Work, life and other detours [II]

I ended up finding a script for certificate generation using InDesign and a Google Sheets CSV. I prepared instructions for that and MailChimp distribution. The workflow mangled French names, but that was all the time I had to help technically unsophisticated staff. Same thing with Zoom, they preferred the much more manual (and proprietary) approach in the end. :person_shrugging:

Good news. I found my way back into municipal public service.[1] Yet another short-term contract, but still something tangible. At least, I am not being paid peanuts now. I will see how that goes…

I have been lurking for so long this year that I have been starting to get those forum digests again. As I noted, if I am busy, I tend not to log in so much, even though I still follow things.

[1] On my second day, I developed COVID-19 symptoms - my first time ever. What a way to start a new job. After being cleared, I am still having some long-COVID. Hope it goes away soon.

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That’s great, congrats.

Not great, sorry to hear that. In my case the residual symptoms cleared up in a few weeks - take care of yourself!

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It’s always a delight playing on the SY, this time with a steel guitarist and violinist at a luncheon. 75% of the proceeds went toward the Apple Dev renewal fee.

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I cannot read the score: are they lyrics, chord progressions or something else? What is the instrument to the middle left? The photo’s stretched perspective is throwing me off balance.

Lead sheet is out for the song “Perfidia” featuring the pedal steel guitar seen to the middle left.

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My son plays some pedal steel. Jerry Garcia got pretty good at it (it is he playing on Teach Your Children), but he said it would take another lifetime to really learn it.

Here is one of my favorite pedal steel performances:

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I also see a nylon string (classical) guitar headstock poking out between everything else…

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Another directions that pedal steel can go…

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I have been working in transportation services at the city, handling fleet, facilities and winter portfolios focusing on coordination and telematics. The commute is great: only 10-20 minutes drive! I work in the office two days a week now. How is your commute and hybrid work schedule?

Still looking for that permanent job. Had an interview yesterday. It is a more challenging IT position, so although it would greatly improve the quality of life for me, it may still be out of arms’ reach… It does appear to be something I would enjoy and I rarely get any interviews, so :crossed_fingers:.

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Hope you’ll do well on the interview.

We go to the office 2-3 times per week. Two days are fixed with the whole team there, 1 kind of floating/optional. I commute by public transport, ~25 minutes one way. If weather is good, and I don’t have to carry a lot, I walk part of it (15 - 20 minutes) on the way home (sometimes I do the shopping on the home trip).

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Well, it looks like life is throwing me another curve ball.

A week and a half ago, I had a 30 second collapse / seizure type thing while volunteering at a Community Garden I’ve been helping out at. Following a visit to A&E, I am now not allowed to drive for the next 6 months, and I am now awaiting a referral to cardiology for more tests, and I am currently wearing a hospital issued HRM for 2 weeks.

Annoyingly I was just starting to apply for work, following being made redundant on health grounds last May. But now I am putting job hunting on the back burner until I figure out what is going on health wise.

Fingers crossed it won’t be a years wait for a cardiology appointment.

But I’ll now be limited on where I can go for photography trips, either by public transport, or by car sharing with friends from my photography club.

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Ouch @Brian_Innes sorry to hear that and hopefully it improves quickly!

:frowning_face:
Very sorry to hear of your health crisis.

@Brian_Innes Thanks for the update.

Sorry to hear, Brian.

And for extra fun, I’ve been started on Blood Pressure Medication… I never expected to be geriatric at only 46! :upside_down_face: I always thought high blood pressure was an old person thing!

Not so. Reminder: The more meds you take, the more you need to be acutely aware of interactions between foods and meds, and among meds. For example, grapefruit and friends interact or interfere with a whole lot of meds. Take care!

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Yeah no some of us were born with it. :cry: At 46 I had been taking BP med for almost thirty years already. Recently I had to work through my recovery period after a surgery. I should have taken three days off, but in my work there is no such benefit. Well my work output during those three days was unapologetically substandard. I felt bad but it was just due to being way overexahausted. Work, the managers and administrators simply do not care about my health, nor do they listen. Obtaining pay since the pandemic has been terrible, too. Now, each time I work, an admisitrator must request my payment from a manager, who then must consult the finance committee, who usually thumbs down the request, and usually no payment occurs even though the manager can override the committee. HR doesn’t care, they will only offer assistance to their salaried administrators and managers. If you contact HR, they find a reason to put a write-up into your department folder. I’ve had them rescind two letters in the past after pointing out that the retaliation actions violate local labor laws. It is my firm belief that someday they are going to get theirs in the end, so I just keep showing up to work my job.

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I always thought that presbyopia was an old person thing (literally, the root presbys means old in Ancient Greek), until I had to get reading glasses.

Hope your condition improves.

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