I Was So Tired

So, I returned to work on Monday, April 10, 2017, after a 2 week vacation.  A true vacation, during which I did very little strenuous activity.  I really relaxed and did not worry about work. So, I returned to work on April 10, 2017, and had a lot of emails to wade through, and a lot of business that was not tended to while I was gone, although my co-workers did what they could to cover my work while I was gone. It is reasonable that they did what they could, but they had their own assignments, and could only manage the most emergent of mine.  I accept that.

My personal make up is that I feel like I have to get "caught up" in one day.  Of course, that is not going to happen, and I know that intellectually, but viscerally, I want to do that. So, I had a reasonably good day on Monday, my first day back at work. It was busy, but not frantic. But, I felt the pressure. And, when I arrived home Monday night, I was mentally exhausted. I was able to exercise for a while, but the mental fatigue really knocked me out, and I went to bed early as a result.

Sometimes, going to bed early means I wake up in the middle of the night, and cannot go back to sleep.  Last night, I woke up, still felt tired, and tossed and turned but was able to go back to sleep. 

I hate being that exhausted, and to be honest, the rest I am able to get is not as restorative as I would like. But, I got through the night. And got to work in a timely way on Tuesday.

So on April 11, 2017, I was tired but not exhausted, when I arrived home from work. This is better. I hope by the end of the week, I am back in the swing of things.

Years ago, I worked at a facility, and we hired a new employee, who had not been in the work force for some time.  After the first day, she was exhausted.  I remember telling my supervisor about that, and she said "I didn't remember how exhausting returning to work can be."  She worked with the employee to moderate her schedule so she could adjust to being back at work.  What a wonderful, supportive response. But that supervisor was such a wonderful, supportive person.

What a life lesson to learn. 

Video Problems Persist

The video problems persist with my laptop.  I know how to correct it, every time it occurs: I go the Power Options panel, and choose "When to turn off the display."  The option is "never."  Then I have to restart the computer.  This is laborious, cumbersome, and inconvenient.  But, is it worth doing vs. paying someone to fix my computer?  At this point in time, yes.  Maybe in the future, no.  But for now I will limp along like this.

My Computer is Not So Smart, and Sometimes, is Very Dumb

So, from time to time, my computer will tell me that I need to activate Norton Security.  I have activated it, and it scans weekly on Sunday, as it is supposed to.  But, when this notification pops up, it interferes with my Internet. Sometimes, I can just reset the Internet by unplugging the modem and router, letting them reset, and restarting everything. Sometimes, additionally,I have to unplug the laptop, and let it reset, and restart everything.

Well, tonight, none of that worked. So, I pulled out the old laptop, and checked the Internet capability: the old computer could access the Internet. So, this told me it was something in my new computer that was interfering with connecting to the Internet, although the scans my computer ran said it was something in my Internet connection.  So, I ran a Norton Security Scan, reset everything, and finally,I could access the Internet on my laptop.

My computer is not so smart:  I have Norton Security and do not need to activate it again.  I should be able to reconnect to the Internet without all the hassle I go through. With the security scan, and multiple attempts to reconnect to the computer, I spent more than 2 hours. I was able to read for a part of that time, while programs were running, but my cats were very concerned about my stress, and kept sitting on my book (I wonder if they thought the book was the source of my stress.) 

So, all seems to be working now.

The New Printer

So, today was the day that I had to set up the new printer.  I was in hopes that all would go smoothly.  And, in fact, it did. Until I tried to set up a file to print a postcard.  Either the new printer, or Microsoft Office, did not want to accept the size parameters for a post card.  I worked and worked and worked.  I had to reinstall the printer at one point.  I figured out I could set up a postcard message as if it were the address on a small business envelope, and adjust it to fit on the postcard. But, the post cards are so light weight, they will not go through the printer.  Grrr.

I will contact the post office to see if I can just glue information on the post card. If not, I will send out first class notices.

In the process, I learned a lot about working with Microsoft Office 2010 and my new printer.

A Full Day

It was a full day.  The cats wanted me up before the alarm, but I put them off. Haiku kept slapping the inside of my nostrils.  I do not know how she figured out this was sure to wake me up and get my attention, but she did. I did get up shortly after the alarm went off, which meant I was ready for work early, and went in early.  I stayed at work, although I could have gone home mid-day to check on the cats. Sake's eating is so sketchy, a trip home may or may not have been productive.  I probably did the wrong thing. I never know what to do.

After work, I went to a reception at Catholic Charities http://cclubbock.org/ for the graduates of the Parent Empowerment Program. It is so heart warming to see people the agency has helped become self-sufficient citizens.  That is so great.

I stopped at a nursing home on my way home:  A co-worker had been there for wound care and antibiotics. She left today. That was great, it is her birthday, and going home is a great birthday present.

I had some mail that could wait. In fact, some I will bring to work.  I am behind in my plan to set up the new computer, but it is going along. Tomorrow night, I hope to update two more address books from the old computer.

If I do that, I will send out some announcements from the new computer. If it extends beyond Wednesday, I will do the announcements from the old computer.  I still need to work on written postcard announcements, mail merge and so many things.

Tonight I watched the Yankees lose to the Texas Rangers.  Tomorrow night, the game between these two teams will again be televised on a TV channel I can watch.

One day at a time, one day at a time. Tomorrow, while the Rangers vs Yankee game is on, maybe I can finish the addresses.  I did not get the old printer moved and the new printer set up over the weekend as was my plan.  But I am not strapped for printing service at this point.

I am so proud of myself.  When I purchased my first laptop, I was so stressed to get everything set up and changed over in a hurry.  Now, I am not so worried.  When I purchased the laptop, my desktop was still fairly functional. So there was no rush. But rush I felt. Now, I am feeling free to work at a more leisurely pace. Even if the old laptop becomes unavailable, I can still figure this out, but with more effort.

More Computer Setup

I am still working on setting up my new computer.  I am getting used to Windows 8.1, the sensitivity of the touch screen, and setting up Microsoft Office.

I did not know it would be such a chore to set up Microsoft Office Outlook to get it to work.  I knew I would have to data entry all of my addresses and emails because Outlook is not compatible with the Outlook Express that I had been using.

And, Outlook does not actually offer me the flexibility of Outlook Express.  Or, if it does, the access to that flexibility is so obscure, I cannot find it.

So, I am still working at it, and still frustrated.  I have not even attempted to set up the new printer.  That will occur later this month.  And, I have to learn to do envelopes, mail merge, and how to print to a post card.

This will be interesting and continually frustrating. But challenging, and with help, I have met the challenges so far. So, I suspect I have many more successes in me, along with a few failures.  But failures teach me what not to do.

Google, Blogger and Me

A couple of years ago, all of a sudden, I could not access my blog, Joyce's Jabberings. I finally gave up, and re-signed onto Google with a different account, did one Joyce's Jabberings, and created Lisenby Lines.

Well, I have a new computer, and I am trying to set it up.  That has been trying and interesting, as the technology and software has changed so much.  I am getting used to the Microsoft 8.1 and the touch screen.  I have set the default, though, so the computer will open to the desktop instead of the Windows tiles.

As a Texas Tech employ, I have access to discounted and low cost downloads, including Microsoft Office.  I checked the other day, and Office 2007 was available and free.  Now, it is not on the download list.  Oh, well, I can get Microsoft 2010 for $10.  I send for it by mail, or go to the library and buy it.  I am hoping the media support center will be open this weekend so I can get it. 

I decided to open a Microsoft email account, anyway, so I could send stuff to myself. The one thing I wanted to send to myself was the Lisenby Lines access information. 

Well, that did not work, because I kept getting my first blog account for Joyce's Jabberings. I worked at it over and over. I kept having to change my password and I just could not get it to work.  It took me forever to realize the Lisenby Lines is associated with a different gmail account, and then not quite as long to figure out how to change to that account so I could get to Lisenby Lines.

Well, obviously, I am there, and this is my first blog since June 24, 2014.  At first, it was because the other laptop would freeze up too often and for too long. Then, it was because I could not figure out the access problem on this computer.  Well, this sight is now favorite placed, so I should be able to come back and post again.  Soon!

Health Insurance

I am an employee of the State of Texas.  Until most recently, the State of Texas contracted with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas to provide health care coverage to its employees.  September of 2012, that changed, and we are now covered by United Health Care.  So many people say that United Health Care is an inferior health insurance provider.  Especially medical providers: they negotiated lower rates of pay than many other insurance providers.  But these negotiations were widely although not universally accepted.  And the State of Texas changed to this insurance provider for the lowered costs.

There have been some things that for me are good about this new coverage.  Wellness prevention checks are covered.  For years, my major medical expense was the co-pay for my yearly gynecological exam.  Now, there is no co-pay.  I have had to have some x-rays this past year, and there has been no co-pay for some of these, as they were preventive, not diagnostic.

