05-18

mondays are traditionally the busiest days of the week, and today followed that rule. it didn't help that we were a couple of people down, so it was a brutal day, especially compared to yesterday. i was responsible for loading four trucks, but there were gaps as long as 15-20 minutes between packages, and i was done in four hours. i had only 3 trucks today, but i worked 7.0 hours and there was really no slack time at all.

it started raining just as i left work. i won't be driving a lot looking for shade. truth be told, i'd b perfectly happy to stay right where i am right noe - i'm at the the santa anita metro station, and i've jury-rigger a large umbrella to be held up by my briefcase & right arm as i sit on a plastic bag keeping my hiney dry while i'm charging my battery. my battery seems to be taking longer to charge with the overall life of the battery is being depleted.

actually, i'll probably end up back at the apartment in the patio while everyone stays in due to the rain. stop at the mechanic's to get wifi, grab some lunch, and chill. maybe today i'll see what fast food options still accept EBT.

it was disappointing to discover that two places that used to accept EBT: the burger king in eagle rock, and the popeye's on the eagle rock/glendale border, no longer do so.

as long as there's a place to stay dry, rain isn't such an issue. but with the libraries closed...

there are a couple of homeless guys who've placed a plastic bag over the outlet that they're using. i OTOH, have plugged a power strip into the outlet, plugged the charger into the power strip enclosed by the briefcase and running the charger out of the briefcase into the laptop.

the rain is turning into a light drizzle. the breeze is adding a wind chill factor that makes me regret not wearing a hooded sweaathirt. plus i only got less that 3 hours of sleep due to the 1:30 call time; i can feel myself getting drowsy.

i'm at 74% battery. that should be enough to get all the wifi time i need tdoday. the rain is picking up and it's getting colder. but the umbrella works!

i made it to 80% charge and bailed. good thing, as the rain became a steady drizzle. the A/C in the mercedes may be iffy, but the heat works just fine!.

got to my mechanic's and i actually dozed off while surfing the web, and slept a good six hours while my laptop battery depleted itself.

there was no evidence that it had rained at all - the streets were completely dry, the sun was out. granted, it's a bit chillier today than it's been for the last two weeks. i'll take the respite.

as a change of pace, i decided to try the carl's near where the folks looking for a roommate turned me down. they advertised accepting EBT, but apparently only the cash benefits, not food - my EBT got declined there. for a little bit, i was concerned that they'd cancelled my card  entirely, but no worries, i stopped at ranch 99 market and picked up some sushi. i was so relieved that i went back in and picked up a lb. of chinese sausage to add to the chicken and rice i plan on making for dinner tomorrow night for the homeless; basically the same version i made for derek last week. i even bought short grain rice when i found it on sale at $10 for 5 kilos; anything less than $1/lb for short rice is a pretty good deal.

but back to the EBT thing. that's ANOTHER place that's advertised as accepting EBT, but doesn't. those getting EBT for a chance to get a hot meal (so to speak), are being deprived. if i can find someone willing to talk about how they spend their EBT, i'll try and describe how a typical month goes.