Category: Uncategorized Page 10 of 152

I got my toilet all back together, but in messing with it I had inadvertently messed up a seal.  It was leaking water out of the tank and down the drain – but at least not onto the floor. I turned off the water and headed to the home improvement store – with a picture of the inside of the tank saved on my phone. Just in case.

I found the right type – or so I hoped – and the two seals that I might need.  Back home, I gave the instructions a quick read and realized this was going to be pretty easy.  Pulled the old seal out – realizing as I looked at it why it was bad (warped) and put the new one on.   Thunder(cat) was in the bathroom with me, putting his front paws up on the closed lid to get a better view.  I should have gotten him a tool-belt.

I turned the water back on and the tank began to fill – and then shut off automatically when the tank was full.  At least that adjustment had finally worked. I listened carefully but didn’t hear any leaks.  

Then, the final test.  I took a deep breath and then flushed my toilet.  And… success!

No leaks, the water shut off at the right level, and I was home free.  I put the lid back on the tank and went about my evening – feeling again like a successful home owner.  

Small triumphs.  

————————-

My feline is strictly an inside cat, but even with the limited territory he still manages to hide when he wants to.  I thought I’d found all his hiding spots, but lost track of him the other day. Not thinking much of it, I went to the basement to clean the litter box.  As expected, he appeared at the top of the steps to lord over me as the master of the house. 

The next evening, I headed up to the attic/third floor for some crafting supplies.  I keep the door to the third floor closed as well as the rooms up there to save on heating and cooling and I closed the doors behind me when I was done.  I ended up not working on the project since it was getting late and just decided to go to bed.  

When I got up in the morning, Thunder(cat) wasn’t hanging out in the hallway as he usually does.  I didn’t think much of it – figuring he was in his new hiding place – and went on into work.

I got home and he wasn’t at the door to greet me.  He also didn’t come when I called.

Now, one of our favorite things is when I let loose with a hearty “Thunder Cat, hoooooo!” and he then comes running. It’s pretty adorable. 

But, he didn’t come running.  I got worried and remembered that I hadn’t seen him that morning or the night before.  Was he hurt? Trapped? Trapped and hurt?

I looking started in the basement, under the shelves and behind the appliances. Then the first floor in the cabinets and windowsills.  Second floor, the bedrooms, under the bed, closets. Nothing.

Then, could he be…? I opened the door to the third floor and raced up the stairs.  I opened the door to the craft room and out came bounding my Thunder(cat).

I let out a deep sigh of relief and when I inhaled again I smelled cat pee.  I sniffed my way around the room and found it on the work chair.

And I wasn’t even a little mad – I would have peed on the chair too if I was shut up there. I got some cleaner and worked on the chair – with a happy cat trailing between my legs.  

All I can figure is that he must have slipped past me when I had my back turned and hid in the dark corner.  Since I didn’t hear or see him, I didn’t realize he’d followed me upstairs.

I felt terrible, but he was fine and not the least bit mad at me.  I’ve been keeping a closer eye on him and any trips behind closed require a feline inventory before I leave.

Cat: 1 unit.  Check.

My family still does Christmas lists and a couple years ago I was struggling to figure out what to put on mine.  I ended up adding a few silly items – included a Dual-Flush toilet replacement kit. When installed, you can lift the handle up for a 1/2 flush (using less water) or down for a full one.

Perhaps not surprisingly, my folks bought this for Christmas for me.  I was delighted and eager to give it a try, but when I opened up the box it seems way more complicated than the packaging suggested.

I set it aside for Another Day (™) and figured I’d get around to installing it eventually.

Fast forward to a few days ago when the upstairs toilet continued to run after flushing.   Ah, the perfect opportunity and no excuses – it was time to install the Dual-Flush replacement kit and save the damn planet.  One flush at a time.

I took off the lid of the tank with practiced ease and then turned off the water.  One good flush and I had a nearly empty tank. I skimmed the instructions to see what tools I needed and there were only two.

A sponge

And a pencil

Really?

The pencil was to mark the water line before draining the tank – so, I’d already screwed that up.  The sponge was to finish getting all the water out of the tank. So, I got a bucket and sponge and got the rest of the water out.  Then while it was drying, I read a little more about removing the old system.

