Lots of activity online about Brussels. I emailed my two former co-workers, sending condolences and asking after them and theirs, and also telling them that I and most of my team are also former.
Both replied, one was on vacation in Morocco, but his mother works at the Brussels airport 4 days a week. This was not one of those 4 days. The other was in town, his brother works at the train station but it was his day off.
When I posted on FB, a cousin replied that her daughter, my cousin the MS victims rights champion, was supposed to have been in Brussels (by train) but a gall bladder attack had grounded her in Brighton. And one of my theater friends had just returned from a business trip yesterday from Brussels.
Starbucks wasn't so lucky. One of theirs from Seattle was killed at the Brussels airport Starbucks, and they have closed all their stores in that city indefinitely.
There was a lot of people-watching to be had at the lunch place. And a lot of noise, so when Automation Guy phoned we had to take it to text. At about 2, I drove home and chatted with him. The iTouch was so fully loaded that the car needed extra time to slurp up its catalog, and keeping the car switched on let me use the hands-free phone feature too.
Spent some time on the porch with the laptop, and fielded a recruiter call. First Indian I've talked to whom I could understand, and wasn't trying to use me as finder fodder. He said his job was to identify good candidates and forward their info to someone else who will wave it under the nose of the company which hired them to find someone. It sounded like he had a good lead on a big name firm in SF.
Gave neighbor Lee a tour of my gardens. She shot down my theory that the front hedge is some kind of rosemary herb. She said it would make you sick to eat it. She liked my rosemary plant, though. She also liked the colorful flowers I planted by the mailbox, and she harvested seeds from some of the deadheads to plant in her garden and maybe also in a bare patch of my front garden.
Finally tackled the broken motion sensor carport lights. After I'd chipped the cover off which hid the single screw, it took my industrial sized screwdriver to pry the unscrewed unit off the wall. It had been painted over several times, and was probably original 17 years ago. Installing the new one was routine until the final single screw-in. It took a while to realize my electric screwdriver was too thick to reach the screw head. Had to hunt up a manual screwdriver, and even then lining it up without really being able to see the screw hole took too much effort. After a while my hand was shaking so much I stepped away, sat on the porch and had a glass of milk, and then came back 15 minutes later to finish the job. I was fighting the clock - had to do it while it was still light. It's done, and it works. LED lamps are as bright but don't have as much throw as the old filament lamps. It seems to be working, though.
Dinner was reheated pizza and some creamed spinach. Mint chip ice cream, sandwich and thin mints for dessert. Watched an episode of Elementary, Lucy is getting more screen time these days. She's also doing some directing. Lately things have become a wee bit formulaic: the killer is usually one of the innocent looking people they interview along the road to finding the killer. This one had so many red herrings it smelled like a banquet at Sons of Norway.
Automation Guy had asked if there was a way to transfer the EDD debit card funds into our regular bank account. I had the same question. I punched in the URL listed on the back of the card, registered the account online, and yes, you can enter a routing number and account number and set up manual or automatic transfers. So I sent the balance to my checking account and Catch-22 set in, with no funds on the card, it would not let me set up a recurring transfer each time $$ is deposited. That's a FAIL.
Plans for tomorrow:
Career planning orientation 9:30-3:30. The counselor who was supposed to spend an hour with me after has bailed, saying it is a full session, which means it will run overtime, and she "must" leave the office at 4:30. This does not send the kind of message I want to hear from someone who is being paid to help me find another job.
Probably will end up doing something with people at the session. Or go to an open mike meetup.
