Free Lunch

Sorry this photo became skewed. I lifted it off the Internets. Anyway, the photo is the closest I could find to the lunch plates that were used when I was in grade school.

I am having a hard time deciding if I am going to post about this topic or not. Thirty, twenty and even ten years ago I would never have considered it. I try not to talk about these things.

For many reason. First and foremost is - I don't want pity. I don't want people to think I want pity, either. That bothers me beyond belief.

But, I read a post today that got me to thinking.

Free lunches, free breakfasts in schools.

So many people say it is a great idea - how nice to help the needy.

Today's kids are different than we were back in the 50's and 60's. In that era it was a SHAME to get a free lunch. Breakfasts were not even considered, yet. My Mom told me that when our brother (1953) signed up for free lunches the teacher would write their names on the chalkboard. That is right. The entire list of students who were to get a free lunch written for all the world to see. The "haves" had a field day teasing the "have nots".

Since that time my Mom never let us sign up for free anything again. She lined up five brown bags (at that time five of us were in school) every morning and we ate a bologna sandwich, one small orange and about three cookies every day. It was twenty years before I could touch bologna again. To this day I won't eat it with mayonnaise.  In high school I just did not eat lunch.

And, every time I eat a sandwich or an orange, my stomach wants those three damn cookies. Well, okay - my brain wants the three damn cookies. Funny thing, I never seem to want the orange. My brain is completely satisfied skipping the orange but never the cookies. Sigh.

Anyway, for those that think it is a wonderful idea - it is. But consider this. It ain't so wonderful for the child who gets ridiculed by other students and teachers (OH YES THEY DO) when you are getting something free. There is always a teacher or two who believe she is paying for your lunch right out of her pocket and she wants to make certain that you are aware of where that money (lunch) is coming from.

A co-worker told me a story her daughter shared about just such an incident. This incident (which I hope my co-worker reported to the school superintendent) was about her daughter sitting with a friend at lunch. The friend had chosen a salad for lunch. A teacher came up behind the child and snapped "You better eat ALL that salad because I paid for it! Why didn't you get a peanut butter sandwich or something?"  TRUE!  As if to say that the free loaders need only have a bland sandwich and were not entitled to a more healthy fresh salad as privileged children are. My friend's daughter was confused. She asked her Mom why the teacher paid for her friends' lunches. I don't recall  how my co-worker handled the question. She is a wonderful and bright lady, so I am certain her daughter learned something valuable that day.

2013 folks. It is alive and well in our schools today. Shame on the children of the lousy free loaders!

In the post I read I came across the word discrete. The free food is given to the students in need discretely. Really? Does a machine give them the food? Because if there is a human handing out that free food there is always going to be talk. That human tells another human who gets the free lunches. Really - they do. They can't seem to help themselves. Pretty soon a dozen people now know who gets free hand outs. And if even one person has a chip on their shoulder about a family getting free stuff because the father is no good (must be his wife's fault) then it all comes pouring out.

My older sister and brother tell me stories of their youth. Before they became old enough to help the family begin to stand on our own and not rely on hand outs. My father was a drunk. There, I said it. He barely worked. My Mom had 8 children. She was not able to work outside the home, although she did get flack from the welfare agency as to why she thought she could not work and provide for her family and of course they made her feel like it was her fault that my dad was a drunk, etc..

That stopped the welfare. My Mom refused to go back. My older brother joined the Air Force and began sending money home. My older sister put herself through college, worked two jobs and paid the bills with the help from my older brother. They are still close today and live together and help each other. And they still hand money out to the siblings that just keep asking for it. Sigh. I don't know why. It is ingrained in them, I suppose.

Enough of that. It makes me want to vomit just re-reading what I wrote. If you do comment, please do not comment about that. Thanks.

Back to discrete and human nature. I worked as a data entry operator in the early 80's. The business was food distribution to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, bars and diners. At one point a saleslady came up to me with an order and she said "This order is for the shelter for abused and battered women."  She said "You know where it is, don't you?"  And before I could utter no or any other word she proceeded to tell me where this shelter was. I did NOT need to know. I was not the driver or delivery person. Sheesh. Why couldn't she have kept her mouth shut? Then I began thinking about all the people who actually knew where the shelter is physically located - and then how safe is that? Every policeman would know. The fire department would know. The creepy truck drivers we employed would know. The sleazy salesmen we have would all have know. Discrete my ass. Sorry. No such thing.

Naughty list

Yeah, well - somebody is on the naughty list this year.  According to the telco when all was said and done they blamed it on beavers (or groundhogs).

"It appears that either a ground hog or a beaver has dug holes and chewed the cable."

