Afterthoughts : This Past Month

We have made it to March.  Here is what happened in February.

Wednesday, February, 1, When I walked into Central this morning I saw some boxes by the employee door.  I knew right away that these dopes upstairs had ordered them for us to wear.  Well this grunt is not going to wear these new shirts.  I bought my own shirts that I use for work No more BS work shirts

Some of us in the know have long thought that there may have been some sort of sexual liaisons going on with Gitmo and Nikki.  Well, with one text it is confirmed.  Kvon texted today that he caught Gitmo and Nikki kissing.  We who know suspected something was going on between those two. For a while Gitmo was the golden child of the library.  He would always be featured in Nikki's weekly email.  Later he lost that golden boy status and Veed was the one heavily featured in her emails.  I do wonder how far it went with Gitmo and Nikki.  She was living a certain lifestyle here in California while the rest of her family was back in Vegas.

TheGirl and I weren't sure about where to go for dinner tonight.  I suggested the Smokehouse, again, and she said, "Are you sure, we were just there,"  I said sure and we were off.  We usually sit on the patio, because we have Cheyenne in tow.  But tonight they had the patio reserved for a party.  Oh well.  But, since we go there all the time they gave us an inside table.  Good times.  Cheyenne got to be inside for the second time.  I ordered a steak and gave Cheyenne so much of the fat.  She was loving it.  Oh, and booze flowed.

While I was at dinner Annie kept texting me about her computer.  I had zero interest in doing that while I was nice and toasty from having two Manhattans at dinner.  I didn't respond at all.  All I could think of was I'm not fucking IT!  A lot of people relying on my kindness, but I'm starting to figure out that it's not doing me favors.  I may contact Annie tomorrow, but tonight I wanted no body's problems.

Thursday, February, 2, I got an email from HR today saying that I ranked 5th on the list for the full time job that we refer to as the "Hendrick job,"  TheNewCute ranked 1st and Vagabundo ranked 2nd.  One of the library assistant at Brand ranked 4th, so we suspect someone from outside is probably ranked 3rd.  I hate to say it, but I still think they have someone from the outside slated for that job.  I don't know Vagabundo's plan to continue the process or is her going to turn the job down since he is already working full time at Country.  Everyone reminds me that County has better benefits than Glendale.  Either way, there's almost no chance I'll be called in for a second interview.  My chance will come with the next job that comes down the pike.  Really I wasn't sure about this job anyway, so as TheGirl used to tell me, "things happen for a reason,"  So yeah, I'll continue driving.

Saturday, February, 4, It was finally warm enough during the day for me to chill out in my backyard.  I can't remember the last time I was out there.  I pretty much slept on my bench.  It was good times.  There was a moment after I woke up from one of my two naps I took and there were hawks circling above me.  It was neat to see them circle.

Talia told me the other day that she wasn't feeling well.  Today she told me that they told her at the hospital that she has a tumor by her uterus.  I'm going to have to visit her some time soon.  She said the clinic told her it wasn't cancer, but still.

Today I found that I was using another notch on my belt.  Well, actually yesterday late afternoon I went to the restroom during the route I found that my pants were falling down after I notched my belt.  This made me have to use the next notch on the belt.  Perhaps the little bit of walking that I've been doing on my Casa lunch breaks has helped me lose a little bit of weight.  Good.

Sunday, February, 5, I love boysenberry.  Years ago when I would go to Disneyland in the middle of the week I would sometimes stop by the Knott's Berry Farm marketplace and get some chicken and the boysenberry drink concentrate.  That was years ago.  I wanted to go down there and see if they had a boysenberry tea.  I found out they have it online, so I bought some and it was wonderful.  It's so yummy that it has me drinking much less Coke, which is obviously a good thing.

Last year TheGirl and I went to Santa Anita and we had a lot of fun.  So when I got an email about the same package being available this year I immediately asked TheGirl if she wanted to go, and she said yes.  So we are off to Santa Anita next month.

Today was a strange day.  Something just felt off about today, but I don't know how to describe it.  I even went to bed early, because I was in a funk for most of the day.  I'm in bed as I write this and I've been in bed since 9:20pm.  I just want this day to end.

