Just Thinking Won't Change Anything

 It's probably because I'm the type of person that doesn't really do change. 

I set things up the way I like it and rarely do I switch things around. Like maybe on occasion I'll rearrange my knickknacks and such. But change in general....it's something that rarely happens. I like where I'm at so why change things about it?

So oftentimes when change comes it's after I've thought about it for a while....or I'm dragged into it kicking and screaming. 

Which is why I have one roommate that consistently just...boggles my mind. 

Because she's constantly changing things. Reorganizing. Rethinking. Redoing.

Like she rearranges her room every 2-3 months. It feels like every time I open her door her bed is in a different spot. 

And I just....don't get it.

The last time I moved furniture about was like twoish years ago and that was because I'd been given a few furniture pieces when Daddoo was getting the childhood home ready to sell and I needed to make room for what I could fit here. 

But that was still little things. 

My bigger furniture pieces?

Have not moved.

Mostly because the way my room is designed it doesn't make sense to place the bigger pieces elsewhere. But also because I like where they're at so why change it?

In any case.

It's not just like rearranging furniture and such. 

It's mind boggling.....because this roommate is also constantly stating that they're "rethinking their life." 

Which makes sense in a way because where I live there's a strong. "Get married. Get a House. Have Kids. Get your Dream Career." culture. 

And like if you're not doing those...you're a failure.

And like...I suppose roomie is feeling that pressure a bit more.

Though with them recently getting a new job....I kinda thought they'd be done with the 'rethinking their life' motif for a while. 

Since the last time they were rethinking their life was when they were trying to find a job that would give them stability and more hours.

Which they did find. They found a job that gives them a nice 9-5, weekends and holidays off, stable pay, and also benefits.

Which in this economy is kinda the dream right now. 

But not for my roomie.

Because the job isn't in the career field that they're wanting. 

Even though the reason why they were looking for a new job in the first place is because the job in the career field they wanted and had wasn't giving them the hours that they promised and therefore wasn't giving them enough money to like...be able to afford rent and groceries and such.

And like I get it.

If you go to school for a certain things....you kinda want to get a job in that field.

But at the same time. I also feel it's important to have stability and sometimes you have to have a job that 'pays the bills' for a while first. 

And roomie has only had the new job for like 3 months.

Which is barely any time at all in the job field.

So I don't quite understand why they're already back at looking for another job in their field.

Like I get wanting to keep an ear to the ground and an eye open for opportunities.

But I think my focus would be to stay long enough to get my funds and savings up to snuff and to feel stable. 

But I'm not my roomie.

And my roomie seems to be very much into the "I'm doing something wrong because I haven't accomplished the checklist of life to be considered an actual adult." 

But also like at the same time.....this is a literal cycle they go through.

"I'm rethinking my life."

Yes you're THINKING. but what are you DOING.

Because thinking doesn't GET YOU ANYWHERE if there's no ACTION. 

And it seems like when my roomie does take action...said actions last only a day...sometimes up to two weeks before they stop.

So like.... what's the point?

Why not just be satisfied with where you are now? Why not take the L on the checklist of life and maybe go seek the checklist of happiness instead. Find things that MAKE YOU happy.

Yes it sucks to not be married.

Yes it sucks to not have your own home.

Yes it sucks to not have the job you wanted.

But at the same time. Life never turns out the way you plan it. So why not try and find ways to make life more enjoyable and enjoy what you have now?

*exhales*

We'll see if anything comes of this round of 'rethinking' that my roomie is doing.

I don't think their job is gonna change at the moment since they've had it so short a time ..... 

But you never know. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Stay Wet

 It's kinda weird how things can work one day and be dead the next without like....any indication that they're dying. 

On Wednesday I took advantage of my roomies both being out of the house to do some laundry I'd been neglecting. 

And everything functioned as normal for me. 

Wash load was normal.

Dryer load was normal.

Thought nothing of it. 

And I had thought that my roomie had done laundry like later that same day or the day after?

It was recent. Because it seems like she's ALWAYS doing laundry....which I still cannot comprehend how and why she manages to do at least 2 loads a week. It's crazy.

In any case.

Today I heard her starting laundry AGAIN.

Which....I'd thought she'd done laundry recently....like maybe last night even? The days blur together. But it was RECENT as in AFTER I did my load of laundry on Wednesday.

And maybe she forgot it yesterday and was finishing it up today.

But she ended up sending a message to the group chat....that the dryer wasn't working.

It doesn't turn on.

Just makes a clicking noise. 

And like ????

But I had just used it? 

It was working fine?

No issues?

I feel like she literally had just been using it and it was working fine? No issues?

So like....what changed so suddenly that the dryer was like "Yah no. I'm done." 

Who knows. 

I certainly don't.

And luckily we have another dryer in the home as our place has two laundry rooms one upstairs and one downstairs so it's no big deal if one dryer isn't working at the moment.

But it is still weird.

Like I feel like there should have been more signs that something was about to break. 

But then again it could just be age. We got the dryers used and we've lived in the house for nearly a decade now. So like....they're old. It wouldn't be surprising if they just....gave out.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Quick Visit

 I took a parakeet to the vet this morning expecting to drop him off for a recheck.

As we'd taken this parakeet in a little over a month ago to get his nose looked at. As the nair--nostril was looking...well deformed. 

Which the vet confirmed it was deformed and that the bird would be more prone to respiratory infections and would be best if he had access to water to bathe in constantly and to have a weekly misting as well just to help the bird stay cleaner as he'd been looking a bit more oily. 

In any case.

It was any easy enough "here's the solution adopt him out." situation.

Except the vet had also taken a stool sample and while they didn't find anything specifically wrong in it they were concerned about the consistency of it and therefore wanted us to wait a month and bring the parakeet back in for a recheck on the stool just to make sure he was healthy.

Hence my visit today.

So I came in expecting to drop the bird off and leave and then come back a few hours later to drop him off.

That didn't happen.

Instead after about 15 minutes of waiting to be seen. The vet himself came out into the waiting room to look at the parakeet. 

He was like "Oh the nair looks good. The vent looks good. The stool in the cage looks like it's all good. Have you noticed any issues? No? Cool. You're good to go. Bye!" lol. 

I mean I don't mind quick vet visits. 

It's rather nice to have a quick visit where we don't have to plan time out later in the day to go get the bird again after the vet checks on it. 

So it's nice to just show up and get the bird looked at real quick and then be back on my merry way.

Now to get said bird adopted out to a loving home. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

It's a 10 Year--No 25 Year Storm

 We had quite the storm hit the area last night.

