Happy Kemmer Tiara Day!

Another month, another Kemmer Tiara Day!

Above, Carrie gets Mother Nature involved.

At left, some of the people who missed getting in on the last photo of the CareerCenter's Kemmer Tiara Day celebration.

Bank On It!

Another snow storm is on its way.

We already have this on the deck outside the upstairs studio.

My workplace has pretty much the same thing happening.

Later on our deck, after a few hours of shoveling.

Snow Daze

Above is this mornings weather report. It's only partially the amount of snow, but the high winds will make it very bad white-out conditions. Yesterday afternoon I was hearing how New York was shutting down the subways today, Massachusetts the highways, town after town here in Maine announcing closures and not to expect their snow removal services to be doing much when blind. Carrie's job even called her to tell her not to bother coming in today. But Governor Lepage was being quiet. I fully expected he was going to leave State Offices open until we were in the midst of the worst of the blizzard today and then announce closings.

Fortunately he did make the announcement before I tried to leave this morning. We'll let the storm hit and hope it slacks off later today to allow us to use the snowblower.

For now, it's a stay inside day.

Happy Kemmer Tiara Day

 

 Carrie found a true Mainer to celebrate with. Keith is surrounded by his coworkers, our Fourth of July Tree in the background.

Pepper Spray

A coworker brought in some habanero peppers recently. (The small orange ones.) After noting how happy I was at the prospect of trying them, another coworker brought me a selection of peppers from her garden.

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I took a very small nibble of the habanero, knowing their reputation for heat, and got nothing. I took a bigger nibble and felt it. Not enough to go running for coolant, but enough to know a full bite would have been difficult. No flavor to speak of.

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The largest of the group is the sugar chili. My coworker tells me that the crop this year is extremely variable in its heat level. I ate this one plain with no heat felt at all. Pleasant, but not strong flavor. A little sweeter than usual.

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The yellow one, ho Chi Minh, is supposed to be the hottest of the group after the habanero. Slightly sour taste, no heat.

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The round one, cherry, has a nice fruity taste and heat that accumulates. My first bite held no heat, but by the time I finished it my mouth was fully in flame. Yum!

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The fat red one is the chilipeno. No heat, mild flavor.

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The curly red one is the Portugal. Slightly fruity taste, not so much as the cherry. Heat was evident right from the start and lingered on for a while afterward.

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Not shown are the bell peppers Carrie is growing for me. I like those in sandwiches.

After the Fall

We had a very rainy autumn this year, so although the trees were showing lots of color, the leaves got knocked off rather quickly. No long vistas of beautiful foliage lingering on as it slowly turned. This tree at work was one of the slower changing ones.

Capitol Idea

I had "New Employee Orientation" today. After almost three months of employment. Some of the people with me at orientation had been working four months already. Made the "choose your health provider within thirty days of hire" stuff pretty stupid.

At least I got to be out of the call center for the day. Orientation was held right near the Capitol, so during lunch I went for a walk and took some pictures.

June Bug

I was feeling a little under the weather last Sunday and went to another week of training up in Orono feeling quite sick. Between whatever it was I caught, being anxious about training, and being away from home again, I spent a lot of time in the bathroom this week. It's now Friday night, I'm home, and feeling much better.

The photo is of the Orono Post Office.

Oh No, Orono!

I spent the week in Orono for job training. It really is that complicated. Unfortunately, some people in the class are not as quick as the class was set up for and we are already two days behind. The previous two classes also ran a bit behind, but I fear ours will set the record for longest training period. It's already expected we will take an extra week at least.

The photo is of the roiling waters off the dam over the Stillwater River. I was actually in Old Town when I took this shot. The hotel and training center are located in the northeast corner of Orono, so it's an easy walk across the border into Old Town.

Train Gang

This is where I won't be for the next two weeks. My usual workplace is about 45 minutes away from Freeport in Augusta. I will be getting training in Orono, about another hour further north with about 20 other people. "Fortunately" I can stay at a hotel across the street from the training center and get reimbursed for the cost. I'll be coming home for the weekend in the middle, so Carrie and I don't have to be separated too long.

Then I'm back at the Augusta office for another week of phone training, and then back up to Orono for a final week.

Is this job really that complex? Or are the people they hire really that dumb? Either way is pretty scary.

Looney Tunes

So, you think where you work is crazy? This is one of our official meeting rooms.

Unemployment Benefits

In this picture I am at Unemployment. Not on unemployment, at. That's where I got a job. All other State Government Departments are on a hiring freeze, or even downsizing, but Unemployment employment is up. The office is in Augusta, the State Capital, and is a little bit more of a drive than going to South Portland for Staples was, but it's usually doable.

On my first week there, Monday was a holiday, so I couldn't work. Tuesday I drove up without the directions, relying on my memory of having driven there before. I took the exit off the highway that was familiar and immediately saw my mistake. It was familiar because it was the one Carrie and I took on Sunday when we were house hunting. Oops. Fortunately I had been through town before and was able to get myself in the right direction and arrived at work just on time.

Wednesday was a foggy morning and nothing looked familiar, but I took the correct exit anyway.

Thursday my car wouldn't start and Carrie eventually had to give me a ride in. Poor Carrie, an extra 80 miles to both her morning and evening commute. Thursday night I got a new battery.

Friday the car started up fine and I got to work 15 minutes early. And they put me to work right away.

So far it isn't difficult, but I haven't really gotten any training. A lot of busy work that is making me more familiar with forms and some of the computer system. As with any new job I hate not knowing what to do. It is very frustrating, exasperating, etc. I really hate that part. I find it both physically and emotionally draining, but keep at it because I know it will get better and it is good to be employed full time once again. At a state job no less.

As always, for a bigger view, click on the picture. If you do, you can better see the beige bulletin board and the green cubicle walls.