Afterthoughts : This Past Month

How can it already be November?  Time for the update.

Sunday, October, 1, I bought my aunt and I some Panda Express for breakfast.  I ordered some beef, but they gave me chicken.  I wanted fried rice, which they did give me, but it wasn't tasty until I poured some soy sauce on it.  For sure I'm not going to ever order the fried rice there.  Maybe next time I'll try the steam rice.  Who knows.  Still, sucks because I wanted beef.

This weekend I decided to make some soup for lunch.  I found a recipe for a corn chowder.  I love corn chowder.  I think my favorite thing to eat at Disneyland is the corn chowder from the Storyteller's cafe at the hotel.  I miss that place.  They turned it into a buffet, so if I want to get the soup it will cost me.  One of other great things about the soup is that it was inexpensive, but filling.  I didn't have to order anything but the soup.  I should try to find the recipe for THAT soup, because the one I made today is good, but it's not like the one at Disneyland.  Next time.

Monday, October, 2, I arrived at work and almost immediately Tony informs me that he's driving today.  What?  I wasn't told anything about this.  He was told yesterday, but did they bother to tell me?  Nope.  I'm NEVER informed that I'm not driving.  It's always a big surprise for me.  I checked my email and Mala did send me an email around 7:40am.  Like I'm really going to be checking my email at that time.  What a load of bullshit.  So what was I supposed to do today?  The email said that I was assigned to work "desk 3."  What the fuck is desk three?  Turns out it's my old post on the main desk, the desk that faces South.  With the coming of the children's room renovation, that desk is going to be the defacto children's reference desk.  Not a very well thought out prospect.  I was given no information on what I was supposed to do while on the desk.  I kinda had to figure it out by myself.  I ended up standing up and around the main desk in order to get a view of the now children's collection area.  It's a good thing, because there were guys there as soon as 9:20am looking for the graphic novels.  They used to be there, but are now in the stacks.  I had to shoo away three people looking for those books in the now children's collection area.  Jeez.  The administrators can't get anything right at all.  I mean they continually get things wrong.  In this case it feels that they didn't even try to figure out what to do when the children's collection is moved to the ground floor.  Just awful.  That's how it's done nowadays.  As one of my coworkers said, they never ask us for our opinion on anything.  They should, because we have the institutional knowledge needed to get things done.  But they don't value that.  They don't value us at all.  It looks like I'll be working the desk on Thursdays for sure.

I didn't write about this last week, because I ran out of time.  Last week I met the new public arts intern.  The posted this job a while back, saying that it was just a five month internship.  maybe they're hire her, I don't know.  I mention her today because my coworker Tony mentioned how beautiful she is.  I agree.  I met her last week, and I couldn't stop looking at her.  She wasn't at work today, so I'm hoping to see her on Wednesday.

I mentioned that the stacks are a total mess.  Well, the mess is total.  All the shelves will have to be redone.  They are all out of sequence.  There will be a bunch of 300's followed by some 400's and then back to 300's, only to go back to 400's followed by 500's.  The mess is complete.  It's like this on all the shelves.  And of course no one knows why this happened.  One of the people in charge of the shifting project said today that they hadn't seen the shelves.  Why not?  That's literally their project.  If they had been on top of it they could have told the city guy that this was happening.  Maybe it would have mitigated the problem before it got this bad.  Now it's too late.  You have to almost start over with the shifting and the shelf reading.  Idiots.

Why is there a random naked lady in this entry?  This is Chloe Jones, model.  She was one of the it girls from the late 1990s and the early 2000s.  This picture in particular was a big picture in my life.  She was the pin-up in my closet.  I remember printing out this picture on my old printer and then pinning it on the wall of my closet.  Sadly she passed away from abuse of drugs and alcohol.

Wednesday, October, 4, The lady from marketing gave me some sandwich board signs today to distribute to the branches.  While we were talking she said that she hears people saying that, "The marketing teams sucks."  I couldn't help but laugh like a hyena, because I've been one of those who have said that.  The marketing team does suck.  One of the signs she gave me today was for eclipse events.  The eclipse is on Saturday October 14, and I'm only now distributing that sign?  Some of the eclipse events have already happened.  I just don't get why they wait until the last minute to get things printed.  They should be on a two month curve for events, not a two week curve.  Things should be done today that will be needed in late December and early January.  The thing is, I've heard people say that they have sent their graphics to the marketing lady three months in advance, and then she just sits on them.  Shame.

I went into treasury and Marie was wearing a jacket, but under that she wearing a top that showed a bit of her cleavage.  A nice amount of cleavage.  Probably the most I've see of her huge chest.  It's nice to think that she wore that for me, but I know she didn't.  Her chest is huge, but I don't know what the shape of her breasts are without her clothes on.  After seeing what I saw today I have a better idea.  I think her chest looks like this lady that I am posting above.  It's not a one to one, because everyone is slightly different.  That part of the breast that is on top where is seems to hang from the chest is what I saw today, and lets me think this is what her breast looks like.  I'll never actually know.

Krishna asked me to drive her out to North Hollywood to help her pick up the outreach van that had been covered in vinyl with graphics (see above).  I'm not sure why they are even bothering with this old van when the new van is supposedly coming in January.  I would need to look back, but I'm pretty sure this van has been sitting around for at least six months without graphics.  The new outreach vehicle is supposed to be delivered in January.  So why spend $4,000 to cover this old van when the new one is coming so soon?  Like my coworker said, it's easy to spend when it's not your money.  Amen.  Anyway, I think the van actually looks really good.  Somehow I know I'll get bamboozled into driving this thing.  Perhaps.

TheGirl and I have been going to dinner on Wednesdays for the longest time.  It goes back to the time when we were dating, so that means it's been at least a decade.  In all that time we have not had to worry about having the means to pay for dinner.  With TheGirl's impending unemployment just around the corner I'm not sure what that means for our Wednesday dinner.  I can certainly still afford paying for dinner.  So does that mean we only go to dinner every other week?  I guess we'll find out soon what TheGirl thinks.  It also counts on whether she gets a job quickly or if it takes time.  I just hope she finds a job quickly.

