In the garden, and RAIN!!!! by SIGNYM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
You're never too old for that stuff, Brenda. My brother's still a big kid and the whole basement has just of many of his toys as my nieces'. I've had to find room for some of the overflow from time to time.

Don't sweat the drek. It's childish and unfortunate, but it will be gone soon enough. It's already got far more airplay here than it should have.

EDIT: Hey. Look at that. It's gone. :)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

I know. Was just poking a little fun at myself.

I am just trying to find a spot for the God of Thunder. My friend over the last couple of years has bought me a Jayne figure, Dr. McCoy from the reboot series of movies and Dr. McCoy talking bobblehead from the original series.

I even bought myself a treat today. Got a House Stark coffee cup.

Ding dong the dreck is gone. Yay!!!!!

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019 3:07 AM

Geebers it's cold. :(

Strange to see that it's going to keep getting colder until 9AM and it won't be warmer than it is this second until 10AM on Thursday.

Hope it's warmer where everyone else is, and if it isn't, try not to go outside the next few days unless it's absolutely necessary.

Stay safe! :)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019 9:14 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Cold weather got to my hometown, where sis still lives. Over 400 closures (schools, offices, airports ... you know the drill) and blizzard-like conditions.

Here, we anticipate getting rain Thursday thru Monday. Unlike previous storms, when the rain bands would tend to evaporate the further south they got (as they plowed into the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge and RRR Redux) the storms seem to be getting stronger and stronger. Almost three inches of rain is expected over the next five days.

I like this website

which shows where we are, rainfall-wise. I guess my layman's long-term prediction might come true after all.

*****
Bureaucracy: It's not just for government. Business manages to be just as Kafka-esque. Health insurance particularly. When I retired, my insurance transition went without a hitch: since I retired a couple years early (due to health) I COBRA'd my plan and all was well. But that left me six months shy of Medicare, so hubby continued to work so that he could COBRA HIS plan for my last six months.

Well. Hubby retired, and I've had the most ridiculous time getting all the insurances to work. The first was getting Medigap for Dear Daughter. The people at the KY office were young and stupid, and sounded like a bunch of diversity hires. After having filled out an application for her, I ran into a solid two-month delay, and NOBODY could tell me why! I finally found out that they wanted to do medical underwriting, which was stupid because she was covered by creditable insurance, so I wound up reaching out to our state insurance commissioner. But in the meantime, I called their midwest office and spoke to someone who knew what was going on. Oh! she said The person who filled out this application forget to check the box that she's been covered by insurance!

Seriously??? A checkbox? Don't these people do training in their sales office??? I sure hope the company isn't paying them a commission!

And then there was hubby's COBRA. The insurance premiums are processed by an intermediary company. So I filled out the application, and - anxious to get those payments started because all of the COBRA administrators make such a big deal about YOU MUST GET THOSE PAYMENTS IN WITH OR WITHOUT A COUPON OR YOU WILL BE DROPPED FROM COBRA! - I sent in the first check ahead of time with the account number in the memo. Well, they cashed the check but didn't credit it to the account! So there I am, patting my back for being on top of things and thinking everything is going great, I've already written my second check and mailed it in (ahead of time) when I get a notice - on Dec 18th - that I was dropped on Dec 14th as a result of non-payment. It has taken me until NOW, Jan 6, to get that error straightened out and insurance restored (for now). The scary part is they could have been complete dicks and just booted me off with no recourse.

But I discovered ANOTHER error when I was calling the insurance company itself to see if the payment processor had sent in an "urgent update" on my insurance status as they had promised: It seems that when the insurance rep said I could continue to use the old insurance card, she was WRONG. So even if the payment issue had never come up, the authorizations would have bonked anyway because the old numbers were inactivated. They're sending new cards.

All of this would be academic if I wasn't looking at additional sinus surgery in the near future for this chronic sinus infection that I've been dealing with for ... years, apparently. (Which was part of the health issue that caused me to retire in the first place: couldn't sleep bc I couldn't breathe, and didn't know it and neither did anyone else.)

BRENDA, be grateful for your healthcare system! (oh, and push your doctor to do more for you, or get a second opinion. It's not like they can kick you off the rolls!)

MEDICARE FOR ALL CITIZENS! After having gone thru the wringer with the insurance companies, how much worse can a government system be???

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019 11:01 AM

Negative 18 degrees right now.

Only 32 more hours until we get back to positive temperatures.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019 11:51 AM

SIG, I am GRATEFUL for my healthcare and all it has done for me over the years and what it did for my mom, brother and my dad.

