Only the hopeless

I was up half the night, worried about various things.  Mainly the fact we hadn't heard from Chuck, our driver, for a couple of days.  The last time we didn't hear from a driver he died. 

I was pretty annoyed when I got up and asked Ron how he knew Chuck was coming (Ron had given me a pretty extensive shopping list).  "Oh" Ron told me "We've been texting".  I tried, in vain, I think, to tell Ron: if you tell me he isn't answering, please tell me when he is responding. 

A night's sleep lost, over nothing.  Ugh. 

The electric company swears they have "fixed" our account issue, yet I found a bill in the mail with, I think, a $1900 credit.  Yes, I could just enjoy the "free" electricity, but I can't do that and call myself a believer. 

I also found a lot of democrat campaign literature in my box.  I don't know if it's because I labeled myself as "Independent" or someone sold my data, but, dude.  I am about as conservative as they come.  Why try to sell me on a totally opposite platform?  Some of the guys looked pretty good until I got to the "Democrat" thing. 

I have to vote with someone who is going to support conservative Christian values.  Oh, boy, I'm going to get some replies on that one. 

An example, the district attorney made a stupid mistake while in office.  She put a bipolar rape victim in jail for refusing to testify.   [Clearly, I don't agree with that]  Her opponent is jumping on it and even one of the sheriff candidates is on board.  I can't help but think of this poor girl, already went through a crisis, and now being used as a pawn in the election. 

However, I know enough about unmedicated bipolar behavior to doubt she was a total victim when she was "punched in the face by a deputy".  We can be very aggressive, off our meds, and she was allegedly "denied treatment", so she was unmedicated and acting God knows how. 

I might have even crossed party lines and voted for the contender.  However, I got something in Spanish, on my door, ranting about the Republican party and basically saying "We support illegal immigration".  It's America, damnit.  I get so angry when I see everything in Spanish. 

This offensive mailing was endorsed by the District Attorney's contender, and the entire Democratic party.  OK.  Everyone on that side of the ballot just got erased. 

I didn't come here planning to talk politics but I guess I had to, sooner or later.

I got up, took my shower, and did my God Time later.  We went to the warehouse.  I left Ron in his wheelchair and got to shopping.  I needed to get a week's worth of stuff.  I did. 

I had, in fact, too much stuff when we got to work (Ron's list, not mine).  I had big trouble unloading the stuff already on the carts (11 cases) and then bringing them out to be loaded.  I loaded them with Ron's help (he seemed to do OK, he pushed things toward the tailgate so I could load easily).  I wore my back brace.  It was a little uncomfortable but better than hurting my back. 

Sometimes, my back muscles hurt after "truck day" but I noticed they didn't today. 

I got everything into the building.  Snacks did not need a lot of work, so I didn't worry about them.  I mainly focused on getting things put away.  I hid the candy in the bottom of a snack machine.   I encouraged Ron to stock as much as possible (that's what pays the bills), and stored the Lipton and Dew in their designated places. 

I had to hustle!  But I did it.  I managed to get all the new inventory, plus the existing 8 cases (I told you I had Ron do some stocking), onto 2 carts and into our stockroom.  We don't have much space. 

Chuck had left hours ago, happy with his money.  We do pay him if you wondered. 

We finally wrapped it up and went outside, just to see our driver leave.  He went off to an obscure driveway that only leads to a mailbox, half an mile away.  According to dispatch, he wasn't answering his radio.  I had to walk half a mile over to him (I left Ron at the proper pickup spot) and tell him he was in the wrong spot. 

He told me he didn't know where to go.  "I guess you didn't read the pickup notes, which say 'Wait at visitor parking'" I replied.  I left it at that. 

There was another guy onboard, a blind latino guy.  He was going 30-40 miles out of our way to go get - Mexican food.  Like we don't have a Mexican restaurant on every corner, anyway.  "Everyone" in Houston knows the really good Mexican food is found at Mama Ninfa's, he didn't go there, but some place on the edge between the ghetto and "uptown".  I asked him what he was going to eat.  "Fajitas" he said. 

You can get fajitas anywhere.  I wouldn't have cared so much but Ron had already had a very long day.  He was literally doubled over in the back, trying to stretch out his back and get some relief. 

Then the driver decided to take the scenic route to go home.  I kid you not, this one guy's trip had us riding at least 80 miles out of our way.  Then the driver wants to play NPR, which featured a woman relating the tale of when her baby died.  It was incredibly depressing.  Ron asked him to turn it off.  He did. 

They do it to make sure you don't have any other way of getting around.  Only the hopeless and truly desperate would put up with that treatment. 

At least no one was wearing cologne.  What a waste of resources. 

We finally got home.  The driver parked at the foot of the driveway.  If you know he's in a wheelchair, why would you park at the foot of the driveway?  Then he parked too close to the curb, so I couldn't turn the wheelchair. 

I hope we don't see that driver again. 

I managed to get Ron in the house.  "Why didn't you just tell him to back up into the driveway?"  The driver had been OK driving, but was very slow.  I had no confidence in him.  "I didn't want him to hit the house" I replied. 

I scrounged some food together and ate, taking my pills.  Ron ate his leftover fajitas from the other night (but that place is only 2 miles from our house, and we took a regular cab each way).  I took a nap and slept pretty well, with Biscuit. 

I had one of my traveling dreams, where I'm about to travel and getting my things together.  In this case, I was delighted my bag was so light and manageable.  It was a nice dream. 

It featured a family member I don't think about much, my stepsister.  She is 5 years older than me, and worlds apart.  I think she finds me "cute" these days.  Nothing wrong with that.  She is very stylish and fashionable - I'm not.   We had completely different experiences in that household. 

I got up and started working on the mail.  We got a survey from the rehab hospital, and Ron's hospital bill for the excruciating foot pain, on our anniversary, will be very reasonable.  We got the bill from the electric company, saying we had a $1900 credit, but that was mailed days ago.  Allegedly they have "fixed" it by now.  I sure hope so.  I don't like having my account tangled up with someone else, even if they are paying my bill. 

We got bank statements and more Democrat political mailings.  If I didn't know better I would say they have pulled their funding off Hillary and invested it into local candidates.  Although I believe Ron and I got some Hillary flyers.  One had the current First Lady on it. 

We got some other bills but nothing to worry about.  Ron got a new talking book machine, which he really likes.  He had me tape up the old one (the box is reusable) to be mailed on Monday. 

Then I got online.  Ron's working on the monthly report, when he's done with that I will file it and then we can relax tomorrow. 

Dad's in town, and that should be an interesting visit.