A quick post about being bored with a board

 

I knew when the day began that it was going to be a very long one.  And it was....

For no reason at all, I woke up a couple of times during the night and fell back to sleep. So, when the alarm woke me at 6 am, I worried that I would need more sleep to get through the day.  But I was amazed that I didn't pass out.

By the time 4:30 pm came, I was ready to fall to sleep.  I was a little depressed because the headhunter that contacted me wanted someone with more recent experience.  He has a problem - no one with mainframe experience is being developed in American schools.  Today's young programming types are studying the client-server technologies, as this will be their best shots of doing interesting work.  So, only old people like me, many of which are already retired, have the skills required by this headhunter's client - the bank I once worked for.  This means, that if I want a job, I'll have to contact people I know who still work at the bank.

Once in my car and on the way home, I called up the local taco joint to order tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch.  And when I got home, I stripped out of Marian's outfit and put on Mario's outfit, as I had a board meeting to attend.  Although I won't go into any details about what we discussed, the work of our former and current managing agents came up in our discussion.  And I can say that we had important comments about areas of improvement which could be made by our current managing agent.

Eventually, that meeting ended, and I called RQS.  I found it hard to believe that we were on the phone for over 3 hours.  Could you imagine how late we'd be talking if we were in the same place AND if I didn't have to go to work?

Bored Meeting

 

 

Unfortunately, I don't have time to write the post I planned to write today.  Last night's shareholder revolt board meeting fizzled out, but took longer than planned.

- - - - - -

One of the problems of sitting on a co-op board of directors is that much time is wasted for reasons that are hard to explain.  Last night's meeting is typical of our public meetings.  We were smart enough to gather a list of questions from the shareholders and to have prepared answers before the meeting.  And we held the floor to answer those questions before any questions from the floor were allowed to be asked.

Things went smoothly, and we were able to close out the public part of the meeting by 8:30 pm.  But we still needed another hour to complete other business left to the board from our last scheduled meeting. By the time I was done, I was fried - and still had another call to make.  At least, this call was much more enjoyable....

An unplanned co-op board meeting

 

This is not the image of anyone on our co-op board.  All of our members are unhappy about what has gone on as of late.  Yet, like people who love pain, we keep on serving our small community.

Why do I say this?

Although I an "out" to the board, I am not generally out to the co-op as a whole.  I never appear as Marian while representing the co-op at board meetings.  So I generally change into Mario mode before going to co-op functions.  Last night, I had to leave the video off at an unplanned zoom meeting, so that I could strip off my makeup while attending a meeting.

Tomorrow will be worse.  We have a planned meeting to address concerns arising from an unpleasant maintenance rate hike.  One shareholder has forced this meeting, and we must deal with a potential shareholder rebellion.  Luckily, we're using zoom for this meeting - and can cut people off at will.  Finally, a benefit we gained from the Covid-19 pandemic.  But I'd rather have shareholders who are all happy....

My day overfloweth

 

As many of my readers are well aware, I normally go through the week with a bit of sleep deprivation.  Today was one of those days where I could have used another two or three hours of sleep.  So I had to fight off the impulse to sleep much of the day.

- - - - - -

One of the things that is a blessing and a curse of my job is the repetitive nature of many of its tasks.  Today, I shifted between two of these tasks.  The first task involved finding index documentation not captured during image scanning and insuring that each document had a clean index before deleting the indexing page from the document.  The second involved doing manual OCR scan of information found in a document and entering it into a data base.  Neither of these tasks takes much brain work.  So one can easily lose track of time while listening to music on an MP3 player.  Yet, one can that time moves slowly when one has things on her mind.  Because the tasks are so repetitive, one can get into a groove, and start nodding off.  This happens to me often.  So I have developed some tricks to keep from falling asleep on the job.

After 8 hours of pushing keys and moving mouse, I could have very easily fallen asleep.  Unfortunately, I had a co-op board meeting to attend to.  And this took up most of the evening after I got home.  Hopefully, my visit to the land of nod will be better than last night's visit....

The end of a week, and I'm all alone.

 

I really don't have much to say about today.  I had nowhere important to go, and no one important to see.  Yet, most of my time was occupied by one thing or another.

- - - - - -

Around noon, I met with another co-op board member to work on the meeting minutes.  Between the two us, we did little for the minutes, and a not of talking.  It was a big waste of time.  And then, I had to rush out to Greendrop to make another charitable donation - another 2 "donation bags" were cleared out of the house to do some good for somebody....

