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Author Archives: kayewer

• Going Home

  Posted at 2:36 am by kayewer, on March 29, 2020

  Workplaces are shuttered, so over the past couple of weeks workers have been sent home to either work from there or count the days until we can return to the daily grind. I am one of the former.

  Our building was supporting some people who were trying to stay in the office until restrictions forced them out. Not everybody could get decent Internet at home, especially when they are out in the far reaches of signal strength.  They’re struggling to catch up, hoping that modern equipment will enable them to connect.

  I will find out on Monday if I can get a better hookup. My broadband is serving, but a permanent solution may come by then. It will involve a heftier monthly bill and a couple of hours of installment time, but it may be worth it in the end to be able to just take my work computer home and relax once in awhile.

  I prefer during blizzards, though, not a life-threatening virus.

  Many people are having to adjust to working from home. They have family and pets who may not fully understand how to give some personal space. Also, being home brings distractions like the laundry you’re used to doing on evenings and weekends but now beckons from the full basket and demands you spend your break time pre-treating spots.

  There has been an increase in shift and top orders online due to working from home. It would be interesting to have a video conference call in which everybody is asked to stand up: they’re probably all in their underwear. It worked for Tom Cruise once, but most of us should still wear pants.

  I don’t have casual bum-at-home clothes, including jeans or leggings, and don’t plan to look at any or stock up right now. That may sound strange, but I was never in the habit of coming home and assuming a new outfit. There will be late spring to go to an actual store and get to see and touch and try on things, and be around people without protective gear. Besides, ordering clothes online is tricky, and when they don’t fit, you can’t just return them at a store.

  Meanwhile, I have gained back some time in my life not spent driving to work anymore. What I did do today was get my car’s maintenance work done. The place was quiet without an open sales floor, but once the building was open for the secretary I was able to sit in the showroom with her while waiting for guys in gloves to work on my car in the back. I guess staying at home will enable some things to get done that won’t involve getting time off from the office, but that bothers me a bit. I think I’ll wait until we’re back to work and use vacation time to summon the repairmen for spring cleaning.

  I want to devote my work time to being on the clock. Just like the one in the office, which I may not see for a few more weeks.

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• From a Distance

  Posted at 1:46 am by kayewer, on March 22, 2020

  Human isolation doesn’t sit well with most people. Even though social connections have often meant the fall of entire civilizations, we want to be close to somebody else. Now that we are in the new age of pandemic contagion with the COVID-19 virus, this is the first widespread disease in which we can exercise isolation as the primary preventative measure. In the days of Spanish flu and plague, sanitary practices were unheard of, and it was the man considered the Father of Hand-washing, Ignaz Semmelweis, who introduced us to hygiene as we know it. He found that midwives and doctors who washed their hands before assisting in delivery lessened deaths from puerperal (childbed) fever to about one percent of cases.

  Of course, since his ideas were well ahead of their time, he was vilified and died in an institution in 1865 at the age of 47, after suffering a nervous breakdown and a hand infection possibly brought on by a beating by guards at the facility. Imagine: people thought it was not necessary to wash their hands after using the restroom back then, they witnessed a person dying from infection, and still didn’t get it. We still see ignorant people leave the bathroom without washing today, but our overall health keeps most infections at bay.

  But back to social distancing. Many people are upset by the idea of not being with others. Sometimes one’s own family is a burden enough when having to spend extended time with each other. Topics are flooding social media about how to alleviate boredom, and I get to laugh at them.

  You see, I have been subject to social distancing for years. I’m part of a population which is subjected to unexplained or ignorant rejection, because it’s always easier to walk away from a problem than it is to tackle and solve it. Meanwhile, the problem grows and doesn’t go away. That may be why solitary confinement doesn’t work well in the prison population; if your only contact with people is with those who want to shut you away, how does that teach anything but how to be alone?

  In this case, being used to hours alone is helpful. As a child the teachers would sometimes sit me out in the hall, where my acute hearing kept me able to listen, but all the annoyance around me from the inside was left there. Sometimes it was a blessing to be separated from the bullies and ignorami.

  Over decades I’ve been in offices where I had no window (14 years in a sub-level office, then a few in a cubicle in which I had to leave it to view the outside), and today I have a space where co-workers are on the other side of a high wall, but I have several windows and sun, and some privacy. Patience in this case pays.

