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SEPTEMBER 2006

FRIDAY – SEPTEMBER 1, 2006

I got to work and stuck to my schedule very tightly today. I also got in over 40 calls. I am almost back up to where I was with Comcast calls. My AHT is still not where I would like it to be though. Tonight I ended up stuck on a call that went about 45 minutes past my scheduled punch-out time.

Oh... then on my way home, the ramp to get on 270 was closed. I tried coming back from the other direction, but it was closed that way too. I had no idea HOW TO GO HOME! I had to ask directions at a station. I finally ended up taking Lindbergh through the tunnel, around the airport, and catching 70 on the far side. It worked, but I got home around 1:30a (and I was supposed to be off work at 11:45p).

I sat up and watched one of my DVD's today, "The Man," with Sam Jackson and Ben... somebody. Very funny movie!

I got up an hour early today. Terri called me from Bethany about rental assistance. I need to get with her again this Tuesday.

Work was typical tonight, except I did get about 3 hours in the Tech Queue. That is a luxury, because only one or two people get the tech queue at a time and almost no one calls that line.

SATURDAY – SEPTEMBER 2, 2006
Happy Birthday to Alvin Wayne Terrell

2:45a – I am sure missing my computer! I am typing this entry into a notepad screen. Hopefully, it will end up in my regular journal and no one will know the difference. That's the plan, anyway.

3:22a – I am off to bed. Slightly early. No computer to work on (...well, not counting my old server here), and TV (satellite) mostly does not work. I've eaten. May as well crash.

11:49 – I just got up. Kira just left a puddle in the kitchen again. I wish Skip would be so considerate as to let her outside.

Continuing the tradition I have maintained for the last 4-5 years, I changed my door hanger today to my FALL icon.

10:52p – What a long, tedious and exhausting day. First we went to lunch at Macaroni's Grill in Brentwood. I first went to this wonderful Italian Restaurant with Diana Murayama, three or four years ago. Skip had been to this same place with the two of us some time ago, but he did not remember it until we were leaving. I forget the name of the dish I ordered, but it was some kind of chicken, wrapped in cheese, with spinach orzo on the side. Skip got Chicken Scaloppini I think. Our waiter was avery handsome young man named Larry. I took a couple of snapshots in the restaurant, but they won't be anything special. It was a very pleasant and enjoyable meal.

From there we went next door to Best Buy. The best computer they had near my price range was about $320. I was looking for something around $200. This computer included a monitor and printer in the package deal, but I did not need nor want these, so I asked about getting just the computer by itself and THAT cost about about $50 MORE! I set this idea aside and we went to Circuit City as Skip's insistence. The had the VERY SAME computer (an e-Machines) selling for about $520.00! I was tempted to go back to Best Buy at that point, but then I got a call from Skylar, who I have not heard from in quite some time. He mentioned a place called A-to-Z and gave me directions on getting to their location. Skip and I tried very hard to find this place.

I saw another computer store, "St. Louis Computers" (I think), and we pulled in, just to check it out. They had computers which were $400 and up ... which was WAY too ridiculous! I left there in disgust and then drove down the stree to a CompUSA. I checked out their merchandise. They had yet a worse plan for the same computer.

We stopped at a convenience store (corner of Gravois & Watson Rd.) and I went in and used there phone book to try to find this A2Z place the Skylar had mentioned (he was not answering his phone at this time, so I could not ask him). Well, I had a very amusing conversation with a Vietnamese gentleman, a customer, in the store. I ended up speaking a bit of Mandarin, Vietnamese, Thai and Korean with him, much to his amazement and amusement. More on topic, I also found an address to "A to Z Electronic" at 2771 Gravois ... and we head out looking for it.

At this point, I got Skip to pull out my camera and take various pictures of our trip. The sun roof was open, so he took many shots using the flip-view feature of my camera while holding it above the car through sun roof. Later, we took pictures while flying down the interstate.

Anyway, we DID finally find the A-to-Z Electronics. They were closed though. I don't think this was the same place that Skylar was referring to anyway.

In disgust, I decided to go to Wal-Mart in Cahokia to buy the machine that they had on sale. We got there, looked, and I just could not buy that PC either.

