Author: anthony Page 12 of 72

I had to fire one of my student employees on Friday.

A few weeks ago, she was a no-show for her shift.  I called her and got her voice-mail – she finally sent me an email 4 hours after her shift was to have started.  Transportation problems.

On that day, another of my students had already requested the day off and there was no one left to cover the switchboard – except for me, of course.  So, I was on the phones for a couple hours while still trying to do my regular job – and ended up staying an hour later than I normally would have.

I told my student in an email – so she’d have it in writing – that a no-show/no-call was not acceptable and that if it happened again, her employment would be terminated.  The next time she was in she apologized and acknowledged that she got the note.

But then on Friday, she was a no show again.  No phone call, no email, no advance notice – nothing.  I left her a voicemail and got no response. I helped cover the phones again and then after her shift would have ended  – with still no contact from her – I made the decision and sent her a polite and carefully worded email terminating her employment.

I know I made the right decision, but I still feel bad about it.  I’m way too lenient on my student employees – partly because it’s a huge amount of work to replace one – but a second no-show after the warning left me with little choice.

I updated my colleagues and the other students and on Monday I’ll work on the paperwork.

Sigh.

I don’t ask for a lot of my employees and it it an easy job, but they at least have to show up.

I got the call today that my Honda was fixed and ready for me to pick up. I had started to get used to the Kia – and the Sirius was pretty nice – but it was good to get back to my car.  The body shop did a great job on the repairs and I was able to leave the rental with them for later pick up. Insurance covered all the repairs and the rental – which was nice and pretty easy.

I’ve still got a bit of “settling in” to do with my car – emergency pack in the trunk and umbrella in the backseat – but I’m good to go.  I’ll make some calls tomorrow to the rental place and the insurance company to make sure there are no surprises.

The cat is finally doing better too.  The “piller” failed terribly – the pills fell right out – but we got the routine down after a while.  He’s now off the meds and seems to be eating well. I had him on some wet food for awhile, but he’s off that now too.  Even when he’s healthy, he tends to eat it way too fast – and then throws it up. And while I’m pretty good at cleaning up cat vomit, it’s something I can do without.

He’s been sneezing a bit, but seems to be getting over that. I’m guessing he picked something up while he was in the hospital and I’ll take him back to the vet if he can’t clear it on his own.

And work is back to usual as well – though that’s less of a good thing. We’ve been working on an upgrade for the past two days and it’s not gone well.  Tomorrow we’ll bring the users back in and they all – every last one of them – have my phone number. My misfortune prone student assistants have been more prone than usual and I had three gone yesterday – which meant I was on the phones for two  and a half hours. I helped a lot of people, but didn’t get much of my regular job done.

So, things are back to my version of normal around here.  I’m listening to some good music tonight and I’m planning on getting to bed early – after I do a haiku, of course.  Only a couple of days left in the week and then I’m looking forward to the weekend. I think I’ve earned it.

I’ve got a bit of a stiff neck from the accident still, but I’m otherwise okay.  I’ll call the auto-body shop tomorrow to get that started – Hertz has called me twice about my reservation and I keep telling them I can’t commit to any time until Monday.  They also gave me a confirmation number much different than what I got from State Farm so who knows what’s going to happen with that.

I did note a little more damage to my car, but not much.  Again, very lucky all the way around.

In feline news…  I picked up Thunder today and brought him home.  He ate a little a while after he got home, then more later this evening – though he threw most of that up.  On the carpet, of course. Sigh.

I had to give him some pills earlier, along with some liquid medicine.   And I’d like to track down the first vet that thought it would be a good idea to have cat owners give their cats pills.  What kind of asshat thought that was a good idea? It’s a good thing Thunder is weak and that he loves – or at least “loved” – me.  What a nightmare that was – I basically had to sit on him and put him in a Vulcan mind meld headlock, then pry his mouth open. It took many attempts and I was swearing at the vet the entire time.  

And those youtube videos with “easy” ways to give a cat a pill?  Liars, each and every one. Those cats were drugged before participating.

So, I’m a little less worried about my cat – but until he’s back on a regular food schedule I’ll still be uneasy.  And cat vomit? Not any bit of fun.

Back to work tomorrow for at least part of the day while I try to get my car sorted out.  

Tonight, though, will be early to bed for me.  I’ll need extra time tomorrow for “pilling” the cat – and then bandaging me up afterwards before I go into the office.

