Day Off

I had the day off.  It is complicated, but Texas Tech Health Sciences Center does not recognize all of the state holidays like Confederate Hero's Day (which generally coincides with Martin Luther King Day, which the state observes as a national holiday), Texas Independence Day, San Jacinto Day, Juneteenth, or Emancipation Day, LBJ Day.  Because of this, we are granted an extra 24 hours a year of "holiday comp" to make up for the lost holiday time (this is a business decision: the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center clinics need to be open on these days, generally. But this is good, so we can take the time off at our discretion. Personally, I think that is a good idea. And although I work at the Montford Prison, we follow the TTUHSC clinic schedule.) We are supposed to use "holiday comp" before we use annual leave.  "Holiday comp" is good for up to 12 months, and is earned at the rate of 2 hours per month.  So, "holiday comp" I earn in March 2015 needs to be used before March 2016.  My "holiday comp" never lapses.

Even so, as state employees, we have to have the same holiday time off as other state employees.  So, if some of these weird state holidays fall on a weekend, we do not need to get the extra time off.  But if these holidays fall during the week, we do need to get the extra time off. Sometimes, depending upon how the Christmas and New Years holidays fall, we get extra time off during those holidays.

This fiscal year, we needed to get even more time off.  So we were granted a "spring break holiday."  (Some years we are granted 2 spring break holidays, most years, we are granted none.)

So, I had the day off on March 20, 2015.  I did not sleep in, because I had physical therapy at 8 AM at Spectra http://spectraphysicaltherapy.com/.  I always tell my therapist I have as much time as I need to be in therapy, but he worries about schedules for people, and tries to get them out in a timely way. This is amazing, he does not care how much time HE spends with people, he just does not want to impose on their schedules. (How many medical professionals do you know who have this philosophy?) So, sometimes my therapy session lasts an hour; sometimes, like today, it was over an hour.

I did some work for NASW today, getting out snail mail announcements about our annual ethics workshop to local members for whom we have no email addresses.  I sent the brochure out last night to the email addresses.

I reviewed the evaluations for the March South Plains NASW CEU luncheon meeting. I like to do this so we can give the speaker feed back.

I printed the certificates for the "Field of Service" acknowledgements for the South Plains NASW awards banquet on March 24, 2015.

I went out for lunch at Hong Kong http://hongkongsuperbuffettx.com/.  I like the selections on their buffet, (even though they do not always get good marks from the health department) and I usually bring a book, as I did today. I pay attention, and if they get really busy, I leave, but if they have open tables, I sit, eat what I want, and enjoy the hot tea while I read. Which is what I did today.  As I paid my tab, the cashier asked me about my book Team of Rivals http://www.doriskearnsgoodwin.com/books.html#team-of-rivals and I explained it to her, including it was the book that a small part of the movie Lincoln was based on. She remembered the movie, and wrote down the name of the book, and acknowledged she could get it at the library. The last time I ate at the Hong Kong, this same person told me she had seen me come in alone, and read and eat.  She said she did the same thing at a restaurant, and found it very relaxing. That was so nice of her to share.  She is Oriental, and her English is not good, but she is able to make her information known. How neat!

Later, I had the tires on the car rotated at Discount Tire http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/home.do?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=discount%20tires&utm_campaign={campaign}&s_kwcid=AL!3693!10!5370619247!26744860943&cid=1d5e418c-2789-4f35-a8fe-6db8f4d35951&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand%20-%20DT%20|%20Exact%20(W.%20Texas)&utm_term=discount%20tires.  I also brought my book, and read.  It was very relaxing to just read while the car was being tended to.

Then, I went to the Lifestyle Center http://www.covenanthealth.org/Our-Services/LifeStyle-Centre.aspx for a swim session .  Since I did physical therapy today, I know that doing another routine would aggravate my pain. So a swim session was calming, relaxing, and the water was very warm, which was an added benefit.

I did my weekly shopping after that, at Wal-Mart.  The clerk who checked me out was fabulous:  she told me to leave all of "the big stuff" in the cart, put the cold stuff in the insulated bag, and even recognized it had a zipper. She even asked me if I needed carry out assistance!  I sent a recognition to Wal-Mart about her, tonight.

I had expected to watch the Celtic and the Spurs  http://www.nba.com/ play tonight on TV, because earlier in the week, the game was advertised. However, tonight, the game was pre-empted by the Dallas Mavericks and the Memphis Grizzlies. Boo Hiss.

Oh well, I did some online puzzles, did some fundraising research for Catholic Charities, Diocese of Lubbock http://cclubbock.org and worked on this blog.

I hope now to settle in and do some reading before I retire.

Tomorrow, I will do some housework, some yard work, and go to the Lifestyle Center to again do some exercise.