Trickery Treats

 

It's officially Halloween.   It's that time of year where folks that celebrate it dress up in masks for one day a year and may partake in debauchery.    Unfortunately with our current Orange administration, debauchery is an everyday occurrence.    It's not a matter of if it occurs but rather when and what now.

This last week alone Orange has been busy admiring Republican (or Repugnant-can as Dom likes to call them) Jon Husted's ass.    He kept going on and on at his rally's on how he couldn't stop looking at it.  In the past he has spoken about the late golf great Arnold Palmer's genitals and recently was filmed touching some other guy's genitals.   To continue his misogyny against women he proceeded to objectify the repugnant Nicki Minaj's body.  Folks have concluded she's allowing herself to be degraded so that she doesn't get deported and her criminally convicted husband and brother don't get deported as well.  Minaj also is reportedly being considered for the new Press Secretary role after the disastrous performance of their former press secretary Katie Zacharia.    Zacharia made the former Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt look like a professional as opposed to a professional looney.  I guess Minaj can't be any worse than Zacharia who they fired less than five days after her disastrous debut.

Thankfully independent media has kept me updated on all the shenanigans going on in this country.   As I mentioned before I primarily get my news from various Youtube independent media sources.   I watched the episode where DL Hughley guest starred on Don Lemon's show and they floated the idea of taking their interactions on the road.

So when I saw that they actually had a national tour called DL + DL - Anything Goes (clever marketing that I remember Don had suggested) I thought it would be fun to see them if they had Chicago as a stop.   I didn't really think further on it until two weeks back when I looked to see their current schedule.    It so happened that they were planning a Chicago show on 10/30.

The venue was happening at the Chicago Theatre at 7:30 PM.   Since I work in downtown Chicago I would basically hang out in Chicago for the duration of the day until showtime.    It would be a very long day though.   I wake up at 4AM during my office days to leave the house at 6AM for my train to downtown.   Typically I leave the office at 3:30 PM to catch the 4PM train back home.   But seeing the show meant that I would have to wait until the 11:15 PM train and not get home until after midnight the next day.

But I have seen shows in the past after work when Dom would take the train to meet me.  So it wasn't a foreign concept.   Thankfully it would be Friday so at least I would be able to sleep in (and I did...LOL).

So yes I decided to get a ticket.  I wound up sitting in the box seat area.   I had expectations that I would have a little more space then I wound up having.   But the seats around me were a bit closer than I would've liked.   I had thought about getting seats on the main floor, including a corner seat that had one empty seat by me.   However, the app prevented me from getting that seat because it only left a single seat between folks (like other single people might not be going).   It was ridiculous.    The box seat I chose was a single seat and the nearest seat was drawn like it would be a few feet away.   It wasn't.  It was only separated by a bar covered in red curtains.    That was disappointing (see the picture I attached near the end of this post, my jacket marks the spot where I sat).   But luckily nobody sat in that one seat.

Work was relatively quiet that day.   Casework was relatively light for the week.    To my surprise they actually had a lot of free breakfast burritos that day.    So eating two of those filled me up for most of the day.   I decided that I would do a 5pm dinner at Nando's Peri-Peri restaurant on Randolph and Michigan Ave.    Nando's is a South African eatery known for all things chicken and their famous peri-peri sauce that they marinate their chicken in for at least 24 hours.

Food had to be ordered through a QR code which also gave you the option of pre-paying for the dinner.   I was dismayed that the host sat me between two other couples on a banquette.   One of the couples left and then they seated a family with a cute baby that couldn't help to turn around and look at me.    It was so sweet.   The food itself was really good.   I had their wings (small but mighty) with their spicy peri-peri sauce and then for the main, I chose three boneless thighs soaked in a mild mango lime sauce with a side of Portuguese rice and veggies.    I would probably choose different sides next time but the star of the show was a solid winner.

The restaurant wasn't far from Millennium Station where I waited for about 20 minutes after dinner until I made my way to the theatre.    Once at the theatre it was a few minutes wait until security opened their door.   They made me check-in my work bag which I guess was for the best.   I decided to treat myself to a $15 Cabernet.