Wasn't for our system up here, I wouldn't be here talking to you. My mom wouldn't have survived her first run in with cancer. My parents couldn't have afforded all the medical bills when my brother was a baby from his asthma attacks which led them to the hospital multiple times.

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019 11:52 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Negative 18 degrees right now.

Only 32 more hours until we get back to positive temperatures.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Cold and clear out here right now. Not sure if we are expecting any more rain. Would have to check the weather site I use.

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019 12:56 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Negative 18 degrees right now.

Only 32 more hours until we get back to positive temperatures.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Holy fuck, that's cold!!

Jeez! Been thru a couple of bad blizzards, this sounds like one for the books!

Quote:
Polar vortex by the numbers: 6 states in US record temperatures lower than South Pole

That's what the headlines are saying!

Hey SIX, if you want a good weather website try https://www.wunderground.com They fine-tune the forecast for your LOCAL (and I mean, to your zipcode) conditions, not just to the nearest airport weathers station, and their 10-day is very detailed.

But ... jimminy! I'm astonished!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019 1:09 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Er... I'm glad you're keeping your house warm. Nothing spells trouble like frozen pipes. I hope you have a goodly amount of antifreeze in your car radiator: same problem. Maybe some frost heave under your patio or in your yard. Fingers crossed that everything comes thru in good shape when the weather warms!!

There is one good thing about polar vortexes: They kill beetles that overwinter under tree bark and/or in the soil. Altho sometimes tree sap freezes too, and the trees themselves explode.

I wonder what's going on with JSF. He lives up in Minnesota or thereabouts, I believe. I would expect him to be posting about his weather experience.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019 9:07 PM

lol yeah. :) It is fucking cold.

-13 right now, according to your site. With a low of -21 tonight.

My old man said that it got this cold once in my life around these parts in the mid eighties, but I don't have any recollection of that. Must have been toasty warm inside.

I was supposed to have work the last few nights, but there was no way I was going in. I called them up this weekend and let them know. I live further than anybody else non-management does, and with the state of my car I wasn't putting my life at risk. I don't have a cellphone either, so yanno. Didn't feel like dying on the way to the gas station if she broke down on the expressway.

I put the hard hint in that I'd prefer not to end up with any absences over this since I've been there well over a year and never had one yet. I also offered to work two extra days to make it up after the fact rather than just use PTO. I guess I'll find out tomorrow that the decision was on that. Not even going to get mad if it doesn't go the way I prefer. I made that phone call knowing full well I wasn't going in even if that meant wrecking my perfect attendance.

Meanwhile.... It will be interesting to see what my bill is next month for the gas/electric. This should be the end of the brutally insane cold, but the 15 day outlook doesn't really look all that great for February so far after that.

I've still got the thermostat at 68 on the 2nd floor. Going to keep it there the whole year and see what happens.

The "gap" from 2nd floor to 1st floor looks to be just about as large as I thought it would during this cold snap. I'm looking at about 57 degrees now, and I thought it might drop to as low as 55. Still got 19 hours before we're back into the low positives and one more night dipping to negative 1, so that might actually happen.

It's a little reminder of how cold I used to be in my house all winter long when I'd have the thermostat set to anywhere between 58 and 63 degrees.

Never again!

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, January 31, 2019 4:51 AM

Oh... I do believe I forgot to mention that my water heater went out earlier this week too. :)

That is a pretty rare event here. It happened a few times in quick succession about 4 years ago, but the pilot hasn't gone out since. I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I discovered it after I was outside for about an hour snowblowing and shoveling before the frigid hit. At that moment I wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower, but the water just wouldn't get hot. It might have been around room temperature at best, but it was hard to tell because my fingers were still cold.

Fortunately, after a few aborted attempts, I was able to get the pilot back on and staying on. Been checking it regularly the last few days and it's still working. :)

It's -17 right now, and looking at it dipping to -20 in the next few hours. By 10AM it will start "warming" up, and will continue to climb all day and night to a high of 5 degrees tomorrow at midnight.

After that, it will continue to climb to a high of 23 degrees at 3PM on Friday.

REALLY strange to see temperatures continue to climb without falling at all for a straight 32 hours. That exactly mirrors the 32 hours of straight falling temperatures we saw when it got this low starting sometime on Monday afternoon.

I haven't spoken to anybody at work since this weekend. I'm half tempted to try to call now and see if anybody picks up. It would calm my nerves a bit to know that everyone is safe. Even better if I found out that nobody was required to come in if they didn't feel it was safe for them or better yet business was so slow during the day so they were outright told not to even try.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, January 31, 2019 4:44 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
I've still got the thermostat at 68 on the 2nd floor. Going to keep it there the whole year and see what happens.

