I don't think I mentioned it, but last week at my every-two-month doctors' appointment to get my migraine prescription refilled, I asked my doctor if he would write up the order to have the Covid19 Antibody test done. I'd checked online and saw that Quest Diagnostics was now offering it and I wanted to get it done.

"Why?", you ask? Well, I have a co-worker on my team that I'm in pretty close proximity to who is a right-wing, gun toting, tin foil hat wearing, hillbilly conspiracy nut libertarian who was convinced we both had it back in early February when we both got really sick. I kept telling him there's no way we had it, I always get a bad respiratory infection once a year around that time. Yes, this was the worst I'd ever had, it was a really bad one, but not Covid19. If we did have it back then, the entire office would have gotten it and the older, more vulnerable guys would have been wiped out and they weren't. He wouldn't stop going on about how he KNEW we'd gotten it and we were an example of herd immunity working and all of this lockdown nonsense was the liberal government taking away our freedoms, blah, Blah, BLAH. Anyway, I figured, even though I was confident I'd never had the virus, I'd get the test done and then the guy would have to shut up. In the off-chance I DID have the antibodies, I would start donating plasma to the Red Cross. It's win-win.

So, I had the antibody test done last Friday and my doctor called me this past Monday night with the results. "Robin, I have good news and bad news for you!" "Give it to me doc", "The good news is, you don't have any antibodies, but the bad news is, you don't have any immunity and you can still get the virus. But you are a very good patient and a very nice person". I LOVE that last part! LOL, he didn't have to say that! When I was in his office, he asked how I was holding-up (he has been my doctor for at least 20 years, so he knows my work, family, etc.) and I told him it's hard to stay happy sometimes. We talked about it for a few moments, he gave me advice and I went on my way. So for him to say that last bit in our phone call was simply to meant to cheer me up, which was so sweet of him. I appreciate that he did it.

The next time I saw the co-worker a few days later, I told him "Sorry dude, I took the antibody test and it came up negative. We didn't have the virus". He actually had to think about it for a few minutes! He started to talk about different strains, but stopped, knowing they would have come up as well. So he finally said "Good! I'll have to tell my wife, she will be surprised". So the REALLY good part of all this is I don't have to listen to that particular theory any more from him. Small favors indeed!

Yesterday, he tried to engage me in a conversation he knew would provoke me (I don't know why, he's been doing it a lot lately). He said "Who are the democrats going to get in place of Biden?". I didn't even look up (I rolled my eyes though). I replied "They're not, it's going to be Biden". "Not if he's on trial for those illegal activities he's been caught in" (he believes all the UNPROVEN right wing propaganda). I said "It will be Biden". "He was involved in illegal activities". To which I said "Trump got elected, didn't he?", then I walked into a meeting.

I'm so tired of the bullshit the administration says and that there is actually a segment of our population that actually believes it. With no proof, he says Joe Scarborough murdered someone years ago? Really??!!?? Murder??!??!? Obama is at the center of the worst political crimes in history? Seriously? What were those crimes exactly? Actually legitimately winning the Electoral College and popular vote in his elections? Being better at his job than you are? Being well-respected? Educated? Well-spoken? Better-looking? More gracious? Dare I say it, cooler than you? Then GUILTY!!! It must kill him that Obama was asked to give a national commencement address that's going to be broadcast on all the networks and he wasn't. I wonder what he's going to be tweeting while it's on? Poison, that's what. Divisive poison.

I hope to all that is good in this world that smart people, YOUNG people vote in November and they don't sit out the election. We just can't have a repeat of 2016. Plus, remember when Trump ripped on H.W. Bush for being a loser one-term president? Please let that happen to him. I'm no huge fan of H.W. by any means, but show some manners! Keep your stupid opinions to yourself, as you should have done with John McCain. GAH, I'm getting worked up and need to think about something else.

Deep breaths. Smile!

I was hoping the Thrilling Adventure Hour was going to be on this weekend, but I haven't gotten an email invitation, so it's not looking good. They've been averaging every two weeks or so. I guess they're busy? As they didn't have a broadcast, last week my friends and I got our cocktails ready and each logged in to watch Paul F. Tomkins and Rhea Seehorn read for Hate Mail and it was hilarious!

I'll have to check with my friends and see if they've come across any other shows that are on the internet this weekend.

Wish me luck!

Stay safe and healthy!!!

As always, working out of the house was better today than it was on Friday. I don't know if it's because Fridays are the end of a long week or if Mondays are after a weekend after a long week, but Mondays always seem a little easier, they go by faster than Fridays do when I work from home.

Or maybe it's the TV. I had it turned on this past Friday, but I didn't have it on at all until Governor Gavin came on at noon. I don't get a chance to watch his news conferences at work, so it's nice to watch them while I'm at home.