We left our own little Cahokia Wal-Mart and drove to Fairview Heights. (At least I did not get lost trying to GET there this time!). I had some trouble trying to find the Best Buy, but eventually, we remember that this was the same store that we went to back in November with our niece, Devon, and family. We have been here several times, but I only DROVE to it that once. Previously, we took the bus.

By this time it was getting dark. I was tired. My back was cramping and in pain. I decided to buy the same damn computer that I first looked at earlier today at the Best Buy in Brentwood. I told Skip even then that I should probably buy it. My experience is (and I said this to Skip), that when I go looking to buy something like this, I almost always end up coming back to the very same thing that I started off with!

This was another fine example. I should have just bought the first one and gone home, and save myself a lot have stress. Nevertheless, I ended up having to spend about $355 to buy this computer... PLUS and printer and monitor which I don't need. Yet, oddly, if I did NOT get the monitor and printer with it, it would have cost me MORE! That's just stupid. So... now I have a color monitor and color printer I need to sell. New. Unopened!

Anyway, we headed home. Skylar called again. He has a new router and is trying to comprehend how to set it up. I felt like I was 'at work' trying to explain it to him. We stopped at Q-Mart and picked up some beer (I was on the phone with Skylar the entire time).

11:37p – So now the journal is caught up for today. I have the new PC unpacked and sitting behind me. I took a couple of shots of it fresh out of the box with Kira in the living room first. I guess it is time to hook it up and see what we get. I sure hope I can save the data on the hard drive!

SUNDAY – SEPTEMBER 3, 2006

12:04a – I have the new computer on. Just setting it up though...

12:08a – First problem. The mouse does not respond. I rebooted and reseated the mouse connection. It is an optical mouse with a USB connection, using a USB-to-PS2 widget. We will see if this works.

12:09a – It worked... but not the screen is all off kilter... <sigh>

12:14a – Ok... got the screen fixed... AND the mouse is working. A bit of success...

12:20a – I got the system going, but NOW the KEYBOARD does not respond. I have had to start over. Oh... and this is after the screen display was all funky. I got that fixed too.

12:30a – I got the mouse to work (using a widget) and the keyboard boots up with lights on, but... something is not working.

12:33a – I am going to use the keyboard that CAME witht the pc now. It has some extra "goody" buttons on it anyway. Here goes...

12:45a – I have rebooted about 5 more times (or more). The mouse would not work. I finally figured out that I was plugging in the old roller-ball mouse and not my optical. I corrected that. I have rebooted YET again... wish me luck!

1:14a – Okay! I have the computer up and running... and on the internet.

1:24a – I just got Firefox loaded.

The beer hit me hard for some reason. I woke up sitting in front of my computer around 5:00a this morning! That was unexpected. Kira was out on the patio. I was still feeling the beer. I had not eaten and I think that was the problem. I ended up calling in sick today. Not just the beer though. I took my meds at around 5 or 6pm and they were messing with me. I had diarrhea and was fighting not to throw up all at the same time. That's when I concluded I was going to call in today.

I fixed a small pot of soup with noodles and then went back to bed. I did not get up until after 3:00p.

11:30p – I have been working on my new computer this evening. I finally got Norton AV to load and run. Then I installed my old RAM chips and increased the memory from 256Mb to 1.10Gb. I put the WinTV card in, but it does not seem to want to install. I will worry about that later. I then succeeded in slaving my old 80Gb HD into the new computer and am now in the process of transferring my files over. I have rescued all of my files from the "My Documents" fold so far. Now I am moving over the photos from that last three months along with another couple of folders.

Meanwhile, I have a pot of Posole cooking.

MONDAY – SEPTEMBER 4, 2006
LABOR DAY

Getting up was not easy this morning, but I did it, and I got to work about 15 minutes early. I am still getting the new computer set up. I set up MS OUTLOOK to download one email account, but I do not like what I am seeing. First of all, I cannot create subfolders. I think I will stick with OUTLOOK EXPRESS.

Steve Irwin, "The Crocodile Hunter" died today! A completely bizarre accident in which a Sting Ray stabbed him in the heart. Such an ironic end to such an energetic and vital person. Such a tragedy!

Work was relatively light today, despite having very few agents on the floor. We had a lot of time between calls for most of the day.

