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.

Thank You to My Brother

I should have written this yesterday, but got distracted.  My oldest brother sent me a giant crossword puzzle.  That was so sweet of him.  It is something I am enjoying working on. I called my brother to thank him. My brother said he could send me the solution. I told him to wait until I had had a chance to work on the puzzle. Yeah, puzzle.

One Little Detail

I like to do puzzles.  I like jigsaw puzzles, but with the cats, I do not have a set up that I could use to start and leave a puzzle unfinished without the cats getting into it.  That is okay. I do a daily online jigsaw puzzle. I know with jigsaw puzzles, sometimes placing a certain few pieces can make a difference in completing the puzzle.

I love word puzzles:  jumbles, anagrams, crossword puzzles, acrosstics.  I will do word searches.  And I like fill in crosswords.  I think I have previously mentioned that until I went to work at my current place of employment, I did not understand that word puzzles could be a team sport.  Of course, they can. But they can also be an individual activity.

So often when working these puzzles, I can be stumped until I solve one little thing, one or two clues, and then everything else falls into place.

I do a lot of puzzles on line every day, and regularly work a paper acrosstic.

I have found a couple of sites for online crosswords.  I usually use the expert setting, that does not let me know if I have made an error as I am filling in an answer. Sometimes, I am stumped, and have to go to the regular level to find my errors, and correct them.

But at the expert setting, there is no such help.  So, after I complete a puzzle, and all the blanks are filled, and the puzzle does not indicate I have successfully completed it, I have to go back through and check it.  Sometimes, it is a stupid typo on my part. Sometimes, it is a questionable answer. Sometimes, I do not know the answer, and have to get help from the regular level.

The point is, I have to recheck every answer.  And, it does not matter how many correct responses I have made, if there is just one letter that is incorrect, I have not completed the puzzle correctly.

This is a lesson in life. There are many times in life when one little thing that is incorrect can effect us so that nothing appears to be correct.  This can be frustrating and discouraging, especially because we live in a society in which the majority rules and predominately right or correct is acceptable.  But that is not always so.

So often, everything must be correct for the situation.  This is true in health care. This is true in accounting, bookkeeping.  And, in reality in mechanics:  if all things are not in alignment, one thing off can and probably will effect other mechanical parts so things are not right.

Our bodies are much more forgiving than mechanical devises.  But it is amazing that if one thing is off in our body, so many other things are affected:  A joint out of alignment requires an adjustment by the rest of the body. This means the body moves, reacts, responds in a way that is not usual to its working, and other joints and muscles are affected, ache, hurt, inflame, are sore, or are injured.. 

There is a story about how one grain of sand, in a shoe, can impact a journey, by wearing away on the foot of the walker.

Those of us who are obsessive-compulsive endure derision because of our attention to detail. But some of us have had the experience that when we did not pay attention to detail, things did not go smoothly. 

So, for me, I ignore the derision and enjoy my sense of well being when I pay attention to detail and feel confident of the situation because of my attention to detail.

It is amazing to me how one little detail can put a very complex puzzle into perspective. But it can.  And, I am content to try to work on that one little detail.

Acrostics

I have been doing acrostic puzzles http://www.thefreedictionary.com/acrostic since before I moved to Texas.  I know that because when I discovered acrostics, I went to a book store in Greenfield, and found a whole book of them.  I really enjoy acrostics, which are just a little more complex than crosswords.

But, because of their nature, they have more ways to be solved.  The acrostic is a puzzle block with blank and solid squares. Each blank square is identified by a letter and a number.  The clues are usually identified by a letter, and each blank in the clue is assigned a number.  When the clues are solved, the letter is transferred to the corresponding blank square.  Typically, reading down the clues, the first letter identifies an author and a piece of work by that author.

As the puzzle is being solved, patterns in the blank squares suggest a word, and those letters can be then transferred to the clues.

Sometimes I get stuck, and have to look up answers to help me.  I am always amazed that just one answer can open the door for the rest of the puzzle to be solved.

Sometimes, I think a lot of life is like that. We struggle with something, but then their is a key piece that helps us and everything else eventually falls into place.

Also, the acrostic lends itself to being a group effort.  Reading clues aloud, and sharing possible answers and parts of citations gets the creative juices going, and the group effort can solve the puzzle more easily, some times.

I like word puzzles. And acrostics are some of my favorites. So much so, that if I have not finished the current book I am working on, and I spy a new one, I buy it. Not second thoughts.

I Have a Competitive Streak in Me

I  have a competitive streak in me.  I am not physically adept but mentally, I can compete at some level, so I enjoy doing word games, trivia, sudoku and the like.  I have always enjoyed those activities. I have written in the past about my history of doing word puzzles.

I think my most favorite word puzzle is a double acrostic http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/169829/double-acrostic. It is difficult to explain, but you have a set of clues that are enumerated first by a letter and then, by letters, and in each clue, there is a number for each space.  When the clue is solved, the letter is placed in the enumerated space.  If you read the first letter of each clue, it gives the name of an author, and a title of the author's work.  When you put the letters into the appropriate boxes, there is a quote from the work of the author.

I enjoy working on these puzzles, and have, in the past, enjoyed sharing these puzzles with my companions who have helped me to solve them.  I have been looking for a renewable, printable online sight for these puzzles, and finally found one: http://www.americanacrostics.com/.  I have had trouble, over the years, finding books of these puzzles.  Waldenbooks was my best source, but even they were not always reliable. I have a book now. If I can find another book I will buy it, but am so thankful to have found a websource for these puzzles.

Words and Word Games

I love words, and have since I do not know when.  I love word games, and have since I do not know when.

When I was a child, I had a maternal uncle, Joe, and a paternal uncle, Voss, who loved crossword puzzles. Uncle Joe used to enter the crossword puzzle contest of a regional newspaper. I am not sure he ever won.

Uncle Voss did the daily crossword puzzle, and the Sunday New York Times puzzle. He lived with my paternal grandparents until they died, and then he lived with us until he built his own house. But every Sunday night, he spent time at our house working on the New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle. He used our encyclopedias (we had three:  Britannica Junior, World Book and yearly updates and Golden Book), and dictionaries (Britannica and a couple of others.)  We also had a Britannica Atlas and many other atlases, US Geographical Survery maps, and map books. I think Uncle Voss would have loved the internet, for its access to information.

My dad wanted us to have all these resources. He loved words, books, and maps. My dad loved learning and information. I am so thankful he did, because he passed that on to me. I love words. I love word puzzles. I love maps. I love learning.

Uncle Joe was my favorite uncle, and Uncle Voss was my next favorite uncle.  I suppose I got my love of words and word puzzles from my father and these two uncles.

When I first went to college, I met people who would spend days working on the New York Times Sunday puzzle. I thought you were supposed to finish on Sunday. What did I know? I just had an uncle who did that.

When I went to work at the Montford unit, there was a co-worker, Joe, who loved words and word puzzles. We talked about words a lot. We worked on puzzles a lot. The director liked crossword puzzles. There was a time when an administravie assistant printed off the daily crossword and we all worked on it.

I also like double crosstic word puzzles. I was in a relationship with someone who liked words and word puzzles. We did the daily jumble, and the daily crossword. We worked on double crosstic puzzles together, at home, with friends, or when we were traveling.

I did not realize that word games and puzzles were team activities, but some of them are. I learned that when I went to work at the Montford Unit, because some of my co-workers liked to work word puzzles with help. I also learned that from my relationship with the man who liked word games.

I have access to several word games on the computer.  I had a disk of Hoyle Games that I loaded onto my computer, and there are many word games in that arcade.

I have signed onto POGO games, so can play Scrabble against the computer.

I am engaged in several Scrabble games on Facebook, and several Words with Friends games on Facebook

I like words, word games, and word puzzles.