5 Day Delivery

I saw in the news where the Postmaster General requested Congress remove the 6 day delivery requirement. He'd like the Postal Service to go to 5 days a week delivery wise. This would save a lot of money as it would cut down significantly the amount of overtime the Postal Service would have to pay potentially. From my side of the woods however, this would be devastating financially. The Postal Service wouldn't be able to guarantee me at least 1 day of work anymore. The consistent time I'm needed as a substitute carrier right now is on the regular carrier's day off i.e. their 6th day. If we go to 5 days a week, the regular carrier won't have a day off they need a substitute carrier for anymore. The Postal Service will still need substitute carriers to cover for when the carrier's take annual leave or calls out sick but, those days are sporadic. I believe the Postal Service will have a hard time attracting substitute carriers if this goes through. I suspect it will. For me, I'll just have to bite the bullet and look for a second job though that'll be hard to find with the bad economy at the moment.

Blood

I decided that today I'd drive down to the clinic on the base that is near where I live in order to get the shots that I've mentioned previously. The trip is steadily getting closer and, I have to have the shots to be safe. Unfortunately, I had to have blood taken so they could see if I was still immune to chickenpox. Apparently, there is a danger of it in Egypt. I'd hoped the Air Force had a done a blood test on this earlier. I found out from the people in the immunization clinic that years ago (when I served), they would ask people if they had chickenpox as a kid. If they said yes, they took their word for it and let it go. If they said no, they got the shot. People learned to say yes so they could avoid the shot. Unfortunately, this didn't prevent them from getting the disease. After a number of cases of this happening, the Air Force instituted mandatory testing for chickenpox immunity. If you had it, you got to skip the shot and, if you didn't, they gave you the shot so you wouldn't get it as an adult which is supposedly worse than getting it as a kid.

One problem I have giving blood is I have small veins. I've had a number of times where I was stuck multiple times because of my small veins. This is the reason why I didn't want to give blood if I didn't need to. Sadly, I had to. Luck was not with me this time. The nurse did her best but, it took them 4 tries to find a vein. I took it in the best spirits possible. I had to have the blood taken because I had to find out if I'm immune or not. If I'm not, I wanted to get the shot to be safe. I won't like getting the shot but, I'll like a heck of a lot less getting the disease. So, I gritted my teeth and, they got their blood sample.

By the time I got done with the lab folks, the immunization clinic was closed. Work permitting, I'll go back tomorrow and get the tetanus and typhoid shots and the flu inhale immunization. The typhoid will make my arm sore which is annoying but, it's the flu immunization that will be really bad. I know I'm going to come down with flu like symptoms for at least 2 or 3 days afterwards. The doctor at the travel clinic assured me I won't really have the flu. That'll really make me feel loads better (not!) as I shiver and clog up from the fake flu symptoms. Stay tuned for more updates on this. Cheers all!

Map Update

Yesterday, I received word from Garmin that they had a map update for my Nuvi 750 GPS unit. I was delighted as I've noticed some blank spots on the unit. Some of these, I know are areas that have had construction within the last year or so. One glitch I don't understand is when I drove along Soil Conservation Road. The unit told me to follow the road to Greenbelt during a couple trips I've made to Bowie, Maryland. I did what the unit said and on the unit's map, it had me driving right off the road though I stayed on Soil Conservation Road the entire time. Weird.

The map update file to my surprise was HUGE. It was 1.9 gigabytes and it was compressed. Because of it's large size, this is when I could've used a cable modem as it would've significantly sped up the download. It ended up taking over 5 hours. Then, you had to extract the file which took another hour I think. Then, you had to install the new map. As you can see, the whole process took a while. Still, it'll be worth it in order to have the latest and most accurate maps on the device.

This first map update was free. I don't know how much it'll cost for others. I'll find out in time. Garmin says they come out with updates up to 4 times a year. As I definitely want the most up to date maps, I'll pay within reason whatever they want for my next update. Also, I'll remember how long the process takes and start the process just before I leave for work for the entire day or before I go to bed. It does take a long time to finish the whole procedure. Cheers all!

Another French Lesson

After nearly a month off, I did another French lesson at the Alliance Francaise with my teacher Nadya. The lesson went alright though I'm still having a hard time understanding spoken French. My vocabulary is slowly getting better. I was able to translate more today but, I still had problems with some flowery phrases a French writer used in describing some of the wonders around Aswan, Egypt. I'm still bad about doing my homework.