TUESDAY – SEPTEMBER 5, 2006

3:16a – I got more stuff loaded on the new PC tonight. The WinTV card does not work at all in this computer, which is VERY disappointing. I tried to load Fontographer, but I get the same "not enough memory" error that I got on the other PC. CorelDraw! did not want to load either, but I don't use it much. Email is going to be an obscene hassle. WinSCP... I don't remember the IP addresses and setting. It is not going well. However, at least I have been able to rescue all my data from the old drive so far.

Kira had pee'd on the floor again when I got home. Skip through towels over it. So, I bleached the kitchen again. My eyes are still burning.

I have some pork steaks in the oven smothered in BBQ and onion. I am boiling potatoes and will mash them for supper and lunch tomorrow. I did not want any more Posole. My stomach has enough problems!

3:50a – My BBQ pork is cooked, the mashed potatoes are done, and I made what looks to be a tasty herbal chicken white gravy. Now I am not really hungry though. But, I need to eat, fix lunch for tomorrow and get my butt to bed. It's storm out too. Nothing extreme, just rain and distant thunder.

11:43a – I just finished moved all my "journal" information over to my website, but I still don't have WinSCP loaded, so I have not uploaded it yet.

WEDNESDAY – SEPTEMBER 6, 2006

2:18a – I am now making an entry into my journal and it will be uploaded to my website in seconds! I was able to get WinSCP loaded and working on a minimal basis. At least I can continue working in my journal like normal once again. One more step down.

Anyway, I got home tonight and, before I even changed clothes, I found myself bleaching and mopping the kitchen again. I don't know if Skip is just letting Kira outside, or if she is just having ever increasing problems with continence. Maybe it is a bit of both.

4:53a – I just had a WONDERFUL time sharing pictures from last Saturday with RD. I am so easily amused!!

5:25a – I am off to bed now!

12:44a – I'm up. Back on the computer...

9:30p – I have my OutLook Express and MailWasher Pro mostly set up. I lost email going back to last November, though I KNOW it must be SOMEWHERE on my old drive. I just can't find it. I still have to set up hundreds of mail rules to sort my email again.

I am now trying to load the scanner, but it does not want to respond. Jeez... this is a lot of work!

THURSDAY – SEPTEMBER 7, 2006

Another work day, much like any other. Nothing noteworthy happened. I did have one caller who was on the phone with me for about a half hour and crying the entire time. That's annoying. I got home and saw that Skip had opened one of my 3 new DVD rentals, "March of the Penguins." I started it over watch part of it. Spectacular photography and scenery.

FRIDAY – SEPTEMBER 8, 2006

With great excitement, I attend my first ever Powwow at the Cahokia Mounds. I was somewhat disappointed. First, before I had been there 10 minutes, I got jumped on by some guy about taking pictures of the dances without permission. I knew this was improper etiquette, but I was not really taking pictures of the dances, so much as the general surroundings by video, and they just happened to be in the picture at a distance. Besides, I saw spectators who were right up by the dancers, blatantly taking pictures, so I thought it must be permitted. Anyway, that set the tone for my entire evening and it made things kind of sour. Later I went to see about getting some frybread, but they said they would be selling that the next day. There were not too many people in Native regalia, which I was hoping to see. Then the emcee had a bunch of people join in a Snowball Dance and afterward he said they would now all be known as "Dances with Indian." That turned m stomach.

Jeff and I left the Powwow and went down to Ramon's where I had a much better time than at the Powwow. We just had some chips & salsa with drinks. There were Mariachi singers there and the atmosphere was very festive. Much more so than as in the daytime when Skip and I have gone.

SATURDAY – SEPTEMBER 9, 2006

Skip and I went to Soulard Market shortly after I got up, which was fairly late. I got restocked on my spices and to my amazement, the spice store was empty! I guess it was because I was there so much later than usual. I usually get my number and come back in about an hour. This time I got a number (#43) and... I was next!