The show was slated to start at 7:30 but didn't actually start until 8PM.   It started with a montage that introduced the two main men.    I actually had no idea that Don Lemon and DL Hughley hated each other prior since they seem to get along well now.   DL Hughley initially criticized Don Lemon due to Lemon's comments about black supporters of Orange.   He found Lemon's remarks disrespectful and dismissive of a particular segment of the black community.   It took the women in their lives to have them see their commonalities and ultimately they decided to reconcile.

Once the montage was done, Don Lemon came out first.   He basically did a live show like he would on Youtube.   His montage discussed everything from President Obama taking honest jabs at Orange's laser focus on redesigning the White House as opposed to solving real world problems to Orange's continued attacks on journalists and whether Orange is really in the closet.

After his set was done, DL Hughley came out and performed his own sets.   He had a lot of jokes that mostly landed on the political spectrum over the last several years, including jabs at COVID-19, the Jan 6 rioters, Epstein, and Erika Kirk.   It was a very funny set.

After it was done, Don came back out and joined DL on a makeshift living room set to have their own dialogue that mostly delved into politics.   Throughout the show it was reminded that we all need to vote next Tuesday to ensure the Democrats win enough seats to take over the House and Senate.   Dom and I early voted last Tuesday.

The current mayor of Chicago Brandon Johnson wound up being their guest star for the evening.   Johnson was giving his take on tackling the problems of the city.    There wound up being a heckler that sat not far from me (in the next box seat) shouting if the Southside of Chicago was safe.    He said it a couple times with some folks around him shouting back that it was safe.   The heckler wound up leaving shortly afterwards.   Johnson touted that his summer jobs program employed 33,000 local Chicago teens which I thought was pretty impressive.

The segment ended with DL making jokes about Don's recent arrest (for doing his job as a journalist) and not wanting him or Johnson to catch Don's cooties.   LOL.

Overall the show was very funny.  I had an annoying lady sit at the booth behind me (that wound up being closer than advertised - pic coming up soon) shaking her popcorn bag and laughing loud.   She did not have her phone on silent and it kept ringing as well.    Thankfully she wound up moving to a different area after a couple other late patrons came in and confirmed she was sitting in the wrong seat. 

The latecomers was another thing that irked.   Thankfully I didn't have a seat directly in front of me though to that immediate right were two seats (though both ladies were thankfully on time).   I guess it's all the price you have to pay when dealing with the public.

I also got a chuckle when slowly making my way out of the venue I overheard a lady bitching to a friend about a peanut-head gentleman that was blocking her view and seemed to adjust his head the same way she was going.   I will say I do not enjoy interacting with the public often and prefer to be home away from people.   But Dom and I will be out and about next weekend for another show playing at the Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago.    We're seeing the play Kowalski starring Johnny Galecki (of Big Bang Theory fame which is Dom's favorite TV show) and Jacob Moskovitz.    It's supposed to be an imagined scenario where Tennessee Williams meets Marlon Brando for the first time.   I wonder if there may be some homoerotic scenes.    Anyway it'll be a matinee performance so we'll hopefully be home before 8pm.    The good thing too is that SouthShore is giving veterans free rides that weekend so Dom will be able to ride both ways for free.

Gaslit E

 I made the decision earlier this year to switch my primary doctor to be the same one that Dom has.   I had one doctor that I've been going to for the last several years but I've felt like he hasn't been giving me the best care.   It seemed that his service has been pretty impersonal.   Also the last few visits I've noticed that he's been looking haggard and gained a bit of weight.   I felt like if he's not taking care of his own health then how can I expect him to care for mine.

Dom has been praising his newer primary doctor that he's had for a year or so.   He had wanted a male primary but the one he had wound up passing away.    He had a hard time finding another male doctor so settled on his current one.    