Oh, and I hit a milestone recently.  This post is #1401 – the one where I talked about getting a car accident was the milestone.  Though I was a little preoccupied to note it at the time.

I was on the highway last night, driving home from the animal hospital, when I saw the light of road flares in the right lane.  I was fortunately in the middle lane and didn’t have to get over, they had the lane closed due to a traffic accident.

The car in front of me had slowed down as we went past and we were going along at a bit below regular highway speed.

About a half-mile down the road, the car in front of me goes to a screeching halt – from 55 to 0 in a moment. I hit my brakes too and screech to halt right behind them.  I got stopped in time before I hit them, but the truck behind me couldn’t stop and ran into my car.

Which then threw my car into the car in front.

I got tossed around a bit – the seatbelt locked and the headrest did it’s job.  The airbag didn’t deploy, but my glasses were knocked off and I was… shaken.

I sat there for a minute, my adrenaline flooding my body as I tried to assess what was going on.   I didn’t seem to be hurt, but knew I needed some help.

I got out my phone and called 911, reported the incident and location.  The dispatch operator told me he was sending help.

And I waited.  We three vehicles were in the middle lane of the highway and it was far too dangerous to try and get out.  I had no idea if I was really okay and how badly damaged my car was.

I got the car in park, hazards on, windows down, and then turned it off.

Then I called Jim and let him know I was okay, but that I’d been in an accident. He and I were supposed to get together for a late dinner after my trip to the animal hospital – and I was going to be even later.

The battery on my cell was starting to fade and I told him I’d call him as soon as I could.  I switched to airplane mode to save the charge and waited.

The police arrived and got traffic routed away.  An officer directed us to drive over to the berm and to my surprise my car started right up and was easily drivable.   Once we were out of the way, the officer came back over and got my license and proof of insurance. She asked what had happened and I told her – she then nodded and said the car in front of me had told her the same thing.

And so I waited awhile.

She came back over and gave me back my cards and that accident reports. She said that I would not be cited, but that the truck behind me would be.  Another officer came up and asked me if I needed a tow or if I thought my car was drivable. I said I didn’t know – I hadn’t gotten out to see the damages.  He checked to make sure it was safe for me to get out and then we looked things over with his flashlight.

And… it was amazingly okay.  I couldn’t see any damage to the front and even in the light today there isn’t even a scratch.   The rear bumper is scraped up a bit and popped partly loose on the right side. And that seems to be about it.

The officer and I looked at the bumper and then at the Ford F150 that had hit me – the front of the truck was stove in where it had hit.  It was literally “You think this is bad? You should see the other guy.”

I got back in my car and the office told me to go ahead and start it up – and that he’d tell me when it was safe to pull out into traffic.  I did so and quickly got up to speed.

And then kinda lost it.  I was shaking and sobbing on the way home but made it home safe.  I turned off airplane mode and sent Jim a quick text – then plugged in my phone to start charging.  

He came over and gave me a hug while the last of the adrenaline washed out of my system.  He took me to get something to eat – I was 8 hours since my prior meal – and then over to his place.  

I gave my Dad a quick call to let him know and then called State Farm.  The claims clerk was very kind and pretty excited about the amount of information I was able to give him from the accident forms.   At least I made someone’s day.

We got me set up with an auto body shop and a car rental when I need it.  I’ll take my car in on Monday and get it worked on – in the meantime, it’s fine to drive when I’m able to pick up my cat.

So:

• I’ve got a headache and a little soreness in my upper back.  No vision problems or pain anywhere else. I think I’m okay, but I’m going to take it easy.
• I apparently panic pretty effectively.  I was very calm with 911. While I was waiting for the police I loaded up the contents of my glove box into the cat carrier in case I had to leave my car – and had my license and insurance card ready. When I got home, I parked in the street in case my car needed to be towed.  
• Nobody at the scene of the accident asked me if I was okay.  While I appreciate the efficiency in which the officers handled everything, a simple “Are you okay?” would have done wonders for me.

I’m okay and I’m lucky.  But I’m not going to call it a good day.

Yesterday, when Thunder still hadn’t eaten, I took a half day from work to see if I could get him some help.  I called the vet first and since there was no change he told me to take him to the hospital.

So, Thunder went back in the pet carrier and into the car.  He’s not fond of car rides.