My return home was not meant to keep me inside for the rest of the day.  Yet, that's exactly what it did.  So, I ended up sorting through many of the papers cluttering up my desk and making the mess on top of it a manageable one.  Afterwards, I ended up chatting with friends - one of them until midnight.  

Tomorrow, it'll be the first day of the new year (yes, this entry was written over a week and a half ago), and it will be time to get out of the house.  With the omicron variant of Covid-19 going around, many of my friends are hunkering down again until another "all clear" is given.  As for me, I plan to be careful.

I'm finally back home!

 

I'm glad that I saved Google's discontinued photo system (Picasa) to edit images.  It does much of the simple edits that I want to have done without having to use a complex tool such as GIMP.  Sometimes, all I need to do is adjust a picture so that staircase steps are parallel to the ground, and to strengthen colors that were weak in the original photo.  In addition to simple cropping, that's all that was done to make this picture worth publishing. I mention the editing process for the above picture because I find it easier to do on a desktop than on a cellphone or tablet.  So to get a good copy of this image (the only selfie I took on my trip), I had to do it at home.

- - - - - -

When I got home, the first thing I had to do was unpack.  While unpacking, I found the costume jewelry that I had accidentally left at home.  But I found another thing to be missing - a set of keys used to open up my downstairs storage compartment. Even worse, the key to the co-op's board meeting area (a vacant studio apartment we bought at the bottom of the market) was also missing.  So I ended up asking a fellow board member to make a duplicate key for me.  (We were supposed to meet at the end of the week, so that I can show him how to do things on his computer and be able to edit meeting minutes in my absence.)  This board member decided to test out the replacement key and found that someone broke into the apartment.  Luckily, nothing in the apartment was worth anything to a thief.  But id result in a call to a handyman to secure the apartment for future use.

The second day after my return from the cruise, I was told that the old payroll system was cutting a check for me.  Something got fouled up, as I had my pay being sent to two accounts.  75% would go to an account at bank #1, and the remainder would go to bank #2.  It seems as if the conversion to a new payroll system (to be used in the new year) caused the problem.  The new payroll system does not allow this type of pay split - all money has to go to a single account.  So I'll bet that someone decided to change my status to requiring a paper check be cut, and force me to deal with the issue in the new payroll system.

By the time the end of the week came, I was in the mood to leave my job.  No, this was not an issue of anger or frustration.  It was simply an issue of whether it was worth my time to deal with the issues of working on an electronic assembly line in a time of pandemic resurgence.  This is a decision not to be made lightly.  Yet, it is a decision I should make soon - I can no longer be ambivalent about wanting this job.  The first person I talked about this was my friend Vicki - and she gave me some food for thought.  But I'll be speaking with other friends over the weekend, as I want to be sure of any decision I may make by the next time I report to the office.

PS: I just found out that a former friend became a grandma.  Congratulations!!!!

Can you spot the "Nina" in this picture?

 

Many of my friends know I was a fan of the late Al Hirschfield's line drawings.  His style was unique, and he was known for hiding the name of his daughter (Nina) in most of the drawings that he produced.  One of my dreams was to have three drawings done by him: (1) A caricature of me in both male and female presentations, (2) a caricature of Groucho, Harpo, and Chico Marx, and (3) a variant on the subject of this drawing.

I found it interesting that the US Air Force used his drawings to help pilots develop their skills of rapid pattern recognition using Hirschfield's drawings. But  the world is stranger than we know....

- - - - - -

Tonight, we had a meeting of our co-op board, and I found out that one of our new members may not be up to the task.  He was having problems with something as simple as dealing with an email attachment. It looks like I'll be needing to do his job, as he didn't seem to get that to take notes for a meeting, one has to know what NOT to report.  In my case, I know how to keep things short and sweet, and when needed, leave out the details of what was discussed.

I have to be careful.  It is important that I am seen as contributing to our mutual goals.  However, I don't want to get roped into running the co-op as its next president.  If we're lucky, one of the two new members will be ready to take on that mantle.  If not, I'll still let my presence on the board expire, by not running for another term.  It's not worth the effort for me to deal with the headaches that our co-op's president has to deal with....

PS: Did you spot the "Nina" in the drawing? 
       If not, look very carefully.  Fortunately, there is only ONE "Nina" to find.
       Please let me know if you find her or not.....

I woke up early with a strange thought about the recent past

 

I woke up earlier than I wanted, and was thinking of my recent past.  When I was married, I worried about a big argument that would cause the relationship to break up.  We never had that argument, and I don't think we had a solid marriage because the marriage never could be stress tested.