I had complained about my current primary and he suggested I switch over to his.  I was reluctant at first mainly because I wasn't sure about having a lady primary doctor.   I remember Mama always wanted a lady primary for her.   When she was in the hospital I remember her insisting wanting a female orderly to look over her.   In a lot of ways I was having the same hang up.   But then Dom pointed out that doctors hardly do physicals the way they used to do them.   So I decided to let go of my hang-up and officially switch over to his primary.

So far I've had two sessions with Gupta.   I will say that I don't know if I've noticed much of a difference between her and my previous primary.   Oddly enough though the two times I've visited her, my blood pressure readings both times were in the normal range (120/78 - 80).    That seemed so weird to me.   I had been adding a few more supplements including nattokinase which is an enzyme extracted from fermented foods.  I will say perhaps the extra walking when going to the office has helped.

However I've been off my routine for a few days and when visiting Dom's Mom and using her wrist blood pressure monitor to measure my blood pressure, it was reading 170/133 which is full on heart attack mode.    So I can't help but wonder if I'm being gaslighted at my primary.   But as I said I have been off my routine for a bit and maybe I need to get some exercise back again to see if things improve.

Incidentally I've taken two weeks off from work though I've still had to briefly check in since I had a few cases that were still in my name.   It's not like when I worked at my previous corporate job where taking off two weeks meant not logging in at all.    But I believe I've gotten things under control so hopefully I should be able to enjoy the rest of my time off.   Dom has not been happy with me still checking in for work.

Dom and I plan to early vote tomorrow even though Indiana usually winds up going Republican.   But I do hope maybe enough folks who identify as Republican wake up and realize that Agent Orange needs to be impeached and the only way to try and do so is to go blue.   I'm not holding my breath but miracles do happen sometimes.

Blessings Bestowed

As long as we wake up breathing it's another day where life seems to throw so much to deal with.   This has been a crazy year so far with Dom's health issues, the court drama, power outage, and our radiator going out.   It just seemed to be one problem after another.    But we managed to navigate through it all.

Every once in a while we get reminded that life has a way of throwing blessings as well.   Two of those blessings came our way this week.   The first was getting to see my friend Doug again.   I mentioned previously that he was in my neighborhood last week training for a new job that he started last week.   He was back in town this past week and he was determined to see me.   He mentioned Friday would be the best day.  

My plan was to work from the office Friday but I had a work issue that required me to be in the office on Thursday.  I thankfully was able to get that resolved.   Also on Friday I needed to get blood work done for an upcoming doctor appointment on Monday.    So I had to be home on Friday.   I took care of that and was blessed to find most of my results were in line save some minor abnormalities.

Doug wound up calling me around 10AM Friday.   He was able to finish his training early and just so happened to be in my area.   He just needed my address which I provided.    I was so excited when he rang the doorbell.    I went to answer the door and we spent the first minute or two just laughing and being excited to see each other and how we changed.    He reminded me that the last time we saw each other was when I visited him in Atlanta in 2013.

He got the chance to meet Dom for the first time and we had a chance to briefly catch up.   He was doing good and mentioned being on a health kick since he needed to have hip replacement surgery.   He reminded me of my health kicks that I used to do.   It was so great catching up with him.

He needed to leave though since he had to be at the airport by 1pm.   Things were oddly Meta though when he mentioned his phone needed charging as it was almost dead.   When I went to see him in 2013, I recalled my phone was near death as well and died just when I was in his neighborhood.   I had my charger with me though so I was able to charge it as soon as I found Doug's home.   Doug didn't have a charger it seems.   I unfortunately didn't have one that worked for his phone since he had an iPhone.   I directed him to a nearby Walgreens before he left and prayed that he would make it back to the airport on time.    Everything thankfully worked out and he made it back to Atlanta safely.    It truly was a blessing seeing him.

Dom received an unexpected blessing as well.   Our favorite bank (NOT!) Centier is going through an upgrade of their systems which is requiring a temporary login when they get back online Monday.   It just so happens that Monday is when our monthly mortgage payment is due.   They mentioned that access to check balances online would be disabled after 6pm on October 2nd.  I transferred some money that was due to arrive in our joint on that day.   

