A Short Week at Work

I am blessed to have a supportive supervisor and wonderful co-workers. I am taking Friday off, to have a 4 day weekend. The problem with that, that I never identified until I was in my 40's, is that I try to get 40 hours of work in the lesser time.  This week felt the same, but I had to let some things go.  I am not allowed to work overtime (although I would, willingly paid or not, to a certain extent) so I have to be realistic about what I can accomplish.

On the other hand, I am looking forward to a 4 day weekend.  I do not have any special plans, although I might go to the street fair 4th of July Parade, although my original plan was to watch it on TV.  

I also have some errands to run the next few days, including taking Haiku to the vet for her yearly vaccinations.  

Out of Step

You have been there, I am sure.  You have a day that just does not feel right.  You can't quite put your finger on it.  You can't quite remember the date, because it feels wrong. Or the day feels wrong. Or things are just out of sorts.  And you forget what you did early in the morning because too much happened all day.

I had a day like that today.  Work was not especially busy. But I had a meeting after work, and I forgot to send out the reminder earlier this week, so I sent it out at the last minute this morning before I went to work. By the time I got home from work, I forgot all about the meeting until I opened my email.  I did not even remember sending out the reminder this morning.  More to the point, what possessed me to remember this morning that the meeting was going to happen.  

Well, I sort of remember my train of thought.  Next week is book club, and I remembered that I had this meeting this month, and it did not conflict with book club, so I was thinking it was next week, some other day.  Just by luck, I checked this morning.  And  sadly, of 6 people who were supposed to be at the meeting, only one remembered before the reminder.  Is that bad?  Yes it is. 

The meeting went okay.  

I think the reason I feel so out of step is because we had a Wednesday holiday, and while having time off was wonderful, today felt more like a Monday than a Thursday, yet we were following Thursday's schedule. 

Independence Day on TV

I watched the 4th on Broadway Independence Day Parade in Lubbock on TV this morning. This evening, I watched A Capitol Fourth and then watched the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks/ Spectacular.

This was good.

Sleeping In

I woke up in time to get up for the 4th on Broadway parade which I usually attend.  But then, I go to the rest of the celebration, to listen to my favorite music and just relax.  Well, my favorite performers were not going to perform this, year, and the kitties did not ask me to get up early, so I slept in.   I fed kitties, read, watched the Lubbock parade on TV, read some more, napped and went out to lunch. It was good to sleep in, but what really worries me is by about 10 AM, I was ready for a nap again. So, today, I napped.  Hmm. I think I am getting old.  

Holy Week

I was born and raised Roman Catholic, and by the time I became a young adult, I grew to love the ritual and tradition of Holy Week, culminating with Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.

I am not longer a practicing Catholic, but most years, I am aware of Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter. This year, for some reason, Holy Week snuck up on me and I had no real awareness of it.  It was unsettling when I realized yesterday was Good Friday, and I took no real notice of it until my coworkers pointed it out to me.  I am not sure how I missed that.

I do not do much special for Easter, but I do like to note it.  I will.  Tomorrow. 

The Star Spangled Banner

At the Fourth on Broadway today, the Westwinds Brass Band started their concert with The Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem, as they start all of their concerts. There were plenty of flags around, so we could "pick a flag" while the song played. The audience in front of the band stood, as did the audience across the street, in the shade. Some of us sang the song, as has become our habit at the regular Sunday Westwinds Brass Band concerts. The incidental passersby and festival-goers stopped, stood at attention, uncovered, and many had their hands over their hearts.  All except one person, who just wandered through, oblivious to what was happening, and he kept his hat on.  I felt sort of angry, but sort of bad for this person, because he was wandering around like he did not know where he was at or where he was going, but he wandered off.  I probably should have done something but did not even think about it at the time. I hope he is okay. 

Fourth on Broadway

I went to the Fourth on Broadway https://www.broadwayfestivals.com/ event this year.  This is a long running (27 years) festival that used to be held entirely on Broadway, but a few years ago, it was moved so that the parade heads to the East side of Avenue A down Broadway and into Mackenzie Park, where the evening concert and fireworks show is held.  This is really better because the festival, in large part is on grass, and there is a lot of shade. I paid for parking on the hill this year, and that includes a free shuttle to and from the parking lot, except during the parade.  I took the shuttle back to the parking lot.

