Random Thought Process Thursday 7/30/09

I missed the process last week. It was strange week for me. On Tuesday, one of my coworkers suddenly died. He was a big guy, only a year younger than me, and while he wasn’t in the greatest shape, I don’t think anyone expected him to die. He didn’t show up for work and didn’t answer any calls or pages. That was unusual for this guy. He was always right on it – even if your call was in the middle of the night. So when lunchtime came and went and still nothing, his supervisor went to his home and found him dead in his living room. Looked like he was sleeping. Probably a heart attack.

Well, that set the tone for the rest of the week. Everyone at work was either freaked out about Eric or worried about the rest of us who live alone. There are about 5 of us who don’t have a significant other and in my case, don’t see other people on a daily basis except for people at work. If something were to happen to me, it might take a while for anyone to notice. That is one thing I’m always afraid of. My cat will be howling for food and the neighbors will finally get tired of it and someone will find me with Sol gnawing on my fingers. Hey it could happen!

By Friday, between the death and the fretting and the HEAT – I was exhausted. It wasn’t until I was driving home Friday night that I realized I had missed BTPT. Oh well – better luck next week.

It’s Monday now. I’ve been out at Elmonica rail facility since 6:30 this morning. I’ve seen just about everyone on staff here – it’s a small facility – and soon I’ll get in my HOT car and drive to Merlo garage for the afternoon training. It’s nice to be appreciated. I do get lots of feedback from the guys out here and they do appreciate that someone takes the time to spend 30 or 40 minutes showing them how to navigate in the new Office suite. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Tonight is pub quiz…one of the highlights of my week. I love going out where being smart is an asset and not a liability. All those years of Jeopardy have not been in vain!

And it’s Tuesday. Yesterday was FREAKIN’ HOT! I went out to my car at 4:30 to drive home from Beaverton to Southeast Portland. A 25 minute trip when there is no traffic…but wait…there’s always traffic on this particular stretch of highway. I’m just hoping there are no accidents or delays. My car is black and has no air conditioning. It’s been sitting in the sun for 4 hours – window are down, but still. It was an oven. Miraculously I made it home in about 35 minutes. Dripping sweat. Hit the shower and laid on the bed with a fan blowing on me. Did a little facebook…started sweating again…more shower and then off to pub quiz at the lovely air conditioned CC Slaughters. I love my boys. We just sat in the cool air and sipped water and played a kick ass round of pub quiz. Took home $ 10.00 each. Sweet!

So I’ve been inside all day – inside air conditioning – teaching Word and Excel to some people who really know and understand the power of a tool that you can learn to make work for you. And some who just get mad that they can’t do it their way! Maybe because your way is friggin’ stupid?? Why would you want to control every little particle of formatting when you can click a button and have a beautiful heading, centered, colored and way more professional that your little micromanaged document looks. I just don’t get it. Anyhoo…it’s time for yoga now. We’ve expanded to two nights a week. I know it’s going to be hot but I really need it. My brain and body are just spent.

Wednesday. I thought Monday was HOT. Tuesday and now today have that in spades. It’s getting over 100 – well over 100 in some places – during the day and not cooling much at night. It was already 90 when I got up this morning at 6. Poor Sol is just miserable. I keep rubbing him with a damp cloth, wetting his fur as much as he’ll let me until he runs and hides. This morning, he just stood at my feet when I got out of the shower and let the drops rain down on him. He even rubbed on my wet legs to get more water on him. At least I have a solution for him. Me…I slept about 3 hours total, kept waking up sticking to myself and my sheets. Finally had to take a shower at about 2:30 just so I could get a little bit of sleep!

I’m trying to think of some alternative for tonight. It’s not supposed to cool off until the weekend. Which means the funeral service for the guy who died will be held in the heat on Friday! Wonderful. But I’m thinking dinner out someplace cheap but cool. Maybe a movie someplace cheap but cool. Then see if I can stand being at home to sleep. But it all takes money. Not that I object to people needing to make a buck. But let’s talk humanity. I think movie theatres should just throw open their doors-maybe charge a buck to come in. They’d sell enough concessions to make up for it and people would get out of the heat. If I ruled the world – that’s what I would do. It’s not that different from when I was stranded at the airport last Christmas. There were a few stores on the concourse that stayed open all night for several days. People could browse, sit, sleep and it helped make a frustrating situation a little more bearable. Why is it that just because it’s warm, we assume that people are more free to make themselves comfortable? Extreme situations are just that…extreme…out of the norm…unusual. So I think extraordinary measures are called for. Hey! Maybe I’ll go sleep at the airport!! J

Thursday – it’s a little cooler. Only 94 instead of 104+. I actually managed to get some sleep last night, probably just because I was so tired, but after I had dinner, I went home to check on Sol and ended up falling asleep for about 40 minutes. By then, I figured I’d just stay home and watch So You Think You Can Dance, and see if it cooled off. It was about 80 when I went to bed and while I still woke up a few times in the night, it was bearable. I’m so glad. Because I’m going to a baseball game tonight! Need to get some cool drinks and just enjoy the game.

This week has gone on forever. Maybe it’s just that my energy was sapped every time I tried to do anything. But I’m glad it’s nearly over. I hope the weather continues to cool. I’m not looking for rain, but just a normal Oregon summer with temps in the upper 70s to low 80s…breezes at night…and a general sense of well being in the world.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to check with the rest of the RTPT gang – Bridgete, Ginger, and She Who Started it All – Jenn.