With everything that happened earlier, the excitement of seeing Doug, work, and losing our internet an hour after Doug left, I didn't get a chance to check that the transfer went in.    Thankfully the internet came back after I called them around 4pm to get it fixed.

Around 5:30 I remembered that I needed to check the joint account to verify that the transfer went through and there was enough money for the automatic mortgage payment on the 5th.   My transfer did go through but something else put me in shock.  I saw that our joint had over twenty grand in it.   Apparently the Social Security department sent a one-tie back payment to Dom.   I believe it may go back to one year.   It's the most money the joint account has ever had at one time.

I questioned if it was real but apparently it's a thing.   This is definitely a blessing that wasn't expected.   Dom plans to use some of it to pay off his medical debt including the recent settlement we had in court.   He also said he wanted to give me $5000 to help cover my credit card debt and pay back some of what I've paid for his hobby.   It is definitely a nice gesture and it should help make me whole again. He even asked me about the mortgage.   Technically some of it could pay off the remaining balance which is currently $1500 (so crazy that it's almost paid off).   I told him not to worry about the mortgage since I already am on track to paying it off by January 2027 at the latest.

I always kept thinking how nice it would be to have an extra $10K fall in my lap.   Technically it fell in Dom's lap but close enough.   What a blessing indeed.

Headset Politics

 I never knew something as simple as replacing a headset would serve as a reflection of what happens due to my antisocial tendencies at work.   As I've previously mentioned, prior to recent developments in having new teammates, I was working solo at my Chicago office.   Since my work was separate from the other support teams, I tended to be on my own.    There was one guy that worked in one of the other support teams that happened to be part of the same Salesforce program that I participated in 2021.    But we would only chat briefly before going about our separate days.   He then wound up leaving the company in September 2025.   Oddly enough it coincided with one of our companies recent layoffs so when I saw his account was deactivated, I worried that he was impacted by the layoffs.    But when I reached out to him on LinkedIn he said he chose to leave to pursue another opportunity.    There is one other guy that is generally friendly to everyone who I chat with briefly from time to time.    But any communication to my actual team has to be done via our chat boards since the majority of my teammates are based in Indianapolis.

So Hemingway last month I was telling my manager that my headset had seen better days and wanted to see if I could order a replacement.    She mentioned that there were new headsets ordered a few months back that was distributed to the different managers and that I was supposed to get one.   I had never gotten the memo.   I mentioned I would reach out to that "one other guy" (let's call him Roland).

Roland was so nice about it and mentioned he would look further into it.   He mentioned he would reach out to the manager of the other support group.   However, I later learned that the manager was currently out on paternity leave.    Unfortunately Roland wasn't able to make any headway.   

The sound on the headset worked perfectly fine.   It was just that the ear foams were spilling out which made them look horrible.   I'm sure other folks around me were making fun of my headset.   After a month I finally decided to look through my previous headset order to see if I could find the exact model.   It ended up I had ordered my current headset sometime in early 2024.

Once I got the correct model, I was able to find replacement ear foams for under $10.   Thankfully I ordered the correct ones and I was able to replace it and save my existing headset.

The whole thing had me thinking how due to my lack of socializing with the team, I was overlooked for new headsets.   Maybe if I made an effort to talk to their team, I wouldn't have been ignored.  I never was good at small talk.   But part of it too is that my homebase office is still Indianapolis.   For example, Boston mentioned that the senior leadership team was meeting with Chicago support team.   I wasn't included in the meeting.    It was only later that I realized that it was because of my Home Office.    I get notices whenever the Indianapolis office has meetings.   So it's likely I wasn't on any list when it came time to distributing headsets and nobody thought of me.

The newer team members that are joining my support team will all have Chicago as their homebase.   It may be time for me to officially make the switch.    A part of me wants to stay based in Indianapolis just because it makes my taxes easier.    When I worked at the aviation company and Amazon in Illinois, I had to file both Illinois and Indiana state taxes which was a pain in the butt.   It always felt like I was being double taxed (though in actuality I typically got a refund from Illinois while owing Indiana due to Lake County taxes).   It is possible I'm leaving extra money on the table by not switching but I do like how much easier my taxes are now.    There's no rush though.