Monday, February, 6, When I went to sleep last night I noticed that the winds were starting to blow a little harder.  Sure enough it must have been windy last night because there was debris everywhere on the street.  And as you can see from the picture above the wind was strong enough to knock this tree sideways.

The dopes that sorted the books last night did a really half assed job of it.  I hate it when not even the minimal of effort is put forth.  It takes just as much time to sort the bins correctly than it does to do the so fucked up.

TheGirl went to Disneyland with her daughter today, so once again that meant that I was left my own devices after work tonight.  I didn't go straight home like I thought of doing.  Instead I went to Bob's Big Boy in Burbank.

I was just getting home when I got a text from TheGirl about how her friend, Cathy, had not yet arrived to feed and walk Cheyenne and it was already past 6pm.  I told her that I could go, but by the time I was about to leave the house TheGirl texted me that Cathy had FINALLY arrived.

Wednesday, February, 8, Today I had to run the route really fast, because I had a special delivery scheduled for 2pm.  I don't know how my coworker runs the route so quickly.  I rushed and yet I just barely got back on time to have a quick lunch and be ready for the special delivery.

For the special delivery I had to go to a storage place to get a bunch of boxes that have things from the Alex Theater.  The archive librarian told me about this stuff the other day and said there would be about twenty boxes that we had to bring.  The delivery took a little bit more than an hour.  After that I was pretty much free until 4:30pm.  The boxes were filled with things from the Alex Theater, as I said before.  I told the librarian that I would love to see any gems that she finds in the boxes.

TheGirl found out that the Auld Chip Shop on Riverside does have patio heaters.  We've been wanting to go for a while, but the weather made it hard to go there because Cheyenne and TheGirl needs heaters to stay warm.  Well, we finally got to go tonight, thanks to the heaters and the warmer weather.  We really didn't need the heaters, since the night wasn't that cold.

The fish and chips were super yummy tonight.  I cleaned my plate.

Thursday, February, 9, There are moms that popular culture has labeled MILFs, thanks to the movies.  They are mothers but are still desirable to men.  Today one of the moms that came in for story time fit that description, at least for me.  She wore a grey and pink pair of yoga pants along with a pink top.  She had freckles on her face just above her nose.  I couldn't see her whole face because she had a mask on.

I'm currently reading a book entitled "Butts: a backstory," which is all about the obsession with the female buttock, specifically.  This lady could have come right out of those pages about how a big butt is a desirous thing in the eyes of many men.  She was playing with her child but it seemed like every time I would turn in her direction she would be bending down at the waist... presenting.  I do hope she becomes a regular to the Thursday storytimes.

Thursdays are long for me, since I work from 9am to 7pm.  That's a ten hour day!  When 7pm rolls around I just want to bolt for home and dinner.  TheNewCute will sometimes want to stick around after work talking.  I don't mind since it's TheNewCute.  But a thought crept into my mind a few weeks ago when we were out by our cars talking... does she want me to kiss her?  I'm pretty sure that it's not her thought though.  100% it's my thought and wish.  But I don't have any want to chase her, for so many reasons.  One being she has a fella, but also because I don't want to be a creeper, along with she's a good friend.  Next time that though comes into my head I'm going to stomp it.  It doesn't need to be in my head.

Friday, February, 10, UPS delivered a box to the library either Monday or Tuesday, but it was the wrong address.  Someone put a post it note on it saying "wrong address," but no one from UPS came by to pick up the box.  Today I took it upon myself to take the box to the correct address, which was literally around the corner.  The person at the office was super happy to get the package.  I told him I was from the library, and he said he had just been there.  Cool.

So Mala emailed me earlier this week saying she wanted to meet up with me on a regular basis just to touch base, I guess.  Well, she's already been meeting with some of my coworkers.  Violeta told me that she had her meeting with Mala and that Mala asked her what were her duties.  Like what?  Violeta has been working at the library for nearly as long as I have.  She knows her job.  She does her job.  She doesn't need this meeting bullshit.  No one does.  I sure don't.  I just go in and do my job.  If there are special deliveries to get done I get them done.  But I guess Mala wants to lord it over us by doing this meeting thing every two weeks.  It's a waste of time.  My meeting with her was supposed to be next Wednesday, but there's a conflict in her schedule so we moved it to the 22nd.

