Rave: Trip to Denver was an enjoyable success. Me and the girlfriend got to do all of our planned activities - I count that as a win in the COVID era - and the weather was gorgeous except for Tuesday evening. Rant: My rental car was supposed to be a RAV4 but instead they put us in a piece of shit Outlander. I remember when Mitsubishi made cool cars like the Eclipse and the 3000GT; oh how the mighty have fallen. Kind of sad, really. Also, even though we got to do all the things we planned to do, in between we weren't able to do much because of COVID closures. Our hotel was in downtown Denver and there was a lot less going on than we hoped.
Rant: my uncle passed away today. It was very sudden; he had a bone cancer that seemed well controlled, then suddenly he had fluid in his lungs, then a week later the doctors said he had a couple months, then 24 hours after that he was gone. I'm sad that I lost my uncle, who I was close with, but in a broader way I'm sad that my family is shrinking. The Christmas table is getting whittled away one by one. I'm really struggling with this one.
Rant: Can't sleep. We had a pretty wicked storm roll through last night that apparently has my sleep schedule all jacked up. The other reason I can't sleep is... Bigger Rant: Was informed Friday afternoon someone else had been offered a job I interviewed for last month. Being honest, I wasn't happy with how the interview went, I just wasn't on my "A" game. But at the same time I'm going to be keenly interested to see who did get the job. Mostly because I work directly with people already in that position, and most of them have told me I would have been perfect for the job (one of them even gave me the heads-up about the job posting). Even a few of our field techs who I already support asked if I had applied and hoped I was the one hired. I am having a variety of feelings: Frustration, a little hurt, and even a little depression as their just aren't many positions I am interested in within my department which I would love to stay in. Most of the positions are centered around Customer Service or Sales and I am more of a technical person with zero interest in Sales and have already had an ass-full of Customer Service. This is only the second position* I've applied and interviewed for in the past 2 years and now both times it feels like I'm being told, "no, we don't want you" or "you're not good enough" to be promoted. *The other position I applied for was for Supervisor in my department. The person they hired is my direct supervisor.
Rant: So i was off for 2 weeks with covid, my co-worker was off before me because his kid was sick, so of course he got sick and isn't back until Friday. So for the first week my boss(company guy, i hate dealing with the foremen(union)) was doing my job at nights as he was doing his job during the day(he was basically doing 4 people worth of job, his, mine, co-workers, and other co-worker who left and they haven't replaced), he was doing this so when I got back it wasn't a shit show(for the most part he is a great boss). So after a week he asked the foremen(he cant ask anyone to do anything he has to go through the foremen) to get someone to deal with the empty boxs and to strap down some items down for shipping. He came in the next day nothing was done. He is the lowest on the totem pole in the company side of things, so he went to this boss/bosses boss and nothing happened they basically shrugged there shoulders. So he said fuck it, i cant do everything. So now i have a weeks worth of freight to deal with, at least it isn't 2 week. Also i had to have a safety box installed around my office thermostat because people like to fuck with it. Well i came back someone had busted the cover turned off the thermostat, my office was 13(55) degrees. My boss said sorry no one is listening to me anymore, i go to the foremen they basically said to bad. Fuck i hate this place.
RANT: Let's see if I can do this without writing a book... My niece took in her father after her mother died to help him get his head screwed back on straight. She has four kids and a husband. Her father blew off his job, passed out drunk on their porch, and spent his days sitting in his car in their neighborhood drinking and throwing beer cans out his window. She finally had to tell him to go. My niece is an awesome girl, her father is one of my best friends from when I was young. I promised her I would do what I could to help him get his head screwed back on straight. I've been through this before, I won't be able to help. He's got 3 amazing children and 5 grandchildren, but he only cares about getting fucked up to deal with his own demons. I wish I could drag him off to a remote piece of land with no booze and make him chop wood, fish, hunt, farm to keep his dumb ass alive. Hearing my niece cry because somewhere along the line her father has become a complete fuck up breaks my heart.
RAVE: Just chatting with my boss, and I brought up an old work associate from decades ago who might be an interesting business contact for some stuff we want to pursue. This old work associate is now CEO of a Fortune 15 company. My boss says, "reach out, see if he'll take a call". I do, and he does. He's super excited to have a call next week. What an awesome feeling... I had no idea if he would even remember me, never mind if I could get a call with him, and he replies personally within minutes with genuine happiness. Totally made my night/weekend.
Rant: My roommate who has lived with me for 6 months called the paramedics on himself on Monday after he fell. When they and the cops showed up they told me they thought he had been on drugs, but they didn't find anything in his room. I did hear him snoring loudly in his room the day before and he hadn't come out of in it in about 24 hours, but I thought that he may have been sick. I didn't know that he had ever had a drug problem. He did tell me when he moved in that he had stopped drinking but had never been in serious trouble over it, and I had never seen him drink even though I keep beer and liquor in the house. He has a good job too and is close with his family and had just bought a new car. I haven't heard from him since. I hope that he is okay, but I have a feeling that I will be looking for a new roommate soon. Rant: I have bad luck with roommates.