Whatever. Over 30 hours again.

I don't usually speak of the TV shows that I watch but I just have to rant about this one.  Really, Patrick? Do you really think that Red J0hn is dead? Why the hell didn't you drag him into the lake and drown him to make certain?  You know that he would find a way to fake dying in a choke hold.

Gawd. It still isn't over. He will re-surface and torture all of us again. And we all know that woman from the chapel followed you and will go and resuscitate him.  Gawd!

Okay, rant over.

I'm ranting today

It is getting ridiculous. The is the sixteenth time our school district's fiber has been down this year. Yes, part of it is my organization's fault. We do have a fail-over (another telco) but not those in my area code. My area code contains about 10 school districts. We have been trying for months to get this area code over on to the fail over telco but we are caught up in red tape with the state. Arrgghh!

The schools are LIVID.  And we have been trying for months to get rid of this telco altogether. We had to wait until our five year contract expired first. Then it is red tape with the state. The state is married to this telco. The telco monolith is not a stupid empire.

Another fiber cut. I am trying to educate myself on what happens when the fiber gets cut out in the field. We have to drag information out of the telco as to what happened. They do not give up any information willingly. This time the cut is in a manhole.

This cut happened yesterday about 1:00 p.m. On a Sunday. It is in a manhole somewhere. Who in the hell was working on a Sunday? And in a manhole? And get this! The latest report is that the technicians had to leave the manhole for safety reasons.

What? Is there some sort of mutant alligator down there? Did the Monday morning showers and flushes of  the sewer systems threaten to wash one of them away? I don't know! We don't even get details like "where" this manhole is.

One tech at a vocational school expressed his frustration to my manager. He has several people coming this morning to do some testing at his location. Some are driving 2 1/2 hours (not certain I believe this, but okay).  He needs to call them and let them know there is no Internet before they get on the road. Well, as of 7 o'clock this morning - still nothing.

This same area lost connectivity for about 36 hours a week ago today. It is not pretty out there. Most understand it is not my fault. They need to vent their frustration on somebody since the home office is 60 miles away (and they rarely - if ever) answer their telephones. The anger and frustration just loses something when you leave a voice mail.

So, I get it. I always answer my phone. I can't tell you how many times I get "I know you can't do anything about it, but I call you because at least you answer your telephone."

Anyway, here was an interesting read on fiber cuts. Two that affected me and schools in my area are listed in March 2012. And I lifted the photo above. I can only imagine having to take that equipment down into a man hole in below freezing weather where sewer is running around your ankles. Or, can they bring the cable up and out of the manhole and repair it? Sheesh. I don't know. How in the hell did it get cut down there? What the hell are people putting down into their sewer systems? We never really get the entire story and are left wondering.

http://www.ecessa.com/coverage/internet-outages-happen-every-day/

Deep frying the turkey

The "guys" busy at work frying the turkey. Every year the office I work out of has a Thanksgiving lunch where everybody brings a covered dish. We have a wonderful lady who brings a roaster full of turkey with delicious juices. We usually run out and it is too much for her so we decided to supplement with a second turkey. I think they were nervous that the meat be a true 165º that it was a bit dry, but hey - it was delicious! And we had plenty of gravy.

Of course wouldn't you know that the main guy doing the frying is a volunteer fireman. If you are related to -  or a friend of a fireman then you know they are the most dangerous! LOL! I finally talked him into having a fire extinguisher on hand. They are just so daring because 'They've seen it all!'

This year I brought the jiffy cornbread cream corn pudding. I had doubled the batch and it was so creamy when I mixed it I was worried about it being done in the middle. So I cooked it too long and it was dry. Some recipes called for sugar and some did not so I was nervous about the sugar so I added very little. Another mistake. Next time (and there WILL be a next time) I am adding more sugar and not baking it as long.

I battled my headache all day. We were all running around getting our covered dishes ready, many dishes were in and out of the oven all morning in our office kitchen. I had to run back home to get crackers since I had forgotten them. I also take hot pepper jelly with cream cheese for folks to nibble on during the morning as they try to wait until the food is ready and lunch time. With all the fantastic smells we are all just walking around drooling.

We did not have fun and games (I am usually the one who creates the trivia and a game or two) but I told them about my migraine and I just could not do any more. The big laugh though was the fact that I had put my top on inside-out. The office secretary came up to me in the food line and whispered that fact to me. I laughed and said "I wondered why it looked so light today. I just thought perhaps I had goofed and washed it with a load of whites and bleached it!"

