Today 17Nov2023: Friday

I could not sleep after walking at 1:30AM, so I am starting to write Friday’s blog on Saturday morning.

Starting the story of Friday and after a highly annoying day at work at the shoe company, I decided to watch the Marvels movie. I enjoyed the movie, laughing through much of it as it seemed more farcical than Superhero. I can see why so many people are unhappy with it; it is too happy and fun to be taken seriously by most serious fans. It was perfect for my mood at the time, and I liked it.

On Friday, I was so angry at the shoe company that I considered retiring immediately, but I also knew I was overreacting. What made me so angry was that I finally decided to resolve my missing paid time off (PTO) from the time of Susie’s death. Sedgwick, the company that Nike uses to evaluate leave requests, had canceled my request for family leave to care for Susie on hearing of Susie’s death. They even called me and asked me about my newborn child (apparently, they had incorrectly attributed my time off as paternity leave, to my great astonishment). When I informed them of my loss, they rang off and canceled my leave. I was in no mind to chase this as I was grieving for Susie and did not trust myself to calmly deal with Sedgwick.

Today, Friday, I decided to chase my missing six days of PTO. Three for leave and three for bereavement that I think I am owed. After quite some time on a chat window with Nike HR, it was agreed I could work with my manager, Brad, in this case, to restore the PTO for bereavement. This is consistent with my expectations. Sedgwick rejected my leave request, so I could not have the PTO returned for my last three days of caring for Susie. I was surprised and offered to send HR the Death Certificate to prove that, as I understood it, my case was what Family Leave was for. No matter to HR–Sedgwick decides. I was polite to HR as I knew this was not their fault.

I am boiling inside from this–but I also know my emotions are out of control. It is hard as this curfuffle mixes my grief and anger and brings it to the surface. I don’t like the feeling. I should have left this alone. Now I can’t sleep.

I put this here not to poke at my employer but as a record of my feelings. This blog is about my experiences. My anger, grief, and natural expectation of people doing right are combined into a toxic moment. The movie helped. I will spend the weekend trying to clear my head.

This is why I will not make important decisions for six months, like retiring. To use another Hollywood term, I am “emotionally compromised.”

Finishing my day, I went to the local Mexican place and had a good meal and a Margiritta (just one and a regular-sized one; I don’t want to start self-medicating with alcohol). Air Volvo got me home safe, and I soon went to bed.

I will add that Leta, Susie’s mother, had surgery for her broken arm on Friday and is now part titanium. She made it through without issues, and Barb, her daughter, is working on the next steps with the social worker. We are all relieved that Leta is better.

My day before this was working from home, the usual for a Friday. I was online and following along and approving and reviewing changes. While not very interesting work, I reminded some folks why they had to do something a certain way (such statements like, “You really don’t want to talk to audit about why your change was done without proper approvals,” seemed to get the point across). Yes, the curfuffle count was high today.

As a distraction, I made a complex lunch today. I split the chicken breast I had spare from yesterday’s cooking with a sharp Global Boning knife (recommended) without any issues. I breaded them twice in bread crumbs with some generic Italian-style seasonings and egg wash, adding some fennel seeds for some extra zing. I slowly fried them in oil in a non-stick pan (thanks, Steve WL); I added water to the hot pan to get steam to raise the temperature and cook the still-thick chicken (using a lid, of course, to keep the hot steam in the pan). The hot-steam trick I learned watching a grill cook making my breakfast. It is how he melted the cheese and heated the thick breakfast burrito through. I heated a spaghetti sauce from a jar (cheap at $2 a bottle and a favorite flavor of mine–Sausage, onion, and green pepper). I made fettucini pasta from a box (also on special for about $1 a box). I combined this, slicing one chicken breast, and had that for lunch. Just one bowl and one chicken breast, and I put the rest in the glassware to add to my collection of meals to reheat (thanks, Glenda and Gene, for the glassware).

I also found time on and off today to read my books from a recent Kickstarter, Skies & Fire, by Ray Chou. These are two comic books re-published in an excellent two hardcover and slipcase. The publication is of excellent quality, and the store is fun. An alternative reality with wars fought in flying zeppelins like WW1 battlecruisers. It’s a fairy tale of revenge, fate, and redemption–somewhat predictable but fun in 2D color pictures and text.

Moving to the morning, I woke stuffed up, and I did manage to put on my slippers without debating my life choices. I just jumped into Friday. Better. I made an NYC bagel from my collection of frozen ones from Joyce and the Smiths plus Jason. I picked up cream cheese yesterday, so bagels are back on the menu! Coffee, also from NYC (thanks, Smiths + Jason), and a banana completed my breakfast.

Friday is our staff meeting for the master data engineering team. So we did that, a friendly meeting, and then I started on my usual collection of Zoom meetings. This went on to 10AM. I then slipped out to shower and get dressed. I then approved a few more items and made lunch as I described.

Well, that completes the circle for Friday. Thank you for reading.