online, but there are still some more she needs to not just fill out, but also sign.  Fine.  I wasn't happy with her going out, but really she needs to do this so she can get her meds and get established with this new doctor.  But, then she had to deal with CityRide.  They told her they would pick her up at 7:30am.  Did they arrive at 7:30am?  I left the house a little after 7:35am and the ride had not yet arrived.  I watched the security cameras to monitor when she left.  It turned 8:30am and she was still sitting on the couch.  Shortly after seeing her on the camera she called me to say that CityRide was booked up and would not give her a ride to see the doctor until tomorrow.  Fucking bullshit!  So my aunt woke up early today for no reason.  And she will also have to wake up early tomorrow.  Bullshine!

I looked at this sign that the office manager posts on the reference computer to remind us that the time cards are due soon and the dates didn't jive.  February 1 to 12 isn't two weeks.

A coupon for savings on flowers came in my email this morning, and for some reason I bought it and used it to buy Talia some flowers.  I feel so bad for her.  I know she's nuts, but that doesn't mean I can't be nice to her.  She's certainly not perfect, but she gave me a chance a long time ago.  I owe her that much.  And I think I also owe her for just being a good friend all these years.  So I bought her some Valentine's day flowers.  I ordered them a little late, so they'll arrive in a week on Monday the 14th.  Good deed of the day?  Perhaps.

I often get phone calls from spammers.  That's nothing new to anyone.  But today I had spam calls from the same number THREE times!  What gives?  Didn't you get the hint the first time?  I fucking didn't answer.  After the third call I simply blocked them.  Fuck these dopes.

When I got home my aunt told me about how CityRide fucked her over, and then she added at the end that she "made meatballs."  She cooked more meatballs.  Womp, womb.  I can't stand these meatballs.  I told know why my aunt felt that she needed to warm these stupid meatballs.  I'm so tired of these damn meatballs.

Tuesday, February 9, When I walked into Central this morning I saw the handy work of the "art" installation.  To be truthful, I don't hate this display.  It's OK.  I'm not saying it's a great art piece, not by any means.  But, it's not horrible.  I know, I'm really giving it the winning endorsement.  What I don't get is why now?  No one can visit the library to see this shit.  It would seem apropos to postpone this until the time that the library reopens.  That way it can be appreciated.  But, what do I know?  So now the public, if they're interested, can only see it from outside.  If only the windows weren't all scrapped up from a previous art installation.  Also, you have to step around the homeless that inhabit the area in front of the windows.  So yeah, good luck with that.

When I got home my aunt said that the visit to fill out forms at her new doctor's office.  She finished a little early, but she had to wait for CityRide to pick her up.  So she went across the street to the Super King market.  She told me she picked up some nuts, but then had to go to the bathroom.  Well, when she came back the nuts were gone.  And by that time it was getting late so she walked back to the front of the offices where they dropped her off and was taken home.  I'm glad things went well.  She now has a phone appointment with the doctor on February 26th, which is a Friday.  The doctor is going to ask her how she's doing on the phone call.  I almost want to call the doctor's office and tell the doctor some things myself.  I'm going to trust my aunt tells her the truth.

When I got to Montrose I noticed the stack of boxes that Jade emailed Kvon about, and who in turn emailed Tony and me.  ARGH!  But not satisfied with that Jade actually posted the above note on some books.  I mean, come on.  All he needed to do was place a slip that says "Brand."  He doesn't need to write all that other stuff.  It's complete overkill.  It's also a technique to spend a lot of time doing nothing, and avoiding work.  Jeez.  Also, I love that Jade packed a bunch of boxes for today.  Well, Tony and I know his score.  We decided that I would go up to Montrose with the car so that I couldn't take any of those bins.  Tony plans on going up there on Thursday early morning and brining those boxes full of boxes down to Central.  Good plan, because it thwarts Jade's plans.  Ha ha!