We left there and went to find a place to eat. I wanted to check out the place Grace told me about called "Jaboom." We search up and down Grand and finally found it. Skip said it was called "Jazoom" ... but it turned out to be called "Jasoom." I found out later, after considerable musing over this word, that it was NOT from Moorish influence on Spain and the Spanish language, as I had so intellectually considered. Instead, it came from (of all things) the MARTIAN language! Yes, you heard right! "Jasoom" is the word in Edgar Rice Burroughs "John Carter of Mars" series for the planet Earth. (Whereas "Barsoom" is the word for Mars as used by the Barsoomians). Anyway, the restaurant was not bad at all. The food was excellent, plentiful, and not overly expensive. I got a platter with a soft taco (with pulled beef); a very meaty chicken enchilada liberally smothered in cheese; a hand rolled burrito, lightly grilled; and sides of Spanish rice and home made refried bean (with chunks of beans); all garnished with cilantro and green onions. [price $6.95]

By this time, I had about decided that I did not really want to go back to the Powwow tonight. After last night's disappointing time, I was not very enthusiastic about the prospect. I called Jeff and missed him several times, but we finally connected and he said that Grace, who had been going to join us, had cancelled and would be staying home. I did not want to disappoint Jeff, so I resolved to go to the Powwow again anyway, with the warning that I might not stay too long. I end up arriving at sunset after having an incident with getting grease all over my Tsalagi baseball shirt that I had intended on wearing. I wore my John Grey Hawk shirt instead (pulled from the clothes hamper and "fluffed" in the dryer).

To my surprise, the Powwow was MUCH better than the night before and I had a great time. I am so glad I went. I got some great photos. I also got to try some authentic frybread, but I was not too impressed. I can do much better, I am sure! The oil they fried this bread in had been to over used and had a slight burned taste. The bread was heavier than I would like. I think I will be able to make some decent frybread now after my tactile analysis of this specimen!

SUNDAY – SEPTEMBER 10, 2006

12:24p – The last few days have been very busy with the powwow. I am trying to catch up my journal, but now I have to got to work.

Work was hectic today, much to my surprise. Being a Sunday, I thought it would be fairly light, but apparently there were a lot of people who called in.

MONDAY – SEPTEMBER 11, 2006

4:23a – I am very depressed today (this morning). Still cooking. I need to go to bed.

Apparently Ricky made the mistake of calling around midnight and Skip answered. He was all pissed off about it when I got home. He has basically forbidden me to see Ricky anymore! Apparently he has appointed himself as my social monitor and says I cannot have anyone in the house that he does not approve of. This is a bit pointless, since he does not approve of anyone. Even Marty and J.R. he simply tolerates. I think he has pushed this a bit too far.

Kira seems to be a bit worse lately. She had laid on the foyer and peed all over herself when I got home. I had trouble getting her up and on her feet, but she managed to go outside. I brought her back in and gave her a bath. The first one on some time, and she really needed it.

4:40a – Off to bed now. This has been a very upsetting evening. I hope I can get to work on time tomorrow. I need more sleep.

Getting up was a chore and I seriously considered calling in 2 hours late. I didn't though. Work was not too bad today. I sat by Steve at his insistence, and a new guy, Adam, sat behind us (it was his first night). I had one really bad call from a grouchy old lady who would not listen to me, but then I went on the tech queue for about 4 hours and only took 2 or three calls during that time.

TUESDAY – SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

1:45a – I finally have my journal fairly well caught up, at least text-wise. I want to add some pictures, but that is much more easily done with DreamWeaver and I don't have that application loaded on the new computer yet.

Skip had done most of the dishes in the kitchen today. What a welcome surprise! I put them all away and washed the remaining dishes in the sink. Then I put them away this morning too.

I had a wild dream last night of RD visiting here in the US. I sent her a message about it, stating:

This should make you laugh. I dreamed about you last night! You were here visiting me and we went to (Oklahoma?) together. We went to eat at some place, and everything was Cherokee. The place we ate seemed to be a mix between an auction barn (for livestock) and a restaurant. We had to go up a flight of wooden steps at the entrance. There were chickens there, one of which seemed to be making a nest on the counter out of some kind of green peel (cucumber?). We went thru a cafeteria style line. Lots of people saying "wado!" here and there... then, we were walking thru a car lot of used cars. All the windows had had some kind of NA design on them that looked like a burst of spear in different arrangements. These emblems all meant something (price?). You had a camera out and were taking pictures for the car windows. I commented how ironic it was that you would travel all the way over here and then take pictures of car windows in a used car lot!

