Corner of Bourbon & Division

No, not THAT 'Q' word. ;)

It's a long-standing superstition/tradition working in emergency response (or any kind of call centre), that you should never, ever, comment on "how quiet" it is during a shift, because that's just inviting in the forces of chaos. If you're a dispatcher, it means there's going to be a multi-car pileup or a huge fire or some other cataclysm that will tie up your phone lines and keep you so busy you won't know which way is up right until the very end of your shift. If you're extra unlucky, you'll be stuck handling That One Call and have to stay past the end of your shift, and no overtime is worth that.

So, naturally, we've been having a very, err, uneventful week at work, and one of my colleagues just announced he was bored and then loudly started talking about how quiet it was. Seconds later, the phones started ringing. I can't swear that the superstition is true (the lines have died down again), but it certainly feels true.

I don't mind either way as a rule when it comes to work. A busy shift will go by quickly, and a quiet shift will let me get other stuff done, like reading a book or working on my knitting or what have you. Of course, this week I haven't brought my knitting for a few reasons. One, day shifts are usually very busy, and I am not a good enough knitter that my projects can survive the constant interruptions without suffering from potentially catastrophic error. Two, this week I am taking public transit home from work, and in the winter that is a dangerous proposition for knitting (and I am not a person who can safety knit on the bus, because again, catastrophic error). I had a third reason and now don't remember what it was, but I'm sure it was a very valid reason. ;)

( Why are you taking public transit, Phnee? )

Anyway, all this to say that work as been pretty dead today. I've been slightly obsessively checking my email inbox for a confirmation that my red wiggler worms will be ready today, and it's not looking good, I must say. The email I got did say they would be ready between today and Friday, so I may have a little while to wait yet. It's not that big of a deal--I can still go to Canadian Tire after work and pick up the Rubbermaid bins and the bedding I will need there. In theory one can use newspaper for bedding, but it can't be a colour newspaper, and these days I don't trust the papers that are available in my city not to contain some weird toxic substance in their ink, so I'm getting newsprint paper that's made specifically for packing and has no ink on it whatsoever. It typically is made from recycled paper, so I am hopeful that I won't be fucking over the environment too hard with it. Then I can put together my new worm-friendly environment and have it all ready and waiting for the worms whenever I get them.

In other mundane news, I have to put gas in the car later today. It's at about 1/2 a tank, and given the pretty cold temperatures we're having this week I prefer to keep it at 3/4 or more. Not having much gas in the tank causes a lot of wear and tear on the fuel pump, and also in the winter if you get stranded somewhere or even just stuck in longer than average traffic, you don't want to run out of gas and/or your potential only source of heat in the cold. For those of you who've been following me a long time, you may be amused to know that I still have my blue Yaris, aka the General Service Vehicle: Congenital Optimist, or GSVCO for short. I bought her in May of 2010 and she's still going strong, thanks to Steve the Wonder Mechanic. He gave her a makeover last fall, because she had developed a hell of a rust problem on her driver's side rear wheel well, and also needed her struts replaced. It was an expensive repair (body work is always a bit of a bitch), but he has breathed new life into her, and she's been purring along nicely ever since then. She's nearly 15 years old, has nearly 250k kilometres on her, and has been paid off for nearly a decade. My goal is to keep her as long as physically possible, because she does excellent mileage and I don't want to contribute another car to the landfill and use up even more resources for a newer car, even if it's hybrid or electric. In fact, KK's last car was a hybrid and has turned into the World's Most Expensive Lawn Ornament, because it would cost more to fix than the car is worth, but she still has to pay off the rest of the car loan anyway. Nightmare fuel. I'm sticking with my reliable little workhorse that doesn't have too many fancy computer bits in her until the bitter end.

Anyway, that's today so far. I have to think of something to make for dinner tonight. I've been slacking off on the meal planning of late, which is never a good idea. I will have to start that up again when I get home, and just plan for the next few days and next week while I'm at it. I always do better when I have a plan.