It was basically everything except the flapper and so I set to work removing the various parts until I had damp pile of plastic pieces on the floor in no particular order.  I was going to throw these out, right?

Back to the directions and things got a little worrying.  There were a couple of pieces in the tank that were sealed in and not coming out without a fight – or being broken.  And the pictures of Steps 1 and 2 were not matching up.

I had myself a sit and studied this directions more carefully before I broke anything.  And, to my chagrin, there was a section neatly labeled “incompatible”. And one of those looked an awful lot like my tank set up.

I checked the parts and sure enough, the brand name matched with the “incompatible” label.

So, this new dual flush thing wasn’t going to work – and I had a floor covered in pieces of the old system.

This might be a good time to mention that I’m not a plumber.

Fortunately, I realized that there was only one of every piece and they could only go together in one way in the tank,  With a little trial and even less error, I got everything put back into place and turned the water back on. And then I flushed the toilet.

Everything worked – though it still kept running when it was done.  On the plus side, I had noted another way to adjust the float – so, I’ll get that worked out over time.

Just in case, I checked the downstairs toilet and it has the same setup. Not surprising.

The final verdict is that I’m no worse off than when I started.  

And for plumbing, that’s a win.

Last weekend was the pride celebration in Akron and… I wasn’t feeling it.  I’d had a difficult week at work and the thought of doing anything that meant interacting with other humans seemed like too much.

Last year, the threat of a protest against the celebration got me moving – but this time, there was no such target.  Right up until I left, I was on the fence about going.

But, I decided that sometimes it’s important to just show up.  To be counted. To be recognized as being part of something.

So, I put on some of my Zips gear – gotta represent – and some comfortable shoes, and headed to the parade/march.  I got there plenty early, found an out-of-the-way parking spot and then located a few people I know that were marching.   

I asked if I could join them and they were happy to have me.  I bought a couple of rainbow flags from a vendor – seemed the thing to do – and before long we were off and marching.  

Or rather, walking.  It was pretty low-key, but a nice day for a walk.  The route took us about a mile and a half down Market Street in Akron and stopped at the park where the festival was being held. We waved to people along the way and chatted amiably as we walked along.

When we got to the park, I left the group and made a couple rounds through the festival area.  I saw a couple of people I know and chatted for a bit, then got some lemonade and listened to the mayor make a speech.  I listened to the music for a bit and then…well… I’m like “now what?”

I did the thing and then I was sort done doing the thing.  

I didn’t want to wait for the trolley, so I just walked back along the parade route to my car and went home. 

And… I cheated myself out of the event, having managed to attend, but not really be there.  I should have hung around longer, listened to more of the music, found some booth with the people I wanted to interact with. Something. 

Jim and I went back when he got off of work, but by then they were closing up shop. 

I did it wrong.  I went to pride with a sort of event checklist and once that was done, I forgot to really enjoy myself. 

I’m glad I went and I’m glad I was in the parade and I’m glad – for what it was worth – that I was unofficially counted among those that attended.

But next year, I need to have a better plan and really try to be part of it.  Maybe it’s time to volunteer and give something back.

The University of Akron just got a new president last week – but I knew it was in the works well before that.  My boss asked for my help in setting up the folder on the website a few weeks ago and then he worked on the content.  It was all very cloak and dagger, hush-hush, top secret.

The day of the announcement, he asked me to move it from our DEV server to the main website.  I’ve done this kind of move before – it’s basically a complicated copy|paste operation – but we were on a deadline based on the board meeting and I had 1 hour to make the move. 

And wouldn’t you know it? The links to all the images broke.  I got the rest of the site moved over and then figured out the images – it was a bug in the system – and wrapped up my part with 5 minutes to spare.

Having skimmed the bio of the new president as I was working on the site, I’m cautiously optimistic.  There’s still a lot of pomp and circumstance at the moment – we’ll see how it goes once he settles into his new role.

One of my co-workers joined me – and the throng of people from across campus for the Meet-n-greet event with the President Elect and his wife.  The line was far too long when we got there, so we just said Hi to our VP, got some cookies, and left. We’ll meet the Pres later – he wouldn’t have remembered us anyway.  And the cookies were quite good.

