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Monday, September 30, 2013

Stupid Criminals...

Or at least this one was.  I came in to work Thursday and found out that one of the newest employees had been working by the bell tower using the (hated, at least by me) forest green mule.  They left it while working and came back to go to break or something and guess what? It was gone.  They thought it was a prank or something, but soon found out it was stolen.
So they had to call for a ride back up to the shop.  I really don't know why anyone would want that one.  It can dump stuff, but you have to manually lift the bed.  It had a flashing light on the roof (it can't really go beyond 15 mph I think)  and could fit in some of the tightest areas.  But it had no gas gauge or speedometer-hence why I've been stranded without gas in those things-did not like to start cold (weather it had been sitting for an hour or the weather was cold like Wednesday through Friday) would not idle-trying for more than 30 seconds usually led to a stall-and often tried to stall while shifting.
Well, we got said mule back friday around the same time-I think-because the thief tried to sell it for $20 to a cop from a nearby city.  I don't know if the cop was in uniform or not, but they saw the university sticker(official sticker that is used to identify it in cases like these) the thief had failed to cover and took it back.
Not for lack of trying, mind you.  The thief had taken it home and first tried to hand paint (we can see the drips from the brush) yellow.  Whether they didn't like or just ran out, I don't know, but they then switched to red and tried to cover the yellow with it.  They got over half the vehicle covered, including one of the university stickers, the last oil change sticker, one of the tire rims, and the 'dash board'.  Apparently realizing they'd missed a sticker or something-after running low on paint-they tried to spray paint red over the sticker only to run out after giving it a very faint coat. They also knocked out the rear window-popped it clean out without even cracking it-and cut off the caution light on the roof-sorry, as long as the mule is on that light is as well.
So we got it back.  My supervisor says that is the best example of how not to paint they've ever seen, while the mechanic says we should put a sticker or poster in the window that says 'this is your brain on drugs' and drive around with it.  We think the thief may have been crazy, stupid, or on something.  Possibly all three.
Gave us a laugh though.
Saw a doctor about my shoulder on saturday-missed the start of R.S. general broadcast but I did get to hear President Monson's talk.  Now I'm on a anti inflammatory for the next three weeks to see if that will help.  If not they recommend Physical Therapy.
It's my dad's birthday!  Not sure what we're doing yet, but I got the day off so I can make his cake-and get the ingredients.   Cloudy, but it's not supposed to rain today.   And I've got a chance to get my photography homework done...

Friday, September 27, 2013

I Guess it just Doesn't occur to me...

I'm one of those people who will pull over on the highway to help a man and his girlfriend who's car ran out of gas.  I'll give them a ride to the nearest station and then back to their car.  Or I'll stop and give an older man who missed the last bus a lift to the train station (yeah, I know that could have bad consequences) so they can still get home.  I guess doing that gives my dad a heart attack, but my mom says I must have a guardian angel the size of Texas sitting on my shoulders.  Or I've been very lucky so far...
I want to register for an internship at church headquarters but due to an issue with my lds.org account it won't let me!  Argh.  Sounds really fun too...
It's gotten very cold here due to the rain.  I overheard a girl comment on how the temperature nearly hit 20 when the sun went down yesterday.  It's overcast and rainy today like the last two days have been.  I gave in and used the jacket my sister gave me last year (or this past spring, but it's insulated and much better than the now threadbare one I've been using up til now-thanks anyway sis! I'd be freezing otherwise!) so I'm not freezing at work.
Homecoming football game is tomorrow, so today is going to be getting the stadium ready at work.  Thankfully we've already done the bleachers, so all we really need to do is re-set up the garbage cans and put liners (if they don't already have one) in them.
We washed my supervisors stencils-the one's with the school mascot and name on them-yesterday because the rain on Wednesday washed their paint all over the stencils and made quite the mess(I got to help my supervisor repaint the logo on the soccer field-where the stencils got wet--because the rain wiped out all of one color and part of the other--using spray cans on 'guns' so we didn't have to get it all over our hands.  That didn't turn out too bad.
The institute committee I'm part of decided to give out hot chocolate in the lobby due to the colder weather.  I boiled three very large pans of water for it, and helped decorate the paper cups-for next week's 'national cinnamon roll day' which we haven't decided exactly what we're doing for that-before coming up the student union building for homework and job hunting (having more success with the former).  Trying not to get a headache right now...
Got a free t-shirt for wearing school colors as I walked in.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

That Took Talent...