It got a good laugh from everybody and I loved it! I finished getting my food, set my plate down and proceeded to the restroom to turn my top inside-right. I quipped "You are all lucky I even managed to put a top ON today, with the way I feel!"

After lunch, I had time to sit quietly and just work. My headache finally subsided enough. But, I had a hair appointment. The good thing about that is somebody is scrubbing my head (always makes my headache feel better) but I was getting the roots colored so the smell was going to be an issue. Waiting for the dye to finish setting I literally fell asleep twice in the chair.

I have no appointments or events this week-end so I can lay low and just chill out. Give my body time to rest and if I want to take a nap, I will.

Until I read sister 1944's e-mail. She is very depressed. Me (being me) told her to give me a day and time and I would be there to listen and to paint love all over her. Because that is what family does and that is what sisters are for. I truly believe that those raised with nothing and in poverty conditions have a much stronger and beautiful bond with their siblings. And I truly believe it is more precious than any amount of money and you better believe that I am humbly grateful that I was fortunate enough to be born into such a family. My cup runneth over this Thanksgiving.

Hey...what? Runneth is not a word, blogger?  Aw - shame on you!  Alright - dictionary.com says it is not a word, either. Too bad. I am using it and I am keeping it because I heard it a lot growing up!

Two dollars

Is this not the cutest thing? I have a co-worker who made this at the dinner we went to Wednesday evening. I had very new crisp dollar bills and she showed off her skill. She said her husband is very good at it and kids just surround him to watch him work if he is out in public and doing this.

I have been slammed the past few days. Day and night. Of course a migraine started to creep up on me yesterday. I overslept. Had no memory of turning off my alarm. I was scheduled to drive to a little tiny school 55 miles away in a cow pasture. Just to arrive and find out the tech did not know to try turning the equipment off and then back on. That was all that was needed. I blame myself for part of it because he is new and when I told him to check to see that the equipment had power, they usually turn it off and back on and I neglected to detail that fact.

I was literally falling asleep on the long drive back. I picked a spot halfway and parked the car. I literally crashed for an hour. In the car! Of course it was not a good sleep as I chose Roscoe Village and there were many slamming car doors and the sun had started to come out and I was using my coat as a pillow (must wash coat!) and it smelled.

So, that was my lunch hour. I fired the car back up and went on to the next scheduled stop. This is the juvenile center for wayward young adults. The building is brand spanking new and next to the county prison. The last visit I had there was not a pleasant one. I had many complications getting in and getting co-operation.

This time I must have done something right. I had called and arranged my visit before hand with the right person. I was not given any grief whatsoever - people were as nice as can be. I didn't fix the problem but it was a nice visit. Except for the fact that the wiring closet has no shelf,  no table, nothing to balance my laptop on. Did you know that a lap does not exist until one sits down? Hah!

I had to plop on the very cold cement floor in what I would guess to be a three feet by three foot room. It was freezing in there. I spent about an hour. I moved around a good bit and got up several times.I had to stand outside in the hall with the door propped open to get cell phone service to call the telco to help troubleshoot. If the door closed, I was not getting back in until I went to find an employee. Few and far between. If I stepped back inside the closet the network went dead and I would lose my very precious call to the telco. You can imagine what steps you have to go through to get back into the queue and actually get a human on the other end of the telephone.

Sometimes when you have to deal with conditions like this and then the people at the site are nasty and mean - you just want to chuck it all and go back to your warm office with the fake leather chair and relax. Sometimes it just sucks to spend so much time being this uncomfortable and you just throw in the towel for the day. The only problem with this action is that you know you have to come back out here at some point and try again.

And the stupid headache does not help. It is hard to think in this condition. The day finally ended and I moved on to the grocery store where I needed to get a few supplies to make a dish for the office luncheon we are having today.

I signed up to bring in the creamy corn pudding made with jiffy cornbread.  I don't know why I keep choosing recipes I have never tried before. Sigh.

Baby cooties

I stayed with my nephew while I went Northwest to visit while my niece had her little bambino. That means I was exposed to an enormous amount of baby cooties while spending time with this one. She is five months old.

I was covered in cooties. I didn't mind a bit. I think my daughter was a bit put out though when I posted a picture of the above bambino on my facebook and mentioned that I was in heaven.

She made a remark to me when I got home about it. Oops.

Four by four

My niece had a four by four baby. Four pounds four ounces. The hospital will not let him go home until he is "properly" fitted into a car seat. Sigh. This is our best try. I left before they inspected the seat.

I drove up on Saturday (my sister had told me her daughter's water broke and they were in the hospital on Friday). I missed the birth by one hour. I would have been able to see it. Three people were allowed in the room. My sister (grandmother) was there and her husband. They said it was awesome, but so scary because he was so tiny. They were not permitted to film the event. My niece's husband threw a fit. He is so....he is such a.... he's complicated. There.

