(no subject)
My knee wound is officially itchy. I have an ice pack on it right now because you can't feel both cold and itching at the same time. So my body has decided to make it feel like stinging instead, even under the ice. Motherfucker. I wonder if I can put Neosporin underneath the Tegaderm....we have the kind with a numbing agent in it!
The only thing worse than a yeast infection (brought on, of course, by the Keflex I'm taking for my knee) is a yeast infection on your period. I normally use a divacup, but I can't because I'm treating the yeast infection. (I use home-made capsules of boric acid--so much less messy and unpleasant than OTC stuff, not to mention CHEAP.) I have some fabric pads I sometimes use as backup at night, but not enough for daily use, so I went and bought some throw-away pads. And I paid a little extra for some of the ones Kotex makes for teenage girls because they have fun designs printed on them. Because I could.
I've been working awfully short days. Turns out that we've had a light week for mail (excepting Tuesday), and if there's not enough work to go around, it goes to people with more seniority so they get a 40-hour week. Which is logical and fine, and I like having shorter days for now--it's a nice way to get my body used to doing this job. And I'm still bringing home what feels like a lot of money.
But Sunday is my day off! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
The guy whose route I've been mostly covering comes back Monday, but someone else is going on vacation, and I'm covering his route all next week. It'll be great to see my times improve--I should keep track of how long stuff takes me, on my own. Today I kept making dumb errors (getting loops mixed up, parking in the wrong spot, forgetting to drop off a package) and having to backtrack.
Also, I've learned that no matter what day it is, there is some item of mail that will frustrate the hell out of me. For a while there the local big university/research hospital (OHSU) was sending EVERYONE these magnet calender things. Which didn't bend, were bigger than a magazine, and came in a bubble envelope. Then it was those little Bi-Mart ad books, which are oddly tiny and want to fall out. Today it was people's garbage bill, which is a little printed slip that wants to fall apart and/or just get lost. Oh, and I swear to god, 10% of them were given bad bar codes, which means they'd end up sorted into the wrong routes/loops. Gaaah.
Also I still keep transposing numbers. BLARGH. I don't think I'm delivering mail to the wrong addresses, but I do keep having moments of almost-panic thinking I did.
[If discussion of spiders bothers you, you might want to skip the next paragraph.] Also the spiders, as of fucking TODAY, are trying to take over. Yesterday: almost no spider threads. Today: spider threads everywhere. Y'know, that single strand across a spot? And at one point I came about a foot from walking face-first into a web. The inhabitant was small enough, and the space the web crossed was narrow enough, that I just put the spider on the end of a piece of mail and shook it off on the nearest bush and broke the web. But there was one place where the web was between a tree and a house, in the space where I'd normally cut across someone's yard, and the spider was already almost an inch wide, and I backed up and went around it. DAMMIT. I cannot do that all summer. Not to mention that I spend a lot of time looking down at the mail in my hand, separating out the next address. I'm slowly gaining the skill of looking ahead frequently as I do so, so I won't trip or fall again, but catching a web out of the corner of one's eye while looking down is tricky. Walking into a spider thread gives me the heebie-jeebies but is manageable. Walking into a WEB? I am likely to scream and/or cry and/or possibly drop all the mail in my hands. Shit. Fuck. And the local spiders seem to looooove making webs right at face level.
[Spider discussion: OVER]
I'm getting better at the routine when I get back to the office from delivering. Outgoing parcels, outgoing first-class, Netflix returns, the plastic breaker cards that separate loops, "nixies" aka mis-sorted mail ("nixies" is the pronunciation of NCIS, but I have no idea what that stands for!). Helper cards etc., things to be recycled, and rubber bands go back to case. Plastic tubs get stacked. Return the phone and scanner, take the cell phone case and my keys to accountables to be signed off. Return the cart and gather my things. Talk to a supervisor to see when they want me tomorrow, clock out, go to bathroom to drop off my carrying bags/hat and change out of uniform for the commute home, making sure my iPod, sunglasses, and keys are on top of the bag.
I ran into a friend of mine at the store today. Turns out she has a weak/easily rolled ankle as well, and showed me some exercises she learned from her physical therapist. They're mostly variations on standing on one foot. She says the easiest time to do them is while brushing your teeth if you have an electric toothbrush (which I do) because it lets you know when two minutes are up! I shall start doing so this very day.
