Skip to main content

Random Ramblings

I am so tired, but wanted to get in a quick post. Here goes a lot of random crap:

  • I hate traffic. I don't imagine too many people like it, but lately it has taken me between 40 to 47 minutes to drive 6.2 miles in the morning (this does not include the time/miles it takes me to get my kid to school first), which seems a little crazy. Worth noting is I have gone several different ways, with and without a tunnel. But, no, I am still not ready to go the route of public transportation. And I don't even want to talk about my commute home.*
  • Job is busy but still going well. I am really liking it so far and feeling more comfortable as the days go on.
  • I actually walk down 240 steps and up 30 steps in the morning. It is the 240 steps I have to walk back up at the end of the day that leave me breathless (but I just may have thighs of steel before too long, so there is that).
  • Unfortunately, among lack of sleep (cursed insomnia), working all day, and having to cram many things in during a few hours in the evening,** including some time for the kid, my fuse has been a little short. I hate that. I need to work on it. Wish me luck.
  • The Pens won their division. Yeah! I am pretty sure we won't be able to count on the Steelers for too much this year (and let's not even talk about the Pirates), so here's hoping we can get a Cup out of this or at least a long playoff run.
  • Today I saw some guy wearing pants that went completely below his butt cheeks. I have no desire to see anyone in his boxer briefs (or in any other kind of underwear for that matter, unless it is Marky Mark, circa 1992).
  • If you are local (and maybe not even), you may have read about the PSSA's and some mother/prof who opted her child out of them. I don't have a strong opinion about standardized tests, but I can say that at my kid's school, they do not seem to take them (Terra Novas) as seriously. The school asked that no trips be scheduled and for the kids to be well-rested and fueled each day, but that is about it. To the best of my knowledge, hardly any time was spent prepping for the tests, and the kids do not seem to be pressured.
  • Apparently western PA went from winter to summer in a matter of days, which is not uncommon around these parts; it just happened later this year. As usual, the hubby and I disagree about when the AC should go on. I say not until May regardless; he says when the indoor temps nears 80, it is time. He won that battle.
  • That is all for now. Have a great rest of the week, blog friends.
* The last time I worked full time, I typically worked 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., so I did not have to deal with traffic. Even when I worked four days a week four years ago, my hours varied, so traffic was an issue only one or two days a week. I know I need to get over this, but it will take time.
** This is another adjustment that I hate to complain about (particularly knowing that many of you work full have and have for years). But when I had Wednesdays off my last time around working, it made a huge difference (plus when you are off in the middle of the week, it is a great comfort/motivator knowing you have to work only two days in a row). I could do my laundry and cleaning then, plus during my working evenings I did not have to worry about helping my kid with her homework or piano in the evenings because she had neither. It is worth noting that if history serves, next year my husband should be back on grocery rotation (this is the end of my second five-year stint; he should start his second stint next March...)

Comments

chris h. said…
I was in the bank the other day behind a 50+ year-old man with complete butt-crack showing. Horrifying. How can you not feel that your pants are falling down?
chris h. said…
And another thing -- Oakland in the summer is DELIGHTFUL. Much less crowded and traffic-y. I used to like working there then. Hope your commute will be better too.
Facie said…
Chris: In case it was not clear, that kid/guy was doing it on purpose. What I don't get is how it can be comfortable to wear a belt in the middle of or below your butt cheeks.

I guess I can look forward to the summer for something now. I did not even think about that. :-) Oh, and thanks for the email.
I feel you on the 6.2 miles. I love when people ask how far it is from my boyfriend's place to mine. I'm always like, "Well, six miles. But a half an hour on the train! And ten minutes' walk each way to the train that connects us! And you don't understand the emotional toll of having to wade through all those tourists!" And so on forever. The miles mean nothing.
Jessica R. said…
And it's posts like this that make me happy that I don't live in a major city. My commute only gets frustrating on the stretch where I have to drive through a school zone and go through a neighborhood where little old ladies drive 10 under the speed limit. Even then it's a 10-12 minute drive tops.

Popular posts from this blog

What a year 2021 has been (Day 7)

I have almost no words for what happened yesterday at the Capitol. Protesting is one thing (though I truly think it is and has been time to move on). But to storm the Capitol? A friend on Facebook said, quite simply, " Almost 20 years ago a group of people on an airplane sacrificed themselves to protect the Capitol. How far we have fallen!" Indeed. And, yes, it IS storming the Capitol. I have seen numerous videos of people knocking down barricades/fences, pushing police officers, and breaking windows and climbing through them. That is beyond protesting. And even if a protestor did not do those things, if they followed those seditionists past those barricades and into the building, they are just as guilty. I did not support the violent protests this summer that resulted in damages to businesses and public property (I was in full support of the actual protests). But I also acknowledged as a white person, I cannot truly put myself in the position of a black person who is angry a

Melancholy and Gratitude

 A few days ago, I decided to do gratitude posts on FB. I was good the first two days. Day 3 I got a little snarky as I posted about "doing the right thing" in regards to Covid. The Covid cases in Allegheny County have been on the rise. For a while, we had daily counts between 50 and 100. After July 4, we saw a spike for a few weeks, and then cases were back below 100. Unfortunately, other than one "low" day this week, where "only" 288 cases were reported, we have had between 500 and 620 daily cases. Fortunately, only a few people have died this week. But of course, any death is too many. I started to keep track of cases, deaths, and hospitalizations on 6/12/20. On that day, since 3/12, Allegheny County had had 2,034 cases, 352 people had been hospitalized, and 172 people had died. On 11/19/20, the county has seen a total of 22,042 cases, 1,724 people have been hospitalized, and 465 people have died from Covid since 3/12. In just over 8 months, we have had

Hug your loved ones!

I hate to say that I am still working through my grief. I mean, in some ways I can imagine I will always be grieving. But I feel pretty confident it will get easier, and I will cry less and less. But, yeah, I guess I am still working through it. Yesterday, a thought occurred to me: I had not hugged my dad since the end of February, and that will now be the last time I ever did. I did not see him for almost three months because of COVID, and then at the end of May, he started his series of hospital visits with skilled nursing stints in between. I was always afraid to hug him then. What if I gave him COVID? And yet when my dad had really bad ICU delirium during a few different hospital stays, I fed him. If I could do that, why not hug him? So I cried a bit last night thinking about that. I am not necessarily a big hugger; I used to hate it, and then probably before Jordan was born, I got back to doing it again. Before COVID, I hugged my friends goodbye (and sometimes hello). I always wou