I've been in this apartment since the end of last quarter, before Christmas, and yesterday I finally finished putting the rest of my stuff away. This is much better. Mom's creshe was the first project. After that I couldn't stop. I even got some cleaning in. So all my books are finally in the bookcase and the floor is clear. I can live like this for a while. This week we are doing the immune and respiratory systems. I can catch up a little on Tuesday because I'm taking it off for the school advising session. That day may come in handy also should jeckyl be hyde today. Peace.

Work is a roller coaster, and all according to the knob's mood. Stupid, stupid managing. Bob and I worked together today on both of our properties. His name is now chainsaw-Bob. He limbed some trees and cut back some shrubs. He limbed and cut back a lot. The homeless guy near Dravus and 15th exclaimed, "you cut the hell out of that! You might as well hit it with napalm next. No more drinking and pissing back there." Bob took that as a very good compliment.

That's right. No more drinking and pissing back there. As far as I lead a live and let live philosophy, I am sick of cleaning up after bums who make their nest in my landscaping. If I have a chance to raise the skirt on some shrubs and clear out some ivy from someone little corner, then I do. For one thing it looks better and another is that they have no qualms about leaving their bottles, cans, clothes, needles and shit behind. I'm just sick of cleaning up after them.

I'll finally run with the group again tomorrow. We had the cardiovascular test last night so I am not bound to studying as much as previous weeks, and Cougar is a great place to run. It'll be nice to get out and get moving.

I should be studying for the next exam on Thursday, but, a quick update on current things. I finally made an appointment today with a program advisor for next week. I have to give credit to my boss for helping me scrape my way out of this job. He doesn't have a problem with this. But other than that, if there are problems he doesn't want to hear about, then it would do just as well to keep quiet. Eric says bide my time.

I actually like what I do. That is the funny part. They can make an easy (but physical) thing hard by requiring us to jump through all their stupid hoops. It is a bureaucratic and managerial thing. Wouldn't it be nice if there were companies who (gasp) actually had managers who worked for and with the people who actually DID the work, thus making the whole operation more efficient and productive? It is easy for a person to sell their soul to an employer/owner and thus be the knob who throws each and every stupid requirement at the workers with little consideration for morale or material compensation. I actually believe my boss when he says he is trying to get me and others our raises. Here, the owner is being uncooperative.

Where I work now it is all adding up; the stalled raise, the stalled overtime for getting up at 2 AM for snow removal (mandatory), the new mechanic who surprises me in that no one in his whole life up until now has killed him (I am truly surprised he is alive he is such an asshole, for real), the new requirement that the drivers all check their trucks every day when the mechanic is there a half hour before us -- they want us out of the yard as fast as possible, the inconsistency in wanting the whole job done but not budgeting the hours to do it, making us pay for our driving record when it is needed for the job...

There is probably more but I need to wrap this up. Last year when James asked me how I standed it there, I kind of thought for a time and answered that, "I worked at the hotel". I thought of it and realized it and it hit home all at the same time; that I had worked at the hotel and that I could put up with anything. The key now is that I choose what I put up with, I hope.

This week three years ago Mom and I had started our hoped to be series of trips. It didn't turn out the way we had planned. I believe I could feel her presence when I was moving into my present apartment. Here is the entry from January 25, 2002:


Here are some quotes for today. Take care. one,two,three,four,five.


Mom had wanted to visit all of her kids. We got to the two in New Hampshire but not the rest. I just wanted to note this here for this week before I get too busy. Y'all have a good one.

The car is fixed. If I had a better income, I could have used all the money for the last fix as a down payment on a new one, but the truth is that landscapers don't get payed well. Bob was a good sport about helping me drop the car off and pick it up and getting me to work the next morning. When in Bellevue, he got excited about a bar he had gone to 20 years earlier, so we had to stop for a few and some pool. I don't know whether it was the lack of food in me or that maybe I had hit my limit, but the next day, yesterday, my stomach couldn't hold anything and I was at half energy. Stopping there wasn't such a good idea I guess, but he was so excited and single minded about getting there I didn't protest. He had some close games but didn't win.

While inside it really became apparent to me the contrast between how I have been living and what I saw. What an unhealthy environment in so many ways. I didn't feel well enough to run with the club this morning, and besides, I should be studying for the next test.

No running today, but I got a lot of walking in. Half of the car list was done also. I need to bring it back for Friday so that they can get the carbon out of the engine and replace the plugs and plug wires. One of them isn't even working. For today's work I now have two new tires, new bushings in the front and a new tie-rod. The thumping came from the tire because the tie rods were loose. I couldn't salvage the tires. More money for the credit card, and even more yet next Friday. Not a cheap fix but it had to be done. At this rate I'm never going to get that TV. I'll have to hunt down a sports bar for the Patriots-Colts game tomorrow. Go Pats.

I'm off to get the car looked at today. I have to go back to Redmond for this. It would have been far easier to have done it when I still resided there. The tires need to be rotated, the oil changed, the engine tuned up and the break pads checked. I also think now that one tire is out of balance. Maybe I can run later. Peace.

On Thursday, January 20th, "Not One Damn Dime Day."

"everything old is new again", The horrors of El Salvador revisited.

If I only had the nerve to do what this guy is doing. He sounds convinced.

We had our first test tonight for this quarter. He asked very specific questions. A few of us agreed that he departed from his usual test type and that we were now worried about our outcomes. I had already been up since 2:10 AM applying ice melt and shoveling the little snow that was deposited in the Northgate area last night. On the plus side, it is overtime pay and then we got to go to Beth's for breakfast. I got my laundry done after a short nap and then I studied. I don't know that I could have studied any differently for this one, knowing what I know now.

"fantabulous."

Well I had a long post written up about the work trouble last Thursday, about how someone I work with doesn't see it my way and about how I am trying to stand my ground on this one. I don't think that I was alloted enough time there and I don't have much time from other places to compensate. I'm kind of surprised by how I'm not budging on this one. I also wrote that they can have the roof of dog shit. (actual copious amounts of dog shit everywhere) Peace.

It seems I have a cold. It hasn't made its way to my chest (I don't think), so maybe it won't be too bad. I'm not used to this headache. School starts tonight. I hope that my work day and week are uneventful. What kind of work weeks are going on out there?

E.J. Dionne Jr. writes:
"One line of attack against Bush is to say that his certainties are mistaken and that he never, ever questions them. That's true. It's also inadequate. Those who oppose the direction in which Bush is leading us need to propose an alternative."