We did spend most of monday (my supervisor and I) helping the student council and student association (who are students as well) do the homecoming paint the town in school colors thing.  We first had to run the stencils they needed over to the two locations (they were within three blocks of each other, but that's a good ten minute walk  after a ten minute drive to get to the first one from campus) but that took longer than usual because the truck right rear tire picked up a pound in screw that flattened the tire (poor mechanic had to yank it out and then spend 5-10 minutes getting a plug in the hole so we could still get there relatively on time).  Then we spent the next three hours running the paints back and forth, helping set up the barricades (which a lot of people drove right past the 'road closed ahead', 'road closed', and the caution cones/ those tripod things-even after we slid them as close together as we could manage given the limited number we had to work with) then picking it all back up and taking it back on campus.  We didn't get first break due to that so we left a half hour early (I got to go see Pacific Rim with my siblings).
Yesterday my supervisor left early (they'd been called in early again) but there was plenty to do.  We cleaned up the stadium (my other two coworkers did-the 18 year old pulled a no show monday and got fired for it, and the 16 year old switched to night school and day shift at work-blew it off while my supervisor and I were running the paint stuff) and relaid out those stupid chain lined carpet things, replaced the metal benches, laid out some heavy black pads (no clue what those are for) and then ran trash.
I feel bad as I stuck my foot through a door as my 17 year old coworker tried to close it, resulting in a double bruise on my right shin/calf.  They kept beating themselves up over it despite my reassurance that I was okay.  I had to tell them that they'd already apologized (several times) so if they kept it up I might start hitting them.
Its raining!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Not Good

The weekend excursion was fun minus my attempt to catch hypothermia-forgot a pad to put underneath my sleeping bag, forgot a pillow and had to improvise one, and grabbed the thinnest sleeping bag possible with a broken zipper.
Other than those little issues it was a lot of fun.
Yesterday was the 'embarrassment' of my youngest brother, whom we did manage to catch and give spankings to.  He wasn't amused.  My poor sister tweaked her back while my younger (the oldest of the three still at home) brother tried to wake her up.
Brought a spare pair of pants to use at work so i don't have to worry about getting paint on them.  I hope it works...

Friday, September 20, 2013

Yep.

My youngest sibling and brother turned 18 yesterday, so there are no more 'kids' left for my parents.  But they are getting a new granddaughter in november.  But I had to miss that birthday party (I had to work as usual).  They saved me dinner and cake though.  And we're having the 'family' party on sunday, so those who didn't make it yesterday (like me) can come sing that embarassing song to him, and maybe tackle him and give him birthday spankings (yeah, good luck on that one).
Fun activity at the institute today.  The teacher (for my committee-we always meet at 7 am on fridays) had the lights get turned off, then they held up their phone with  the screen lit.  They touched the arm of someone next to them, who also held up a lit phone or gadget before touching someone else.  Then after everyone was holding some form of 'light' up, they had us try (there are at least 15-20 people in this committee) to gather the 'light' in one area.  As we got as close (hope you like the person right next to you) they exclaimed 'turbo light!' and someone standing by the light switch (the same one who turned it off by the way) turned the lights on.  This was funny, but at the same time while gathering the 'light' we were all looking up and so got a bit flash blinded.  We were laughing for the next few minutes anyway, and the person who turned it on turned it right back off.
I took work off today for a committee retreat (it includes all the institute committees) that goes from tonight into tomorrow around 3.
But at least my supervisor didn't need me today-though monday sounds like it'll be interesting, as the university is doing a 'paint the town' for homecoming.  They always borrow my supervisor's stencils for this, and we have to go get them back-while they're still wet.  Why they use paint rollers on giant plastic stencils is beyond me.  It makes the paint stay wet longer, and gets more paint on the stencils.  But it just means I have to find something I don't mind getting paint on (all my old pants grew holes-grr).
The one mechanic I know best at the shop keeps showing me stuff that gets broken (whether day shift broke it or it just gave out).  Yesterday they were taking a wheel off one of the riding lawnmowers-the kind like you see on shopping carts that spin all the way around-and the bolt sheared in half.  I mean they had the top half in their hand, with the rest still stuck in the metal frame that looped over the tire.  And this was nearly an inch thick bolt.  So they not only have to finish getting the bolt out, but get a new one on top of whatever they needed to fix there. Yikes...

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Agh...