One of those ones where it blows up upon you fast and hard. The winds are roaring. The lightning and thunder is flashing. The rain is pouring hard enough against the windows that you have to check to see if it's hail or not that's hitting them.

...It was hail at one point. But not the entire time.

And then like 20 minutes later the storm is gone. Roaring on. 

I hadn't thought much about it beyond concern for my roomie who was coming back from an event she'd been at. So I'd texted her to warn her about the storm. How heavy the rain was. That there was hail. To be careful driving.

I didn't think much more about it after that though.

We've had heavy rains before. 

... ... ...

But not heavy rains after a recent fire on the mountain above my home. 

I had heard a ton of sirens earlier on. 

More than normal. That lasted longer.

But I kinda chalked it up to bad accident.

Because like... I live in an area where there's an intersection that likes to have accidents.

I also live above a neighborhood that gets a lot of domestic calls.

I also live near an easy access to the highway...where more accidents happen.

So like sirens aren't out of the ordinary.

So yah I didn't realize anything was out of the ordinary....

Until my roomie got home and was like "Hey, did you know that the bottom of our street is closed?" 

Which.

Huh?

She wanted to know if I'd received any alerts about a disaster ... which no. My phone had been silent. 

But she had had to find an alternate route to get home because our normal way was blocked off. No access whatsoever. 

It took a bit of midnight sleuthing on the Internet before we discovered that there had been a mudslide. 

Landslide? It seemed to be mostly made of mud. 

But regardless. 

The draw where the fire had happened a couple of weeks ago?

Yah. The sudden heavy rain fall did not help all that loose ashy soil. 

I saw a report that 1" of rain and fallen in like that 20-30 minute period. 

I later saw news reports that our street had flooded with water up to 6 inches high in some places.

Regardless. Debris, Mud, and Ash had come flowing down from the mounting into a berm and over and into a Construction patch that lead directly into a Church...piling mud up to 5 feet high against it's walls. 

Some other houses experienced slight flooding in their basements I heard.

But the church took the brunt of it from my understanding. 

And two of the main roads in the area got covered in the mudslide....some leading all the way down somewhere on State affecting that road as well...though they cleared up that street a lot faster than they did the other two roads. 

I was told that they moved 960 truck loads of debris today from that muddy area of the Church. Over 13,440 tons of debris. 

They had hundreds of volunteers and a lot of construction equipment over there working to help clear up the mess. 

The poor church building is going to be closed for the foreseeable future. 

There is the obvious landscape damage, but there's also HVAC, Electrical and apparently some Structural Damage as well. 

Which is kinda crazy.

Crazy to see how much can come down from the mountains when you get a heavy storm and there's no vegetation up there anymore to hold the soil in place because it all burned. 

Luckily we're in a bit of a lull here with the storms. 

But there's definitely more of a concern now that this will happen again whenever the next storm hits.

Though hopefully it's not as crazy.

We're told that this storm was a 10 year storm. But with the burn scar on the mountain it exacerbated the problem and turned it into a 25 year storm sort of problem. 

Overall I'm just grateful that it didn't impact our home. And it barely affected us roomies. I mean we did have to detour from our usual routes to get to work as the main road was still closed this morning. It didn't open up again until after dinner time....and is set to close first thing again in the morning so that the construction crews can continue working on clearing more of the mud away.

Hopefully tomorrow they can get the roads fully cleared enough that we don't have to worry about any more road detours. Though I expect the cleanup at the church is going to take a bit longer.

Overall I'm just grateful that no one was hurt and everyone was able to stay safe. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

So. What Do I Owe You?

 I have to say. 

I'm glad I don't have to deal with billing in my job.

Like the closest I could get is if a grooming customer doesn't pay for their groom. But we just call them and are like "Hey you didn't pay." and if they still don't pay then we put a block on them to prevent them from grooming with us again and call it a day.

But today I decided to drop by the doctor's where I had gotten my CT and MRI scan done when I finally decided to go to the doctor about my migraines a few months ago and they recommended doing a CT and MRI to make sure there wasn't anything going. 

There wasn't.

Which is annoying to get tests that show that there's nothing wrong with you that you then have to pay for. 

Said tests were done in May.

And after like a .... couple of weeksish? I got billed for what I would need to pay for the CT scan that insurance wouldn't cover.

Easy peasy. Paid it right away. Didn't like paying it. But paid it right away. 

And I expected the MRI bill to come pretty quickly after that.

But....it's been radio silence. 

So it's just been hanging over my head.

And I was like....Okay.... maybe the MRI just takes longer to go through insurance? 

I mean I've had an MRI done before where they didn't find anything. But that was done way back when I was in college and I was still on my parent's insurance. So like...no idea how long it took the bill to come through.

I'd kinda put it on the back back back back burner.

Until I'd recently got notified about my dental related claims. 

So I went into my insurance website to check that out. Since I have dental and medical under the same insurer....I was like "Well let me look at the medical stuff too." 

and Medical.....medical showed that the insurance had processed my claim for the MRI....way back at literally the same time the CT scan was processed.

But I hadn't received the bill.

Tried going into the patient portal for my doctors to make sure I hadn't missed an email there....

And nothing. It didn't show I owed anything.

So like.... confusion much?

Like the insurance site gave me the option to pay what it claimed I owed the doctors.....but the doctors had never billed me....and like I didn't want to pay something I didn't owe. 

So I decided to continue waiting....

Until today.

Because I got another notification about when I went to the dentist for my cavities last week....

And still no notification about the MRI. 

So I was like. Well I have the time today and the energy today. So I went by the facility to talk to the billing department just to see what was going on.

Because I had no idea how much I would owe for sure. 

And I didn't want to have the bill suddenly sprung on me if I could help it. 

I also didn't want to have my bill sent to collectors and get hounded for that. Especially if I'd never been notified.

I don't even know how long they wait before they start hounding you for bills.....

In any case.

When I got to the office both receptionists were on the phone with customers who were also trying to figure out their bills....

But from what I overheard both receptionists were dealing with customers who had bills that had actually gone to collectors. 

Which. Oof. 

That sounds like a nightmare. Like apparently the collectors charge interest on the bills.....which is just cruel in my opinion. Like there's a reason why the bills were probably not paid yet. But like one receptionist was saying one customer owed money to them from like 4 years ago. 

But it sounded like the one receptionist was having a better time with the one customer compared to the second receptionist. 

They kinda looked and sounded like they were two seconds away from throwing the computer. They were on the phone with the same customer the entire time I was there. And it kinda sounded like they probably had had to explain the same thing multiple times to the customer. 

