What Did You Do Today? What are you doing today?

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Hill lover35

Well-Known Member
Jan 8, 2017
3,717
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Alberta canada
Today was a sort of busy one - went to the Passport office downtown to renew Josh's passport - $160 later he will get a 10 year passport in the mail in about two weeks.

Went shopping for a few grocery items, picked up a prescription at the pharmacy and made some chili :m_pan:
:m_noodles:

I have to leave for work shortly - hope my night shift goes fast - I'm off at 11 p.m. then back to work the next day at 8:15 [honestly, some days early retirement looks very attractive] - I might just look into it, as I could probably come back to work on a Casual basis.

Is that not illegal?
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Is that not illegal?
Is what not illegal? Getting a 10 year Canadian passport for 160 dollars? :give_up:
:dunno:
Oh wait a sec - I see what you are getting at - having someone work until 11 pm then expecting them to come in the next day at 8:15

Actually I kind of wondered that myself - but since you technically could get about 7 hours sleep (If you got home at 11:30 p.m., went to bed right away and then got up around 6 or 6:30 you would get 6 1/2 or maybe even 7 hours of sleep.

I must admit however, that I always feel like a zombie after that shift change over - I've asked others who have to do the same thing and they agree that it's quite difficult.

We do have a Union - perhaps I should look it up in our collective agreement!
:hmm:
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
Is what not illegal? Getting a 10 year Canadian passport for 160 dollars? :give_up:
:dunno:
Oh wait a sec - I see what you are getting at - having someone work until 11 pm then expecting them to come in the next day at 8:15

Actually I kind of wondered that myself - but since you technically could get about 7 hours sleep (If you got home at 11:30 p.m., went to bed right away and then got up around 6 or 6:30 you would get 6 1/2 or maybe even 7 hours of sleep.

I must admit however, that I always feel like a zombie after that shift change over - I've asked others who have to do the same thing and they agree that it's quite difficult.

We do have a Union - perhaps I should look it up in our collective agreement!
:hmm:
...won't do you any good, as long as there are 8 hours between shifts-they've got you...travel time and such doesn't count.....
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
...won't do you any good, as long as there are 8 hours between shifts-they've got you...travel time and such doesn't count.....
So it sounds like you've experienced this too?

After getting home after 11 p.m. I normally cannot sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning - pretty sure straight day shift workers cannot relate - they never think about things like that :sleepy:
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
So it sounds like you've experienced this too?

After getting home after 11 p.m. I normally cannot sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning - pretty sure straight day shift workers cannot relate - they never think about things like that :sleepy:
....many times....with my ride home and to work, it automatically carves an hour off-and then trying to wind down or wake-up, get a shower etc.-you might have about 4 hours to nap....
 

osnafrank

Well-Known Member
Jan 24, 2017
7,121
50,822
47
Germany
So it sounds like you've experienced this too?

After getting home after 11 p.m. I normally cannot sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning - pretty sure straight day shift workers cannot relate - they never think about things like that :sleepy:

I always hated Late Shift.
Home at 10:30 p.m, couldn`t sleep until 2-3 a.m
Got up at 12-12:30, had some Lunch and drove to Work.
And this 6 Days in a Row. :barf:
 

Grandpa

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2014
9,724
53,642
Colorado
Back home from a quick work trip to Mexico. My travelogue on it:

Zacatecas, Zacatecas (like saying, New York, New York), is a town with features that are reminiscent of places all over; the homes of Ireland fronting on narrow, hilly sidewalk stairs, the small, busy streets filled with storefronts like in... well, about every Asian place I've been to. It's interesting, how communities around the globe resonate with commonality. I wish I'd had more time to explore, but this was a limited-time trip, and I had duties to attend to in my spare time.

I know muy poco Espanol, but more than I know Korean or Mandarin, and in a way, a little knowledge is a little more frustrating. At least when I'm in an Asian shop, I can affect total ignorance about the language, because that's the fact, and we work to make do. But if I say, "Gracias," or, "Buenas dias," or, "Hola," and sound halfway authentic about it, generally the other person will launch into Spanish, thinking that I know my way around. To which I smile weakly and say, "Sorry, no habla," which still trying to catch what I can.

The trip went fine, once past the vibe of the Mexico City airport. In that complex (with surprisingly few runways), they're not in a hurry to get you through the Customs and Immigration lines. There were five, maybe six, rotating stations open for what must have been a thousand people in line. I had plenty of time for my connection, so I wasn't worried. The lesson here is to give yourself plenty of time on the connection, especially if it involves a passport choke point. And either I wasn't paying attention or the signage wasn't that great. I found myself losing time on several wrong turns, or more properly, failure to make the correct turn or even find the passage I needed. But all in all, I'd rather have this airport than a couple unfavored places in the US which I won't name, because I don't want Atlanta or LA coming after me.