I found out sunday that my great foster uncle passed away that same day.  He had pulmonary fibrosis-basically scarring on the lungs that make it very hard to breathe.  I don't know if that's what killed him, but it contributed.  His funeral is saturday.
Monday at work I tried to seriously hurt my right hand.  First I bent the pinky nail below the quick while moving trash barrels-another band competition yesterday and boy did that make work interesting-so the top part is sore.  Then I tripped while climbing over a cement barrier.  We had to clean the special seating area again and the barriers separated some of the seats.  I tried to catch myself on one of the seats, only my hand slid and I 'punched' the armrest instead.  My middle finger turned red and started swelling-despite my sticking it in the bucket of cold water we were using-between the middle and bottom knuckle.  My supervisor took me to get it x-rayed, but I hadn't broken it, just bruised the bone.  It's been slowly turning a dark blue.  I iced it after that.  Then I pinched the fleshy part of my index finger-same hand- in the same area while locking the truck door.
Yesterday a coworker came in at 4:30 (their usual time) and worked through break.  We (the only other hourly working at the time and I) couldn't find them after break, despite combing the entire campus in a kubota.
Had a very fascinating lightning show after dark and on the way home.  Turned the clouds purple in some areas.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Awe...

Well, we didn't get rain sunday, but things have cooled down quite nicely.  Didn't get to the fair-still felt sick from donating and it was threatening to rain more-so I didn't get the retakes done either.  Still didn't sleep well over the weekend.
My mom made the comment today that my youngest brother is such a teenager.  I had to bite back the reply (mainly because I had a full mouth-I was eating breakfast at the time): he is a teenager.  That would not have helped.  My dad and oldest sister don't want to play crazy rhummy with me anymore...
We got to try enlarging prints today.  Missed morning minutes saturday, and I'm not done with today's.  Kinda hoping it doesn't rain...

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Urgh...

That was not the best timing...I managed to donate just fine, but I got dizzy in the middle, and then queazy afterwards.  It sarted raining when I was headed up to donate, so after I got done (it was still raining at that point) I did homework while waiting for it to stop.  Then I forgot I'd said I would change the marquee at the institute, so that didn't get done.
And after a whole week of not doing much, my supervisor decides to have me help carry their five gallon paint buckets -which had been leftover from last year so they settled and then froze, meaning it was very hard to remix them-into their truck so they could be mixed at a paint store nearby.  Plus the wand for their paint machine has a broken part, and now they have to get a whole new one.
My computer is driving me insane!  The windows key is stuck, so anytime I press the 'l' button it locks! Gargh!
But after we got them all mixed (there were nine that we could get mixed) we had to hand mix the rest.  The lifting and stirring has left me rather worn out.  Not to mention that if I don't eat something every few hours and keep hydrated I get very tired and start getting queazy again.
Woke up to a lot of rain.  We're supposed to be going to my nieces birthday party (she's 3 now) but we have a lot to do.  My sister and I wanted to go to the fair again today, but I'm not sure I'm up to it.  After donating yesterday my right shoulder has been bothering me.  If I lift or carry anything it feels like someone is gripping my shoulder really hard, and it also feels like it's on fire.
I am going to throw this keyboard if I can't get that button unstuck! Sigh...

Friday, September 13, 2013

Help!

Save me for the insanity of teenagers!  My supervisor had an emergency yesterday, and the oldest of my coworkers took the day off, so I spent the day with three of them.  Since the oldest is 18 and the youngest is 16 I was the only driver-which made things awkward-they tried to get me to let one of them drive so as to ease the commute.  After I objected and tried to explain why, they said that I could just take the first 'load' and they'd follow-despite my protests.  My objection would mean they did it without my consent so I wouldn't get in trouble.  Teenage logic at work.
Plus the 18 year old kept getting poked by thorny plants and that was somehow my fault-even after they deliberately grabbed the broken off branch of a long thorn bush and squeezed it in their fist.  And the fact that they didn't ask what was a plant and what needed to be pulled after they pulled it is also my fault.
Then after the 17 year old left, the other two were weeding a flower bed separate from me.  I went to dump out my bucket ad spotted them walking back towards the area-yes, there was a building in the same direction-and realized it was now too dark to finish.  So I went back to the truck we drove and put my now empty bucket in the back before driving it over to pick them up.
I then spent a good 10 minutes trying to find them because they hadn't gone back to weed, they'd gone into the building to use the restroom.  I'd parked the truck on the sidewalk(one benefit of working for the school: we can drive on the sidewalks and park there when we need to-it saves walking time) so I moved it to the parking lot while looking for them.  Yet it was once again my fault they had not communicated this to me when we'd passed earlier.
They commenced to spend the rest of the evening tuning the truck's radio station to the most obnoxious stations they could find.  Ranging from a religious bible reading/choir station ( if the speaker hadn't had a monotone I wouldn't have had a problem, but they were putting me to sleep when I was already tired-and driving) to a completely spanish one, they claimed the regular stations I listened to were bad.
It seems a lot of people have forgotten 9-11 and what it stands for.  My supervisor and the 18 year old coworker both didn't realize why the flags were at half mast that day.  The university was playing the newscasts from that day in the atrium though.
I'm going to donate blood today, as we're having a week long 'blood battle' with another university to the south of us.  This is a yearly thing, but like the block party its the first year I can participate (last year I had school, and before that I'd been at work) so we'll see how that goes.
My math teacher says I didn't get a good score on the first quiz (not that I needed them to tell me that) and reminded me that the quizzes are open book.  Sorry, but when 95% of all the quizzes and test you take are not, you tend to forget or overlook that.  Hopefully I'll do better next time.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Uh Oh...