The "gap" from 2nd floor to 1st floor looks to be just about as large as I thought it would during this cold snap. I'm looking at about 57 degrees now, and I thought it might drop to as low as 55

So downstairs is somewhere between 10 and 15 degrees colder than upstairs? And you used to set your temp to 58-63, which means that downstairs might have gotten as cold as 43?? Oh, that's no way to live!

*****

The first of a series of rainstorms came thru today, with some thunder and lightning. It's a cold storm (for So Cal) with daytime highs in the upper 50s to low 60s. Only 0.3" of an inch of rain was anticipated, but I see from my informal rain gage that we got about 1". Since this is a pretty widespread storm - Bakersfield to San Diego and Santa Monica to San Bernardino - I think we've all gotten a good rain. I expect to see snow on the mountains by Tuesday when the rains have passed thru.

I tweaked my back trying to blitz the yard of weeds before this rainstorm came thru. Dear daughter and I filled two 70-gallon bins of weeds before the rain called a halt. There's still another couple of bins to go, but I wanted to nail the big ones before they bloomed and set seed (too much), so hopefully won't have so many weeds next time. I think - I hope! - those seeds must have lain dormant for a few years and it took the previous rainstorms to get them to sprout; I've never seen so many weeds in my life! I's hate to think that this will happen again any time soon!

A break in the rain tomorrow, but too muddy to weed means pruning and planting. Then back to working indoors painting, re-organizing, and in general taking care of business.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Thursday, January 31, 2019 8:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
I've still got the thermostat at 68 on the 2nd floor. Going to keep it there the whole year and see what happens.

The "gap" from 2nd floor to 1st floor looks to be just about as large as I thought it would during this cold snap. I'm looking at about 57 degrees now, and I thought it might drop to as low as 55
So downstairs is somewhere between 10 and 15 degrees colder than upstairs? And you used to set your temp to 58-63, which means that downstairs might have gotten as cold as 43?? Oh, that's no way to live!

It did drop to 55 this morning before it got warmer. It's back up around 57 right now. Might get back to 60 when I get home if I'm lucky. :)

10 and 15 might be a bit too high a margin, at least in normal winter conditions. We just had a cold snap of a generation here, and it was a 13 degree split. I'm no scientist, but I'd imagine that the lower I had the temp on the 2nd floor set, the slightly smaller that gap would be too.

Now I didn't have a temp in the basement of the tri-level this morning, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the 40 to 45 range at the lowest point. The pipes didn't freeze, and the actual temperature was about 10 degrees colder than at any point I ever remember it being since I lived here. It has been so cold in that basement before that I could see my breath. That's how the pipes froze up 4 or 5 winters ago. Thankfully they didn't burst. :)

So yeah, that was no way to live. I did get a little taste of it this morning. I was bundled up good before I went to bed. I can't imagine how I put myself through months of yesterday every year before.

Glad that's behind me now. The -20 below weather and my insane levels of being miserly.

Now I just got to make sure my car keeps running tonight and hopefully we don't see anymore weather this cold all year when we get back into the lows in the double digits tomorrow night.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, January 31, 2019 10:51 PM

Rain here for tomorrow then a small prediction of snow for my area. Arctic front bearing down on BC. North is definitely getting snow.

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Friday, February 1, 2019 5:55 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Looks like more rain than originally forecast here too. Add Tuesday to the list of rainy-days. So today will work in the yard if my back will allow, and then four days pf indoor-work for me. Gawd, I have so much to do both indoors and out, I'm not sure where to start!

But if all of the forecast rain does fall, that will be almost 4" total over six days, which will bring us up to 1.5" of a season total, with one and a half more months of rainy season to go. Considering what the weather's been like the past few years, just being near normal feels abnormal!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Friday, February 1, 2019 8:38 AM

Yeah... we just got a whole bunch of freakin snow that wasn't in the forecast last night. It really wasn't all that bad, so I don't understand why the roads were as bad as they were. Took me 1 1/2 hours to get home when it takes me 22 minutes in normal traffic. Didn't even snow after 3AM, so I don't know what happened.

Maybe half the plow trucks wouldn't start or something. Cars were all over the sides of the road.

Started my car every break and lunch without any problems. She's actually running really well, considering.

No pipes burst overnight and it's actually almost 60 degrees on the first floor again. :)

Looking forward to lots of rain and 50 degree temps on Monday. :) :) :) :)

Fuck winter.