This dream was probably influenced by my recent attendance of the Powwow.

Kira had pee'd on the floor again this morning. This is becoming about a daily problem now.

I had left over Posole for lunch with some fried maize tortillas. I began making some fresh homemade salsa when Skip called and asked me to pick him up. That turned into an ordeal. There was a train on Camp Jackson Road, so I turned on Range to Mildred, to Falling Springs.... a detour around the back of the train. All went well until I ran into construction on Falling Springs and had to turn around. I was headed back to Camp Jackson Road when it dawned on me that I could turn on Jerome and cut over to Route 3, and be back on course. I am (slowly) learning my way around this part of the country!

I came home and finished up the salsa. Two containers of it. I think it came out pretty good. Much better than the restaurant stuff!

WEDNESDAY – SEPTEMBER 13, 2006

2:13p – I am off to work again. Going in a couple of hours late today.

The day got much worse <sigh>.  My very first call was from a gentleman to demanded a supervisor right away. I was barely able to get any information from him. Johnny took the call. He needed provisioning right off the bat, but his problem got more involved, and I eventually had to escalate it. That call took 1hr:12min! The my third call was ANOTHER "supervisor immediate" call.

Finally, lunch time rolls around and I go to get my lunch from the locker and find someone has locked it. I leave it unlocked while I am at work since all that is in there is my lunch. I was annoyed that someone would lock it, but I was even MORE annoyed to find that someone had STOLEN my lunch, container and all! Jeez! That is just LOW! I spent over an hour filling searching other lockers, checking my car (just in case), filling out an incident report with security and finally spending more money to get something to eat. I almost left work to go home. I was so disgusted.

Then there was a mix up in the group RD created and Jeff got insults were cast between my friends. This was just icing on the top of a very sour day.

THURSDAY – SEPTEMBER 14, 2006

4:20p – I slept until about 12:30p before getting up to check on Kira and let her out. No accidents today, happily. I was having a dream about traveling on a huge train with my sister, Darlene. She was going to be married somewhere. I lost track of her at one point and had to track her down. I was not carrying anything with me, and felt I should have something in hand. I commented about leaving my extra clothes in Walla Walla, but Darlene corrected me and said I left them in St. Louis. I think think feeling came from losing my lunch container and not carrying anything to my car last night. Mixed with Mom's funeral in 1984 when my clothes got locked up in the locker at the train station. An odd mix of present and past.

4:28p – I need to leave to pick Skip up in a bit. He called while ago and was telling something bit his hand last night. Maybe a spider. It's all swollen. He is going to the doctor tomorrow if does not improve.

I went by Wal-Mart tonight. Gave Willie (our neighbor) a ride from 5th&Mo. I got Kira some food at Wal-Mart. I was going to buy cologne, but after 20 minutes of trying to get someone over to the cologne case, they ended up not having what I normally buy!

10:47p – I am just finishing up my cooking for tonight. I baked a chuck roast. Last night I had some tostadas. This morning I chopped them up and made them into a soup. Tonight, taking to my Mexican/Indian upbringing, I am taking the remaining half cup of "tostada soup" and poured it over the roast to cook. On a bed of maize tortillas. Then I reverted to my Irish side and made a hash from potatoes, green & red bell pepper, onion, cilantro and spices. Then I called upon my basic Southern style upbringing and made a big pot of gravy to pour over everything.

FRIDAY – SEPTEMBER 15, 2006

12:23a – I am off to bed now. I had a tasty supper of beef, potato hash and gravy. I bought a new lunch container today, slightly smaller than the previous one (which was stolen).  It is filled with lunch. I will have to carry it in using a plastic bag I suppose, since my lunch container was stolen.

SATURDAY – SEPTEMBER 16, 2006

1:48p – I had a very strange phone call at work last night, on my private phone. This excerpt from an email to RD pretty much sums up my feelings and thought on the matter:

We had a pretty good day today. Went to Fairview Heights and experienced "Joe's Crab Shack." We were not really impressed. For the price paid, the quality was somewhat lacking.

 SUNDAY – SEPTEMBER 17, 2006

1:107a – Marty and JR came over tonight and got the cans. That was good. They were over flowing!

