Triple redundancy
Last weekend I learned how to change the hydraulic fluid on Herman's tractor. It was of course a learning experience- I still haven't made it to the laundromat to try to get the oil out of the clothes that I was wearing. :/
We went to Cathaus for a lovely Ethiopian dinner with old friends last night. It was lovely.
I still have nasty chronic foot pain and I still look forward to starting or moving to a farm.
I'm on facebook now...
I'm still here...
I'm still here. I happen to be stealing nap time to write this post at the moment. I often write blog posts in my head while I'm biking or driving, but I never get around to posting them, and they are lost...
I got a car a few months ago. It sucks that even I have one now, but just like everyone else says about their car, "I need it!" I still have my job, although tomorrow will be my 4th day in a row out sick with the flu. As I often say, "So much for that flu shot!" I did get one in November, right before we went to New Mexico for Thanksgiving. Have you ever had altitude sickness? God, it's brutal! But I felt really good at the gym the next week!
It's funny that I was writing about recessions and inflation last year, and look, they are still proceeding apace. It's scary. I'm not sure if I should buy things that could be necessities in the future, or try to save money in case I can save enough to buy something really big and useful. Well, there are some big things that my new health insurance doesn't cover, so they are going to eat up a lot of cash...
I'm reading
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and Mycelium Running by Paul Stametz. My complaint about MP's latest is that his language is too flowery to be accessible to joe-no-college-education. But he's still great. You should really read
The Omnivore's Dilemma. I lent it to the kids at the farm and I think I will just need to buy a used copy when I need to refer back to it. :/
I've been trying to visit the farm a lot when time and health allow, but they don't allow much. I'm not even going to go to the
Defend Roe v. Wade march this weekend, but I hope you will!
Today on NPR, I heard a
report that "Many financial analysts had said they believed August would show about 110,000 new jobs. Instead, the number dipped for the first time since August 2003." That's a lot of jobs- in fact, the number of jobs in this country shrank by 4,000.
Even
Good Vibes is having a hard time!
This is kind of scary to me, because so few of us, even of those who might want to live sustainably, have the financial, material, and time resources to be able to do so.
Some of the patients who come into my work literally eat like a can of beans for their meals. It sounds
Labels: economy, recession
Ah, the wonderful world of work
I had a hard time logging into blogspot for a few weeks there, but I'm back!
When I got to work today, the Terminix guy was there, spraying unknown pesticide(s) in the building. There was an unfamiliar musty odor in the building that I assume was related to the pesticide(s) that he was using. I turned around and walked out of the building. The guy who had been applying the pesticide(s) didn't know or didn't want to tell me what he was spraying. Apparently, he was doing a "preventative" spraying for ants. He was not wearing any protective gear, but somehow this did not reassure me. He even pointed out some ants to the security guard outside of the building-- there were some on one of the trees outside of the building!! (apparently this is because he did not spray outside) Since I don't know what he sprayed, or how long it stays in the air, or how long it has been in use, or what its potential effects on the human body (particularly mine) can be, I went home. As far as I could tell, nothing was being done to air-out the building (ie, the door was not being kept open).
Our CEO called to tell me that noone smelled anything "off," and that if I left him high and dry like this, it would be counted as an "unexcused absence." (too bad we don't get sick days or personal days, since maybe I could have finagled my way into one) Since I already expose my body to more environmental pollutants and other irritants than what I would be comfortable with, I do not want to be exposed to a potentially very toxic chemical today (or exposing our patients to said chemicals). What sucks is that I was supposed to get a ride to work with someone who starts earlier than I do. If that had worked out, we would have been able to send that guy packing before he sprayed. Either that or I would have had to walk to BART or the bus! Anyhow, I hope they got someone whose body is less chemically sensitive than mine to come in and help them. I'm just not sure who that would be.
Speaking of staffing, the guy who had gotten the double-promotion got half-demoted a few weeks ago, so he is just the boss of my work area. He and I work together on 2 days. It sucks. I think it would go better if he were to work on the hardest day of the week, since the person doing his job when he's not in is not as experienced as he is, and I often have to fill in for her, which causes me yet more stress on the crazy-busy days. The woman who had gotten promoted got an even higher promotion (CEO's assistant with a really long title), and two women of color got promotions. So that's a bit better. We still need the anti-oppression training that I requested in December or January.
East Bay Pesticide Alert quotes the Pesticide Education Center:
There is abundant evidence of the risk toxic pesticides pose to human health. The most vulnerable populations are children, the developing fetus, the elderly, the ill and immunocompromised, and those with asthma, allergies, and other medical conditions. Most worrisome from a public health perspective are chronic health effects such as cancer, infertility, miscarriage, birth defects, and effects on the brain and nervous system. The PEC has more info at http://www.pesticides.org/educmaterials.html
Guess who got a promotion? Not me, but the person who left me that lovely message. He is now a manager on the weekends, and the woman who had been doing the same job as him on weekdends is now also a manager over me, but one step down. He must have gotten a huge raise (like, $4-6 per hour).
That is so fucked up. In what way is what he did any sign of leadership?! Ugh, and I hate it when people come up to you and say, "Could you do this for me?" Oh, and the other thing, our department consists of two people at a time, plus one lunch person who floats between two departments. So really, as manager, they are my direct boss, and again, there are only two of us. Remember my previous critique that there were too many managers? Well, now there are two more, but this time, one is a woman.
What is it that a manager over me would be able to make me do? And how should/will I respond to this? (I'm currently out sick)
Ugh, bikes
Yeah, so I had a little bike accident this evening. I was carrying a big Ross plastic bag, and I guess it got caught in the front wheel. I flew up onto the sidewalk and fell over sideways once or twice. Dammit! I am all bruised up, both wrists are somewhat sprained, and my neck may or may not be fucked. And I am really mad. Especially since I can't tell what kind of damage the bike suffered. And I had left the bike shop a mere 3 hours before, after getting 2 spokes in the rear wheel replaced. When I came to get the bike, the dude was like, if other spokes loosen up, you probably want to get a new wheel. Why didn't he just give me a new wheel? The bike still felt funny before the accident. And now, I think one or more derailleur is messed up (the chain had come off), plus who knows what else, since it often takes a few miles for damage to show.
This thing of the spokes getting loose makes me mad. Yes, I ride on rough terrain,b ut people kick and bump into my wheels on BART all the time, so who's to say that the bike didn't get damaged from that?
I know what you're going to say- Don't you have any panniers (saddle bags)? Well, the bike was getting fixed when I was in the "new" store, so I couldn't even look at panniers without my actual bike rack present. I once bought brand-new panniers, and because they didn't match the fucking bike rack that they had to be hooked to, they fell off all the time. One got run over by a Muni bus. And I can never find the right size of bungee cord for this bike, either.
I am so over biking. And so lucky, cuz the accident happened on Milvia and I didn't get run over by any of the rogue drivers.
My awesome friend Pete Morse died this morning. He was such a great guy. He was a dj (I loved his music), a harm reduction activist, an anarchist... I feel so bad for his partner, Liz. She got a phone call in the middle of the night and had to get a ride to the hospital to see his body.
A bunch of us drove together to LA for this anarchist conference 5 or 6 years ago. While we were there, Monica and I went swimming, or at least I did. Pete took this picture of us: http://home.earthlink.net/~karencita/photos/pacificwomen.jpg
She told me that he had finished his dissertation, finally.
It's weird to google his name and find so little of him out there, but I guess he was more of an in-person kind of person...
