Bandit Update

Bandit took a turn for the worse over the weekend. My wife and I are now in the waiting room at the LSU Vet School Small Animal Clinic, Bandit has gone back. 

I'm sure you know that Bandit is not "just a cat" to me, but I still don't feel right asking someone else to pray for a cat. (Doesn't matter how much I do it.) I will however ask you to pray for my wife Claudette. If you've ever loved a woman who loved a cat, you'll know it's about the same thing. 

How long?

Two weeks. Seems longer. 

I usually do drafts using notepad, and store each revision on my Google Drive. (Those who know me won't be surprised by that.) 

Right now it's Friday, 12:16 PM, and I'm sitting at the bar in Lucy's waiting for my lunch. This is the first time I've actually used the Blogger app on my iPhone. 

I haven't felt like blogging for a couple of weeks. I've told y'all a little about my cat ..., okay, my wife's cat, Bandit. She hasn't been feeling well. She and I spent the last 3 Saturday mornings at the vet. My wife and I took her back Monday. She's still there now. This morning's report shows the improvement we've been waiting for.  We'll probably leave her there for the weekend and bring her home Monday.

She wasn't feeling well in this picture.  She had a little hiding place under this chair.  What she probably has is FIA.  But at least she tested negative for FeL and FIV.  Fever's down and red cell count is up, so I think she's on the mend, and I feel like blogging again.

My lunch came while I was telling you about the vet's report, above the picture (although I did upload the picture first.)  I'm back at a desktop now.

I can retire in 505 days.  I'll probably blog next Wednesday, to celebrate the 500 mark.  Until then, get off my lawn.  (Ironically, I'm feeling particularly obstreperous today myself.)

Allow me to bore you

Last week I started to blog that I didn't feel like blogging the week before.  But I decided you didn't care.  I guess that's never stopped me before.  On 8/30/13, when I didn't blog, I had taken the day off for a funeral.  I've reached the age where funerals start me thinking.  That night I started to think about writing a blog and started thinking about the two funerals I blogged about earlier in the year.  Specifically, I began to wonder why it was just occurring to me that I might blog about this one.  I think I felt the need to talk about the earlier funerals because I had been unable to attend them.  I guess I'm still sort of thinking out loud.

I'm not on the clock right now, but I am at my desk.  It's Friday the 13th.  My last day of work will also be Friday the 13th (of February, 2015.) 74 weeks from right now I will be down on 3rd Street having a drink.  

I was a little puzzled by Blogger last week, but I think I figured it out.  When I checked my blog stats right after I posted a blog, I saw that it said I had 124 page views in April of 2011.  I posted my first blog in April of 2012.  Also, that was my only post that month, and it has only 64 page views.  Then I moused over the graph and saw see that September 2011 was immediately followed by October 2012.  That should answer my question.  I meant to show that little quirk to my boss, but he's gone for the weekend.  I'll check Monday to see if it's still like that.

According to the website I use (http://www.timeanddate.com) I have 355 work days left.  That comes to 2840 work hours.  My available sick leave balance is 2,561.93000 hrs.  (I also have 526.93000 hrs of annual leave, for a total availble leave of 3088.86 hrs, but I'll ignore that for now.)  That means I'm short 278.07 hours of sick leave before it equals my remaining work time.  I earn leave at a rate of 7.3840 hours per pay period (2 weeks) so I will earn that in 18.8 weeks.  In other words, because I earn leave while on paid leave, if I got sick today, I would easily earn that in the 74 weeks before I retire.  Just sayin'.

And since my last day of work will be Friday the 13th, as is today, I have exactly 74 weeks (or 1 year, 5 months) left to work (even though it's 520 days until I actually retire.)  

So get off my lawn.

Roy Elliot Corcoran

Elliot Corcoran passed away on Monday, August 26, 2013 at the age of 73.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=roy-elliot-corcoran&pid=166654552&fhid=13744

He was a good man.  You can tell that for yourself if you read the obituary at the link above.  We attended church together for several years.  When I petitioned to become a Mason, I asked Elliot for permission to list him as a reference.  I was honored to be asked to conduct the Masonic Memorial Service at the funeral home, and my thanks go out to Worshipful Brother Paul Martin of Feliciana Lodge # 31, F&AM for conducting the graveside service.  I don't have a picture, so there won't be one in this blog.

Having said that, I can retire in 527 days.  So get off my lawn.

No Title

I started raw blogging right after my last post.  Griped a lot.  I'm over it now.  Won't inflict it on you.

I can retire in 541 days.  Don't think I'm gonna make it.  Those are calendar days.  According to the website I use to calculate this I have 369 work days left.  Of course Louisiana holidays may vary a little, but we'll go with that.  That's 2952 work hours.  According to today's payroll sheet I have 2558.546 hrs of sick leave and 541.546 annual, for a total of 3100.092 hrs leave.  Just sayin'.

I guess I'll try to hang on for another 541.

Another last minute blog

It's about 10:30 Friday night as I write this.  I usually set these to post at 4:45 PM on Friday, but it's been that kind of week.  But, on the home front, there is no longer a POD in my driveway.

I seem to be obsessed with my neck ties the last couple of weeks.  Today I wore an Elvis tie (as I try to at least twice a year.)  RIP Elvis Aron Presley, who died this day in 1977.  Long Live the King

(Notice I just give the year, not how many it's been [although my count says 36] since last week I proved I can't subtract.  I just tend to drop a decade out of the 21st century.  I can't believe it's been here that long.

I also can't believe it's been 36 years since we lost Elvis.  Three days later we lost the Great American Philosopher and Poet Julius Marx.  He was much older and it went largely unnoticed.

Anyway I can retire in a year and a half, as of yesterday, which is 548 days from today.  So you kids get off my lawn.

(My tie is wearing a tie.  I like that.)

More Ramblings

I didn't blog last week or the week before.  I didn't feel like it, I didn't have anything to say, and as I've said several times I'm tired of blogging the fact that I have nothing to blog about.  But apparently that's not going to stop me this week.

I guess I'll start with what I've been up to.  Not that I think anybody cares, but I guess that's what most folks blog about.  It's been a "busy" couple of weeks (if you can call being over-involved in Masonic activities "busy.")  The two Saturdays were taken up with our local York Rite festival.  (That's not as festive as it sounds.  It's when we get a bunch of Master Masons who want to take the so-called "higher" degrees of the York Rite, and confer said degrees on a large class in a short time.)  If you've seen my Facebook page there are pictures there.  I'll post one here too.  I assisted with the Mark Master, conferred the Most Excellent Master and did my usual role in the Royal Arch.  That was about it for me.

Several evenings have also been taken up with Masonic meetings.  On the fifth Monday in July we moved our Charter to the War Veterans Home and held a meeting with three of our Brethren living there.  We've been doing this periodically for several years.  I don't know how much it means to those Brethren, but we get a lot out of it.  At least I do.

I'm wearing a purple tie today.  It's not an LSU or a Council tie.  The label says it's "Butterfly Study II, Collection Fourteen."  The other side says "(c) 1996 Estate of Jerome J. Garcia."  I really don't see the butterflies, I guess it's abstract.  Anyway, Jerry Garcia died 8 years ago today.  (That's 1995 btw.)  I wore the same tie last Friday.  I should have worn it Thursday, but I forgot.  I wore a different purple tie.  That would have been his 71st birthday.  

Anyway, if I can stay employed for another 555 days I'll be retired.  So get off my lawn.