All the clients I spoke with today seemed to be in good spirits, which was really nice. It also made for a good day that I had a pretty good playlist going: Burt Bacharach, Jack Jones, Dean Martin, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald… you know, 50's and 60's stuff. I had that on most of the day, then put on some 70's disco and R&B. I can listen to music at work, but it's gotta be on low, I don't want to disturb any of the other 6 people still working there, LOL. At home I can play as loud as I like.

I've always loved the song "Wives and Lovers" by Jack Jones, but I recently paid attention to the lyrics...Jeez! You couldn't get more misogynistic! I guess it was just a different time. I still like the song though, there's just something about it. I guess you can hate the lyrics, but like a song, right?

I had a client call when I had "Shake Your Groove Thing" playing kinda loud. I had to scramble to get the volume down before they heard it, HA!

The weekend was on the quiet side, my big errand was going to Target to pick up a prescription refill and buy a new mop and bucket. Woo-Hoo! I got to spend my Sunday mopping my kitchen and bathroom floors! That's living BABY!!! At least they're clean. I've been using a Swiffer Wet Jet to clean them, but they always looked a little dirty after I was done, so I wanted to get a real mop (I threw my old one out when I moved out of my last place). I'm glad I did! The floors, especially the kitchen, were dirty, if the water was any indication (which it definitely is!).

Tomorrow is probably going to be a crummy-but-not-too-bad day. I have a client that I gave forms to back in early December that finally got them back to me in early April. Well, in the interim, the forms had been updated, so I couldn't accept them. I'd been following-up with them every few weeks and they were always "in the mail this afternoon", so I finally gave up. I figured I was only making them angry asking for docs, so they'd get them back when they could. Too bad it ended-up being 7 days after they were updated, D'Oh! So now I have two conference calls scheduled for early tomorrow morning (the first one is at 5:30am) one with our accounts department and the other one with legal so I can see if there was any way to salvage what they gave me. I'm definitely not looking forward to this.

At least the weather is cooling down....

I haven't really had much to post lately. Trying to keep a positive attitude and stay grateful for all the little (and big) things I have. I'm doing okay. Sometimes it's a struggle to keep a smile on my face and not give away that I'm worried. Sleep is difficult a lot of the time.

I decided to reach out to some of our clients and see how they were doing. I purposefully chose those who were fairly local to me, had health issues in the recent past and who were on the older side. Basically, I called and said that I hadn't talked with them in a few weeks and wanted to make sure everything was okay. I wasn't calling about business, I was calling about them and their families and wanted to know if they needed anything. Do they need toilet paper? Kleenex? Are their supplies holding-up? Do they need me to pick anything up for them? I said that as I was going into the office Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I could help out if they needed it. I also picked-up a big pack of toilet paper last week and put it in my trunk for anyone who needs it. Everyone was so surprised that someone was checking on them and not wanting anything in return.

These people are more than clients to us, we actually care about them. I told them the same thing I tell everyone I know, "If you need anything, you call or email me. Do NOT feel that you can't reach out. I am fortunate enough to be able to work out of the home, as well as in the home, so I really want you to let me know if you need help".

Turned-out one gal I called was in the hospital. She'd fallen late last week, had surgery as a result and was in a residential rehabilitation center. She hadn't told anyone, apart from her brother. "What can I do to help?", she almost started crying.

The best call I made was to a 95 year-old. She's a firecracker and really smart. We chatted for a minute, she thanked me for calling and then basically, sighed and said "I have a man about to show-up regarding my air conditioner. I should go so I can be sure to be ready for him". By that, she meant that the guy didn't know what he was dealing with, she wasn't your typical 95 year-old, she is sharp as a tack and no pushover. He will NOT be overcharging her! I wish I could have been there to see her meet with the guy. Before the lockdown, once a month she would cook for 16 lady friends in her group, hosting luncheons for them at her home.

If you can, call someone who may be alone or someone who is older and possibly vulnerable. Just hearing your voice will make them feel better and it might just make you feel good too.

Working from home tomorrow. Not sure how I feel about that. I really do prefer to go into the office...

Stay safe and healthy everyone.

Just a note - Last night while I was getting ready to go to sleep, I thought about the post that I put up here yesterday and I felt terribly guilty and ashamed. How selfish am I to moan about something so trivial? Just because a birthday that hasn't even happened yet isn't going to go as I'd hoped or planned? How dare I feel sorry for myself over something that I should be used to anyway? I need to put that energy into something worthwhile, not wallowing in self-pity. I'll keep those feelings to a minimum and it's probably best to keep them to myself.

So, I've deleted the text of that post. I'm sorry I even put those emotions into text.

Working from home today.


Stay safe everyone.

After the excitement at work yesterday, there was no way today could compete! It was a dull, Dull, DULL day. For the first 3 hours it was just two of us in the entire office. We each had music on kinda loud (who were we gonna bother?) and the phones were quiet. My boss got in to make it a trio, then about two hours after that, a couple of the other folks came in for a bit. Actually, one of them hadn't been in the office for a few weeks (he thought his wife had the virus), so it was weird seeing him with his bushy hair and big smile, just happy to be out of the house. He's the step son of the guy who passed out yesterday, so he drove him in.