Saturday, February, 11, Ilsa and I have been talking about going to the Formosa cafe for about a year now.  Today we finally made it there, but for me it was less than stellar experience.  That's not to say I didn't have a good times, but we ran into some sort of scheduling thing and it made it feel like we were getting a bit of a bum's rush.  It also didn't help that Ilsa was nearly half an hour late.  When I arrived I went in and told them we had a reservation.  The hostess says, "The kitchen closes at 3:30pm and you can stay until 5pm,"  I didn't question her, but I wondered if we had come on a day where it was going to be closing early.

Well, we came to find out that we were in the middle of a shift change.  Why we couldn't just stay and have drinks I don't know.  They didn't even offer us a second drink.  And then they were telling us, "Do you want some to go boxes?"  We were asked that at least four times.  Each time we said yes, and it was only the last person that asked us that actually gave us boxes.

I didn't realize it at the time, but Ilsa didn't want to go home so early because she had driven out to Hollywood from so far away in Fontana.  Since I was closer I was ready to just go home after the fast early supper.  We were standing outside the Formosa when Ilsa says that she still wants a drink.  I suggest going to the Roosevelt hotel in Hollywood, which was just a five minute drive from the Formosa.

When we went in to the lobby of the Roosevelt we come to find that there's a wedding going on there.  Of course the bar we wanted to go to was closed.  A security guard directed us to the pool bar or the restaurant in front by the lobby.  No thanks.

Ilsa and I finally found a place to have a drink called the Birdcage.  That's pretty much how our night ended.  We had our drink and then we walked back to our cars.

Monday, February, 13, I was on special assignment today, where I was asked to help with the installation of some light panel that was installed in the library a few months ago.

I was originally told that we would be starting at 9am, but then they changed it to 9:30am.  But, I was already on the road when I was told to go at 9:30am, so I was just going to continue driving and of course I arrived before 9am. 

The curator of the gallery portion of the show didn't have a badge with my name on it, so she gave me some one else's badge.  OK, if anyone asked I was Emanuele Amendola (see above).

The rest of the day was pretty much work work work.  We put up the panels and then the ball.  I over did it with my bad arm today.  But, this is why they pay me the big bucks.

After leaving the convention center I was going to visit TheGirl as is the Monday tradition, but first I needed some food.  I had a salad for lunch, so I wanted something different for supper.  I thought about Tommy's, but getting there was so much of a headache that I almost gave up.  Half way there I was struggling to get anywhere, thanks to the fact that Google Maps sent me down Alvarado.  I got stuck in traffic with a bunch of dummies and dopes.  Also, I needed to turn left from Alvarado so I could get to Beverly and Rampart, but the entire stretch of Alvarado has no turns from 4pm to 7pm.  ARGH!  I fought through the traffic and the dopes and finally made it to Tommy's.  That burger hit the spot, it was SO YUMMY.  I haven't had a tamale from Tommy's in a long time.  I think the next time I go there I'm going to order a tamale.

Tuesday, February, 14, TheNewCute isn't going to Mexico after all.  A cousin of hers in Mexico was recently kidnapped, so she was told it would be a good idea if she didn't go visit family there.  So, instead she's going to Chicago.  That sucks, because my aunt will often tell me that people in Mexico do get kidnapped all the time.  Sad.

Early in the morning, while I was pulling the book holds, I felt a tickle in my throat.  I'm not sure where it came from, but on Saturday and Monday I didn't wear my mask for the majority of time.  When I got home I took a Covid test, and it came out negative.  So the tickle in my throat might be a cold, or something else.  It could also be whiskey throat, because I had quite a bit of whiskey last night.

I think I must have overdone is yesterday, because my arm was really hurting me this morning when I woke up.  And it didn't get better until I took some meds.  It's been over a month that I fell and I'm almost 100%, but my arm is still weak and it hurts.  ARGH!  I so hate that I'm not 100% yet.  I am starting to wonder if I'll ever be 100% again.  Sad.