We get to the hospital and I get him checked in.  The first vet tech and the vet on call loved him and remarked that he was so handsome – and his purr was amazing.

The other vet tech – the one that came to take his blood – was not fortunate to get a purr from him.  Thunder hissed at her even before the needle stick and when she brought him back his neck smelled like alcohol.  She didn’t give the details, but said he would be justified in writing a bad review of her on google. He wasn’t hurt, I think he just got pissed off and knocked over the bottle of alcohol they were using to disinfect.

And then Thunder and I waited. For a long time.

I talked to him pretty much non-stop, we reviewed the causes of heart disease in dogs (there was a chart), and then I found a children’s book about a dog going to the hospital.  The vet came in to apologize for the delay and say that the blood work was close to normal. She had some paperwork to finish up and would be back soon – so, we finished the book.

And waited some more.  Cats are hard to read sometimes, but I could tell that he was glad I was there.

Then it was time to leave him there for the night while they got him going on an IV.  

I went to the counter to check out and on one side of me was a couple having their dog put to sleep and on the other was a guy who’s cat had suddenly gone blind.

Broke my heart to leave my Little Furry Buddy there.

This morning, I got a call from the vet and he said they’d put Thunder on an appetite stimulant and an antibiotic.  The vet suggested a radiogram as the next step and I gave the okay – we won’t know more until this afternoon.

The house this morning is quieter than usual.  And I miss my cat.

Last weekend, after the morning snows had melted off, I headed outside with my rake.  I’m old school – no blowers for me.

I got all the leaves in my yard bagged up and then headed next door to Kenny and Patty’s house and did their front yard. That was Sunday.  I had Monday off and got an earlier start in the day. I help my neighbor across the street – Jill – finish up her yard and together we did her neighbor’s yard.  That would be Alex. And then one more house down – I don’t know their name.

Next, my next door neighbor on the other side – Denver.  His family has a big yard with a huge tree – took me a while to get those to the street.  While I was finishing that up, I saw that his across the street neighbor – Laurie – was struggling with wet leaves in her yard.  So I went over and helped her finish those up, then worked on her neighbor’s yard – Peter.

On Tuesday after work, I went over to Jim’s house and did his front yard, then back home to rake all the leaves into the street – since I confirmed that the city would be picking them up Wednesday.  I also de-bagged my leaves since so wouldn’t need a special pick up.

When I got home Wednesday, the street was clear and all the leaves were in a giant pile – felt pretty good that most of those were there because of my rake. At about 12:30 in the morning Thursday, the city got those cleared as well – I woke up when I heard the truck – and today our street looks great.

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I got a notice in the mail that my registration for my car was due in January and that my license was expiring then too.   Rather than put that off – and risk forgetting – I decided to do that yesterday after work. I did a little research and found that there were two types of licenses being issued – Standard and the slightly more useful Compliant.  

Took a little doing, but I managed to get enough documentation together for the Compliant one.  Passport, Social Security card, several pieces of mail and my homeowner’s insurance policy. I doubled up on the mail items, just in case, and was ready to go to BMV.

The line was pretty short and the clerk was friendly.  I think she was impressed that I had actually done my homework and had all the items with me and ready.  I got the paperwork filled out for the Compliant license, paid my fees for that and the registration, and got my photo taken.  20 minutes in and out – and I think I was the only one that got what I needed. Everyone else was turned away for not having the right documents or information for what they were doing.

Seriously, people, get your shit together.

The new license will be mailed to me in a couple weeks and I’ve got a document and my old license until then.  The sticker will go on my plate tonight and I’ll be good to go.

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Everyone’s favorite feline is a little under the weather.  He’s normally a good eater, but hasn’t eaten in a couple days. And a small bit of wet food made him throw up.  So, today, I got an appointment and loaded him up in the car.

He yowled the whole way there, but settled down once we got to the vet’s office.  Thunder was very good and calm – purring up a storm even when he got a shot to settle his stomach.  The vet tech remarked on his purring and I think would have liked to take him home herself.

Thunder doesn’t have a fever or obvious discomfort – he’s just not eating.

I gave him some more wet food to try and I’ve got an antibiotic to give him tonight, just in case. He’s a little subdued, but other than not eating he seems pretty much his normal self.  If he doesn’t strap on the feedbag soon, I’ll get him back to vet.

He was such a good cat today – and I’m worried about my LFB (little furry buddy).

Time to dose him – and hope he keeps it down.