 We're playing the live game tonight (the one that streams on Twitch), and it's been a very roleplay-heavy session. We have a pair of brothers who are very close (and bicker constantly), and one brother has just found out that the other one is basically going to die unless they can find someone to cast a reincarnation spell. We're only level 8, so it's a ways away, but it's been a pretty emotionally charged session.

I took a short nap this afternoon, and ended up sleeping until 9:00 this morning. I finally heard back from Steve the Wonderful Car Mechanic, and I am bringing the car over tomorrow morning for repairs. Since I didn't get out in the field with Peggy today, I figure I will try for an early morning tomorrow and drive there directly from the field. Then Peggy and I can walk home, as it's only about a 30 minute walk. We shall see.

Oof.

Last week seems to be spilling over into this week. I hitched a ride with my friend julienne64 (alas no longer on LJ), and since she works 10-6 it made for a slightly late start to the morning.

KK was kind enough first to take me to fetch Peggy from puppy boot camp (Peggy is a very happy camper now that she's home), and has even let me borrow her car until I can get the GSVCO back, which is really awesome and I am very grateful to her indeed.

The rest of today was just... ugh. I don't know. I got nothing done except get pulled from one spot at work to another, and there was some employee drama that I don't really feel like dealing with but will probably have to deal with when I get into work tomorrow. Originally it seemed like I was going to have to work from home tomorrow, but since I now have access to wheels I can go in, and now I have mixed feelings about it. XD

Overall it's better if I go in, even if I don't feel like having to navigate everyone's feelings tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to start catching up on all the work I haven't been getting done for the past ten days due to all the technological shenanigans.

I've also been working on and off all evening on various things, and I am looking forward to my bed at this point.

I did absolutely fuck-all today. I slept until just past 10:00 (it was blissful), and then caught up on Critical Role, and hung out with the cats.

Oh, wait, I DID put in a bottom blade roast to cook in the crockpot. Otherwise? Nada.

No one from work called (halle-fucking-lujah), and I only got a single phone call from one of the ladies from Quaker Meeting about a poetry/art/music website she's putting together with her committee. She wants me to be one of the "gatekeepers" for submissions to the website, and the last time we spoke about it I asked her what sort of guidelines there were and got met with crickets. So now there are better guidelines in place, and I guess I will start keeping an eye out for submissions. I don't anticipate a huge amount  of traffic, anyway, as it's a pretty niche little website.

It's far too late for an "early to bed" resolution, but given that I went to bed at a very reasonable hour yesterday and slept for nearly 11 hours, I think I'm okay as long as I don't push it too far tonight.

Tomorrow I have Meeting at 10:00, then I need to pick up the car from the car vet, and pick up Peggy from puppy boot camp. I missed having my little tornado around this week, not going to lie. It's good for both of us for her to get training and lots of extra exercise, but I think we're both happier when we're together. It will be nice to have her back.

Today started with the guy meant to be delivering (and installing!) our new printer calling me to tell me that property security weren't allowing him on the grounds because he "wasn't cleared." ARGH. This isn't some random delivery dude, he's a specialized tech for a secure network belonging to a government partner. It took 45 minutes to get that sorted out, which is 45 minutes of my life I'm never getting back.

The day kind of went downhill from there, culminating in a technological malfunction causing a data loss that we can only PRAY is not going to compromise a national security investigation. GAH. 

The employee drama seems to have sorted itself out, at least, which is nice.

The best news of the week so far is that we seem to have FINALLY fixed my employees pay issues. All of the back pay she's owed should be deposited into her account tomorrow, and all of the various pay people have sworn on their children's heads that the system correctly reflects her current pay rate. So once we confirm tomorrow that she got paid all of her money, I will be able to say with a reasonable degree of confidence that the problem is resolved. I won't call it good, because anything can happen, but there is every reason for optimism right now.

I haven't gotten anything done at work this week that I planned to do, so it feels like I got nothing done. Objectively that isn't true of course. I've been dealing with the fallout from the system migration this whole time, but it's frustrating nonetheless.