After next week's lesson, my teacher returns to France for 2 months. I don't plan to request a temporary substitute teacher as the sub wouldn't know where I am in my studies for starters. Also, I'd only be able to get in maybe 5 lessons before Nadya returned from France. Lastly, holding off like that will make it easier to fork up the next $1,000 for the next 25 hours of private lessons.

On a different note, I used my GPS unit to get to the Alliance Francaise and to get home from there. It did another great job. I hardly know my way around Washington D.C. driving wise so, it was priceless in helping me find a quick route through the city thereby avoiding having to take the long way on the D.C. Inner Loop (465). I continue to be really impressed with the unit. I'm very glad I bought it. Cheers!

You Get What You Pay For

I previously blogged about buying a parka at a Burlington Coat Factory store. I thought I got a good deal. I was wrong. I don't know how they put the down in the parka but however they did, they got it wrong. To my surprise, the down feathers are working their way through the fabric. The result is that when I take the parka off, I find myself picking feathers off my shirt. Funny in a way but annoying too. I never had this problem with my triple fat parka. I suspect this is a classic case of you get what you pay for. If I'd pay more money and bought a higher quality parka, I wouldn't have this problem. Oh well. Live and learn. For now, I'll continue to use the thing as I can't afford to buy a better one. Next winter, I'll see about buying a better quality parka.

Hard Day at the Post Office

I had a very hard day at the Post Office yesterday. I knew I would before I went in. We had a 3-day weekend thanks to Martin Luther King day. Holidays are bad for mail carriers. Just because you don't get any mail doesn't mean your mail isn't being processed. The Postal Service runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a week. The mail continued to be processed. All the holiday did was prevent it from being delivered which caused headaches for the carriers as that meant there was that much more mail to be delivered when they came back to work. That's what I faced yesterday. I had 3 days worth of mail to sort, pack-up and deliver. It was going to be a hard day made worse by the route I was on. The route I worked is one of my least favorite routes because, it has a lot of apartments that people move in and out of. This causes a lot of undeliverable mail that I have to bring back. Second, the route is all multi-mailboxes which means I have address ranges in the mail case. Example: I have one mail slot at the mail case for an entire condo building. There will be at least 12 condos in that building. This will make it easy to case at the Post Office BUT, I'll have to sort the mail again when I get to the condo. This is a real pain and, it causes me to be out on the street a LONG time. Yesterday, I was out delivering mail for 7 hours in the cold windy weather. It was a real pain. I was seriously glad when I got done and could go home. I definitely earned my money yesterday. Still, it'll help pay off my future trips so it was worth it. Cheers all!

U.S. and Canada Tours

I paid off sort of my future Globus U.S. and Canada tours. By sort of, I still have to pay the credit card bill off. The tours themselves will be interesting in a number of ways. For starters, they're both short. The U.S. tour is only 7 days. It's intended as an introduction to escorted tours. It starts in Washington D.C. and finishes in Philadelphia. It stops in a number of sights that I've wanted to see but, I've never gotten around to seeing such as Yorktown, Jamestown and Gettysburg.

The Canadian tour starts the day after the U.S. tour ends. To my embarrassment, I've never seen much of Canada. While living in Detroit, I was able to look across the river and see Windsor, Canada. My Dad took our family over there for all of 5 minutes. We subsequently looked back at Detroit and stared at it. Also, I got to stop in Montreal on a flight home from England. It was near Christmas time and all you could see outside was snow. Lots of it! This tour will knock out Quebec City, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Niagara Falls. I've seen more waterfalls in other countries than I've seen in my own. I'm looking forward to getting to see the famous Niagara Falls.

Lastly, I look forward to adding to my Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt. I found out there are 4 places where I'll be able to buy t-shirts on the Canada tour. I know it's kinda stupid but, I enjoy collecting them. They're a way for me to show off some of the places I've been. I'm looking forward to getting them and showing that I've been to Montreal and Toronto. They'll be cool.

Overall, the tours should be a lot of fun. I'm curious to see if the group develops the same camaraderie they develop on long tours. I hope it does as that is one of the things I really enjoy on the long tours. The only drawback I see is that the tours will be over in no time. If 2 weeks can really fly by, 1 week is going to be nothing. In that way, I'll be glad that I'll be doing back-to-back tours. The fun will last a little longer though it'll be with different groups. So any readers out there, stay tuned for some interesting posts in the future. I'll get to see some more interesting places and be able to post about some cool adventures. Also, there will be some nice pictures posted. Also, don't forget that the Egypt tour is coming up. It's less than a month and a half before that adventure begins. That should be an incredible adventure with lots of ancient things to see and experience. Stay tuned.