Once the airport experience with the attendant indifference of its clerks was over, people were friendly, accommodating. The places where I needed them to speak English (hotel, airport), they did so. Even on the flight from Mexico City to Zacatecas, a nice Mexican man named Daniel sitting next to me struck up an accented conversation. I complimented him on his English. He said, no, he spoke very broken English. I told him his English was fine and about 100 times better than my Spanish, both of which statements were true.

In the hour-long flight to Zacatecas in the narrow plane, the food and beverage carts came rolling up the aisle. Daniel said, "Oh, good! Lunch!" When it stopped at our row, we got our libations and were each handed a small bag of peanuts. He held his up, laughed, and said, "Mexican lunch!" And it was funny, but I have to say, the food that I experienced, in the hotel and out, was mucho delicioso. And plentiful. And inexpensive when out on the economy. Really, shockingly inexpensive.

Flying in and out of Mexico City, you're struck by the stretching consistency, of sorts, of the city landscape. It's not like other big cities I've seen from the air. Sure, there are features that stand out here, some tall buildings, a really big park, the highways, but the consistent viewshed from the plane is a mottled tan-brown-black urban carpet from horizon to horizon. And I believe, because I just looked it up, looming over the scene is the volcano of Popocatépetl, venting its white plume.

Over the rural areas, it's different than what you see flying across the US. In the States, particularly as you go west, with the straight section lines that are a hallmark of a great government program (Public Land Survey System), you see neatly lined farm areas of squares, rectangles, and the occasional circles from center pivot irrigation. But farmland in Mexico is more of a patchwork crazy quilt. And there sure is a lot of farmland.

I flew Aeromexico from Mexico City to Zacatecas and back. It's a decent airline. It was a United/Delta sort of comfort level, at least what I flew. Not purposely uncomfortable like the US ultra-low-costs, and not convenience-filled and pleasing like the Western Pacific airlines. (I'll just note that flying Delta from Mexico City to the connection in Atlanta, there were no charging ports at the seats, and the seatback TV screen didn't work. So I knew I wasn't on an Asian airline.)

One pretty weird thing. On the return flight from Zapatecas during the safety briefing, the flight attendants didn't pantomime along with the announcements, not at all. They just stood around and chattered with each other while the bilingual announcement was made. First time I think I've seen that, ever. It didn't make a difference. Just odd.

Zacatecas Aeropuerto Internacional, despite its grand title, is small and quaint. The planes that fly in are the smaller passenger commuter jets, and a ladder is wheeled out to bring you down from the plane. But the ground service was fast and efficient, in contrast to the more laid-back customer service experience elsewhere. I'm not being critical saying that. It's just a more relaxed atmosphere.

Departure from the Zacatecas airport had another layer of charm to it. Once we were all in our seats, the ladder was wheeled away, the plane buttoned up, and as it started to roll back, I watched the ground crew gather in a group. For a second, because sometimes traveling mentality can overlap across trips, I half-expected them all to bow. But no, they all waved cheerily at the departing plane. Like I said, charming.

Lessons learned from the last two trips:

* I thought that a long flight to a one-day job and a long flight back would be more arduous than a longer trip. At least for me, it's not. My body doesn't have time to get maladjusted to the time differences (and in this case, Zacatecas is in the same time zone as Fort Collins).

* Another up side is having carry-on only. When you're fretting about connection times in making your international connection, it sure is nice to walk through the baggage area without having to stop to claim and recheck your bag. Then at the gate, you crowd to the front of your zone seating to make sure that there's room in the overheads and your bag isn't gate-checked. And then because you sat down early, you get to watch the other people board the plane while you play the game of You can sit by me/please don't sit by me/you can sit by me/oh, CRAP, please don't sit by me.

(In my case, I lost this game on the return trip. A mom and her daughter had to split up, with the mom next to me and the daughter behind. Using hand gestures, I offered to swap with the daughter so they could sit together. Much "muchas gracias" followed. Then the guy who sat next to me was as wide-bodied as I am, and he was as zealous at obtaining real estate as the Soviet Union in the 1950s. Another good deed did not go unpunished.)

* I downloaded the passport app to my phone from http://mobilepassport.us. The last time I came back to Denver, I watched in envy as the people with the app got in a very short line for the automated entry. Atlanta didn't have that level of convenience, mostly due to poor signage and lousy pedestrian control, but the app got me through a lot faster than I would have otherwise.

Another interesting and educational trip. It left me wishing I had more time to explore. I'm looking forward to the next sojourn, if one happens. You never know. But I'm hoping one does.

mexico city.jpg

Mexico City, somewhat buried in haze, with the volcano in the background.
 