In news unrelated to work for once, my darling car mechanic Steve finally got back to me, and we are a GO for car maintenance this weekend. The General Service Vehicle: Congenital Optimist (that's the car's name, for more recent readers--I used Iain M. Banks' naming convention) is long overdue for some TLC. I'm getting a new-to-me alternator (technically it's an after-market one, but Steve is confident that it will work well for me, and it has a three year warranty, which is good), a new timing belt, new spark plugs, a complete replacement of the transmission and power steering fluid, a thorough check and servicing of the brakes (we will set up another appointment if they need to be replaced), an oil change, and the application of a protective lubricant on my poor patch of rust to keep it from spreading until such time as we can find someone to do the body work for me.

I won't have the car for the whole weekend, and it's not going to be cheap, but it's going to be MUCH cheaper than if I go to the dealership or Canadian Tire, and Steve does excellent work. My goal this year is to get the car into the best shape possible and keep maintaining it for as long as possible. I toyed with the idea of trading in the GSVCO and getting a larger car or even (ugh) an SUV of sorts in anticipation of moving further out in the country: having something with more torque and more cargo space would definitely come in handy. That being said, the math of getting a new vehicle convinced me that sticking with my trusty steed for several years longer makes much more sense. I own the GSVCO outright, and she is very good on gas, which means my main expenditure every month is insurance (which is bananas in Ontario, for the record). Getting a larger vehicle means hundreds more dollars a month just to pay for the silly thing, and probably hundreds in gas.

So right now it's much more cost effective to just do a bunch of preventive maintenance. Come the springtime I'm going to do a few cosmetic upgrades too. Nothing fancy, just new floor mats, maybe find a way to fix up some of the nicks and scratches in the paint (they are all very small), things like that. I'm also going to investigate new all season tires and maybe get them already mounted on rims if I can. All very boring stuff if you're not me, but I'm low-key excited at my newfound understanding of care and feeding of my motor vehicle.

On that note, it is time for care and maintenance of the Phnee, which means bedtime. Here I go.

Today's good news: I did NOT die when my car fishtailed on black ice on the highway. The road conditions were so shitty, I can't even. Blowing snow, slush everywhere, and black ice. A trifecta of shitty road conditions. Everyone was driving 30 or 40 kph under the speed limit, and it still felt way too fast. There were accidents everywhere, and it was as I was slowing down to accommodate two vehicles that had pulled over that I lost control of my own car.

Good news #2: I am a rockstar who pulled my car out of said fishtail even when it spun just short of 280 degrees in either direction. I also managed not to hit the truck in front of me OR the car behind me. The car went partially off the road, but I managed to straighten myself out and get back in the right direction with no damage to anyone.

Good news #3: I am a rockstar who did NOT vomit on herself or wet herself while this all took place.

Good news #4: I am a rockstar who managed to wait until I was safely on the side of the road with my hazard lights on in order to hyperventilate.

Good news #5: I didn't cry. (Actually, I've noticed that lately, no matter how upset I am at anything, I never seem to cry. Maybe my tear ducts/crying reflexes are broken)

Bad news: It took nearly 4 1/2 hours to make a trip that should last a little under 2.

Bad news #2: I think I shaved 10 years off my life.

Bad news #3: Some jackass damaged my bumper in the Walmart parking lot. I haven't had the car two weeks without it getting all banged up again!

There was a LOT of swearing. I am still swearing in my head.

I'm going to take the GSVCO to a body shop this week to see if they can maybe just pop the offending bit back into place. Criminey.

It's nearly 9pm and we still have two dishes left to cook. Aie.

We got to a late start this morning, since everyone was bone tired. pdaughter and I got up at 7:00 instead of the usual 6:00 or 6:30 (though I think she was awake before then), and then Bean had to be prepped for school, breakfast had to be procured, etc. We also had a few items missing for the cooking day from yesterday, which we ended up picking up over the course of the day as needed.

In the category of Phnee Is A Colossal Fuckup, we had a bit of a chicken disaster; i.e. I cooked more of the chicken than I was supposed to cook beforehand. A LOT. Like, we're talking inability to do basic math AND complete lack of reading comprehension on my part. It's as if I read the paper and my brain said: "Nope! We're not doing that!" and did something completely different.

pdaughter helped me go through the recipes, and we managed to salvage the situation without my having to go out and buy a ton more chicken to get us through the day, but it was a close call, and we still have a bunch of cooked chicken that we need to figure out what to do with.

