Out in the open

Yesterday was a really crazy busy day.  It started off slow and then picked up from there.  I had an lunch time staff meeting, which always seems to fluster me and get my blood pressure up.  Mostly because it’s a meeting that talks about change and improvements, since I am human I am resistant to change and it just freaks me out.  However, I am sure all will be okay. 

The other day I posted about a co-worker who sent me a FB friend request.  I decided to do some research.  The guy that I met when I was in training is a FB friend of mine.  I thought that I had applied ample security and that he would never, ever be able to figure out that I was gay.  Well I looked at my FB page, viewing it as he would see it.  Turns out if he were to review my wall he would see posts from me that would indicate yes in fact I am gay.  While I am attracted to him, I realize that he is married and lives far, far away from me.  Still it never hurts to have friends, even if you want to bang their brains out in bed :).  So I thought about it and against my better judgment I came out to the co-worker who sent me the FB request and explained why I didn’t accept the request forthwith.  I had plans on accepting after we spoke but things got busy and thank god they did.  She reached out to let me know that she is friends with several other people here at work on FB.  She asked me to hold off on accepting her request.  I did some research last night and sure enough she broadcasts who her friends are and therefore people could rifle through her friend list and pick me and I have no idea what they would see, but rather than taking a chance, I dismissed the request.  So the deal is done. 

When I told her I was gay she just laughed and said so, as if it was no big deal.  She told me that she has had a gay friend before and that it’s no big deal.  She said that she totally understood why I kept that in.  I explained to her that I wasn’t ashamed of it, but that I felt it really had no bearing on work. If I were open and just broadcast it to the world I don’t suspect that it would cause a problem here at work, given the very nature of our business.  Then I went a step further and told her about my partner, she just dismissed that with no reaction at all.  That was kind of offensive to me and I was actually shocked that she was rather numb when I told her that.  I clarified when I said I lost my partner that I didn’t mean we broke up but that he passed away, I even told her that I had to make ‘the decision’.  Still nothing. 

Thus far every time in my life when I go against my gut I have remorse and wish that I acted differently.  This time is no different.  If I would have just went to visit her FB page first, I would see that she was friends with other folks here and I could have easily declined the request and wouldn’t have had to share anything with her.  I still consider her a friend but I kind of feel like this may turn out to bite me.  If so, there really isn’t much that I can do about it.  Like I said earlier I am not ashamed of who I am but I don’t feel that it’s really any ones business, unless of course we are engaged in intercourse.  Ah, regret why do you exist?

In other news, I received my replacement remotes last night from AT&T, the guy sent me the remote that I really wanted, even though I didn’t ask for it.  So now I have a remote for the kitchen table and a spare.  Way cool.  I still have some issues with the mobile app in watching shows.  It will play for a while then cut off, do this about 3 to 4 times and then I am toast for a bit, until one of the streams drops off.  I am still digging into it on my own.  The one thing that I will say is that AT&T has called my house in follow up to the 1 call I made over the weekend.  They are really aggressive with letting me know that they are working on this and when I should expect the remotes.  Nothing on the viewing issues since the dumb dumb I spoke with referred me back to Apple because he felt it was a device issue and not an app issue.

For the first time last night the Raccoon Family showed off one of their kids to me.  It was really cute.  I suspect there are more babies and they are burrowed further under the deck.  I was passing out a snack to the kids when I heard the Raccoons and it sounded like they were digging.  The patio underneath the deck is all concrete but the edges are filled in with dirt.  There is a huge hole on the side of the deck in the dirt where it keeps sinking.  The only real way I know to fix it is to pour concrete in the hole.  We have in the past had it filled in with dirt but that lasts a short time, it settles and then we are back to where we are now.  LB (aka TAZ) had used the dirt tunnel before when he was an outside guy.  The one fear that I have in fixing it is that I will trap a live animal of some sort and then it will eventually die and then comes the horrible smell.  It’s not the smell but the fact that I would be trapping something and I can imagine the fear that would instill, which isn’t something that I want to do.  I am not fond of all animals but certainly don’t seek to cause any of them intentional harm.

I received a call from Lawn Boy yesterday.  He’s got a website that he hired a pro to create for him.  Turns out the pro is not responding to his calls for changes or help.  He is moving and wants to remove his home number and there is a problem with a particular page.  The message he left me said if you work on websites, we could work something out.  Of course my mind immediately wanted to construe that as a sexual overture but I knew it wasn’t (shucks).  Then he threw the real monkey wrench in it and said that he didn’t know the credentials to login to the site or where to go to log in.  Geez, that would be a problem.  So I called him back and told him that he would want to start with what I believe is the hosting provider, they should be able to get him all taken care of.  I told him that this wouldn’t be an easy request because he is going to have to provide that he is who he says he is, they won’t just take his word over the phone.  I know he is going to want to pull his hair out, before it’s all over with but there isn’t an easy way to resolve this.  I told him that depending upon how the site was written I may or may not be able to accomplish what he is wanting.  If I couldn’t I would happily refer him to someone that I know that could do the work, but he won’t be working out any barter agreement with them – all of the people I know that do this kind of thing for a living want cold hard cash and it’s anything but cheap.  Then I threw in a hey when are you going to trim my bushes.  Oh shoot I forgot about that, it fell through the cracks.  I had to take a break.  Sounds like with fatherhood and running his business his energy level has dropped and he is finding that he can’t do it all, at least not as long as he was.  So he said that when the weather breaks he would come out and take care of it.  I asked him to call to let me know first, I prefer to be home but if it’s during the week chances are he will be on his own. 

On the weather front here – we have a cold font that has slipped into the area and the wind has picked up.  We are due for snow over the weekend.  Since I am on call this weekend and it’s the super bowl, I figure that there shouldn’t be a whole lot of people working, but then again you never know.  If we get a snow day out of this next week, you won’t hear any complaints from me.  I have a co-worker who works from her home in CT and earlier this week they were buried with 3 feet of snow.  Good thing she works from home, otherwise she would have never made it in.  That I guess is the downside of working from home, no matter the weather your expected to be there unless of course your sick. 

Life is just peaches and cream right now.  After hours calls have been kept to a minimum thus far and I am rather happy about that, but they seem to come when I get in bed and that I don’t like.  Marvin was crying last night more than once  Thankfully I found out about a mobile version of one of the apps we use to track calls and I was able to compute from my bed, without having to go downstairs.  I got interrupted like 3 times before I was able to doze off.  When I woke up this morning, it felt like I had never been to sleep.  Still I got up and got moving.  There are times and today is one of them, when I just wonder how I make it and keep managing to put one foot in front of the other. 

In the on line realm – I recently got back on Match.com and didn’t remember why I left in the first place.  Until today.  They tease you by letting you know that someone likes you or x number of guys viewed your profile.  You can’t tell who exactly it is unless of course you pay them for a subscription.  The longer term you want to sign up for, the cheaper the service.  One month is $42.99 – seriously why would I pay that amount of money to see who likes me and pay for the privilege of interacting with them?  I would say I am eager and maybe a little bit desperate but I am NOT willing to part with that amount of money for a maybe.  If it was a sure fire it’s going to work or your money back, well then I might consider it.  I still have my doubts about on-line dating and the apps.  I don’t think many relationships at least gay relationships start from those types of services.  Now hookups, yeah.  Grinder even tells you how many minutes you are away from each person you look up, so you know that you can see Jack, then Joe about 15 minutes later and in a half hour Jimmy will be coming by.  Kind of handy if your in the hook up or as I say hump and dump way of operating. 

Well work is picking up and I am a little confused about a few things so I need to jump back into the fire and keep this Thursday moving on.  Anxious to get home and visit my bed again, I miss it so.  Take care and we shall talk again soon 

 

Pays to be gay?

Remember the Rhodes Bros?  They are the twins that came out to their father and they taped it and posted it to YouTube.  Well apparently Ellen saw it and had them as guests on the show.  Then she gave them $10,000.00.  It’s my understanding that they were struggling with living conditions and needed some funding.  I didn’t watch the show but my initial reaction was wow, she paid them because they are gay. 

I have nothing against either the Rhodes Bros or Ellen, but I kind of think that the money giving should have been something done behind closed doors.  I mean if I am speaking up I am sure I am not alone and there are lots of other people who are kind of taken back by Ellen’s kindness.  It’s one thing to have them on the show but it’s another thing to give them money.  I see this whole thing as a huge mess and a controversy.  I wish nothing but the best for The Rhodes Bros and Ellen.

This also brings up gay for pay in the porn industry.  I understand that money can and does motivate people, I mean if it’s weren’t for the money we probably would have any crime.  In any case I have a difficult time understanding guys who are straight but have gay sex on camera just to make a dollar.  Gay or Straight in my world is either you are or you are not.  I personally don’t believe a person can be BI, I think they are hiding behind a label because they don’t want to make a choice.  If you are truly 100% straight then the whole idea of having gay sex should be a huge turn off for you and not something that you would even consider doing no matter how much money someone threw at you.  I mean for me personally, if you asked me to have sex with a woman – no camera involved and you would pay me some large sum of money, well my answer would be there isn’t enough money in the world.  It’s not something that sounds like a good time for me and obviously I am totally turned off.  Now if you said the same thing but said with a guy, well he would have to be a bit of a looker and then I take cash or certified funds. 