Rough Day at Work

I was supposed to do Express Mail only today. A month ago, I made an appointment with the travel clinic at the base I frequent. The travel clinic was the one that would authorize the shots I needed for my upcoming trip to Egypt. Because of the importance of the shots and the closeness to my upcoming trip, I couldn't possibly cancel the appointment.

To my disbelief, my boss called me at 6:45 a.m. and asked if I could do a full route. She knew of my appointment at the travel clinic. She said I could leave and come back and finish the route. As she didn't have anyone else to do the route, I agreed to come in at once. I managed to get all the mail cased that was waiting at the mail case. Around 8:30 a.m., I departed for the travel clinic. It would take 30 minutes to get there.

In my rush to get to the Post Office, I forgot my shot record. The travel clinic couldn't access the immunizations clinic database so, I had to go that clinic and get a copy of my shot record. By the time I got back, the chief nurse was seeing another customer. I had to wait over 25 minutes. Finally, I got in to see her. She reviewed my shot record, looked at what shots I would need for Egypt and told me some of the things to watch out for there. Then, she said I had to see a doctor to get approval for the shots. The doctor was seeing another customer. Aaargh! I waited another 20 minutes impatiently. By now, it was past 10:30 a.m. At last, I got to see the doctor who agreed with what the head nurse said. Also, I found out I'd have to do a blood test to make sure I was still resistant to chickenpox. I had that as a kid and normally once you've had it, you're resistant for the rest of your life. The blood test would show if I still was resistant or not. If not, I'd need a shot for that. Crap! Luckily, there is a inhale vaccination for the yearly flu shot. I just made the age limit for that. Right now, it's only available to anyone up to 49 years old. Cool, one less shot though I suspect I'll come down with flu like symptoms once I take it. Yuck!

I finally got done at the clinic and quickly got back to the Post Office. I found out no one had been able to case any of my mail. Dang! I would spend the next hour casing mail then, I had to get my packages in order (17 of them) and pull down my mail. I hit the street around 1 p.m. Thankfully, because mail was light, I was able to deliver all my mail in about 3 hours. I returned to the Post Office and, I clocked out about 4:30. It had been a trying day. Hopefully, tomorrow won't be as bad. We'll see.

Return to Maryland

This is the last post on my recent trip to Michigan for my step-mother's funeral. The events this posts described happened on January 8th, 2009.

I would've liked to have stayed longer with my Dad, Jane (my Philippino step-mother) and Hank (also known as foodcreep or the bottomless pit). But, I couldn't. I have a deal with the Post Office where I work where I won't take long periods of time off except once every 4 or 5 months. As my readers know, I'll be going on a 12 day tour/cruise of Egypt in March so, I couldn't take lots of time off for my visit.

I hoped to be on the road around 6:30 a.m. to avoid commuter traffic. That hope went out the door fast. My Dad asked if I would clear the snow from the driveway. My Dad has one bad leg and the good one isn't that good either. I didn't want him falling so, I agreed to clear the driveway. He offered to let me use his snowblower but, I didn't think it would need that. I was wrong. The snow was powdery stuff but, there was a lot of it and, Dad has a large driveway. I spent over 30 minutes shoveling snow. Finally, I got it cleared and, I got my car loaded up. I saw my good-byes and drove to the Howell, Michigan White Castle restaurant. There, I experienced another delay. They weren't prepared for a 90 hamburger order (3 cases). I had to wait over 20 minutes though they were kind enough to give a free lemonade while I waited. Then, I needed to tank the car up with gas. I wanted to be able to drive as far as I could non-stop before having to fill up again. I got the car filled up, started to pull out and noticed the car was having a hard time getting through the snow. The car continued to have a hard time on the main road to the highway entrance. Then, I noticed on the dash that the brake light was on. Shit! I looked down and sure enough, I'd forgotten to release the parking brake. Duh! After that, I didn't have a hard time driving through the snow.

By the time I was finally headed out of Michigan, it was 9 a.m. Prime commuter time and, I ended up bumper to bumper for over 20 minutes. Groan. At last, I got past that. I made good time from there and reached the Michigan-Ohio border around 10:30. I found out Ohio also got clobbered with snow. The road crews did a great job of making the roads drivable but, there was a LOT of salt and dirt on the roads. It was easily kicked up onto my car's windshield. I had to repeatedly use the windshield cleaner. Also, when I finally stopped for gas in Hagerstown, Maryland, I had to clean the salt off the passenger windows.

