Quickie

Just as I got out of the car to head inside the Pain Cave for this morning’s workout, I got a phone alert that power in the area was out.

There was enough sunlight streaming in through the windows that the front room of the cave was workable for classes. However, the personal training area is in a back room, no sunlight.

So, with no electricity for the equipment I work on, no light in the area, no music, I just said hello/goodbye to Trainer, "I’ll see you on Wednesday …… If power restored".

Knowing soup was needed to get through this outage, but all out of vegetables, I headed across the street to the market.

Cashier was telling me they do have a generator, but it doesn’t kick in until needed to save the frozen items.

There is a shield that comes into play to keep frozen and cold items frozen/cold until the generator kicks in, and you can see one of those shields in the above video. Otherwise, the store generally has a few hours before that generator kicks in, lights turn on.

In the interim, everything else works, but in the dark.

So, anyway, I was rocking and rolling with the outage as I returned to the complex, prepared for no TV, burners but no oven to bake the salmon I'd planned for the day, that I'd have to pan fry it.

Meat Man was driving out of the complex, as I was crossing the parking lot. He pulled up, wished me Happy MLK Day, gave me a pep talk about you know who's second term, saying "We've survived worse" …… he's right, and "God is in control" …… right again.

While rewarming my morning coffee in a pot on the stove, I heard a clicking noise.

Checking around the unit to locate the noise, I noticed it was the printer rebooting.

That only happens when the power has been turned off and, because the printer is attached to a cord in a wall outlet, it automatically reboots when power is restored.

I checked further and, sure enough, TV and laptop powered up. Power was back at 12 noon, had only been off for an hour.

Thinking this might be some kind of a trick, I'm now online posting this quickie before power goes out again, which I expect will be in any second as the winds are still howling.

As far as this business about today's event being moved inside because of the cold, I'm not buying it.

I'm not watching any news today, so I don't know if the news channels are showing what's going on outside the area, but I find I have temporary access to Tik Tok on my laptop (not my phone) and the following is what I'm seeing.

Thousands protesting (not millions as I previously commented). They don't seem to mind the cold weather.

Before the power company kicks me offline, I'll leave you with this ……

Happy MLK Day

I had hoped to spend this past Saturday walking the University Campus, collecting Pokéballs, as the nearly 200 balls collected, when in Long Beach during the Thanksgiving week, have been depleted.

Because a Poké Gym has been established less than a quarter mile away from my unit in one direction, and because there’s a Pokéstop in the other direction, at the multi-family unit next door, I’m the recipient of cross activity and have been lucky enough to catch Pokémon without getting off the couch.

Pikachu himself is particularly fond of popping up on or near my needlepoint station.

Or Pikachu herself -- I can never tell the difference, and there is a difference, having to do with shape of the tail.

At any rate, Saturday walking the campus was preempted by my having to drive out of the area to the rescheduled appointment with the locktician (beautician for braids).

Sunday, had me scheduled for the nail salon.

I can actually purchase Pokéballs: 100 balls at $0.99, 500 at $4.00

But why pay for what I can obtain free with just a little leg work and fortunately, today is a holiday, campus closed to classes, and me with no commitments in my way.

There will be no people watching for me tomorrow, Pizza Tuesday, as I’ll be at the dealership having the transmission serviced.

It’s just as well I won’t be connecting with the folks for a few days, because so many seem bored, discontent, and I don't want to buy into that.

Even The Seer has been depressed of late, but her issue is that of being resentful -- resentful of where she is in life, more critical of others than she normally is, projecting her frustration that prayers are not being answered, that she’s not getting what she wants. My philosophy of don’t ask, trust the Universe, listen to what it’s telling you and go with the flow because “Your Father within knoweth what things you have need of” is wasted, falling on deaf ears, so I won't be expending any more energy on trying to lift a person who doesn't want to be lifted right now. And I can’t anymore with Apache -- his love affair with, admiration and defense of the Orange Idiot in Chief, even in the face of “sh*thole” is more than I’m willing to handle.

This thing with The Seer is temporary, she'll get over being upset with the Universe. But you can't cure stupid, so there's little hope my pal Apache will ever wake up and smell the covfefe.

So suffice it to say, I’ll be spending less time with the folks for a while, more time hunting Pokémon and training for The Great Donut Run, which I’m hoping is a flat trail, no hills.

Oopsie

For several days, I’ve been hearing mention on television of the holiday weekend. Confused, because I thought the holidays were over, but not really paying much attention I brushed it off.

Yesterday, after hearing “holiday weekend” a few more times, I became curious enough to google “What holidays are in January”.

Oops!

It’s Martin Luther King Day.

It wouldn’t be fair to think that I of all people should have known because, now that I’m retired, not looking forward to a day off because every day is a day off, I've pretty much lost interest in holidays. In fact, I was at the University hunting Pokémon, wondering why the campus was so empty, when I learned it was empty because that day was a holiday -- Veteran’s Day; and when granddaughter invited me over to make a plate, after her mom dropped off her BFFs to spend the holidays, bringing along a feast, I’d asked “Is today Christmas?”

“No, grandma, that’s tomorrow”.

The 4th of July is easily remembered because it's obvious.

At any rate, if my left foot wasn’t still giving me grief, I’d head to -- what I expect to be, an empty campus to load up on PokémonGo game tools. On the other hand, if the indoor bike gets delivered early enough, I may still make it out of the complex and to the campus, walking with the aid of compression socks I invested $28 in.

Sorry now that I didn’t allow the doctor to boot the foot so I’d stay off it, or at least have support, I’d done alternative research and located compression socks advertised as serving the same purpose as a splint or boot – “Instant relief to stop that awful heel pain, stops throbbing and helps you stand and walk freely”.

I guess today is not a holiday for everyone, because tracking indicates the bike is “On fedex vehicle for delivery”, so I’ll stick to home so I can get the guy to park -- what I expect to be a rather large box, indoors rather than on the porch for me to struggle inside.

No car parked next to the right side of mine yet. So I don’t know what’s up with Cranky Neighbor’s parking situation.

She strikes me as the type of individual not necessarily looking for workarounds/solutions, but one who just enjoys having stuff to complain about or only wants the outcome she wants. I mean, really ... a lawyer or the Attorney General over a parking space? Especially since she'd said she'd gone that route previously.

When she said she'd done so I'd asked, "How did THAT go?"

"I got a call at home. My husband picked up the phone and said, 'A Mr. xxx would like to speak with you'".

"That's the Dean!"

She had a far away look in her eyes, like she was remembering something very unpleasant, when she said, "He (the dean) was not happy with me".

"How did the parking situation go?" asked I.

"It was cleared up a few weeks later."

Probably would have been cleared up without all the drama, as will it get cleared up here as well.

Happy am I, she’s across the quad, rather than next door.