Which basically boiled down to "We don't have contact with the collectors. We can't access their information. They can access certain things but don't have power over other things. No you only owe us this amount of money. The interest is owed to the collectors. We don't get the interest money. The collectors do. If we got the interest money WE would be the ones charging you interest and WE would be the ones hounding you for the money the Collectors wouldn't be involved at all."

So yah. I did not envy them that phone call because it just sounds frustrating. On both sides. Because I get not wanting to have to pay more money than you have to....but seriously if the bill has been unpaid long enough to get the collectors on your back.....that's...not great either. 

In any case. 

It does make me wonder how long they wait for a bill to remain unpaid before sending it to collectors. I'm guessing it probably depends on the facility. But who knows. 

Needless to say I was a bit nervous. 

Like I'm pretty sure not paying any bills for like 3 months isn't long enough. 

But it made me all the more eager to make sure that I got my own payments squared away so I would no longer have to worry about potentially owing money for the MRI. 

So when the first receptionist finally got off the phone. I explained my situation. That I hadn't received an MRI bill yet and just wanted to check in and see if I actually owed anything yet or not. 

Turns out. 

I didn't. 

O.o

Why?

Well. 

After insurance I owed a certain amount of money. 

Which surprisingly was only like $80. 

Considering the CT scan I ended up having to pay like nearly $300..... 

It's kinda crazy the difference in how much you owe depending on the procedure with insurance. 

In any case.

I technically owed $80. 

But before the procedure they had had me pay like a $50 fee. 

Which went towards the $80. 

Bringing me down to $30 owed. 

BUT.

I had also paid like a $30 fee for the CT scan? 

(I remember paying a copay before the procedures but don't remember the cost for it. Just was like "Okay makes sense I need to do a copay) 

But then I also paid for what I owed for the CT scan after insurance....without taking into account the $30 I'd paid beforehand. 

Which left me with an extra $30 credit....

Which they had already kinda in their computer system used to cover the rest of what I owed for the MRI scan. 

So the receptionist was like "They kinda already just assumed that $30 was going to the MRI which is why you never received a bill because they already considered you squared away, but here let me make it all official and move that officially over." 

And walla!

So turns out. I didn't owe any money for the MRI. 

YAY.

Like annoying that I had like 3 months of back burner stress that didn't need to be stress.

But yay that I didn't have to spend MORE money at the moment.

Even though $80 is a lot better than like another $200-$300 that I had been expecting. 

Though it does make me wonder like....if I never went back to that doctors place again and I still had that $30 credit....what would have ended up with that $30 credit? 

Would they have just ended up keeping my money? Or would they have eventually sent it back to me with a "oh hey we charged you too much. Oops?" 

Somehow I think it's more the former rather than the latter. *exhales*

In any case.

I'm just grateful that I didn't owe any money. So yay! 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

What Do You ACTUALLY Want Me Doing?

 There's one thing that I struggle with and that's the "Well, now I don't wanna." 

Most of the time it's when I have this plan to like.... do a particular chore and then someone comes along and goes "Hey can you do that chore?"

Like they didn't know I was already planning to do it." but because they now expect me to do it....I now don't want to do it because it's an expectation. 

Kinda had that today at work....but in the "I don't know what you want from me so why should I even try doing anything." sort of frame of mind.

You see two weeks ago while we were working truck my PL told me that we had enough extra cat food that it wouldn't all fit on the u-boats. And that I would need to wrap the extra bags of food up on the pallet and place them in the steel. 

Which okay.

Makes sense.

Easy enough to do. So I placed what bags of food I could on our u-boats (two layer carts that we can stack with food and the pull around the store) and then placed the rest of the food on a pallet and my other pl then placed it in the steel for me.

Easy enough. 

Fast forward to last week.

I'm once again working the cat food pallet. And I have extra bags of food.

The u-boats are still full.

So I wrap the extra bags up on the pallet and put them up in the steel like I did the week before. Because thats what the PL said I should do. So I continued her directive and did it last week too.

Cut to today.

And I'm once again working the same pallet. 

And PL goes.

"Hey, btw. It's okay to put food up in the steel, but make sure that the uboats are stuffed completely full first as well as checking the midsteel before doing so." 

... 

...

...

...

Like. Okay. Granted.

I did not check the mid steel.

Because in the receiving area the midsteel is this tiny area where you can stuff like maybe two bags onto a shelf. And usually those bags are the smaller 11-15 lb ones. 

Pretty sure ALL the bags I put in the steel were the HEAVIER ONES.

But whatever.

I DID however check the uboats and had considered them full enough that I didn't couldn't place more food on them.

But apparently they were still 'empty' enough according to my PL's standards that I could have fit more bags on there.

Which okay....but like I only had like maybe 10 bags the pallet. I was trying to make it worth it to have the pallet up there in the first place.

Because yah sure maybe I could have fit like 2 or 3 more bags on the uboats...but I would have still needed to put 7 more on the pallet in the steel. 

*exhales*

I think I'm also just annoyed because they waited a full week to tell me this.

Like ... we saw each other on Thursday. Why did my PL not say anything then? Why not take a moment to TEACH ME and be like "Hey I noticed (thing) here's how you could have (explain solution)" 

But nooooooo. 

It reminds me all to much that I'm the one who's had waaaaaay more experience training new people than my PL has because I've been the one in charge of training most of our petcare people. I've also been in charge of the cashiers. 

So yah I've learned how to teach people and show them things.

My PL? Not so much. There's been like no mentoring whatsoever. And if I do go ask a question I kinda feel like I get treated with the "I'm so busy why are you wasting my time asking this question you should know this." or "Why don't  you know this it's obvious." 

So yah. Not great on the training.

Regardless.

I really had to fight the urge to just leave the cat food pallet in the back untouched today. Because like.... there's the thought of "What is my PL going to nitpick this time." going on in the back of my mind.

Like yes. I make mistakes. They pointed out that bags I thought were overstock actually had space on the shelf that was completely empty because I'd thought the bag was a different similar looking bag that had it's home filled on the shelf. 

So yah. I'm still learning and I miss things.

But like..... it was more stressful putting food away after I was done working the pallet because like .... there was a ton more overstock this week than there was last week. Last week it was like maybe 10 bags. This week it was closer to like...thirty? The pallet was nearly waist high. 

And despite the uboats being emptier this week....I only managed to cut the pallet in half by placing bags of food on those and yes in the freaking midsteel too. 

But I seriously debated about leaving the remaining food on the pallet on the floor and just not wrapping it. Because I'm sure despite stuffing the uboats and steel as full as I could, my PL would probably be like "Look you can fit 3 more bags here." 

Which sure. Maybe I could but there's still at least TWENTY OTHER BAGS on this pallet. 

Just *exhales* 

I did end up wrapping the food up and placing it in the steel. 