Lots of strange things happen in this world, each and every day.  I don’t spend a lot of time trying to resolve the worlds issues but once and a while I just have to say WTF.  This was one of those times. 

I hope all is well in your world and I will talk with you peeps later. 

Silent Night

Last night was super quiet, that is until I decided to try to sleep.  No sooner than I fell asleep someone called, it was for the other side.  Marvin started crying and I put the phone down.  Then we got comfy and it went off again, he started crying again.  I told him not to worry we were okay.  Then an e-mail came in.  Finally after about 15 minutes we were able to settle down and hunker into some sleep.  Then early this morning around 5am I started getting mail about an office opening late due to weather, some other bs email and I felt like I hadn’t slept all night long.  I wish there was a way to only get alerts from the ticketing system and ignore everything else.  I know I could configure a rule in Outlook but I don’t because as soon as I do I will miss an important email.  I am just super paranoid when I am on call.  If this were next month that call would have been mine.  Earlier in the evening I tested email to make sure that everything was working.  It was but it was just super slow.  I logged in to make sure there wasn’t anything pending.  Wow I take this as a good omen and hope that the entire week will be much like last night, minus the few interuptions I did have.  I can’t bill unless I get a call and having no calls is perfectly fine by me.  Something tells me that I won’t get off that easy but I can still hope. 

I did make it to the pharmacy, home, fed the children and myself then got the trash out all by 7pm, which was pretty good.  It was a little bit of a push on my part but I made it.  Supper was left over pizza and left over mac & cheese.  It didn’t exactly go well together but it was a meal and kind of tasty.  Later I squeezed in desert and LB helped me eat it.  Of course it was Ice Cream.  He knows what the container looks like and he was really pushy.  I finally took some from my spoon and put in on my leg.  He gulped it down and waited for more.  I didn’t plan on eating the whole quart, it was only going to be a few bites and back to the freezer – but alas LB talked me into it and I ate the whole thing and let him clean out the container, he was really happy.  I told him to remember how happy he was when he was in the litter box and his stomach hurt.  Honestly, he doesn’t care he will eat damn near anything but Ice Cream is the only thing human that I will feed him.  I think it comes from being an outside cat.

Oh yeah, I saw both of our Raccoon friends last night.  They looked fine, just a little chilly.  I talked to them through the window and they were probably thinking what in the world is he saying.  They sure are cute but I wouldn’t want to go toe to toe with either of them, I am certain they would do some serious damage to me.

So one of my coworkers sent me a friend request on FB and I have ignored it for a long time.  Yesterday I was confronted and told I needed to accept it.  I just let it roll.  I really like this person as a friend but I figure if I accept she could easily learn ‘my secret’ and while I am out for the most part – I don’t want my business telegraphed all over the company.  No one here really needs to know about my sexuality.  I have thought about telling her but I can’t really justify it in my mind and I keep reminding myself of the last place I worked.  Things are really for the first time in a long time headed in the right direction.  I don’t want to blow that but at the same time I don’t want to totally alienate a friend.

Speaking of things going right, yesterday just before I left I got an email from my boss and she told me that I was doing a phenomenal job and she was bragging to a Board Member about me.  Apparently there is a ticket quota that we are all up against.  I had no idea but I have far exceeded the expectation for my office.  So my hard work shows and looks like it’s paying off as well.  This type of feedback is not foreign to me, but it’s been a long time since I have gotten it.  It made me feel really good and also helped to dispel some paranoia that I have about being replaced.  Lots of people like me here and I heard that within the first few weeks of starting this job.  Apparently the guy that used to have this was really lazy and gave people flack.  I just jump and do what needs to be done.  I can grumble to myself afterwards but people really don’t need to hear that, they need to be able to work.  There is no question that I was abused in my last job so I am almost relearning what it’s like to hear good news instead of constantly being yelled at. 

Alls well that ends well.  Another post coming up shortly, stay tuned. 

Normal Monday

I was able to obtain my lab results this morning.  I got them before the doctor, which was a little bit of a surprise.  They are at the doctors office but he just hasn’t read them.  I sent them in a secure email to him and was concerned about one of the results.  He told me that it was a lab error and that it’s okay.  The liver is doing well, just as I suspected.  I knew turning down the ultrasound was the right thing to do.  My diabetes is a little out of control so he is going to up that medication.  I just hope that I don’t drop from lack of blood sugar.  That was some good news and I am glad it’s done with.  Even though both of my arms are still sore. 

Tonight begins my on-call week.  I realized when it was too late on Saturday that I forgot to go pick up mommas medicine.  So I have to do that tonight, hurry home, feed the children, get the trash out and then maybe have some time to wolf down dinner.  All of that in a 1/2 hour or less.  I don’t think so but I am sure it will work out.  I just hate this part of my job.  At least now we are doing things by the old method so not a huge responsibility but that all changes next week.  I will experience it in two weeks.  Then I am good until May and who knows what that schedule will say but were supposed to be spread out to about every 13 weeks – which is about 4 times a year.  Not terribly bad but still it is an inconvenience.  I stress out about it ahead of time … it’s simply fear of the unknown.  I have no idea who will call, what problem they will have, if they will be screaming or nice.  Afterwards when it’s all over with I easily go back to normal mode and life goes on. 

On a different note, I have a UPS in the living room for the TV.  AT&T provides you with a Belkin UPS that is supposed to backup their equipment, this is standard and you don’t have to ask for it when you order Uverse.  With the cable company you have to ask for it or you don’t get it and then if you do get it, they charge you for it.  Well the installer plugged their UPS into my UPS.  You are not supposed to daisy chain UPS.  I found out why.  I unplugged the power to test fail over and all of my stuff stayed alive but AT&T’s UPS died and I lost TV & Phone instantly.  It takes a few minutes once power is restored for their modem to reset and for things to come back to life.  So I plugged their unit directly into the wall like it should have been.  Gave it time to reset and made sure everything worked.  Then I went over and pulled the plug and it failed over just like it was supposed to.  The installer also had disabled the UPS alarm.  It beeps rather loudly when the power is out to let you know it’s on battery.  For computer equipment this gives you time if things are going to be out for a while, to gracefully power down to prevent system damage.  In the case of Uverse it’s supposed to give you 6 hours of battery life for telephone so that you can call the power company and tell them you have a problem or to call 911 because a tree fell on the power pole.  I am glad the UPS unit is there but I hope not to rely on it.  If things fail and there is no power and the phone goes out, I have it setup to default calls to my cell phone – so it’s not like I will miss a call.  Then again no one really calls me.

I am still frustrated about the pen I gave to my late partner that I can’t find.  If that would just happen to be some place where I could discover it, I would feel way better.  It’s not the answer to all of my troubles but it would be a step in the right direction. 

So I think I told you a while back I got a Withings health monitor.  It tracks how many steps I take, my sleep, calories burned, elevation, etc.  Well it’s been working just fine.  You can’t totally power it off, which I kind of think is a design flaw, because what if you decide you want to take a break, you really can’t unless the battery dies.  It’s super efficient and a charge will last me 2 weeks.  I don’t constantly take my pulse or measure my oxygen saturation.  I carry it in my pocket at work and when I am out.  Once I get home when it’s time for bed, I put it in to a watchband case and strap it to my wrist like it’s a watch.  Then you tell it your going to sleep and it does the rest.  Tell it when you are up for good and it will great you with Good Morning.  Kind of neat.  Once it syncs up with your phone you can see all of the times you were awake in the course of an evening and it’s been dead accurate.  Even if you don’t get out of bed, somehow it knows.  The pulse and o2 sensor is blocked by metal so it can’t tell by that.  It is kind of interesting to see how many hours you had of sleep and how many were deep and how many were light.  Plus I never realized that I took so many steps in a day on the days when I am running crazy around here (at the office) it reflects in my stats.  I have found that the device works best if you leave the app running in the background on your iPhone and don’t close out of it.  Then it can sync periodically which is how it was designed.  A neat app but there are times when I need a break so I just let it sit on my dresser.  Then I get hate mail from it and pop ups on my phone telling me that I can do better.  You get feedback at low and high points which is nice, but I tend to respond better to positive feedback, as do most humans. 

I haven’t heard our Raccoons in a while.  I saw one of them last night.  I kind of think the other one is dead because they were inseparable.  I hope that I am wrong.  I like them but so long as they stay on the outside and don’t bother anyone on the inside.  I don’t like the chatter when they play but outside of that they are good guests.

So that’s it.  I guess I should get back to work, since it sounds like I am going to live!  Hope all is well in your world.  Take care. 

Unpleasant Surprise

Here we are at Sunday and the weekend is just about over.  Below is the recap of how things went down in my world…..

