I like Halloween. I do not do costumes, but I like handing out treats, seeing the costumes of the trick or treaters, and having a jack o'lantern. I did not do a jack o'lantern this year. Friday night, I go to the pool for my physical therapy routine, and I was not sure what time I would get home from that. I did not want to have a jack o'lantern out, even if it was not lit, if I was not home. Well, as it turned out, I completed my time at work, got to the pool, did my routine, and got home in plenty of time for trick or treat.
But trick or treat started late this year. Oh well.
I remember one year, when Mack and I lived in the duplex, it was a beautiful night for trick or treat. In the duplex, Mack had no outlet: to go to the back yard, he had to go out through the front door. There was no back door. So, he did not do well with trick or treat. He barked and barked and barked when strangers came to the door and he was in the house. But he did not want to be in the back yard. Since it was a pretty that night, I put on my jacket, took the treats, and sat at the front door. When people approached the front door, I sat very still, but before they could knock, I would say "Boo." I really scared a lot of people. They got candy, and this kept Mack from barking and barking and barking.
When we moved to this house, Mack would retreat to the back yard on Halloween. He just did not want to deal with all the traffic at the door. He seemed to understand that it was okay, but his instinct was to bark every time someone knocked, and it was a hassle. That was okay for me.
Hmmm. Next year, Halloween is on Saturday night. If the weather is nice, maybe I can have a jack o'lantern, sit on the porch dressed as a "bag lady" (I am a bag lady, believe me) and give out treats. That would be fun.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Trick or Treat and Friday Night Football
It is Halloween on Friday night. In Texas, in autumn, Friday night (high school) football is sacrosanct. Nothing interferes, not even trick or treat. The local news tonight said to expect that trick or treat would not start until after 10 PM, when the Friday night football games finished!
There are a few communities around who had trick or treat last night, so as not to interfere with Friday night football. Many of the small towns around cancelled trick or treat, and/or did trick or trunk http://www.trunkortreat.us/what.html at the football games: before, during, at half time and/or after the game. Especially for the small communities, this makes so much sense!
There are a few communities around who had trick or treat last night, so as not to interfere with Friday night football. Many of the small towns around cancelled trick or treat, and/or did trick or trunk http://www.trunkortreat.us/what.html at the football games: before, during, at half time and/or after the game. Especially for the small communities, this makes so much sense!
Kitties and Halloween
It is Halloween, and trick or treat started late tonight. I was beginning to think I would not have any trick or treaters. A local church did "Trunk or Treat" http://www.trunkortreat.us/what.html on Wednesday night. Also, Friday night football probably is taking precedence over trick or treat. The local news said to expect trick or treat to start about 10 PM, after the Friday night football games were done! (I will probably close my door and shut my light off before 10 PM. I shut down when the trick or treaters are older people and not young kids.)
I opened the front door, kept the storm door locked, and put the front light on. I put a chair near the front door so I could keep the bag of candy nearby. Sake wants to be isolated in the garage lately, so that is where she is tonight. Taki wanted to be in the computer room, as did Haiku. Taki was content to lie there. Haiku wanted something, but not to be held and they have multiple food choices available.
So, anyway, it was well after dark when the first trick or treaters knocked on my door. Taki hid. Haiku wanted to check this out. In fact, she checked out the first couple of groups at the door. I would step outside, and shut her in (I don't think she would escape, because she rarely does, but she does.)
So, after a bit, I put her in the cat stroller, and left the door open. She likes the cat stroller, and is in and out of it a lot. For tonight, it gives her a perfect view of the door and our visitors, but keeps her away from the door, so I do not have to worry about escape as much.
This seems to be the status quo tonight for trick or treat and kitties.
I opened the front door, kept the storm door locked, and put the front light on. I put a chair near the front door so I could keep the bag of candy nearby. Sake wants to be isolated in the garage lately, so that is where she is tonight. Taki wanted to be in the computer room, as did Haiku. Taki was content to lie there. Haiku wanted something, but not to be held and they have multiple food choices available.