But I'm now just expecting my PL to nitpick me next week on how it could have been done differently...without actually teaching me how to do it better. 

Like there's only so much I can learn by osmosis and observation and figuring it out on my own.

Sometimes I need to actually be TAUGHT.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Sitting in Line

 Earlier this year I decided to bite the bullet and get a Costco membership.

Which is one of those....'eh' things because like....

Costco is this bulk store right?

Get like 30 or 50 or 100 of an item.

Which is great!! .... for a Family.

But like when you're a single person living with roommates....

Eh.

Unless it's shelf stable supplies that will last like a month....Costco didn't really seem like a .... needed thing.

And honestly it's still kinda like a hand wavy....thing.

I mean. 

It's worth it in the grand scheme of things. 

Like the cost of the membership is like what 2 bucks a month?

And you get discounts on gas plus the ability to buy stuff in bulk?

It's nice lol. 

Not that I've bought much in bulk.

I have taken advantage of like the toilet paper and the soda prices ....but my main love has been some fruit leather I found there and their croissants.

But I do have to say the best deal has been the gas.

Even though it took me a few months to actually take the time to brave the system and sit in line and figure out how to work the Costco gas thing....it has been really nice to pay like 15 cents less per gallon at the pump. 

Though it is weird though to like,...feel like you're in an assembly line kinda while you're waiting for gas.

Like each section has two pumps and most the time both cars finish up about the same time so the next two cars pull up fill up their tanks...leave about the same time the next cars pull up.

It's rather efficient when everyone knows what they're doing and keeps the line moving. 

Weird though.

Like I've noticed unlike other gas stations --unless I've missed them-- that the Costco stations don't provide a way to clean off your windows.

So like...if your windshield is encrusted with bugs...you're kinda out of luck getting that cleaned off while you're waiting for your tank to fill.

I kinda get why they don't have it. 

Because the goal is to get customers in and out as quickly as possible and discourage them from sitting at the pump for too long. 

I don't know how it is at other locations. But for the most part my location is always busy.

There's usually always cars filling the pumps when I arrive.

And some days I have to wait two or three rotations before I can get to the pump myself.

Though I have managed to time it well enough that usually I'm the next person in line when I drop by to grab gas. So that has been nice. 

I've heard stories of people waiting much much longer to get gas. Where the lines are super long and crazy.

Haven't seen that yet.

Though if gas prices do drop any time in the future I could see it happening as people scramble to take advantage of lower prices.

Still.

It's been interesting being a Costco member.

Nice.

Definitely haven't been using it to it's full advantage because again...single person. I don't need to feed an army lol. 

But still. It's been nice.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Migraine Relief

 I do have to say that I'm grateful I finally went to the doctor about my migraines.

Because with the Nurtec....it's been really really nice to be able to take a single pill and have my migraine fade within an hour or so of taking it.

Especially if it's been bothering me for over a day.

The tricky thing is is just....like figuring out if the migraine is actually a migraine and if it is a migraine...is it 'bad' enough for me to actually need to take the Nurtec? 

Because, thankfully, with the Topiramate and the Vitamins I've been taking....my migraines have decreased in the pain scale.

The worst ones have only been to like a 5 or a 6.

But most of the time they've hovered around like a 1 or 2 scale.

Persistent. But bearable.

Plus with insurance limiting me on how many pills I can get a month....I'm leery to use it for any headache I get.

So I usually try my normal methods first.

But most the time I've taken the Nurtec after I've already dealt with the headache for over a day.

Like yesterday I had a headache start up in the morning because my roomie woke me up early by being noisy over my head and I couldn't fall back asleep afterwards. 

And while Advil and Tylenol seemed to help it....it didn't fully go away....

No it ended up, during work, moving from the left side to the right side and then staying......

I went to bed with it.

Woke up with it.

and figured since I woke up with it....why suffer any longer?

Ad of course within the hour I took it...it went away.

Which again leads to the debate....like why do I let myself suffer for hours on end when I know relief could be within the hour?

*exhales*

I don't know.

Maybe I'm just stubborn. 

I want to try and get rid of it other ways before resorting to the Nurtec because it DOES work and I don't want to become like...used to it....and have it stop working.....

In any case.

I'm glad it works.

Until you find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Zapped

 You ever have those moments where you think "I shouldn't do this." and then do it anyways and discover that Yes...yes you shouldn't have done that?

Yah. Had one of those today.

So. 

There I was. At work.

Because when am I not at work?

Looking for something to do because it was strangely slow for a Saturday. 

And I noticed one of our fish tank lightbulbs had burned out.

No big deal.

Easy enough to fix.

And since the store was quiet enough with customers not needing help right that instant I decided to grab a new bulb and switch it out.

It's a task I've done multiple times before. 

But usually when I switch out the bulbs....I turn off the lights to that section of the fish wall first. 

So I don't get zapped. 

This time I didn't.

Because I'd watched one of my other managers change the bulb without getting zapped with the lights still on.

So this time around. I was like...."Okay should be fine." 

....You can guess where this is going right?

Right. 

In any case. 

I got the bulb in alright. One of those long tube bulbs with prongs on either side. 

Only it wasn't in quite right and it wasn't twisting to fully lock in. 

So I'd pulled it down trying to readjust it as I got it back into the slot...

And well....

While I had one end hooked into one side...

My pointer finger ended up brushing the prong on the other side.

And let me say. 

Instant OUCH. 

Like there probably wasn't sparks, smoke and lightning. 

But it should felt like there should have been from the one or two seconds of zapping that I experienced before I was like "PULL THE HAND AWAY SARNIC." 

Because. Yah. Electricity can HURT.

Thankfully it was minor enough that I'm fine overall.

It left a tiny white circle on my finger where the skin...blistered? burned? I guess blistered since the skin turned white? Who knows.

But it was really only pin head sized so rather tiny. 

In any case.

I stopped trying to get the light in.

Went and turned OFF the fish lights. 

Then finished putting the light in properly.

Turned the fish lights back on to make sure the new bulb worked.

And then went to go run my hand under water because OW.

It ached for like....ever afterwards it felt like. 

So yah.

Note to self.

Always turn off the lights when changing out the bulbs.

Do not want to get zapped again.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Rush Hour? Not Really Rushing Here

 Rush hour is such a stupid thing. 

Like ... depending on when I leave a place and depending on if everyone else and their mom is also leaving said place and heading the same direction I'm going....

A drive can either take me 45 minutes...or nearly 2 hours.... 

All depending on if I hit rush hour.

And it's like....with how wide the highways are...you'd think we'd have figured out a way to avoid all the rush hour traffic. 

But nope.

