Friday, January 6, 2017

January 5, 2017

 This morning I woke up and the guys on the radio said there wasn't much snow on the ground, like maybe an inch. They apparently get to work very early and have no access to windows because when I looked there was well over an inch.

This presented a bit of a problem because maybe my tires need changing. I had absolutely no traction. Once I turn onto the main road by my house there is a big hill. Turning onto the main road was a bit sketchy but I made sure there weren't any cars behind me and that the ones in front were far in front so I wouldn't have to worry about having to stop halfway up the hill and then not being able to start up it again. When I turned onto the next side street it was back to a lot of wheel spinning and minor fishtailing. I couldn't tap the gas light enough to avoid spinning out. After parking at the dentist's office I looked at my tires they were completely packed with snow and ice. So I was basically driving on ice skates.

I should have canceled my dentist appointment because they told me what they always tell me. My teeth look great. My gums look great. Keeping doing what I'm doing.

On my way home I tried using the manual shift option on my car. I think it was my first time using it on purpose. I think most automatic cars have Drive and then a couple other lower gear options but mine just has the manual shift option. Getting out of the parking lot I kept it in first and second gear. I got adventurous and bumped it up to third on the side street. I went back to full auto on the main street until I got to the hill near my house and then left it in second going down the hill so I wouldn't have to use my brakes. I felt a lot safer doing that.

With the rest of my morning I watched more Madoka Magica and played more Farming Simulator 15. I finally had enough money to buy the corn-harvesting header for my combine, so I did and went to the store to get it. Then I spent at least twenty minutes harvesting my corn field. One of the reasons it took so long is because my trailer isn't very big so I had to take multiple trips to go sell it.

I believe it was on my last trip to sell grain, right after unloading it, that the power blinked and my computer shut off. When I got everything turned back on and got back into the game I learned that I apparently hadn't saved in awhile. I was standing at the spawn point without a tractor because it was up at the grain place. When I ran down to my field, all the corn was still there, not harvested, and my combine did not have the corn-harvesting header on it. Good grief. I had to run all the way back to the grain place to get my tractor, then re-bought the header and drove to the store to pick it up, and then started to harvest the corn for the second time. It made a tedious job enough more tedious. I did learn that there is invisible corn, however, so that's a plus. Even when there aren't any cornstalks visible, if there are dark, shadow-looking spots, there's corn there.

Before heading to work I swept off half of my front porch and the steps so that when my box of food was delivered the UPS guy wouldn't have to leave it in the snow.

Work was a slow and quiet day. I finalized the handout for the class next week. I added in the XKCD comic about passwords, as well as links to the random word list and random number generator, along with a screenshot of how I used the random number generator.

I sent an email to all the patrons coming to the class, or at least started the email. The librarian who will be teaching the class composed most of it because she knew what she wanted to say and she wanted to say it in her own style. It was basically a helpful reminder for the patrons attending that they should have access to their email address, especially if they need to create a Facebook account, and they should bring pictures if they want to upload pictures. We also asked them to send in any questions they would like answered during the class. Hopefully they all read the email. At least one person did and wrote back with a question that was way beyond the scope of the glass. The librarian responded, basically saying as much, and told her about the one-on-one tech trainer and the tech drop-in times. Which means I should probably start researching the question just in case.

Tonight I spent most of the evening talking with my coworker. When we work together, especially closing, we end up spending a lot of the time talking about video games and other random tech things. It was good tonight because I really didn't have anything I needed to do. Or was willing to do. I made a post on our building-wide job talking about the upcoming classes and workshops and included a picture of the schedule. This was the idea of one of the other librarians and I think it was a good one. Now the other staff around the building will have an idea of what is coming up in case they get a question from a patron or see a patron need that can be met by one of the classes or workshops.

The two older ladies were back today. They were there when I got to work at noon and I have no reason to believe they hadn't been there since we opened. And they were there as we closed, like they have been several times over the last two weeks. I could still hear them upstairs with five minutes to go so I went up and my coworker was trying to urge them along. While he turned to help one of them get her flash drive the other logged back into the computer and started typing a new document because she wanted to print it out. My coworker and I both started protesting at the same time and told her she didn't have time and needed to log off. They were still picking up things as the final announcement went off and I headed downstairs to do a final walkthrough. I joked the other day with my coworkers that we needed to block off the bathrooms because the go-to of these ladies is to be there until we actually close and then go into the bathroom for at least another five minutes. Tonight the custodian actually put a sign on the door saying there was a leak in the first floor women's restroom and locked the door. It worked perfectly because they couldn't get in and had to resign themselves to actually leaving.

When I got home there was not one but two boxes on my porch. One was obviously my food. It was packaged really well. Each meal was in its own small box, which were located inside a thermal bag thing along with two big ice packs. This must be a winning combo because even though it had sat on my porch for five hours, nothing was frozen. There are a couple ingredients I'm not going to use, like the kale for the soup, or the olives for the flatbread, but I'm excited to try the different meals.

The other box was the space heat with the 3D virtual fireplace effect that my mom ordered the other day and that she let me pay for. Much like the ladder it was also a pain in the butt to get out of the box. One of the leading reasons for finding a significant other at the moment is that so I have someone to hold boxes as I try to get crap out of them. I did eventually manage it, got the legs screwed on, and got it plugged in. I like it. It seems solidly built, it looks nice, and the flame effect is pretty cool. So far I am pleased.

When I got the food put away and the heater put together I hoped into Farming Simulator 15 and recorded today's audio journal. It ended up lasting over thirty minutes, which is surprising. And now after writing all this it feels a bit like deja vu. Such is my life now. I am enjoying recording the audio journal and I hope I keep it up this time.


Now I am going to go to bed because it is half past midnight and I'm tired. My goal for tomorrow was to not leave the house but I apparently have a urologist appointment tomorrow afternoon. I thought I had one coming up but didn't realize it was so soon. At least it is in the afternoon. I haven't had a kidney stone in quite awhile now, so I kind of feel like canceling the appointment but it can't hurt just to check in. I'll probably end up going.

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