Veterans Working on Veterans’ Day

Posted on by chappyshi

I guess I will say this every year.  What good is Veterans’ Day if veterans have to work?  As a veteran of 10 years in the Navy, 7 of which I spent overseas, other than a slight preference in government hiring, I get nothing but pride.  Wouldn’t it be a great thing if every veteran got Veterans’ Day off with pay?  May we could all do volunteer work, give back to the community, or work with disabled veterans.

Enough said about that.  Thanks to all those who served, fought, sacrificed, and died.  You will always be remembered, valued and respect by me!

Back to Work, Starting the Night Shift

Posted on by chappyshi

Well, I start week five of my new job tonight.  I did two weeks of normal business hours, two weeks of days (0600-1400) and now I am starting nights (2200-0600).  I am working Monday through Friday night this week.  Next week I think  I am on Sunday to Wednesday so I will  only get one day off in between.  Then I go to Saturday through Thursday nights for the foreseeable future.

I think that I will be working on Thanksgiving night but should still be able to enjoy the dinner prior to going to work.  Since I will work Thanksgiving, I should get Christmas off.  I do not know how long this schedule will be in place but I will deal with it in hopes of better things down the line.

Today is the tough day since it is my first night shift.  I have been getting up reasonably early and today I was up at 0730.  I  will probably have been awake for nearly 24 hours by the time I get to sleep tomorrow morning.  I feel confident that sleep will come easily.  I  never had much trouble sleeping during the day when I was shift working in the Navy.  Of course I am 16 years older but….

I did get out and get a nice paddle in on Burke Lake and walk on the treadmill for about 35 minutes.  I would like to get more walking in but am having problems with my left leg.  What I believe is a pinched nerve or sciatica is causes alternating numbness and achiness when I stand up for too long and/or walk.  Nonetheless it was a beautiful day albeit very windy and a bit chilly.  Not chilly enough to keep me off the water though I did use my splash skirt.

Snotty Tears Run Down My Face

Posted on by chappyshi

I am not quite sure why I rented  “Marley and Me” through Netflix but it was not the best movie to watch less than three weeks after I put my my cat and friend of 19.5 years, Hamlet, to sleep.  While it was a movie, and the circumstances were not exactly the same, there were many similarities in the downfall of Marley and of Hamlet.  The loss of energy, the deterioration of vital organs, the look  on their faces….

I felt a horrible deja vu as Owen Wilson said his goodbyes to Marley who laid helplessly on a table in the vet’s  examining room.  He made a decision, as did I, that it was better to put the dog down.  I will wonder forever,why I thought I had the power.  He held Marley close as I did Hamlet, thanked him for all  the love and joy he had brought him  and his family and wished him well in in the afterlife.  He stayed close, as did I, as the doctor injected the death potion into the IV.

He caressed Marley…as  I did Hamlet, as within less than twenty seconds, his eyes closed, the doctor checked for a heartbeat, and declared his friend of so many years dead.  Except Hamlet’s eyes never closed and he twitched and occasionally expelled air from his lungs for five or six minutes after he was declared  dead.  If there is a kitty heaven, Hamlet deserves to be there.

I lingered for some time with him until I wondered what else I was supposed to do.  What could I do?  It was over.  I still hope that I did the right thing.  Sure it was only a movie, but as I think about Marley, helplessly lying in the cold and compare him to Hamlet helpless convulsing in a diabetic seizure, I think I did the right thing.  Even so, I am not sure I will sleep too well tonight.

Photos Imbedded in Post Not Displaying in Preview

Posted on by chappyshi

I’ll have to research this one but if you are looking at the previews of my posts and there is odd “formatting style” text or indications that there should be pictures and there are no pictures, click on the post title to view it in its entirety along with the pictures.  I will see if I can find the fix for the issue and rectify it soonest

Just Another Web Scam…Read the Fine Print

Posted on by chappyshi

Watch out for these guys.  I am not sure how they got me but they have been getting me for quite a while.  I am likely to flush $350 down the toilet because I wasn’t watching a credit card I almost never use.  I take the blame for that definitely but I still want my money back from these assholes:

MVQ*24PROTECTPLUS

Here is their “claim to fame,” “raison d’existence,” or really their “how can we screw you now without you knowing it until we have sucked some bucks out of you” statement:

“24 Protect Plus members can enjoy greater peace of mind through a variety of benefits designed to provide greater security and protection for their homes, family members, finances, pets, cars and more.  As a 24Protect Plus member, you can protect your family budget as well, thanks to more than $1,500 in savings each membership year.”

What the hell does that mean?  I obviously missed a check box somewhere and/or did not read the fine print and, as I well admit, didn’t look at my credit card statement carefully enough.  Nonetheless, I cannot see how any responsible enforcer of business law could find a reason why anyone would sign up for this “service.”  Look at the web site…what services are they providing that one would pay a monthly fee for?

I tried to get some money back from these assholes but will be lucky if I get 20% out of it.  I will be taking this one further because there are certainly others out there that have been sucked in to the same scam.  And I don’t like taking it without lube…

WTF UPS?

Posted on by chappyshi

As you may or may not know, I order green coffee beans online and roast them myself at home weekly.  I have been ordering from the same company for months since I started home roasting.  I have never had any issues with the deliveries from UPS until now.  According to the UPS website, they tried to deliver the package to me three times unsuccessfully, then they decided to hold it for pickup, then the address was wrong and they corrected it, and then it was scanned for delivery at 4:03 this morning.  It is now 8:30 in the evening, I have been in my apartment all day, and I am not seeing any packages, eh?

Here is what I have seen from those “InfoNotices” they put on your door.  On 9/27, “Your written signature is required to leave package(s).  I signed the back of the notice and left it on my door when I went out midday on  9/28.  Unfortunately, I did not do so when I headed out about 5:15 PM later that day so I missed another deliver attempt.  Another InfoNotice dated 9/28 was left on my door stating that the package had been left in the “office.”  This is normal but when I went to pick it up yesterday, 9/29,  the package was not there.  I went out later on in the day, 9/29, and left the signed release form on my door but when I got home sometime around 6:30 PM I had another InfoNotice on the door, right next to the signed release form, stating that “The sender required a signature at the time of delivery.”

I confirmed with the sender that all they required was a signature, it did not have to be in person, and the package could be left in the management office, as has happened numerous times before.  I have talked to UPS twice.  They wanted to send the package back which was unacceptable.  They wanted me to come pick up the package which was again unacceptable.  Then they wanted to charge me to redeliver which was of course totally unacceptable.  Get some customer service eh?  And were are my effing coffee beans?

2010 DC Cherry Blossom Festival, Revisited

Posted on by chappyshi

I never did wrap up my story and pictures from my trip down in to Washington, DC, to see the cherry blossoms.  I am not sure that I will ever wrap up the story though the  search for a glass of water and a cold beer still lingers obnoxiously in my brain.  Nonetheless, I finally, five months later, finished posting my pictures from the day trip.

The pictures are accessible via the photo album link on my home page or if that is too much work, you can follow the links below to get you where I want you to go.

All  the pictures

If you just want to see the late updates, here they are:

Washington Monument

Tulips

Kayaking, New Page Added

Posted on by chappyshi

I have added a page to my blog specifically for kayaking.  For the moment, the page just lists the places where I have kayaked with links to the access points less that of the Ferrisburg, VT, town beach.  I will be adding over the winter comments and pictures about each location and as I revisit the the sites I will include updated information.  I hope that this page will provide a reference for other kayakers as to good places to get on the water.

Slow Dreams

Posted on by chappyshi

I also dreamed last night that I was walking up a hill on a city street somewhere.  It was one of those dreams in which no matter how hard you try, you can just barely make any progress walking.  Symbolic of my job hunt perhaps?  At some point I step off the curb into an open gutter filled with dead fish.  A guy walking by asks me if I am on of those “homeless people.”  I am dressed in business casual so I wouldn’t appear to be one of those “homeless people.”  I try to explain this to people standing around me without much success.  Symbolic of my future perhaps?