“Grumpy Old Man” is another T-shirt that I don’t have but wish I did. Another is a T-shirt that says “Built in the 50s. Original & unrestored. Some parts still in working order.”
Mine actually reads “I never dreamed one day I’d become a grumpy old man, but here I am, killing it!” 
I’ll take this bonus day of mini rants to mention that tomorrow I will have surgery on my hand to fix a broken bone. But that’s not the rant, the rant is that I broke a tooth last night, so I will have a crown put on next Tuesday. At least the pain meds from the surgery will be able to pull double duty.
Though I will need to ask the surgeon if getting dental work done so soon after surgery is advised or not. I hope so, I hate having a broken tooth.
Maybe it’s an example of a “Giffen Good”? A Giffen good is a low income, non-luxury product that defies standard economic and consumer demand theory . Demand for Giffen goods rises when the prices rise and falls when the prices fall.
But it’s good when served on a kitchen table. Maybe less when served in a conference room.
It wasn’t bad, but the chicken was better. The chicken was flat-out good.
And there were two kinds of cake.
I wish today was my real b-day; then I wouldn’t need to deal with the b-day BS the other 3 years. In fact it is my b-day some places, specifically some of those places that don’t need my b-day but require it on their website. I got an email that I get a discounted course (use code “Birthday”) from a site that in no way shape or form needs to know when I was born but requires you fill it out on their website. I really wonder what type of security some of these little places have against hacking & making me a victim of identity theft (again) - what a pain in the tuccas that was to get cleaned up.
Some of the race timing companies want name, address, phone #, email, b-date. Only one uses address to send snailmail race apps of other upcoming races & they send out email blasts as well, & b-date is only used to calculate what age group you’re in for standings/awards purposes. Ummm, it’s certainly easy enough for me to type in a two-digit # in an [Age on race day] box as opposed to you calculating it for me; especially since most are 10-year groups.
Off to the drugstore to pick up a new preventive inhaler - my health insurer has decided that if they can’t get me to die quickly enough of Barrett’s esophagus (they’ve decided I no longer need Dexilant), maybe I’ll die of uncontrolled asthma. Flovent has been discontinued by the manufacturer (WTF??) and even the generic aerosol is not covered, while a dry powder inhaler IS. Or any of several combination inhalers, which I asked NOT to be prescribed as I don’t like taking unnecessary stuff (they all have a steroid and a longer-acting bronchodilator such as salmeterol).
Weirdly, the maximum dose of the dry-powder version is 1/4 of the maximum recommended dose of the aerosol (200 mcg versus 880 mcg).
Today was a company safety meeting. These are held first thing in the morning, and involve watching a slideshow and maybe some videos. Not too bad.
Except today’s topic was special…it involved three slideshows. Oh, and these were customized for our particular location, with pictures taken around our various buildings. I knew it would be a long presentation, so I made sure to get there early so I would have a chair. Unfortunately, it was metal. About 15 minutes in, my legs started aching, so I stretched them out. Another few minutes, and my back is hurting, so I shift again. And repeat, over and over, for nearly an hour. I was in so much pain at the end of the meeting that I had to get a spare cushion out of my Jeep to make my normally comfy office chair even somewhat sittable. I never take pain relievers for body aches (other than menstrual stuff), but by 10 AM I ended up having to pop some Tylenol because I couldn’t focus at all.
I think I’ll start taking a camp chair or a trucker cushion to these damn meetings. (Many years ago, my Jeep’s water pump blew while I was trying to get to one of these meetings; in that instance, the meeting lasted so long that I had time to call a tow truck, schedule an appointment with the shop, and arrange alternative transportation, and only missed about 15 minutes of actual work time.)
Is there an injury rate that they’re trying to lessen? I’m kind of surprised the meetings are longer than 30 minutes. I know different industries have different needs, but that’s above average.
A birthday anti-rant: my daughter’s birthday present to me was that I got to spend a week at her tiny house near the coast. So I got to poke around a small town that has cool coffee spots, a couple of artsy cinemas, AND a comic book store with decent back issues.
So I’ve changed my mind about birthdays… especially since the week wasn’t full of people singing to me (last place I worked, I “accidentally” left the Date Of Birth on my HR sheet blank. So no one ever sang to me, or made me “at least TRY a bite” of a generic sheet cake in the break room.
Maybe the next safety meeting should be about how to prevent workplace injuries that arise from forcing people to sit on metal chairs for upwards of an hour? (Wait - not everyone even gets a chair?)
The frozen Kirkland kind, or the yummy made-out-of-ravioli kind they have at the back of the store with the rotisserie chickens?
The latter, although the other is pretty good in a pich too.
Yeah, the ravioli one is in heavy rotation for my take-to-work meal prep. In fact, I’ve got it on deck for tomorrow morning’s lunch.
I ran last night; thank Og for the extra day in the month as it allowed me to just about double my mileage for the month; that’s not a last night was great instead the rest of the month was shitty
There actually is – based on last year’s trends, corporate management has determined that many employees aren’t using proper PPE – but this meeting had nothing to do with that. This was about preventing stormwater pollution, like the time a former employee’s car leaked so much transmission fluid that we had to call in an environmental remediation company, or the time another former employee tipped an oil drum over outside and the saturated dirt had to be taken away. A typical safety meeting here runs from 30 to 45 minutes, and features a slideshow sent from corporate along with a YouTube video (often a safety video produced by another company).
Interestingly enough, there is a safety meeting topic that focuses on workplace ergonomics, such as making sure your chair is suitable. And yes, it’s very common for chairs to not be available, especially on days when breakfast items are offered before the meeting – people will grab an extra chair to use as a table. Since the meeting is held in a training room, lots of people will perch on the walkway that surrounds the engine at the back of the room.
Any chance this is a punitive, “smarten up or the safety meetings will get longer,” kind of thing? Although in that case, I’d expect the breakfast items to be pulled. And some people prefer safety meeting to working.
I don’t think so; everyone knows this particular topic makes for the longest safety meeting of the year. People are generally enthusiastic about the meetings, mostly due to the food, but the “not working” part is nice too. Participation isn’t a problem either, and some of the ladies act like they’re in church, with overly enthusiastic cries of “Yes!” in response to a safety slogan, or horrified murmurings of “Oh Lord Jesus” during video reenactments of accidents.
There isn’t an emoji with eyes as big I my eyes just got. I used to run safety meetings for our group and they mostly appreciated it when the meeting was short. If I’d gotten that kind of enthusiasm, I might still be doing it.
Did a little research: the aerosol is fluticasone propionate, while the dry powder one is fluticasone fuorate. I’d never paid attention to that.
Doc wrote the scrip for the 100 mcg version, which is HALF the amount it should be per everything I’ve read online, based on my existing dosage. I’m debating whether to start on it and see what happens, or wait until I can schedule a visit with a pulmonologist.