These past couple of days I’ve discovered that working graveyards is not very conducive to writing in my blog. When I’m usually writing I’m sleeping and when I’m usually sleeping, I’m working. It’s totally topsy turvy.
On Saturday night, after the deluge the city got (there were a few funnel clouds associated with that storm as well) 1.5 inches of rain in 20 minutes, Bran, Boy and I went for a nice long drive. I know that gas is expensive and all that, but I think we spent far less on gas than we would have for a movie, popcorn and pop for all of us. Anyway, we drove out westward and headed toward North Battleford. The extremely high humidity of the day created a couple of rather impressive fog banks. It was really neat and we got to use the fog lights. The fog was never thick enough to be a hazard, thank goodness.
On the way back into town we stopped so that Boy and Bran could take photographs of farm lights and such through the fog. While we were there the fog moved closer and closer until we were wrapped in the cool, moist cloudy air. While we were stopped there (Bran and Boy used the car as a stand because they didn’t bring the unipod or tripod with them) many cars went whizzing by. One car slowed down and stopped. The guy was the only one to stop and check if we were having trouble with the car.
Yesterday I went and saw my advisor/supervisor at school. It was good to see her again. I will be taking 18 credit units of classes per term. They are: Advanced research, Advanced theory (mandatory to all grad students in Sociology), Women in Law (mandatory to me by my supervisor – she’s teaching the class), and Advanced Criminology (because it’s dead interesting and despite having it as a 400 level class, I don’t have it as an 800 level class, nor do I have it from that particular professor, so I’m taking it). Now all I have to do is register for the classes. I’m also going to see if I can fit in Cree 102. I hope so.
Vegitarians, don’t read this next paragraph. Just skip down to whatever I’m going to come up with after this paragraph.
Now, for all the carnivores out there…on Sunday morning we had steak for breakfast. We’d been trying to get our spit together to barbecue the darned things but since Friday it didn’t work out (what with having a short monsoon on Saturday and all that on Saturday). Sunday morning I cut up and fried a huge pile of mushrooms (there were even leftover mushrooms – that never happens in our mushroom loving household!) and Bran fired up the old Weber grill. He cooked up the most tasty, most tender sirloin steaks ever! He sprinkled them with Montreal Steak Spice (if you can get this stuff in a grocery store, do it!) and cooked them to perfection. I even managed to get a couple sandwiches from the steak that I wasn’t able to finish.
Back to the regular entry without the consumption of animal flesh…
On the weekend it appears that our guys had some trouble keeping away from the booze. Three to be exact. Two of them didn’t have abstinence as part of their parole conditions, one, however, did. The two that didn’t were hauled away and spent time in the RCMP holding cells. The fourth, caught on Sunday night, has been sent back to prison to await the decision from the Parole Board to find out if he’s going to be revoked and go back to the pen or get a reprieve and come back. Either way, for now he’s gone. He is one of my favourite people there. He’s always trying to pull our chains and then grins and laughs when he succeeds or fails. He’s a hoot. I hope he comes back.
The two graveyard shifts really kicked my ass. Maybe it’s the heat making sleeping more difficult than it could be, maybe that it’s only two shifts, but when I finished my shift today I was dragging butt on the floor (not a pretty sight). The husband of one of my co-workers brought by coffee and doughnuts. I took full advantage of one of the large double/double javas he brought. It was a little bit of heaven in a cup. I didn’t have any of the doughnuts though. I wasn’t hungry.
Yesterday my copy of Shoah arrived from Korea. I spent most of last night’s shift watching the first 2 discs. I got about 1/2 way through the third disc when I had to pack it up and give the shift report to my co-worker. They arrived in good condition and I’m very happy with them. I just sent off an email (writing this reminded me) to the guy in Korea to let him know that they arrived in good order and I’m pleased.
Yesterday the car died, literally. Bran drove me to the university for me to see my adviser and then headed off gas up the car. After the car was filled up he went to start it and…nothing. There wasn’t even the click of the distributor trying to get the spark plugs going. He checked all the fuses and they were good. So he called CAA (it’s paying for itself already) and got a tow to their garage. This meant that I had to buy bus tickets and take the bus home.
I don’t mind taking the bus…much. It’s ok in fall, spring and winter, but in summer it can be somewhat uncomfortable. The city is replacing the older, un-air conditioned buses with newer buses with air conditioning but they tend to be on the express runs. There are a few on regular routes but there aren’t enough for all the routes yet. This meant that I was on a regular bus on a very hot day. I sat at the very back of the bus to take advantage of the tornado of wind coming in from the open windows. However, when the bus got to the downtown terminal it sat in the very hot sun for about 10 minutes until the scheduled leaving. By that time I was soaked in sweat. Luckily for me I didn’t have long before I was getting off the bus into the less than stifling heat of walking home in the shade of large elm trees.
The car was towed off and Bran was given a taxi ride courtesy of the CAA. The car was left at their garage. Today Bran called to see what was the cause of the problem…they couldn’t find it. The car is running just fine now. So the problem was either a loose connection or the damp had created something somewhere preventing things from getting going. When the car was inspected they noted that the U-joint (whatever that is) needed replacing so they’ll be doing that first thing in the morning. We should have the car home not long after that’s done.
I have tomorrow off, so I’m going to be setting up the backgrounds and photographing my jewelry. I figure that if I want it done I should do it myself, afterall, they’re my responsibility, right? Anyway, that’s what I’ll be doing. Of course, I’m going to need some help. Tomorrow night will be dedicated to editing the photos and hopefully they’ll be up Thursday. I know I’ve said that before, but I’m really wanting them up. You might have to wait until Saturday though. I have the root canal on Friday and I’m not sure how I’ll feel that day.
My comments are still broken. I don’t know what I did to bork them, but they’re well and truly borked. In any time that they aren’t borked I get spam. This means that sometimes it’s not borked. This also means that spammers are waiting for an opening and then leap in when things are open for a few seconds. Really, the only comments I’ve gotten are a few spam. Nertz!
I think that’s about all that’s happened since I last blogged.
Ta-Ra