Wednesday, February 10, For tonight's dinner out TheGirl and I went to the Counter in Toluca Lake.  It's one of our favorite joints, because it's easy going.  We like the food there, and I can play my music, and we have our favorite wine.  What could be more perfect?  Not having to go to work tomorrow would make it perfect.  Alas, it's still good times while it lasts.

I brought along my fancy new video camera and put the 360 degree lens to record I don't know what.  I ended up recording me trying to pour some wine into a pair of glasses... with my eyes closed.  Suffice to say, I wasn't that good at the "perfect pour" with my eyes closed.

I'm not sure what else I can say about dinner tonight.  We both thought it would be colder, but the weather turned out to be really nice.  We did have the heater on next to us, and we thankfully had the patio all to ourselves.  I hate to say that I don't like being around other people these days.  I'm liking the distance I have to keep from others.  It's kinda nice to just have the patio all to ourselves.  That won't last, but I'm enjoying it while it does last.

We went back to TheGirl's place and I played a little with Cheyenne.  She was pooped, so we didn't play much.  In the above photo Cheyenne playfully sat behind TheGirl.  Not sure why she did that, but TheGirl was amused.  Good times.

Thursday, February 11, When I left Central on Tuesday evening I knew that by the time I returned today that the "art" display would be completely up.  I tried looking through the windows at the front of the library and predictively I could not see a thing (see photo above).  A couple of years ago these jokers had the great idea of posting pictures on the windows of the library.  That particular exhibit was born out of a cool idea.  But, the city wouldn't allow the curators of the exhibit to post pictures on the side of the building, because the city was afraid that they would not come off easily.  So these geniuses, instead of first checking with the city to see if they could do this exhibit, went ahead and modified it.  They placed the pictures over the windows and on the sidewalk.  It lessened the coolness of the original idea.  But of course.  And then when it came time to take the photos off the windows they didn't come off easily.  So crews had to go and scrape the photos off the windows.  On regular windows that's OK.  A little cleaning afterwards would take any bit of poster left.  But, these windows have a film on both sides.  It's part of the design, so that if the window is broken the entire thing doesn't just fall down.  The film holds together the shards.  It's like windshield glass of a car.  It's meant for protection and to make it easier to clean up.  But what they did is scrape that film and now all you can see is the scratches all over the windows.  Which makes it hard to see into the library.  Not only that, but whatever substance they used to place the photos on the windows also left a residue, that makes the windows cloudy.  All brilliant stuff.  And all stuff that prevents the average schmo from viewing the "art."  The display isn't so bad when you're inside the library.  But trying to see it from the outside dulls any impact the piece was trying to convey.  I'm not sure why they're doing this so-called exhibit now.  Yes, I get that it's Covid related (supposedly each "ingot" is supposed to represent a death in California due to Covid.), but this can wait.  No one but the employees entering the building that enjoy it.  Typical dopes.

After work I had to stop by the market near my house to buy some stuff that I couldn't find at the market in Pasadena.  Every time I go there there is always some pretty girl prancing around.  I look, but I also don't try to run into her while shopping.  But for some reason we end up orbiting each other.  I mean it's a big store, but it's not impossible to run into someone repeatedly.  Especially when I'm walking right down the middle of the store over and over again trying to find what I want.  I can't say I don't like running to the same pretty girl while shopping.  A friend of mine says I should chat up some of these ladies.  I have in the past, but I don't want to come off as a masher.  Sure, the lady I kept running to today was nice, and sleeping with her was the first thought that came to my head.  But, it's not the only thought, just the first thought.  I don't know.

Friday, February 12, I wrote yesterday that I went to the market to get some things.  One of the things I picked up yesterday was some chicken nuggets.  My coworker at Glendale mentioned the other day that he eats nuggets for breakfast.  I thought, I should try that out as well.  I eat the tacos that I do in the morning, because it's easy.  I figured that supplementing the tacos with nuggets would be a nice change of pace.  Or I could just have nuggets and maybe something else.  Either way, the nuggets hit the spot this morning.