No rest here

I knew that the tech would not be happy. Yesterday I was scheduled out on the road to go to two schools to upgrade their fiber. I was trying to check e-mails via my cell phone because I knew there would be issues with this guy.

Sure enough. He had a list of complaints a mile long. And some were so silly it just showed what a true jerk he really is. I shared them with the engineer at the new filter company and I can only imagine what he thinks.

For the most part, I finally got time in the late afternoon to address the problems and began to knock them out. What does it take? Common sense. Something so rare and valuable in some people you would think it could be traded on the stock exchange.

Yep. Complainers gonna complain and haters gonna hate.

Hold on

The ride has begun. I put the first school on the filter we are evaluating. Here comes the plunge. It would be exciting for me except I am too damn tired to enjoy it. Where's the prednisone, now?!

I am not a chef

Yah. I'd like to meet the sick S.O.B. who thought it might be a great idea to take hot cabbage leaves and attempt to roll loose ground beef, sausage and rice in it?  Really? Seriously?  I must have used every damn toothpick in the house!

I swear - I nearly needed therapy when I was finished with this mess.

Ah....but it tasted divine!

Could have been the prednisone.  :)

Keeping my cool

Isn't this photo just lovely? I lifted it, sorry. I was looking for calm, peace, serenity and came across this and it was exactly what I was looking for.

Yesterday got ugly at work. The new installation fell flat on it's face and the two schools that have been crying so much for me to test drive a new device screamed bloody murder. Of course I had added them on to the new unit first because they were my biggest complainers about the old device and when the new device went belly up (because we are human and learning) they were outraged.

In hindsight it is kind of amusing, or pathetic. Whichever way you want to look at it, I kind of sway back and forth on it. Here we are trying to satisfy them and when we make that attempt, they criticize yet again. And, I am telling you what. I struggled to get it working right for them yesterday. I seriously struggled hard to fix things.

It was all so new - three of us were scrambling trying to get them switched around. I called the tech in California so many times. He was patient but I usually pride myself on figuring things out before I have to call for help. I learn more that way. In this case, it was panic mode and there is no time for Peruby to learn the product, get the engineer to find out what is configured incorrectly - pronto!

We found the problem,  but not until 3:30 in the afternoon (when schools are closing for the day). So kids had problems getting to YouTube for a day. They did get there, just sometimes they didn't. We did come to find out that some of the reasons were the fact that they were searching for unsavory subjects in YouTube, but the tech couldn't see that until we shipped him the report that this new product provides for us. YAY! Take that!

Ah, well. The day is over with  now. My manager stood by me completely. He handled everything. I didn't have to answer the scathing e-mail that was sent out to all my techs in the school from this angry tech. Not only did he say he needed to create a help desk ticket to complain about what we did (or did not do) when we put the new device in line, he felt the need to share his pain and complaint with a large group of tech guys in the other school districts. He spit out a whining complaint message to the masses about how inept we were at this switch over.

Again, in hindsight it makes him look like  a big, whiny baby. And other techs are calling him that. They just shake their heads and say "Oh, grow up already!"

Seriously, we are all doing the best that we can. He said that he does not get results when he calls us or tries to get help from us, so he decides to chastise  us in an e-mail to all his co-workers in all area school districts.

I find inner peace within myself for knowing I did my best. I wonder how he feels about himself? Or, do they have any conscience at all?

It is getting warm in here

I have a new toy at work. I am evaluating a new filtering system. First time out of the gate, my horses just fell over one another. One big jumbled mess. I immediately had to scoop them up and place them back behind the starting line so I could clear the track obstacles.

Yep, the heat is on.

Update on the ear infection:  Much better! I was feeling good on Saturday, better on Sunday and almost great on Monday. Until somebody turned the heat on. Whew. Glad I got my energy back before this monstrosity hit. LOL!

And what is up with Prednisone?! Really! I feel like a Langolier,  I want to eat the furniture!

Anguish

My grand nephew's face seems to depict the anguish I felt when I became overwhelmed with all the names on The Wall. To all those who have served, to all those who currently are serving - may we all find peace from the struggles.

Owie

I have an owie. I think my ear pain started Tuesday night. I can't recall. The ear swelled completely shut making it hard to hear. It was very sensitive to the touch and the pain was radiating to my teeth and to my throat.

I went to the doctor yesterday and she almost sent me to the ER. She did not want the infection to travel to my brain. I said no because I thought they would lance the ear or something. She said "No" it was just to give me antibiotics with an IV - quicker.

