*facepalm*

The other day my printer stopped working, which was unfortunate, because I

1. Had just replaced the ink and gotten it going again,
2. Need it for reviews of my job materials and keeping track of my applications, and
3. Know that it's often cheaper just to buy another printer if it breaks, rather than repair it, for which I have no money at the moment.

I'd done everything I could think of: changed the height of the paper, loaded and reloaded the drawer, pulled out the duplexer and put it back in, looked at the back of the machine where the drawer goes in, all that. But that last one I'd done when I'd been frustrated. This time, I realised that there was white in the back. My printer is black. Ding, ding, ding. There was an accordion of paper trapped between the back of the printer and the drawer, keeping the rollers from pulling up the paper. Simple fix. Obvious fix. But I wasn't doing so well a couple of days ago when I was troubleshooting, apparently.

Fortunately, I did drive well last night. We had a very close call. I was in the right lane on Alumni where it meets Nicholasville Road. At that time of night, that right lane can either go right or left (it's a dead end, so there's no straight). I had my signal on for left, and the sign was lit up clearly. When the light turned green, I proceeded in my lane left. The SUV in the left lane, which was huge, maybe an Expedition, swerved halfway into my lane, and ran me up the curb and off the road, briefly, but there was a utility pole so I laid on the horn, got back on the road, and the driver was either drunk, oblivious, or an utter asshole, because he or she just went quickly into my lane and sped down the road. The only reason we didn't collide is I was able to come to a dead stop (without getting hit from behind). We were probably about 2-3 inches from one another or less at one point. My passenger and I were a little shaken, but I got him home a couple more blocks down the road and then got myself home (going back down Alumni).

Things I don't understand:

1. Why do people get into the wrong turn lane for the lane they want?
2. Why do people not read signs or indicators like the other cars' turn signals?
3. Why do people not turn into the correct lane?
4. Why, on hearing not a little beep but a sustained horn, would you not, if you were blithely turning into the wrong lane, would you not get your ass back in your own lane, as someone was obviously in the other lane?

I'm putting it down to drunken idiocy in this case, for now. I'm glad no one was hurt. If I'd hit that utility pole, my passenger would have taken the brunt. If I'd been hit by the SUV, I would have. I seriously doubt the SUV driver would have had much trouble---I drive a Ford Taurus, which is much lower and smaller. The SUV would definitely have won, which I think is one reason why it seems drivers of big SUVs and trucks don't really seem to care how badly they drive, they can just bully their way through. I see that all the time. Sigh. And people wonder why I have so much driving anxiety. But hey, I did what I could, drove well (my passenger thanked me for that), and we survived.

Okay, I'm alive, the printer is fixed, the corrections have been made and printed, and uploaded to Google Sites (I had the string of letters 'rmaterials' written on one of the sheets). I swear every time I proofread, and think I'm looking at a perfect document, I find something else. I also turned the air conditioner on this morning because it was 75.7 degrees in here and I was sleeping with a fan on the middle setting (normally it's low), without a blanket, and was still sweating. I have some things to do, including some exercising while practicing my breathing to do before I go over to YKWIA's later today. I'll write later.

I came very close to hitting a puppy today

I was on my way to YKWIA's,  and a dog with a leash came running in front of my car suddenly,  with a man chasing it.  I hit the brakes for everything I was worth. It activated my anti-lock brakes.  I managed to stop.  The man said thanks and kept running after the puppy. I had someone behind me,  so I drove on to my friend's house, shaking and crying the whole way--and that was having avoided hurting or killing the dog.

Which is one reason I cannot see the movie from the previews called A Dog's Purpose, as the trailer alone made me cry a lot.  I'll try to post it here.

Odd

You wouldn't think I would fine Linkin Park's Meteora to be relaxing music before bedtime, but that's exactly what I'm doing. I couldn't actually sleep to it, but I do find it takes some of the tension out, even cleanses my emotions a bit. Weird.

I have been extremely productive over the past two days, both at work and outside it. Yesterday I moved the better part of 800 books, many of them twice, as I integrated the newer books into my collection, which had become crowded early in the classification scheme (which is odd, as most of what I get are WE, WS, and WY (musculoskeletal, pediatric, and nursing, respectively, in the National Library of Medicine classification system). I evened things out and got everything put in properly, with just a few oversized books to work left at end of day. I also entered a lot of data entry sheets, as Friday had been a large day in clinic for that day of the week and Monday was busy, too.

After work on Monday I took a friend to a 5:45 appointment, then helped him with some things around the house. I also went to the library and picked up an interlibrary loan for him and a book for me. Between all the book moving and all, I was pretty tired yesterday evening when I did get home and I relaxed with some music and went on to bed.

The odd thing was my back didn't hurt at all, even with all the moving and walking I've done. Maybe it's feeling better, and more activity should help.