So, anyway, it was well after dark when the first trick or treaters knocked on my door. Taki hid. Haiku wanted to check this out. In fact, she checked out the first couple of groups at the door. I would step outside, and shut her in (I don't think she would escape, because she rarely does, but she does.)
So, after a bit, I put her in the cat stroller, and left the door open. She likes the cat stroller, and is in and out of it a lot. For tonight, it gives her a perfect view of the door and our visitors, but keeps her away from the door, so I do not have to worry about escape as much.
This seems to be the status quo tonight for trick or treat and kitties.
Patience
I had no patience, growing up. And I had no sense of timing and barged in, did not wait, and just stepped all over myself and other people in my eagerness to complete, do, perform, act. This hurt some relationships. But mostly, it hurt me because I did not understand about patience.
All my work life, I felt I needed to produce. Of course, when I worked in the tobacco fields as a teenager, or the napkin factory as a young adult, I had to keep up with the speed of required production. I think this conditioned me to know that I had quotas and deadlines and I had to always be busy.
The hardest adjustment I made when I went to work at the prison was to learn patience. I had to learn to wait on the officer who would unlock one of the six locked doors through which I have to pass to get into my work area. I had to learn patience until the officer in the "sally port" could pass a key to me through the pass through box.
I had to learn patience because I was at the mercy of correctional officers who would bring my patients from their cells to the interview room for me to speak to them. I had to accept that count time stopped movement, and chow time stopped movement. I had to accept that understaffed areas stopped movement. I had to learn that some officers just were resistant to bringing out patients for interview, and would move papers, avoid eye contact, talk to other officers and in general would not do their job which includes bringing out patients so clinicians can interview them.
Today, I needed to see a patient. It was count time, and one of the officers was training two new on the job trainees (OJTs) about count time. I knew it was count time, but as timing would have it, I had just finished the chart review I wanted to do before I interviewed the patient. So, I waited in my office to allow for count. Because there were some trainees, it took a little longer and was not quite finished when I did go to the pod.
Also waiting on the pod was a transport officer. His job is to escort patients to the infirmary for medical appointments. He was just waiting at the desk. (He had to wait for count to be completed, also.) As I stood at the desk waiting for the officers to complete count, he asked me what I needed to do. I responded, and he repeated my need to the other officers just sitting there, letting the OJTs and their monitor do count.
This transport officer is one who is appropriate, polite to staff and offenders, always does his job well. He is always helpful, always prompt to respond, and will even help bring out patients on rows where he is not assigned. He also has a good, appropriate sense of humor and is in general a nice person to work with. Except some officers think he is too helpful to clinical staff. (Isn't that sad? I mean, that is large part of their job.)
I thanked him for running interference for me today. (He has done this before for me.) I told him I was waiting for count to clear, and I could see it had not. He acknowledged that and said he knew they were far enough along to bring out the patient I needed to see.
We engaged in a discussion. I told him that the hardest thing for me to learn when I came to work at the prison was to wait. That it was okay to wait, and sometimes, expected that we would wait. He acknowledged and said it was also difficult for him to learn. He commented that all of his previous jobs were productions jobs where you had to be busy all the time, and if you were not, you had to learn to look busy all of the time.
I told him that learning patience was a blessing for me, because I have learned to transfer that skill to my "outside" life, and the quality of my life has improved. I am able to relax, let things take their course, and recognize when I have done all I can do and I need to let time pass as it needs to. He told me he, too felt that his personal had improved because he has learned to be patient.
It is not often that I get to engage in a philosophical discussion with a correctional officer regarding something other than "this patient does not need to be here." I enjoy the kind of philosophical sharing I did today regarding patience.
All my work life, I felt I needed to produce. Of course, when I worked in the tobacco fields as a teenager, or the napkin factory as a young adult, I had to keep up with the speed of required production. I think this conditioned me to know that I had quotas and deadlines and I had to always be busy.
The hardest adjustment I made when I went to work at the prison was to learn patience. I had to learn to wait on the officer who would unlock one of the six locked doors through which I have to pass to get into my work area. I had to learn patience until the officer in the "sally port" could pass a key to me through the pass through box.