We're supposed to get rain (heavy rain) off and on all day today.  Did not rain while I was at work yesterday though.  Still fixing sprinklers, which we've been doing the past two days.  One set is clogged in the main line somewhere and we can't get it clear.  My poor supervisor got splattered yesterday trying.
My coworker left early again, and their dad called trying to find them.  The one who got bronchitis came in yesterday, though they missed monday.  Apparently this is a yearly thing for them, as they've got it for the last three years in a row (yick, I thought allergies were bad).
Most of my photographs came out!  Only four got ruined while developing, and I only have a few I should (don't actually need to) reshoot before monday.  But we practiced printing the negatives, which is simply contact printing so the images are the right color in black and white.  We're going to enlarge and print on monday as well.
Have my first two poems to critique, and I've got them printed out-they changed the computer lab printing system on me.
My coworker on a mission got their first three baptisms saturday!

Monday, September 9, 2013

Hrmm...

Well, friday wasn't as bad as I expected.  Day shift had already done the weed whacking, so I wound up with a coworker trying to clean up recently planted trees-enlarging the tree rings and removing excess dirt.  Then the mule we were using -yes another thing on my list of reasons why I don't like mules: they are a pain to start, especially after they've run out of gas, no gas meter, and no power steering-ran out of gas at the street entrance of a parking lot.  Thankfully we were able to get it out of the road and into a parking stall.  But we had to walk back up to the shop for gas and -lovely- someone had taken the gas cabinet key again.  I had to bug my supervisor to come unlock it.  and the admin upstairs had left, so they had to lock the gate for us as well.
After that fun day, my coworker left at 6, so I spent the rest of the day by myself and it started raining as I cleared up.
But I got to go to the state fair Saturday-forgot sunscreen and burned the top of my head again-which was a prime subject for my photography homework.  A nice man gave me 30 ride tickets, but a rain shower prevented me from using them-why did it wait until I wanted to ride rides?
So today should be interesting.  If this keeps up, I might have to bug the manager for my own set of keys.  I hate bugging my supervisor when they had to take the day off again...