—————–

Also last week, I got a visit from a Special Investigator.  I never quite figured out what branch of the government she was with, but she had an impressive badge and asked all kinds of intense questions. 

One of my former student assistants had gotten a job with the federal government a few years back and I had filled out some simple paperwork at the time as part of a background check.  This time, he was getting a new job with higher clearance and it required a more thorough background check and in-person visit.

I had all the paperwork ready when the special investigator arrived and we went through the standard employment questions – then went full dystopian.

“While he had been working for you, was this individual – to your knowledge – influenced by a foreign power?”

“Did they express any disloyalty to the United States?”

“Did they have any political connections to anyone in another country and were they in any financial situation influenced by a foreign power?”

And so forth.  It would have been a little absurd if it wasn’t so serious.  And there was nothing to tell – he worked for us less than a year, I would have hired him back, he was quiet and did a good job and showed up on time.

She thanked me for my time and asked to borrow our conference room so she could interview other campus folks – easier for them to meet her there rather than her get lost on campus.   I was fine with that – we rarely use our conference room anyway – and when her interviewees came in I directed them back.

When she was done, she thanked me again – I think I had saved her quite a bit of time and hassle.  She was then on her way and I’m hoping that I helped our former student get a new, better, and more important job.  Whatever that ended up being – I still don’t know.

——————

 Saturday was the first of the move-in days for campus – a little early to accommodate construction. 

I didn’t have anything planned for the day so I volunteered to help with the student’s move in – as part of a team of faculty and staff volunteers. 

The plan was to meet the students and their families at their cars at the unloading zone and pack up a bunch of shopping carts with all their stuff.  After we found out their rooms, the students were directed to go on ahead while we wheeled the carts into the building and the line for the elevators.  Three carts to an elevator, then down the hall to the room. From there, we unloaded the cart, wished the student a good semester, then sent the carts (in bulk) back down the elevator while we took the stairs.

Finally, we met the carts at the ground floor and took them back out to the unloading zone. 

And over and over again.

I got there a little early for my shift and left a little late – ended up spending nearly 5 hours there.    I helped a lot of families and they really appreciated it – and I got to hang out with some cool co-workers.

I was really tired and a little dehydrated when I was done.  And my calves hurt that night from running the stairs. But, I found out that over the course of the day we helped 243 people move into the dorm.  

Pretty amazing.

The move in continues through this week and classes start on Monday.  And I got to help a few students settle into their home away from home.  Not a bad way to start a semester.

It’s been an intensely busy week for me at work and my evenings have been full as well.  But it’s all good – I’m getting a lot done and not getting overwhelmed. And I deeply enjoy getting things done.

I’ve been fixing web pages left and right and managing projects like I was born to it.  I’ve dealt with complex personnel issues with grace and compassion, taught people all kinds of new things about systems, and fixed deeply technical problems like the geek that I am. I’ve been kind and helpful, created some art I was proud of, and still had time for video games.  

It occurred to me yesterday, as I was walking back to my office with a well deserved candy bar from the vending machine, that it would be nice if I could save this version of me.

‘Cause I know it won’t last.  My confidence will falter and my patience will slip.  I’ll lose that groove that has kept everything going smoothly and I’ll miss something important or just wear down.

Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just pull my back-up when that happens?  As Fiona Apple would say:

“Here it comes, a better version of me”

One quick “load from save” and I’m back on top – saving the day and making things go right. 

I kinda like this version I’ve got right now.  He’s just…more present than I’m used to being.

There are more challenges ahead of me tomorrow and things won’t really slow down until well after the semester starts at the end of the month. 

For now, I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and try to hold onto this version as long as I can.

A while back, I moved my origami projects from my own personal site to Tumblr – figuring this would be a good platform to host my artwork and would save me some time in formatting.

A tumblr site is a bit like a blog, but very focused on photos.  A site owner can post their own content – as I do – or they can repost other people’s content.  Over time, this can lead to sort of “curated” sites focusing on a topic. It might be cute pictures of dogs, architecture, classical art, politics, knitting – anything, really.  Those reposts connect sites and you could find many different sites that related to whatever topic or interest you had.