Edit: That could have gone better.  I think I got ¾ of dose in him and he nailed me with a claw.  He’s so quick….

It was inevitable, I guess.  The University of Akron had an active shooter on campus.

It happened overnight and I didn’t know anything about it until this morning when I checked my text messages and saw the alert and then the all clear.

Ironically, just last week our team was talking about our emergency text system and that we should perhaps send out another test.

I got more detail once I was up and online.  In one of the dorms last night, one guy shot another guy in what is called an “accidental weapon discharge”.  Neither were UA students and the shooter is in custody – and the victim is in the hospital with a gut wound.

No other details yet – other than that it’s over.

In the coming days and weeks, there will be a lot of questions.  Who were these guys? How did they get into a secured residence hall?  Who let them in? Why was there a gun on campus and who’s was it?  And why did it go off?

For now, my heart goes out to the students in the dorms.  What a terrible night they must have had. And all those that were responders trying to keep our campus safe and informed.  

No matter the detail of the circumstance – accident or intentional – we’re another statistic now.  

One more data point.    Shelter in place – this not a drill.

The optimal route for me to drive home from work takes me through a not-so-great neighborhood, but even with all the on-street parking (on both sides, naturally, jerks) and random pedestrians walking in the street for me to dodge, it’s still better than any other route.  Most days, anyway.

Today on the drive home, I saw some kids playing on the sidewalk.  I paid close attention as I approached – ready to hit the brakes if one of them randomly lunged into the street.  Wouldn’t be the first time…

Instead, I caught the eye of a little boy holding a black toy gun with orange accents.  Except for the orange color, it might as well have passed for a real gun – it was the right size and shape.  

He raised the gun and pointed it at me so that I could see down the barrel – and kept it trained on me as I drove past.

The look on his face was pure malice.  If it had been a real gun he might very well have shot me for no other reason than I was driving down the street.

I have a toy gun too – one that I got as a present.  It’s a sci-fi blaster – a prop from Guardians of the Galaxy.  It has some cool special effects and lights up and it only barely resembles any kind of gun.   And it rests in my Armory of Fictional and Mythical Artifacts & Weapons – along with a sonic screwdriver, magic wand, and Golden Sword of Battle, etc.

The blaster will sometimes find its way to my hand and I’ll point it at the wall and pull the trigger to hear the noise and watch it light up.  Just as a nerf sword might be swung through the air or a ring might be charged up with a memorized oath. (“In brightest day…”)

And I could no more hurt someone with the blaster than the boy could have hurt me with his toy gun – but, that malice was unnerving.

In the wake of… well, I was going to say the gun violence this week, but narrowing it to a single week seems disrespectful.  In the wake of the ongoing gun violence, the blaster seems a little less fun.

What is our fascination with guns?  I’ve never held a real one – nor (fortunately) have I had one pointed at me.  But even that toy blaster evokes… something.

I’m not going to vary my route because some randomly angry kid pointed a fake gun at me.  And I’m not on a mission to ban toy guns.

But, I’ve given this a little thought, and I think it’s time to part with the blaster.  I’m tired of guns and the anger and people dying because it’s easy to pull a trigger. Fake or real, it’s too often an expression of anger and I could use a little less of that.  

Maybe we all could.

I got my sample ballot printed out recently and did my due diligence in researching the candidates.   I had pretty simple criteria as I visited their websites – dividing them neatly into “vote for” and “lunatic”.  Well, maybe not quite like that.

I have my notes ready and I’ll be heading to the polls early on election day.  I considering doing the early voting, but the process when I did that before seemed… eh.  A little too casual, maybe.

———–

In a recent staff meeting, I made a small cube-shaped jack o’lantern out of orange paper and left it on the table when I left.  One of my coworkers saw this, loved it, emailed me, and asked if I could make some for her daughter’s preschool class. She requested 19 of them on a Tuesday and needed them by Thursday so she could deliver them on Friday.   

I agreed – figuring I’d do twenty so she could have one too – then did the math.  Each cube is 6 modules in orange with a seventh in green for the stem. Times 20… 140 pieces of paper folded.  In two days. Plus assembly and drawing a face on each one.

I bought the orange paper I needed Tuesday night and got all of them cut – plus 10 cubes and stems done.  I also made a stencil for the faces. On Wednesday, I finished up the folding and got them assembled and finished.  Delivered Thursday – on time. Looking forward to the pictures of the kids getting them.

