Two shifts at Gov Is over the weekend. Not too wrecked after that. Ferry Terminal and then Amenities on Saturday (10k). Start/Finish under Holleran on Sunday (5k). No particular pain in the neck/left shoulder. It was starting on Saturday but this time I brought along that mysterious tube of Tiger Balm that’s been sitting in the red hanging cosmetic bag for years. And you know, it actually works.
James P., foreground, Steve L. with arm extended, in bg, testing out the tape-break for the 5k on Sunday.
Middlingly cool, sweater weather, on Saturday. Uncomfortably chill, in the 40s on Sunday. I wore the navy sweatshirt with a Buff and the day-glo uniform jacket, with my zip-up Asics fleece running pants.
Oh yes, I shat in my red Tempo running shorts, worn as underwear. And I didn’t have a spare pair with me. I found this out when I went into a portapotty along Liggett Hall to take a wee. Seemed to be the result of the big Dunkin coffee and doughnut I had at 5:30 in the morning.
Went to the liquor store at 56th and 9th yesterday after coming in from Gov Is. Then stopped at Dave’s Hot Chicken and got little fried chicken ‘bites’ and fries. Good stuff, but $12. A very rare indulgence, more out of curiosity than anything else. I’m glad I don’t have a fondness for junk food.
Was out of coffee. Went out to M-W in late morning, after getting coffee cake and coffee at Starbucks early. I got milk and yoghurt, and toilet paper and a can of tomato sauce and box of ziti. Had an idea I’d make mashed rutabagas but there were no rutabagas to be had, not even for ready money.
But forgot the coffee. Turned around in the lobby and went back out, this time to the drugstore.
With the Brooklyn HM the previous weekend and these two shifts and odds and ends, there will be something like 25 hours hitting Gusto a week from this Friday. The pittance I get suggests something like $500 after taxes etc. I will feel almost rich.
Next week I also will have timer/decoder training in Brooklyn, at the warehouse. Perhaps impulsively I bought a used $50 ThinkPad on eBay. My thinking was that a PC machine always comes in handy, and the timer work seems mostly done on a Windows network. The Lenovo ThinkPad has Windows 10, but I think can be upgraded to W11 if need be. I’m hoping it’s not too bruised and used. I see many of these for sale about that price: “fleet” laptops remaindered by corporations. Good new Windows laptops go for $200-$300 so there really isn’t much resale value in these, unlike with Macs.
Other than that, no responsibilities for nruns until Nov 16 & 17, once again a 10k and 5k. I believe there’s a half in Central Park in December, and then not much for a while. I suppose nruns will be figuring out logistics and operations revenue for the upcoming year. They took a gamble by hiring paid (lowly paid and casual, but paid) part-timers early this year to take the place of the volunteer program, which really wasn’t working out. I saw the tail end of that during the Brooklyn Half expo in April, when the enormous Tina showed up and I briefly chatted with her and Tom Joyce in the ZeroSpace waiting room upstairs. Lots of attrition with the volunteers. I only lasted a year or two myself; there was a distinct lack of support for these people who were working for nothing. And so they decided to hire part-timers. But the part-timers too have suffered from attrition and JH has taken more people on in the last few months. I have a foggy notion that if I keep my nose clean and my eyes alert I can be bumped up to something more steady and serious.
Last week I bought a replacement battery for the Garmin 235, which now runs down after a few hours. Enough for a daily run, not that I’m doing that, but not enough for a 10-12 shift with nruns, where I’m doing maybe 5-6 miles of walking.
Today I took the remnants of the Cincinnati chili I made a few days ago, mixed in a can of tomato sauce, and used it to make baked ziti with the bag of shredded cheddar/jack. And it is quite good.
Must write something for Greg. The Charles Stuart thing, I think.
Took a trial sub to New York today, thinking there would be a lot to read. There wasn’t. I did however do a crossword, for the first time in decades, and finished it, in a bit under an hour. Those things are mesmerizing.
Appt with Coliseum Dental on Wednesday. Cleaning. I didn’t want to go back to them, but I’m paying the dental insurance and have not been to NYU in many weeks, because haven’t connected with the periodontal department. So, clean first, and ignore their useless extraction-happy lectures.
Seeing Dottie on Thursday. She’s tried to have me over a few times but we didn’t connect.
Doing a Peachy Keenan novena to Our Lady of Victory, for the (unstated) victory of DJT in the vote next week.