 

Friday night – I tried to eat out but the Mexican place I wanted to go to was packed.  I wound up at Denny’s with some poor excuse for a Mexican meal but some good chocolate cake.  Then I came home took care of the children, the litter.  Then I promptly took a Muscle Relaxer (last one in the bottle from 2009) along with some antacid medicine, so I wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night with acid burning my throat.  I brushed my teeth and took a very hot shower (if only you were a bar of soap, we could have been there together) and sat and watched TV until I passed out.  I could feel it coming on and just knew it was time so I got in bed and was teleported to dreamland.

Saturday – Woke up earlier than I wanted.  Fed the children, got dressed and grabbed the lab order.  Off to the hospital I went.  In registration the lady kept telling me my insurance coverage wasn’t valid and then she said my late partners name and asked who that was.  I explained and finally she hit the right keys so that my new coverage populated and presto – valid coverage.  Then it was time to wait and soon Vampira came out to get me.  A short black lady who had a great disposition.  She seemed gentle but I soon found out she was rough.  She gave me a little prick (I hate those) in my left arm.  Then she started to play the fiddle with the needle and kept telling me not to look.  After a couple minutes she asked if she was hurting me, I said yes at which time she stopped.  The problem is you find a vein and think that you have it dead on and when the needle enters the vein rolls, so you have to fish for it or pull out and start over.  She switched arms and gave me a little prick in the right arm.  Presto she found it and I am telling you this was the most blood that was ever taken from me.  I think there were like 8 vials.  I kept passing them to her and she never even uttered a thank you.  She did tell me to never give my left arm again – always use the right.  Well if your good and know what your doing either arm should work.

I left the hospital and went to grab breakfast.  Then I went to grab the mail.  What did I find but a certified letter waiting for my late partner.  As I have said before, rarely does good news come via certified mail.  It was a letter from the County Treasurer.  A past due notice on the property taxes and a 1 month notice that if they weren’t paid they would be auctioned.  I was pretty pissed off but after I came home and looked at the bill I realized that the 4th quarter payment wasn’t made because the loan switched hands.  So the extra refunded escrow money from the old loan and from my new loan well that needed to go towards the taxes.  Here I am thinking I am making headway and something like this comes along and robs me of some much needed money.  I really didn’t have a choice I mean I could have told my present loan company about it and they could have issued payment but that probably would have taken weeks.  I needed piece of mind that this was over and done with.  So I wrote out a check and sent the payment back via certified mail.  I know my check will be my receipt but still the mailing receipt and having someone sign for it is just an added extra plus.  My name is on the check and not my late partners but as long as they get their money they don’t care.  It could have said Daffy Duck just as long as the check doesn’t bounce your in good shape.  I had to hurry but made it to the post office in 5 minutes from my house.  It was a huge stretch and lots of slow pokes to get in my way, but then again that always happens when your in a hurry.

I went cat food shopping and came home.  Put away the cat food, cleaned up after the children again and then went to the computer to transfer money so that check was good, when it arrives on Monday they can cash it w/o any problem.  Then upstairs to call AT&T.  I mentioned my two issues to some dude who didn’t speak English that well.  The first issue was the remote control and he is telling me the batteries are bad, uh I don’t think so.  He had no idea how to fix it and said the remotes were bad, so he is sending me 2 more remotes for free.  Then I told him about my cell phone and how I can’t seem to watch TV on it because I get this device not authorized.  He said well your subscribed for it so it’s got to be an issue with your phone.  So he referred me to Apple. 

If you want something done and done right, you have to do it yourself.  I played with the codes on the remote again and finally found the right one.  Problem #1 solved.  Then I went to the AT&T Modem and got the wifi password off of the side of the box.  I joined their wifi network and launched the app.  It saw both boxes and I was able to watch TV.  I disconnected from their network, because since I don’t have internet with them I couldn’t browse.  I went back on my wifi network and presto I am watching TV again.  I sat there for a good five minutes and no issues.  I think I needed a token, cookie or key from their network to tell my phone, hey it’s okay he’s paid for this.  Problem #2 solved. 

Then it was time for a nice nap.  When I woke up I was supposed to go to the movies to see Blackhat but I talked myself out of it.  Instead I went back to the Mexican place that I tried to get into on Friday night.  I got in but service was slow.  I sat across from another guy who was by himself.  He was more interested in TV than in looking at me.  I gave it a couple minutes and moved on to my phone.  I enjoyed my meal then went to pay.  Holy crap there is this blond bombshell behind the counter and I got to check out his assets, pretty good.  He took the payment information and I left without his phone number.  I didn’t ask but it would have been nice. 

Then back to home.  Where I started my quest to find a pen I gave to my late partner.  It’s a Tombow and he just loved it.  I remember seeing it in his office and I remember putting it aside when I was going through his things.  Now no matter where I look I can’t find it.  I am wondering if I accidentally threw it away.  I can’t see myself doing that but I have done a lot of crazy things.  Emotions run high when I am in his rooms and going through his stuff.  I just keep thinking why did you have to die?  I gave up eventually.  Then on to my pc for the rest of the night.  Late to bed.

Sunday – Woke up earlier than I wanted to, fed the children.  Threw on some clothes and shuffled out the door to breakfast again.  Then did my grocery shopping and got gas for the car.  On to home putting everything away and cleaning house.  Got the children some lunch.  I started laundry and watched TV.  I knew that was a mistake and eventually wound up taking a nap.  That was nice.  Then I went back to looking for that damn pen again.  I found 6 sticks of unused black genuine Xerox ink for the printer.  That was awesome.  I moved things around again and still no luck.  I don’t think I will find it until I start throwing things out.  I need to raid the room like a jail cell.  Take everything out of the room and then put back only what I want and need to keep.  That is a project for a different day.  Back to laundry and here I am.

I published comments on the blog, changed the masthead and background.  Hard to believe the 1st month of 2015 is about over.  Sounds like NYC is going to get dumped on with a snow storm.  I really wish that was here.  We haven’t had but dustings and we could use a good dump of snow, just a helpful reminder that it’s winter.  I mean we have had some of the temperatures but none of the weather that goes with it.

I have been checking the on-line portal to see what my lab results are but they won’t be posted at earliest until tomorrow.  They want my doc to have time to read them and discuss them with me.  I know my blood sugar will be out of whack as will my cholesterol but I pray that the liver is okay and there isn’t anything major going on.  The odd thing is that since I have the work done at a hospital my doctor is not on staff at, the results often get lost in his office or the hospital doesn’t send them.  I signed up for on-line access so that if there is a problem I can simply print them out and get them to him.  I just want good news.  I can take extra medicine or switch medicines but I am not ready for any health problems, I am far too young for that.  I still eat what I want and when I want it.  All the more reason why I need a man who can cook – so I get nice meals that are actually good for me.  I mean before I wasn’t eating healthy but vegetables were a lot more common in my diet.  Now that I have to think about what I want well it’s quick, it’s easy and doesn’t taste as good.  It’s not a balanced meal it’s a convenient meal that I can slurp down so that I can move on with my evening and get ready for the next day of work, or as will be the case tomorrow night so that I can get ready for being on-call.  Lucky me. 

Hopefully your weekend has been drama and bad news free.  Perhaps your weather is better than mine.  I’d love to be in CA right now with warm weather.  That’s all I know other than it’s pizza time.  Got to get to baking and then to prepping for tomorrow.  Looking forward to watching Shameless and Looking tonight.  Tomorrow will be here soon enough.  Ciao for now.  Talk with you peeps later.

Sick co-worker

So this afternoon I was doing my usual video conference setup.  A co-worker walked in she was limping, crying and struggling to breathe.  I offered help but she just wanted to pickup someone's lunch, which I gave her.  She was in obvious distress and while everyone else offered help, as did I she wouldn’t take anything from anyone.  Everyone else just went about their business, but me I followed her back to her desk.  She got lots of attention by now and I just kind of stood back and listened & watched.  She was drowning in her own fluid. 

She hadn’t eaten anything all day long and she was offered free food but turned it down.  Someone even offered to visit a local chocolate store and she turned that down.  I didn’t even know we had one of those around here.  So then she decided she needed to go to the bathroom, that was kind of the straw that broke the camels back.  So to speak.  I knew that she would be leaving in an ambulance but it was a question of when.  So another female co-worker helped her to the bathroom and I stood by outside to wait for them.  I went with another co-worker to the First Aid Cabinet and I missed her coming out of the bathroom.  She collapsed 1/2 down the hall.  I came back and got her a chair and said that it was time to get an ambulance.

I stood by as we waited for help to arrive.  She was conscious and breathing, but was struggling to get her breathe.  I think she was sick, scared and embarrassed as well as in some pain.  When the paramedics arrived I learned that she was slightly younger than me and she had a cardiac history.  That right there confirmed to me that I was probably spot on when I said it was CHF (Congestive Heart Failure).  Fluid backs up and is retained in your limbs, primarily your legs.  While there was no diagnosis made on-site I figured that my persistent probably helped her a great deal.  I don’t want to say I am a hero or I saved a life.  I was simply in the right place at the right time. 