Dinner was nice.  We went to get fish and chips tonight.  We brought the wine that I bought for TheGirl's birthday.  We both liked it.  When I bought it for her birthday I originally wanted to get her favorite, Fess Parker.  However, the store didn't have that brand.  For at least a couple of years I have been getting emails touting the brand that we had at dinner tonight.  Let's hope this isn't the last dinner we have for a while.

While I was at dinner I got a text and then a phone call from TheNewcute.  She texted me to check out our work email.  Then she called to talk about the news of DrDeath leaving the library.  Here is DrDeath's email.

Dear Colleagues,

The following is very bitter sweet for me.  I wish to advise you that I have made the difficult decision to leave the City of Glendale.  Over the last five years we have accomplished so much, including being named a finalist for the National Medal by IMLS. We even survived a pandemic together.  I have so enjoyed working with each and everyone of you and the legacy we have built together lives on.  We truly work for one of the great library systems in California, and our innovation has put us on par with many great libraries nationally.

For my next adventure I have accepted the opportunity to build a wholly new library system for a city in the Coachella Valley, that has previously farmed out their library service to the County of Riverside, who in turn has farmed out library operations to LSS/LSI/LSSI (unsure of their current name, a company that runs public libraries on behalf of municipalities).  This is an excellent opportunity for me to take the model for library service we have built-out here in Glendale and share it with another deserving community.

I will miss you all.  I'm still here through Oct 19, and I believe Hala is planning a farewell get together so that I may have the chance to say goodbye to you in person if you wish.  I wanted to tell you all first and would like very much to be able to share this news personally with our friends in the Library Community and across Glendale.  If we could please keep this news among us for the remainder of this week I would be most appreciative.

Thank you for your consideration and the last memorable five years.

All my Best,

DrDeath

There ya go... most people are going to say good riddance.  The line of the email for me is, "This is an excellent opportunity for me to take the model for library service we have built-out here in Glendale and share it with another deserving community."  Those poor saps don't know what they are in for.  Hey DrDeath's new job... you all are in for a ton of bullshit.  In the five years DrDeath has been here he has turn what was once a good library system into a laughing stock.  No matter how much he wanted to increase the numbers, all his efforts went into things that had nothing to do with a library.  All of his paragraphs were failures.  Sadly, he leaves the Glendale system a shell of what it once was.  It used to be a small but honest library.  We had good people, and due to his efforts many people left for better.  Perhaps with his departure we can go back to being a library.  Perhaps.

The waitress at the Auld Chip shop is pretty darn cute.  She wasn't there the last time TheGirl and I came here.  But she was here the first time we came here.  She wears some nice hot pants... like who wears hot pants?  She does.  I think she must be Asian, but she could be a mix.  Either way, she's cute.

TheGirl and I took Cheyenne on a little walk around Toluca Lake.  The houses there are usually decorated for Halloween, and Christmas.  Many of the people that live in that area are in the entertainment business.  As TheGirl likes to point out, many of them work for dinner or Universal.  That means they are creative, and they have some bucks to throw at some cool decorations.  There weren't many decorations on our walk tonight, but there was a good one depicting Michael Jackson's Thriller video (see above).

Thursday, October, 5, The dopes upstairs keep saying that the renovation is happening soon, but I know better.  However, the city decided to erect a sign proclaiming that the renovation is happening.  Not only that, they committed to dates.  October 2023 until Summer of 2024.  Yeah, change that 2024 to 2025.  That's more like it.

I got to work at 8am and started by just walking around and opening up Reflect Space.  I heard someone coughing, and I wondered if it was a patron that had gotten in.  I checked the front door, and it seemed closed.  So I went into the stacks, by the Northwest corner of the library, where the old 900s used to be.  I found one of the librarians, Bryan, coughing and moving books around.  He had done a rough sort of the oversized books and was trying to get them in order so that they could be moved where they will be during the renovation.  I mentioned in an earlier entry that the carpet guys threw books on shelves willy nilly, and fucked up the order of the entire collection.  Well, Bryan was attempting to fix this particular part of the collection.  While talking to him about DrDeath's departure I looked over at the books in front of me and instinctually started to put them in order.  So for about twenty minutes I helped sort the books from the mid 600s to the 900s.  Felt good.  He mentioned me in Teams for all the world to see that I'm actually working.  If they say anything I have three witnesses that I was working and not just sitting around.  That is if they question why I submitted hours for a day in which I wasn't even scheduled.  Idiots.

The dopes upstairs insist on having a morning meeting.  It's a thing they started during the pandemic when we were doing curbside service.  They continued it to this day.  Never mind that they never conduct the meeting correctly, this shit could be in an email.  Today there was a definite feeling of relief after DrDeath's announcement that he's leaving soon.  The social worker and I had a moment where she said that everyone had smiles on their faces.  Truth.  I seriously doubt anyone is going to miss DrDeath.

Having no official assignment today I decided I could help with the Link Plus junk.  So I went at it in the morning.  After lunch they snagged me to help with the shifting project.  A coworker and I moved the children's DVD collection to a new location.  That was followed by moving the audiobook collection to another location as well.  The sad state of the audiobooks is that they are super dusty.  Which means they're not circulating.  Sad.

I went up to use the administration bathroom, because the one downstairs was being cleaned.  That visit gave me an opportunity to chat up Celine again, who was working the admin desk.  I asked her about going to CSUN, and told her I went there.  I found out there was a renovation going on.  She told me they're finished.  I mentioned I would have to visit the campus.  It would be nice if she gave me a tour of my old school.  Celine is cute.  I've only seen her sitting down, so I'm not sure how her figure looks in its entirety.  But she does look like she has a nice behind.  It's big, for sure.