1:59a – Supper was a delicious medley of pork loin baked in cilantro, tomato and herbs & spices; homemade mashed potatoes; a scrumptious gravy made from juices, milk and corn starch; and some juicy corn on the cob! I am stuffed! Skip has gone to bed. Kira has been out, and I am off to bed now too. 12:48p – I just got up and realized I have a monthly Esperanto meeting to attend at 1:00p. Will I make it? I made it to the meeting!

MONDAY – SEPTEMBER 18, 2006

I got to bed late this morning, did not sleep well, and then got up early this morning. Mostly due to the onslaught of emails which continue to bombard me both within the group and without. No matter how polite and civil I am, I continually seem to get bombasted. I am getting very tired of it and it is going to be brought to a halt soon, one way or another.

TUESDAY – SEPTEMBER 19, 2006

12:53a – Home at last, but tomorrow is another work day. I got into the tech queue for most of the night, so I had it pretty easy. I even got to do some floor support work!

11:15a – I slept much more solidly last night

Today was a busy day at work, but my AHT was kept lower than I think it has ever been.

I spent another evening/morning dealing with hassles in the Tsalagi group and that Graywolf person who keeps threatening to file a law suit. I am getting fed up. I think I have decided to leave the group. I don't need the hassle. I did not get to bed until after 6:00a this morning

WEDNESDAY – SEPTEMBER 20, 2006

4:46p – Got up around 2:00p. I have spent most of the day writing my farewell letter to the Tsalagi group. I just unsubscribed after over five years of membership. It's a real shame.

I remained in a funk over my leaving the Tsalagi group (and most all my other Cherokee groups) all day.

THURSDAY – SEPTEMBER 21, 2006

7:31p – I slept pretty good last night. Aanje Y'aad' ey' eryotriikt' iimdre yaotbe Chad. Iiw' id' iibe ny' ey' aihaisr' ilbeingde, aanje Y'aasw' ivgeingy' imh' ey' edhaabje. Aisn' iimdre ch'aaswe! I got up around 11:00a, my normal time to get up. It was strange not to have a dirth of emails to handle. No messages to approve. I don't miss it entirely I suppose. I worked most of the day (off and on) getting my Ani Kutani site translated to Esperanto so the world can learn what little I have to offer. My Esperanto is flowing right along too. I am amazed at how fast I translated it all.

FRIDAY – SEPTEMBER 22, 2006

12:06p – I got up around 10:55a. Kira had kept me up most of the night though. It seems she needed to pee about every 2 hours. Nevertheless, she had pee'd in the laundry room again by the time I got up. I guess her kidneys are getting less efficient or something. I think her legs are worse too. My baby is getting so old and falling apart before my eyes.

I had some wild dreams last night. In one of them Skip and I were visiting with Daddy. He lived in some place I have never seen on the second floor. He had a small dog that looked part Shitzu. I got a craving for ice-cream and said I was going to go down to the parlor down the street and get us some strawberry-cheesecake ice-cream. I remember on the walk back, the sidewalk was full of some shiny metal post-like things and I had to walk on them to wend my way home. There was a man out polishing them all and I made a comment to him to the effect of, "looks like you have a lot of work to do!" He just ignored me. I got back and the dream gets a little blurry, but I was in the downstairs foyer and saw Chooga sitting outside on the sidewalk by the busy street. I called to Skip to come get him, but then Chooga saw some other cats and went to check them out. He ended up getting run over by a car backing up on him, but he seemed to be more or less okay. By this time (as dreams will do), Chooga had changed colors to an orange striped cat. I noticed after he got ran over that he was shaking. Then another cat tried to push him out in front of an oncoming bus... but that cat got hit instead... and Chooga had turned into a big cat like a white tiger or something... and then I woke up. About time!

12:18p – I am not dressed for work yet. I had better hurry.

The calls were mercifully light today.

SATURDAY – SEPTEMBER 23, 2006

2:04a – I am getting through emails tonight, working on supper, then back to translating the story of Sequoyah.

11:23a – Kira did not get me up until 6:00a and again at 9:00a, but I still did not get enough sleep. Both times I let her out she fell down and I had to go out and pick her up.