  Ever notice that cubicle setups often have people facing into a corner? All those time-outs as children must’ve prepared us for this scenario.

  I can work independently for long stretches, and in the car or at home I can relax with no sound at all, almost as if I am in a living version of the movie A Quiet Place, but without the overly sensitive-eared killer aliens.

  This period of isolation will pass, in weeks or so. I’m sure people will bust out with joy when it’s over, the bars will overflow and the malls may even see some shoppers again.

  I’ll sit in my chair and be grateful to take my time getting back out there. After all, I have been prepared for this all my life.

   

   

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• Contagion

  Posted at 12:39 am by kayewer, on March 16, 2020

  On Friday the Thirteenth of March, of all days, the president announced that the United States was in a state of national emergency. A virus originating in China had spread by international travel contact throughout the world, causing multiplying cases and many deaths. At its origin point, China built makeshift hospitals to handle the influx of infected individuals. Right now their cases have plummeted to the point at which the “tempspitals” have been dismantled now.

  Italy has been hardest hit, but their people are resilient and grateful for the medical staff and cleaning crews working around the clock to contain the spread. In Australia, actor Tom Hanks and his wife contracted the virus and are recuperating in place.

  My office work involves 24 hour phone centers, so unless the contagion reaches our space, I and my co-workers will either come into work, go to another branch or work remotely from home. Such options were not available before. But then, a national shutdown of this kind was not considered before.

  Our grocery stores are out of toilet paper, because when there is a disease going around, everybody overuses toilet paper beyond normal expectations. I also read about supply hoarders who have stocked up on hand sanitizers or bleach infused single use wipes, hoping to buy their next Cadillac with their overinflated profits. Never heard about anybody enjoying the fruits of that adventure, though.

  Oh, and the meat counters are all out of fresh beef and poultry, because when people have to stay home, they want to grill. That was fine for me, because I bought the pre-cooked chicken and popped them in the freezer. Those were not out of stock. The demand for water went up also, because whenever a threat comes along, the first thing people think about, after toilet paper, is water. Since we’re polluting the oceans and rivers, bottled is a must.

  So it looks like a couple of weeks of restrictions and closures of a kind we normally see only during major snowstorms or other extreme weather events. But we will get over this as with anything else.

  And then the shelves can be restocked with toilet paper.

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• After You

  Posted at 3:51 am by kayewer, on March 8, 2020

  Capital punishment is an eternally debatable topic and polarizing for most people. Either one feels that a person who takes life should forfeit his own, or that such “eye for an eye” justice is wrong.

  The most recent case was that of Nathaniel Woods, an Alabama man executed on March 5 for being an accomplice to the shooting deaths of police officers. He and his roommate, Kerry Spencer, encountered three officers who came to break up a cocaine dealing ring fronted by Woods, Spencer and a third man who claimed to have avoided the location after it become difficult to keep police from conducting searches to bust the operation (he claims he paid protection money but the price had increased out of his range).

  In testimony, Spencer admitted to being the sole shooter, but he remains on death row. Alabama law allows for accomplices to be executed, but it is unclear if any order of atonement is in place. So Woods went to his death first, having done nothing to cause the deaths of the officers (in that he performed no harmful act such as shooting them as Spencer did), and Spencer is still serving time.

  My initial comments on this issue started quite a lengthy thread on Facebook, most because people began standing on soapboxes about the law rather than addressing the question I posed, which was why the accomplice was executed first.

  We can’t seem to agree on what to do about people with no regard for human life, but we also seem to get many aspects of human reformation wrong. So what to do about accomplices versus those who actually commit acts against humanity?

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• Dozing

  Posted at 2:26 am by kayewer, on March 1, 2020

  In the past year, two Lutheran churches have shut down in my area, and both of them were within miles of each other on the same street. That may hint that there are fewer Lutherans in the world, or fewer church-goers (except at Easter and Christmas). When faith is tested, some people just bail.

  What really got to me was a small business which was torn down recently, because I used to work there. That was over 30 years ago.