Friday, October, 6, TheNewCute told me at lunch that she and her fella are in, "Limbo."  And that they are "dating."  Whatever that means.  I've been in that limbo with TheGirl many years ago.  She had broken up with me, and then a week later she said it was a mistake and we got back together.  figured we were back in the same old place we were prior to the break-up, like the break-up hadn't happened.  But it had, and the reasons why she broke up with me was still there under the surface.  So I wish TheNewCute the best as she tries to work on her relationship.

Saturday, October, 7, The day after the twin jabs for the flu and Covid I can report that I'm doing well.  My arm does hurt.  I would put the pain at a level two, but if I press on it it rises to a three.  Not bad.  I was taking off the bandages from yesterday before I took a shower and that hurt a little.  I also seem to have some throat congestion.  Like I have a slight lump in my throat.  So far no body aches, but my throat feels a wee bit sore.  The good thing is that I'm covered.  Whew!

A few weeks ago Dane showed me a new tablet he bought with some aid money his friend Chip got for him.  I'm pretty sure that Dane now gets SSI, but I haven't out and out asked him.  But Chip told me that he was in the process of helping Dane get those benefits.  So then when I saw Dane with the new tablet a few weeks ago I figured it must have been paid for with those benefits.  Well, a few days after he showed me the new tablet she told me he had already cracked it.  Years ago I bought him an inexpensive tablet after his was stolen.  He had found a working iPad and was happy to have it.  But then someone stole it.  Sure enough, that one that I bought him was cracked in less than two weeks.  No way I was going to buy him another.  I think I paid $80 for it, but what was I supposed to do?  Keep buying him tablets at $80 a shot?  And now look how he broke this tablet.  Oh, I forgot to mention that Dane said that this tablet cost him something like $660.  What a waste of money.

11:01pm: I'm happy to report that I'm not feeling any effects from the vaccines yesterday.  I had some congestion when I woke up, and I still had it by midday.  I have a little bit left, but it's much better.

Sunday, October, 8, I made reservations for two of my favorites in Carmel for the trip in November, but I wanted to research some more casual dining options for breakfast and lunch.  I was able to find some places that look good at least.  I just want to be prepared just in case we get hungry in different parts of the peninsula.  I like being prepared.

I've said it before, but now I'm 99% sure that I won't likely see the cute self-checkout lady at the market.  Not unless I show up some random time during the week.  That's assuming she still works at that location.  Sad.  I knew that promotion was going to mean I may not see her.  I even asked her if she was going to another store, and she said no.  Famous last words.

Monday, October, 9, Today is Columbus/Indigenous people's day, so naturally there were people that thought we were closed today.  I came to find out that LAPL was closed today.  I didn't check to see if county was closed, but at that point it didn't matter.  If Los Angeles is closed most media is going to think everyone is closed.  TheGirl mentioned that the news said all libraries were closed today.  That would explain why we weren't busy today.

Glendale likes to pay lip service to a lot of things.  I didn't take today off, nor does it ever take Cesar Chavez day off.  Look, for me it was better to work today since I'm taking Friday off.  I need the money I make today because I'm taking off on Friday and that day alone will lost me more $200.  Besides, staying home just means my aunt will have another day to ask me a ton of pointless questions.

Tuesday, October, 10, Once again books are in the wrong order at Casa.  I'm not sure what can be done other than just catching the mistake and placing the book in the correct order.  I say this because many of us have said that the page at Casa messes things up.  She's a nice girl, but I have seen it with my own eyes that she doesn't notice mistakes that I notice from across the room.  I know it's a muscle memory thing with me now, since I've been doing this job for so many years.  But still.  She's young, she has better eyesight than I do.  And yet it's not just about young eyes, it's about paying attention.  She is clearly not.  Oh well.

DrDeath announced last week that he was leaving Glendale for some greener pastures out in the Coachella valley.  It was inevitable that there would be some sort of good-bye party for him.  I should have put quotes around the word party.  I'm sure it will be well attended, it's just about kissing the ring.  I may go since I'm working at Casa that day, and I can visit with TheNewCute for a bit before going to work.

Speaking of TheNewCute, I forgot to mention that last week she said that she doesn't like working with Misa.  Misa tends to abandon her, and assumes that TheNewCute will do things that Misa is supposed to do.  TheNewCute is not going to confront her and tell Misa that she needs to carry her own weight.  Which is sad, because that means TheNewCute will just put up the slack.  I warned TheNewCute about this, and not to let it happen.  No one ever heeds my warning.

I left a note for my aunt telling her that today was my cousin's kid's birthday.  I didn't mean for her to take it some sort of order to call them, but I figured it would be a good idea if she did.  I told her that after she Facetimed me this afternoon.  So she did, and in the process she got them invited to come over.  Now I don't mind them coming over, but part of me just wants to be alone when I get home from work.  I don't want to have to entertain.  Not that I do much actual entertaining.  Still, I'm an old man that likes my alone time.  My aunt told me that they are going to come over on Friday to celebrate and to get their gifts.  I think my aunt said Friday.  If she did I won't be here, since I'm going to Emma's wedding on Friday.  If it's Saturday then I'll be here.  I'm pretty sure she said Friday.

In something related to that, my aunt wants to give the girls some old clothes that she owns.  She told me today that she doesn't want to give them the "good stuff," because she wants to save that for my aunt in Mexico.  First off, it's all junk.  I say give it all to the girls.  Second, my aunt from Mexico is not going to find the time to come to the States any time soon.  Maybe never again.  So holding all that junk is for not.  I told my aunt that she should just send it via courier service.  Her late friend told her of a company that sends you a box that you fill with anything you want.  Well, nothing illegal, of course.  Anything within reason can be sent in that box, as long as it fits.  I told her to just send it that way, so there's no delay.  My aunt thinks her old rags are worth something, because she paid good money for that clothes.  That was ages ago.  I told her that unless the clothing is something unique that people want then it's just rags.  She didn't want to hear that, but she needs to just give it all to the girls.