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
46,336
195,472
79
Just north of Duma Key
Back home from a quick work trip to Mexico. My travelogue on it:

Zacatecas, Zacatecas (like saying, New York, New York), is a town with features that are reminiscent of places all over; the homes of Ireland fronting on narrow, hilly sidewalk stairs, the small, busy streets filled with storefronts like in... well, about every Asian place I've been to. It's interesting, how communities around the globe resonate with commonality. I wish I'd had more time to explore, but this was a limited-time trip, and I had duties to attend to in my spare time.

I know muy poco Espanol, but more than I know Korean or Mandarin, and in a way, a little knowledge is a little more frustrating. At least when I'm in an Asian shop, I can affect total ignorance about the language, because that's the fact, and we work to make do. But if I say, "Gracias," or, "Buenas dias," or, "Hola," and sound halfway authentic about it, generally the other person will launch into Spanish, thinking that I know my way around. To which I smile weakly and say, "Sorry, no habla," which still trying to catch what I can.

The trip went fine, once past the vibe of the Mexico City airport. In that complex (with surprisingly few runways), they're not in a hurry to get you through the Customs and Immigration lines. There were five, maybe six, rotating stations open for what must have been a thousand people in line. I had plenty of time for my connection, so I wasn't worried. The lesson here is to give yourself plenty of time on the connection, especially if it involves a passport choke point. And either I wasn't paying attention or the signage wasn't that great. I found myself losing time on several wrong turns, or more properly, failure to make the correct turn or even find the passage I needed. But all in all, I'd rather have this airport than a couple unfavored places in the US which I won't name, because I don't want Atlanta or LA coming after me.

Once the airport experience with the attendant indifference of its clerks was over, people were friendly, accommodating. The places where I needed them to speak English (hotel, airport), they did so. Even on the flight from Mexico City to Zacatecas, a nice Mexican man named Daniel sitting next to me struck up an accented conversation. I complimented him on his English. He said, no, he spoke very broken English. I told him his English was fine and about 100 times better than my Spanish, both of which statements were true.

In the hour-long flight to Zacatecas in the narrow plane, the food and beverage carts came rolling up the aisle. Daniel said, "Oh, good! Lunch!" When it stopped at our row, we got our libations and were each handed a small bag of peanuts. He held his up, laughed, and said, "Mexican lunch!" And it was funny, but I have to say, the food that I experienced, in the hotel and out, was mucho delicioso. And plentiful. And inexpensive when out on the economy. Really, shockingly inexpensive.

Flying in and out of Mexico City, you're struck by the stretching consistency, of sorts, of the city landscape. It's not like other big cities I've seen from the air. Sure, there are features that stand out here, some tall buildings, a really big park, the highways, but the consistent viewshed from the plane is a mottled tan-brown-black urban carpet from horizon to horizon. And I believe, because I just looked it up, looming over the scene is the volcano of Popocatépetl, venting its white plume.

Over the rural areas, it's different than what you see flying across the US. In the States, particularly as you go west, with the straight section lines that are a hallmark of a great government program (Public Land Survey System), you see neatly lined farm areas of squares, rectangles, and the occasional circles from center pivot irrigation. But farmland in Mexico is more of a patchwork crazy quilt. And there sure is a lot of farmland.

I flew Aeromexico from Mexico City to Zacatecas and back. It's a decent airline. It was a United/Delta sort of comfort level, at least what I flew. Not purposely uncomfortable like the US ultra-low-costs, and not convenience-filled and pleasing like the Western Pacific airlines. (I'll just note that flying Delta from Mexico City to the connection in Atlanta, there were no charging ports at the seats, and the seatback TV screen didn't work. So I knew I wasn't on an Asian airline.)

One pretty weird thing. On the return flight from Zapatecas during the safety briefing, the flight attendants didn't pantomime along with the announcements, not at all. They just stood around and chattered with each other while the bilingual announcement was made. First time I think I've seen that, ever. It didn't make a difference. Just odd.

Zacatecas Aeropuerto Internacional, despite its grand title, is small and quaint. The planes that fly in are the smaller passenger commuter jets, and a ladder is wheeled out to bring you down from the plane. But the ground service was fast and efficient, in contrast to the more laid-back customer service experience elsewhere. I'm not being critical saying that. It's just a more relaxed atmosphere.

Departure from the Zacatecas airport had another layer of charm to it. Once we were all in our seats, the ladder was wheeled away, the plane buttoned up, and as it started to roll back, I watched the ground crew gather in a group. For a second, because sometimes traveling mentality can overlap across trips, I half-expected them all to bow. But no, they all waved cheerily at the departing plane. Like I said, charming.