The only thing worse than a yeast infection (brought on, of course, by the Keflex I'm taking for my knee) is a yeast infection on your period. I normally use a divacup, but I can't because I'm treating the yeast infection. (I use home-made capsules of boric acid--so much less messy and unpleasant than OTC stuff, not to mention CHEAP.) I have some fabric pads I sometimes use as backup at night, but not enough for daily use, so I went and bought some throw-away pads. And I paid a little extra for some of the ones Kotex makes for teenage girls because they have fun designs printed on them. Because I could.
I've been working awfully short days. Turns out that we've had a light week for mail (excepting Tuesday), and if there's not enough work to go around, it goes to people with more seniority so they get a 40-hour week. Which is logical and fine, and I like having shorter days for now--it's a nice way to get my body used to doing this job. And I'm still bringing home what feels like a lot of money.
But Sunday is my day off! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
The guy whose route I've been mostly covering comes back Monday, but someone else is going on vacation, and I'm covering his route all next week. It'll be great to see my times improve--I should keep track of how long stuff takes me, on my own. Today I kept making dumb errors (getting loops mixed up, parking in the wrong spot, forgetting to drop off a package) and having to backtrack.
Also, I've learned that no matter what day it is, there is some item of mail that will frustrate the hell out of me. For a while there the local big university/research hospital (OHSU) was sending EVERYONE these magnet calender things. Which didn't bend, were bigger than a magazine, and came in a bubble envelope. Then it was those little Bi-Mart ad books, which are oddly tiny and want to fall out. Today it was people's garbage bill, which is a little printed slip that wants to fall apart and/or just get lost. Oh, and I swear to god, 10% of them were given bad bar codes, which means they'd end up sorted into the wrong routes/loops. Gaaah.
Also I still keep transposing numbers. BLARGH. I don't think I'm delivering mail to the wrong addresses, but I do keep having moments of almost-panic thinking I did.
[If discussion of spiders bothers you, you might want to skip the next paragraph.] Also the spiders, as of fucking TODAY, are trying to take over. Yesterday: almost no spider threads. Today: spider threads everywhere. Y'know, that single strand across a spot? And at one point I came about a foot from walking face-first into a web. The inhabitant was small enough, and the space the web crossed was narrow enough, that I just put the spider on the end of a piece of mail and shook it off on the nearest bush and broke the web. But there was one place where the web was between a tree and a house, in the space where I'd normally cut across someone's yard, and the spider was already almost an inch wide, and I backed up and went around it. DAMMIT. I cannot do that all summer. Not to mention that I spend a lot of time looking down at the mail in my hand, separating out the next address. I'm slowly gaining the skill of looking ahead frequently as I do so, so I won't trip or fall again, but catching a web out of the corner of one's eye while looking down is tricky. Walking into a spider thread gives me the heebie-jeebies but is manageable. Walking into a WEB? I am likely to scream and/or cry and/or possibly drop all the mail in my hands. Shit. Fuck. And the local spiders seem to looooove making webs right at face level.
[Spider discussion: OVER]
I'm getting better at the routine when I get back to the office from delivering. Outgoing parcels, outgoing first-class, Netflix returns, the plastic breaker cards that separate loops, "nixies" aka mis-sorted mail ("nixies" is the pronunciation of NCIS, but I have no idea what that stands for!). Helper cards etc., things to be recycled, and rubber bands go back to case. Plastic tubs get stacked. Return the phone and scanner, take the cell phone case and my keys to accountables to be signed off. Return the cart and gather my things. Talk to a supervisor to see when they want me tomorrow, clock out, go to bathroom to drop off my carrying bags/hat and change out of uniform for the commute home, making sure my iPod, sunglasses, and keys are on top of the bag.
I ran into a friend of mine at the store today. Turns out she has a weak/easily rolled ankle as well, and showed me some exercises she learned from her physical therapist. They're mostly variations on standing on one foot. She says the easiest time to do them is while brushing your teeth if you have an electric toothbrush (which I do) because it lets you know when two minutes are up! I shall start doing so this very day.