And because anything goes, some sites focused on adult content.

Which, of course, I know nothing about.  Ahem.

Tumblr got bought out and the new owners decided that this platform would no longer host adult content.  How they defined that has been widely reviled as sexist, racist, and generally bad for the LGBTQ community.  You can look up “female presenting nipples tumblr” to see some of that critique of the new rules.

I figured that, with a site full of original paper artwork, this would pretty much pass me by.  I didn’t like the rule change, but what’s inappropriate about origami?

Turns out the automated process that flags these posts didn’t like one of mine.

Here it is:

https://www.tumblr.com/thunderofwade/159235557419/collaboration-origami-butterflies-from-book

I had signed in to show someone a project I had posted and got a note that this post had been flagged as having adult content and was now hidden. 

There was an option to appeal and I clicked the link to have a human review it.  A few hours later I got an email that it had been reviewed, approved, and un-hidden.  With a thank you that this process helps keep the site “safer”.

If their automated process is that bad, if it can see a photo of origami butterflies and decide this is adult content – what else is it getting wrong?  And how is this keeping anyone safe?

There is a lot of darkness in people and a lot of that ends up on the internet.  And censoring that can walk a fine line. Images of people hurting other people or animals, yeah, that’s an easy one to censor.   Pretty clearly wrong and illegal. But human sexuality? Human nudity? That’s trickier.  

What is appropriate?   What do we, as a civilization or culture, define as taboo?  Who makes those rules? And as we add more machine intelligence to the picture, how do we teach machines the rules that we humans struggle to define?  The human form is amazing and beautiful and somehow, also, inappropriate. At least on the internet.

Tumblr hasn’t figured it out yet.  And I’ll need to keep a closer eye to see what they flag next. 

For now, though, enjoy the hand-painted paper butterflies.

Last Friday, Jim and I loaded up his car for a trip to West Virginia.  There was a surprise birthday party planned for his aunt on Saturday and we planned to spend the night at a hotel beforehand.

We got a little later start than we wanted and were doing okay until we came upon the exit that we would have normally taken to go to his mom’s house.  It was too much and too soon and we pulled over to take a minute – and I took over driving. We debated on just calling it and canceling the trip, but stuck it out and eventually stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel.  

Jim took over driving again and decided to take “the back roads” the rest of the way.  Now, the back road in WV are not like the back roads elsewhere. There were hairpin turns in the dark, washed out roads, and dozens of deer.  Along with a fox, an opossum, a fox, several feral cats – and Jim thinks he saw a bear.

We made it to the hotel, got checked in, and crashed.  

The next morning was a crowded breakfast and more back roads to finally locate the party location.  And somehow, in the age of phones and Facebook, they managed to surprise Jim’s aunt. Once she realized what was going on – and who we all were – she started crying in joy and surprise.  She spent the rest of the party on Cloud 9 and I think everyone had a good time. I made her some origami earrings and Jim painted some paper butterflies for her – which she loved.

It was a good party and I spent the clean-up time afterwards entertaining the kids with some high-speed paper folding.  We all have our roles.

Then it was time for the 4 hour drive back.  And while I’m glad we went and we had a good time, it was still rough on Jim.  His mom should have been there too and she would have loved it.  

We got home safely and later that evening I went on Facebook for a minute  – and saw a post from Jeff’s brother the day before. Just a small note about how it would have been Jeff’s birthday.

And I had…forgotten.  I’ve never been good at remembering birthdays – even sometimes my own – and when Jeff was alive, I would remember the general time period and have to carefully figure out the date from clues every year. 

But I’d forgotten entirely this time.  The date of his death? That I remember. But not his birthday.

I felt terrible about that for a while and tried to figure out some way to respond to the post without sounding like an asshole or idiot – and couldn’t come up with anything.  So, I let that post go past – as I’d let his birthday go past.

There’s nothing to be done about that.  No way to undo any of that – time is closed off behind us. And I have a package of regrets – comfortable in their own persistence  – that will linger.

Nothing to be done, but… I had forgotten. 