My GPS unit work superbly again. I never had to look at a map and, I had a good idea when I would arrive back at my apartment. When I turned off to get more gas, it quickly re-calibrated the route to my apartment.

I arrived back to my apartment around 5 p.m. which I thought good considering I'd driven over 550 miles with one short stop for gas. My car had worked superbly. I was certain the servicing I had done the previous week helped. I believe I saved over $250 driving though it took me twice as long as it would've if I had flown. I was totally sold on my GPS unit and, I plan to use it for all long trips as well as trips in Maryland. The next day, I'd be back at work at the Post Office. Life would return to normal and, I'd get over my step-mom's death though I'll remember her for a long time. Cheers all!

2nd Day

My second day in Michigan was filled with mis-adventures and sadness. As I previously mentioned, I planned to visit the Lyon's Den bookstore in South Lyon. Its in an old building with wooden floors and wooden bookshelves. If you like a bookstore that has a feeling of mustiness and charm, this is it. I found only one thing to complain of with it. Its shelves were pretty lean selection wise. I don't know if they were trying to hold down their inventory or hadn't received a new shipment in. I bought a book on France that showed 25 must see sights. I was curious to see how many I'd seen. Also, I bought a copy of "The Hobbit." I've seen the cartoon version but, I've never read the book. With them hopefully starting to make the movie version, I felt it was time to read it.

My Philippino step-mother Jane had decided to tag along. It was an easy way for her to get out of the house and, she wouldn't have to drive. She found herself a couple books to read including one on sale.

The South Lyon Post Office is right across from the bookstore and, we walked over to one of their mail trucks. I pointed out the 7 mirrors on the truck and, how a mail carrier would deliver mail from it.

Then, we got in my car and, I got to try to program my new GPS unit. The address was 3832 East Grand River Avenue. I couldn't figure out initially how to punch in the east part of the street name. I didn't see a button on the choices saying space. I finally punched in Grand River Avenue and got a location in Detroit. According to White Castles website, the restaurant I wanted to go to was in Howell, Michigan. Still, I decided to try it. Jane and I drove all the way into Detroit and found out I got it wrong. Worse still, the neighborhood didn't look too safe. I didn't want to place Jane in any kind of danger so, I turned around quick and got out of there. When we got home, I figured out what button was the space button on the GPS. Using that, I was able to find the right address for the White Castle restaurant in Howell. It turned out it was only 15 or 20 minutes away. I drove out there and bought a case of their hamburgers, 2 very small sacks of their onion chips (Jane really likes these) and a very small sack of their clam strips. The hamburgers were great and, I thought the onion chips and clam strips were good too. I planned to drive out to the restaurant again the next morning to get myself and some friends some White Castle hamburgers before I headed back to Maryland.

Around 3 p.m., I got myself ready for my step-mom's funeral. I hadn't slept well the night before because of that. I was terribly sad about the thing. I decided to drive out there myself as it would be less hassle for my sister. I seemed to be getting the hang of my GPS unit so, I was pretty sure I'd be able to find the place with its help. To my surprise, Jane decided to come along. Once both of us were ready, we got in my car and, I programmed my GPS unit.

The GPS got the directions smack on. My only concern was the weather. It started snowing and, that made the roads treacherous. I slowed down to avoid going into a skid. Worse still, my step-mom's house was on a back road in the country. I kept my fingers crossed that I'd be able to get back out after the funeral service.

To my delight, a number of people showed up for my step-mom's service. There must have been at least 40 people. My sister, Jane and I showed up from our side of the family. My step-mom's stepson from her marriage to her last husband Ed showed up with his mom too. I hadn't met him since he was a kid. Now, he was going to be a father soon. I had a pleasant chat with them before the service.

My sister and the lady who took of my step-mom in the later stages of her illness found a fairly new Baptist pastor who lived close by. He said a small service for Kay. I felt he should have concentrated more on the fact that for those of us who believe in Jesus Christ would be seeing her again so, this wasn't good-bye forever but, merely a short separation (in relation to eternity). We'd get to see her again in her new resurrection body and, she wouldn't be sick or frail like she had been in her last days. Instead, he tried to save some souls among the attendees. Still, it was nice of him to come and say a few words on such short notice.

After the service, there were food and drinks available. I passed. I found the container holding my step-mom's ashes. It was hard to believe that small metal container held all her remains. Sitting next to her ashes was a wooden box of sorts. I thought that might be a more appropriate container for her ashes. I later found out it held the ashes of her late husband. So, both their remains were at the service.

