Monday, June 28 – Sunday, July 4, 2021
The Week in Prime: On one of the mornings of last week’s Amazon Prime shopping event, my 3 year old coffee make made a whale of a sound while brewing my morning Joe. 3-4 years life span is what I expect for the amount of coffee and tea I brew, though I ditched one pot after about 3 very patient years of dealing with a faulty carafe that made it impossible to pour a steady stream of coffee into a cup. I broke up with that machine, but more often the machine has just broken down leaving me scrambling for morning coffee solutions until I can get a new pot.
So, I felt extremely lucky to have heard the death throes of my current machine on a day when Amazon was making it cheap to fulfill all my consumer whims. I ordered a new machine (and a couple tchotshkes, of course). In the days waiting for the new coffee pot, my current one reverted to its old quiet self. Apparently, buying a new machine bought additional life in my old machine. Not sure how I feel about that.
The Week in Rain: One of the first things I learned about living downtown where I walked instead of drove to places, was the importance of weather gear, especially rain gear. I bought my first pair of rain boots, a great waterproof jacket, and several umbrellas. I keep two umbrellas in my desk at work; one for me, and one to give to any coworker who forgot theirs but has to go to the bus stop. I have big umbrella if I’m planning to walk far, and several small ones for short trips. In short, on the umbrella front, I’m covered.
This week on my way home from work, a storm was blowing in. I had an umbrella, but I was Olympic style race walking my way to my apartment to beat the storm. The pre-storm mist had just turned to a light sprinkle when I got to the corner across from my building. A woman, umbrella-less, hit the corner at the same time. Polite “storm is coming” conversation ensued and I asked her how far she was going. She still had about 3 blocks to go. I pointed at my building and told her that when I peeled off to go in, I was going to leave my umbrella with her. She was like, “what?” because what I offered is not typical. I convinced her to take it though, and as I opened my building door I heard her say out loud to no one, “I got me an umbrella.” Yes ma’am, you do.
The Week in Work: I celebrated my 1st anniversary at my main job. At that job, which is an office job, I take pride in getting the job done and not being a pain in the ass about it. I try to remember that every piece of work that leaves my hands, ends up in someone else’s, so I try to be respectful of my co-workers and not make their lives more difficult: I try to make their lives easier. This isn’t some heroic activity, it is just basic work decency.
At my part-time job, which is a retail job, I apply the same work ethic. I work with a lot of kids who are at their first ever job. They don’t know shit about work but most of them give it a try and it’s fantastic to watch them grow. But there are a few who aren’t going to grow. They want the money, but they really don’t do much of anything.
This week, two young guys were “working” in the back room where merchandise is processed to go to the sales floor. Dozens of boxes needed processing and there was way more work than the few of us scheduled could do. Unlike a lot of places, management didn’t come back and push us, they just sent us back to, you know, do our job. Anyway, these two yahoo’s spent about two hours mostly discussing the state of the NBA and moving a small amount of merchandise. They didn’t do nothing, but they didn’t do much of anything. It was so egregiously bad, the manager said something to both of them and then sent them to take a break. Turns out, they were good at the break part…they never returned. No loss, really. People, just do your job.
The Week in Lunch: I go out to lunch almost every Saturday. I’m coming off my 7 am – 12 pm shift at my part time job and I AM STARVING. Usually, I sit at the bar, order a high powered beer, and get a little buzz going before my lunch is served. After I eat, the buzz is gone, but I still got a quick, instant “high.” This week though, my mood led me to Pepp & Delores and a slightly more sophisticated lunch than normal. The bartender recommended the Italian sandwich and, to feel like a real Italian, I went for a glass of wine. No buzz, but wow, I love that sandwich!
The Week in Cracker: In the 90’s, the band Cracker had a few minor hits, and their song Low still gets played a lot. They came to town this week as part of the free Fountain Square music series. It was my first “real” concert in that I stood shoulder to shoulder with the audience pushed up against the front of the stage. I’m short, and can often move pretty close to the stage. Cracker draws and older audience of mostly dudes, and those guys were not giving an inch up close. I did not give up. I drew on my old concert skills, working first past probably the tallest dude in the whole city, then past two regularly sized dudes who would have no problem seeing over my head, and finally, past the fall-down drunk guy who was just taking up too much space. I made it to the front! I liked the show a lot which, based on listening to their songs on Spotify that afternoon, I did not expect.
Lead Guitar 
Lead Singer 
Cracker
Nothing Ever Happens on My Street 