random thoughts – Day 1,849 – (Wednesday) – rescued and replaced

The waking up routine includes a peek out the window to check the weather. This morning, there was ice at the end of the driveway. Again. I will go on the record saying I’m tired of base layers and sweaters and having to dress for warmth. Ugh.

Dressed for a day at the office, the morning proceeded as usual. A glass of water and multiple cups of coffee. Email, Facebook, Duolingo. Grab something for lunch (slice of veggie pizza) and add it to the bag with the wallet, phone charger cord, and phone.

At the usual time (7:55 am), the car was remote started, because, well, the ice. Hair was combed and teeth were brushed. Goodbyes were said to Kiki. With the winter coat on, I locked the door and noticed the silence. The car was not running. Did I really remote start it or not? I knew I did. For sure.

Roadside assist
to the rescue.

Inside the car, I manually started it, and the instrument cluster displayed lights like a crazy carnival, most of which I had never seen before. Airbag service? Release parking brake (which wasn’t on)? When the heat was turned on, the radio went off. Despite having already started the car, there was a message to “push start.” I did and it started. Things flashed. It didn’t seem to be running. The radio went dark. I went back inside. Texts were sent to the appropriate managerial types.

Then the phone calls began. Was Jeep familiar with this scenario? They can’t look at it until Friday, but I could have it towed there at any time. Based on what little I know of cars (basically, how to operate one as long as it is an automatic and noting is awry), I jumped to the Jeep Renegade forum to scan for similar issues. Nothing stood out.

The next search was for the average life of battery in a Jeep Renegade. The answer was three to five years. In the just shy of four years with mine, I have definitely not replaced the battery. The next call was to AAA. If I needed a tow to a service center, they would be the option. And I also knew they had battery service. 

Within an hour of logging the service request, a local mechanic was at the house to perform a rescue operation. He said that Renegades sometimes have alternator issues, but he would start with checking the battery. It wasn’t long before the verdict was in. Battery. Dead. 

Battery report card.

While the mechanic was outside under the hood of the Jeep, I was inside on a webinar about the action required on our company 401k plans after the merger. That was followed immediately by our usual team meeting. By then, the mechanic was back at the door to settle up for the cost of the battery. The battery replacement wasn’t that expensive (and especially compared to the recently deceased furnace and the broken wrist), and I knew the whole situation could have been much worse. 

The car could have not started last night when I was trying to leave for the work event, or worse, when I was trying to leave to come home. It could have gotten me downtown this morning and croaked inside the garage. It could have held on for a couple more days and died on Saturday when I’m in Worcester. Having the battery die when the car was backed into the driveway at home is truly the best scenario possible.

I might have some crappy luck, but there is usually a sliver of a silver lining.

random thoughts – Day 1,848 – (Tuesday) – winding down

Welcome EB. And also goodbye.

The bank I work for has organized some great employee appreciation events. We were kind of famous for it. For many years until the pandemic derailed the world, we had a Celebration of Success event at Lowell Memorial Auditorium. There were recognitions for milestone anniversaries, and commendation awards for customer service, team spirit, and many more categories. There were raffles of pricey items like big-screen TVs, kayaks, computers, high-end vacuums, airline and hotel gift cards, and so much more.

Post-pandemic, the big event splintered into smaller regional dinner events with raffles in the fall, and a team-wide event at Wamesit Lanes in the spring. For a couple years, I missed the spring event because it coincided with a board obligation. The big team event for this year, the last one before the bank is merged with another, was tonight. The illuminated sign outside read "Welcome Enterprise Bank," and my brain filled in with "and goodbye." 

Prize wheel bounty.

We had full run of Wamesit Lanes. There were appetizers and cocktails, then a dinner buffet and desserts. Screens displayed the team superlatives – comedian, most likely reality show contestant, best laugh, human megaphone, etc. There was candlepin and ten-pin bowling, arcade games, and a prize wheel with piles of bank-branded prizes including blankets, hats, fleece jackets, golf shirts, laptop bags, golf umbrellas, beach towels, and more. I won a cool ball cap on my spin which I planted on my head and wore all night. 

The vibe was casual and fun, even though it was also sad because it’s the last big event with all of us. Several conversations included the inevitable question, “Is anyone from your department being retained after the merger?” Lots of us are done soon-ish or slightly later.