Told my brotha's at work that my fat pasty ass needs some sunlight and some yard work. Can't come soon enough.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, February 1, 2019 8:53 AM

Hey! Just noticed that there's no single digit lows in the 15 day forecast anymore like there were before I went to work. So there's that.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, February 1, 2019 6:57 PM

My landlady and her family don't seem to want to answer the door when they have the baby in their arms. Oh dear. What they think someone is going to snatch the kid?

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Friday, February 1, 2019 8:02 PM

Yeah... that's a little strange.

Oh well... as long as it's harmless. I bet every one of us has some behavior or another that other's would find strange if we're being honest with ourselves.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, February 1, 2019 11:50 PM

It is Jack.

Oh, I know we do.

My boss and her husband have comments about me lately. She doesn't like the way I dress, i.e. wearing jeans. He doesn't seem to like what I eat when I am there late on Thursday and I bring my own food. They are mostly vegetarian, heavy on the onions for the wife and sorry my body doesn't like things like that.

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Saturday, February 2, 2019 2:12 AM

Got a good dose of fog for this night. Can't see across the river.

Edit: Just looked out and at 11:20pm I can see across the river some again. Fog's clearing.

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Saturday, February 2, 2019 1:32 PM

Aaah, the joys of laundry day.

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Saturday, February 2, 2019 2:16 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
My landlady and her family don't seem to want to answer the door when they have the baby in their arms. Oh dear. What they think someone is going to snatch the kid?

Seems kind of weird. How old is the baby? Maybe they don't want to expose it to germs?

Quote:
My boss and her husband have comments about me lately. She doesn't like the way I dress, i.e. wearing jeans. He doesn't seem to like what I eat when I am there late on Thursday and I bring my own food. They are mostly vegetarian ...

We had several very long-term child-minders and I mostly stayed out of their business. What they ate and what they wore was no business of mine. The only time I got involved was when they asked me to, or when their personal life grossly interfered with their work. Heck, we even put up one of our nannies and her two kids for a few months when her druggie husband made off with the rent money and they wound up getting evicted. It's kind of hard not to comment, I could have given her an earful about the mistakes I thought she was making with her life but ... not my business.

I DID convince one nanny to set aside $5 every paycheck into a rainy-day fund ... even paid her interest. It was so painless that she even forgot it was there, until one day she needed to buy a car and discovered that she had $1000 saved up. Wasn't THAT a happy day for her!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Saturday, February 2, 2019 2:18 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Told my brotha's at work that my fat pasty ass needs some sunlight and some yard work. Can't come soon enough.

Hey! C'mon over here, I have TONS to do!

How was the return back to work, SIX? Uneventful? Did management charge you with PTO, change your schedule ... or was the place even open???

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Saturday, February 2, 2019 5:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
My landlady and her family don't seem to want to answer the door when they have the baby in their arms. Oh dear. What they think someone is going to snatch the kid?
Seems kind of weird. How old is the baby? Maybe they don't want to expose it to germs?
Quote:

Over six months. I'm not even in the kid's face when I am talking to them. My feeling and it is just a feeling is the baby is an excuse now not to answer the door. They shout through the door to me when I knock then I shout back, then they answer the door.

Quote:
My boss and her husband have comments about me lately. She doesn't like the way I dress, i.e. wearing jeans. He doesn't seem to like what I eat when I am there late on Thursday and I bring my own food. They are mostly vegetarian ...
We had several very long-term child-minders and I mostly stayed out of their business. What they ate and what they wore was no business of mine. The only time I got involved was when they asked me to, or when their personal life grossly interfered with their work. Heck, we even put up one of our nannies and her two kids for a few months when her druggie husband made off with the rent money and they wound up getting evicted. It's kind of hard not to comment, I could have given her an earful about the mistakes I thought she was making with her life but ... not my business.

I DID convince one nanny to set aside $5 every paycheck into a rainy-day fund ... even paid her interest. It was so painless that she even forgot it was there, until one day she needed to buy a car and discovered that she had $1000 saved up. Wasn't THAT a happy day for her!

Helping someone is one thing and that was great you could do that for your nanny.

But with these people this is just criticism for the heck of it. To them I do everything in my personal life wrong.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Saturday, February 2, 2019 8:32 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Told my brotha's at work that my fat pasty ass needs some sunlight and some yard work. Can't come soon enough.
Hey! C'mon over here, I have TONS to do!

How was the return back to work, SIX? Uneventful? Did management charge you with PTO, change your schedule ... or was the place even open???

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

Everybody was fine. :)

I actually called in about a half hour after I said I might to check in on them. Only 3 people showed up that night and they were all sent home about an hour before I called.

