Day 20 of the LAUSD vaccine mandate

The door project is underway!!!!….

 9/29/21. Wednesday

6:00 – L. leaves for her 18-hour day at Otis.

7:30-8:00 – I hear my alarm so I get out of bed to turn it off, then lie down for 15 minutes of transition time. Class starts at 8:30 so I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal.  Although L. woke her up previously, she’s still out of it and doesn’t want to get off the couch.  Maybe she doesn’t have to go to the bathroom?  I rub her tummy, but she just lies there.  After a few minutes, I get up and make a Keurig cup.  The dog grabs her toy and we go outside while I stand around, waiting for her to go potty.

8:00-8:30 – I edit the Discussion Board, then publish it.  Today is an easy day for everyone – a 90-minute lecture with Google slides for Chapter 5.

Class is in session.

8:30-10:05 – I take Attendance, then work on a Letter of Recommendation for a former student that I’ve been putting off.  Historically, even though I have a template, these letters take an hour or more to write.  I hate doing them but, as a teacher, it’s kind of my job so I typically say ‘Yes” when a student asks me to prepare one.

Finished. I email the Draft to the student and wait for her response, then I check email.

Class dismissed.

11:00-12:30 –I take Attendance for last week for my Asynchronous class at College No. 2.  I make a list of those students who did NOT complete the Chapter Review or Video Quizzes, then send an email blast.  Students who scored a D or F on last week’s assigned Video Quiz also receive a stern email from me.

12:30-1:00 – I’m so tired, but I’ve really got to try and get this door project off the ground. I wash my face, brush my teeth, and get dressed in my Covid-19 uniform.  I grab my make-up bag and my lunch bag and drive to Elite Building Supplies in Simi Valley.

1:00-3:00 – It takes an hour to get there and I listen to Citations Needed while I’m driving. I eat a Lara peanut butter bar along the way and put my make-up on while I’m driving – don’t judge me.

I didn’t know what to expect, but Elite  is a series of warehouses, although there’s an office at the front of the main building.  I have John’s door measurements in my hand, but have no idea what I’m doing. When I walk in, I see two employees sitting at their desks, sans masks, and they both continue working and ignoring me – I don’t think they get customers like me around here. I stand and wait patiently until the female decides to acknowledge me and I tell her I need two doors for my garage.

In consumer speak, I’m a “satisficer” instead of an “optimizer”, which means, in almost all instances, I’m “satisfied” with a ‘good-enough’ choice.  I don’t necessarily need to check multiple sites and locations to ‘optimize’ my selection.  Generally, I have a “vision”, or a rough idea, of what I’m looking for and I work from there. Also, having started this journey with Home Depot, I’ve had the benefit of looking through several pamphlets to get some general ideas, selected a few doors that I thought would look good in the space, then had L. sign off on my selection.

“Kellie” tells me my choices are somewhat limited with regard to aesthetics on the fire-rated door and since I want the doors to be uniform, that means my choices are limited on the standard interior door.  This isn’t such a bad thing.  Fewer choices means fewer options means a faster decision. I explain to Kellie what I’m looking for and she shows me a few models. How she is able to translate my vague description into something concrete is beyond me…she’s the “door whisperer” because in 15 minutes I’ve made my selection.

But this is only the start.  Kellie needs to contact the supplier to check for availability – that pesky ‘supply chain’ problem – and also see if they sell the ‘pre-finished’ model. I’m dismissed.  We’ll be in touch. Spoiler Alert – I never hear from Kellie” again, UNTIL I send an email, five business days after this initial meeting.

3:00-4:30 – I drive home having accomplished very little…BUT, at least I took the first step. The Door Dept. at Home Depot is worthless. I listen to Citations Needed again.

4:30-6:00 – Once I get home, I have some of the stir fry I made a few days ago and read a Money Diary. Then, I take a nap.

6:00-6:45 – Up and I take the dog for a walk and listen to Air Talk.

7:00-8:30 – I drive to Walmart and pick up a couple bottles of champagne, apples, Dasani, and some toiletries. I listen to the newest season of Up and Vanished.

8:30-9:00 – Get gas and return home.

9:00-9:30 – Home and I unload my purchases and put everything away.

9:30-11:00 – I read a Money Diary then do a 30-minute Tabata workout from my new Insanity-Max program.

11:00- 1:00 - I haven’t heard from L. the entire day.  I text her twice, then call her twice, but nothing.  I can see L.’s location on the Find a Friend  feature that L, herself, installed on my phone so I know she’s at Signal Hill, in Long Beach. I inform L., via one last text, that I’m going to contact Dispatch and ask them to send a unit to the Signal Hill location, at which point, surprise!!, L. calls me instantly.  Apparently, she’s at M.’s house - her new friend - [the Signal Hill location], with her phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’ [which in all my years of knowing L. she has never used the ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature] and didn’t bother, or feel the need, to text me that she wouldn’t be home until 1:00 a.m.

I know that L.’s an adult, but she’s also my only child AND, if we want to synthesize the relationship down further, my ‘roommate.’ In this age of technology, not hearing from someone – anyone whom you’re close to - for 18 hours is a concern, no matter who you are. L. doesn’t get home until 1:00 a.m., having driven through the crime-ridden streets of LA and on the 405 freeway, in an unreliable car.

Within 2 hours of this incident, L. has removed me from the Find a Friend locater app [again, recall that SHE installed it – I didn’t ask her to – and never bothers to tell me.  I find out when I try to casually check her location the next day]. Within 6 hours of this incident, L. will accuse me of “blowing up her phone” because, I texted her twice and called her twice over a 20-minute period, after she didn’t respond.

Nighttime routine. I stay awake until I hear the garage door open, which means L. has finally arrived in one piece, then go to bed.