This morning I moved a bunch of children's books from one cart to the smaller one so that I could take that to the clinic when it's not insanely busy over there (which it was, today). I also packaged up and prepared some book cards and pockets to be sent to other libraries that could use them. I catalogued the last three books of my collection, from the order I made in July (they'd been on backorder). I had just enough labels, pockets, cards, etc. to process them. I had to use laminating sheets cut to fit rather than label protectors. But hey, I got it taken care of. I took the lobby magazines to their p;ace and shelved the new journals in the library. The library itself is looking neat and nice. Tomorrow I'd like to move the bound journals down so I can finally get some old Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery issues in their proper place. That might actually take a couple of days.

I did a lot on referrals today, and did a lot of charge entry sheets and the operating room reconciliation. I also sent a message to the therapist I'm trying to get in to see, since when I call I tend to get the answering service (real people), and I don't want to keep playing phone tag with them in the middle.

After work I went over to YKWIA's and helped him with a few things, watched a play called Dark of the Moon that his grandmother had taken him to as a child that was very interesting, and then I went to the store and got some groceries he needed. Now I'm home, I've taken my nightly meds, gotten ready for bed, and will turn in soon, because I have to get over to his house at 6:30 in the morning in order to make sure he's awake and ready before a 9 am appointment. Then it's back to work and hopefully lots of productivity again.

I've been feeling well the last couple days, and a little less anxious, despite the fact that this morning two cars nearly collided in front of me, and the first thing I did upon getting to the office was to accidentally dump out my meds from their reminder box, and I had to figure out which bin was missing which tablet. :) But my mood stayed steady.

Maybe the hormonal stuff has passed for the month, although I haven't started my period yet and I'm three to four days overdue. Ah, perimenopause.

Okay, the album has ended. I should head on to bed. It's early, but morning comes very early. Good night.

I almost died today

Not to be melodramatic, but if 1) I hadn't had good anti-lock brakes and 2) they had been going just a bit faster and had't been able to swerve into the other lane, our cars would have T-boned each other, with them doing 45-55 mph and me doing about 15-20 mph. And it would have been my fault, because I was impatient and even though I couldn't see clearly around the cars in the other turn lane, there seemed to be a lull in the traffic and I turned left right into their path. Not the brightest thing to do. Fortunately, both of us reacted well, didn't hit, and thank the Gods there wasn't another car in the far lane and the black sports car with which I almost collided had room to swerve over. We came within inches of a very nasty wreck that could have killed us both and any passengers that might have been in the other car. I am usually such a careful driver; I don't know what possessed me, really. Let's just say I've had a lot on my mind and was trying to go pick up someone with a lot of mixed emotions. But I don't intend to make that mistake again. Life is too precious to die over something stupid, or take someone else out, just because you're a bit impatient.

Two great things to be happy about:

1. My relative (okay, my mom, I'm never sure just what to share online) is out of the hospital and at home.
2. I have as much of tomorrow as I want to recharge, regroup, and do various things to de-stress and get things back on track, which is awesome.

Oh, here's maybe a third: on my way home I was driving and someone tried to cross into my lane. I was probably in his blind spot. I honked to alert him, and he backed off, so neither of us were hurt, etc. Yay for that!

So, what am I going to do with my time? Well, tonight, I am going to go on to bed soon and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, there's:

1. Listening to the Top 40 countdown.
2. Putting stuff back in their place in the closets. [Partially done.]
3. Straightening up the house. [Partially done.]
4. Doing the rest of my laundry (I got some done tonight at my friends' house, but we decided to record 'Grimm' and watch it later, so I didn't do the last load. Fortunately, I think I have enough quarters now.
5. Putting up the holiday decorations.
6. Doing the dishes in the dishwasher.
7. Exercising at the complex gym (while doing my laundry, most likely, as they're in the same building).
8. Watering the plants again.
9. Putting water in the fish tanks.
10. Vacuuming.
11. Listening to music.
12. Working on the game notes.
13. Reading (maybe finally pick up Library of Souls and run with it).

We will probably not be playing on Sunday, since Brenda has a Society for Creative Anachronism event on Saturday and a rather long drive, but I'd like to have them finished nevertheless. Okay, I think I'll head on to bed. Good night!

PS I finally saw the Australian comedy 'The Librarians', which I'd heard discussed on various librarian electronic lists in terms of images of librarians, not to be confused with the spin-off of The Librarian movies with Noah Wyle. Oh, my goodness, what a cast of characters. And Frances says the most terrible things! YKWIA has a Hulu subscription, and so can get them. I'm interested in seeing more.