Pinball!

I played pinball, which I hadn’t touched in decades. Once I remembered where the buttons for the flippers were located it was fun, but I am definitely not now, nor was I ever, a pinball wizard.

A colleague and I played a basketball shooting hoops game and I did better than I thought I would. Colleagues sang karaoke, and a bunch of us crowded into the setup for a team photo, which will be sent along to one of us when the wifi signal is stronger or something like that.

It was fun and I was glad to be there. I hate that it was my first and last big Wamesit event, because the place is great. I hate that it was the last big bank event, because my colleagues are great. Maybe some of our paths will cross again. Or not. Time will tell. We still have a few months to go, so it's not over yet, but the countdown is on.

random thoughts – Day 1,847 – (Monday) – noticing things

Woven around and between the movies I recently watched and episodes of the two weekly HBO series I like (The White Lotus, The Righteous Gemstones), the fill-in show is Love Is Blind. The show has women and men dating without seeing each other. This is accomplished by having each person seated in a pod, talking to the other through a wall, and if they eventually connect and like each other, they can get engaged and then they finally meet each other. They go on a vacation, then they go back to the home city and meet the families and friends and prepare for their wedding in two weeks.

Official show drinkware in a bar.

I’ve watched other seasons, and never have I once seen an unattractive person as a contestant. Almost all the women are an 8, 9, or 10, have movie star white teeth and are attractive in a conventional way. The guys will have one or two who are slightly more everyday looking, pulling the range down a smidge from 7s to 10s. Love might be blind, but on this show, you are at least spared dating an ogre.

The current season has me noticing some things. No matter where the scene is set—the men's quarters, women's quarters, the date pods, on vacation, or in the city, the drinkware is always the same. Gold-toned metal wine goblets and stemless drinking glasses were used everywhere, including the family homes and the restaurants and bars when they are back in the hometown. They are nice glasses, but come on. They hide the contents, but it seems weird the production company would dictate the drinkware used in a restaurant.

Joey, flossing his teeth.

Then I googled “Love Is Blind drinkware.” It turns out the show has an official drinkware line, which can be ordered from the Netflix Shop, so even we plebian non-contestants can “Impress with trendy drinkware from the official Love is Blind collection.” The show is essentially a 12-episode drinkware commercial.

The quarters are full of cameras, and the participants know they are on camera, but it doesn’t stop them from doing dumb things. In an episode I watched last week, the guys were in their living room area talking, and one guy, Joey, 34, Physician Associate, stood behind the bar flossing his teeth for several minutes that felt like forever. 

Dude! You are on camera, in a show that will be seen by a lot of people, with your fingers jammed in your moth flossing your teeth with your stupid little floss pick. Go to a private place for your hygiene practices. Please.  

Dental picks in a grocery store parking spot.

It was funny seeing the flossing episode because earlier the same day, I was at Hannaford. In the parking space next to mine, there were dental floss picks scattered on the ground. Was Joey, 34, Physician Associate, there and left his calling card? Also, I see those things on the ground everywhere. The bank parking lot, the parking garage, on the sidewalks, shopping center parking lots. Everywhere.

What is the deal people? Is everyone sitting in their cars doing a floss and toss? Maybe meet up with your friends, circle the cars and do a group event? Gross. Or maybe it's a panic purchase on the way to an event and the person realizes there is something in their teeth. Then, opening the bag in a hurry, it explodes open and the picks fly everywhere. Could be. Noticing things and then thinking about them can make my head spin.

random thoughts – Day 1,846 – (Sunday) – happy family time

Today is one of the days that are heavy on birthdays. According to the Facebook birthday reminders, five of my FB friends and family members have birthdays today. There are probably more, but not everyone is on FB. The list includes my niece, a former colleague from Tennessee, a friend from Tennessee, a high school classmate, and a belly dance sister. Fun!

Dance practice went very well again this week, and then it was off to my sister’s house for lunch and birthday cake to celebrate my middle niece. Today kicks off a string of family birthdays with at least one close family member birthday in April, May, June, July, and August. Party season has officially opened.

Didn't work like in the video, required a knife.