  On a lot next to a boxy brick apartment building, two businesses were once thriving. One was a computer repair facility, and the other was a house which belonged to a doctor and his wife, who did clerical services. I worked for her briefly before finding my dream job.

  The computer repair place had been vacant for years, but when I saw the signage for a well-known demolition firm covering the shingle for the doctor/typist building, I felt a pang. With the small repurposed house reduced to salvage fodder under a wrecking ball, a piece of my past was broken down as well.

  Nobody seems to like old buildings, unless they can serve as tourist attractions or historical bastions. Many don’t fall easily to implosion, which says a lot when so many new construction buildings seem to crumble at the slightest gust of wind.

  The plot of ground is level now, and ready for something new. I just hope whatever they build can withstand time, however it passes.

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• Bad Taste In

  Posted at 2:15 am by kayewer, on February 23, 2020

  Drinking can be hazardous, and I’m not talking about alcohol. The vessels we use to keep liquid nourishment handy can sometimes pose problems. BPA (bisphenol A) is the most feared chemical common in plastic bottles, so I tried going with stainless steel.

  That was a mistake. Within 48 hours of putting tea into a stainless container, I was experiencing a constant metallic taste in my mouth, and awoke with what I am assuming is bleeding gums. Never a good thing.

  Being a scientific minded person, I went a day with my plastic bottles instead, and had no metal taste or bleeding. That seems to cinch it. My new stainless bottle is to blame.

  There can’t be a group to monitor everything that is made for sale today, but one would expect some oversight to catch these types of things. I have contacted the company from which I bought the item and am waiting for a response.

  Now, about that handbag I ordered from China, in light of the coronavirus outbreak, I checked with the CDC and learned that my risk of contracting anything from a product is nearly non-existent because the virus would only live for hours in transit.

  That’s reassuring, but it makes you wonder why we should have to worry about products making us sick, in addition to what happens to them once they are condemned to the trash. We seem to be swimming in uncertain pools of unknown glop which may kill us all or, at least, affect our future offspring.

  We should probably just go for really big paper cups and burlap handbags.

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• Fish Fiend

  Posted at 2:25 am by kayewer, on February 16, 2020

  I have a betta fish at the office who hates me. He certainly is not the first hater in society whom I’ve encountered, and in terms of a significant threat he is none. However, what causes any being to like or dislike is mysterious. This fish has been in three different aquariums, gotten tons of fresh water, a suitable environment and lots of attention, yet he swims away from me whenever I approach, or hides inside his underwater log and stares at me as if I scare the scales off of him. He has even taken to playing dead.

  The other fish in our department has a Napoleon the Piranha complex and engages anything holding food between their fingers. He interacts with anybody, including me.

  It is pretty disheartening to the ego when a fish dislikes you for no reason. It didn’t start out that way. In fact, he was all for me in the pet store, never taking his eyes off me. That’s why I brought him back to the office and set him up in style. He has what is touted as the most quiet filter for a betta tank, fresh plastic plants, nice lighting and a full view of office life, with two squares a day. Granted, my corner is not the busiest, but he has plenty of visitors, and a co-worker takes her Sundays during lulls in the day and cleans both tanks.

  Of course, she is more attractive than me, so maybe my betta is looks-shaming me.

  I feed him recommended food, and throw in occasional blood worm treats. He doesn’t care. The minute he sees me, he zooms into a corner and hides.

  He needn’t worry: I will continue to provide for him for life. Afterward, however, I think I will go into terrariums.

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• Time Stitching

  Posted at 2:44 am by kayewer, on February 9, 2020

  I’m addicted to Temponaut time lapse videos. Initially I intended to look at relaxation videos as part of my resolution to be mindful and find relaxing outlets for myself. Watching flowers grow seemed like a good idea, so I tuned in to the collection of footage offered by Temponaut.

  The first video I saw was of passion flowers blooming, with bursts of floral birth and waving tendrils in mid-air (and finally saved from fruitless gesturing by the appearance of a plant stake onto which it gratefully attached).

  From there my viewing has gone on to scenic night skies and of decomposition. It can be just as exciting to watch stars go by than to view a group of bananas going bad over the course of 108 days. You can actually see the green bananas ripen and yellow to perfection just before they start to deflate, blacken and grow mold.

