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Hanging in there in May
2022-Jul-20, Wednesday 15:51This was stuck in the buffer, from the first week in this last May.
The contract gig I started in Oct, started with an unknown length and ended in late Jan.
Had I known that it would end so soon, I probably would not have paid off 2 credit cards in Dec,
as that depleted my reserves.
Paying off the 2 cards did improve my rating and resulted in limits being raised on the 2 cards.
That is the silver lining to my scary current situation.
Well, its been tight, but the Amazon sunrise shift has helped extend what I had left.
Im not going to make it through June without a new day job, however.
On Tuesday, I went on my first FACE to FACE interview in 3 years.
I am cautiously optimistic.
They are just starting to bring people back onsite.
As I was leaving, a convoy of flat dollies laden with boxes and boxes and boxes of paper mail to be
distributed to people as they return to their cubes.
One thing that appeals to me about the job is that it is NOT one of these horrid "Open Office" disasters.
Rumour has it that we are getting our annual raise in May at Amazon.
Last year, I got 2 of them in May, one when they converted me to white badge to blue badge,
and then a week later the annual one.
For a number of years, I have had recurring bouts of athletes foot,
which eventually ushered in toe nail issues.
I also have something that I suspect is an improperly healed broken foot bone on the left.
(There isnt a lot you can do for most foot fractures, casts rarely make a difference.)
Colleen kept trying to blame both on pre diabetic condition.
I dont see a connection.
About the time I started at Amazon, I realized there was an odd swelling in the right foot and a
tingling sensation.
I attributed that to the dramatic increase in walking that Im doing.
A year later, its still there and the tingling has spread to the left foot.
This time, Im seriously considering the possibility of foot neuropathy.
I have finally started a list of things to look at as soon as Im elligible for medical again.
Last Oct, while recovering from walking pneumonia, a set a personal best of better than 12 mi during
a 5hr shift at Amazon.
A couple weeks ago, I managed to break 15 and Im STILL trying to figure out how I managed to pull that off.
Last week, I broke 13 one of the days.
If I spend a lot of time inside a truck or on a scan line, I only get 5 or 6 mi.
If I spend the whole time doing nothing but moving pallets, I end up over 9 and usually over 10.
My parents did international folk dance for over 45 years.
When Mom got a new hip and again when she went into assisted living, the question was
"What is her sport? We can tell from her vitals that shes an athlete"
It took a while for me to realize that the answer is "Shes a dancer"
A year after Mom passed, Dad returned to Berkeley Folk Dancers.
After he retired he used to do a daily 2 or 3 mi hike.
When people see us together they think we are brothers and are pretty sure Im the older one.
My father thinks its hilarious, he hasnt turned grey yet, despite being late 80s.
For the last few years, I have resembled a skinny St Nick.
People would ask how my Dad was and Id tell them that he was in better physical shape than I am.
Amazon is in the process of leveling the field.
Im still 145 - 150, and size 29 trousers (If they can be had with a 33in inseam!) are quite comfortable.
Classical pipe organs have graces churches for centuries.
Special "Theatre pipe organs" were developed at the end of WW1 for silent film use.
American Theatre Organ Society (ATOS.org) was founded in the mid 1950s.
Our first local ATOS event since the pandemic started was last last weekend.
A number of people were surprised at how much Ive shrunk (OK I DID wear a faily tight shirt and pants)
I did get upstaged by another guy.
Chris had been in the hospital before the pandemic with somehting pretty severe.
With the pandemic nobody saw him til now.
Chris lost over 100 lbs. Ive never seen him that slim in the 40 years Ive known him.
This week, I went to the CycleGear "BikeNight".
Its finally back after the pandemic.
I won one of the raffles, a t-handle kex wrench set and a motorcycle drivechain cleaning brush.
Normally Im in bed by 4pm to be up at 10:30 to go to Amazon.
BikeNight wasnt over til after 7. I drove to Amazon and zonked out in the parking lot and managed OK with only 4 hrs sleep.