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In other folding news… I participated in a Make a Difference Day event on campus where I taught students to fold some origami ornaments.     Most of the students there were making ornaments from kits, but a few joined me for a little folding. As we went along, a couple of them starting teaching other students that joined in.  And they divided up the labor – one guy cutting paper and another folding right up to where the designs diverged.

We made a ton of ornaments in a couple hours and two of the students wanted my contact info for future projects.

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Tonight was trick-or-treat in Akron.  Two years ago, I missed it entirely. It was on a weird day or something.   Last year, I bah-humbugged my way past it with dark porch lights and a scowl.

This year, though, I bought several bags of candy and determined the day well in advance.  It was from 5-7 and by 4:50 I was on the porch with a chair, an origami pumpkin, a bowl of candy (with more in reserve) and a book.

Took a bit for the kids to start showing up and many of them were in large groups.  There were some kids that were maye a little too old for trick or treating and many didn’t have much in the way of costumes.  And one girl had a torn grocery bag for her treats – I wanted to maybe get her a new one, but she was gone before I could say something.

It was cold and raining and not quite as magical as when I was a kid, but I gave away a lot of candy and most of the kids said thank you – even if many forgot the “Trick or Treat”.

I have a little candy left over to take to work to share, so, everyone wins.

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I had a whole series of plans for a productive Saturday.

Which is unusual in itself – I’m more a “ugh, no” person when it comes to a day off.

I was going to get up early and finish my painting, then get some breakfast on the way into the office for a bit.  Next, over to Good Life tattoo and body piercing for some new jewelry and finally up north to half price books.

Annnnd I slept in.  Not a lot, but enough to throw me off.  So, I skipped the painting and went into the office expecting to have pop tarts there.

But, my card swipe didn’t work and I can’t find my key.  And Good Life didn’t open til noon. So, I instead headed north to the bookstore.  My friend George lives “north” but not really the part of north I was at. But, I figured since I don’t get to see him often, I could go a little out of my way and invited him for lunch after my bookstore trip.

After lunch, I headed back to Akron and got some new jewelry, (SHINY!) then home.  I worked a little bit from home, but that’s tougher to do. I did some laundry, worked on a couple of projects, and had a quiet evening.

Sunday had less formal planning and it went a little better.  I ran some errands, did some reading, finished my paintings, and worked on a cool paper project.  And I cleaned my garage since that seemed like the thing to do.

Not as productive as I had planned, but still a busy weekend.

—————

I’ve been playing some games recently that have moralist systems.  You can play as a bad guy or a good guy and the choices you make impact the game.  I played Dishonored 2 as Emily first, the young empress, and used stealth and non-lethal means to get through the game and rescue her father from his transformation into stone.  So, Low Chaos and just being dang sneaky.

And it was a lot of fun, but it took a while to play through since I had to be careful.  Once I beat the game, I played again as her father Corvo – the royal protector – in a High Chaos destroy everything and kill anyone that stands in his way of rescuing his daughter.  It felt consistent based on the character and while I personally would have gone the stealth route if it was me – I got into the character and his motivations.  We ended the game on a dark note, but it felt “right”.

I had played another game with a similar good and evil system – but this time Devlen from Infamous Second Son (smoke powers in Seattle ) was the same guy with each play though.  The first time, he was the hero and saved the day. The second time, playing as the bad guy, I’m making the “wrong choices” and sending him down a path of evil.

And it feels… wrong.  Not just that kicking civilians or beating up street musicians is wrong – but that it feels wrong for him.  He’s not driven by a changing story or hunger for righteous fury and vengeance, he’s just…well, an asshole.

Good and evil are more than just not punching babies or saving a bus of nuns.  There’s always context. What drives a person – or a character – to act in the way that they do?

So, I’m not sure I’m going to continue with Devlen as a bad guy.  He’s supposed to be a hero and playing against that just feel disingenuous.

Also, there’s something wrong with my controller and if I’m not pushing him forward he tends to wander backwards and vaguely left.  There might be something to that, but I think I’ve already pushed the metaphor.

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I’m at 201 tweets and I’ve been doing one haiku a day since June 17th.  That’s a lot of poetry to write and I’m still plugging away. It’s a good mental challenge and I find myself thinking in syllables even when I’m not working on a tweet.

So, time to wrap this up and find the next one for today.