From A Distance

 Bette Midler - From A Distance

VERSES

From a distance the world looks blue and green,
And the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
And the eagle takes to flight.

From a distance, there is harmony
And it echoes through the land.
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,
It's the voice of every man.

From a distance we all have enough,
And no one is in need.
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease,
No hungry mouths to feed.

From a distance we are instruments,
Marching in a common band.
Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace.
They're the songs of every man.

REFRAIN

God is watching us. God is watching us.
God is watching us from a distance.

The lyrics from this song are inspirational though definitely not our reality.    The world is not harmonious, folks are in need, guns and bombs are aplenty, and disease is ever present.   The skies are still blue and there are snow-capped mountains but humans are quickly chipping away at that.   We get daily reminders in life of this and it doesn't help that our current administration is slowing taking away our basic rights.

There is one thing I believe is still true.  God indeed is watching us.   A lot of times we don't understand why bad things continue to happen to good people but God is watching over us.   I was reminded of this when I received a phone call last week from my college friend Doug who mentioned that he was in my neck of the woods for his training at a new job he got at Motorola.  

We reminisced about old times and I couldn't help but remember our time at the club 9.9.   I actually blogged about that experience before in my original blog.   I kept a paper journal (which I've since lost) back in the early 90's (that was a whole lifetime ago over 30 years ago).   To recap I was part of an organization called National Society of Black Engineers.   Our chapter of the organization attended a national conference that was being held in Houston, Texas.   I believe we attended that conference in 1993.   I remember that the R&B group SWV was hitting the scene and they had two songs that were making waves, I'm So Into You and Weak.   Former college friend Earvin and I were riding in a rental when Weak started playing.    I remember telling Earvin how I enjoyed the song and Earvin saying that the ladies sounded like chipmunks.   I remember that comment making me chuckle.

Hemingway the experience that stuck with me the most was my time at a ghetto club called 9.9.   I had my version of my experiences there but when I reunited with Doug years after my first blog entry he shared a version of the story that I didn't remember.   He told me that I was almost jumped by three random hoodlums who were up to no good.   Doug said that he was standing off from a distance checking out the scene when he heard three guys talking and pointing at me saying that they were planning to rob me as soon as I left the club.    Doug said he was worried about me but didn't know what to do.   He stood still and was watching me from afar.    He said he was praying that I wouldn't leave the club on my own.

Next is where my version of the events and Doug's version of the events differ.   In my version I pretty much was standing in one spot (Doug and my recollection of that was clear).  I did not see Doug or Rick at all.   I did see Earvin having his fun with some locals.   Eventually Earvin comes to me and the two of us split up looking for Doug and Rick.    When we don't find them, we go outside and when walking to the car, we see Doug and Rick waiting there.

Now in Doug's version, he says that he was racing in his mind trying to figure out what to do to save me.   He mentioned that there was a girl fight that distracted the random hoodlums and other patrons.    He said during this time that he quickly came up to me and told me that we needed to go and to ask no questions.   He mentioned that we both went outside away from the club.

I don't remember the events playing out that way at all.   I feel like he would've told me that sooner.  Hell I would think I would remember being ushered out of the club.    But nonetheless if I truly was about to be jumped, all I can say was that God truly was watching out for me that night.   Who knows how the trajectory of my life might've changed had I gotten mugged that night.   Maybe I may not even be here today.   I do thank goodness guns weren't involved as shootings have become all the more prevalent.

But now that I think about it, comparing our two versions of the story, maybe Doug is misremembering who the potential victim was.    Maybe Rick was the one that was in danger and he actually was saving him instead of me.   The next time I talk to Rick I'll have to bring up the story to see if he remembers it the same way.    Either way none of us had any business going to that place.   God truly was watching us to get us unscathed.  