When Jane was ready to leave, we hopped in my car and headed back to my Dad's place. The roads were bad so I went slow but, we made it back safely. The GPS unit worked great again. I was glad the service was over though I would spend a couple hours talking about my step-mom with my Dad. She may have been my step-mom but, she really was my mother for all effective purposes. From the age of 12 and 1/2, she raised me. I've had very little contact with my biological mother. I don't hate my biological mother but, she hasn't played a part in my life in over 30 years. My step-mom did. No one at the service knew her longer than I did. For approximately, 40 years I knew her. I suspect that's why her death and loss hurt so much. She was so much a part of me and my life. Also, I felt she died too soon. My Dad told me she was born in 1942. That meant she was just 66 years old when she died. She should've lived at least another 10 years. Now, she will live in my memories. I do take some comfort that I will get to see her again some day as I believe in Jesus Christ. The pain lingers some but, it will pass. As I said in another blog, life goes on. The next day, I would head back to Maryland and all my trials and tribulations there. Stay tuned.

Arrived

I managed to hit the road around 6:15 a.m. It was raining. By the time I reached Michigan, it was snowing. Thankfully, the road crews were out and, I was able to make good time the entire way. I was surprised by the toll charges in Pennsylvania and Ohio. PA cost me $10 and Ohio hit me up for $7.25. The GPS unit I bought performed outstandingly. I never had to look at a map. The device would tell me when it was time to turn right or left. It would also tell me how far I had to go till the next major turning point as well as what the speed limit was on all the roads. It only had one hiccup when I-76 broke off and became I-80. I was pretty sure I was supposed to keep heading toward Cleveland vice stay on I-76. About 30 seconds after I passed the I-76 off ramp, it changed and said to keep heading on I-80.

I found it kinda neat to stop to fill up on gas and do a bathroom break. It reminded me of the Globus tours I've been on. I'm still counting the days till Egypt. I can't wait to go.

Tomorrow is the funeral. I'm not looking forward to it. I wish very much my step-mom were still alive. I wish she had told me she was doing as badly as she was doing so I could've come up here before she died instead of after. (sigh) Oh well. There is little point in wishing for such things. I have to deal with what is. She's gone and it sucks. Tomorrow, I'll pay my respects and then, I'll carry on with my life as every one else will. That's how it is. Life goes on.

That's it for this update. Not the most cheerful one but then, funerals don't tend to be very cheerful. There will be some fun things. Tomorrow, I'm going to go to a nearby White Castles where I plan to pig out on their hamburgers. Also, I plan to visit a very cute book shop in South Lyon, Michigan. The owner is pretty cool and, I try to visit there every time I'm nearby. It'll be neat to say hi. Stay tuned for further updates.

Road Trip

I found out my step-mom's funeral was rescheduled for January 7th. As it's on a Wednesday vice a Saturday, I'll be able to get the time off and attend. I plan to drive up to Michigan for the funeral. The drive should be something of an adventure as I've never driven from Maryland to Michigan. According to Mapquest, it should take 9 hours though I hope to do better time wise. Also, I'm hoping I can get my new GPS unit I ordered from Costco in time. That would help in preventing any wrong turns enroute. It's supposed to arrive on the 5th. We'll see. Stay tuned for updates on my drive home. Cheers all!

Servicing

I took my car in yesterday to be serviced. It was time for its 75,000 mile servicing. This was one of the major servicings and it ended up costing $300. Ouch! Thanksfully, the only thing they found wrong with the car was its front brake pads needed to be replaced. Still, that tacked on $169 to the bill. I found out my rear brakes are all right for now but, they are getting worn to. I have no idea how long it'll be before I have to get the pads replaced on those.

I had the servicing done at the local Carmax. I was very pleased with the service rep I dealt with as well as the customer rep I had to pay my bill with. However, I was very displeased with one item at Carmax. Carmax has apparently changed its policy concerning its free shuttle service. They'll give you a ride to where ever from the dealership (as long as its within 5 miles) BUT they won't give you a ride back when its time to pick up your car. In my case, that would've meant calling a taxi to take me back to the dealership. That makes their shuttle completely useless and, it meant I had to stay at the dealership and wait while they worked on my car. I didn't care at all to sit in their waiting area for almost 3 hours. I was very glad I'd made an appointment for my car so I could get it right in. I hadn't, I would've had an even longer wait. Because of their shuttle service thing, I have mixed feelings about them. Still, I want to make sure my Camry continues to run fine so for now for major servicings and repair work, I'll continue to go to them.

On a different subject, I hope all my readers have a Happy New Year. I hope 2009 brings you the fulfillment of your dreams. Cheers all!