At The Door

Do you ever do something where you're pretty confident you're going to regret it but you end up doing it anyway?

Yah. I did that today.

And that thing?

It was watching crime shows.

While I was home alone.

Probably not the best idea to do that.

Watching shows about people who kill other people and people figure out how and why the murders killed the people they did and motives behind them killing people.

Yah....

It's easy to become paranoid after that.

Especially if you watch the shows all day.

(I only watched like five episodes, so not all day.)

Where every sound, creak, groan, and gurgle that the house makes throughout the day can make you rather....twitchy.

For the most part I was fine.

I know the sounds of the house well enough to dismiss them as being 'normal' when I heard them.

And then there was a knock on a door.

A very loud. Series. Of knocks.

BANG BANG BANG

And I immediately went on red alert.

I wasn't expecting visitors.

And when people come to the house....they ring the doorbell.

They don't knock.

And the fact that I could hear the knocking from downstairs...meant they were knocking really loudly.

Which immediately put in my mind the image of huge hulking guys standing outside. Waiting to break down the door.

Wishing I had a bat or something in hand.

I cautiously and silently raced up the stairs and approached the door as the doorbell rang.

Who was here?

Was it my roommates? Somehow locked out? Or maybe their arms were full of things and they couldn't open the door?

A cautious glance through the peephole....

Showed no bulky guys, and no roommates.

But a friend that had showed up unannounced to give a belated birthday present to one of my roommates.

*exhales*

It was a major relief to not have to deal with strangers at my door today. lol.

Though again, I'm probably going to question myself two or three more times before I actively choose to watch more crime shows when I'm home alone. lol.

Until you next read these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Two Pieces

There is an old story of a waiter who asked a customer whether he had enjoyed the meal.
The guest replied that everything was fine, but it would have been better if they had served more bread.
The next day, when the man returned, the waiter doubled the amount of bread, giving him four slices instead of two, but still the man was not happy.
The next day, the waiter doubled the bread again, without success.

On the fourth day, the waiter was really determined to make the man happy.
And so he took a nine-foot-long loaf of bread, cut it in half, and with a smile, served that to the customer.
The waiter could scarcely wait for the man's reaction.

After the meal, the man looked up and said, "Good as always.
But I see you're back to giving only two slices of bread."

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf -Grateful in Any Circumstances -April 2014 General Conference

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Another Adventure?!

Okay, I admit I almost expected this to happen.

So when I did, I was more than happy to go on another work related adventure! lol.

You see, yesterday we took a handful of our animals to the vet for a variety of reasons.

And they now needed to be picked up.

However, only a manager is supposed to pick up the animals from the vet.

But there always has to be a manager present in the store.

So if there is only one manager on duty...we have to wait until another manager comes in before one of them can go to the vet to grab our animals.

In some cases, that means waiting until the next day because after a certain time...there's only one manager on duty.

Usually when it's midday that's not a problem.

Usually.

This week it's a bit of a problem.

Because we're down to only two managers. :S

The others? On vacation, haven't hired one for that position yet, and the last one....ended up in the hospital due to some sort of illness. :S

Not good.

So the two managers are now having to pull double duty. Basically unable to get a day off until the manager on vaca returns.

Which means one manager covers the morning shift, and then the second manager covers the evening shift.

And that leaves a small window for us to pick up animals from the vet.

Namely...when the manager is coming into work for the evening shift.

Unfortunately for us, the animals weren't ready to be picked up by the time the manager was due to come into work.

Which left us with the problem of "how are we going to grab our animals?!"

Because we couldn't really just leave them there for another day to try again tomorrow.

Hence. Me.

I've actually been to the vet before, due to similar circumstances.

And since I'm the Lead of my dept (which basically means I'm in charge if the manager isn't there.)

I was sent to go pick up the animals.

Woot! Adventure! lol.

Its always fun to be able to leave work while you're still on the clock and go do work related stuff.

To be able to do so twice in a week, kinda crazy. lol.

But it was fun!

Gotta spend a good 45 minutes running to and from the vet.

And not having to talk to any customers in the meantime. XD lol.

Until you next read these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Lock Adventure

I got to go on an adventure yesterday for work. :) Which is always fun. I love my work related adventures.
Mostly because they don't come that often lol.

This particular adventure revolved around a lock.

The lock on our door to the bird enclosure in the store to be specific.

As a couple of weeks ago....the lock broke.
Where you could turn the lock...but it wouldn't lock.