Today I:

1. Had a hard time waking up.
2. Forgot to put my dentures in (I retrieved them later).
3. Got criticised for my hair (back with a band that looks like braided hair) and an earring with a cuff that has a butterfly on it.
4. Got half a tank of gas, as I was on my gas light, which was good, as gas prices went up later in the day.
5. Took a friend to the doctor and laboratory.
6. Took him home.
7. Went to work.
8. Had a spicy grilled feta cheese sandwich and some fries at my desk.
9. Drove through a torrential downpour, with lots of water on the road, accidents, trees down, lights off, stalled cars, etc., but with minimal trouble, as I was just careful. I did almost hit someone who came out of an apartment complex across two lanes of traffic while I was coming up into the turn lane to the side of them, as I almost didn't see her in time, but it was all okay.
10. Went and got three medicines for two friends, plus mine, at the pharmacy.
11. Brought over the meds.
12. Got tickled. A lot.
13. Took a friend to the grocery store. Got plums, soda, and a pint of chocolate milk for myself. Failed to get fish food, and the goldfish are out of theirs.
14. Came home and got in before it started raining again.
15. Ate a plum and a can of lima beans for dinner.
16. Checked out Facebook, the news, and Google Play.

Tomorrow the plan is (I'm off from work):

1. Go to my psychologist at 8 in the morning to get the full results of my testing.
2. Go get my friend and take him to Frankfort for an errand.
3. Go to my ophthalmologist.
4. Go by the library and return two books I should have returned today.
5. Go by the pharmacy and exchange a medicine that was accidentally switched with another one that was needed.
6. Pick up a friend at work.
7. Take said friend home to eat some dinner himself, as well as feed his animals.
8. Take said friend to class.
9. Teach the Wednesday night class.
10. Take him home.
11. Check on my other friend.
12. Go home and crash.

I really should go over the material for class tonight. I may. Or I may just turn in early and hope to get it done while I'm waiting at various waiting rooms tomorrow. :)

So

I just got home,it's just now noon, and I've accomplished everything on my list except tree decorating (although I did manage to get the tree and ornaments out of the car and inside the house) and of course 'Grimm', which doesn't come on till 9 pm. I did not actually find a belt that was acceptable. The only ones in my size were a dull lime green. I don't care for that colour, and they barely fit, as in, the first hole might have worked. I'll try to get one a size up online when I have some money. Most of the Gabriel Brothers belts were about $3.99, though, so I was a bit bummed on that front. But I got some holiday cards that were nice for 99 cents a box (I got two, so that's enough for all the departments at work and maybe for friends (I do have a few old cards that would probably be better for friends). I found my co-worker's gift, something that would normally sell for about $40 that was only $10. I also found a totally unmarked phone case that fits my phone, is purple, and is in the shape of a book. How can anyone resist such a thing? Well, I had them do a price check and it was $4.99, so I did take it. But I got out of there with very little money spent, then headed over to the gas station, where gas was $2.38, but with my Kroger points I got it for $2.18. :) I understand why our little Speedway that used to be in front of that Kroger was eventually torn down and a Tire Discounters is there now. Business really suffered, although we had great and loyal customers, too. But our 3 cents off a gallon with a card couldn't compete with one that gives you up to $1 a gallon when you use your fuel points.

When I got the tree and ornaments out of the car, I found a bag of canned goods I'd forgotten to bring in last night. I'm having canned peas right now. :)

When I went to the pharmacy, the owner gave me a tote bag with their logo on it for each of us who use them.

It's pretty cold outside, but sunny, so that's nice. I did consider going to the cinema today and using those free tickets. But I think I'll stick around the house for the afternoon, work on it, and put the tree up. But first, I'm going to take a midday nap, because I haven't been able to do that since I was off after getting hit by the car. Oh, and I almost got hit today in my parking lot when I was coming back from putting the fan out, and I stopped as soon as I realised it was about to hit me, and the guy was quite surprised to see me, so I don't know what on earth he'd been doing up to that point, but obviously hadn't seen me. In his defence, the sun may have been in his eyes. But it was a inauspicious was to start the day. And just now a truck tried to turn right while I was still clearing the intersection at Alumni and Man O'War, and almost went into me. Is it any wonder I get nervous while driving?

Sometimes hyper-vigilance is a good thing

A friend was a little concerned about me driving home tonight. I learned a long time ago to trust his intuition, and after all, it's 16 degrees so there may be icy patches here and there on the roads, so I was paying close attention to my surroundings. On the way home an SUV that really wanted to turn left was thwarted by the fact that Easthills is closed with many police and fire trucks on it, so much that the driver then tried to turn into the left lane prior to Richmond Road even though there were three cars very close together in the space it wanted to occupy. It managed to swerve back into its lane in time. Fortunately I was already turning off of Man O'War, but I saw the near accident. Not sure what's going on at Easthills, but it didn't look good. Just glad to be home safe and sound, on a cold, cold night. Stay safe out there.