I sat at the top of the hill, in the sun, during the parade, because I wanted to put my folding chair back in the car before I went to the festival for the music.  I walked down the hill with so many other festival goers.  There is a bridge at this end of the park, and when it rains, the bridge floods.  We have had many evenings of night storms, and the bridge was flooded.  The city had large pumps, with large hoses emptying out the lake into the spillway on the other side of the bridge, but it was possible to walk through the several inches (3-4) of water to get into the park.  There were grassy areas of the festival that were flooded and muddy.  

I was disappointed today when I reached the music venue I wanted to enjoy.  It was not under a tent, in the shade as it used to be, but for some reason, it was parked under a tree in the shade, and the audience chairs were in the sun.  I sat through the first set, performed by the Lubbock Jazz Band, in the sun.  But before the Westwinds Brass Band started playing, I moved across the street to  the shade, as had many others.  It set up a strange situation:  The band was on one side of the street, the audience on the other. But the audience was appreciative, and the band could tell!

Baseball Uniforms

So, the Red Sox are playing against the Rangers in Arlington, so I have been able to watch the games this holiday weekend, albeit on the Ranger network.   That is okay, because the Ranger announcers are always complimentary of the opposing team members when complimentary is due.  I have missed the national concert and fireworks, but the Red Sox are supplying the fireworks.  I noticed last night that the uniforms include something different this year, and this may have happened in years past, but I did not notice.  In the letters on the chest, and the numbers else where on the uniform shirt and hat, there are stars.  The Rangers are mostly red and white, but the Red Sox have used a red, white and blue theme, on gray uniforms.  The other thing that the Red Sox have done, is to have the right knee high sock be blue on top with stars in the blue, and red and white stripes on the bottom. The left knee high sock is red and white stripes. It creates quite a striking effect.  Seeing highlights of other teams, the same sort of theme with the stars in the numbers and letters is continued with the other teams.  Kind of neat! Go Major League Baseball https://www.mlb.com/. 

I was watching a show on National Geographic about John Kennedy http://www.natgeotv.com/za/jfk-seven-days-that-made-a-president this evening, and became oblivious to what else might be on TV. But after that was finished, I started looking and realized that I missed the National Memorial Day Concert https://tv.kttz.org/schedule/#page=schedule&day=20170528&provider=Broadcast

Laurence Fishburne and Joe Mantegna host the annual salute to America's military heroes. Performers include Renée Fleming, Vanessa Williams, Scotty McCreery, Five for Fighting, Ronan Tynan, Russell Watson and the National Symphony Orchestra. Gen. Colin Powell (USA Ret.), John Ortiz, Christopher Jackson and Ana Ortiz also appear. The event features a salute to the Doolittle Raiders presented by Gary Sinise and includes a look at music therapy for injured vets. From the U.S. Capitol's West Lawn.

I was able to watch the last half hour, and fortunately, it will be re-aired. So I will get to see the show.  Thank you PBS.  Which is why I send a small donation every month.

Memorial Day Weekend

I am looking forward to a quiet Memorial Day weekend. I did some shopping yesterday and housework today, then watched Concerto, One Night In Central Park.  I need to do some yard work, so will do a little this evening after it cools off some, or at least, when the yard is in the shade.

I usually attend the ceremony at the City of Lubbock Cemetery https://www.mylubbock.us/departmental-websites/departments/city-cemetery/home.  Sometimes, I have gone to the Mass at the War Memorial in Lubbock, but often, the Mass begins about the time the City of Lubbock Cemetery ceremony ends.  http://www.kcbd.com/story/35527553/2017-memorial-day-events. I might drive over that way, anyway.

There are other events and ceremonies. Some conflict, and others, I just do not care about.

Day Off

I have the next 10 days off from work.  Today, I slept in and did stuff around the house. I have no plans except mostly to do things around the house. The cats seem to really like to have me around.

I do plan to go out for some Independence Day activities:  probably the parade and the picnic in the park http://broadwayfestivals.com/.  I can eschew the Concert and Fireworks in the Park, but I may go, anyway.  However, there will be some holiday concerts on TV. I understand the Boston Pops concert will be aired on TV http://bostonpopsjuly4th.org/.  There is also "A Capitol Fourth" http://www.pbs.org/a-capitol-fourth/home/ on PBS. I don't have Tivo or anything like that so I cannot record these concerts. But the times conflict. Oh well, it is better to have too many choices than not enough.

Memorial Day Rememberances

This evening, May 29, 2016, I was able to attend the Second Baptist Church Memorial Day Service http://www.secondb.com/calendar-item/memorial-day-service-2/.  It was an hour and 45 minutes, and it ended too soon.  It was very moving.  This is the 4th time this church has had such a service, and the second time I had the opportunity to attend. I was honored to attend. 

The service included song, pledges, prayer, and testimonials.  There was a collection for the Honor Flight https://www.honorflight.org/. There was the opportunity to thank the veterans and their families.

I came home and was able to watch the rerun of the PBS presentation of The National Memorial Day Concert http://www.pbs.org/national-memorial-day-concert/about/the-concert/.  I am so glad that it is being rerun, because I wanted to watch it, but I wanted to go to the live service at Second Baptist. It was raining in Washington DC, so the crowd was smaller than usual, but as the hosts said, our military have served in worse conditions, so the show went on!

I am honored to participate in Memorial Day in this way!

The Survival of Buffalo Grass

May 11, 1970 saw Lubbock, Texas devastated by a tornado.  May 11, 1980, Joe Ely convinced the city leaders to allow an outdoor concert at the Buddy Holly Park.  http://www.virtualubbock.com/stoCOTornadoJam.html called a Tornado Jam. In 1982, due to the size of the crowd, torrential rains, and a supposed concern for the buffalo grass, the city council said no more outdoor concerts of that size.

But you know what. The city moved it's outdoor Independence Day concert to Mackenzie Park many years ago, has large crowds, and no concern for the buffalo grass.  This year, the entire celebration: parade, "picnic in the park," and concert and fireworks was held in the park.  I saw lots of buffalo grass, and I did not hear anyone express concern about it being destroyed.

My, how times have changed.  I wonder.  The first Tornado Jam was 35 years ago.  I wonder if some of the behind the scenes planners of the Tornado Jam are involved in any of the planning of the festivities in this era.  Just curious.

A Capitol Fourth and Other Celebrations

So, since I am not going to the Independence Day concert in Lubbock, I am doing the next best thing:  I am watching "A Capitol Fourth" http://www.pbs.org/a-capitol-fourth/about/the-concert/  http://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalmall4th/fireworks.htm on PBS. I think 8 PM is a little early for it to start, but they know what they are doing. 

I am prepared to just enjoy the music, and the fireworks on TV.

So, then I switched to the NBC presentation: "Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular" http://www.nbc.com/macys-4th-of-july-fireworks-spectacular

The Fourth on Broadway at MacKenzie Park

I went to the Fourth on Broadway at Mackenzie Park http://www.broadwayfestivals.com/ to celebrate Independence Day today.  I got there early.  I sat on Broadway to watch the parade. The part of the street I was at was not crowded. And, there were no trees for shade.  I should have paid attention to the map, because the areas where there was shade was in the park.  And those areas were crowded.  At first, I thought the crowd was smaller than usual, but not really:  it was just such a bigger venue than Broadway between Avenue Q and University. 

I was not too happy about paying for parking, and there were plenty of areas off Broadway where people did park without paying. I think if I had parked for free at Cesar Chavez Avenue, instead of in the South Plains Fair parking lot, I might have had a shorter walk to the festival.   I know I would not have had the long hill to walk up on my way home. 

I also did not realize how the venues were laid out, and I spent some time trying to find the venue I wanted.  I did.  I stayed till mid-afternoon, but lunch and a shaved ice.

I will not return for the concert and fireworks.

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.

Sleeping In, Holidays, and Time Off From Work

So, I have 5 days off in a row from work: starting Christmas Eve, December 24, and not returning to work until Monday, December 29.  That has been so nice so far.  I have done some leisurely things, including reading, going to the library and not rushing to find a book, eating out, cooking in, playing on the computer and watching TV.

The girls have let me sleep in, which has been nice. I set my schedule according to what activities I want to do and when.

I have accomplished several chores around the house, although I basically took off Christmas.  I can tell, though, because it has aggravated my back and sciatica.  Even though I have rested a lot and limited my activity in the process of doing chores.

We are coming up on the weekend. It will be a typical weekend for me, filled with chores, exercise sessions, housework and some errands.   All doable.  Intertwined with some reading, watching TV and puzzle solving.

This should be a good few days off, as it has been already.  We return to work for 2 days, then have two days off and return to work again for one day, and then have a weekend off. This is a nice time of year, and I appreciate the extra time off.

Fruitcake!

As we often do at the mystery book club I attend, we did a "Chinese gift exchange."  If you do not know what this is, it is very interesting.  The participants draw numbers equal to the number of gifts being exchanged.  From there you set your own rules, pretty much.

The first person chooses a gift.  The second person can choose a gift, including the first person's gift.  So then the first person would get to choose another gift.  The third person can take a gift already chosen, or choose a new gift, and so on.  Sometimes when people do this, they put a limit on how many times a gift can be chosen after the original chooser.  Sometimes, there is no limit.

The bottom line is everyone gets to choose a gift, and everyone leaves with a gift.

This can get interesting and even a little vindictive when you have a group of personalities that do not always get along. Then, you have people taking gifts for spite not because they like the gift. I think that the people in the book club are very polite and considerate, mostly because we only see each other as a whole once a month, although some of the members do have other relationships with each other. So, there was not much taking of others' gifts. 

My turn was midway through the selections, and I took a tall package bag with a reindeer face on it.  Because I liked the bag. It contained a fruitcake!  Well, I am one of those weird people who likes fruit cake.  And the people sitting next to me asked me if I did. (There were 9 of us present, and including myself, 3 liked fruitcake.)  After the gift exchange was done, the person to my left said she almost took the fruitcake when it was her turn, but decided not to, since she was the person who brought it (there was no rule against that, I have seen it done before.) She told me it came from United Supermarkets, a local supermarket chain http://www.unitedtexas.com/ (recently purchased by Albertsons.)

The book club was Thursday night.  The next morning I decided (was salivating at the thought) to have a piece of fruitcake for a snack at work.  I opened the package to cut a slice, and the aroma of rum struck me first thing.  I understand that the alcohol "cooks off" but decided it was probably not appropriate to bring something to work that smelled so strongly of rum.

This cake is wonderful: moist, lots of candied fruit, lots of nuts.  Hmmm. And, here it is Sunday night, and every time I open the package, the aroma of rum still wafts out!  This is a great fruitcake!

Things on My Facebook I Want to Share in My Blog

 

Just lightly browsing in Facebook, and came across some things to share:  The USAF Band of the West is performing tonight and Monday night in San Antonio, Texas http://www.bandofthewest.af.mil/index.asp.  There was a video clip on Facebook about this band, but I cannot get the link to copy, just the picture.

 

 I also want to share something from my niece, which is very sad and very telling: 





Her comment is regarding making this her crèche this year.  Another Facebook friend has added it as her updated photo.  I am not sure how I feel about this. 

And now for cute  http://buddingbaketress.blogspot.com/2010/12/peanut-butter-reindeer-cookies.html 
Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies!  Wow!

 

 

 

Merry Christmas! For my non-Christian friends and acquaintances, Happy Holidays! Remember whatever your faith, there is a Reason for the Season.

 

 

 

 



 



 

Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/.  I generally try to do something to recognize the honorees on a patriotic holiday.  I did not today. I did not get the day as a holiday at work.

I did go to a patriotic concert last Friday. And, I did think about the veterans and their sacrifices today.   That is weak.  It is what it is.