And I'm sure most of it's due to like....accidents and such.

And to the fact that everyone seems to want to drive at freaking 60mph instead of the 70mph they should be going at.

But regardless.

Rush hour is stupid.

And I had to drive in it yesterday....

I suppose "had" is a strong word.

I probably could have stuck around in Hometown for an hour or so and avoided most of the rush hour.

But like....it was either wait around for an hour in Hometown...and then drive 45 minutes home....

Or leave now and spend an hour and 40 minutes in the car.

In the end...the time spent not at home ended up being the same.

Because I ended up leaving during the rush hour time frame. 

Boo. 

In any case.

Rush hour is more on my mind today because my coworker too had to deal with it today.

In that we have this Canary that's been a bit of a problem bird since we got him in.

It started with him picking at the band on his leg to the point he was causing scabs.

And we got that resolved...only for the last couple of days for the talons of the foot to start darkening...and him to start picking at his leg again....and the leg to start swelling and turning colors today.

Which not great signs.

And even worse is the fact that our normal exotic vet we take our birds too....isn't in the office until the end of next week. 

So we ended up having to track a different avian vet down in the next valley over....the valley between Happy Valley and Hometown.

And one of my petcare associates volunteered to take the bird up there.

Which is only like a 30ish minute drive.....

But the drive back down?

By the time the associate got done with the vet and everything.....

They were leaving to head back down at basically the same time I had left yesterday to head back to Happy Valley.

Which meant....yep.

They hit rush hour too.

And it took them an hour and a half to make that 30 minute drive. 

*exhales*

Why is rush hour a thing?

Seriously.

I wish in a way that we had more than one major highway in the area.

Part of me wonders if that would help the congestion.

But honestly. I doubt it. 

People will be dumb no matter how many lanes of road you give them.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Where's My Second?

 It may be because I've kinda become an 'every man' at work. Where I can basically work almost any position in the main store....

Where that has left me a bit more aware of schedules and how many people work when and such.

But like.....

It's probably another one of those moments where I'm the weirder one for paying attention to something....because it feels like no one else does. 

Like I get it when people aren't aware of how many hamsters we have in the store. It's a numbers thing. I tend to pay attention to numbers and I like animals so I pay attention to the animals.

But when dealing with schedules....you'd think people would pay attention to like....the whole schedule?

*exhales*

In any case.

I had a not so fun surprise this morning when I came into work.

As I came into work expecting there to be two groomers in with me.

As that's how it's been for the last little while.

Due to lack of store hours....we haven't been able to have our normal "two managers" or "a manager and petcare" in first thing in the morning every day.

No there are days where it has to be "manager and groomer." that comes into the store.

As we can't enter the store by ourselves. We need to have two people to enter. 

In any case.

I'd checked the schedule the night before and knew that I was expecting two groomers to be in with me when I got there. 

And both groomers are pretty good at being there a little early or on time.

So it was weird for me to show up basically right on time...

To no other cars in the parking lot.

Not the weirdest thing for one to be missing. But odd for both of them to not be there.

Still. School had started up recently...so maybe they were dealing with school traffic as there are a few of those around us. From Elementaries all the way up to Universities. 

So the roads have been more crowded.

But 5 after the hour comes and goes.

No sign of them.

10 after the hour comes.....

And no sign of them.

Thankfully I had the ability to contact one of the Groomers so I give them a call to be like "Hey, I thought you were in with me, where are you?"

Only for them to be like "Oh EL told us both to come in an hour later today." 

...

...

...

...

...

*exhales*

WHY?!?!!?!

Like sure cut ONE of them if you need to but I NEED a SECOND person to be able to enter the store!!

I figured it was probably a mistake. That the EL had looked at the schedule wrong and assumed that someone else was in with me, or missed that I was also in with the Groomers and thought everyone else was too coming in an hour later. 

Regardless....I had the groomer come in as soon as they could....which still left me waiting nearly 40 minutes in the parking lot for them to show up so that we could enter the store. 

And when it wasn't stupid early in the morning.

I sent a message to the EL asking if they had actually told both Groomers to come in an hour later.

As the Groomers.....have been known to be misleading or outright lie about situations. So I wanted to double check that them saying they were told to come in late was actually a thing.

Which considering the Groomers know that I need a second person as I told them at one point that I needed them in the store to be a second person..... it seemed likely it was a mistake on the ELs part.

Which is also understandable because the EL is new to working in the main part of the store. And they don't usually work the mornings so I could see them being unaware of who is needed in the mornings.

Which was confirmed when the EL called me back. 

And basically the situation was that Grooming is over in hours so the DM wants us to cut hours so EL was looking to cut hours and thought that they could cut the Groomers an hour in the morning and be fine....because they thought that we were still doing the '2 managers or 1 manager 1 petcare" in the morning in the main part of the store....

Which hasn't been a thing in months. 

No due to lack of hours we haven't been able to do that every day because stupid corporate isn't giving us the ability to do that.

So yah.

Honest mistake.

And now the EL is aware that if they're looking to cut Grooming hours that they need to pay attention to WHEN the Groomrs are coming in in the morning and WHO is in with them.

That way I'm not left all by lonesome first thing in the morning.

*exhales*

I really hope that we increase our hours soon.

But with how everything is looking.....I'm not putting too much hope into it. I would hope it would increase with the end of the summer and the big holidays approaching. 

But at this point....it wouldn't surprise me if they continue cutting us more. 

Which is depressing. 

Seriously. Depressing.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Holding the Braincell

 There are days when it feels like I'm the only one holding the braincell at work. 

Which kinda sucks when today is my day off and I'm not even AT WORK. 

But at least my coworkers had enough thought to text the group chat to be like "Heeeeyy problem." 

So that I was able to actually help them fix it from home....rather than coming in to the disaster waiting for me tomorrow none the wiser.

So at least communication was used which is really great actually.

As communication from anyone that isn't me is...spotty on a good day.

In any case.

There was an issue behind our fish wall...where during a water change of the Iso Tank...some flooding happened.

Said flooding happened to short out the power strip powering like...the entire fish tank.

And while they replaced the power strip...the associate working couldn't get anything to turn on after replacing everything. 

So they were like "Hey, heads up. This isn't working. Someone smarter than me will need to fix it because like...I don't know what to do. The cord isn't working and it's new so I think it's a problem with the wall outlet." 

And like....it would make sense if water was flooding the power strip that it would trip something and make it so the wall outlet wasn't working.

Which is kinda a big deal....because that same wall outlet is also the outlet that powers the overstock fridge/freezer we have behind the fish wall. And that would be rather .... Bad if everything in there thawed overnight.