Ah, home--and a holiday tomorrow

So, I made it home, despite witnessing a near-accident that could have been very bad. A huge, rusting old motor home failed to yield as it turned onto New Circle Road from Richmond Road, and the cars coming from the other side had the green light. A yellow car nearly got forced into the hill that anchors the overpass, and they were side-by-side for several seconds, before the yellow car managed to get ahead of the mobile home. There were at least seven cars behind them, too, so it could have led to a very bad pileup. Fortunately I was on Richmond Road, stopped in traffic, and was in no danger, but it was still a little scary.

There's no telling yet whether Fourth of July will be great or fizzle. The weather forecast isn't looking good. I'll call security at work tomorrow afternoon to see if a decision has been made about the fireworks. If they're rained out, they'll be postponed to Sunday night, when I may or may not be able to go. But even if the festival and fireworks fizzle due to rain, there are plenty of things I can do inside as well. Besides the festival and fireworks, here are a few things I'd like to do over the next few days:

1. Go to the YMCA. Once would be at least a good start. More than once would be ideal.
2. See Despicable Me 2. I do love the Minions, and now they have a girl Minion and anti-Minions.
3. Watch 'Downton Abbey' episodes, at least through season one.
4. Watch 'Grimm' on Amazon Prime through the Roku box. I have season two recorded on the DVR, but haven't seen many from season one, either.
5. Maybe get into the complex pool, if the weather cooperates.

Plus, there are things to do around the house, including hand-washable laundry, dishes, the dining table needs to be excavated, and a few little things to upkeep the place and make sure I'm not getting messy.

My plan, at this moment, is to have a quiet night at home. In honour of the anniversary of his birth, I got a Kindle version of a Franz Kafka collection, which includes all of his stories, including 'The Metamorphosis', but not including the novels, such as The Trial. I might read some of that tonight. There are many I haven't read before.

Okay, let me put up my plate and flatware. I had some corn on the cob from the farmer's market, and it was very nummy.

I just had a bit of a close call

turning right from Palumbo to Man O'War. A car was turning right on to Palumbo and it seemed to be the only one on the road, so I started turning, when a car came out from behind it and nearly squashed me. Fortunately I am somewhat 'grandma'-like in such turns normally, and they were able to slow down, so nothing impacted and no one got hurt. Nothing like a near-accident to chase away the afternoon doldrums.

I'm getting ready to go to job #2. I left job #1 a little early because I was ahead on my time. Tomorrow I have a web conference over at UK from 2-4, so I'll get some extra time in then, too. I didn't want to be *too* far ahead. The main thing I did was order books today and waded through the rest of the e-mail I got during my PTO on Thursday and Friday. Fortunately no interlibrary loans got routed there, since I forgot to set the library to not receiving. I've done several borrowing ILLs since I got back, though.

Oh, yesterday I was positively bouncy, as I got another 13 hours of sleep on top of the 11 1/2 the night before. I was apparently exhausted. I came home at 7 pm Sunday night and was in bed by 8. But I got a lot accomplished on Monday, including an eye appointment. I have been wearing glasses the last several years but had decided to try contacts again, and it was time for my check-up, so it seemed a good opportunity. I'm in a trial pair of monovision contacts, which is an alternative to bifocal lenses. Basically the dominant eye (in this case my left) is fitted with a contact for distance vision, whereas the non-dominant eye (in this case my right) is fitted with a lens tweaked for near vision. It takes the brain about a week to really get used to both lenses working together. You don't look at anything with one eye--that's important. In order to get used to it, you have to look with both eyes. About 20% can't deal with them, from what I've read, but I seem to be doing alright. Yesterday was a little blurry but I chalk that up to having my eyes dilated. Today is much better. I'm doing fine with the computer screen and with traffic signs. It's not quite as clear as my glasses, but I expect that to improve. We're trying the monovision because I've started having trouble reading small print near me and have been holding things out a little further to see them better, a sure sign that I, like other forty-somethings, am having changes to my vision due to ageing. The only concern that came out of the eye exam is that my eyes' pressure is a little high, but she said that 1) they're at the same pressure, which is good, and 2) my optic nerves look good, so there's no real indication of glaucoma as yet. Still, she wants me back in 6 months for just the pressure tests to make sure everything is fine.

I guess that's it until tonight. Because of tiling (and a lack of paint coupled with my schedule), I won't be painting tonight. It looks like Thursday may be the next day. Have I mentioned that I hate painting dark colours on walls like burgundy? Three coats already and no complete coverage. It took five last time; I think the results will be the same this time. Each time has been over primer (last time dark, this time lighter) and with Sherwin-Williams' highest quality paint. Sigh. Well, it should be well worth it in the end, at least. :)