Why?
Because the lock had fallen apart really. There was this odd square metal piece that had fallen off.
But I couldn't see how it would be applicable to the lock itself.
As the lock resides on a tiny door within the big door. As the little door slides up and down to hide the handle of the bird enclosure so random customers can't just open it up whenever they feel like it.
But because the door is tiny and the space within is tiny...it's not like I can just look at the back of the lock and go "Oh that's the problem."

So I told a manager about the broken lock....
And they said they'd order a new one.

Not surprisingly, they forgot. *shake head*

So when I brought it up again yesterday, that the lock was still broken, the manager was actually nearby to see that the issue was more major than they'd thought it was.
-They hadn't realized it was the door to the enclosure that was broken, but thought that it was a smaller lock on one of the bird cages itself.

And so the manager set me to figuring out exactly what was wrong.
Namely, asking me to take the one remaining screw out of the lock so I could pull it out of the enclosure and grab the random square piece and try and figure out what in the world had happened to cause it to break.

Turns out, that the missing screw had been holding two metal pieces together, and when the one disappeared...the square piece that had been between the two other metal pieces of the lock...had fallen out since there was nothing holding it in place.

The square metal piece?
It was the latch.
THAT was the thing that would keep our door locked or unlocked when we turned the key. *shakes head*

And with some fiddling around, I eventually figured out how to put the latch back in it's spot and have it work when I turned the key.
However.

Even though I figured out how the lock would work if placed together properly.
....the fix would only last like half a millisecond, because without the second screw...the pieces wouldn't stay together and so it would fall apart.

Which resulted in a manhunt for a screw that would fit into the hole so that the lock could stay together.
Only we had none such luck.
The screws and nails we found on hand were all too big. >.< Foo.

But!
Lucky us.
There's a Lowes nearby us.
Aka.
A place that sells the nuts and bolts.

And so, because we needed that lock fixed ASAP (now that the manager knew it was to the door.)
Said manager sent me out on a mission!

With tiny screw in hand, I left the store.

While I was still on the clock.

Dun. dun. Dun.

I.
I was on a mission.
A mission to get a screw the same size as the one in my hand.
And I could not come back until I found said screw!

(I could, it's not like I could make lowes magically magic up a screw for me if they didn't have the right size.)

I stepped inside Lowes.
Feeling totally conspicuous in my Starsmet Uniform.
Desperately crossing my fingers that I wouldn't be mistaken as an employee and have a customer get mad at me because they couldn't read the "Starsmet" on my shirt and nametag.
And quickly ran into an actual Lowes Worker two feet into the store.

"Can you help me?" I asked the guy. "I need to get a screw that matches this one." I added as he said he could help.
He held out his hand, and I dropped the screw gingerly onto his palm, quietly bemoaning that if he drops the thing and loses it that I would be most annoyed.

And he promptly took me to the first aisle in the store. (how handy was that?)
And after some comparisons and tests with said screw -as they have this cool little gizmo display area where you fit the screw into different holes and the one it works with matches with a letter/number and you go to that letter/number and walla! You find your matching size!

Which we were able to do! Woot!
lol. of course I couldn't just get one.
No the things came in like a ten pack only.

However considering it was like only $1.32 to buy that pack....it's good to have a few extra screws on hand in case we lose more.

Prize in hand, I returned to the store, and immediately set to work on the lock.
And figured pretty quickly that the screws wouldn't stay, because they just slid right in and out. Which meant...even with two...the lock would still fall apart.
However! The package I'd gotten didn't have just screws, but nuts as well!
Which meant that I could place those on the screw once I had the lock placed on the door and lock them into place.

*shakes head*
It took a while though, because I was trying to twist those little metal circles onto the screw without being able to see them since I was trying to do it in that tiny space.
Needless to say.
The space was too tiny to do so.
So I just switched the screws around so that the sides needing the bolts would be on the outside.
Which, is a good thing I did as when I finally got it all together.....
The lock still didn't work.
>.< Foo.
So it would have been a pain to try and take the lock apart if I had to undo what I just had done if I'd done it in that tiny space.

Thankfully, I hadn't.
So it was quick work to take the lock apart, twist the lock 180 degrees and put it back together

and TADA!
Our bird door was fixed!
The locks in place and locks!!

And I feel like the master locksmith now. XD haha.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

October 2014 General Conference -Sunday Morning

Henry B. Eyring -Continuing Revelation

• We all know that human judgement and logical thinking will not be enough to get answers to the questions that matter most in life.

Russell M. Nelson -Sustaining the Prophets

• Counterbalances and safeguards abound so that no one can ever lead the Church astray.
• Despite any health challenges that may come to us, despite any weakness in body or mind, we serve to the best of our ability.