I am careful to use my insurance as I am supposed to:  My primary care physician is excellent at following up on getting referrals and authorizations. I check that these have been obtained, and I try to make sure I understand what the parameters of these authorizations are.

I needed new glasses and went in for a vision exam.  The optometrist discovered some problem with my left eye, and he suspected it was with the optical nerve.  My PCP obtained authorization for follow up appointments, and I went to that appointment. 

Recently, I received an explanation of benefits from the insurance, which indicated that the optometrist was "out of network."  Well, when I checked the list of "network" optometrists, he was still listed, as he had been when I went for that appointment.

So, I called the insurance company to find out what was going on. The wonderfully understanding representative assured me that I had a valid authorization and referral. She quickly ascertained that the problem was that the optometrist billed under an ID number that was not a current provider number with the insurance.  She said that if I have to have additional follow up, WE  need to find me a new provider who will be covered for this problem. The insurance representative asked me if she could put me on hold, called the optometrist office, and then got back to me. She told me with whom she spoke.  She said that the office person said they thought, including the optometrist thought, that he was authorized with the insurance as a provider, and that they would correct that. The insurance representative said that if they did correct that, they could retroactively submit my bill as a courtesy, so I would not have to pay the uninsured bill.  She also told me to check back with the provider in a week or so, to make sure that they follow through. 

I had dreaded contacting the insurance. I was pleasantly surprised by the customer service that I received.  I do not know how this will be resolved. I have little faith that the optometrist and his clerical staff will do the right thing.  I am sure I need to find a new optic provider: probably an opthamologist, since I know I have cataracts, and now possibly some other problems.

This was a good lesson regarding health insurance.  I know no matter what authorizations there are, there are no guarantees. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the help from the insurance company. I hope this can be resolved in my favor, but I am anticipating a protracted negotiation, which I hate, but which I suspect I will have to negotiate.

Well, this is true. There are no guarantees in life So why should I think there are guarantees in insurance.

Your Karma Just Goes Away

Since about 2008, my life has been easy.  I was recovering from the grief of the loss of my mother, but she was in a better place.  Since 2007, I had been to the Northeast for a number of family events: a funeral, 3 weddings and a graduation. I made an independent trip just to travel around and visit family and friends. I made trip to Seattle, Washington that was very fine. I made a trip to Northeast New Mexico that was so relaxing that the sense of well being lasted with me for months. I made a trip to Phoenix to visit my brother and his extended family.

Life was good.

I have had some health issues since then, but mostly hip and leg pain, commonly referred to as sciatica.  And, finally after toughing through it for several years, I sought treatment and am getting medication and physical therapy for it.

Since late August, I have had a series of events that have caused me distress. I have chronicled these, and will not again in this article, do so.

But it occurs to me that this is not the first time in my life that my Karma just "went away."  I will not revisit the times this has happened in past, except to say that it usually surrounded a life changing event.  A career change, a divorce, a death, a move. The thing is, I am not sure what life changing event I am experiencing right now.

I am a firm believer laws of physics:  a body at rest tends to stay at rest; a body in motion tends to stay in motion.  I think this applies to human life.  When we reach a plateau or level of stasis, our lives go on in a pretty even keeled sort of way.

Upset the applecart, and all heck breaks loose, and one change after another occurs.  The problem is, I am not sure what I did to upset the applecart.  Was it a sprained ankle? That seems so ridiculously minor that it would have this impact on my life.

I think that my time was due.  And even a small thing upset the applecart of life enough to cause my series of distressing events.

A Biblical Plague

I really feel like I have been infested with a Biblical plague.  I have chronicled my automobile and cell phone problems.  Thursday night, my skin infection returned from out of nowhere! And, today, while I was doing laundry, my drains backed up.   So that put the kibosh on laundry.  The drain clean out was covered with leaves, so I thought I should clean that area of the backyard.  And, of course, I ended up cleaning the entire back yard.  I did not even plan to do that this weekend. I will say that between the celebrex and my physical therapy exercises, I am getting stronger.   It only took about 2 hours to rake the entire yard, with only two rest breaks.  That is about what it used to take before my back started bothering me.  Of course, I am very sore tonight.

On the other hand, the snow and freezing rain we had last weekend and early this past week knocked most of the leaves off the trees around my house, except the Bradford Pear, to the east.  I sometimes do not even rake leaves until New Years, because I want to wait until they are all down.  The last couple of years, I have raked a couple of times for two reasons 1) I get tired of looking at the leaves and 2) it takes me so long to rake.

I still have to do the front and alley, but that is not so bad.

I did some serious house cleaning that I was not planning to do, but did not mess with the bathrooms until I can get the plumber in. Nor did I wash the kitchen floor, for the same reason.  I called, but it was about 1 PM, and the on-call guy had 8 calls ahead of me.  I will check in the morning and see what the prospect is for repairs tomorrow.  Amazing, at 10:15 PM the plumber called.  He has had a long day, but says they only take weekend call once a month.  He was willing to come out tonight, but I told him not to: the cleanout is in a corner of the backyard where there are no lights, and he will have to get on the roof to do the washing machine cleanout.  So we have an appointment for noon tomorrow. That makes me happy.  I will be able to do the laundry in the afternoon.

The car starts once, but does not hold enough of a charge to start again. I am hoping it will start Monday morning so I do not have to bother a neighbor to get a jump start, but either way I need to be able to get to the repair shop. 

The injection that Sake received last Tuesday just did not work as well as the first time.   She runs to food, but does not eat.  She smacks her lips, but does not eat.  She did eat some baby food chicken, some hard treats, some turkey wing meat, and liver tonight. Just a little of each.  It is so frustrating. She eats a little at a time, but will not go back to something she has eaten earlier in the day.  I am thinking the next step is to have her teeth extracted.  I hate to do that, because she will have so much trouble grooming. She will just have to let me help her more. 

Well, the cell phone works.  The car is safe in the garage.  I can renew my library books online or by phone tomorrow.  I did get groceries today, but had to get a jump start to get home.  It takes almost nothing to start the car, so that is weird. 

One thing that has come out of this is that I can now back the car into the garage.  I did that for the first time Wednesday night, and I bet it took me 30 minutes. Maybe not, but I sweated over it and did it inch by inch, correcting and recorrecting.   Yesterday, it did not take me that long, and today, it took even less time. Of course, I still need to be careful, but it is nice to know I have that skill.

What is really weird, is that I do not think twice about backing the car out of the garage, it is just a straight shot, but sometimes, I end up crooked off the driveway.  Well, I am glad I have learned this new skill!

All of This STUFF Happens at Once

I went to physical therapy on Monday morning. Texas Tech Health Sciences Center http://www.ttuhsc.edu/ delayed opening until 10 AM, due to the winter weather conditions, so I did not have to report to work until then. I went to PT.   There were patients at PT who cancelled, so I benefitted with more time, and the PT found somethings he could do that would help me more than what we were doing.

I had to get some paperwork for NASW for the next meeting, that the branch chair had. These documents were some that I would have kept, had I been able to attend the November meeting. However, I was attending the National Runaway and Homeless Youth Conference, in Atlanta, Georgia, as a board member representing Catholic Charities, Diocese of Lubbock. But, I did connect with the branch chair, and get the paperwork.

So, Sake stopped eating again, over the weekend of November 23, 2013.  I know now it is a gum infection that bothers her. She tries to eat, but is not interested in the food, be it chunks, or paté or pureé.  I called the vet, and we had a Tuesday morning appointment scheduled.

Monday night, the Sprint service to my phone went out at my house. I spent almost two hours online with Sprint chat, and mostly kept getting advice to upgrade my phone.  I had planned to physical therapy exercises, but finished so late with Sprint, I watched Jay Leno for the headlines, and went to bed....

As suggested, I shut my phone off, and in fact left it off overnight. But there was no resolution to  the problem in the morning. So, I sent another message to Spring (via chat) about my problems. I received a response, by email, per my request, but no real help.

I took Sake to the veterinarian on November 26, 2013, and while she was upset, she did not act out as badly as she sometimes does, so we knew she was not feeling well.  When we got home and she was able to get out of the crate, she did not hide, but actually sought comfort and solace from me.  The vet gave her more anti-biotics, but this does not seem to be helping as much as the combined antibiotics and cortisone did last time. We will have to see what happens.

Tuesday, I did not have cell phone service at home. I had cell phone service in the parking lot at work, and again called Sprint, because they did not give me a service plan or offer any help Monday night, but during that call, they cut me off because they could not assist me while I was calling from the device that needed assistance. That was about 9 AM.

Tuesday, lIfe went on, and as I drove home, I had cell service until I turned off University Avenue onto 62nd Street west. I had some errands to run, and service resumed when I got onto Indianna Avenue, due west of my house.

I called Sprint again about this, from the parking lot of Hobby Lobby.  I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with Sprint, trying to convince them that although their tower reports excellent service in my zip code, my neighborhood has no service.  Not dropped calls, not interrupted calls, but no service.  I am not sure I got through. I was very frustrated, and I know I took that frustration out on the service representative. I apologized to her several times.  But ultimately, our conversation deteriorated to her suggesting I upgrade my phone.  That was very infuriating.

While I was doing this, the battery in my car ran down. I did not realize it until I had made my purchases at Hobby Lobby.  I was able to ask someone to give me a jump start, and I had cables.  After the car started, the dash lights went out.  I had no tachometer, no gas gauge, no speedometer, no odometer, and no radio.  I drove home on side streets, and went to Auto Zone before going home.  While I was parked in the Auto Zone parking lot, I changed the fuse for the dashboard cluster, but that did not help.  I picked a place where there were people and auto parts, but did not need their service, and Auto Zone is close to my home. And the battery was holding a charge.

I started the car a few times overnight, and it started okay.  I was able to get to physical therapy on the morning of the 27th, and then  finished running the errands I had planned to run Tuesday night. The car battery was holding the charge okay.  What a blessing.

One of the errands was to respond to the email I had received from Sprint about my complaint. Again, I had to be out of my neighborhood to call Sprint, so I sat in a parking lot about three quarters of a mile away from my home and made the suggested phone call.  Again, this person ultimately tried to convince me to upgrade my phone. At that point, I asked for a supervisor. The supervisor told me that they would try to resolve my problem in 3-5 days. I told him that I could have service from a new provider sooner than that. He told me they did not want that to happen, and would prioritize my service call.
                  
I went to the dealership for my car, and as I suspected, they could not get me in until Monday.  I just wanted to talk to a person, rather than deal with a voice about this. The battery was holding the charge, so I went on to work.  I had purchased the battery from the dealer, and I was thinking that they need to give me some sort of credit for the lack of longevity of the battery.

At the end of work November 27, 2013, I went to my car, and discovered I needed a jump start to get home from work. I took a long, slow way home, thinking to recharge the battery. I was planning to start the vehicle every couple of hours to keep the charge in the battery. As I drove to the house, the "searching for service" beeping started on my phone.  I checked my phone, and I had a voicemail.   I went again to a nearby parking lot, and listened to my voicemail.

It was a call from Sprint, about the service problems I was having. They gave me a different number to call, and a menu option to use. The representative I spoke to  "got it" that the service problem was not dropped calls or interrupted service, but that my phone was searching for service. She understood that they could not call me at home, because I had no service at home, but they could email me if they needed to. She "got it" that the problem was in a defined geographic area in my neighborhood, no matter what their towers reported regarding available service in the neighborhood.  I told her that it might not be a Sprint problem, but a blocking problem.  She acknowledged that, but said they needed to find out what was going on.  What a relief.  To speak to a person who was not spouting platitudes, but was acknowledging the individual problem I was having.  I will not say unique, someone else maybe having the same problem, but it is my problem.

Well, in the parking lot, I was stranded: the battery was no longer holding a charge.  It was late, and dark. I did not want to drive around town to find someplace where I could get a new battery. I should have purchased a new battery earlier in the day.

I went home and backed into the garage. This took me a while.  I was not able to park the car centered, but to one side. But, I did it.

My plan is to stay home on Thanksgiving Day.  And, to ask a neighbor for help to jump start the car on Friday, and get a new battery, so I can run errands, do chores and continue activity as I need to during the weekend. And, get to the dealership on Monday.

But in the mean time, I have to deal with all the STUFF that has happening. 

So Today Was Different, Too

So, today was different too.  I had a personal appointment that got me to work late.  Although the appointment turned into several things, I am relieved that it has been tended to.  I am feeling positive about this.

Because my supervisor was out yesterday, and today too, I asked the administrator if I could discuss my concern about my problem.  She was cool, thanked me for telling her before someone else did, discussed how we could handle it, and said she would let my supervisor know it was tended to.

My renewed driver's license arrived yesterday, as did my social work license.  Which means those things are no longer pending. 

I decided not to work too late tonight, as I had errands to run after work, and I wanted to be home for the game.  I got plenty of work done at work.  And, I have plenty of leave if I need to use it, for being off today or Tuesday.

I felt less productive than usual, but I did get plenty done.  And I feel good about what I need to day tomorrow, if nothing comes up, it will be manageable.