The contract gig I started in Oct, started with an unknown length and ended in late Jan.
Had I known that it would end so soon, I probably would not have paid off 2 credit cards in Dec,
as that depleted my reserves.
Paying off the 2 cards did improve my rating and resulted in limits being raised on the 2 cards.
That is the silver lining to my scary current situation.
Well, its been tight, but the Amazon sunrise shift has helped extend what I had left.
Im not going to make it through June without a new day job, however.
On Tuesday, I went on my first FACE to FACE interview in 3 years.
I am cautiously optimistic.
They are just starting to bring people back onsite.
As I was leaving, a convoy of flat dollies laden with boxes and boxes and boxes of paper mail to be
distributed to people as they return to their cubes.
One thing that appeals to me about the job is that it is NOT one of these horrid "Open Office" disasters.
Rumour has it that we are getting our annual raise in May at Amazon.
Last year, I got 2 of them in May, one when they converted me to white badge to blue badge,
and then a week later the annual one.
For a number of years, I have had recurring bouts of athletes foot,
which eventually ushered in toe nail issues.
I also have something that I suspect is an improperly healed broken foot bone on the left.
(There isnt a lot you can do for most foot fractures, casts rarely make a difference.)
Colleen kept trying to blame both on pre diabetic condition.
I dont see a connection.
About the time I started at Amazon, I realized there was an odd swelling in the right foot and a
tingling sensation.
I attributed that to the dramatic increase in walking that Im doing.
A year later, its still there and the tingling has spread to the left foot.
This time, Im seriously considering the possibility of foot neuropathy.
I have finally started a list of things to look at as soon as Im elligible for medical again.
Last Oct, while recovering from walking pneumonia, a set a personal best of better than 12 mi during
a 5hr shift at Amazon.
A couple weeks ago, I managed to break 15 and Im STILL trying to figure out how I managed to pull that off.
Last week, I broke 13 one of the days.
If I spend a lot of time inside a truck or on a scan line, I only get 5 or 6 mi.
If I spend the whole time doing nothing but moving pallets, I end up over 9 and usually over 10.
My parents did international folk dance for over 45 years.
When Mom got a new hip and again when she went into assisted living, the question was
"What is her sport? We can tell from her vitals that shes an athlete"
It took a while for me to realize that the answer is "Shes a dancer"
A year after Mom passed, Dad returned to Berkeley Folk Dancers.
After he retired he used to do a daily 2 or 3 mi hike.
When people see us together they think we are brothers and are pretty sure Im the older one.
My father thinks its hilarious, he hasnt turned grey yet, despite being late 80s.
For the last few years, I have resembled a skinny St Nick.
People would ask how my Dad was and Id tell them that he was in better physical shape than I am.
Amazon is in the process of leveling the field.
Im still 145 - 150, and size 29 trousers (If they can be had with a 33in inseam!) are quite comfortable.
Classical pipe organs have graces churches for centuries.
Special "Theatre pipe organs" were developed at the end of WW1 for silent film use.
American Theatre Organ Society (ATOS.org) was founded in the mid 1950s.
Our first local ATOS event since the pandemic started was last last weekend.
A number of people were surprised at how much Ive shrunk (OK I DID wear a faily tight shirt and pants)
I did get upstaged by another guy.
Chris had been in the hospital before the pandemic with somehting pretty severe.
With the pandemic nobody saw him til now.
Chris lost over 100 lbs. Ive never seen him that slim in the 40 years Ive known him.
This week, I went to the CycleGear "BikeNight".
Its finally back after the pandemic.
I won one of the raffles, a t-handle kex wrench set and a motorcycle drivechain cleaning brush.
Normally Im in bed by 4pm to be up at 10:30 to go to Amazon.
BikeNight wasnt over til after 7. I drove to Amazon and zonked out in the parking lot and managed OK with only 4 hrs sleep.