Last night my aunt showed me an avocado in the fridge and told me that it was "good."  I took her word for it and decided to have it with me today to place into my sandwich.  I've been having sandwiches all week long, and I figured that the avocado would add a nice flavor to it, but I didn't want to it to brown up.  So I took it whole with me in my lunch bag.  To my surprise, I cut into it as I was getting ready to eat, and the fucking thing was completely rotten (see above).  You know, you're supposed to look at the top of it, where the stem meets the avocado, to see if it's ripe.  I took my aunt's word for it, and didn't check that stem area.  Because if I had I might have known in advance that the fucking thing was rotten.  Oh well.  I barely got ANY little bit from the avocado to put on my sandwich.  I mean like a sliver of avocado is all I was able to get onto my sandwich.  Poor me.

Sunday, February 14, As I write this the wind is still blowing hard outside.  The photo above shows a bit of how windy it was this morning.  It's still blowing hard.

I didn't do much this weekend.  I a nap today at around 2pm, and I did the same yesterday.  Blame staying up late jerking off last night and Friday night.

Monday, February 15, Talia sent me a picture of the flowers that she received.  They look nice.  I like to think that I did my good deed for the day by getting her flowers.  Talia has a strange but hard life.  A little thing like flowers from me and she felt good.  I'm glad.

Wednesday, February 17, My aunt woke up before I did today, and in that time she put the tacos I eat in the morning into the oven.  Of course I had set aside some tacos last night, so that they wouldn't be frozen.  But she didn't take those, she took the ones in the freezer and placed those in the oven.  And then, what I've said I don't like, she sees me get out of the shower and immediately starts to take the tacos out of the oven.  I like it when she sleeps in and doesn't mess with my routine.

I was really busy at work today.  I had a bunch of work to do for the Foundation today.  And then I had to get some books ready for the Friend's book store.  I barely had enough time to finish everything.  It was good, because it made the day go by fast.  That is all.

TheGirl and I went to the Counter again tonight.  It's a nice place, and has some nice food.  Also, it helps that we usually get the patio to ourselves on most visits.  This, we like.  After dinner TheGirl wanted to give Cheyenne a walk up Riverside drive.  The wind was blowing, and it was cold.  It felt like the wind was blowing through me, much like the cold wind in San Francisco.  I was shivering at first, but then warmed up as we walked up and down Riverside.

As we walked back to TheGirl's car we ran into a "friend" of TheGirl's.  I put it in quotes because lately she's told me that she doesn't like her, and never wants to see her again.  It's mainly been because her friend is a Trump supporter.  Before the election and all through all this stuff TheGirl's friend has been spouting stupid Trump shit.  Later TheGirl told me that she, "Can't stand that bitch."  Dang.  The problem is TheGirl's "friend" lives by Bob's Big Boy, and so there's always a chance that TheGirl will run into her at some point.

Thursday, February 18, My aunt asked me the other day if I wanted her to make lentil soup.  I figured it wasn't a bad idea.  But, I told her to add some pasta.  I wanted the soup to be more, you know, more hearty.  And she got it.  She made this version of the soup with pasta, like I asked, and it came out pretty good.  I picked up a burger from Burger Queen for lunch and it really hit the spot.

On Tuesday I was asked to translate for a patron that was at Montrose looking for her books.  These dopes didn't do their job correctly, or they would have found on her account that one of the holds was sitting feet away from them.  It would have been good if they checked, because it would mean that the patron would not leave empty handed.  Well, today I figured I would pull the books from the various locations and take them to Montrose.  I went look for the book that was at Montrose and found that it wasn't on the shelf.  BUT, it was on this cart.  The books had been pulled by Jade last week.  So these jokers at Montrose this week should have found the book right under their noses.  What a bunch of dopes.  Anyway, so I went ahead and put the lady's three books right on the new desk, so that they can fucking call her and make arrangements to have her pick them up.  Idiots.