My next worry was that she wouldn’t agree to go to the hospital, but the cute paramedic kept talking to her and eventually convinced her to go, so they got her all packaged up and she was off.  Looking at her brought back so many memories for me and all I wanted to do is collapse and cry myself.  I held it all in and eventually those feelings passed.  I put the chair back where it belonged and updated all of the people who needed to be updated.  Then it was time to wash my hands and eat lunch. 

I was hot and the adrenaline was flowing full force.  Suddenly I realized no more back pain.  Well as I type the pain has returned.  I wish someone here had a tennis ball, I know I could make my back feel better.  Take it and wedge it between me and my back, then move around on the wall.  The ball acts like a masseuse.  It’s not as good as the real thing but you can certainly use it in a pinch.  Right now I really could use it – either that or a hot shower and a nap. 

The one thing I observed is that most of the women here who were involved in helping, were overly dramatic – whereas I remained calm even though inside I was freaking out.  I was really thinking she was going to stop breathing because she kept complaining of swelling not just limited to her feet  I was watching a new show last night on A&E about nightshift EMS, Police and Fire – aptly named Night watch.  I realized that being in EMS would be quite rewarding and something that I would probably enjoy.  I’m not switching careers because it would take too much out of me and trying to juggle school with work and life mixed in, that just isn’t an option.  If it was easy to make the switch then I would certainly entertain it.  I just really love helping people, anyway that I can – makes me feel really good. 

I received many thanks for what I did but I was just grateful that I was able to help.  I honestly don’t think I did that much.  I am just glad that she was hopefully able to get the medical attention she needed and that everything is better for her.  Hopefully, she will be back on Monday.  Just another subtle reminder that were all going to pass away.  I hate to be morbid but it is true – we often loose sight of this and just go about our daily lives, not wanting to think about the inevitable.  So important that you express your love to those you care about, one day you won’t be able to.

Okay back to work for this guy. 

Freakin Friday

Today hasn’t started off so good for me.  I woke up with back pain, me thinks this is after affects from my massage yesterday.  I’ve already taken ibuprofen for it.  I just hope that doesn’t affect the outcome of my blood work tomorrow.  Then I get to work early and thought I would be nice and answer an e-mail that turned into a small war and quickly took up a bunch of my time.  So I noted my time card accordingly, I will get over time for it so no complaints from me.  The issue we were going back and forth about was something silly and something that I have no control over. 

Wow, it’s been a heck of a morning already.  I hope that the afternoon gets better.  Bear’s larger pee pads came yesterday.  My dental floss is being delivered today.  Saying that sounds strange you must think I ordered a crate of it but no just 2 rolls – it’s something that I can’t find in a local store but I like it so why do without? 

Last nights supper was 6 cheese Macaroni.  It was awesome as usual but I didn’t eat it all.  I have half way talked myself in dining out tonight as a treat yourself reward.  Especially since I will have to fast after midnight.  Sounds horrible but with the way I feel right now I will be passed out really quick.  A nice Hot Shower and then into bed with the children.  Yeah, it’s Friday night and my door will be open.  So I will probably wake up feeling way worse than I already do because they will have me in some contorted position when I wake up.  Especially Insty who loves to sleep at my feet and when I am not in bed, she loves to get under the covers.  She thinks she is hiding from someone but I know what the lump in the bed is. 

Talked with a friend last night on the phone.  The one thing I noticed about VOIP be it here at work or at home, you don’t hear yourself back, like you would on a copper phone.  The other thing that hit me last night is the person who told me they will be phasing out landline service in 2 years.  Does that mean that 911 will be VOIP?  If so then what happens when there is an emergency and you dial 911 will you get a busy signal or will the call simply not go through?  Makes you wonder.  I think some copper will always be around like it or not.  Especially for 911 they have a need for service 24x7 365.

In the world of gay dating, I got a message from a younger guy who likes me.  I messaged him back and haven’t heard a think.  I am a little excited about it but he has no idea how old I am.  I suspect if we get that far in a conversation that he may steer clear of me.  Then again maybe he’s looking for a sugar daddy.  Well that isn’t me I am fresh out of sugar and I am only a daddy to my cats. 

Ah so, we made it to Friday.  Another day closer to me going on-call.  I just hope nothing bad happens.  Lord knows I haven’t had the best luck the 2 times so far that I have been on-call.  It’s a new year and I figure a fresh start so we should be good, right?

Right now so looking forward to bed – that is a bad sign on a Friday.  Normally I look forward to the weekend and the time off.  I know without a doubt that I will have a nap tomorrow and kind of look forward to that as well.  You all stay warm and be well.  I will talk with you peeps later.

Massage Thursday

I know the words don’t start with the same letter, but it just sounds good to me and I am getting a massage today!  Yesterday picked up right after my post.  I had a bunch of local calls, plus I had to make a trip to a users house to run a laptop and some other equipment out.  Wow, I went in to an upper class neighborhood, the house was very nice and I kind of enjoyed the trip.  I also got to leave early.  I wanted to stop at Denny’s and treat myself but I managed to talk myself out of it by the time I got home.  I haven’t been there in a very long time and thought it would be a nice diversion.  By the time I got home it was early but within the normal time frame that I am expected by the children to cross the threshold, plus my bladder was calling so I just went home.  Thankfully I remembered to stop at the ATM and get money for the massage today. 

Comedy Wednesday was a bust, all repeats on.  So I did a little surfing on my PC, got the Xerox printer reset to factory and it’s printing great now.  Very vivid color details like it’s suppose to have.  I played with Uverse an added in a few more shows to record.  I also managed to work the remotes to try to get my bedroom TV to respond to changing Sources but the AT&T remote just won’t cooperate.  It worked when a tech was out, but it doesn’t work now.  I went through both the automatic and manual programming, neither helped  I thought sure with manual programming that would fix it.  Surprisingly every manual code works with power and volume but no dice on the Source.  At lunch time yesterday I tried to watch TV on my iPhone but was told that the device wasn’t authorized.  Then after rebooting my phone I was able to watch short clips of TV before the picture just disappeared.  So last night I uninstalled the app, rebooted my phone and reinstalled the app again.  It appears to be working but if time permits, the true test will be today.  I see the fact that the TV really wants and kind of depends upon you having internet access to authorize external devices as well as being able to use your mobile device as a remote control.  However, I am on a different network at home (cable internet), so consequently I can’t use my mobile device as a remote.  However, being able to watch TV outside of the house on a mobile device, pc or tablet shouldn’t have a thing to do with the Internet.  Either you have Uverse TV or you don’t.  If you do then you get the benefit.  So if there are further issues I will have to call for help, which isn’t something that I look forward to, even though AT&T is pretty good at resolving issues, sometimes you have to really push in order to get the answer you need.  Don’t misunderstand me, I am still perfectly happy and thus far glad I made the switch.

The antibiotic that I am on appears to be working.  I feel a little better each morning and there is less junk to blow out of my nose.  So I am kind of surprised at this point, but I am no where near done I still have a little more than a week to go. She told me she was giving me 2 weeks supply but again another surprise and she gave me a little more than that.  I am okay with it though, the longer I am on it the greater the chances of killing the bugs and making me stay well. 

So I am getting ready to enter my last weekend of peace and quiet for a week.  I have so far talked myself in to eating out on Friday and then getting blood work on Saturday and getting breakfast out.  Not sure if the plan on Friday night will stuck but I am eating out on Saturday morning for sure.  I must have food and breakfast is my favorite meal and it’s the cheapest of all, even if you go a little crazy.  The only thing that I don’t like is the fact the price most places charge for an egg, you could get a dozen at the grocery store for the same price.  However, those eggs are raw and what they are serving is a cooked egg so it’s all about the labor, which is usually the most expensive item we pay for when we require service – it’s more of a convenience factor. 

Just got a message from Amazon.  The pee pads will be delivered today and my dental floss will be delivered tomorrow.  The Rutin will be in next week, which is perfectly fine.  I forgot to warn the children today before I left but I am sure they will be fine when the door bell rings.  Usually as soon as they hear the deadbolt click is usually their clue to run that or when I am heading to the door.  However, the door bell is the first warning sign. 

So here we are on a Thursday.  Hopefully all is calm and the day is fast moving.  As always I am eager to get home to see the furry children.  I have been thinking a lot about my podcast.  Last weeks numbers were encouraging but this week no plays at all.  I am starting to think that it’s just not catching on and that is perfectly fine.  While it’s something that I want to do and enjoy if no one if listening then I don’t see any purpose in keeping it going.  I will let things play out a little longer before I pull the plug.  Perhaps it’s all about timing.  I mean it feels like my blog doesn’t do that well either, but that is just based off of lack of comments.  The stats I see say it’s being read.  So the beat goes on.  Feedback is important to me as a content creator it give me the assurance that my content is well liked and hopefully gives me an idea to talk about things that others really want to hear about.  Instead of taking chances and running in circles.  Feedback is an essential part to all content creators regardless of the platform be it a blog, YouTube channel, podcast, etc. 

We have electronic billboards up to let people know how long it will take to get to from point A to point B and to warm of accidents or road conditions.  This mornings message said … Blinkers the original Instant Message.  How true is that!

Hope all is well in your world.  Stay warm and be kind to each other.  I will talk with you peeps later.  1 more day!!

Blast from the past

Last nights mail brought me a card from an old co-worker, who is in WI.  I was rather surprised to receive a card from her and that prompted me to call her.  We chatted back and forth for a little over an hour.  She told me some things about my past employer that I wasn’t aware of and I told her things that she wasn’t aware of.  Clearly I had the bigger news since I was on the inside and closer to the corporate office.  I found out that the jackass I had for a boss lied to the guy that he sold most of the facilities to and they are at war now.  It sounds like a huge mess and I am very glad to be away from it.  I let her know that I did my part in reporting him and making life as difficult as possible for him, since he crapped all over me.  She was proud of me for doing that.  I think there is a special place in hell reserved for him and several of the people I used to work with.  It matters not to me where they go or what happens, since I am no longer apart of it.  However, if his little empire were to crumble around him that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rejoice.

Most of my night was gobbled up with the telephone call and little time for anything else.  I had a snack before bed and didn’t listen to that little voice like I should have.  I wound up choking and coughing my head off.  It felt horrible but eventually life returned to normal. 

I was able to have a little time with Uverse and figured out the Picture Zoom.  I am still trying to figure out how to get the AT&T remote to change sources.  What I found on-line didn’t work but I am going back today to do more research and I will be trying it tonight.  I wish the entire remote was backlit and not just certain parts of it.  When I watch TV in my room it’s dark and I have to use a flashlight to see the remote.  TiVo sold backlit remotes and well their interface was a little easier to use.  AT&T isn’t bad it is just a matter of getting used to something new.  I am still loving the service.  It was nice to watch The Doctors last night in HD – everyone looks so much better.  I am looking forward to Comedy Wednesday and my Lasagna which goes oh so well with Wednesday along with the children pestering me.  It really is a great time, even if I don’t laugh at all – just relaxing and being away from ‘technology’ is nice. 

I have to stop by the ATM on the way home tonight, the Massage Therapist should be here tomorrow and I am so looking forward to her magic hands rubbing all over my back, it feels so good.  I just hate it when she finds a knot and pushes away on it.  She does a good job, I just wish I could spend more time there – no matter what I book it’s never enough.  Sort of like time off from work, we always seem to want one more day.  Ah, well. 

Things are rather calm, which is good.  The afternoon for me will be busy, we are having a seminar and a presentation.  That means I get to setup a conference room and that can be tricky at times, but it keeps me on my toes and I kind of like it.  Better to do it in house then having to travel some where.  Not looking forward to next week, as I am on-call but I know it will be here soon enough.  Thinking about Saturday and taking a nice nap it sounds better than going out for breakfast.  I am so sleepy now, I think from boredom.  I don’t complain I just enjoy the down time because sooner rather than later it will be busy. 

I did some Amazoning yesterday.  I got more pee pads, they are larger and actually work better than what I picked up from Sam’s.  I also got more Rutin for Bear.  The pads should be in tomorrow and the Rutin I look for that next week.  He has plenty of both so it’s not an emergency, still having free 2 day shipping is really nice.  I have been meaning to place the order for a few days now and just got around to it yesterday.  The best part is that my credit card has already cycled so I won’t have to pay for it until next month.  I just love it when that happens. 

Well back to work for me.  Take care, be safe and try to avoid chaos.  I will talk with you peeps later. 

Liver Issues

Yesterday about an hour and a half before my Dr. appointment, I got a call saying he had an emergency and had to leave.  They wanted to know if I would like to reschedule or see the NP (nurse who thinks she is a doctor).  I said I would see the NP, even though I hate her. 

I get over and get checked in, was surprised to see my weight on the scale.  I have gained a couple pounds.  Then I got all of the usual workup and finally the NP comes in.  I told her that I thought I still had a sinus infection and she didn’t understand why.  She tried to get me to play a game where I am bounced to an ENT.  I told her that wasn’t going to happen, we have had this conversation before and it really pisses me off.  I need an antibiotic not lip from some nurse who thinks she is a doctor.  Then she didn’t understand why I didn’t want the usual antibiotic, I said I don’t think it’s doing the job.  I’d like to switch to something more potent but that I am not allergic to.  So she put me on what I consider to be a baby antibiotic, she assured me it would take care of this.  I don’t think it will but I am taking it and only time will tell. 

Then she told me that the doctor said my liver enzymes were elevated and she made it sound like I was in the process of dying and that my liver was failing.  I told her it’s from the cholesterol meds, which she already knew.  Then she told me I was on a statin cholesterol drug.  Well they don’t play well with my liver, I say that based on past experience.  However, she said that it was important to get it checked.  I said that is why I made the appointment in the first place was to get an order for blood work.  She said, oh you haven’t been fasting today.  I said nope.  Write me an order and I will get the blood work done over the weekend.  Then she told me that she was going to have me tested for Hepatitis because that is always a concern when you have liver issues.  She wrote down a few other things, just to give me a sky high bill because I haven’t been over to see them in a while. 

She sent in her nurse with the lab order and told me that I also needed an ultrasound of my belly.  Funny thing is we didn’t have a discussion about this so it was a complete surprise to me.  I said why, I am not pregnant.  She said no it’s because your liver is failing.  I said hello, you just gave me an order to get blood work done.  Oh, have you had that done yet?  Uh no you just gave it to me, remember.  I said lets see what the blood work shows and then if there is a major issue we can work on getting the ultrasound.  I was finally able to leave and I was not the least bit happy.  I understand being cautious but there is no need to run up a bill for something that isn’t needed and that is what I feel and think she was doing.  It’s bad enough that she is having my blood tested for things that I don’t need and will return ‘normal’ but to order additional tests, come on.  The buck has to stop somewhere.  

My saving grace was that I passed a Friday’s on the way over.  So on the way back, I stopped in had a bowl of soup which was horrible and a delicious burger.  I did some searching on my phone about liver issues, even though right now I don’t believe I have anything to worry about.  When I got home much later in the afternoon, I checked the healthcare portal and saw a note that there was a slight elevation in my liver enzymes and we need to keep an eye on it, that was last April.  Then in August everything came back normal.  Now all of a sudden the Dr. is concerned about my liver enzymes.  Hello if there was a a fucking problem you should have been calling me and not waiting for me to come back.  What if I never, ever came back?  I am still not a happy camper but I will have the blood work done and we can go from there.  I really think this is all much to do about nothing.  I mean I am not yellow/jaundice and feel pretty well, except for my nose and this sinus infection.  I think she was being a little bit overly dramatically and concerned.  It’s like telling me the sky is falling when it’s just a thunderstorm. 

My research told me ways to fix liver issues were to have medications adjusted and/or changed, cut back on eating processed food and make stuff fresh so that you cut back on the amount of salt, take a fish oil pill, take coq10 and that’s about it.  Since I don’t have time or the energy to whip up a meal at night, cutting back on processed food isn’t an option for me.  If it weren’t for frozen food I would be very hungry.  The fish oil might be an option because I have a huge supply of it.  I got it for the cats to try and they aren’t fans of it.  It’s supposed to help their coat.  The thing is with humans if you take Fish Oil it acts as a blood thinner and if you cut yourself you bleed a lot more, plus you need to tell your doctor/dentist that your on it so before any type of surgery or procedure done, you can stop taking it a few days in advance so your blood returns to normal. 

In the end I and I alone am in charge of my health.  No matter what I do or don’t do, I am still going to die - - we all are.  My action or inaction can either aid in speeding or slowing my demise.  However, no matter what just like taxes, it’s a guarantee that you won’t escape it.

Oh yeah that is the other thing.  She told me that the sinus cavity is meant to be sterile so instead of using a netti pot it’s better to use the saline that comes in a can, it shoots a jet stream of sterile saline into your sinus’.  Sounds like a blast.  I stopped using a netti pot years ago because I found that it did more harm than good for me.  She said that she feels netti pots actually promotes sinus infections.  Yeah, well I have a hard time using nose spray on a daily basis between that and my finger, that is all that is physically going to be put in my nose.  I’m not flushing them out with saline 2 x a day.  I may however try it once, but that requires me to actually buy the saline and it’s not exactly a high priority for me right now.  Another fine example of her trying to spend my money.   

The remainder of my day was pretty well stress free.  I got the car washed, went to my therapy appointment and then back home to deal with the children and the joy of prepping for today.

My mom called on Sunday telling me that they have to put a drain in her eye.  She made it more complicated than that but when you cut to the chase that is all it is, a drain.  It is a surgical procedure so she has to go to the hospital and of course she was looking for a ride.  I told her I was all out of time because I had recently called in.  That is a lie but I need to save my time for when I need it and I can’t play taxi cab driver to her.  I realize she is my mom but I’ve done my fair share with her and then some.  It’s time for my brother to step up to the plate or for her to find another resource.

I had a pretty good evening, even if time did get away from me.  I managed to get all of the de-gaying process undone so all of my photos and calendars are back up – it feels more like home.  Not to mention that got me all hot and bothered, it was fun though.  I printed out some new photos on my late partners Xerox and wow the color just doesn’t seem to be what it used to be.  I printed the same thing on my ink jet and got much better results.  Obviously, something is wrong with it and I didn’t want to fiddle with it.  I am thinking a factory reset should probably take care of it.  I know he was a stickler for color and he made a lot of adjustments to the printer to get things working just right for him.  This again isn’t at the top of my list but I will probably get to it over the weekend.

Saturday is my date with Vampira – I have to give blood plus they are doing two urine tests, so I am sure they will want a fair amount, if not two samples.  Wow, guess I better drink up the water before I head out the door.  I just can’t wait until they are done because then I am headed out for breakfast!  That and the usual chores that I do over the weekend are all that I have lined up for Saturday thus far  I hope to keep the day pretty well open, so that I can relax and ramp up for next week, which will probably be a ball of stress.  Maybe I am wound up about nothing but I always get this way before I go on-call.

As for Uverse I wonder why I didn’t make the switch sooner.  Love the DVR and the fact that neither box has to be turned on in order for it to record.  Plus on the mobile app I can see all of my recordings and schedule or make changes, no matter where I am.  There are certain cable stations that you can watch live anywhere.  When I returned the cable boxes yesterday I found a neighbor in line to do the same thing.  Glad I did it because they eliminated their Saturday hours for the local offices.  They are happy to keep me with the internet but raised the price by $10 so now I am paying $60 for 100mpbs. The funny part or should I say odd part was there was no fight, no attempt to keep me as a customer and they didn’t ask why I was disconnecting.  I suppose they know that AT&T has moved in and people are flushing them because of the bad taste and poor customer service.  With competition it’s better because you can switch from year to year from provider to provider to get the best deal and maybe even get a rebate.  It’s a game of sorts but I haven’t ripped out any of the cable in my house, just in case.  I can’t foresee me ever switching back, but then again you never know. 

Not too bad for a Monday that is actually a Tuesday.  That is going to mess with me all week long but I think I will get it together by Friday, or so I hope.  Here’s to yet another week in 2015.  I hope all is well in your neck of the woods.  I will talk with you peeps later. 

Time Poor Weekend

Friday night was spent cleaning up the house and making it some what presentable.  I was really low on energy and didn’t put a whole lot of effort into it. 

Saturday I woke up super early.  I went out for breakfast at IHOP.  I went to spy on a guy that I like, who just got a new house in town.  He’s married so no chance anything is going to come of it.   I got cat litter/treats at Target, then on to the Cat Food Store and picked up canned and dry food.  Then I went home, switched vehicles and went to have the truck Emissions tested.  Then back home, put away the cat food.  Then went on litter box patrol.  By then we were looking at 12 noon.  I got the children their lunch and decided to rest.  I caught up on Social Media and sat and waited for the AT&T installer to show up.  I was given a window of 1-3 and I was really hoping he would show up at 1p but that wasn’t the case.  I settled in for a nap and when I woke up it was 2 pm.  I was starting to have second thoughts and decided to call to cancel.  That was the best move I could make.  They made me a better offer and I wound up getting an extra $100 rebate card.  So I went ahead with the install and after about 2 1/2 hours we were done.  Problem, the phone didn’t work.  So he had to make an adjustment, then the phone came to life.  I tested the alarm and it worked.  I noticed on our corded phones both lines (1 &2) lit up.  Back when my partner was alive, we each had a phone line, so I got us two line phones, so that each of us would have access to our lines in different places in the house and we didn’t have to go scurrying off for the phone.  I didn’t think anything of it at the time.  We went over the TV stuff and he was on his way.  Then I realized, we have a problem.  My line started to flash, which means it is in use.  After a couple minutes I figured out, there is a short on the line.  Well I didn’t have time to deal with it, but I tried to troubleshoot it quickly and failed.  I had to leave for dinner plans I had made with friends.  I had to drive like 80 to 90 mph and do some weaving, all on a very empty tank.  I made it spot on time.  I went to look for my friends and couldn’t find them.  Normally I make reservations but they couldn’t take us, so I said lets chance it.  I now know that if they can’t take us, don’t bother showing up in person.  The wait was 1 hour and 45 minutes for a table.  The place was packed from stem to stern.  So I called to find out where they were and told them about the SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fucked Up … just in case you wondered what it stood for).  They said they were close by but it took them like 10 minutes to finally show.  We decided to switch and visit P.F. Chang’s.  None of us had been there and all of us had wanted to go.  So we walked over and the wait was 45 minutes.  We said okay.  It was more like an hour but eventually we got our table.  There was a good sampling of man candy.  I found a server/busser that was the apple of my eye, he was perfect in every way.  Blond Hair, Blue Eyes, killer twink body.  I just couldn’t get enough of him.  I digress.  The food was really good.  I got Combo Fried Rice and we did Crab Wontons for an app.  I surprised my friends and picked up the tab, which was horribly expensive to feed 3 people and of course they had drinks so that didn’t help.  It’s not a good time for them right now, considering the stress of job loss looming so I figured I would hopefully give them a boost.  We headed out and it was close to 10p.  By the time I stopped for gas and made it home it was 10:45.  I should have relaxed and went to bed.  Nope back in telephone mode to figure out the issue.  Turns out that the phone in my office was punched down twice so that was the issue.  I had to remove everything and add it back, instead of going slow and testing as I went, I just went gang busters.  Then I had to rip it all out and do it over the right way.  By now we are looking at 1:30a.  Then I wanted to arrange the new Uverse equipment and get rid of the cable boxes, so they were all ready for me to take back.  It took a lot of time.  I had to figure out how I was going to keep my VCR & DVD working.  Thankfully COAX was the answer and both still work fine.  Now it’s time to get ready for bed.  It was 2a.  I knew that it would be 3 or later before I was asleep and I wouldn’t be worth a shit on Sunday.  I had to play with Uverse a little bit to try to figure things out, pretty straight forward and simple.  It’s just a matter of learning a new remote. 

Sunday the children were all over me at 630a.  I fended them off.  Then they came back around 8 and I said one more hour.  9 am came and they just didn’t give up.  So I got up and started moving.  I fed them and got dressed.  Off to breakfast where I ate way too much.  Then to the grocery store.  Then home.  I put away the groceries and then left to get a hair cut.  I had a coupon and well long hair drives me nuts.  I waited a little bit.  This hot looking twink walked in and I was sure to get his name as he gave it to the receptionist to check in.  Damn, he looks gay, acts gay but couldn’t tell a thing by his Facebook page.  I thought about asking him out and even offering to pick up his haircut but decided it wasn’t worth it.  Still I got to stare for a while and that was fun.  Then back home where I did what I never wanted to do in the first place.  Climb up on the roof.  I did it twice.  My late partner was into Amateur Radio and we have this monstrosity of an antenna on the house.  You have to put up guy wires, to help keep it in balance.  The one that goes towards the front of the house broke like 3 years ago.  We tried to fix it when he was alive but failed.  We always said when the weather got warmer we would tackle it.  After he passed that was the last thing on my mind.  So as you can imagine the thing was leaning and while it wouldn’t break or fall off the house, it could damage the damn thing.  I hate it because it is an eye sore, I have wished it to break many times.  Well I figured I should finally get off my ass and fix it.  So I did.  It was scary as hell and while the view was nice from the roof top, I quickly figured out that if I ever really wanted to take my own life, jumping from a high rise wouldn’t be an option.  I thought for sure I would have to call the Fire Department to get down but I managed on my own.  Still I had my phone and wireless panic button with me, just in case.  When I was a child I was on the roof of our carport and it took my brother plus my grandfather to get me off the roof, that is when I knew heights were not for me.  After the repair I drank a pitcher of ice cold water and relaxed in front of the TV as I prepared to tell the Uverse system what shows to record for me.  I made a list from TIVO but I knew a few of them so I just did those.  I still have plenty to add.  Then I PTFO (Passed The Fuck Out).  I woke up and was sore and had very little energy. The children pestered me once again so I got up.  I fed them lunch, it was 4p and they wanted lunch.  I finished cleaning the house and started laundry.  Then after a couple hours I made myself a pizza.  It was really good.  A Freschetta Brick Oven brand pizza, 4 meat.  I added a shredded cheese blend, because I love cheese.  Then topped that with fresh ground pepper and finished off with a sprinkle of the left over Parmesan cheese that I had.  In to the oven and after 18 minutes, into my belly.  Spicy, I went a little too heavy on the pepper.  However, that caused me to eat less which all things considered is very good.  I have left over's for breakfast or lunch, whatever the case maybe.  I am working on finishing up laundry so that I can get a shower, because I really need it. 

About the Uverse experience, the installer was a guy who was chunky but professional.  He said that he had been doing the job for quite sometime but a couple of his moves and I thought it was his first day on the job.  I did manage to get a free HDMI cable and an extra remote out of him, for no charge.  AT&T doesn’t give much away so I was thankful.  He kept asking me after he was done, if there was anything else he could do for me.  The first time I figured he was being professional the second and third time I started to think he is hitting on me.  I wanted to ask is there anything else that you want to do for me.  I have a tendency to read guys wrong and think they are flirting with me when they are just doing their jobs.  I know that desperate times call for desperate measures but he didn’t do anything for me from a physical perspective but he was very professional and I really liked that. 

I am thankful now that I no longer have to forward my home phone to my cell phone. I use the Find Me Feature so you call my house and it rings at home, plus up to 5 other numbers.  I just put in my cell phone and that seems to work out fine.  I added the office but figured out in testing, someone could wind up in my voice mail at work and I DONT want that, so I removed the number.  If there is ever a day that I am expecting a call I can always logon and add the office number.  Most everything with this system is controlled via an online portal.  You can make changes to your account easily on-line.  Plus control all of the features of the phone.  On the TV you have a menu as well that you can do a wide variety of things with.  I have the 450 package, which is everything under the sun in the way of networks and movie channels.  They have the Here Channel (gay TV) which I can add for $7 per month.  I have plans to stop by an AT&T store tomorrow to see if I can reduce the cost by removing the sports channels, they have an extra sports package and I have it but won’t ever watch it.  When I was being sold this by the door to door person, I was told that I could remove sports and save $7 per month – so that would actually allow me to add Here if I so chose.  I really wanted to downgrade to the next lowest package but you loose HD and that is $10 extra, add in the cost of the movie channels that I want and it’s a little more expensive than taking the package that I have.  While it’s still very early in the game I am really happy and think this was a smart move especially given that I can record 4 shows at once and no more worrying about will the DVR get the channel right.  I am used to my skip button on my TIVO which allowed me to easily skip commercials when watching a recorded show.  I have the ability with Uverse to fast forward but still you have to get it just right or else you are in to your show or still watching the last commercial.  I will get used to that and the remote eventually.  My biggest concern was the alarm system and down time.  The installer told me that unless the power goes out or the modem fails that the system will be up and live.  They don’t have down time and weather doesn’t affect service, just like cable.  The only difference is I am getting a little bit better deal, which is what makes this all worth it.  I am paying like $5 more per month for TV but given the fact that I have so much to choose from and the DVR, I think it’s worth it.  Plus now no charge for the wireless box, which works from a Cisco WAP (Wireless Access Point).  Basically you are outfitted with a modem and it’s separated in 3 areas.  1 for TV, 1 for Voice and 1 for Internet.  TV and Voice both come over the internet but that access is restricted so if you elect to do all 3, you get special access to the Internet and they have a business class firewall built in, so they thought of safety as well.  The cable modem is the basement and the Uverse modem is in the Living Room, so I would need to do some wiring changes but it’s pretty simple to flip the switch and move on over.  I have unlimited calling local and long distance and call even call Canada free.  I don’t have an international long distance (which costs more) but I wouldn’t use it if I did have it because all of the people I know and call are either in the US or Canada. 

Monday, thankfully I have an extra day off due to the Martin Luther King holiday.  I have an 11a doctors appointment and a 2p therapy appointment.  I plan on eating out for supper and then wrapping up loose ends here at home, getting the trash out and preparing to go back to work on Tuesday.  I am not excited about it because well it’s work, but more so because this is my last full week and weekend of peace and quiet.  Next Monday I will be on-call for a week.  Then a week of rest and back at it again the following week, which is when we change up to 1 person on call for the entire company.  That will be a jumping time I am sure, but the on-call hours won’t start until 11pm, most of the calls during the week are over with by 10p.  However, we do get calls at 1 and 2 in the morning, that will be the challenging part.  Then after that I am done until the end of May, when the next part of the schedule comes out.  My boss has it figured out that everyone will be on call 1 week every 13 weeks, do the math and that is 4 weeks per year.  Not bad at all.  However, if someone leaves that will shorten up the time, get a mass exodus and it could be a real pain.  They take good care of us, so I don’t foresee that happening.  The two things that I would love to get rid of in my job are phone time and on-call.  I have done my time in the trenches and deserve a break but this is what I signed up for.  If there is a next job I will be sure to make sure there is no phone time or on-call time.  The phone part should be easy to eliminate but the on-call part not so much.  That is pretty much a given in the IT field. 

Okay so I have rambled far too much.  I hope that all is well in your world and that you have had nice weather like we have had.  It’s time for me to follow my fortune cookies advice and “Relax & Enjoy yourself.”  Take care and I will talk with you peeps later. BTW there is a new podcast episode up, if your interested!

Chaos on a Friday

Here I am early as usual, which is so not a bad thing.  An email came out saying that we have a lot of people off today, so were all supposed to be on the phone all day long.  Oh, joy my favorite thing.  NOT.  However, the good news is that it’s Friday and volume tends to be lighter.  Plus Monday is a holiday for us so there will be a lot of people out today trying to make it a 4 day weekend.  I was going to be out today but since I got ill I figured there was no point in asking for time off, that would be pouring salt in an open wound. 

I am excited for tomorrow and am still hoping & praying that everything with the install goes smooth.  I am kind of in shock that I did it but it was something that I would have been forced into eventually.  I was thinking about the contract/commitment and then I thought well your sort of in a contract with the house in that you entered into a 30 year agreement to pay for the house.  So this is not that major and certainly not nearly as long.  I am sure it will all be fine.  Considering what I have been through with my past employer, you can’t blame me for being gun shy and worrying about job loss.  I know that can be a real thing and I am probably hyper paranoid about it. 

My friend will most likely call tonight and try to setup plans for tomorrow.  The install can take up to 4 hours, I suspect this will probably take 2 hours tops, if that.  I only have a couple TV’s and that should be simple.  So hopefully I am not held hostage all day long and can hopefully enjoy a nice meal with friends.

Tonight I have to de-gay the house.  I’ve got naked photos of guys up and of course my all male calendars.  While it is my home and I am not ashamed of my sexuality, I see no reason to flaunt it or rub it in someone’s nose.  They are there to do a job and deserve a neutral environment.  One thing I won’t take down is our Civil Union License that to me would be hiding.  It’s displayed prominently in the living room.  If you have a problem with it, oh well.  The children will be on edge and hide tomorrow.  I am sad to say that I wont be able to clean the entire house and put it in the shape I would be proud of, then again with so many cats my house could look a whole lot worse.  At least when I left it didn’t smell like I was in a cat jungle.  I mean I try but there is only so much one can do. 

Here is hoping for a quiet but fast moving day and all easy calls.  Wow, if that happens I will be sure to stop and get a lottery ticket on the way home.  The jackpot is really up there.  I don’t think that I am destine to win the lottery but wow that would get me out of debt and if I put the money to work smartly then I could easily sit back and relax, not having to go to work every day.  You would find me in California and Florida then on vacation.  Lord knows I could use a good vacation, it has been far too long. 

Well my time is coming up so I am going to get ready for phone time.  I hope that your Friday and weekend are fabulous.  Talk with you peeps later.

Did it!

Well tonight’s mail brought me a plethora of junk mail most of which was related to AT&T Uverse.  They are offering to give me up to $400 so I thought why not check it out.  I’ve been on the fence long enough.  So I bit the bullet and signed up for TV & Home Phone.  It will be much cheaper each month.  If things go well and I am happy when they expand their Internet I may consider switching.  For now I’m happy with my cable internet and that is the only thing I will have with the cable company.  I know the price will be going up but that is expected.  At least with the TV I only have to pay for 1 receiver and that’s $9.00 for a wireless receiver.  They give you the first receiver for free, already there is a cost savings because I have 3 boxes and they are charging me for 2 of them, the 3rd box is free for the moment. 

So no more whining on about should I or shouldn’t I.  I just hope I am not sorry.  The big day for installation is Saturday, I hope it’s quick & painless.  We shall find out over the weekend.  Fingers crossed that this is a good solid move and that everything works like it’s supposed to, including the alarm. 

Bills are paid and now it’s time to try to unwind and prepare for Friday. 

Fast Thursday

I’ve been busy since the time I walked in the door.  That makes for a fast moving day.  Before you know it I will be headed home and ready to pay bills.  Yeah, it’s payday I just hate giving my money away but I do like the things I get in return like food, water, shelter.  It’s just expensive. 

I watched an emotional Coming Out video by the Rhodes Brothers, never heard of them until this video and then they just blew up all over Facebook.  Link below will take you to the video.

http://youtu.be/L3K0CJ8usPU

Things are finally at a calming point, or so I think.  I’ve got lunch in a bit and then an afternoon meeting to attend, then it’s back to the phones and then on to home.  I believe I shared a while back that I had an issue with Petsmart over charging me for some litter.  They are going to mail me a gift card that covers the refund plus something for my trouble.  Wow, the steps one has to go through to get help.  Normal tech type people would just take to Twitter and post about it.  Not me, I have no Twitter it just seems like overkill but I have thought about getting one. 