Last Friday was my boss’s last day on the job – he retired after 30+ years of service at the University.  We’ve known about this for a while and I’d already started taking over his responsibilities – and so on Monday, my promotion to Director of Web Services went into effect. 

There’s lots that’s good: bit more money, already familiar with the work, good rapport with my colleagues, new challenges.

There’s some not-great as well.  I’ll still be in charge of the switchboard and they aren’t going to back fill my current position.  So, I need to figure out how to do my old job and my new job in the same amount of hours.

What’s weird is that, more than once, I’ve gotten the thought in my head that I can’t possibly be in charge  – of anything, really. I’m still just a kid!

And then I remind myself that I’m actually a 46 year old adult and I’ve been working for the University of Akron for over 20 years.  So, I think I’ll be okay.

I’m aware, though, that just because I’m getting the nameplate on my door doesn’t mean that I’m suddenly the expert.  I’m taking a Supervision 101 course in the Fall and the changes I’m making are small to start off. We are getting rid of the Weekly Wednesday Webteam meetings for the time being, though.  Those were…not my favorite part of the week.

So, July 1, 2019 started a new era for our team.  And then on July 3rd, I inadvertently rerouted the entire UA website to an online archival collection of bags. For about 1 minute and 25 seconds.

It’s a long story and I got it fixed before anyone picked up the phone.  Still, not the greatest confidence booster.

Law of Identity

“Everything that exists has a specific nature. Each entity exists as something in particular and it has characteristics that are a part of what it is.’

Aristotle

A dog is a dog.  A dog is not a cat. A tree is not a plane.  A red car is a red car and is not a blue car.  The shorthand for this is: A=A

http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Metaphysics_Identity.html

I think I’ve written about this before and I bring this up again because I normally find it comforting – things are things.  But, I recently encountered a situation where this utterly fell apart.

The former owners of my house had installed an air cleaner on the furnace/AC – this is essentially a filter, but more efficient.

I had only ever found these replacement filters at Home Depot and only rarely in the correct size:      20 x 24 x 4

It comes in a box and has a series of pleats that are installed on a wire grid.  Expensive, frustrating to find, and difficult to install – but it lasts a year. And it had to be that size – the 20 x 24 x 6 simply would not fit.  As I learned when I accidentally bought that size and had to return it. From then on, I had a picture on my phone of the box.

I had bought a couple at once and then I suddenly couldn’t ever find them anymore.  I would check every time I went into Home Depot, but they only had the 20 x 24 x 6 – never the 20 x 24 x 4.

Enough time had passed that I had to replace it – no more delays.  I checked online at the Home Depot site and when I put in the part number – right off the 20 x 24 x 4  box – it came up with 20 x 24 x 6 in the description.

Though when I zoomed in on the box picture on the site – it clearly said it was 20 x 24 x 4.

Something was wrong.

I made another trip to the store and a sea of 20 x 24 x 6 filters faced me.  I went to customer service and asked they send someone to that section to help – hoping they had some hidden stash in a backroom.

When the guy showed up I explained my problem to him and he nodded sagely.  The 20 x 24 x 6 was, now, the right size. They had changed the label on the box and this was now the one I needed.

Wait, what?

He went on to say that he had that kind of air cleaner and that lots of people had that same question.

I picked up one of the 20 x 24 x 6 with as about as much skepticism as I’ve ever had in a home improvement store.   I thanked him, went to the checkout, and took my purchase home.

I didn’t put it in right away – knowing that whatever the outcome, I was going to be pissed off.

If it didn’t fit, then the guy was full of crap and gave me terrible advice.  If it did fit, then the filter company was full of crap.

When I finally got around to installing it, the filter fit perfectly.

Now, we’re not talking part numbers – 20 x 24 x 4 are dimensions in inches.  There are matching dimensions on the inside of my air cleaner. It was 20 x 24 x 4  and now it’s 20 x 24 x 6.

It’s like buying an 11 inch ruler and someone telling you – “oh, now that’s 12 inches”

No, No, NO!  That is not how things work!  A second lasts a second. An inch is an inch. The red car is a red car.   THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!

I was livid – and also oddly relieved that I wasn’t crazy.  Literally, the world was crazy.