Carol F. McConkie -Live according to the Words of the Prophets

• When we choose to live according to the words of the prophets, we are on the covenant path that leads to eternal perfection.
• According to the world's standards, following the prophet may be unpopular, politically incorrect, or socially unacceptable. But following the prophet is always right.

Robert D. Hales -Eternal Life--to Know Our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ

• The sure foundation is Jesus Christ. He is "the Rock of Heaven." When we build our house upon Him, the rains of the latter days may descend, the floods may come, and the winds may blow, but we will not fall.
• The Holy Spirit testifies truth to each who goes and seeks the knowledge.

James J. Hamula -The Sacrament and the Atonement

• If our thoughts, words, or actions have been less than what they should have been in days past, we recommit ourselves.

Thomas S. Monson -Ponder the Path of Thy Feet

• Each of us will walk the path of disappointment, perhaps because of an opportunity lost, a power misused, a loved one's choices, or a choice we ourselves make. The path of temptation too will be the path of each.
• While we will find on our path bitter sorrow, we can also find great happiness.
• Ponder the path of thy feet.

Until you next read these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Inner Stress

I was complaining to my coworker yesterday, that I had had multiple headaches this past week.
And they asked me if I'd taken a moment to reflect, and listen to my thoughts in the quiet moments.
As perhaps some of my deeper inner thoughts were causing me stress and that's why I was dealing with more tension headaches. lol.

I played it off, that my thoughts tend to focus around ideas for stories, or internal grumblings against customers that I had to deal with over the past week.

*exhales*
Honestly though....it is those inner thoughts that are probably bugging me. Stressing me out.
Those quiet thoughts that just flash across your mind and are gone in an instant because I keep trying to dismiss them.

And the general premise of those thoughts?

Usually falls under the category of "What I'm doing wrong."

It's hard on occasion....to see other people's lives progressing. People getting married, having kids, or even going on dates.
And not look at yourself and wonder. "What am I doing wrong? What's wrong with me that I don't have these things?"

I'm sure everyone has those thoughts at some point or another.

Those quiet inner thoughts that like to point out the things you're doing that are probably the reason why you're not 'progressing' as quickly as others are 'progressing' in aspects of their life.

Some of those thoughts for me are like:
"It's because I work a retail job."
"It's because I'm already graduated from college."
"It's because I look too young."
"It's because I don't do this activity."
"It's because I don't socialize."
"It's because they don't like my smile."
"I probably said the wrong thing there."
"Maybe I just look frumpy in this uniform."
"Maybe I'm not pretty enough."
"I probably just made a fool of myself."
"It's because they said that they don't like this thing and I do that thing."

It's those inner stressors, causing my headaches more than likely.
Those tiny voices of self-doubt that occasionally get too loud and just draw your whole perspective on life down.
Wondering....what more could I do? What should I change? Why should I need to change if I'm happy where I'm at?

*exhales*

Those thoughts are annoying.
And I try to ignore them. (Not too well on occasion if the headaches are anything to go by)
As for the most part. I'm happy where I'm at.
lol. About the only thing giving me grief right now is my struggle to work on writing. lol. ;)

I dunno....
It's just one of those weeks I suppose.
Where the doubts are higher than the hopes.

Hopefully I can squash those thoughts back down soon though.
It's no fun to feel bad about one's place in life after all. :)

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Is This The Right Place?

Ever have those moments where you doubt yourself super strongly?

I just had that.

So there I was, pulling up to my place after a long evening shift at work.

And I noted that there was a car parked in front of our place that belonged to my roommate's family.

-I knew that they were going to be in the area for the day helping one of my roomies siblings move down nearby. But hadn't expected the parent to be at the house this late.

Turns out the parent was there to help repaint one of the bedrooms.

In any case, I pulled into our driveway and into the garage, and as I turned off my car, and was preparing to get out, the door to the house that leads to the garage opened up, and two college aged boys came walking out.

I had to do a double take.

Was I in my garage?

Was this my house?

Was my sister's car parked next to me?

The answer to all those were yes.

SO WHY WERE THERE RANDOM BOYS COMING OUT OF MY HOUSE?!

The most likely solution was that one or possibly two of the guys were my roommate's brother(s) or possibly friends of the family.

Though why they would be there...who knows.

The only other possibility I could think of was that somehow some of the neighbor boys had decided to stop by and say Hi....though why they'd chose to exit through the garage is unknown.

Turns out my first solution was the correct one. A brother of my roommate and his friend had come to help paint the bedroom in exchange for being given dinner. lol.

So yay for figuring out that mystery.

Still had me questioning if I'd come home to the right house or not.

But at least the boys loved my giant fish tank. XD lol.

Until you next read these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi