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Entry tags:

good news / bad news

It's not Moody Monday yet, but I don't care.

Click to read the good/bad news, such as it is...

Bad news: I haven't been paying bills recently, and they've backed up.
Good news: After work today, I looked through a stack of medical letters and paid the only 1 that was actually a bill. Yay!
Good news: It's the middle of the busiest work time of the year. I survived the weekend daytime shifts.
Bad news: I bought a bottle of whisky last week, intending it to be available for Monday, the busiest day of the year at work. Instead, I cracked it open after work on Saturday, going to bed around 8:30pm while it was still light outside.
Good news: Sunday was slightly better, thanks simply to having more people available on the schedule to share the workload. No need for whisky tonight.
Good/bad news: I heard informally that someone else was hired for that lead tech support position that I interviewed for. I didn't have time to search for any official announcement, because it was too busy at work because we're understaffed with empty positions on the weekend.
Bad news: During my lunch hour today, somebody was stabbed about a block away from me. Maybe in the eye, judging from the Citizen app summary of it. The app said it was exactly 1010 feet away, which is about 308 meters, an oddly specific number.
Good news: I confirmed while the many sirens were scrambling to the scene that fire trucks will indeed still go down my block, despite the new roundabout and 2 speed bumps on my block.
Bad news: Somebody was shot last night after 3am (I was asleep thanks to whisky) about 8 blocks northwest of me, as the crow flies.
Bad news: Somebody was shot yesterday at the gas station across the intersection from the Cub grocery where I shopped on Friday.
Good news: The warzone really has been much quieter than usual this year, overall. Maybe it's just my nice new windows that insulate me from the noisy trauma outside now, but it has seemed quieter to me.

So... I just have to survive tomorrow, the busiest work day of the year, then I'm good for another year.

Entry tags:

bicycling,
politics

A local group has been organizing regular protests where they stand over an overpass and hold signs for the cars below to see. (The signs are actually bungee-corded to the fence, which is very convenient.) I went today, where I was one of about 15 people.

Because of the "motorcycles are everywhere" permanent campaign on that overpass, I'm not sure it was as effective as it could've been. The "FREE DC" sign was much larger and more legible, but I couldn't help but wonder if some of the people were honking because they thought we were promoting motorcycle safety. In fact, when we arrived a few minutes before the organizers and stood around next to the motorcycle safety signs, people honked. No flags, no free DC, just standing around on the overpass next to motorcycle safety signs.

Or, maybe they just thought we were right-wing nuts. The theory about the American flags was that we need to reclaim that flag; it should not just mean right-wing nut. And I approve of that sentiment, but I don't know how well it's working. There were also people driving on the overpass who occasionally honked, and there really wasn't much in the way of signage to show those people what we were about. There was one sign facing the road, but it was pretty small and people were often standing in front of it. So I'm pretty sure that everybody who was on the overpass and honked was either a right-wing nut or a motorcyclist.

I'm not sure I'll go join these people again. Though, it's 10 miles away from my house, so I could bicycle there. And then Valerie came in a car so I got a ride home.

A group of about 10 people standing behind a chain-link fence on an overpass. They are holding American flags, and there is a large sign made of individual letters that says FREE DC! attached to the fence. There are also a number of yellow signs that say 'motorcycles are everywhere' attached to the fence.

A group of about 10 people standing behind a chain-link fence on an overpass. They are holding American flags, and there is a large sign made of individual letters that says FREE DC! attached to the fence. There are also a number of yellow signs that say 'motorcycles are everywhere' attached to the fence.

Entry tags:

daily life,
dreams

(no subject)

After work yesterday, I went to bed and slept for about 10 hours, plus another hour of fading in and out. I'm finally awake now, about 2 hours before I start the work routine again.

I had been exceptionally short on sleep for the past two nights, so it was good to catch up. The first night, it was my own fault for playing a computer game for too late and getting about 4 hours of sleep before work. The second night, it was another fire alarm going off for no reason. It interrupted my sleep 3 times that night and then I couldn't get back to sleep. Thankfully it hasn't misbehaved again, but I promised myself that I would personally disable the device the 4th time it goes off. These new 10-year fire alarms are not as good a deal as I originally thought. At least the ones with disposable batteries can be disconnected. These "permanent" alarms, though, can only be permanently disabled.

