02:06 - 20.09.05
bits and pieces
The second in command came by at mid Friday with a gift. Did I want a heater to keep by my desk. Well I'm supposed to be working out at the warehouse for the next while, wouldn't it better serve some of the others who are always complaining about being cold? She seemed to think I needed it more. Truthfully. I have learned to cope with whatever conditions I find myself in and I prefer being cold to too hot. There are just so many things one can take off before one gets in to trouble, don't you know. That being said I allowed that it would make me more comfortable, given the thermostat wars raging around me. I had no idea how cold my work area was until I turned that thing on. I haven't felt sleepy once since. Maybe the problems I was having were due to hypothermia. Fancy that - indoors and all.
About mid-day today I noticed one of our Texas counterparts was working with our supervisor. Took a while to place her. I had just picked up a new CD by Paul Pena and was deeply engrossed in his music. My number two son had told me about hin knowing how much I love the blues, gospel and rock. He learns of some really great artists' artists from his two bosses. They are both musicians by nature. They run their business, so that they can afford to continue playing their music. This recording was extraordinary. Who does he sound like? Himself. That is more than enough. He had a cut of Steve Miller's Jet Airliner that was really poingnant. When he rolled into a version of Jimi Hendrix's Cosmic Mirror I had difficulty telling the difference between his cut and The Man himself. I had to dig out my original CD with that version and play the two cuts back to back a couple of times to find any differences. Mostly they were in the edges of the far ends of the voice range of each of the two men. Mr Pena voice has a deeper, huskier sound at that point, where Jimi's voice has that resonance that made his singing unique. Listening took me way back to Woodstock. Sights AND smells. I hadn't been there of course being way too young, but that "Summer of Love" thang repeated itself all over the country. Couldn't miss it. I do have that album - vinyl and all - and it does get played, when I can figure out which son has it that is. One thing I hadn't realized was that Mr Hendrix had grown up in Canada - living with his grandmother. Hmmmmmmmm. That musing took me to the Robert Plant concert here in Calgary tomorrow. Thinking about that history too. With six sons, I found that each had their very own unique niche within the musical range of both classical and contemporary music. Number one son's favorite band for a long period of time was Led Zeppelin - that and AC/DC. More memories.
Apologies to my American co-worker, but I just was years and miles away when she arrived today. My supervisor and her supervisor seemed to have some stress over the visit but maybe I was just reading that wrong. Don't know. I had chatted with the second in command at our regular Monday meeting, but she hadn't mentioned anything about the visit either. That could have been because we spent quite a bit of time trading tales of woe. Hers were about her morning struggle with transit. She was late getting to work because there simply wasn't a train with any space on it for her until well after her usual travel time. I commiserated and noted the only empty trains seemed to be those going to the northwest part of the city. When I had gone to meet my friend on Friday after work, I was amazed to find that I had my choice of several seats and could even have had a bench to myself during rush hour going in that direction. Even when we reached the outskirts of the downtown corridor there was still a significant amount of empty space. Ditto for the busses I'm told. Don't believe that that part of the city pays anymore taxes than the rest of us - I lived there growing up - but maybe it's because so many of the city planners call that quarter home that has something to do with it. Maybe that's also why there is so little comprehension of the problems, when one tries to communicate the difficulty the other three quarters of the city's residents have commuting by bus. Then talk turned to my renovations - something that really seems to interest her. I ended up explaining that the major reason for me going into such a huge - to me - amount of debt was because of the bad neighbour on the one side. That need to make my home more secure and durable to cope with the problems that constantly come from that one source. I told her some of what had happened this summer and asked her if she had noticed that I seemed a bit stressed over a good part of that time. She nodded and left it at that. We actually did talk about work too of course. Discussing the logistics for the work in the warehouse. We'll be going out there tomorrow with one of the tech support people to get set up. We have to also undergo a very rigorous security screening as well. Can't wait.
Given that I won't be in the downtown core for a while, I spent lunch running about trying to get some last minute errands completed at lunch. Downtown work makes that so easy. At the one drug store it got a bit weird at one point. A couple with very proper British accents was shopping near the allergy meds, when I picked up a supply to take with me to the new worksite. They started following me around the store and stood right behind me in the checkout line. When I went to swipe and code my debit card, the two of them crowded up one each side seeming determined to get a look at the name on my card. Maybe they thought I was someone they knew. Don't know, but in an age of identity theft it made me a bit tense.
I had tried to make arrangements with the realtor to get in to see the new office space he has available for Elections Canada after work last week. He still hadn't returned my calls or email by lunch, so I was getting a bit antsy about that too. Part of our big assignment and one task I would like to get out of the way. I wanted my assistant to join us so she could get a sense of the layout too. Hard to co-ordinate with someone with so little notice. The realtor finally got back to me near quitting time saying he just hadn't been able to get hold of the current tenant. No permission to enter the premises you know. That's fine, since I am hoping that means he'll respect our need to have him and his clients supervised when we are in the space, unlike the last landlord. Called my assistant just before 4 pm and explained the delay, apologizing for the lack of news even,though I really had no control over it. Decided I would go to the handyman's store where my brother in law works instead,to get a new door for my bathroom. Came away a couple of hours later with that, ceramic tile for the floors in the bathrooms, kitchen and entryway and some pantries to boot. All on sale, but still a lot of money. Guess I'll be working until my 80's to pay that all off. What's a girl to do otherwise though.
Anyway time for bed. Need to be healthy if I plan to keep working that long. Good night dear diary.
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