Why is my marriage of over 20 years ago important?  Well, the flaw in that relationship provides information about the flaws that cause my most recent relationship to fail.  Yes, being transgender was part of it. But never once did my ex decide to challenge me.  She tried to accommodate me instead of advocating for her needs.  We never argued until the relationship was over.  In one part of the argument, she asked: "Did you want me to be bitchy?"  Recently, as a result of a social skills seminar I attended, I realized that I wanted her to be more assertive in expressing her needs and wants.  She could have had the limits on my outings as Marian if she had asked, but never once did she think she could ask this of me.  She gave up on the relationship before even "fighting" for her needs in the relationship.  Hopefully, she'll be more assertive in her next relationship.

There is a difference in what is needed between a friendship and a romantic relationship.  In a friendship, one doesn't have to get as close as one does in a romantic relationship.  This means one can go for years without an argument and still have a strong friendship.  But in a romantic relationship, one has to be open enough to risk being hurt by one's love. Sometimes, that hurt will happen and both parties will need time to recover from the pain.  And then, after the ensuing arguments (if lucky and skilled) be able to come back to each other, knowing that the other person can be trusted to be there for support when needed.

Given the difference between the two types of relationships, my ex was far from ready for a romantic relationship when she knew me - she wasn't a good advocate for her position in the relationship when under stress.  She was ready for a friendship.  And that's what I'd want if we could rebuild some bridges. Hopefully, she will understand this and trust that I wouldn't betray the friendship.

- - - - - -

Now that I've started to digest some of what's in my subconsciousness, let me shift to affairs of the day....

My day at work passed quickly with only one incident - I forgot my lunch at home.  This meant that I had to spend an extra $20 to take care of delivery to the office.  Before I started my drive, I contacted the folks at the firm holding my dad's IRA to find out what the delay is with my paperwork.  Seems as if their office is closed due to Covid-19, and they are operating at half staff in remote mode.  AARGH!  I could use that extra money now.

As soon as I got home, I had to rush to have a bite to eat before the main part of our co-op board meeting started.  It is one of those nights where a lot of things were said, and little was done.  Too bad that I can't just bail and catch up on my social affairs.  So I was stuck in the meeting until the end - almost 5 hours later.  And that gave me just enough time to wind down before trying to get some shut eye....

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know what I did all day, but I made up for it at night.

 

Sometimes, I feel that this model of Linda Blair from the Exorcist looks more realistic than I do. But then, Linda was born to be a cisgender woman, while I am transgender.  I figure that there is very little I can do about my image, save to lose weight, get facial feminization surgery, and see if I have enough hair for transplants (and having this procedure done if possible).  Until then, I will not feel that I can be remotely pretty in my own right.

- - - - - -

Like this model, I could be in my jammies all day if it were convenient.  And with the snow falling today, I did just that. Television was the order of the day until it was time to get ready for a co-op board meeting.  And then the "fun" began....

First, I exchanged a few messages with my ex girlfriend, and she was in the office having to take care of some tasks.  A little bit later, shortly before 4 pm, she decided to cut out early, as the roads weren't plowed well in her area.  So this gave me an excuse to end our chat, and to get ready for the board meeting. Then, FH called me, and wanted to get together on Friday.  This way, she could take her ailing dog to the vet, and we could go to dinner afterwards. Next, TCL called, and I didn't have the time to talk with her, as the co-op board meeting was about to start. (I figured that we could chat later on.)  After a while, my brother called during the meeting. So I sent him a message to tell him that I'd call him back. (He was calling to tell me that a check deposited to our joint account had cleared, and that I could pull my share of the money out of the account.) And then, FL called to shoot the breeze. Here was another call that I had to put off until after the board meeting. Finally, TCL called again, and I said that I'd call her back after the board meeting ended.

You'll note that I haven't said anything about the board meeting.  Well, most of what goes on in these meetings are not for public consumption. We have a lot of work ahead of us for the next few weeks, and I figure that we will likely have a few vendor selection meetings coming up in the near future.  My new job may get in the way of my participation, as I expect that I'll be getting out of work at 5:00, and I won't have time to do anything until 6:00.  And then, I figure that I'll have to turn my video off, as I'll still be in my feminine presentation when I get home.

Eventually the meeting ended, with all attendees feeling exhausted.  I returned my brother's call, then texted FL, and finally got the chance to chat with TCL for a while. At least, I was finally able to schedule dinner with Maria for later this week....

Shopping can be an addiction.