This is my brain. It is full of metaphorical holes. We had about five different conversations today that went: "We have talked about this before. We agreed on it. You [i.e. me] stood there and nodded your head and told me it was a good idea, and now you have no idea what I'm talking about." So poor pdaughter is frustrated beyond words, because she doesn't want to treat me like an idiot, but it sort of ends up that way if she assumes I'll forget everything we talk about. I have a doctor's appointment on February 19th, so now it's just a countdown until the day I'll be able to ask a medical professional about this stupid memory/cognitive fuckery. (No, autocorrect, I did NOT mean "fakery," stop changing it!)

Otherwise, today has been super pleasant. I love cooking, even though these marathon sessions are exhausting. If I ever win the lottery, I plan to spend my days writing and cooking and maybe gardening. Possibly knitting occasionally. I also got my car back from the shop, which is awesome. It's so weird to see the GSCVO without the huge dent in her bumper, but I like the look. It's very sleek.

I will have a longer, more detailed food porn post about the cooking day later on, complete with photographs. We're still cooking, though, so that will likely happen tomorrow. Bean is in bed and quiet after a late bedtime (naps really mess with his sleep schedule, alas), and so now we need to put together those last two dishes and stash everything away in various freezers in the house.

Sporadic Life Update #75

So life proceeds apace. Just got back from a mini-roadtrip to New Brunswick with my colleague J, which was equal parts fun and frustration, mostly because she turned out to be a slightly passive-aggressive kind of travelling companion. Overall, though, it was a really good time, and the GSCVO handled the road beautifully AND had fantastic gas mileage.

Work is work. The schedule is still wreaking havoc with what little social life I have, but is otherwise pretty good. I'm not being totally overworked, which is a nice change of pace.

We've had some unpleasantness over the past few months due to the possibility of permanent positions opening up. We are 14 temporary operators vying for six job openings, and while some of us (like myself) are being reasonably zen about the whole process, others have taken it upon themselves to make things as unpleasant as humanly possible. Even though the process of filling the permanent positions is pretty much an objective one (everyone has to pass through two evaluations, one written and one oral, which are graded by one senior staff member and one HR person who's entirely impartial), these people have decided that they will be best served by trying to undermine their colleagues in any way they can think of. It's really very unfortunate, and has made the atmosphere around here pretty tense. I'm lucky enough that my 12-hour schedule keeps me mostly out of the way of said unpleasant people, which is good all-around.

It does, however, motivate me even more to keep working toward my goal of becoming a regular member. I'm not deluding myself that there won't be other problems in other jobs, but at least I'd be paid more. ;)

Lots of other minor work-related things, which I may go into in depth at some future date.


I came home from my trip to a very sick cat. Gretzky's been feeling poorly for a while now, but she took a sharp turn for the worse when I was gone. So we hied ourselves to the vet today, where I found out that my beloved vet is on maternity leave, leaving me to deal with the evil vet who accused me of wanting my cat to suffer back in the day. Evil vet redeemed himself by A) being polite and respectful, B) telling me how beautiful my cat was, and C) not trying to sell me any ridiculously expensive procedures on my cat.

Gretzky got poked and prodded, injected with antibiotics, injected with a whole lot of saline solution to rehydrate her, and even got her claws clipped since she won't let me near her paws anymore and her claws were threatening to grow right into the pads of her feet. The possibly-not-evil vet cleaned her up, talked nicely to her, and let me hold her while he did undignified things to her so she wouldn't be too traumatized.

We got home after two hours, and she's already looking much better, and seems perkier. So all is well in the feline world.

I then got called in for an emergency night shift at work, which is where I am now, sneaking onto the internet. Bad Phnee! ;) I am tired and mostly braindead, so I'm hoping they don't hold it against me too much.

In other news, the date for Capricornucopia has been set: January 15th. Mark your calendars. :)