I had to learn patience because I was at the mercy of correctional officers who would bring my patients from their cells to the interview room for me to speak to them. I had to accept that count time stopped movement, and chow time stopped movement. I had to accept that understaffed areas stopped movement. I had to learn that some officers just were resistant to bringing out patients for interview, and would move papers, avoid eye contact, talk to other officers and in general would not do their job which includes bringing out patients so clinicians can interview them.
Today, I needed to see a patient. It was count time, and one of the officers was training two new on the job trainees (OJTs) about count time. I knew it was count time, but as timing would have it, I had just finished the chart review I wanted to do before I interviewed the patient. So, I waited in my office to allow for count. Because there were some trainees, it took a little longer and was not quite finished when I did go to the pod.
Also waiting on the pod was a transport officer. His job is to escort patients to the infirmary for medical appointments. He was just waiting at the desk. (He had to wait for count to be completed, also.) As I stood at the desk waiting for the officers to complete count, he asked me what I needed to do. I responded, and he repeated my need to the other officers just sitting there, letting the OJTs and their monitor do count.
This transport officer is one who is appropriate, polite to staff and offenders, always does his job well. He is always helpful, always prompt to respond, and will even help bring out patients on rows where he is not assigned. He also has a good, appropriate sense of humor and is in general a nice person to work with. Except some officers think he is too helpful to clinical staff. (Isn't that sad? I mean, that is large part of their job.)
I thanked him for running interference for me today. (He has done this before for me.) I told him I was waiting for count to clear, and I could see it had not. He acknowledged that and said he knew they were far enough along to bring out the patient I needed to see.
We engaged in a discussion. I told him that the hardest thing for me to learn when I came to work at the prison was to wait. That it was okay to wait, and sometimes, expected that we would wait. He acknowledged and said it was also difficult for him to learn. He commented that all of his previous jobs were productions jobs where you had to be busy all the time, and if you were not, you had to learn to look busy all of the time.
I told him that learning patience was a blessing for me, because I have learned to transfer that skill to my "outside" life, and the quality of my life has improved. I am able to relax, let things take their course, and recognize when I have done all I can do and I need to let time pass as it needs to. He told me he, too felt that his personal had improved because he has learned to be patient.
It is not often that I get to engage in a philosophical discussion with a correctional officer regarding something other than "this patient does not need to be here." I enjoy the kind of philosophical sharing I did today regarding patience.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Sending Emails
So, recently, I have sent some emails. I sent an email to President Obama, supporting his efforts to provide emergency help and re-educate Central Americans regarding the immigration policies of the United States. I agreed with him that we needed to do something to offer a humane response to the people coming from Central American with false expectations of humanitarian assistance from this country. I agreed we needed to provide humane aid, and we could not ignore the problem of the need of political asylum. That could not we ignore the needs of the immigrants who made it to the United States. And that we needed to educate the citizens of the countries of Central America that the United States could not always offer the asylum they wanted. On the other hand, we needed to be sensitive as a country to their dire and desperate needs for asylum.
It took several weeks, but I received a very canned form letter from the Office of the President. But, I did receive a response. By the time I received the response there were so many other emergency issues in the world, that the response seemed very anti-climactic.
Last week, I sent an email to the Prime Minister of Canada, The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P., expressing my condolences to the family of Corporal Nathan Cirillo, and to the Canadian peoples. I was horrified at the terroristic attacks on Canada, I received a response today. I was surprised at receiving a response. It, too was a "canned" response, but it was very timely, and lent the air of concern and interest.
Monday night, I sent an email to the mayor of Lubbock, http://www.ci.lubbock.tx.us/city-council/mayor Glen Robertson. I had been at the Mahon Branch of the Library of the city of Lubbock, http://www.mylubbock.us/departmental-websites/departments/library/library-home. The light in the primary parking lot of the library was out, and I was concerned about safety for library customers. I sent an email to the mayor about that. I was astonished to receive a phone call from the mayor's office.
This was a bit of a misdirection phone call: The information was that the light had not been out long, the Lubbock Power and Light was having some difficulty getting it repaired, that the mayor's office was concerned about Library customer safety. They would keep me advised.