I had more strange dreams. In one dream I am trying to catch this female elephant, but she has met up with a male and he does not want her to have anything to do with me. He charges me, but I run down an incline into a cavernous area, and the elephant chases after me, falling and killing itself. Then from somewhere comes "Roger Mudd" from the old Star Trek series and he wish me some kind of wrong doing. I have a communicator , but he is jamming it, so I run back around the elephant (the dead one) and up out of the cave. The cave walls are (supposed) blocking the effect of the jamming device and I pull out my communicator (which looks like a cell phone) and call the Enterprise, asking if they got a lock on me. That's just one little snippet out of a lot of dreams. Another dealt with a book of my sister Calisa and all the famous things she has been doing, including singing. I think I was dreaming dream for her!

11:30a – I feel worn out this morning. I may go in late if I don't feel better.

12:43a – I had to call in an hour late. I just can't get my motor revved up this morning.

2:30p – I am at work now. There was almost no where to sit today. Not to mention being able to sit in  my usual area. There are way more people on the floor than usual. However, the upside to this is that there seems to be a long wait between calls. So far I have been logged in for over 8 minutes and no call has come in.

2:45p – Skip just called, which always worries me since I can't answer the phone, but he left a message on my screen. Nothing drastic, just  that he was going to turn on the A/C.

3:25p – Great. Remedy has gone down. That usually means the queue will backlog and the calls will be chaotic.

5:10p – Remedy came back after about 20 minutes or so, so that was as bad as it could have been. Mark at the front desk just mentioned something about me being a "roamer" ... that is, going around helping agents who have problems.

8:09p – Lunch is done... and so is my Sequoyah translation. I am sure it has some typographical and grammatical errors, but I think it is good enough to read and generally make sense of (se oni parolas Esperante).

SUNDAY – SEPTEMBER 24, 2006

12:26a – I am and out of here. Another day in the dungeons... I mean... at work. I have Monday (tomorrow) off.

1:26p – Back at work. Logged in and waiting for my first call.

2:40p – My second call was nearly an hour long and my AHT is now up to 32:32. That sucks.

4:11p – I've got my AHT down to 11:37 now. Still high, but better.

5:21p – I got a grill turkey & bacon sandwich on break to eat at lunch. I walked off and left my lunch at home today. Now all I can think about is this sandwich sitting here... calling me... beckoning to me... jeez... I am ravenous!

6:55p – Lunch was (as usual) way to quick. So... I have 4 hours and 50 minutes left at work. It's good I have tomorrow off.

10:50p – Still at work (of course). This got pretty busy there for a while. Someone sent me a bunch of posts from the Tsalagi group that I am no longer owner of and I got sort of caught up on things. I have said I would go back if the group voted for me to come back, but after reading some of the commentary, I don't think so. I see some of the people in the group that are making completely uninformed comments and I know that these are some of the very same people who, when I question statements they make, they either do not answer or think I am criticizing them. These same people also seem to be horrible spellers, but I don't know if there is any correlation. Anyway, I don't know if I would go back again or not. I think I should just pursue my earlier idea of starting up a Cherokee Arts group.

11:37p – Almost time to go.... just 8 more minutes. That is... if the phone does not ring and I get stuck on a 40 minute call!

11:43p – Two minutes left! (Not that I am counting)...<grin> .... ...  and I am headed home!

MONDAY – SEPTEMBER 25, 2006

1:49a – I've been home for a while, but have NOT been on the computer much at all. I am getting some of the kitchen cleaned up. Skip's coffee cups have been sitting and stagnating in the sink until it reeked. He just keeps finding another cup instead of washing one and reusing it. I commented the other day, but he tried to put it all on me again about how he had washed dishes (for the first time in a year, I think) and wash MY dishes. Well, its not a contest. I just want a clean home and it seems to be a losing battle with a messy brother and pissing pets. But, what can ya do? <sigh>.

4:37a – Well.... I ate. I feel kind of depressed though. Off to bed.