Wednesday, October, 11, Over a week ago I was going to take some pillars from Central to Brand, but that was the day admin decided to put me on the desk instead of driving.  I wanted to do it this past Monday, but once again I had special deliveries.  It wasn't until today that I was able to take the pillars up to Brand.  And it wasn't like I had much choice.  There's a teen program happening tomorrow, so they needed me to get those things out of the room today.  So I loaded the three pillars onto the van.  But then the marketing lady asked me to drop off a huge bag full of new teacher kits to the school district.  The van was packed, to say the least.  The giant bag full of kits wasn't so heavy, but it was just big.  That made it a little more difficult to deal with.  Oh well.  It got delivered, and so did the pillars.

I went up to Brand and had my lunch.  I planned on doing the delivery and the pillars after lunch, since I was starving.  While at lunch both TheNewCute and Stacie were in the kitchen.  At one point the both of them descended into their phones (pictured above).  I guess I'm not that interesting.

While I was still up at Brand Stacie asked me if I had access to a extra long Ethernet cable.  I quickly texted Raff at Central, and he said that he was pretty sure they had one.  In this case extra long was about twelve feet.  When I got back to Central I went to fetch the long cable.  Raff mentioned there was one in the children's room.  I could take it, since all that stuff in the children's room is going away anyway, due to the renovation.  The cable I got must have been twenty-five feet, at least.  Maybe even thirty feet.  All I know is that it was long.  I grabbed it and drove up to Brand.  Mission accomplished.  I wished Stacie the best on her art talk thingie tonight and went on my merry way to Wednesday night dinner with the ladies.

TheGirl suggested we go to a new place for dinner tonight.  When we got there they seemed to be closed.  There were employees inside, but all the tables had chairs on top.  To me that means the place is closed.  We then went to Dog Haus, but they didn't have wine anymore.  So we went to the Smokehouse.  It was better that way.  I would have liked to have had something from the Dog Haus, but oh well.

The fish and chips hit the spot tonight.  I had fish and chips last week and I also had it tonight.  TheGirl went to get fish and chips yesterday in Ventura, but she said it wasn't very good.  I have to say that both last week's fish and chips and tonight's were good.  Having extra tartar sauce makes the difference.

After dinner we went into the East side of Toluca lake and checked out some of the decorations.  We didn't go deep into Toluca lake, but we saw quite a few decorations.  Chan and I ran into a ghost!

Thursday, October, 12, TheGirl and I had some nice drinks last night, so I was feeling nice.  This morning I got a little bit of late start.  I threw the tacos I eat in the morning into the toaster oven.  But, I forgot to turn the damn thing on.  When I got out of the shower it was too late to wait for the tacos to warm up, so I just threw them into the microwave.  It's just not the same, but I was in a hurry.  I'm such a dummy.

The carpet replacement has been going pretty well, except for some glitches.  Yes, the installers totally fucked up the shelves, but the actual carpet looks good.  All good things though.  I went up the stairs to the stacks and saw that the carpet on the stairs did not match the rest of the carpet.  I'm sure this is one of many mistakes I haven't spotted yet.  Knowing how things are, the carpet installation is probably a shit show just below the surface.

I texted Stacie to ask her how the art talk went last night and she immediately called me on the phone.  She went on to tell me that the whole thing was a shit show.  The live stream died after just over half an hour of one hour talk.  Stacie wasn't sure why the new lady, Stephanie, didn't tell her so Stacie could at least record the talk on her phone.  No one thought to do that, so now more than half the talk is lost.  Stacie did say that she plans on redoing the talk so that she can have it for posterity.  She may even do it as a podcast.  She's been wanting to do a podcast.  The library really needs to invest in the proper equipment for these talks.  They need to ask the local TV station what equipment they use for their steaming.  I know they're stuff works.

I tried watching the part of the talk that did make it online and it is IMPOSSIBLE to hear what the man is saying.  What a total failure.  What I could make it sounded interesting, because he was talking about the subject of time.  I've been really interested in some new theories of time that I didn't know before.  These are not new theories, but rather new to me.  Interesting.

Gitmo wanted me to cover some time at Grandview today, but I was super busy on the route that I couldn't make it.  He went ahead and asked Ru to come over.  I guess there was a program going on that required Ru to put on a bear costume.  She looked so cute (see above).

Friday, October, 13, I ordered my James Dean, brown fleck, jacket about three weeks ago.  This is after ordering it the wrong size about two months ago.  I didn't want to admit that I fucked up and ordered the wrong size, so I just ordered it again.  I got an email the other day saying that it was arriving on October 17th.  Not in time for the wedding.  But, miracle of miracles the jacket arrived today.  It arrived ten minutes before my coworker came by to pick me up to go to the wedding.  Most important IT FIT!  It was a perfect fit.

Junior took me to the wedding.  We were afraid that we would be late, but instead we ended up arriving about an hour before the venue opened.  We ended up going to the coffee shop next door, where I ended up getting a cocktail.

Then it was time for the ceremony.  Emma entered from behind where I was sitting.  I got a quick glimpse of her and she looked so beautiful.  I got real emotional at that moment.  Just wow.

The ceremony happened really fast.  Even the wedding planner said that.  Following that it was time for drinks while Emma and her husband Sam did a tea ceremony.  Sadly the booze was weak sauce.  I asked for a Manhattan and they made it with ice.  Just terrible.  Still, it was good times.  TheNewCute was my tablemate.  Her fella supposedly didn't come because he was still suffering from he nose surgery.  Sure.  I'm thinking he didn't want to come because it's a wedding, and that would mean something in his mind.  Of course I didn't mind him not being there tonight.

I love my new jacket, by the way.

Sunday, October, 15, I don't have much to update about this weekend.  I slept a lot yesterday and today.  More yesterday, because after Emma's wedding I came home and had some real booze.  I also jerked off late into the night, Friday night.  Hence me needing a lot of sleep on Saturday.

Anyway, so there is a new girl at Casa working as an intern.  I think that's what she is.  What I do know is that of course she's attractive.

Monday, October, 16, I come into work this morning and I find this big pile of stuff on the delivery table.  The children's room renovation is coming up, so they have been throwing all their junk to the four winds of the branches.  That means I have to haul them from Central to the various branches.  It's bad enough that I have to haul all this stuff, but what's worse is that most of the stuff they had me haul today was brand new.  Those cushions in the back of the above photo are brand new.  There are fifteen of them, never used.  What really irks me is that I'm going to take them to various branches only to be thrown into storage and never used.  As I say to my fellow coworkers, never let them say they don't have money for a raise.  If they can afford to buy all these things and just store them forever, they can afford a raise.

Tuesday, October, 17, I got to use my new apron today.  I made some eggs with sausage and tortillas.  Nothing I cooked today is something that would splash.  Perhaps the egg.  Still, I like that I got to use my new apron.

DrDeath's last day is Thursday, but today was his going away party.  I went up just so I could chat up TheNewCute.  It was good times.  I went up and found DrDeath and shook his hand.  There was a point that one of the managers said I needed to get him to walk to the gallery so that the city dignitaries could say some things on his behalf.  So I turned to him and said, "I'm supposed to coral you in this general direction."  So I led him to the gallery area and then made hast.  I went into the library and chatted up TheNewCute.  I eventually went back to the party and then I noticed that it was nearly 10am.  I had to get going.  I flew out of there and went to Casa for my shift.  Before leaving I took a picture with the media lady and the new girl at Brand, Stephanie (pictured above).

My shift at Casa was pretty quiet, so I took advantage of that to take care of some business.  The city requires people who work the service desks to get training on what they call PCI compliance.  Basically I have to know the rules of working with the credit card machines.  We only have three machines in the system.  One is at Brand, another is at Montrose and the last is that Central.  Not sure why all the locations don't have them, but that's OK by me.  Still, even though Casa doesn't have a credit card machine I still have to do this training.  And boy, it is the biggest sleeping pill someone can take.  I'm generally a sleepy guy, because of my late nights and all.  Even still, this thing really made me sleepy.  I ended up having to stand up in order to continue.  I think I should have been done in an hour, but I think it took me closer to two hours to finish up this thing.  Even still, I finished.  I don't have to see this thing for a year.  I wish it was every other year, but no.

The children's room renovation is really happening.  The children's room crew have spent the last few weeks cleaning out the offices.  There isn't much left.  A couple of my coworkers and I went into the room to see what was left.  There were quite a few good things still left, which my coworkers quickly scavenged for circulation.  They can't accuse us of stealing.  We're "repurposing" stuff.  I took some pictures before leaving.  The area pictured above are the back offices, which will be totally gutted.  I'm trying to remember the plans, but I seem to remember that those back offices will be totally gone.  There might be some storage there, but I honestly don't remember.  I took some more pictures and sent them to TheDesire.  She used to work in that office, and I thought that maybe she would want to see it one last time before it goes away forever.

Wednesday, October, 18, The construction walls went up overnight, and now the real fun starts.  The work crews will be working overnight.  With these walls up it's going to be hard to see the progress of the construction.  We were told that it would take nine months for the renovation to be completed.  Sure.  Either way, I am surprised that there is actually something going on now.  Nine months from now would be some time in July, give or take.  I think that's super optimistic.

I went up to Brand and got the book bins and started to transfer them on to the van when I noticed one at the bottom of the truck that said, "Bottom of bin giving out."  I looked and sure enough the bin was ripping apart.  I wasn't sure why they didn't just toss the damn thing.  I went ahead and threw it in the trash.  Again, why someone at Brand didn't just toss it I'll never know.  I think this is the work of Misa.  Vagabundo and I have been talking about how Misa seems to be out of it.  I attribute it to long Covid, but Vagabundo and TheNewCute have mentioned that she was like this BEFORE she got Covid.  I agree she was doing some nutty things, but I think the frequency and value of the nuttiness has gone up.  Oh well.

As I was leaving work at Casa yesterday I noticed a praying mantis right by the back door.  I felt bad for it, so I opened the door and corralled it to the outside.  Another good deed done.  Today, while doing the delivery, I noticed that the mantis was still by the backdoor.  It was sitting on the class on the outside of the door.  I thought it looked cool from the inside, so I snapped the above photo.  Cool.

There isn't much to report on tonight's dinner.  TheGirl and I went to Don Cuco's in Toluca lake.  I think the husband and her daughter must have been at the Burbank location.  That's fine, they both have the same food.  I wish I could order something smaller.  I was so stuffed at the end of the meal.  I'm going to have to look for something smaller on the menu.  It also didn't help that I had the soup with the entree.  Maybe salad next time.  I do like their tortilla soup, which is what I had tonight.  Again, I'll have to check for something smaller.  I just left so full and bloated after dinner tonight.

After dinner TheGirl, Cheyanne, Chan and me went walking around Toluca Lake to check out the Halloween decorations.

Thursday, October, 19, I had a restless night last night.  I went to bed last night and I was feeling warm.  I tossed, and turned, but I couldn't get to sleep.  I decided to turn on my fan and set it to a timer.  I eventually fell asleep, but at around 1am I woke up having to use the restroom.  I had a lot of booze, which meant that I also drank a lot of water in order to wash that all out.  I was still feeling warm, but I didn't want to run the fan all night.  So, I closed my window, because there was no breeze coming in, and turned on my little A/C.  I was able to sleep but then woke up around 3:30am.  Another use of the restroom and more water.  I was thirsty.  I was also warm.  I had set the timer on the A/C for forty minutes.  On the A/C went again.  Just as I went back to bed I hear an announcement from my phone, "Earthquake, earthquake... this is only a test."  That thing fucking scared me, because it didn't say test right away.  I woke up again about an hour later, only to wake up again a little after 5pm.  That was it, I wasn't going to try to sleep again, because I knew I would oversleep.

Friday, October, 20, Yesterday Junior went to a nearby Korean corn dog joint.  She bought me a corn dog, but I had already eaten my lunch.  I figured that I would have it for breakfast this morning.  It did hit the spot, and it was tasty.  I can't say that this version was that much better than a regular corn dog.  It wasn't bad though, but I guess I was expecting something mind-blowing.  I will say that the hot dog itself was yummy.

Earlier this week I received an email from Stephanie asking me to move some stanchions to Brand from the annex.  The annex was originally meant to be the computer lab.  But of course these dopes upstairs decided to make the room into "the annex" to the reflect space.  Basically a storage room.  But now there is the need for it to be a room for the teens and for the language classes, so they are giving me things to take elsewhere.  Of course.

I went to Chevy first thing in the morning, and when I got there I found a stupid pile of donations by the front door (pictured above).  I took them straight to the trash.  Fuck donations!  I hate that people leave me a boatload of trash.  Thanks... for nothing!

The gang at Grandview was making tombstones for decorating the library.  The gang asked me what text I wanted on my tombstone.  I told them, "I can't afford to die."  They changed that to, "Eric is back.  Sorry, couldn't afford to die."  OK, good enough.

TheNewCute mentioned today that after I left yesterday she and Stacie were talking about age differences when dating someone.  TheNewCute has definite opinions about the age differences of people that date each other.  She doesn't think people who date younger is a good thing.  She mentioned that when she was young, like barely twenty years old, she was hit on by someone that was in their thirties.  She thought it was creepy.  Stacie mentioned to her that when she was in her forties she dated a guy in his twenties.  When I was thirty I dated Talia, who was seven years my junior.  And then in my late thirties I dated TheGirl, who was over fifty.  So you see, I don't have any issues dating people who are both younger or older.  Obviously TheNewCute doesn't think that way.

When I got to Adams I found book donations, but this time in the bookdrop.  ARGH!  These donations are even more trash than the ones at Chevy Chase.  Why, just why?

I saw this book while I was at Adams and I couldn't resist taking a picture of it and sending it to TheNewCute.  I sent it with the text saying, "I wonder if the part where he marries an eight year old is in the book."  She just laughed.

Saturday, October, 21, Dane's birthday is on the 25th of October.  He asked if we could hang out today.  After not being able to hang out due to the pandemic I was happy to hang out with my old friend.  The first place we went was to breakfast.  I took Dane to Atwater village to get some breakfast burritos.  Following that we took a drive to Santa Monica, where we finally ended up on the pier.

While at the pier we ended up at the arcade where Dane and I went to the shooting gallery.  There was a whole thing about not being able to use coins.  We had to get a card and put value on it in order to play the game.  Good times.

Another stop we made was going to the Heal the Bay aquarium.  Dane said that he wanted to go there the last time we hung out years ago.  This time we went.

Dane and I continued our tour of Santa Monica.  We ended up walking towards city hall, then we went up 4th street.  We ended up at a local park near 7th street.  I was tired.  After a little rest we started walking back to the car.  I told Dane that I was getting hungry.  He wanted to get some pastrami.  When we reached 3rd Street I saw a storefront that had some Star Wars stuff.  I paid for our tickets and we got to check out a bunch of cool Star Wars models.  When we got started we took pictures with R2D2 and C3PO.

Following the exhibition we went to get some yummy pastrami in Culver City.  It was a good day.  I hope to ask Dane to hang out more often.  We do have some fun together.

Sunday, October, 22, I ran into the girl with the striped yoga pants at the market again today.  I don't remember if I have written about her before, but here I am now.  There is a girl that I have seen a lot at the market.  She must go to the gym before going to the market.  That would explain why she always wears the same yoga pants.  She's memorable thanks to her nice behind.  She's pretty.  But of course she gives me nothing but looks of contempt.  I don't have a chance with her.  With any woman, really.  I'm a fat fuck.  Simple as that.

Monday, October, 23, The weather liars said that there was a chance that it would rain this morning, so stupid me believed them and didn't water the plants in the backyard last night.  Surprise, surprise, it didn't rain this morning and now the plants didn't get watered last night.  I'll have to wait until Tuesday, because that's the day I'm allowed to water the plants.  I should have known better.

I've talked about Marie's huge chest before.  She showed some cleavage earlier this month.  Today I got a little bit more of a view, thanks to her blouse straining to contain her chest.  The area between the buttons of her blouse was open and I got a direct view of her breast.  Jebbus, I knew they were big but jeez did I get an eye-full.  I sure with she was single and I had a chance at going out with her.

For some reason the days when Brand is closed are still very active with dummies at the doors.  People tend to visit the library despite it being closed, because they don't realize it's closed on Mondays.  But the doors are still inviting to people.  Case in point, today there was a dope sitting right by the door.  I mean, if we had been open, patrons would have to walk around him in order to get into the building.  I don't understand the appeal of sitting at the doors of an empty and closed building.  Why?  And of course then there's the dopes that see the lights out and of course don't notice the hours and they tug at the doors really hard.  They're glass doors.  Yes, they are thick glass, but they are glass.  About a year and a half ago one of the doors broke and after the repair it was mentioned that they didn't have any more doors as a replacement.  I suppose they would have to get it custom made.  When I visit on Mondays I try to keep a low profile.  I don't just walk around in areas that are visible from the door.  I keep back, and sometimes wait out dopes when they are looking into the door.  Because for some reason they think that move will magically open the doors.  Or they think we're going to open the place just for them.  Even if we were working inside, we clearly haven't opened if the doors are locked.  Jeez, people are just stupid.

Tuesday, October, 24, Maria Q, the morning weather lady on channel 11, didn't show up yesterday.  Today she appeared on the news.  Boy... I know I keep saying this but her fucking hips look amazing.  Super sigh.  The algorithm is mocking me.

Back in the mid 90's there was a restaurant at the Disneyland hotel called the Monorail Cafe.  It was parodied by the Simpsons, but I don't think it was a very popular place.  Granted, I would visit it when I was go to the park in the middle of the week.  Usually a Tuesday.  Back then I would go to Disneyland for some fun, but I would go to the hotel for lunch.  There used to be a little tram similar to the ones that used to service the old parking lot, only these were smaller and colored yellow.  Yes, sometimes I would take the Monorail out to the hotel, but if the line was long I would just take the tram.

The cafe had some of the best onion rings I've ever had in my life.  When I would go there I would always order the onion rings along with a patty melt, and a milkshake.  On one visit I was told that the cafe was going to close and change locations, because Downtown Disney and California Adventure was going to be built.  I was assured that the cafe would come back in Downtown Disney.  It never did.  I guess that's why I still have fond memories of the place.  The ambiance was faux 50's cafe, but it was fun.  It was cool to go to the hotel and check out the old pool area.  I would go there and play with the miniature boats styled to look like the ones at the Jungle Cruise.  A quarter would give you like five minutes of radio time to move the boats around a little lagoon.  Oh well, all things must pass.  But the other day I got an itch and decided to see if I could find some memento of the old cafe.  I found a magnet on eBay.  It's not original, it's made from a printout and attached to a magnet.  I didn't care if it wasn't authentic, I just wanted something to remind me of that place.

The 99 cent store often sells some strange stuff.  Case in point the stuff I found today called wine soda.  The store had two varieties, peach and mango.  I would try the peach one.  No thank you to the mango one, for sure.  I joked with TheNewCute that this was going to be her Christmas gift.  Yeah, I don't know about some of this stuff.  Clearly the 99 cent store buys products that didn't fly in the market.  Someone comes up with an idea like wine soda.  They make it, market it, and then when it gets to the stores it fails.  Meanwhile, they made a truckload of the stuff, so the 99 cent store buys it from them at pennies on the dollar.  Some poor sap buys it at the 99 cent store and boom, profit.  I am temped to try it though.  I know, crazy.

Wednesday, October, 25, The morning crew from NBC, including the way cute weather lady, Belen, was at a coffee shop up the street from the library today.  I couldn't go, because I was busy dealing with other things at Central.  But, a bunch of the ladies (funny no guys) went up the street to check out the free coffee.  I wanted to meet the weather lady.  She's so pretty, and in the last year she has lost weight and looks amazing.  Oh well, I didn't get to meet her, but my coworkers did.

I went to open the door this morning, like I always do, and the fucking thing wouldn't open.  After about two or three minutes I finally just said I was going to pop the door open to let the patrons in.  The impatient patrons.  See, the door has a function that when you press outward it disconnects from the frame.  This is done in case of a fire or other emergency.  Today the emergency was that the fucking door wouldn't open.  We tried and tried to get the door open, but it would not budge.  These front doors have been a problem since opening day.  It's because, as I've said since I found out about the problem years ago, the fucking doors are askew.  The floor is not even, and then the installers put the door in wrong.  Couple those things together and you get fail.  Typical Glendale library shit.

I was about to leave the Brand library when TheNewCute placed a label on my left arm.  She said she was testing something the labelmazer.  Hmmm, I don't know about that.  When I got to Central the office guy, Joe, asked if I had been branded by TheNewCute.  He said, "You belong to her."  I joked that it was like Andy marking what's his.  You know, from Toy Story.  She can have me.

TheGirl and I tried to eat dinner at a place called Sotta in Burbank a few weeks ago, only to find it closed.  Not exactly closed, but they were only open for take out.  We figured that we could try them again tonight.  If they were "Closed" again we would not try a third time.  It's good that we tried again, because the food was really quite good.  I ordered a meat wrap and tomato soup.  Oh the soup was on point.  I loved it.  Cheyenne and I loved the wrap.  It's good to have another restaurant in our repertoire for future dinners.

TheGirl did mention that on her weeks we might return to having stuff from Trader Joe's.  Back when we were dating, and we started this Wednesday night dinner tradition, TheGirl would get us mac and cheese, a Cesar salad mix, and either enchiladas or chicken from Trader Joe's.  I'm sure I have a picture from back then.  I know there's one of Chan reaching for the mac and cheese, which we called banana-roni and cheese.  I loved the Trader Joe's enchiladas and chicken.  I figure that I can get some wine for those nights.

After dinner TheGirl and I always go on a walk so Cheyenne can poop.  Tonight we walked around the Disney studios in Burbank.  I've never done that, but it was pretty cool.  We saw a mouse and a cat on Riverside drive.  One of the windows had interesting objects in the office.  They had two old projectors.  Nice.  We were also surprised to see how many empty offices there were.

Thursday, October, 26, The construction goes on.  Today I walked up to the library and found that they had taken a window out of the children's room.  The construction crew is probably going to use that to take things in and out of that room.  I can already see that there is going to be a problem with delivery thanks to this stuff.

The front doors are still broken.  At one point in the day we only had the side doors, off of Louise, and the southern doors open.  I was tasked with making some signs to point the patrons which way to go.

But just as I was asking for the official library logo I was told that one of the marketing team members had made some signs.  OK, where were they?  I was asking to put them up as soon as possible.  I didn't want to dick around, especially while there were dopes trying to get through the front doors are they were being worked on.  The repairmen had to spend half of their time shooing people away from the doors and directing them to the side doors.  Finally the marketing person gave me some signs.  Only two of them.  I knew this wasn't going to be enough.  I needed more, and with the arrow pointing in different directions.  After putting up the ones I have that were pointing to the left, I came back inside the library and took a pair of scissors in order to make the other directions.  I put the two pieces into the copy maker after turning the arrow in the desired direction.  Now I could put the proper direction on the signs.  Thanks for nothing, marketing team.  It's true what is said about you... you're trash.

I got to work with Ru today.  She told me she was tired.  Today was her late day, meaning she was working until 9pm.  She was also covering for someone else when she was on he desk with me.  She is so cute.  Poor thing.  She's putting up a brave face after her mother's death.

Friday, October, 27, Last night I went to the bathroom after filling the outside bird feeder.  I started to feel some wetness on my left finger and I knew that I was peeing on myself.  Part of the stream was going straight into the bowl, but seemingly at a ninety degree angle, there was another stream going right to my finger and the floor.  I'm truly becoming an old man with a lot of pee and even zipper issues.  The other day I was at work and I felt a breeze on my crotch area.  Sure enough, my fucking zipper was down.  But this isn't the first time that's happened.  A few weeks ago I went I don't now how long with my zipper down.  The other night, when I went to dinner with TheGirl, I noticed my zipper was down after our walk.  I went to the restroom at TheGirl's and boom, zippier was down.  I went to the bathroom at the restaurant, so it must have ben down since then.  But maybe it was down since I changed at TheGirl's before dinner.  ARGH!  I have to watch out, I don't want to be that old man type.  I know I can't help everything, but I need to keep my mind sharp.

There is a bunch of demolition going on in the children's room.  The construction crew took out one of the windows in order to throw out the stuff they are wrecking through.  But, they are getting in my way of the delivery.  I have to go through the plants because the demo crew is right above where I have to cross with the delivery bins.  I'll be glad when they are done with this phase of the renovation.

TheNewCute put on some crazy ear rings during my visit to Brand today.  They were in the shape of ghosts, which is fine.  But they were so big that they looked uncomfortable to wear.  She said they were kinda heavy.

Speaking of TheNewCute, the story is that one of our coworkers from Montrose has admitted to having a crush on TheNewCute.  Join the line, dude.  Ha!  But seriously, TheNewCute looked great that night, it's a wonder I didn't hear that every man has a crush on her now.  She even knew it.  TheNewCute did tell me that one of the guests hit on her when she was waiting for her Uber to arrive.  Ah huh.

TheLooker apparently came into the library today.  I know this because about a half dozen people told me.  I texted Vagabundo earlier today telling him that I saw Grigor texting TheLooker on Teams.  No problem returning his text messages.  Mine, not so much.  Anyway, of course she visits and everyone saw how we were pals at work.  Everyone probably knew I was interested in her, just from the way I probably looked at her.  Hence telling me she was at the library today.  I mean, if something was going on between us anyway, I would already know she went to the library.  But, whatever!

There are a bunch of new ladies working at the library.  One of them is Nermen, who was introduced to us via DrDeath's last update email to the "troops."  Included was the picture above.  Finally seeing her in person I was impressed.  She has a nice figure.  I tried talking to her, but she's super shy.  We shall see what happens.

Saturday, October, 28, Ilsa invited me a couple of months ago to go with her to the Cicada club for a Halloween costume dinner party.  Like last year.  She's living out of suitcases since her home flooded shortly after I visited her to pick up the costume I wore tonight.  So I was to meet her at the Bonaventure, to get our costumes on and head on over to the club.  I haven't been to the Bonaventure in decades.  The inside is still pretty cool.  I'm a little afraid of heights, so riding up was getting me a little anxious.  Still, I survived the trip and down.

Ilsa wanted to walk her dog in the grassy area at the hotel, so we had to go down again.  This time I had a little bit of booze in me, so the elevator trip wasn't so bad.

We then went to the club and sat down for a nice dinner.  I got the New York strip.  It was yummy, to be sure.  Last year I had ravioli.

The rest of the night was pretty standard, no big highlights to mention here.  I just loved downtown at night.  I have found that I like dressing nice and going out.  A long time back I told myself that I would get some nice new clothes to be able to go out to a nice diner at a fancy restaurant.  Maybe I'll get to working on that after I ask for a raise.

Sunday, October, 29, The lady in the striped yoga pants was at the market today.  I bumped into her because I went earlier than usual.  My first encounter was in the bread aisle.  The second was in the self-checkout machines.  She was talking to one of the employees there.  I must look like a creep, or something, because she gives me such a look every time I encounter her.  I suck.

While at the market I bought some potstickers for the air fryer.  When I got home I cooked them up, and they came out really good.  Yay!  I love this machine already.  My aunt said they looked dry.  She's nuts.  They were just right.  I'm definitely going to take some time checking out some other things I can cook up and warm up in that air fryer.

Monday, October, 30, The other construction crew brought in a second dumpster.  The first dumpster was for the children's room renovation.  This second one is for the debris from the roof renovation.  Meanwhile I just wonder when I'll be able to get around these two dumpsters.  For now I'll just have to live with the situation as is.

It was Vagabundo's birthday last week, but there wasn't a celebration at work because the person who usually initiates that sort of stuff was out last Monday.  Hence is having to do it today.  I know he isn't someone that likes to celebrate stuff like his birthday.  He doesn't even want people to acknowledge it.  I know it wasn't fun for him today, but he was a good sport about it.

I scratched the area between my eyebrows and felt a long hair right in the middle.  In the past I've had little black hairs stick out that I immediately pluck out as soon as I can get a grip on them.  But this thing was no little hair, it was long and gray.  Being gray is what kept me from being able to see it before today.  I was up at Brand when I noticed it, so I went to the first aid kit and grabbed the tweezers from the kit to pull this awful thing.  It's bad enough getting the short black hairs in the middle of my head, but now this super long hair is in my life.  ARGH!  It just ain't right.

Tuesday, October, 31, My alarm went off, but as is my tradition I hit the snooze button.  But, after the first snooze passed and the second time the alarm went off I got out of bed, because I felt like using the bathroom.  Just as I stood up the power went out.  I checked outside and sure enough it was the whole neighborhood.  Later on my Citizen app it said that there were downed wires to the east of me.  I joked that it was some dope crashing into a telephone pole, but who knows.  All I know is I'm glad I have my safely lights that turn on as soon as the power goes off.  I didn't have TV, but I used my iPad to listen to the news while I had breakfast.

Not much happened today at work, so I'm just going to share the pictures of my coworkers dressing up for Halloween.