Luckily for them...I've encountered this particular issue more than a few times over the years.

So I was like "Have you pressed the red reset button on the wall outlet?" 

Because that particular outlet has one of those buttons that can trip and cut off power to the outlet and you fix it by pressing the red button and basically resetting it. 

It's knowledge that's known...but also isn't something known if you've never had to press it before.

Plus like....my coworkers aren't always the most .... observant.

But luckily that was the issue and pressing the red button got the outlet and therefore the new power strip to work. So yay! 

But then a little bit later another text came through the group chat to be like "Heeey....parts of the fish tank still aren't working." Namely the filter. 

Which the filter is kinda the most important part.

And like. It could be likely that something further shorted out with the electronics themselves with all the water that ruined the first power strip.

But I thought the issue would be something else.

As the associate had sent a picture of the ruined power strip when giving us the first heads up that it wasn't working.

And that power strip.....has half of it's outlets on a timer and half of them on an on/off switch.

It's mostly used so you can set up like day/night cycles for reptiles with the lightbulbs but if there's things that need to be on constantly or switched off occasionally you could control it on the other side.

But there's also --after investigating in a separate incident...I think involving a customer who had questions about said power strip-- I also discovered that you could turn off the timer setting and have the entire power strip just be on the on/off setting. 

So I was like "Well....if the replacement strip is the same as in the picture....the filter is probably on the timer side of the outlets as half of them are timed and half of them are not but there should be a switch on the side that fixes that." 

And I was right.

Fixed the issue. Again. 

*exhales*

It does make me wonder if people just don't have the critical thinking skills any more. To solve the issue.

But at the same time....I also don't know how clear of a solution that solution actually would be....like it was pretty clear to me both times....but that's because I've had experience both times with the problems....I'm sure the first time around I was just as clueless...but I did end up fiddling around to try and find solutions and such.

Still. I'm grateful at least that my coworkers reached out at least let us know about the issue so that we were able to fix it today rather than leaving it for me to figure out tomorrow morning. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Truck Nit Picks

 I'm probably not the only one who finds it annoying to get nitpicked at.

But I really do find it annoying to get nitpicked at. 

Especially when I get nitpicked at with no chance to explain myself and like....show that there really is no reason to nitpick at me. 

And I'm trying to not let it get to me, though it's obviously gotten to me a bit since I'm blogging about it currently, but I'm trying to not let it get to me.

Because I've noticed that my PL tends to get nitpicky at me when she's stressed out. 

But I honestly don't know why she was stressing today. 

Like everything seemed to be going pretty normally to schedule.

And maybe it's because she's just feeling the pressure of knowing that at the beginning of September she'll be leaving the job and is feeling all the weight of "have I taught everyone everything they need to know? What more should I teach them? What do I need to get done before I go?" 

Or maybe she's just having a bad day who knows.

But in any case.

We were working truck today.

As corporate decided that shipping was product to the stores twice a week was too expensive so we've switched to only getting one truck a week. 

And someone higher up the ladder decided that truck should be fully worked within the first 24 hours that its received.

Which is a lot of pressure when you're dealing with 22-36 pallets in a day....while also having to deal with customers.

And like it's not easy pallets either. Like there's usually 5-7 pallets of dog food. 3 pallets of cat food. at least 2 pallets of petcare stuff. Not to mention all the random pallets of other animal stuff we carry.....

It's a lot. 

But normally by the end of my shift we're down to whatever is left of the cat food pallets, maybe one dog pallet, and like whatever petcare totes are left.

So it's not a lot. 

And we were trucking along at the same pace as last week....even better than last week considering the truck came in later last week. So like....I don't get why the PL decided to suddenly get on my back. 

As I was working on one of the dog food pallets.

And it was a smaller pallet of food. About chest height rather than head height. 

And I'd been working on it. But like I had also been broken away from it a couple of times. 

To like answer the phone. Help back up pet care. Help with a curbside. Pick an order.

Because like our phones are being dumb and only some of them are notifying us when orders are dropping. So I have been taking time to go pick orders if they're not picked after like 20 minutes or so. It's not like I'm not giving the others time to go get them. 

But with our El on Register covering for an hour and our EL doing the walk and our PL focusing solely on Truck like she normally does and our Pl focusing solely on truck like he normally does and our HM doing whatever Head Manager duties she keeps getting pulled away to do....

It's not that surprising that I end up breaking away to go help out in the rest of the store.

So yes, the pallet wasn't being worked as quickly as it could have been. 

But also like....I am there longer than the other people. The other managers all leave before I do because they all show up before I do. 

And today most everyone left at 4 while I was off at 530. So I had a whole extra hour and a half to work the truck that they didn't.

So I wasn't too concerned about my pace.

But did PL care about that? No. Not really.

Like at 315 she starts at it. Like "Hey Sarnic how much more do you have on your pallet we really need to get on the cat food pallets." 

Like....she usually gets through 1.5 of the 3 pallets. And I usually start the last one. So like....No big deal there. 

And I told her that I was finishing up with one brand on the pallet. Had one more brand to go through on said pallet and that I would be done within like half an hour or so and I'd be able to come help.

And do note that I had mentioned at least once over the radios that I was off at 530. So it's not like they were unaware of that. PLUS they could all look at the freaking schedule and see when I'm off. 

So I'm working on my pallet. 

And PL comes by and is like "You really should be done with this pallet by now, it shouldn't be taking you this long. It was only half the normal height! We really need you to be working on the cat pallet!" 

Like...

I. Know?

BUT I HAVE BEEN HELPING OUT AROUND THE STORE AND NOT JUST WORKING ON THE FREAKING PALLET.

Did she give me a chance to explain myself?

Of course not.

Not at all.

No it was a rush by "Hey you need to work faster we need to get this done!" and rush on our without giving me a chance to say anything.

And that's what irks me.

I don't mind being critiqued when it's deserved.

But this? This was undeserved. Especially when I don't get the chance to explain myself.

And maybe she was saying similar things to the other people working the truck.

But it sure felt like I was being singled out.

Which maybe was on purpose as I am the one most likely going to be replacing her when she leaves.

But at the same time.

It irks me to not like....be able to explain that "Yes I know I should be done, but I have also been helping elsewhere in the store and not focusing solely on the truck because I know EVEYRONE ELSE IS BUSY TOO" 

Like 3pm was when our Cashier left and Corporate stilted us on hours enough we had a gap so one of the Managers had to watch the register for an hour until the next cashier could come in. While a different manager was doing the walk that was required by Corporate that we have to do twice a day.

And with the other two PL/ls unwilling to help in the store unless they're the very last option. It literally felt like I was the only extra body available to help out. 