I arrived in the midst of the pre-dinner comedy show involving a pineapple and a YouTube video. The person in the video had a technique to divide a pineapple without having to cut it. There was rolling, and slamming it on the counter three times, and then the little sections were supposed to be able to plucked out individually. 

It worked in the video, but not in real life in Sis's kitchen. The sections did not pluck out. There was pineapple juice everywhere. Sis eventually used a knife to get some of the sections out. But watching the attempt was certainly entertaining and we all had a great laugh.

Birthday candle fun.

Today’s festivity featured my sister’s cooking with baked chicken, cauliflower, and sweet potato, followed by cake. The cake had a fun candle feature with small birthday candles and a musical mobile that turns like the wooden Swedish Christmas candle spinners. My eldest niece, who lives in Nevada joined us by video chat and we had a fun time. 

These are the things I missed while living in Tennessee.  All the birthdays and lunches and spontaneous gatherings and family moments that I would hear about from afar or maybe not at all. They kept chipping at my stony little heart and I needed to come home. 

random thoughts – Day 1,845 – (Saturday) – bunny season

Real backyard bunny.

Signs of spring continue and today there were clouds and April showers. It seemed like a lighter, gentler version of the many months of fall and winter rain.

There was a brown cottontail bunny sighting in the yard today, the second time in a few days. Now I'll be looking for baby bunnies and better photo opportunities. 

Maybe brown bunny is scoping out where to hide my Easter treats. A year or two ago, there was a blue plastic egg in the yard with a dollar bill inside. I though it might have migrated from the yard of the neighbors with the small kid, but maybe it was brown bunny. 

Inside the house, my minimalist style of spring decorating took place today. The living room currently hosts Creepy Bunny. Creepy Bunny is a papier mâché piece that probably came from Christmas Tree Shoppe a million years ago. 

The family house had a front porch with an enclosed vestibule entryway with space to set bags down and unlock the door. It was large enough for a small table, and Mom would decorate for the seasons. During the Christmas season, a narrow, foil tree usually lived on the table. During the spring season, the table had a spring floral tablecloth and CB greeted/startled visitors.  

Indoor Creepy Bunny.

I was lucky enough to recently be awarded custodianship of Creepy Bunny. This is probably because for years I said I loved and wanted the scary little thing. Victory! And now CB sits on a plant stand and presides over the living room. 

Kiki has not noticed CB, and this isn't a surprise. There are two pom poms on the cat tree stand and I regularly plant a treat on the higher one, hoping she'll use the sisal wrapped pole for scratching. The treat stays on the pom pom, until I take it and feed it to her by hand. 

Kiki always eats the treat off the lower pom pom, but has never once even noticed it on the higher one to retrieve it herself. The only reason she even goes near the thing is to fetch the treats I plant on the base of it each night so she won't be afraid of the thing.

random thoughts – Day 1,844 – (Friday) – springing up

Spring finery is
popping up.

It was in the mid-60s and sunny when I took a walk downtown, and I was comfortable in a light-ish trench coat. There were new pop-up shops and windows covered in brown paper with "coming soon" signs. Next to the newly opened Lazy Cat Lounge Cafe, a nail salon is outfitted with a wall of pink and white fabric flowers and displays of nail polish. A white sign lettered in red posted near the door declared "Nail Salon Coming Soon." Restaurant names I didn't recognize were scattered in the area. It's good to see shops and restaurants opening.

In addition to the new shops, there was an array of attire on display downtown. The warmer weather inspired many people to shed the winter coats and don sweatshirts, jeans, jackets of all weights, tee shirts with no jackets, and lightweight summery floral and patterned dresses and sandals. 

I was behind one such bright and breezy dress and sandals outfit for a full block and it made me wish I was back in Mexico at a beach resort wearing my own floaty dress, but no luck. I was soon back in the office shivering in the very unspring-like arctic environment as the cooling system enthusiastically blasted chilled air. Despite my wearing an indoor-appropriate blouse and sweater and pushing the setting up to 80 degrees, I was cold nearly all day.

Tree with buds.

Later, as I headed to the car in my trench coat, a woman in a tangerine-colored sleeveless dress and flip flops unloaded groceries from the trunk into a wagon with a companion in jeans and a tee shirt. I felt like a dork in my coat but at least I wasn’t freezing.