She let me go with a strong anti-biotic, prednisone and ear drops. I was in so much pain. At the pharmacy I had to wait for one hour for them to fill the prescription. The pharmacist was concerned since I was allergic to penicillin; he remarked that this anti-biotic was a distant, distant cousin of that medication.

I explained to him that my "allergic reaction" to penicillin way back in 1979 was because I was ignorant of the fact that you don't take old medication. It was over six months old and sitting in our medicine cabinet. I broke out in hives and my face swelled up like I had the mumps. Since then I have had to tell every doctor that I am allergic to penicillin. Sigh.

He suggested that I have Benadryl handy just in case. I purchased a box. What a salesman!

I went home with my heating pad, meds and Advil. I was finally feeling much better by the evening.

Two hours after my pharmacy visit, I received a call from the pharmacist. He wanted to make certain that I was okay. He phrased it "I wanted to make sure you were still with us."  That made me laugh. I told him I was fine and he said he was just checking up on me. I thanked him. I told my daughter's boyfriend I was going to marry my pharmacist. LOL!

I am still in pain and swelled up. My daughter is putting the drops in for me. I found it funny that one of my meds said to take twice a day and the other said take every 12 hours. Uh....isn't that the same thing? Anyway, if the Advil works it's magic I will go into work. I have no plans this week-end and I can wrap up in my heating pad and blankets all day Saturday/Sunday.

Little lady bug

I don't think I've ever seen a lady bug costume this dressy before. My grand niece.

Mundane

The 1960 version of Little Shop was mundane compared to the '86 version. The older one was not a musical. The plot was a bit different.  At the end when the little flowers opened up the faces of the people the plant ate were on the them. Kind of ghastly.

Dragnet (the 50's version) must have been very popular - as they used a few references to Joe Friday's vernacular lingo. Seymour's  mother played a big part in the older version, also. The dentist was not Audrey's girlfriend and Seymour called the plant Audrey Junior instead of Audrey (two) II.

Oh, and I can't write this post without a little shout out to J Nicholson from the '60 version playing the pain-loving patient of the dentist. Not as dramatic as Murray's role in the '86 version but strange in his own "Jack" way. 

Baby shower .....done!

The photo above is my grand niece on the right and a family friend on the left. I captioned this one in Facebook as the one in pink saying "Dahling....where did you get that beautiful dress? It's divine!" or something like that.

Babies, babies, babies. My niece is now much more prepared for her baby than she was. The shower was a success. We had it at The Wilderness Center.  The only drawback is the fact that my niece and her husband have been nomads the past couple of years and their friends are spread all over the state and country.  Only a handful of friends could make it because of the distance, but my family more than makes up for it. All sisters were there - YAY!

The only OTHER drawback was the heat. We had an upstairs room and I was roasting. When you are hosting (grinning because of the rhyme) you get over heated quickly because you are stressing and running around doing this and doing that.

I had been dealing with a migraine. It had actually been going on all week. Sunday was a bad one. I took the medicine in the morning and with the time change and the hour of saved time I was able to get all done that I needed to. While brushing my teeth I began gagging. If you have ever taken some strong medicine you know how it can make you nauseous at times. In the car going to the shower my daughter said she got SO worried when she heard me gagging. I was like "How sweet." Until she finished her thought. She said she was worried that SHE would have to take over hosting the shower and playing the games and talking to the group of people. Now I can say it sarcastically "How sweet!"

Twooie

I saw a stage rendition of "Little Shop of  Horrors" last night. It was fantastic. The talent of some people just stop you dead in your tracks and makes you wonder why some people leave for the west coast or NYC and some stay in their home area. They seem content to wow their little home audiences and do not venture out for the super star status. Are they any less talented? Not in my book. The performers I saw last night were fantastic.

I was introduced to this comedy via the 1986 version with R Moranis and E Greene. I see now that there is a 1960 version. I may try to get a copy of that version to watch and of course I need to watch the more recent one to revisit scenes that last night's production reminded me that I had forgotten.

I think that Seymour kept calling the plant "Twooie" in last night's production. (Audrey II). At least that is what it sounded like to me.

My nephew...

...went and got himself married yesterday. Did not tell anybody until after it was all done. He said they will plan a ceremony and reception next year.

This is the nephew that used to come to our house every other week-end or so. He and I talked about computers, cars etc.. He fixed little things around my house. Do I miss him? You betcha! Am I jealous? Not one iota! This guy deserves all the happiness that life can offer and then some. I am so glad he found this beautiful lady. They fit together so well.

I am so happy for them.