Wednesday, February, 15, As I said in my last entry I took a Covid test last night because I had a slight tickle in my throat.  I still have it this morning, so I went ahead and took another test.  Once again it was negative.  Woo hoo!  I must have caught something this weekend when I was out and about in Hollywood.

I was to have a meeting with Mala next week, but she saw me downstairs and told me that because of a conflict next week she rather take the meeting today. I told her I was free after the treasury run.  In the meantime she spoke with the other driver.  The meeting was actually painless.  My coworker Violeta to.d me Mala basically asked her what she does.  But I've been asked that many times by Mala herself that she knows what I do - everything.  We spoke about my time at Casa not ending Ron the near future.  As predicted by me, she said I would be at Casa for a bit longer.  I'm actually OK with that.  She did say that we may have to work on reducing my hours a bit, since I'm currently at forty a week.  I've been able to get overtime here and there, and that pushes those hours to be $40 an hour.  That's a pretty penny for me, but I'm sure the city wants to avoid that.  And the. There's the question of benefits, which Mala danced around and didn't mention specifically.

The night I fell and hurt myself TheGirl and I had gone to CPK for dinner.  But the service was so bad that we left without even seeing a hostess.  TheGirl called or emailed the company to complain about that night and the company gave her one or two $25 vouchers.  But it was my week to treat and I didn't really want to go to CPK for dinner.  So, we ended up at Don Cucos.  Which isn't incredible, but it hits the spot.  So did the booze.

Thursday, February, 16, The Hollywood Bowl calendar came in the mail.  I told TheGirl about it.  We're going to have to decide what we want to go to.  One thing jumped out at me, a concert called 100 years of Disney animation.  I can't buy the tickets yet, because I'm not a member of the Bowl.  Unless I want to buy a package of three concerts.  But that costs too much.

Viv printed out a list of items that haven't circulated in years.  She told me it could be my off desk project.  I was happy with that, because this means I actually have sometime to do when she says I can be off desk.  Today we had two substitutes because our normal coworkers were out of town.  But Viv gave them the list and they ran through at least the first couple of pages.  Jeez.  I guess she can find something else for me to do.  Oh well.

Today is the day that they are interviewing the number two and three candidates for the so-called "Hendrick" job.  I got a text from Misa that the number three candidate was Reneh, formally from the Pacific Park branch.  Vagabundo told me that he was the number two candidate.  Vagabundo didn't stop to say hi to Misa though, which is strange since he is her friend.  Vagabundo really pisses me off with his secrecy.  He never wanted me to tell anyone that he was the number two candidate.  Like anyone cares.  I pretty much have given up on him because of this silly secrecy.

You know what really pisses me off to see that I didn't make the top three.  I have a lot more on the ball than Reneh, that's for sure.  But am I interviewing for the job?  Nope.  This super sucks.  For sure this means I'll probably never get a full time job at Glendale.  What does Homer Simpson say?  You tried and you failed.  The lesson is, never try.

One of our regular homeless guys was sleeping outside in the parking lot.  I took the photo when I went out to my car for my break.  A few minutes later he woke up and was making a lot of noise.  Viv warned him as soon as he entered the library.  She told him that if he made a peep she would ban him for the day.  He was quiet the rest of the day.  At one point I went into the public restroom and found a bottle of booze in the trash can.  Of course I think it's the homeless guy's booze.  It all makes sense.

Friday, February, 17, I've said it countless times, but no one wants to ever go against what the powers that be say we have to do.  Float doesn't work.  At least not the way they do it at Glendale.  My buddy sent me an article many years ago about how float has to be curated, like so many things.  You can't just hope it works in the "free market,"  But when DrDeath was confronted about it by Grimace he said it's not going anywhere.  They don't really care what we all say about it not working.  So they continue to do these wonky fix arounds, like this "redistributing" bullshit.  There were SEVEN bins full of books that were going to one branch, Grandview.  They do this all the time, and it's how they artificially fix what is wrong with a floating collection.  Of course it's on my back, because these dopes always over pack the bins, and in my current state it makes it all the more difficult.  Thanks... for nothing, dopes.