Friday, February 19, I woke up this morning and found an email in my inbox that stated that my credit rating had gone up two points.  I went online to check and sure enough, my score is now seven hundred eighty seven.  Most excellent.  The reason why my rating went up is because my total debt went down.  So yeah, I'm going to keep paying off my bills.  I have two credit cards in which I owe about $2,000.  I can try throwing a little more money at each of these bills to pay them off.  We shall see.

Work was work today.  I was busy, but not super busy.  When I got back from the route I asked Achee about the table that was brought in just as I was leaving to do the route.  Achee told me that they bought it in so that the dummies upstairs in administration can check it out, because they might be buying them for the auditorium.  I went online and found that the tables cost about $850 to $1,100, depending on where it's bought.  Knowing these dopes, they'll pay top dollar.  Now, I don't know why the library needs new tables for the auditorium.  There are a bunch of tables up there now.  There isn't even room in the storage room for more.  Honestly, I think it's just a way of siphoning money out of the city.  I like how they have money for this despite them saying to people like TheNewCute that they don't have money for raises.  Bullshit.

Well, I can say that the levels of traffic have returned to pre-Covid levels.  Today's drive home was not super slow, but the amount of cars was much more than in the last ten months, at least.  I was really enjoying not having to deal with bad traffic, but I know nothing lasts forever.

Selena texted me a picture of me on her computer.  The photo was from the interview video that Emma and another coworker did last year in September.  She said she caught my video while on the site.  Hmm, either way, she was thinking of me.

Speaking of interviews, TheNewCute's interview was recently uploaded.  Click above to see it in its entirety.  Basically she talks about the jobs she's had in the past.  Good times.

Saturday, February 20, I went to get some food at McDonald's this morning, and I recorded the above to illustrate just how windy it was today.  It's been windy nearly this entire week.  And yet no rain in sight.  Dang.

Sunday, February 21, I cut my hair today.  Aside from doing my laundry today was a pretty lazy day.  As I write this it's nearly 9pm.  I went outside to chill in the backyard.  That was good, since the wind was not blowing so hard, and it was warm.  I also cleaned up the backyard of the seed husks, and then I cut my hair.  Like I said, it was a chill day.  I wanted to revisit the videos Emma and I did last year in order to see what we were doing right, and what we were doing wrong.

Back to work tomorrow.  The grind continues.  I make the joke that it's Groundhog's day every fucking day.  It's just the same bullshit, and then it's lather, rinse, repeat and repeat and repeat.  Terrible.  I think Emma and I have to figure out how to make videos, so I won't be so bored on the weekends.

Monday, February 22, Last night I was feeling rather strange in that I was bored and also just a bit agitated.  There was nothing online that I wanted to see, and there was nothing I could do.  I tried writing this entry that day, but I just couldn't.  I didn't feel like it.  I literally just wanted to go to sleep and wake up and it let be Monday already.  And you know what, here it is Monday.

I don't where that "funk" came from last night, but I just knew that I wanted to simply go to sleep.  I didn't even want to jerk off.

I know!  That's crazy!

Work was work today, and I was perfectly fine with that.  I was busy, but not SO busy.  But I liked it.  Because by the end of the day I was chill and I knew that I had escaped that funk from last night.

I see LaFlor come into to work, but I don't get to interact with her much these days.  What with social distancing and all.  But, I ran into her in the circulation room and I said, "Long time no see."  She said basically said that she's doing her thing over on the other side of the library, while I'm at the reference desk.

Later she came by the reference desk and asked me if I had ever tried a certain beer.  I recognized the brand, Steel Reserve, and told her that I knew the brand but I had never seen that particular flavor (see above).  She said it tasted good, and that she was going to bring me a can.  I hope it taste better than the regular Steel Reserve, because that particular brand is considered one of the worst tasting brands.  I've had it once, and it was awful.  I suspect I will probably not like this, but now this opens the door for me to exchange booze with her.  Nice.