Growing Work Spurts

 My company in the last few months have been steadily working to add new employees to the mix.   With the proliferation of AI, my company's stance initially was to continuously reduce head count due to the perceived benefits of utilizing AI.    But AI isn't the end all be all when it comes to providing customer support.   Feedback from a growing number of customers has been the frustration of having to deal with an AI bot before they can connect to a human support agent.   A lot of times the recommendations from AI didn't correctly address the issues that customers were complaining about.  It does appear that the company may have finally heard the complaints and subsequently have decided to temporarily increase head counts.    Of course there's no guarantees that they won't reduce head count again at some point in the future.

One change is that my team is planning to add members to the Chicago office where I'm located.   I have been the solo Chicago member for more than two years.   But that ended when a second member named Boston was added in early July to my team.   Of course since I was the only Chicago member of my team, I was chosen to be his mentor.   Interestingly enough Boston's personality almost mirrors mine.   He is a bit quiet and he also has a tendency to want to retreat to quieter areas of the office.   In fact we don't always sit together.   I didn't interview him prior but I oddly felt like Boston may have reminded my manager of me.   He's a really cool guy and I look forward to him contributing positively to the team.

I also got pulled into doing a few interviews in search of more team members for the Chicago office.   They are wanting to grow our support presence in Chicago.    I hate doing interviews but I have to remind myself it's better doing them on the company side than me on the outside interviewing trying to find a new work home.    I performed three interviews so far (with more coming in the future no doubt).   Only one of the three showed potential promise.  Romero I learned actually is from Griffith, IN which isn't too far from where I live.   He spent some time working at call centers for tech support which I felt would be good for our chat cases.    He did wind up accepting an offer and will start work in Chicago on October 5th (though I'm guessing he may work from home initially that first week).

My manager also mentioned that a fourth person is planning to relocate to the Chicago area.   I met her last week when she briefly visited the office.   I had to meet her in the lobby so she could get a visitor's pass.   My manager wanted to meet with her directly (via Google meet) but was busy with several meetings including an interview.    So since she wasn't available to meet with her, she had me take a photo with Padma.    My manager mentioned that she has some good experience working in Support.   I wasn't clear if she was a current employee or not but at some point she'll be starting work in Chicago as well.

So I've gone from being solo to having three new co-workers.   It'll definitely be an adjustment for me as I've gotten used to being alone.   There's a lot of office politics that I've mostly avoided because I wasn't near my team.   It'll be interesting too to see how the new team members play off each other.   

Still Kicking

 Another summer is soon coming to an end.   It's been a crazy one with Dom's health and court issues as well as the inclement weather that came through our region.   I still need to get the solar battery backup, repair the roof, and cut back some of our tree branches.   To top it off I need to get my old car for its annual maintenance, which is overdue.   All of that requires money.   My credit card debt has definitely creeped higher which I hate.   I have to figure out how to prioritize everything.

I did apply for a hardship credit from work last Friday for $800 that I'm hoping they will decide to credit me for.   That cost covers all the food expenses we had during and after the derecho storm.    That was a crazy time especially with the back and forth of visiting Dom in the hospital.     We've gotten some of the bills which actually weren't too bad so far but I'm waiting for the big one for Dom's overall hospital stay.   I'm wondering too if we'll also get individual doctor bills as well.    This will be in addition to the $607 a month we'll have to pay for his previous medical debt as agreed upon from our last court date.

I am getting a small bonus by the end of September, which right now I'm planning to allocate towards my credit card debt.   On the positive the mortgage is inching closer and closer to being paid off.    I'm anticipating paying it off either in Dec 2026 or Jan 2027 which is so exciting.   It's a milestone I've been working towards for a few years now since I started my career's second act.   I had originally targeted June or July of this year to have it paid off but life.    Assuming I make the new goal that would put me completely paying it off around the ten year mark of my thirty year loan.    It's so wild to pay off a 30 year mortgage in about ten years.

I haven't really been feeling like blogging lately but I wanted to post a quick entry since the month of September is almost half over.   Time is really flying and it truly waits for noone.    Till my next entry.