While driving to Adam's square I found myself getting super sleepy.  I could feel myself falling asleep, and that's dangerous when you're driving.  So I figured that when I got to Adams I would take a short nap and revive myself.  Well, I did, and I did.  But when I got up I noticed that my short fifteen minute nap had turned into more like a half hour.  I got up and went about taking the book bins out to the van.  I didn't notice that I had dropped the keys on the floor when I got up.  They were in my back pocket, and not too deep because I can't reach them with my bad arm if they're too deep.  When I tried to get back inside is when I noticed that I didn't have my keys.  I had to call the office manager in Admin to let me back in.  This is only the second time that I've ever done that, and both times it was due to me taking a nap and waking up and rushing.  My bad arm also contributed to this, because I have such a hard time with the keys being in my back pocket.  When I was locked out and waiting for my rescue I went ahead and bought some of those hooks for keeps so I can keep them from falling away from me.  Like my own keys have a hook and that keeps them from me losing them.  Even after my arm is back to normal I'll keep using that hook.

Sunday, February, 19, I was super lazy today.  I got almost nothing done, and I must have slept for at least four hours today.  Not four hours in a row, but there and there in patches.  For sure when I went out to the backyard I must have slept for about an hour and a half, close to two.  Then after dinner I retired to my room where I iced my bad arm and passed out for another hour or so.  This is the luxury I have due to the fact that I get tomorrow off for President's day.  Woo! 

I know that Mala mentioned my hours possibly being cut to keep me from getting benefits due to the fact that I'm averaging forty hours a week.  She didn't say it that way, but that's why she wants to cut them.  Anything under that is good for the city, since it doesn't have to pay me benefits.  Oh well.  These holidays prevent me from continually averaging forty hours each week, so in the long run that also keeps me under the radar.  I hope.

Tuesday, February, 21, After the long weekend you never know what to expect at work.  Today's surprise was that we were locked out of our computers.  I tried restarting the computers but that didn't work at all.  My next move was to get on the phone with the city IT guys.  That did the trick.  They had to send me the computer product key to input it on to the computer.  Apparently they did an update and it screwed everything up.  Like always.

Not only were the employee computers down but the public computers were down.  Those had a different problem and as I write this they have not found a solution.  The public computers being out made for a quiet day at the library, that's for sure.

No interruptions from the public gave TheNewCute time today to practice a little for her interview tomorrow.  She told me that after I left she and our coworker Alex went through some of the questions and she said that he had a unique twist on the questions.  Good.

Wednesday, February, 22, So I ran into TheNewCute at Grandview despite the fact that she was scheduled for Casa.  They needed her at GV instead.  She to.d me that she thinks she did really well on her interview.  She continued by saying that she left it all out on the table, so she's happy whatever the outcome.  I still suspect that they will hire someone else, but you never know.

Kvon bought a really fancy camera a few years ago. It used to reside in his office.  It now resides in administration.  The camera is often borrowed by the staff at Brand, and we delivery drivers transport it to and from Central.  Now that I've said that I can tell you that Erin asked me to find out where it went, because the dopes in administration were telling her that they never got the camera.  When I got back to Central I went upstairs to administration to see if it was in the office manager's office.  The girl whose office the camera resides in nowadays was there and told me she had already checked, but that I could check if I wanted to.  I did, and found nothing.  That's when I thought about how someone that didn't know any better may have returned it to Kvon's desk.  Sure enough it was in his office.  I returned it to administration and texted Erin to tell her where I had found it.  We joked that if these fools in administration would have used their feet they would have checked Kvon's office for the camera like I had.  But, that's giving them too much credit.  That wouldn't require them actually getting off their asses, and there is no way they would ever do that.  Good job, dopes.

TheGirl was worried that the weather might be too windy and cold for us to take Cheyenne with us, depending on where we may go.  We considered going to Wood Ranch, but ended up choosing Novo.  As you may or may not know, that place isn't my favorite restaurant.  Once in a while they make a good meal.  Not a great meal, but a good one was had tonight.