 

There's a part of me that keeps looking for things to add to my wardrobe. But every time I start looking at the usual sites, I find it harder and harder to find something worthwhile to add to my wardrobe.  It's not just because I will need to find room for new garments.  But it is also because I have nothing much to do, and am looking for something to occupy my mind.  I'll bet it was this feeling that tempted my late wife too much, causing her to give in and buy clothes she did not need.

Luckily, I seem to have gotten my fill of actually buying clothes.  It helps that the stores I would go to no longer have a brick and mortar presence.  Otherwise, I'd still be buying new dresses for my closet.  Even so, I will need to replace my wardrobe piece by piece as I lose weight. If I'm lucky, and maintain some sort of discipline, I may get back to wearing a size 18W dress again.

- - - - - -

On other matters....

As has become a habit with me lately, I didn't get much sleep last night.  So I figured I'd check to see if a problem I was having renewing one of my prescriptions could be resolved online.  Unfortunately, what I feared happening happened - my health insurance was not properly renewed.  So I had to spend the better part of an hour, first thing in the morning, to get the problem resolved with the insurance company.  Of course, this problem can not be resolved by snapping one's fingers, or by a single keystroke.  Instead, I'll have to wait another 24-48 hours for the paperwork to make it through the pipeline. So I'll now have to wait for a call before I can make next month's payment. 

While killing time (I had a co-op board meeting to attend in the evening, I scanned some emails from my inboxes. There were several indoor meetups being held by the Fun Time Friends group - and I will be passing on them until after I've been vaccinated for Covid. But there were two outdoor meetups that I am considering attending: (1) at the Poughkeepsie Bridge Across the Hudson, and (2) at Muscoot Farm.  Both involve a little bit of walking, but I can always skip out on that if I want if I'm getting a little tired.  If I had my criticisms about my ex's favorite dinner group and the virus, I have more regarding this group. But I don't have to attend any indoor activities, and these outdoor activities will be in "my" neck of the woods.

Of course, I've been trying to keep up to date with the women I've been chatting with on the dating sites.  There are two that I might get along with, but have special needs adult offspring. I'm not sure if I could deal with those issues, given my personality traits.  However, there are two that things seem to be clicking.  One lives in Manhattan, and the other in New Jersey. It doesn't make that much sense for me to do anything other than talk, with the infection rate spiking around here.  This morning, I read an alarming statistic regarding infection rates on Long Island, and it implies things are worse than we are being led to believe.  No, it's not something one can worry about in itself.  It's because our government has decided that it can't get away with another lock down, and is trying to muddle through until vaccinations start bringing the infection rate down.  (Contact tracing may be of help, but the statistics imply that we may be beyond the point where tracing may be an effective tool to stop the spread.) However, there is also some good news.  From my conversations with one of these women, the NYC subway is virtually empty during many rush ours as of late, and it might make sense to do a museum run before things get worse.

 

The calm before the storm

 

Winter is known for interesting weather.  One day, the weather could be in the 50's, and later that same week, we could have a blizzard.  This is one of those weeks.

Earlier this week, the weather was in the 50's, and it was a nice day to go out wearing a lightweight coat and a sweater underneath.  Today, the weather was in the high 30's, and people were at the supermarkets stocking up in preparation for the coming blizzard.  

This morning, I got up early, so that I could return a book to the local library, and then decided to take a long ride just to get some free air for one of my tires. (I have a slow leak in one tire, and wanted to make sure that I didn't need to inflate it in bad weather.)  While out, I noticed how busy the supermarkets were, and was glad that I stocked up on things a few days ago. I was also glad that I postponed a zoom meeting with my ex boss until tomorrow - neither of us would be going out, and it made sense to use forced downtime for our virtual get together than a day which I expected might be busy preparing for the coming snow.

By the time I got home, I was very tired.  But I had no time to take a good nap.  Instead, I had to get proof that I had health insurance lined up for 2021, and no extra time to take care of this.  New York's Obamacare exchange was closing up shop earlier than last year, so I had only the 6 week window to have paperwork in hand saying that I had purchased a plan for the coming year.  After a phone call and logging into the exchange site, I had that paperwork in hand, and had what I needed to fight "city hall" if needed.

Next, it was a co-op board meeting.  Things ran better than expected, and the meeting was quicker than usual.  However, I had to bug out early - I had a Tuesday night meeting of my Texas Zoom Meetup group to attend.  (I'll have to talk with the president of the co-op in the morning about me bailing out.)  Around 8:30, I made it to the meetup group, and only one of the group was left online.  We chatted for 30 minutes, and then I was free for the evening.

Hopefully, tomorrow's weather won't be as bad as expected. At least, I have my snow shovel upstairs just to be safe....