No absences given out to anybody. :)

My team lead was just promoted to a manager too. It's a very rare event that the same person would be allowed to manage in the store they worked in, but because my old manager just got fired and they're scrambling, it looks like she's going to get the job. Even more unbelievable is that she won't have to go to another store for her manager training. She's just going to have to go to days for 2 or 3 months before she comes back as manager.

It's hard to believe that it was just 2 or 3 months ago that she was asking me what I thought she should do when she got the offer for lead.

She told me that I could use PTO or work extra days. My choice. :)

Looks like the other girl from days is going to stay on as night shift team lead. There's word that they're thinking about 2 leads on nights from now on too (unfortunately, I think this might be because they're paying her the bare minimum for the management job as opposed to previous managers who were't rookies).

Not sure if I'd want it, but it would be nice to be asked. Either way, I get along great with our new manager and team lead and they're always happy to see me come in that door. As long as they don't go back on their decision to get rid of the night shift, I should have a pretty great time at work for the foreseeable future. :)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, February 3, 2019 8:04 AM

It turns out that I'm on the short list of those being considered for the 2nd team lead. At least among the night crew, it's only between me and the guy who just stepped down from it a few months back. He's really not interested in it, and is only going to take it if they offer him 3 bucks more than the job pays this time around. He told me he's already told his wife he's not going to take it again though. She was the one who convinced him to step down since they never got to see each other.

It might be a tough sell for me though, since I can't drive the forklift. Far too much pain. I still think I probably don't want the job, but I'm still trying to sell it to them as it's the only way they're going to get me in there helping them out full time. The chances that I'd ever have to work a night where my manager, the 1st team lead and both forklift drivers in receiving all didn't show up on the exact same night is about 1 in a million, so I really don't need to be able to drive one. I could pull just about anything from one side of the store to the other, I just can't put it up in the steel or take it down.

I'd really miss my long vacations every other week though. The only way I'd take this is if I was largely able to do the same job I always do, get my workout, and maybe be able to have some input on how to streamline some practices and have some minor authority on the nights that I was covering for one or both of the others.

I'd just let everybody know that I'm not their boss, and I'm here to support our manager. I'm just going to keep lifting all of the heavy stuff so they don't have to. We're all adults. Just do your job and keep your area neat. Don't give anybody higher up a reason to get pissy with me and we're golden. :)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, February 3, 2019 2:08 PM

Alright Jack. That is fantastic. :) Hope you get the position.

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Sunday, February 3, 2019 2:09 PM

Hope there is enough hot water around here for me to be able to wash my hair properly. Sometimes I can't get all the soap out.

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Sunday, February 3, 2019 4:17 PM

A tiny bit of snow stayed. Not much and now there are still a few flakes floating around. Kinda hope some rain comes and washes it all away.

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Monday, February 4, 2019 8:14 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Alright Jack. That is fantastic. :) Hope you get the position.

Thanks. :)

Still not sure I even want it. I'd be annoyed if I wasn't asked though.

They'd have to be willing to negotiate with me a little. Not on pay. I'm fine with taking that and not haggling on the price. Just getting the boost in pay and the extra days every pay period I'd be making about twice what I do now which would allow me to save around $15,000 to $20,000 per year, minus any huge expenses like my teeth and the day my car inevitably dies.

Unlike the other team lead though, I would require only working 4 day weeks, 10 to 12 hours per day. She's working overtime right now at 5 days a week. I find it strange that they're giving her overtime when the last team lead wasn't allowed any.

I don't really expect that they'd give me any, but I'd throw out that 10 to 12 hours to let them know that I'm not afraid of it.

Working overnights though, I've got to at least have a 3 day weekend, otherwise it would feel like I was at work all year long. No way I'd give up my 8 day weekends for that unless they were going to put me in management with a good salary. Unless we were talking about real, life changing amount of cash thrown my way, my free time is much more valuable to me than money.

We'll see what happens.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 4, 2019 8:29 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

SIX, what's your medical, dental, and vision insurance like? Does being a full time team leader make a difference in that? Because it it means that you get health insurance, that's a $750/month value, right there. (At least in CA) And if THAT'S in the package, then I suggest accepting the position for a year, getting all of your expensive needs taken care of on the compnay's dime, and then dropping back to your current position.

Just a mercenary thought!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Monday, February 4, 2019 8:48 AM

I'm not sure. I'm definately going to be doing some homework once I finish my week off.

The problem is, after my clean bill of health from the doctor and the lab work, my only real health issue is in my mouth, and as far as I know nobody really gets good dental insurance anywhere... at least in the private sector.