So sorry not sorry the pallet wasn't getting done as quickly as expected. Yeesh.

It also shows differing managing styles too.

Because in my situation I probably would have gone about it slightly different like "Hey, I noticed this pallet is taking you a bit longer than normal. Is everything alright?" 

Which would have allowed me to explain why like "Oh I was helping customers" or "I was picking an order that had been sitting for 30 minutes since I know the others are busy." 

Or if I had just been moving slow because I had been working the freaking truck since 9am and I was TIRED and dog food is HEAVY I may have been like "I see you're doing this in a way that's taking slightly longer, here's a couple tricks I've learned to help me move faster." 

Did she do any of that?

Nope.

And like the PL is a great manager....when it comes to managing products. 

When it comes to managing the people? Not so much.

And it was annoying because the critique on how fast I was moving and the pressure to get me to get to cat food faster .... just made me want to move slower. Because I was annoyed at her. Because she didn't let me explain myself and just assumed I was moving slowly on purpose. Which No. No I wasn't.

Am I methodical about things? Yes. Do I move slower on occasion? Yes. Do I get pulled away? Also yes. 

Like....it's just annoying.

But also like.

I did get the freaking cat food pallets done before 530. 

So I don't know why she was freaking out at me to get dog food done faster.

I mean I knew my timing. I got it done within the half hour that I had given myself to get it done. 

And I figured it would take me about an hour or so to get the one pallet of cat food done. 

Which it did.

Could I have done it faster? Yes. Did I slow down once PL had left for the day? Yes. Because I was annoyed at her and she wasn't there to stop me from moving slower. She doesn't know what I was doing when she left and so long as I got the pallet done she can't complain. So THERE.

Bleh.

But yah.

I don't appreciate it when she gets nitpicky at me. 

Like girl. Destress yourself some other way.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Another Fire?

 Yesterday ended up being a bit more stressful than expected for a planned mellow Sunday. 

Mostly because the ridge above my home caught fire. 

Well, I guess the...draw? The mini not quite canyon? the slight valley? Who knows the name of it. But the fire started in the next draw over from my home. So if the fire had climbed up and over the ridge it would have come straight down the mountain for our homes basically. 

In any case.

I wasn't home at the time the first started. 

I only knew it was occurring because one of the roomies texted me a picture of the fire at the very beginning stages...as she'd just been leaving to go see family when all these fire and police vehicles came roaring by and she saw the smoke. 

And like....there's still a lot of anxiety...involving fires in my household.

For good reason since the house nearly caught fire what was it....8 years ago now? 

And any time a fire starts anywhere near our area ... my roomie tends to get a bit tense and anxious about it.

Which there seems to be a fire that happens every 2-3 years here. 

As there was a fire on the same mountain just a couple of years ago it feels like. Just slightly further south. 

In any case. 

Seeing the picture and knowing how close it was to our home --though still a handful of miles away-- I knew I would need to come back to support my roomie as the anxiety kicks up high in these sort of situations. 

Especially when you know that if the fire breaks over the top of the ridge it could come straight for us. 

And I have to say it was a bit nerve wracking as I came around the point of the mountain and made my way back into Happy Valley to see this giant plume of smoke rising into the sky. Knowing that it was near my house. Knowing I was still a good 30 minutes away from being able to be home to check in. 

But my worries lessened the closer I got to my home and I could see where the fire was.

Could see that it was being contained to inside that draw area. That it hadn't broken over the ridge. That it looked like the fire was moving up the mountain and south away from us rather than down and north towards us. 

And with how mellow the winds were --compared to the nasty wind storm we'd had Saturday night...I had little concern that the fire would come at us. 

There was minor concern come sunset as I knew the winds would shift a bit as the winds usually do with the setting of the sun. But if the fire had burned south enough by that point....then if the winds shifted it would have nothing to burn north at because it would have already burned everything. 

So overall my worries had been quelled upon seeing the fire in person. 

Were they fully gone? No. But was I stressing about it? No. 

My roomies though? 

Not so much.

And a lot of it was due to past experience with how close our home came to nearly catching fire nearly a decade ago. 

My evening ended up being a lot of reassurance and soothing to both roomies.

Thankfully we have a neighbor who has had experience fighting fires in the past so he was able to explain what was going on and show how unlikely it was due to the terrain that the fire would come at us and what would most likely happen if it did and how unlikely it would be to come at us anyways. 

Like

1. Rocky ground outcroppings on our side means less foliage to burn. 

2. There's a trail that cuts along the mountain that's a natural firebreak that the firefighters can use to stage more hoses and such, but could also use as needed to set back fires to prevent the main fire from coming at us. 

3. There's like 4 rows of houses and a wide road between us and the mountain so less of a threat to us specifically. 

Though yes, I do understand that flying embers can make the fires worse and cause them to catch wherever they land. 

But again. With barely any wind in the air. 

Less of a concern.

Still. We ended up camping out on the lawn with neighbors and family that came by to support to watch the smoke --as we couldn't see any of the flames as they hadn't crossed the ridge-- and watch the various helicopters and planes come in with water and red slurry to treat the fire. 

And really, by sunset when the plane and helicopters got grounded....the fire had mostly been put out....

Like it was still burning and embery looking for sure. But like huge towering flames didn't seems as likely.

And the firefighters had done a good job in trying to contain the fire into just the draw. Putting down slurry barriers on our ridge and at the bottom of the draw to stop the fire from coming at us and such.

So again. I knew we were safe.

The roomies took more convincing though.

And honestly I don't think they were ever fully convinced because the brain does love to do those 'what if' scenarios when the unknown is unknown and danger is on the literal horizon.

But there seriously was a moment where I would reassure one roomie, they would leave, the other would come up I would reassure then, they would leave, the first one would come back to be reassured again lol. 

And honestly...I think we would have had a more peaceful night because the fires were obviously smaller the smoke much less crazy....

But then the bishop sent out an email.

That basically was like "Hey, no formal evacuation has been declared, but they can't fight the fire with air crews at night so it's best to be prepared. Make sure you have everything you need ready just in case you need to evacuate." 

*exhales* 

Which started a further panic in the roomies of what should we take what should we bring.

And it definitely started that tug of war of like "We don't need to pack anything because I can tell nothing is going to happen." with "Well it's best to be prepared just in case" but also like "it's just stuff guys. Literally everything can be replaced." 

...well not everything. They were mostly focused on the irreplaceable stuff. Sentimental items and the like. 

But it did bring to mind the "what would I take?" if I did need to evacuate. 

Because seriously...it's just stuff. Most of it can be replaced. Would I be sad to lose some things yes. But it's just stuff. 