Tuesday, February 23, I don't want to repeat myself, since I just wrote about this on Friday, but traffic was REALLY bad on the way home.  Not just because of the abundance of cars, but because of the stupidity of the drivers.  One of the new things that people do is to not observe the cushion you're supposed to leave between cars that are traveling at highway speeds.  Tailgating is one thing, this is in front.  Drivers often see me coming, or they don't, and merge into my lane at a slower speed that I'm traveling.  It's so damn annoying.  I can see that they don't even check their side mirrors to see where I am.  Many of these dopes are now relying on their little indicator light that says the coast is clear.  But it's not really, because I'm behind them at just the right distance where their slowness causes me to brake or merge to another lane.  ARGH!  Be gone, dopes!

Wednesday, February 24, At Crowell the dopes at the circulation desk have this habit of sending me calls to answer that they could easily handle.  But, then they get overwhelmed, or don't know what they're doing, OR don't care to help.  This is when they start sending me multiple calls.  Especially during the time I take my lunch.  I did this two weeks ago, but I forgot to do it on Monday.  And the this I'm talking about is placing the phones at the reference desk on "do not disturb."  That way I can't hear those damn phones as I'm trying to eat my damn lunch.  Jerks.  I can't believe the volume of calls they send me when I'm at lunch.  Seems like everyone waits for me to warm my lunch to start calling.  Bullshit!

Since the county and the state started allowing outdoor dinning to resume TheGirl and I mentioned that we would go to the place up the street from her house and have a meal in their patio.  Well, tonight was the night we went over to the Morrison.  I had potato skins and yummy tacos.  TheGirl had a really yummy looking chicken sandwich.  Oh, and we can't forget the wine.  Fess Parker.  Cheyenne was, of course, begging for food.  We're not to give her table scraps, though the both of us still do.  We have cut down dramatically though.  I joked with TheGirl that she obviously didn't feed Cheyenne her dinner, and maybe even her lunch.  Cheyenne always looks away when I try to take her picture with my camera phone.  The look above is the other look she gives me when I'm trying to take her photo.

As always, dinner was good times.  I like the food at this place.  The restaurant that it replaced was said to be really bad.  That's what TheGirl said, and the reviews for it sure seems to concur.  We've eaten there quite a few times, ordering take-out the previous occasions.  This is the first time I've actually eaten there, but TheGirl went with her daughter.

Thursday, February 25, For the last couple of weeks I've seen some progress at the former Rubin's Red Hots location.  I've mentioned that the sign said "leased" a while back.  Well, the progress continues on the side wall.  Unlike Trump's wall this thing is actually being built.  A couple of weeks ago the guy was escalating for the foundation of the wall.  Now he's building it up.  Looks good, and it will assure that the unsightly cars and road won't be seen.  Nice.

When I got to work I checked my email and in in inbox was the following email from Jade to not only Kvon, but addressed to Mala as well.

Just a heads up.
Please see attached photo for details:
9 blue bins for Central (Central holds)
3 boxes for Central (Central holds)
1 brown bag for Brand (Brand holds)

Please have Eric deliver 4 empty blue bins plus location cards (GDL Central/Montrose) tomorrow or Friday for Thom and Kerri to use next week.

There is ZERO reason why he needs to send this to Mala, first of all.  Secondly, he didn't need to say is he was requesting blue bins.  Because, I know that the routine is to leave as many bins are I take.  That's a fundamental thing we do on the route.

I just couldn't take Jade's stupid email bullshit that he always pulls.  I felt that I had to vent to my supervisor, so I wrote him the following email.

I'm not sure why Jade has to "request" a delivery every time he's at Montrose.  It's not like we don't go there are part of our route.  I can't speak for Tony, but I think he would agree with me that Jade is simply grandstanding when he sends these emails to you and Mala.  Because, it makes it sound like if he doesn't request a pick-up we won't go to Montrose.