Even before I lost that great job, my dental insurance was pretty much crap. It covered two visits/cleanings per year and x-rays. Anything beyond that was capped at only $1,000 bucks coverage, and then only something like 15 to 20% on anything above that.

If I went the route of getting full on implants and everything that would entail, that would still leave me paying nearly as much as I paid for my house to get the work done after the insurance paid their part.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 4, 2019 8:52 AM

Oh... BTW, I'm starting to get pretty massive again in my arms and shoulders, and I'm practically dead lifting the water and juice packs on the top all night long so my back is getting a great workout and I don't have any pains there.

I've really got to start working out on my own again. This is the perfect excuse for me to do it. It actually kind of bothers me to see my arms, shoulders and back looking as good as they do, but my chest doesn't seem to match very well. Kind of odd for me since back in my workout days I always focused too much on the pecs (that's a pretty common flaw with non-professional bodybuilders).

It sure would make my job even easier if I started doing some bench pressing and squats again. Pulling all those heavy pallets is easy, but pushing them can be a real pain in the ass.

It's pretty exciting to think about and I can't wait until the spring and my basement is warm enough to start using the equipment that's been collecting dust for the 7 years I've lived here.

I might actually have to finish that room and get it insulated so I can heat it with a small space heater next winter.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 4, 2019 9:21 AM

Hrrrrmmmmm....

I forgot how nice it is to have most of your income fall beneath even the 10% tax bracket after the standard deduction. I'd also lose a property tax credit of $300 that I enjoy right now on top of it.

After paying all these new taxes and the insurance premiums (based off of 2nd hand knowledge on the price from what somebody said they were paying last year), assuming zero overtime, I'd be looking at pretty much double my disposable income now. Since the bills are already paid anything extra would be gravy to do what I wanted to with.

There's also the bonus which is doubled for full timers to consider, as well as the fact that your paid time off increases much quicker as a full timer. I don't really give PTO a second thought right now with all of my free time, and the fact that I only get about 1 hour every 45 that I work right now, but it would mean a lot more to me if I were working a lot more.

I'll have to go into the system at work and see how much quicker it gets. It's still not super fast since I've only been there a year, but the speed increases quite quickly after only one year for full timers as opposed to part timers. After working there 3 years, I could probably take one PTO day off every other week and get my 3 day weekends since I don't have any interest in taking vacations anywhere.

I've got a lot to consider here. I shouldn't be putting this much thought into it yet though since I haven't gotten an offer. The fact that I don't drive a forklift is really a big negative for an overnight lead. I'm not sure at this point if the people who make these decisions are aware of all of the other stuff I bring to the table. My manager and the old team lead would really have to push the issue.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 4, 2019 12:40 PM

Boots and cane today. Walk is not shovelled of course.

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Monday, February 4, 2019 12:47 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

SIX, my parents were Depression-Era/wartime children/young adults and they seared into our consciousness that life presents unexpected, major air-pockets so what they would say is .... if you get a job offer jump at it, and if you get offered a promotion jump at that too.

You DID mention that you didn't have forklift driving experience because of "too much pain". Too much pain?

If they offered you a promotion on the proviso that you had to get trained driving a forklift, would you do it?

Management seems to have a lot more flexibility than the agency where I worked, if I were management I'd offer you the job provisionally, on the basis that you take and pass some sort of forklift operation training, within a certain period of time (say, two months), and (of course) offer to training specifically.

Just OOC, why was previous management fired? Was it a reasonable decision, in your POV? Or was the decision arbitrary?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Monday, February 4, 2019 2:03 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Rain-wise, SoCal is doing OK. We're within a couple of inches of normal and we still have at least five weeks of rainy-season left. Snowpack-wise, CA is doing just a little bit above average for this time of year too.

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/swcchart.action

Snowpack usually maxes out in the last week of March, so I hope that the accumulation continues.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Monday, February 4, 2019 8:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SIX, my parents were Depression-Era/wartime children/young adults and they seared into our consciousness that life presents unexpected, major air-pockets so what they would say is .... if you get a job offer jump at it, and if you get offered a promotion jump at that too.

Yeah, I know. I lived with my grandma who was raised that way. She's the most extremely frugal person I've ever known... well maybe outside of me, of course. I wasn't that way before I had to move there after losing the best job of my life at only 20 years old though.

The thing is that I'm doing fine right now. Better than fine, actually. If it wasn't for my teeth issue, I'd say things are going great. That's kind of one of the major problems here... Getting this job wouldn't fix that or really even help. It still wouldn't be close to the money that I would need to get my arches rebuilt and solid implants put in, so I'd still be going with dentures that I can get relatively cheap, especially since I have family in the business.

Quote:
You DID mention that you didn't have forklift driving experience because of "too much pain". Too much pain?

I think I probably mentioned this here before, but maybe I didn't. We use stand-up forklifts at work that use pressure plates under your feet as a sort of dead-mans-switch. If you're not standing on them just so, then the lift will die on you. I spent several hours on one back in the day, and wrapped up my night bringing stacks of empty pallets on a truck, over the plate that bridges the concrete floor to the truck bed, and I ended up hobbling out of the store that night. I was still in pain four days later even though that was my last night at work. My left leg also tends to go numb after being on there any extended period of time. This may be because I have to kind of constantly "flex" the leg in a certain position the whole time I'm on it to keep it from dying.

Quote:
If they offered you a promotion on the proviso that you had to get trained driving a forklift, would you do it?

Management seems to have a lot more flexibility than the agency where I worked, if I were management I'd offer you the job provisionally, on the basis that you take and pass some sort of forklift operation training, within a certain period of time (say, two months), and (of course) offer to training specifically.

I'm already trained and certified. Way back under my first manager that got fired in early spring I went over her head and spoke to the store manager about it. I told her I didn't want to because I liked the job, but if driving the forklift was now part of my job description I'd have to put in my two week notice. She told me "we don't want that", and I've never driven one since.

Quote:
Just OOC, why was previous management fired? Was it a reasonable decision, in your POV? Or was the decision arbitrary?

It's a really long story, and I don't even know all the details. He rubbed the second in command the wrong way and ended up getting shafted left and right after that happened.

Things are going marvelously smooth right now, and I get annoyed that people seem to think that it's because either (A) he's not here anymore or (B) our new manger (who isn't a manger yet) is better at the job than he was. Neither of these things are true. No offense to her, and I think she could be a great manager, but she's only 24 years old and has never managed before. She's completely untested at this point (see below):

1. We have more people working overnight now than we've ever had, including around Thanksgiving to Christmas which was a huge time for our store sales under his management. At this time, post-Christmas, last year we had about half of the staff that we do right now on overnights and all of the part timers (except for me) were bitching about how little hours they were getting every week.

2. With all of those extra people, we're moving half of the freight that we were 2-3 months ago when the old manager was here. It's just that time of year after the holidays and before spring where there's not a lot of business.

I don't think our new manger knows what she's getting herself into because of this and I hope they don't screw her too. Same for the team lead who decided to leave her day shift team lead position to do overnights. (They are apparently best friends and drive to work together).

The stress at that time was thick. I did my best not to let it bother me, but that's why the old team lead even stepped down and decided it wasn't worth an extra few bucks an hour.

With two team leads and a manger, there really isn't any reason the 2nd team lead would have to do much "managing" with the largely great team we've got. I'd really only be interested in taking it to be a last resort for the both of them when it came to their vacation time or whatever. Otherwise, they'd benefit from me being there 15 or so additional hours a week than I already am, and I'm always being told how much better things go when I'm around.

Outside of streamlining some processes that could definitely be streamlined and getting certain people in certain duties to work more smoothly together, the only real additional responsibility I'd be open to if I took it would be to train new people. It's not something I enjoy doing all that much, but I am admittedly the best person for that job.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 4, 2019 10:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Alright Jack. That is fantastic. :) Hope you get the position.

Thanks. :)

Still not sure I even want it. I'd be annoyed if I wasn't asked though.

They'd have to be willing to negotiate with me a little. Not on pay. I'm fine with taking that and not haggling on the price. Just getting the boost in pay and the extra days every pay period I'd be making about twice what I do now which would allow me to save around $15,000 to $20,000 per year, minus any huge expenses like my teeth and the day my car inevitably dies.

Unlike the other team lead though, I would require only working 4 day weeks, 10 to 12 hours per day. She's working overtime right now at 5 days a week. I find it strange that they're giving her overtime when the last team lead wasn't allowed any.

I don't really expect that they'd give me any, but I'd throw out that 10 to 12 hours to let them know that I'm not afraid of it.

Working overnights though, I've got to at least have a 3 day weekend, otherwise it would feel like I was at work all year long. No way I'd give up my 8 day weekends for that unless they were going to put me in management with a good salary. Unless we were talking about real, life changing amount of cash thrown my way, my free time is much more valuable to me than money.

We'll see what happens.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

I wish you all the luck with work and with getting a savings account up and running. Always a good idea to have some emergency money around.

Know I do.

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Monday, February 4, 2019 10:50 PM

The snow is pretty well gone around here and the weather site isn't calling for anymore. Yay!

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Tuesday, February 5, 2019 8:39 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:

I wish you all the luck with work and with getting a savings account up and running. Always a good idea to have some emergency money around.

Know I do.

Thanks. :)

Certainly not to brag, but I'm actually quite comfortable, relatively speaking. I don't like throwing out any actual figures about anything like that since it's extremely gauche.

When I was drinking all those years, I ate into a lot of it and wasted years of my life, my health, and squandered a lot of money. Even as cheap as I am, it's not exactly free to live and 2 1/2 years of no employment, regular bills, and what probably amounted to 5 tanker trucks of cheap beer adds up.

Except for absolutely necessary big ticket expenses that I've put off for years and mentioned in here before, I don't plan on spending any money outside of regular bills until I have 5 years worth of my current pay saved up. That will take a while at this rate, but I'm happy enough in the mean time. Especially now that I've finally broke down and put the heat on at a reasonable temperature in my house during the winter. :)

If I got that job, I'd be able to save that amount of cash in about 1/3 or even less of the time, so I am really considering the possibility of taking it if I ever am asked. I've got a lot of ponderin' to do.

I just REALLY like how things are going right now. I'm afraid if I took that promotion that I'd end up hating something that I currently love.

P.S. It's kind of a shame that you don't live out my way. The house is big, and if I put the money into finishing it, ensuring that it would never flood and getting that second furnace system up and running, we'd be able to each have half of a warm house to ourselves and only have to share the kitchen. Except for when we're cooking, we'd probably hardly ever even bump into each other. :)

I'm not really a great roommate though, and I've had a few bad ones in the past myself. My cousin thinks I'm crazy for not renting out part of this house since I could pay all of my living expenses on that alone, but I love the freedom of living alone.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, February 7, 2019 5:41 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
The snow is pretty well gone around here and the weather site isn't calling for anymore. Yay!

Snow on the mountains that I can see from the flatlands. It's a beautiful day.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Friday, February 8, 2019 12:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
The snow is pretty well gone around here and the weather site isn't calling for anymore. Yay!
Snow on the mountains that I can see from the flatlands. It's a beautiful day.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

Got a prediction of snow for tomorrow Sig. So, I will just have to see what happens. I hope not. But things to do and I can't let the weather stop me.

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Friday, February 8, 2019 12:51 AM

Good luck! It's going to be a cold one here.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, February 8, 2019 4:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Good luck! It's going to be a cold one here.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

No snow showed up Jack. Which was good but I had my cane with me just in case. Right now it looks like it could rain. So we shall see which way the wind blows. Weather site says it is 1degree out.

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Friday, February 8, 2019 4:55 PM

Trying to decide if I want an afternoon snack. Can't make up my mind.

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Saturday, February 9, 2019 4:36 AM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Hrrrrmmmmm....

I forgot how nice it is to have most of your income fall beneath even the 10% tax bracket after the standard deduction. I'd also lose a property tax credit of $300 that I enjoy right now on top of it.

After paying all these new taxes and the insurance premiums (based off of 2nd hand knowledge on the price from what somebody said they were paying last year), assuming zero overtime, I'd be looking at pretty much double my disposable income now. Since the bills are already paid anything extra would be gravy to do what I wanted to with.

There's also the bonus which is doubled for full timers to consider, as well as the fact that your paid time off increases much quicker as a full timer. I don't really give PTO a second thought right now with all of my free time, and the fact that I only get about 1 hour every 45 that I work right now, but it would mean a lot more to me if I were working a lot more.

I'll have to go into the system at work and see how much quicker it gets. It's still not super fast since I've only been there a year, but the speed increases quite quickly after only one year for full timers as opposed to part timers. After working there 3 years, I could probably take one PTO day off every other week and get my 3 day weekends since I don't have any interest in taking vacations anywhere.

I've got a lot to consider here. I shouldn't be putting this much thought into it yet though since I haven't gotten an offer. The fact that I don't drive a forklift is really a big negative for an overnight lead. I'm not sure at this point if the people who make these decisions are aware of all of the other stuff I bring to the table. My manager and the old team lead would really have to push the issue.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

While evaluating the job situation, do they have Flexible Spending Accounts? If you have known dental expenses upcoming, you could put money into that - I was thinking they were Tax-Free.

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Saturday, February 9, 2019 1:05 PM

No snow again. Which is good. Need to get some stuff done.

Ruddy nerve in my right leg was pinging all night. That hurt and kept me awake half the night.

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Saturday, February 9, 2019 1:40 PM