DEC 08

2023

Friday: day three of my three-day weekend. I did the dishes and had cereal for lunch. I did NOT do laundry or vacuuming, nor did I look up the benefits info I need to locate. We thought we might be missing mail, but Mom told me the post office reported delays getting mail out of their region, so the problem might not be on our end. In the evening, we met up with Justin and Meagan at Watkins for dinner and drinks, and Justin regaled us with some of the administrative trials he faced as a public charter school teacher. I enjoyed my burger and fries.

The big news is that I've been able to transcribe some of my notes on a long-running project and started making serious progress today. My goal is to continue working on it every day for the rest of the month.

2022

Trip to Wichita, cont'd
Woke up at CHESM and dressed in jeans and an INTRUST t-shirt. Carl and I went to the Sedgwick County Zoo: it was a cold morning, overcast, but not uncomfortably so with my blue jacket. Some folks from the company like Cora and Mary were supposed to meet us, but they were running late, so we had hot chocolate at The Beastro. The woman at the counter wondered if we were employees on a break, as there were a lot more workers present to assemble the oversized mythological animal displays for their holiday events. The rest of the group eventually arrived and we did a quick circuit, but with the weather as cold as it was, a number of animals weren't on display: the sting rays were in Florida for the season, the otter area was being cleaned, the jungle and the aviary were both closed due to bird flu, and the bears were hibernating. Still, we got to see giraffes gallop, and a gorilla spooked the girls. While Carl mourned the fact that the Dippin' Dots stations weren't open on weekdays, I couldn't get past how many changes the place had undergone in just the two years since our last company picnic there in 2019.

Carl and I left early so we could go by Playa Azul for lunch. (I still haven't found anything comparable to their Jalisco special here in Philadelphia...) Afterwards, we went back to CHESM one last time to get dressed for the party and pack up, as I'd be sleeping at the hotel. We headed for the Wave, where we got cowboy hats and name tags and entered a drawing for various prizes. I wound up winning a $100 gift card to Kroger stores: wonderful if we were still in Wichita, but as Kroger hasn't finished purchasing Acme yet, it's not clear how soon we'll be able to make use of it in Philly. After a lot of milling around and taking photos and listening to speeches and recognition awards, Carl dropped me off at the hotel, but not before we picked up subs from Jimmy John's. I set up in the hotel long enough to play a few card games before crashing for the night.