And, on whatever bright-side there is when the physical dimensions of reality have completely broken down, at least they have them in stock.

The wrong sized ones.  That are now the right size.  And fit in a space smaller than they used to.

Sigh.    A=A

Except when it’s sometimes B.

Jim and I took an impromptu road trip on Memorial Day weekend and on our way back, we stopped at an Ikea.  We spent part of the morning wandering through the maze of treasures with unpronounceable names and ended up with an armful of things we desperately needed – or so it seemed.

Jim checked his phone and got a panicked look on his face – an urgent request to call his brother.  He found an exit to take a call and I started to try and find the checkout – then backtracked when I realized he wouldn’t be able to find me.  When we did meet up again, he was shattered. His brother had gone to visit their mom that morning and found her on the floor of her home.

Janice was gone.

Jim melted down, as one would expect, somewhere in office supplies of the Ikea.  I held him for a few moments, then we decided that he needed to go to the car. I still had all the things in hand that we’d picked out and I decided – because I’m American and hardwired as a consumer – that I would check out and meet him soon.  He headed for the door and I found the checkout again – but the line was 20 people deep and I came to my senses. I left everything on a table with an unpronounceable name and left the store.

I got to the car and Jim was sobbing uncontrollably.  I tried to console him – knowing full well there was nothing I could really do – and then got behind the wheel.  The next and only thing to do was get home.

We didn’t talk much on the way and didn’t listen to any music as we normally would.  He was still in shock, but tried to notify people before it finally became too much. Janice had been into the hospital in early April for heart problems, but she had seemed to be on the mend and her sudden death was unimaginable.

Back in Akron, I dropped him off at his house and went home to quickly eat.  When I was done, I picked him up and drove him to his mom’s house – his childhood home – to meet with his brothers.

There was nothing to be done there except speculate as to what had happened, try (and fail) to make sense of it all, and be there for each other.  His sister in law brought food and we ate and talked quietly, the brothers taking turns stepping outside to make the dreaded calls.

They made plans to meet up with the funeral home the next day and so we drove back to Akron again.

Monday, Memorial day, the brothers met and made the arrangements.  Jim and I met up later that day and I tried, and failed, to help.

A couple days later I made a craft store run and got some paper for flowers and a vase. It’s my small way to contribute and sometimes bring a little joy to the most terrible of times.

On Friday morning, the immediate family met at the graveside for a small service.  It was… a beautiful day. Terrible, heart wrenching… but beautiful, none the less. There was a time before and after the service where we all just stood quietly and listened to the wind and birds.

The minister did a fine job not having known Janice and I think everyone found some comfort there.  I drove Jim back to Akron and then went on into work for a few hours before the service. The timing was such that I ended up meeting the family at the funeral home and though her physical body wasn’t there, the sadness was just as palpable.

Jim wanted me in the receiving line with him and I stood with him, but a little back.  Made it easier to step forward for introductions and to slide back when my presence would just be confusing to some of his more distant – and perhaps less understanding – relatives.

When not talking to people, I wandered about as I quietly made paper butterflies – one of Janice’s favorites.  She and I were both a bit a reserved with each other and it took us a while to warm up – but we had gotten closer and I regretted that we hadn’t had more time. She had treated me as Jim’s partner and that meant lot to both he and I.

There was some familiar faces at the calling hours and a few surprises, but everyone was well behaved and the evening passed by.

After a meal together it was back to Akron to prepare for the luncheon on Saturday.

We got to the church’s hall early the next day, got set up, and waited.  The crowd turned out to be a good one and I think having the family all together was the best thing.  We cleaned up afterwards and once more back to Akron.

Sunday, there was nothing for Jim to do.  The planning and arrangements and meetups were done.  The phone calls completed, the flowers delivered – the only thing left to do was think.

He’d be nearly okay for a bit, then his gaze would turn inward and it would overwhelm him again.

And I kept wracking my brain to try and find something useful to say, something that could make things better or at least more bearable.  And I kept failing – though I guess just being there helped.

I can’t imagine what he and his brothers are going through, but I’m hopeful that time will resolve what my words and good intentions cannot.

My heart breaks for him.