12:59a – I got up 2 hours ago, opened my bedroom door and the smell told me that Kira had an accident. There was also  a wet spot in the hall and a couple of "streaks" outside my door. I found the mess all over the foyer. Kira had pooped all over herself and smear it all over. I got her outside and started cleaning. Skip called about the same time and, think he was a solicitor, he almost got screamed at. Thankfully, she only messed up the tile, which was easy to clean (if disgusting). Then I went out and hosed K-dog down with the sprayer (while getting chomped on by mosquitoes).  Needless to say, I went back to bed and only just now got up. I was not sleeping anyway. Kira is still laying in my room. I don't think she can get up. I guess I better go help her. I am going to have to have her put down soon I fear. Her quality of life is starting to sink too low. Ah... she is struggling to get up now. Poor thing... she's dragging herself toward the door...

1:08a – She headed straight to the back door. She needed to pee again. Of course, she has been laying by her water dish drinking constantly, so no wonder. This is tearing me up. I love her too much to have her "put down," yet how can I let her go on like this? And how long will it drag out? What a heart rending dilemma...

TUESDAY – SEPTEMBER 26, 2006

1:53a – I made my new "Cherokee Arts" site tonight. I already have EIGHT members! (And I know all of them!).

Meanwhile... off to bed. I made leftovers for supper and more for lunch tomorrow.  And I just finished watching "The Pink Panther" (with Steve Martin). It was amusing. Nothing to write home about, but... I chuckled in a few places.

Work was a mess today. I got in about 15 minutes late. Then My e-Center login would not work. I have no way to contact my Team Lead. I found out that there is a new login for Cleo and I was never informed, since my TL was supposed to inform us and he has been in training ever since I was assigned to him. However, even though I now have iMail for him... the iMail does not work. So I wrote him a note. Then my computer locked up on me twice and I had to go on another unauthorized logout. That was all before lunch.

After lunch, a trainee (Sue) sat with me and I was "teaching" all night and letting her take some of the calls while coaching her. One caller was very irate and I to step in a the "Training Supervisor" (a title I made up on the spot) and got him calmed down again. Despite all the chaos, I realized that I am really getting good at this job! I got home and watched one of my DVD's... "This Island Earth" from 1955. Oddly, it was very relaxing to sit and watch this old movie. So many things were completely stupid, but ... things were so much simpler back in the 50's. I fixed a pot of sausage and vegetable "stuff" for supper and finally got to bed by nearly 5:00a.

WEDNESDAY – SEPTEMBER 27, 2006

I got up around 12 noon. The tree toppers were already out back chopping the top out of the old cottonwood tree.  They tried to get their big truck with the lift into the back yard, but it would not fit. The tree is good and "topped" off now, but there are branches all over the back yard and some of them are on a line and has is smashed down to the ground! I hope it doesn't snap. And I sure hope they don't think they can leave those branches in the yard!

7:22p – I struggling with boredom here. I need a new life.

THURSDAY – SEPTEMBER 28, 2006

2:13a – I have been cooking a chuck roast this evening. I tried to cook it to the point of falling apart, but I should have put it in the crock-pot earlier today to accomplish that. I used the pulled beef from the roast to make a pan of enchiladas. I hope they come out okay.

2:29a – Off to check my enchiladas now.

Not much happened today. Fairly, boringly routine.

FRIDAY – SEPTEMBER 29, 2006

I got up early around 7:55a... though I planned on getting up at 8:30a.

I got to the class early this morning. Judy was our instructor. We did not do much. I am happy to say that most of this is Comcast training and I am WELL versed!

1:33a – I just finished watching "RV" with Robin Williams. Not one of his best, but ... very good anyway.

1:42a – Oh great. I just went to let Kira in and first I stepped over to toss something in the trash... and stepped in a big pile o'poop! GROSS! <gag> ... Skip kept saying he smelled something in the kitchen. Good for him... (I found it). Oh well... Kira is getting old. It will get worse before it gets better I suppose. (Which is not consolation whatsoever...). Anyway... off to bed with my freshly washed foot... :-|

SATURDAY – SEPTEMBER 30, 2006

11:50a – In class again. I actually learned some new things this morning!

10:44a – I spent the day in another class with Judy today. She's a riot, and not a bad instructor. After the class ended at 7:00p, I stayed where we were in quadrant 3 and logged back into the phones and work another hour. I had intended to work for 2 hours... but I didn't. I will still be about 3 hours and 15 minutes short for this week.