Thursday, February, 23, The weather liars (as a friend used to call them) have been talking about the coming storm that is going to be quite cold.  They even forecast that areas in the Valley may get snow.  SNOW!  Well, it may come to fruition since this morning we already had hail.

By noon the rain was coming down softly.  Softly enough that a rainbow came out (see above).  It was a contrast from the morning weather.  I had been talking to my coworker Katie that it would be cool if a rainbow would come out.  But it didn't come out until after she went home for the day.  And then I was sitting at the desk and I look out the window and boom, there was the rainbow.  One of the patrons went outside at the same time to take pictures of the rainbow.  That patron is someone I've never seen before, but she's attractive.

TheNewCute got to work with the new teen librarian, and she got some information about her and her attitude. The teen librarian told TheNewCute that she knows DrDeath outside of work, because he was her professor at USC.  Of course.  I called it with braille.  TheNewCute also said that the teen librarian had a lot of opinions on how the library is run.  She thought that we are too permissive of things such as children making noise in the library.  TheNewCute told her that in the past she would try to enforce the inside rules only to have her knees taken out by her boss and his boss.  The teen librarian has a lot to learn about the library.  She comes from a different world, and I even said it here that the banality of the library will wear her down.

Friday, February, 24, Yesterday's storm was a small preview of what was supposed to be coming today.  Well, small is correct, because today's storm was intense and felt like it wouldn't ever stop.  More on that later.  Suffice to say doing the route in the rain came be OK or it can be awful.  Today it was perfectly awful due to the fact that the rain never stopped and I got soaked.

Since it was raining the entire day I wore my rain slicker, but instead of it keeping me dry I was soaked in the area just under my neck to about the middle of my back.  And I do mean soaked.  When I got to Grandview I needed to do something about my wet shirts.  Because it wasn't just my work shirt but my undershirt that was soaked.  Actually, my undershirt was more soaked than my work shirt.  I wondered how I could dry them, and I eventually thought to put them in the microwave.  First went the work shirt, which I cooked for thirty seconds.  But that wasn't enough so I cooked it for another thirty seconds.  It didn't completely dry the shirt, but at least it was almost dry.  Then I put my t-shirt into the microwave and set it to two minutes.  Or so I thought.  Turns out I set it for three minutes.  Well, that was too much for my shirt to handle.  When I took it out of the microwave it was nice and steamy.  As I opened it it started to bellow smoke.  Who knew this would happen?

The weather liars have been talking about, and warning us about, this storm for days.  Well it showed up today and it was quite a storm.  I already showed that I got completely wet during the route.  Part of that was that it never really let up today.  And then when I got home it really came down in buckets.  I was really afraid that we would lose power during the night.  Thankfully we didn't, but I had my candles and flashlight ready.

Saturday, February, 25, My aunt and I were talking about what we might have for lunch today.  The weather lairs said that it was a good idea not to leave the house, but I found that it wasn't raining that much.  I went to visit my aunt in the other room but she was asleep, so I just went ahead to KFC.  I ordered some chicken tenders and a pot pie.  The pot pie was good, but not great.  It was a good size though, and had a good amount of ingredients, so I may order it again.

There was an email a few weeks ago that asked if any of us were available on February 25th for the book fair going on at Central library.  I thought about picking up a few extra hours, but then thought differently.  So, I didn't go.  I wasn't the only one, since the rain, or whatever you want to blame, caused many people to stay away.  TheNewCute later told me that they didn't have a lot of teens at the teen table.  She said that only seven teens came up to the teen table.  Sad.  Yet another Glendale fail.

Monday, February, 27, There isn't much to write about today, except to say that it rained during the route today.  I didn't come anywhere near getting soaked like on Friday.  The rain was light for most of the route, thank the maker.

I still have this slight frog in my throat.  It's like my arm, getting better very slowly.  Too slow for my taste, but what can be done?  As a matter of fact TheGirl also has a frog in her throat.  She thought it may have been Covid, but she got tested.  I tested myself and each test has come out negative.  Oh well.

Tuesday, February, 28, TheNewCute bailed on me today.  She came into work and said she wasn't feeling well.  Later she texted me to say that she was just using her sick day.  But I think it was a lady issue.