Lessons learned from the last two trips:

* I thought that a long flight to a one-day job and a long flight back would be more arduous than a longer trip. At least for me, it's not. My body doesn't have time to get maladjusted to the time differences (and in this case, Zacatecas is in the same time zone as Fort Collins).

* Another up side is having carry-on only. When you're fretting about connection times in making your international connection, it sure is nice to walk through the baggage area without having to stop to claim and recheck your bag. Then at the gate, you crowd to the front of your zone seating to make sure that there's room in the overheads and your bag isn't gate-checked. And then because you sat down early, you get to watch the other people board the plane while you play the game of You can sit by me/please don't sit by me/you can sit by me/oh, CRAP, please don't sit by me.

(In my case, I lost this game on the return trip. A mom and her daughter had to split up, with the mom next to me and the daughter behind. Using hand gestures, I offered to swap with the daughter so they could sit together. Much "muchas gracias" followed. Then the guy who sat next to me was as wide-bodied as I am, and he was as zealous at obtaining real estate as the Soviet Union in the 1950s. Another good deed did not go unpunished.)

* I downloaded the passport app to my phone from http://mobilepassport.us. The last time I came back to Denver, I watched in envy as the people with the app got in a very short line for the automated entry. Atlanta didn't have that level of convenience, mostly due to poor signage and lousy pedestrian control, but the app got me through a lot faster than I would have otherwise.

Another interesting and educational trip. It left me wishing I had more time to explore. I'm looking forward to the next sojourn, if one happens. You never know. But I'm hoping one does.

View attachment 23727

Mexico City, somewhat buried in haze, with the volcano in the background.

Once again, Thank you Grandpa . You business travel becomes our adventurous travels. You are so descriptive in your story telling. almost feel like we were right there with you!
 

cat in a bag

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2010
12,038
67,827
wyoming
Slowly working my way through chores. Soaking some dishes right now. Grocery shopping after that. Have RJ all day, but no Sage, she is with her other grandma.

I'm pretty tired. Worked hard to get all the cleaning done on Friday. Saturday I painted all the doors and trim around the doors upstairs. (Now I need to do the baseboards too, they look grimy next to the crisp new white. xD) Yesterday tried to get some wash done but I didn't get very far. Did get a bunch of clutter out of my little library room. It has somehow become the catch all spot. :cool:

Wish I could just sit today. My body hurts. :a17: ;-D
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Slowly working my way through chores. Soaking some dishes right now. Grocery shopping after that. Have RJ all day, but no Sage, she is with her other grandma.

I'm pretty tired. Worked hard to get all the cleaning done on Friday. Saturday I painted all the doors and trim around the doors upstairs. (Now I need to do the baseboards too, they look grimy next to the crisp new white. xD) Yesterday tried to get some wash done but I didn't get very far. Did get a bunch of clutter out of my little library room. It has somehow become the catch all spot. :cool:

Wish I could just sit today. My body hurts. :a17: ;-D
You sure are active - I guess that's what keeps us young, eh? I hope you don't have arthritis or something similar - does your body hurt just due to the extra work? I wish I had your energy. :applause:

So far I've signed for my son's passport which was delivered to our door, fielded a phone call from the boss (she had heard "rumours" that my position at work had been deleted) and basically just ate breakfast and [like you] soaked a sink full of dishes. Even put a bit of Javex in there to clean the dish cloths.

How is it possible that somebody at work is spreading gossip already, I wonder?

I haven't even gone to the HR meeting yet which is at 2 p.m. today. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

I've been here at home now since October 28th and haven't spoken to anyone at work, so for my boss to call me about something she overheard is very weird.

All I told her was that I got the same letter everyone got regarding Health Employee Benefits which talks about retirement age, etc. Luckily I dropped my remote control and the batteries fell out when I was getting up from the recliner, so I put her on hold and this gave me time to think.

I wonder if somebody could be monitoring my posts here on the board? Can anyone see what we write, even if they're not logged on? i.e. is the information public? Moderator

Take care and have a great day

Still keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out for the best when I go to see HR this afternoon!
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
My vision has recently started being blurry even when I'm not having a migraine so today I'm getting my vision tested and will probably come away with a prescription for glasses. Getting old sucks.
Are you talking about not being able to see up close (presbyopia)? - that usually happens after age 45 - why so many older people have reading glasses.

I know that's not really you in the avatar pic, but you strike me as someone who is in her 30s - so maybe find out from your doctor if it could be something else. Don't want to scare you or anything, but it could be something like a tumour in or on your brain. This could be corrected with neurosurgery.

Sorry - think I'm having a flashback to my medical transcription days! Good luck with the vision test :encouragement:
 
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