RANT: The cats just sneaked a baby rabbit into the house... it's now running around in my bedroom screaming. This is not how I wanted to spend my Monday night.
Rant: I picked up a brand new car yesterday at 3pm. Not even 24 hours later and some idiot at my son's school proceeds to reverse straight into me and crack the bumper. I'm now having to go through insurance and get it repaired.
Rant: Hayfever. I don't remember being this badly affected by it in the last, oh, 30 years. The inside of my face is constantly itchy, I can go on sneezing fits that last easily 15 in a row and I'm eating extra strength Benadryl, two tablets 2-3 times per day. I mean, I'm glad to see winter go but holy shit trees. Calm this crap down.
Rant: I’m gonna be 47 in June. This was the age at which my grandfather, who I was very close to, died of cancer. His death devastated me as a little boy in ways I’ve only come to learn within the last few years. Also, we nearly lost my Dad to a massive heart attack when he was 49. Which ain’t too much further off. I don’t know why these thoughts bother me so much, but they have been.
RANT: WHAT THE FUCK IS THE FUCKING DEAL WITH ALL OF THIS GODDAM, MOTHERFUCKING WIND?! 30-40 MPH WIND ALL FUCKING DAY, COMING FROM THE SOUTH, WHERE IT'S JUST PERFECT TO FUCK SHIT UP AT MY SHOP.
RANT: If you ever have a package being sent to you that's routed through Fox Valley, IL...well, don't hold your breath.
Rant: Hosting a Zoom call in 15 minutes. Computer has been stuck at "Cleaning up, 0% complete" for 30 minutes. I let my computer update regularly. I powered off for update and restart at 9:30, thinking an hour was enough time. Fuck.
RANT: Some fuckhead stole about 200 pounds of aluminum radiators from my shop sometime in the last 24 hours (last time I was there). They didn't cost me anything, but I was planning to remove the tanks and take them to the junkyard soon. Plus, it's just a really violating feeling. All I know is that it was some ass-fuck who wears Vans.
RANT: I'm about 95% sure that fuckhead and his friends are going to try to break into my shop tonight...
Rave-ish #1: Bose are a phenomenal company. My derp of a puppy destroyed a pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones that were six months out of warranty. They're exchanging them and resetting the warranty at a fraction of the "new" headphone price. Am officially a fan for life. (This is an "ish" only because, you know, I wish I didn't have to replace them at all.) Special shout out to @downndirty for the idea. Rave #2: Found out I had half of last year's flea and tick meds left over. There's a $300 savings right there. Rave #3: COVID clinic staffed by nurse practitioners. Holy cow, how can I get a NP to be my actual GP? The women were phenomenal and prescribed something that worked. Thank god. Rant: Every. Other. Component. Of our healthcare system. I have hay fever that's manifested into almost an asthma situation; acute bronchial irritation that triggers these brutal coughing fits. Going into the sixth week and only getting worse (before the nurses stepped in). My family GP? Sorry, we can't see you. "Unstoppable sneezing, watery eyes, itchy throat are CLASSIC Covid," was an actual quote. Mind you, they didn't suggest to immediately get tested or isolate or give me resources for "what to do if you have Covid," they just said they could book a phone appointment for me a week from now. What good is a phone appointment going to do, if you need to check my airways? Walk in clinic? Sure, we can see you. Go wait in your vehicle and the doctor will call. This took some back-and-forth to get them to admit that, in order to be seen, I would have to download their app and speak to the doctor over it. WHEN THE DOCTOR WAS IN THE CLINIC IN THE NEXT ROOM FROM WHERE I WAS STANDING. I went to get a Covid test exclusively so that a doctor would actually agree to see me, because the second you say you have a cough they won't allow you into any practice. The dedicated Covid testing site is the NPs mentioned above; thankfully, they offered to examine me. Figured out the issue, prescribed some meds that work and still gave me the Covid test, just in case. Seriously, fuck our health care system. Before the NPs, my intent was to drive an hour to the next town and be seen in the ER at the University Hospital, as my experiences with the local ERs are just that bad. The States gets a lot of bad press for their health system, but I guarantee I wouldn't have gone through all this BS and I'd likely be vaccinated already, too. /rant DCC Edit: Negative test. Because, you know, I never had any symptoms.
Rant (sort of ): After our dog had to be put down in Jan. 2020, my wife and I said no more. However I did stipulate that since our oldest will be off to college soon, if his younger brother wanted a dog I'd consider it. I think it'd ease the transition for him, they're pretty close. Well, it's come up again, so we've been looking. This time we want a pup. The perfect little doll of a pup was online yesterday and by the time I saw her, an adoption was pending. I asked them to call me if it falls through and filled out an application. When we adopted our first dog, the process was a hell of a lot easier. Some of these places won't let the dogs go to a home unless certain requirements are met. A completely fenced in yard for example. Or the adoption fees are hundreds of dollars ( $800!!! ) I get they don't want them going to just any scumbag who ends up not taking care of them, but sweet Jesus, no wonder the shelters are full!