  Then there were the water beads which grew and expanded, and the burger war pitting an organic sandwich against a fast food version. Let’s put it this way: if you want to be embalmed, keep eating those drive-through burgers, because the ones in the video hardly broke down, while the “better for you” one became black and fuzzy.

  Nothing like a time lapse video to remind you of what is bad for you.

  The whole idea of relaxation is fine if you can find the time, which is why time lapse videos are so convenient, in that they provide days of mindful watching into a few minutes. These videos, combined with an increase in exercise, should help me adjust my life into something a bit more comfortable and healthy.

  That, and knowing how long food lasts when left out.

   

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• Parking A Lot

  Posted at 12:14 am by kayewer, on February 3, 2020

  Sunday parking is a mystery to me, especially on a day when there is a “Big Game” like today. The parking lot at the Acme was at a premium, and I had gone there as I suspected the lots at ShopRite and Wegman’s would be even more packed. Grocery stores, apparently, are the same everywhere, and know no peace on a triple-threat like today/Sunday. Add to the new popular grocery shopping day that it is the first of the month when food aid stipends are delivered, and a “Big Game,” and chaos is a guarantee.

  Still, I used a cartlet (one of those new-fangled smaller two-tiered styles for grocery runs larger than a hand basket but smaller than a big cart), and managed to buy the week’s food without touching a pulled pork container or a nacho chip.

  Still, I couldn’t help wondering about why the parking lot had so many cars. It seems to me that, if one person or family is entertaining several people for the game, only they would shop, and those being entertained would not need to go to the store to buy food, so the lot should be less crowded, but the pulled pork and chips would run out faster.

  If it were the holiday season, I could understand crowded parking lots, because every single person seems to need to buy stuff for a bunch of other people, so with one person to a vehicle, it gets a bit packed in that asphalt and gridded wasteland.

  Anyway, there were no lines at the registers and, unlike Wegman’s, I could have gone to self checkout and paid cash.

  Don’t get me started on that new pet peeve. Credit cards only at self-checkout? If I have dollar bills to feed into a slot, I’ll use them, thank you.

  So I didn’t buy anything for any big game, because I am not inclined to watch. Besides, I went to the big box club on Friday and bought “Big Game” food for the office for the second time in a month (without buying three or four things I could’ve gotten because it screws around with the accounting department when I try to itemize the receipt on the corporate expense report), and since I don’t work Sundays, I never get to eat what I bought.

  But the parking lot had spaces then.

   

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• Bags Under the Arms

  Posted at 2:58 am by kayewer, on January 26, 2020

  The perfect handbag doesn’t always last. I thought I had found mine, and it was a great replacement for my first love, the Ambassador II bag of old, which fell victim to hard times and a buyout and who knows what else. For years I carried a bag by Donna Sharp called the Pauline, which was just right for me. I found it when I saw a coworker carrying one. Between us we managed to buy each new pattern, but only once did we catch ourselves with the same one. I was the one who changed purses that time.

  Now it looks like we both have to change.

  Donna Sharp has redesigned the bag and renamed it Paula. It’s smaller: 7″ by 4 1/2″ by 12″ to Pauline’s 5.5″ by 8″ by 11.25″. We talked after coming into the office in our new bags. Neither of us could fit the same things into it because the compartments shrank, so we dislike that. I normally fit my cell phone into the center pocket, but on the new model it now also contains an inside pouch, and the phone gets tangled in it. My coworker had to leave out some things she normally carries, and I reshuffled mine into other places and couldn’t remember where they were when I needed them. The strap went from a wide fabric to a thinner material, and it doesn’t stay put on the shoulder.

  Which means we’re back where we started years ago. How do you find the same or similar bag? It’s not as if one can input such a question into a search engine and get good results. The lists and photos and dead ends (no longer available) are endless, and prices are ridiculous, because handbags are pricey due to their temporary or seasonal nature. Hunting in department stores is no better, because women descend on the purse table like vultures on the last prey carcass.

  I did order a different style bag and am trying it now. It’s bigger, of course, but it has features I need. If it fails I’ll have to search some more for another replacement. It’s the second hardest thing for a woman to find, just behind comfortable control garments.

  Hug your handbag tight, ladies: it may be the last one you ever love.

   

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