I have been going back and forth in my mind about UVERSE and spoke with a co-worker who had no complaints about TV or Phone but they said the internet sucks.  Well I wouldn’t give up my cable internet now because they are way faster.  However, if UVERSE ever catches up then I would consider a switch.  My email would change and well that would create more stress.  I may switch TV & Phone, it will save me $13 per month and the price would be locked in for a year, so that is the upside.  The downside is there is a contract and once I get past that and the time is right I will pull the trigger.  I just hope I am not sorry!

Comedy Wednesday did provide me with a couple laughs.  I also had some Peanut Butter Pie Ice Cream.  LB loved it as well.  He got to lick the container when it was empty.  He begged for it and when I gave it to him I guess I surprised him, he looked at it and then at me as if to say, really I can have it.  I said go ahead.  He started licking and loved every little bit that he got.  Of course that will affect him in a negative way as cats are lactose intolerant.  At least he had some fun, it helps bring us even closer. 

As for everyone else they are doing ok.  The Raccoons' were sure at it last night playing.  I went down to take a peek at them and one of them was staring me in the face through the window.  I went closer to the window and it disappeared, as if I was going to hurt it.  I realize that it doesn’t know me anymore than I know it.  They quieted down after that, which was good. Before you knew it, bed time was here. 

I had a very strange dream, kind of disturbing but thankfully it was only a dream.  I rolled over and went back to sleep.  Today is supposed to be a much warmer day.  I am all for that.  This coldness needs to go.  However, another couple months and we will be done for a while.  I would like to manage to get a couple snow days in from work but from the way the weather looks now, that won’t happen anytime soon. 

Hopefully all is well in your world.  I will talk with you peeps later. 

Made it to another Comedy Wednesday

Very happy that tonight I will get to see all of my regular favorites.  Hopefully there will be many laughs.  Things have been a little rocky this week, so a laugh or two will help out. 

Yesterday I was working on my home machine when all of a sudden it locked up.  So I issued a reboot command and it just took its sweet time.  I was doing all of this remote, so it’s not like I could help it along.  When it came back up I lost access to my encrypted drive that has passwords and other important docs on it.  Think of it as a safe deposit box  The only way in is a password and it wasn’t taking what I was giving it.  Then I noticed I lost an external hard drive where I save some of my porn to, I wasn’t too happy about it.  However, being away from home there was very little I could do, until I got home.  The problem was fixed easily.  Someone had apparently knocked the external hard drive off of the stand it was on.  I picked it up, plugged it back in and powered on the machine.  Everything came up like it was supposed to, but it had me sweating the whole time.  Porn not such a big deal but the legal docs and passwords, that would have really crippled me.  I was able to guess and get the master password changed so I have access to all of my stuff.  Technology is a wonderful thing but only when it works.  I say that all the time and it is VERY true.

I also got a letter in the mail from AT&T and found out that apparently they think I stopped subscribing to something so my home phone is going up $17 per month.  Uh, don’t think so.  I called and had to talk with 3 people but I got things back to where they should be  Then I found out in 2 years copper landline phone service will be no more in my area.  Everyone will be forced on to VOIP.  I am not exactly jumping up and down about that.  They tried to get me to convert to UVERSE and I will admit now I am thinking of it more and more.  It sounds really nice.  I asked about up time and they tell me it’s a 99.9% up time baring any cable cuts which are beyond their control.  Perfectly understandable.  They have a feature on the phone that if service is interrupted it will fail over to a number that you pre-determine.  Plus you can have the phone ring at home and at I think 2 or 3 other destinations – all at the same time.  So no need for Call Forwarding but they still have that.  I checked pretty much all of my areas of concern and they were all addressed.  Now the only thing left is to bite the bullet and go for it.  They will give me 30 days to try it and if I don’t like they will switch back to the way things were before.  Wonderful but if copper is going away I really am stuck.  Right now you have to bundle phone with either internet or tv in order to get it.  When we get closer to the 2 year mark, they will offer phone as a stand alone service.  It is a money saver but for me it would only be $13 per month.  If I moved Internet the savings would be greater more like $33 but I would lose speed.  I will bring this up in a few months when my present promo offer expires with the cable company.  If they can’t match or beat the offer then I will switch.  For now still leaving everything the same.  Hopefully, it all continues to work as it was designed.  I will admit changing to a new whole house DVR would be nice and being able to record 4 shows at the same time and watch them where I wanted would be kind of cool.  Right now I’ve got my old fashioned TIVO, which does 1 show at a time and more often than not, it doesn’t change to the proper channel so you miss the program.  I understand that the person I spoke with is in it for a commission so she will tell me what I want to hear in order to win my business.  I almost went for it today but figured wait, the push to get people to switch is on and will be on for sometime, I might get a better deal by holding out.  Plus I am getting close to being on-call and I have to have something that works otherwise I get to live in the office, which wouldn’t be fun. 

I got a call from a friend of mine yesterday evening just when I was ready to do some self pleasuring.  Damn no peace.  Anyway he told me that he just got the worst review in his career.  We worked together before and he is 100% company and he works some damn long hours.  He just doesn’t know the meaning of the word relax or quitting time.  So for his boss to give him such a review totally caught him by surprise and honestly me too.  However, from the way things have been going the writing has been on the wall that his boss wants him gone.  She is now taking steps to make that happen.  He will have to go on a Performance Plan and if expectations aren’t met within 6 months then they will walk him out.  He plans on beating them to the punch and finding a new job.  However, the big problem that he has is that he is an older gentleman, and not many employers will be attracted to him once they figure out how old he is.  Even though your not suppose to discriminate based on age, employers still do but they do it in such a way that it skirts the law, so if you complain you won’t have a leg to stand on.  I feel bad for him and know what it’s like to work in a toxic environment.  This is all because of events that occurred that were outside of his control with vendors and 3rd parties.  He preformed at his very best, which is nothing unusual.  It just sucks when you are doing something you like and are comfortable but your boss hates you.  Work turns into a chore and soon you find yourself not motivated to go in and when your there your mind is focused more on what your boss is doing or where the next land mine is going to blow up and you can’t do your job.  Plus his employer is very short handed right now, so he is doing the work of 4 or 5 people – which he should be praised for.  There are two sides to every story and I am only hearing his, not that I doubt what he is saying for one second.  But it would be interesting to hear the other side of the story.  I also told him to ask for examples of the behavior that his boss is referencing.  He actually already did that and the boss can’t recall any incidents.  That right there tells me that she just wants him gone.  A good boss would have examples ready to go, figuring that the employee is savvy enough to ask.  I told him put all of that in writing, send it to his boss and give a copy to HR and demand that it be put in his personnel file.  That will help give him an edge.  Plus I told him he might want to talk with an attorney to see if there are other steps that he should take.  He doesn’t want to mess with it and figures it’s easier to move on.  I’ve been down this road before and unless you have specific documentation you are pretty well screwed.  I wish he would take my advice but he won’t and there isn’t anything I can do about that.  I hope it works out for the best.  Were supposed to get together over the weekend to grab a bite to eat, so that should be interesting. 

After that phone call that seemed like it would never end I was talked out and tired.  I took care of getting ready for today, medicating the cats, etc. while I was talking.  I even brushed my teeth.  Multitasking is just a given for me, when it has to be done.  After we hung up, I watched a little TV and then went to bed.  Sound asleep and 2am the UPS hiccupped and that caused my sound machine to change from Ocean sounds to Rain.  I woke up instantly figuring that the power went out but no, just a burp.  I had to get up to change it.  I needed to use the bathroom, but opted to go back to bed because Marv would be upset.  I was right he just talked and talk about it.  Then I couldn’t fight it any longer and had to get up.  He yelled at me again and finally we were off to sleep.  Thankfully he didn’t wake his brother otherwise it would have been double trouble.  They know how to work together and how to work against each other as well. 

Here we are at Wednesday.  Just wrapped up from a Team Meeting and of course change is the recurring theme.  Now we have to answer the phone a specific way, people are going to think I am a recording and they may hang up on me, but I will follow the rules.  There are many other changes but they are minor in nature.  Next meeting in 2 weeks and major changes will be talked about then.  Change can be good or it can be bad.  The nice thing is that on-call is changing next month so we don’t start until 11pm and are on until 7am.  So it should be mostly quiet.  Except for weekends those are still 24 hour days and your on until 7am Monday morning.  Again should be mostly quiet but you never know when something major will go wrong and you will be flooded with calls.  Just the joy of being on-call. 

So now it’s back to work and I am counting down the hours until I have to go back out in the cold and drive amongst the many slow people who are mostly in a slow hurry to get home.  I hope that tonight will be very enjoyable.  Then we are on the downhill slide of the week and a 3 days weekend is approaching – so I am super pumped about that.  Even though my Monday is already planned out for me, I won’t be here and that is a good thing in my book.

I hope that your all staying warm and doing okay.  Talk with you again soon.