Anyway, I simply wanted it noted that he doesn't need to request a pick-up, because it's not something out of the ordinary for us to do our jobs without having to be reminded of what we're supposed to do.

I just wanted it on the record that Jade's actions are only meant to make him look like he's doing a lot of work.  I'm not saying he doesn't ever do work, but it just seems strange that every time I show up somewhere, like a branch or Central, he's always sitting at a computer doing nothing.  Oh well, I said what I had to say.  I know they won't say anything to him.

I had lunch, which consisted of lentil soup and also a burger from Burger King.  It was a new menu item that is very similar to one at Jack-in-the-box.  It's basically a burger on a sour dough bun.  It's a copy of the Sour dough Jack.  Burger King's version wasn't so bad, but I rather just have a Whopper.  Maybe tomorrow.  Anyway, I finished up lunch and went on my merry way to my next stop, Casa Verdugo branch.  On my way there I found myself fighting sleepiness.  When I arrived at Casa I didn't check the bookdrop or anything.  I just went to the couch in the kitchen and, as the British say, had a lie down.  I think I passed out for about fifteen minutes.  I know it wasn't long.  I'm not sure what made me so sleepy.  Maybe it was all the food.  Maybe it was the fast food.  I can't say that it was from me staying up late last night.  I was in bed by 10:15pm last night.  I was "tired."  Mostly I was tired from the wine from dinner.  Oh well, I took my nap and went on my way to the next stop, fully awake.

Friday, February 26, Today was a busy day on the route, and at Central.  I was about to leave when I was asked by Mala to stick around fo the press conference.  They wanted another body to make sure people didn't wander off into the wrong places.  Not that it would happen, seeing as it was only officials and the press showing up today.  I ended up not doing much more than standing there.  I did let the artist in, but that was about it.

After the whole press conference was over I bolted out the door to start the route.  I intended to skip a couple of the branches, but I ended up only skipping Adams Square.  I was able to get everything else done, and put gas in the van AND the Sebring.  It was a busy Friday, to say the least.  But, it went by fast, and as I write this I'm home relaxing.

My aunt FINALLY had her long awaited doctors appointment with her new doctor.  She told me it went well.  And it's funny, because we were wondering how yesterday if my aunt heard wrong when she heard them tell her that it would be via Zoom.  Well, it turns out that it was, only it was conducted in the doctor's office.  The doctor wasn't there, but she was having the nurses order bloodwork.  The other good thing is that she not only told my aunt it was safe to take the vaccine, she sent her to get the first dose.  Her second dose isn't until the end of March.  I'm SO glad this doctor seems to be on the ball with all this.  My aunt really needed to see a doctor.  It's not that she's actively sick, but she did need to know if she could take the vaccine, and also get it administered.  Done and done!  I'm happy.  Now I have to search for a way to get the vaccine sooner than later.

Bundy texted me the above text about Jade.  To translate a little bit, Jade was telling patrons that they could come pick up their items, despite the fact that they weren't checked in yet.  Which means Bundy would have to go through all the bins that Jade sent in order to find a certain patron's books.  And imagine doing that if a patron has several books.  It's fucking assholery on Jade's part.  Typical Jade bullshit.  See how he burns bridges everywhere?

Sunday, February 28, I was not felling well last night, so instead of staying up late I went to bed early.  That sucks, because I like staying up late on Saturday nights.  Oh well.  No choice, what with my stomach feeling super bloated.  I was also tired, like I am right now.  As I write this it's just about 9:39pm and I'm pooped.  From what, I don't know.  I was out in my backyard this morning after lunch.  The sun felt warm.  It was certainly good times, despite me doing nothing but sitting out in the sun.

I'm still tired.  I don't know how I'll find the energy to go into work tomorrow.  I guess I have no choice.  ARGH!