Day 75 Bad Day

I'm a tough cookie.  There isn't much that makes me cry these days.  Maybe I cried them all out a few years ago. Maybe I've gotten a tough (or tougher?) shell around me. Maybe I'm colder and harder hearted than I used to be.

As tough as I think I am, though, I wasn't prepared for today.  There was nothing super standout about today. We didn't have our usual Thursday pot luck since the KPMA ladies had pizza courtesy of their long distance boss.  

I was babying my work. Trying to make it last.  I enjoyed my job.  Oh, what is it? Some of you know.  I am a listener.  I'm the person who actually evaluates a call when you hear that voice on the telephone say, "This call may be monitored for training and compliance purposes."  Yes, there are people who actually listen to your interactions with a credit card company, an insurance agent, a billing department.

Day 74 It's Almost Concrete

Now that springtime has officially arrived, even if the temperature isn't totally in agreement, certain springtime activities are occurring in the neighborhood. Perhaps you have noticed some as well.

Around here they have started to replace the concrete sidewalks. Not all of them are in equally poor condition.

The main sections they seem to be hitting are the corners where they are either repairing or replacing the section and making it easier for wheelchair bound folks to navigate across the street.  Jack hammers rattle windows during the day while crews take out broken concrete from the already cracked sidewalks.

They are putting in sloped sections that make a smooth run from sidewalk level to street level.  Some of these slopes are also grooved for, ostensibly, water flow to keep the ice from building up too much and making  the slope too slick.

To prevent people from walking where the work is occurring signs have been placed,  "Sidewalk closed."

Day 73 Seeing is Believing

Sometimes, we take things on faith, sometimes taking something on faith is the last thing we think we'll do.  Faith is sometimes described as being hopeful for something you can't see, taste, feel, or hear.

I've had to get a number of shots in my eyes (and yes, it is possible to see the needle coming).  I usually get these shots after m eye doctor has looked at a photographs of the inside of my eye.

Think about that for a minute.  I get pictures taken of the inside of my eye.

These images let him know if there is swelling of my macula. Getting the photographs requires my eyes be dilated and that I hold them still while I look at a small blue light. A number of photos are taken and then compiled. 

Photo by: By Jmarchn - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37895270

The final result looks like an eerie black and white moonscape with a dip in the center.  The surface is usually a thin powdery white line and below it is what reveals potential problems. This part of the macula is gray and has a spongy type appearance and pockets of fluid of varying sizes might be seen.   When the pockets are large, there is swelling in the macula and it flattens the dip. 

Day 72 Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Many people advocate against the death penalty for various reasons. Some don't support life in prison sentences. Others oppose chain gangs, solitary, and overall general prison conditions. With the privatization of the prisons there hasn't been much in the way of improvement. Frequently, these concerns are voiced as "cruel and unusual punishment."

It doesn't get a lot more cruel than what United Health Care/Optum is doing to the employees "kept on" after the site closure announcement. Most of us have little in the way of work.  We're getting sent emails asking us to refer friends and family to the behemoth.  Worse, a layer or two of management above us don't exhibit any care or concern for those impacted by the closure.

Day 71 Taking a Chance

I've recently started shooting pool. I played some years ago when I was still a bit wet behind the ears so I know some of the basics.

Now that I'm thinking about it, we actually had a carrom board as kids and that was probably my first introduction to that sort of shooting game.

The pool I am practicing with now isn't on a traditional table.  I'm practicing on a WII.  Other than the obvious, there are two major differences between a physical board and the pool set-up on the WII.  My particular WII game only has nine balls and the only game you can play is one in which you have to hit the correct numeric ball first or it counts as a scratch.  The second big difference is that you can't watch how the ball reacts throughout the table.  The focus of the game is primarily on the cue ball.