Well, I understand it might take a few days to replace lights.
But Lubbock Power and Light is not getting any slack from me. The incestuous political dealings in Lubbock have given Lubbock Power and Light free rein to misbehave, provide poor service, and to gouge citizens for electric service costs. They increase rates wantonly, and because the City of Lubbock voted to expel Excel http://www.xcelenergy.com/. there is no competition for LP&L.
So, anything the mayor's office tells me about the workings of LP&L is taken with a grain of salt. The mayor's office said I would be apprised of the progress of getting the light fixed. I think LP&L is "blowing smoke" to the mayor's office, and they are complicit with this.
I will be agreeably surprised if this is not the case. This is one email I can follow up on.
It took several weeks, but I received a very canned form letter from the Office of the President. But, I did receive a response. By the time I received the response there were so many other emergency issues in the world, that the response seemed very anti-climactic.
Last week, I sent an email to the Prime Minister of Canada, The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P., expressing my condolences to the family of Corporal Nathan Cirillo, and to the Canadian peoples. I was horrified at the terroristic attacks on Canada, I received a response today. I was surprised at receiving a response. It, too was a "canned" response, but it was very timely, and lent the air of concern and interest.
Monday night, I sent an email to the mayor of Lubbock, http://www.ci.lubbock.tx.us/city-council/mayor Glen Robertson. I had been at the Mahon Branch of the Library of the city of Lubbock, http://www.mylubbock.us/departmental-websites/departments/library/library-home. The light in the primary parking lot of the library was out, and I was concerned about safety for library customers. I sent an email to the mayor about that. I was astonished to receive a phone call from the mayor's office.
This was a bit of a misdirection phone call: The information was that the light had not been out long, the Lubbock Power and Light was having some difficulty getting it repaired, that the mayor's office was concerned about Library customer safety. They would keep me advised.
Well, I understand it might take a few days to replace lights.
But Lubbock Power and Light is not getting any slack from me. The incestuous political dealings in Lubbock have given Lubbock Power and Light free rein to misbehave, provide poor service, and to gouge citizens for electric service costs. They increase rates wantonly, and because the City of Lubbock voted to expel Excel http://www.xcelenergy.com/. there is no competition for LP&L.
So, anything the mayor's office tells me about the workings of LP&L is taken with a grain of salt. The mayor's office said I would be apprised of the progress of getting the light fixed. I think LP&L is "blowing smoke" to the mayor's office, and they are complicit with this.
I will be agreeably surprised if this is not the case. This is one email I can follow up on.
Writing Letters
In high school, I discovered that if you send letters to politicians or corporations, there is a very good chance that you will receive a response. I did not send spurious letters, but letters of interest to me. And, I received responses.
In the late 1980s, I discovered Lazlo Toth by Don Novello http://www.amazon.com/The-Lazlo-Letters-Don-Novello/dp/1563052857. His letters were generally sent in jest, but he frequently received serious or satirical responses. He has three books that you can find on the website, and that I own.
Over the years, I got out of the habit of sending letters. But, with the advent of the Internet, sending emails has become easy. The sad part about that is that the volume of emails usually precludes a response, or the response is not timely, or so canned that it is meaningless.
But sending letters is still important.
In the late 1980s, I discovered Lazlo Toth by Don Novello http://www.amazon.com/The-Lazlo-Letters-Don-Novello/dp/1563052857. His letters were generally sent in jest, but he frequently received serious or satirical responses. He has three books that you can find on the website, and that I own.
Over the years, I got out of the habit of sending letters. But, with the advent of the Internet, sending emails has become easy. The sad part about that is that the volume of emails usually precludes a response, or the response is not timely, or so canned that it is meaningless.
But sending letters is still important.
Taki Wanted Something
Taki wanted something tonight. She grabbed my knee, which is her signal to me. I picked her up and gave her a hug. Then, I went to the kitchen. She followed me, but she did not stay there. She made her way to the living room, and hopped up on the sofa, where she sits to watch when I exercise. So, I did a quick exercise. And she acted as if she was bored! I do not know what she wanted, so I returned to the computer!
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