Before waking up this morning, I caught the end of another dream.

I was some kind of investigator, and I was pursuing a political-religious cult. I tracked them to large warehouse near a farm. I walked around the building with no windows. The building was shaped like the letter "L", and at the inner bend of the building, I could hear voices. Somebody was using a circular saw, and in between the loud noises of the saw, the people were yelling loudly, which I could hear through the cinder block walls. I don't remember now what they were saying, just that I could hear their voices.

Somehow, I had a pet cat with me (on a potentially dangerous investigation?), and it was sniffing around that corner too. I saw a pickup truck heading toward me. I had been spotted by their informal security, apparently. The guy driving the truck was unhappy with me being there. I said I was just following along with my cat who was exploring, and we'd be moving along when it was done. He was very unhappy but continued driving past me on his route around the building. I looked behind me, and my cat was actually a rabbit instead. Okay, I have a pet rabbit in this dream.

The rabbit and I continue along the edge of the building toward what seemed to be the front and a parking lot. Three people were walking toward the front door from the parking lot, and my rabbit dashed ahead near them to wait for me to catch up. When I caught up, then it dashed ahead toward our car. I think I opened the back hatch on the car, and the rabbit jumped in.

There was some more to the dream, driving between small towns on the road, stopping at a gas station somewhere. Then I woke up.

I have about 2 hours before I need to get ready for work again. Time to make the donuts. (YouTube)

Entry tags:

road safety on the block

Two Thursdays ago, I had another emergency dental visit. After the dental visit, I discovered that I had a rash on my left arm. It remained there for many hours, but it was gone the next day. I have no idea what triggered it.

To recap (pun intended), at that molar tooth location I have now busted 1) the original tooth, 2) the repair work on it, and 3) two different temporary caps on it. Thankfully, I have a scheduled appointment tomorrow to get the final custom fitted metal crown for it. Hopefully that fix lasts my remaining years without further incident.

During the last week, we got new features on the block where I live. First, there appeared an actual roundabout in the middle of the previous intersection on the north end of my block. This is great news to prevent the cars speeding down my block at all hours of day and night. It hasn't been as much of a problem recently as it was several years ago. This will help, though. The city calls these roundabouts 3.7F traffic circles. There are plenty in my area already, but "mine" is new.

I have no idea what this means for fire trucks, though. The fire station is a few blocks directly north of me. They frequently travel down our block to get to locations quickly, because my street is the intersection right outside their fire station. They'll have to travel elsewhere now, maybe? Unless they just have to travel more slowly through intersections. Obviously the roundabout wouldn't be allowed to block emergency vehicles, but it does seem like an unusual impediment to their fast travel.

A few days later, my block also got not just 1 but actually 2 speed bumps!

That seems like overkill, but maybe the people pushing for speed bumps didn't know we were getting a roundabout. I had no idea. My block just got a whole lot safer for kids on the block.

Entry tags:

house,
politics

Neither protected nor served

Our BlackLivesMatter sign has been stolen again. #12.

Anyway, we now have an air tag! So I was very excited when I discovered the air tag app giving me an address in a nearby town. I called the police department in my town, they told me to call the other town, which I was sure was wrong. That town told me that I should call my town because that's where the theft happened (I knew that). So I called my town back and eventually convinced them to let me give a report. The officer didn't really seem very excited about my issue. I called the neighboring town back and said that I'd made a report, and they said "well we can't just go there on your say so, we need a request from your town", so I called my town again, and they called the neighboring town. The neighboring town called back and said that they had sent somebody out to the address, and driven around, but the sign was not in evidence. (It's not like somebody who steals one is going to put it in their yard.) They said they were not able to walk up to the door and knock on it and say "did you steal a sign" or "do you have any information about the sign". I said "so do I need a warrant or something" and they said "nobody will give you a warrant on the evidence of an air tag. This happens all the time with cell phones too and we can't do anything."

I am entirely disappointed. What is the point of the police department if they don't do anything when an obvious crime has been committed and you have decent evidence of where the lost item might be?

good news / bad news

Free DC, protest #12

(no subject)

road safety on the block

Neither protected nor served