Friday, September 6, 2013

Okay,

I'm not doing that again.  I told you that we drive kubota's at work (like a four wheeler sized dump truck with a roof over the 'cab')  well, on Wednesday I was driving one of those along the street that runs through campus (we call it the frontage, but that's not its real name-I think).  I had pulled over to confirm where we were working with my supervisor when one of my coworkers stepped in front of the kubota.  Well, to tease them I nudge the kubota a little closer (it was also to warn them to get out of the way).  They stepped back a little, and I moved my foot to the brake and pressed down a little-or so I thought.  Instead I somehow hit the gas again, and nearly knocked said coworker over.  Thankfully didn't hurt them...
Of course, that same coworker went to sit in the same kubota later after I had parked it-the kubota's have a strong parking brake, but they are also a little sensitive, as my coworker found out.  When they sat down, they nudge the parking brake lever loose and nearly ran over my supervisor, who was standing behind it loading dirt in.  We were cleaning up the base of a newly planted tree, which of course was on a hill, so the back end was going downhill when I parked it.
My supervisor managed to avoid getting run over, but they also tried to keep it from going downhill-any further, it was already headed that way-until my coworker got the parking brake reapplied.  The only problem was it took them two tries to get it to stop.
Have my first two real assignments due next week.  1st one in photography, which I'll have to find time to do tomorrow, and a small one in play-writing.  Photography involves taking pictures that explore the camera, while the playwriting is using a classmates 'voice' in a dialogue.  That one needs two drafts.
We cut down sagebrush for the track team yesterday, and that was hot.  Also got to pull weeds and pick up more trash-yea...
I'm trying to do my math homework, but the bane of online classes is getting me.  the page won't load.  It goes to the login screen, but after I enter my stuff and press login it just sits there and tries to load.
Doesn't help that I woke up with a headache again, and my supervisor took today off.  Plus they want us to weed whack (there's only going to be two of us at this point, as one took the day off, another caught bronchitis-ick-, and the third has a big day tomorrow so they might come in, but I can't count on it.
This day is not looking up so far, though my committee meeting was nice.  Got to help set up the marquee this time, but my president is sick too, so I had to avoid them a little -they'd feel really bad if they gave it to anyone else.  Plus I got muffins and fresh fruit for breakfast, and changed my dentist apt. for two weeks from today (it was going to be in the middle of photography class on the Wednesday after next but I shifted it to friday so I won't miss class.
So not a good day so far, but not a bad one either.  This should be fun.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Yep, it Rained

at work again.  It's easier to get back into the feel of school when you only miss one day.  Had a fun exercise where we tried to write the 'worst play ever' with a partner, and then after reading it we had ten minutes to salvage a good play from our bad one.  My partner and I kind threw out out original and started over.
Work was kind of interrupted, due to the rain.  We were supposed to take care of the garbage left from the football game, but day shit beat us to that.  They had removed all the trash bags from the bins and collected all the trash in the stands-putting it in the same bags.  They left the bags there to collect after their second break, but when we came back with them, the bags were gone.   So after making sure they hadn't been hidden or something we power washed the cement wall separating the track from the stands-that took a while as we had to collect a lot of hoses, hook them all up, spray the wall, unhook and drain the hoses, recoil them up, and put everything away.
After our break, I went with a coworker to water some unplanted trees by the equipment shed.  then my supervisor discovered grass left by the mow crew on the dorm sidewalks.  we ran over there to blow it off (all four of us- should have been six, but my supervisor had to leave early and one other hourly didn't come in) but right after we got the blowers ready and went looking for the grass it started to pour-I mean highly visible drops that left a silver dollar mark when they landed-so we had to give up on that.
Of course it only lasted for 15-20 minutes, but it soaked everything in that short time.
I'm feeling very forgetful today, as I left my water bottle (again) at one of the campus stores (the art one this time, last time it was the bookstore mail center) and had to go grab it.  But now I've got three rolls of film for my class, and my camera is working (couldn't quite get the batteries in, so my teacher had to show me).  Have an assignment due monday where we have to shoot a 36 roll of film.
I didn't realize film needed to be kept that cold...

Monday, September 2, 2013

It Rained

It poured, the old man snored.  I would hope everyone knows that old rhyme, but it's hard to say.  Just got back from a weekend out of town (only an hour's drive from home, but better than not doing anything...).  It rained when we got there, and several times after that.
Rained here too, by the looks of things.  Had to bring one item of homework (playwriting class 'morning minutes' or as my mom calls it, a daily 'mad write'.  We have to write three pages of whatever every morning.  They actually told us to write stuff like blah blah bla if we can't find a train of thought).  At least I'm keeping up with it so far.
We stayed at a condo, which was nice save for sleeping.  My aunt and uncle let us use theirs, and the beds are harder than I'm used to.  So I wake up feeling briused on my hips and such.  At least it was cooler there, and things have cooled down here.
Cleaning up after the Block party friday wasn't much fun.  One of my coworkers got 'showered' by a garbage bag that another had leaked on.  I saw the puddle right before they grabbed it, but failed to warn them in time.  That stuff smelled rather awful too...
After we emptied the garbage cans we had to move all of them.  Half went to a pay parking lot for a 'foam party' that night, while the rest went back to the stadium for the tailgating party and football game saturday.  My arms are still sore from that.
Yesterday I saw something I never thought my brother would do.  While getting his breakfast ready on his plate, he somehow poured the syrup for his pancakes in his glass instead.  He then said 'oh good grief' (I believe) which drew most of our attention to him as he picked it up to peer at the half cup in his cup.  Thankfully the glass was clean and empty, so he just poured it onto his pancakes anyway.  I hurt myself trying not to laugh.