The best bit was, the kid made a production about going down the hall to the mens room and propping open our door as he'd forgotten his key and didn't want to walk the long way. He was gone for A WHILE. I started to think maybe he went downstairs to the lone food truck in our area or something, he was gone so long. Finally, he came back and we were teasing him. He wasn't saying anything and his cheeks were red and he had a big nervous smile on his face. I said "What did you do?" and he says "I may have clogged the toilet in the mens room". As we all have the sense of humor of a group of 5 year-olds, we burst out laughing. How do you not know for sure that you clogged a toilet? He was in there so long because he was trying to figure out how to fix the situation, LOL!! My boss shouts from his office "Don't you know you're supposed to flush as you go?" The poor kid! Then I had to call the building to send someone up. They start asking me questions about the clog and I have to say, really loudly "Why, I don't know how bad it's clogged, let me ask the person who reported it" and "I'm not sure if there's water on the floor or not, hang on...". We will never let him live it down, HA! He's such a skinny little hipster kid, I would have thought one of our more robust gentlemen in the office would have jammed up the pipes. He took our ribbing in stride though. He's a good kid.

Then it started to get warm in the office. I think, as there are so few tenants actually coming in to such a large building, they aren't always turning on the air and it got into the 80's in downtown yesterday and today, so it was stuffy. We're going to have to call tomorrow and ask for a little air. My end of the floor faces south, so we get a lot of sun. Beautiful view, but a lot of sun.

Ah well, looking forward to tomorrow, not for any particular reason. Just looking forward to a new day.

Stay safe and healthy you guys! And in the words of my boss, "Always flush as you go"

Thank goodness I was back in the office today and don't have to work remotely until Friday. It was nice to have a land line phone, a proper desk and chair, two computer monitors and best of all, no asshole cat yelling at me, walking on my keyboard, laying down on my trackball (while my hand is on it) or batting my pens onto the floor!

All kidding aside, it really was good that I was in the office. There's an older guy I work with that has an office near me that I play-clash with all the time. Dude used to answer his phone "Trump Headquarters". BAH! You know, we kid around and I give him shit for being a conservative Republican and slam his door shut every time he listens to Rush on high volume. I've told him "You can blast anything you want, but not him!" The shrieking! "Hillarrrrrry!!!!" Jeez, get a new topic! Oh wait, he shrieks about Nancy Pelosi now too. Anyway, we were talking about how his new face mask looks like a jockstrap (I swear, it does!) and he threw his head back a couple of times snorting with laughter, I thought he was going to say "yeah right" or something (we'd been laughing, it wasn't a serious conversation), but he didn't! His head went back, cracked against the corner of the door jam, he twisted around and went down. HARD! Crash!! I jumped up and called out for our boss (I forgot he was on crutches) and another co-worker to come help. He was only about 4 feet from me, so I went directly to his head, lifted it and straightened it out so his airway was clear and got a co-worker to get his legs straight. I'm holding his head calling out his name, asking if he can hear me. He was breathing, but not responding. He finally came around about a minute later (a loooong minute) and had no idea he was on the floor and not standing up (seriously, he thought he was still standing) and had no memory of blacking out and going down. It was scary!

We got him a cold bottle of water, a bowl of fresh berries and toast. He said he hadn't eaten yet when it happened, so I'm guessing his blood sugar dropped too low. He's a big guy, I'd say 6'2, 350lbs. No way I'd be able to shift him by myself. He eats like crap (2-3 donuts every morning, in addition to his breakfast), so is probably diabetic, but doesn't know it. When we talked about it, he said he was feeling crummy earlier at home and saw spots, but came in to the office anyway (no, he doesn't have the virus, he was tested Friday and everything came back negative). Who knows what would have happened if it happened when he was alone? I mean, he was in the office by himself for part of yesterday when the rest of us worked from home. He could have really hurt himself!

I kind of have to laugh though, if it hadn't have gone right, the last conversation he had would have been how his mask looks like a jockstrap.

The rest of the day was uneventful. A client that I was supposed to talk with on the holiday last week, but didn't answer when I called, finally sent me some of the documents I need and said he wanted to talk with me today, but never called. I was able to have calls with everyone else on my calendar, so that was good. Got a lot done.

So, yeah, kind of a mixed bag for a Tuesday!

My first day of working from home is done. To be honest, it kinda sucked. It was too quiet and I snacked all day. All. Day. Plus, I was able to put stuff off until I go in to the office tomorrow, so it feels like I didn't get much done. I mean, I got some stuff done, but not a ton. Gotham tried to help by jumping-up on the dining table and batting my pens onto the floor, but it didn't really help much, in the traditional sense of "helping".

I'm definitely more productive when I have the structure of an office. Hopefully, Friday will be better! The next three days I'm back in the office, YAY! Who would have thought I'd want to go in to work?

I have to admit, while I did put on make-up and stuff as though I was going in, it was nice wearing comfy clothes and not having the ringing phones...………