At home and preparing supper, looking out the window over the sink, I noticed the tree in the back yard neighbor’s yard. The branches that were bare earlier this week were loaded with red buds that will eventually be leaves. Green shoots are poking through the ground where the irises and lilies live, and maroon shoots where the Bleeding Heart is near the front door. Is suddenly seems that spring is here. 

random thoughts – Day 1,843 – (Thursday) –feelings and groceries

The latest x-rays and previous ones.

The follow-up with the surgeon was today and it was more of the usual with another x-ray and quick visit with the surgeon. He had me make a fist and extend my fingers. Make prayer hands. Invert the prayer hands with the backs of the hands touching. The official medical declaration was that the bone is about 90% healed, there are no restrictions, I don’t need any more appointments with the surgeon unless something happens, and the best news of all – I don’t need physical therapy. 

I’m convinced the PT bullet was dodged thanks to two friends who told me exercises to do to work on mobility and flexibility. So thanks K and K!

The appointment took about 10 minutes and I had the afternoon off. Instead of taking the left towards home, I took the right towards the shopping plaza and Hannaford. I had a coupon for $12 off a $60 order and $6 in rewards I could redeem.

The Hannaford discount coupons are when I splurge if the usual pantry staples haven’t hit the total to trigger the coupon. I was keeping a running total in my head, but kept forgetting the total, and unlike the old-timey days before bar codes there are no price tags on items to start over.

Produce, granola bars, coffee, spaghetti sauce, salsa, cheese, English muffins, rice, and more were loaded into the cart to bolster the pantry reserves. Splurge items included ice cream and cookies. At the register, as the number of items left to be rung up dwindled, I mentioned to the cashier the need to hit $60. That’s when I learned that the $6 rewards came off first, which put me $6 shy of hitting the qualifying amount for the other coupon. My math was on the mark, but the rewards deduction knocked me back.

Splurge that led to savings.

The cashier offered to pause my transaction and take the next customer while I got something else to hit the target amount. My mind went blank and under pressure I couldn’t think of anything else I needed. I was darting around the aisles like the ball in a pinball game until jugs of trail mix were spotted on a bottom shelf. 

Usually, I mix my own using whatever is in the baking cabinet, but the reserves are low-ish. The Hannaford mixes have dried fruits and nuts I would never have on hand at the same time. And it let me hit $60 to get $12 off. Getting $68 worth of groceries for $50 felt like a financial and psychological victory. Sure, I had to spend more to save more, but I would have buying the pantry stuff eventually.

The rest of the afternoon involved putting away groceries and watching movies on Max. There was a chunk of Steel Magnolias, of which I remembered only that I didn’t really like it when it first came out, and also someone dies. I liked it a lot more this go-round and bawled my eyes out. It was followed by Sixteen Candles, which I’ve seen several times, and also made me cry. I have no idea what is with the waterworks today. It’s nice to live alone and be able to cry freely, even when it’s a rare occurrence. During my tween and teen years, Mom and I would cry while watching movies and my brother and Dad would make fun of us. My response was to master stuffing down the feelings and choking back the tears, which was preferable to being mocked for having feelings.

There were other feelings today besides the mushy movie ones when I read the follow up notes sent by the doctor’s office. The notes claim that “The patient was informed a slight chance of reinjury/refracture, need for future surgery and a slight chance of arthritis in the future. If appropriate, a permanent growth plate deformity may develop. A home exercise program was given to the patient.” My accompanying reaction was straight up, full blown, out loud exclamation of “what in the actual f*ck?!?” NONE of that was discussed. Not a single word of it. A chance of refracture? A potential growth plate deformity?!? Trust me, had this been told to me, we’d still be in the office discussing probabilities, ways to avoid such things, and options if they developed. And where is the “home exercise program?”

I was all set to enjoy some tropical trail mix that I would probably get all over the couch, but I couldn’t get the lid off, which was disappointing. The lid and the container are each a smidge too large for me to grasp. Maybe I’ll bring my 30-ounce jug of trail mix to the office tomorrow and see if someone with large, strong hands can loosen the lid for me. And who are the sadistic product packaging design engineers who come up with so many cruel ways to frustrate the shopper? I would like to slap a couple of them.