And maybe I'm just a bit apathetic about it because I've had one too many dreams in the past where it's the "the house is falling down grab stuff!" or "the house is on fire! the house is sinking! The house is being sold!" and I always end up bogged down with like...bins of stuffed animals I want to bring when honestly...it's just stuffed animals.

And maybe it's just weird because I'd had a dream a handful of nights ago where I was at my Dad's old home (as my dad sold our childhood home last year) and we were going through various rooms and in my old bedroom there was old jewelry and pictures and such that had been not yet taken where I was like "Why haven't I grabbed this yet?" 

But yah...

Things to take now in the real life?

Probably my contacts/glasses. Meds -since Migraines I don't want to suddenly stop those. Important documents. Clothes --which I just grabbed everything on my floor and shoved them in a waste basket. Laptop. A couple of my favorite stuffed animals. And then I was like "well if I had time." there are some of my mom's cross-stitches as well that I would also do my best to bring out.

But yah....it is an interesting perspective to just see what I would and wouldn't want to bring with me if I had to evacuate.

Like that list was just the quick "just in case 5 minutes before I try to go to bed" things I gathered.

If I had a couple of days to plan the items would probably be different.

Like...I suppose the main question would be....would I try to save my fish? 

I have 4 tanks of fish currently. 3 smaller ones that could be easily moved. But then I have this large 125 gallon tank. Can't really move that when it's full of water.

And like....it's full of water....water is the opposite of fire....but the tanks are on wood stands...which fire burns....

So yah....like would I make the effort to try and save the fish? If I had 2 days to plan? Probably.

If I had 5 minutes? No. They're fish. In water. I'll leave them to their chances.

But it does make you look at your home a bit differently.

Like....with all the stuff you've gathered over the years....what actually matters in the end?

Honestly....the important things for me would be. 1. My phone which has my wallet and hopefully with a charger. But if not. 2. My car w/ keys which my car has a charger in it. So yay charger. 3. Laptop if possible because laptop! but again can buy a new one if needed. which leads to 4. Being able to see so Contacts/glasses. (but I can always contact my eye doctor and be like...heeeey can I get some temporary contacts until I can order more in lost all mine in a fire)  and 5. Migraine medicine. But that one is ...lesser because I'm on a low enough dose that if I miss a day or two it's no big deal and I could always contact my doctor and be like "heeeey I need more meds. Lost mine in a fire." and I could get them rather quickly.

And then 6 would be like....sentimental stuff. Things I would like to keep with me. Things with memories. Things with value. Like at this point a lot of stuff from my mom would have higher value to me if I could keep that near. 

It does bring to mind too like....there's always talk about 72 hour kits or bug out kits of "if you have to leave fast take this!" 

And like...part of me is like....I should keep a change of clothes at work. A set of meds at work. An extra series of contacts at work... just in case. So that if for whatever reason I can't get home to grab anything. At least I have /something/ there so I'm not totally destitute and I have back ups just in case. 

It's also interesting how the mindsets vary in the face of potential disasters or actual disaster.

Like what my roomies focused on wanting to bring with them just in case is similar but also different from what I would take. 

It's also interesting because one roomie is like "I know it will cost money but maybe I should go get myself a storage locker and keep all my most important things there so they're not at risk!" 

Like...one of those storage facilities people rent to store their stuff. 

And like....yes....you can do that. But 1. Why spend the money on that? 2. Is it actually any safer? The storage facility could catch fire too and you could lose all your stuff in that as well. If the things are really that important to you...invest in like a fire proof safe at home maybe? 3. Why lock it away where you can't ever see it and enjoy it? 4. What's the point of even having it if you're not going to be able to see it and enjoy it whenever you want? 

In any case.

The fire smoldered through the night and the firefighters have been fighting it all day.

No idea how it's doing now though the smoke has faded some I'm hoping it's mostly if not all contained at this point. 

In any case. Still safe. Fire never made it over the ridge. And I think my roomies have been able to relax a bit more today with the fire obviously getting smaller and further away from us. 

Still.

It does make you think.

What would you take....if you had to leave suddenly in the face of disaster? 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

In Our Dumpster

 So there I was. 

Taking out the trash at work. 

And I go to throw the first things into the dumpster.

When I realize said dumpster is fuller than it should be.

Why?

-_- Because someone had come by and tossed some of their trash into it. 

Which is frustrating. 

Because our store usually ends up with a lot of trash. And the Garbage Truck only comes by like once or twice a week.

So it's not great if someone else fills up our dumpsters with their stuff when we need to fill them up with our stuff.

Like I've seen a variety of stuff over the years. Including old furniture and such. 

And I was immediately semi annoyed. 

Because like what had been tossed in the dumpster was a couple of wooden pallets.

Which threw me off for a moment.

Because we too use wooden pallets in the store. That's what all our store product comes stacked on. 

So, truthfully my first thought was "Why did we throw these pallets away?" 

Because we're supposed to return the pallets to our DC so that they can reuse them to put more product on to send back to the stores.

So we wouldn't throw them away unless they were completely broken...and these did not look broken.

Which was then when I realized "Oh. Someone ELSE threw these in our dumpster."

My next thought was I should pull them out so we could send them to the DC.

But then a split second later I was like WAIT A MINUTE.

Because my roomie had just been talking to me the other day about decorating for Halloween. And how she was considering tracking down a pallet to use for one of her projects. 

Which I was sad about because like I have tons of pallets at work....I just can't take them because we have to return them to the DC.

BUT.

THESE TWO PALLETS IN THE DUMPSTER WEREN'T OURS.

They were someone else's pallets.

Therefore FREE GAME!

Thankfully there was enough trash in the dumpster that the pallets were close enough to the top and light enough that I was able to lift them both up and stack them on the side of the building so that I could come grab them after work.

Though I wouldn't have been surprised if someone else would have taken them before I managed to get back out there. People like their craft projects around here. 

BUT.

Both pallets were still there when I got off work! Yay!

So I pulled around back to shove them into my car....

Only to encounter the slight problem of....I could only fit one of them in my car. 

Foo. 

My car was slightly too narrow to be able to lay them down flat so they had to go in at an angle...meaning only one would fit in.

Which overall was fine. The project really only called for maybe 1 pallet but I'd been planning on 2 in case the 2nd could be useful for scraps. 

Still. I picked the nicer looking pallet and shoved it in my car and took it home.

And roomie was sooooo excited when I brought her out to my car to show her my find. lol.

Solved a lot of time and potential issues in tracking down and finding one. So ha!

So one step down for her project.

Who knows how many more to go.

But yah. Good day for dumpster diving I suppose lol. Found a pallet that my roomie needed so it's all good. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi