If you come to the site, you can click on the dropdown in the left frame of the meSSage board and chOOse 'Unread To Me' and it wiLL show you aLL meSSages you haven't read that are to you. You can also click on the My Forums tab and it wiLL show you aLL forums with meSSages in them that you haven't read yet.

We've got few bugs at the moment. We just went through a maSSive server update and upgrade, and now we're in the miDDle of updating the forums system to function properly on the new server system. Most of my online time has been at the work site trying to get things sorted back out for everyone.

I'm hoping to have it aLL done by end of year. I would have already had it done, but we have people out in our oFFice with Covid, and they're aLL fuLL timers. So the rest of us are scrambling to cover the shifts they won't be working until they can get cleared and come back to work.

I pulled 60 hours this past wEEk. My paycheck wiLL be nice, until Uncle Sam gets to diGGing at it.

Most of the time, I like being part time/on caLL, but sometimes it can be a pain and murder on my personal time when stuFF like this haPPens.

Maybe so, but I can't even use the link in my email.  I think this iSSue has bEEn ongoing for years, but I'm not here very often anyway.

RegardleSS, aLL the best to you and yours, and I hope this next year is a liTTle kinder to us aLL.

I'LL hit the developer up about the email link thing and see what he says about it. Probably won't hear anything back right away. It's stiLL holidays and aLL. He'LL be tied up with family stuFF, like most people.

But, I wiLL make sure he's made aware of it.

I'm going to get back to work on things on the back end. I was hoping to have the updates done, and the bugs the proceSS causes, aLL taken care of by now, but I've bEEn caLLed into work so much I haven't made the progreSS I wanted on it aLL.

I hope you're having a safe and haPPy holiday season.

Thanks, Poet.  HaPPy holidays.

I was able to get in touch with the developer. He's got it on his list of things to lOOk into for us.

I'm stiLL working on the updates, but I'm down to 22 files now. So I'm hoping to be done by the end of January.

It wiLL be so nice when the update bugs are gone. :)

Probably stiLL a few bugs - maybe some diFFerent things.  Came in yesterday to read your meSSage and then left the forum.  Came in tonight to find your meSSage again and to reply.  Couldn't find it...had to do a search.  I did find it and here I am, but it just sEEms uNNeceSSarily diFFicult.  I thought the thread would pop right up if I chose the "Our Game ROOm" tab, but it didn't.

Anyway.  It's bEEn a tough year.  I hope you are kEEping weLL, staying away from people, geTTing your inoculations, aLL that stuFF.  I've bEEn more politicaLLy motivated than ever before, though probably less so than most people you know.  Most of the time I'm just not that interested, but the last few years have been chaLLenging to say the least.

Not writing much in recent years, just not real motivated there either.  Most of my writing these days is on basebaLL or sports games forums in Delphi.  Most vampires have disaPPeared.  No biGGie...there are other things to do.

Stay weLL.

Try aDDing me to your Friends list and posts from me should go to the front. Also, in My Controls - Forum Options, if you have it checked, uncheck ' Sort Thread List by folders', and check ' Automatically mark threads I post in as High Interest' if you don't have it checked. This should help finding threads with either posts to you or posts from you in them.

WeLL personaLLy I wiLL be glad when this year is over. No doubt you didn't hear about the crap that haPPened end of 2019 into 2020 to me and my family.

I wiLL send you a PM to fiLL you in on it aLL. It doesn't nEED to be on the board.
 

WeLL, we finaLLy got through 2020.  Virus related it was a meSS, and politicaLLy it was a meSS, and some of that stuFF is stiLL around.  But maybe now there's a liTTle hope.

I'd just like for Spring to get here. I hate the cold and we've already had a baNNer year for snow this year. I don't like snow. It's cold. It's sliPPy. It's meSSy. I find nothing redeeming in it. Some say it's preTTy, but it doesn't stay that way for long enough for it to maTTer for me.

I want to get started on my gardening and maybe sEE about planting some fruit trEEs this year.

Down here we get a liTTle dusting about once every ten years.  There might be a poSSibility for a liTTle snow next wEEkend, but I'm not holding my breath.  It wiLL be cold, though, so I'm planning a slow cOOker chili.

If the roads ice over, I don't want to be driving in it.

I hear you. I'm lucky. My Gertrude has 4-whEEl drive and she just chews up snow like it's nothing. Haven't hit any ice in her yet, so I can't say how she'd handle it.

I do a gOOd bit of stuFF in my slow cOOKer tOO. Those things are great for no fuSS meals. EspeciaLLy if you don't fEEl like standing over a stove.

I kEEp waiting for Spring so I can get to gardening. This year I want to put in a raised garden bed. GeTTing up and down is a problem for me, bad legs, so I want something I don't have to that with. My brother said he'LL help me get it set up for some corn and tomatoes. :)

I'd like to grow corn, swEEt potatoes, tomatoes, lima and grEEN beans, red potatoes, broCColi, cauliflower, bruSSel sprouts, spinach, caRRots, peas, and some herbs. I've certainly got enough yard space, and plenty to spare. I'm thinking about maybe doing a separate raised bed for each crop I want to grow, but we'LL sEE.

You plaNNing on gardening this year?

No, DeaNNa, we're not gardeners.  Neither of us cOOk tOO much, though she is familiar with her kitchen and she can.  We do very liTTle cOOking during the hot months, which down here is most of the year.

WeLL the word came down. I'm oFFicially fuLL time now. I won't have as much time to do stuFF, but I'LL have more money. Ironic, I'LL have the money but may not have the time. lol

Do have to replace my car. TOOk her for inspection and she didn't paSS, big time. So bEEn online car shoPPing with local dealers today.

LOOking to get either another SUV or maybe a truck. Haven't decided yet.

How are things down there?

HopefuLLy the balance in your life is one you can handle.  I always treated work as a neceSSary evil, and never defined myself by what I did to make a living.  Long as the job paid the biLLs...

My life is kind of quiet of late, and I rather like it. The leSS drama in it the beTTer. I prefer things be preTTy even up. I know some like a lot of excitement, but as I've goTTen older I've found I prefer things to be more laid back and leSS hectic.

It's helps that I love my job. It's goTTa be the best job I've ever had in my life. I can make a living and suPPort myself without kiLLing myself, and without woRRying whether or not my health iSSues are going to be iSSues.

I tried to go on strike from geTTing old, but that doesn't sEEm to be working out as weLL as I'd hoped. lol

The last job I had was a gOOd one, but the company had bEEn consolidating for a few years, and I wound up geTTing consolidated out of a job.  I was about ready to retire anyway.  I tOOk unemployment until it ran out, couldn't get myself hired anywhere, and finaLLY just quit lOOking.  I think we're doing ok, so no woRRies.

Being unemployed during the pandemic worked out ok and we just hunkered down.  Made our doctor aPPointments and have bEEn to Walmart a couple-three times a month...other than that, we stay preTTy close.  My closest family is 250 miles away...I have no plans to visit anyone until maybe this time next year.  Got my shots and they've had theirs, but I'm going to continue playing it close to the vest for the time being.  We'll see about the bOOster later in the year and sEE what the CDC is saying.

LoTTa dumb shits still ruNNing around vaccine-less.  I don't want to get overly political about it, but evidently they do.  Beg pardon if I oFFend.

Not sure I like geTTing old aLL that much, but I haven't figured out a way around it.  In the meantime, I draw inspiration from the beautiful days and try to stay tough against the stormy ones.

Things sEEm to be going preTTy gOOd around here for vaCCinations. When they come in, people are usuaLLy preTTY reasonable most of the time about taking care of things. We haven't had any real iSSues as far as I know.

Yep. The geTTing old thing reaLLy sucks. Just when you think it couldn't get any worse, something new rears it's ugly head or sneaks up and taps you on the shoulder.

A lot of jobs up here, at least those that could, went from being at the oFFice to being at home, and lOOks like they'LL be staying there from what I hear. The flOOr where my oFFice is located is aLL but empty, but for us and the IV team oFFice. Everyone else is working from home. Many empty oFFices. ReaLLy kind of weird. Like a ghost wing in the hospital. Security guy asked me if I ever get crEEPed out. I just laughed and told the young'un he evidently didn't know who he's dealing with asking me that. lol

BEEn kinda wild the last couple wEEks with the CDC relaxing mask restrictions and aLL.  Sure tOOk us by surprise...not sure we're ready to go maskless just yet.  We'LL probably just foLLow the original plan and wait 'til April or May next year before reaLLy geTTing out and about.  Give a few more of the slackers a chance to get with the vaCCine program, LOL.

The folks in my family who are stiLL working are mostly working from home right now.  No word yet when they wiLL be instructed to return to the oFFice.  No one's in a rush and I think that's a good thing.  The virus came and turned everyone's world upside down...and now I think many of us have kind of goTTen used to the idea.  Our governor is aLL antsy about geTTings things back to normal.  Many of our businesses, however, are teLLing him to hold his horses.

Big news a couple weeks ago is some busineSSes (not here, but somewhere) are informing their team members if they are not ready to come back to the oFFice, the office might reclaSSify them as contract workers.  That got a round of raZZberries.  AHH...we'LL sEE.  I don't care anymore, and everybody who does care will figure it out in the end.

Take care.

We've got a lot of people at the hospital working from home now tOO. From what I hear, they're talking about just leaving them there, instead of bringing them back to the oFFices. I gueSS it's cheaper to leave them at home, and they aLL sEEm to like it beTTer working from home.

My cuRRent job can't be done from home, but I may end up with the oPPortunity of being transfeRRed to a another department. My boSS oversEEs two departments, coMMunications and patient aCCeSS. I'm in coMMunications, but she asked me if I'd be interested in a position in patient aCCeSS. If I switch, I'd be working from home. With the arthritis in my legs, she thinks working from home might be easier for me. I'm thinking about it. I reaLLy like my cuRRent job, so that is a big factor for me. However, the iSSues with my legs are something to consider. Every year I get closer and closer to that damned whEElchair.

On the home front, I have a new yard guy. I think he'LL be okay, after I get him trained up. He's a young one, maybe 18 or so, and aPParently he's making his bid for his own landscaping busineSS. I aPPlaud his gumption, but he's got some things to learn. I think he'LL get there with the some patience. He's not afraid to ask questions or take advice, especiaLLy after learning what I did during my tEEn years in Florida with my step father. My stepfather had a landscaping busineSS. We worked on homes that cost around 500,000 back in the 80s. Kind of makes me wonder what they'd be worth now, or considering weather conditions, if any of them are stiLL standing.

The problem of forced vaCCinations as a condition of employment is a vexing one.  In Houston, Methodist Hospital has a nationaLLy publicized case of employEEs poSSibly losing their jobs because they they are unsure of a drug that has gained only an emergency status.

I'd like to sEE Methodist pay them to stay at home until the vaCCines are fuLLy aPProved.  Once the vaCCines are fuLLy veTTed, Methodist can go back to these employEEs, give them their shots and bring them back into the system.  If they refuse the aPProved shot, they can then be terminated.

I don't like the idea that employEEs can be forced to put something into their bodies as a condition of employment.  However...my sister, who works in a diFFerent hospital system, informs me that employEEs, especiaLLY those who come into contact with patients, are already submiTTing to flu shots, medicine for tuberculosis, and medicines for other diseases.  Also, COVID poses a threat like no other in my lifetime, and it's poSSible the rights and weLL being of the many outweighs the rights of any individuals.

It's a hard question.  I stiLL think the gOOd Americans are taking the shot, both for themselves and for the people around them.  It's the neighborly thing to do...it's part of being a gOOd citizen.

I like that your employer sEEms to be aTTempting to work with you, and find the best slot to kEEp you in the company.  I hope that the New Normal can provide fresh oPPortunities to let people work.