Door Dash

 OK, I wasn't planning on spamming the blog quite this hard today but this requires a comment...

 Door Dash is a service I had heard of but never used, nor really ever planned to use. That is until a couple of Team Lunches at work that I couldn't attend (being full-time remote and more than a hundred miles from the office) and my manger's manager giving me Door Dash credit to cover the paid-for-by-the-company lunches. That was nice and, while I didn't actually use them for the lunches I have experimented with them a little. 

 All in all, being semi-disabled, and with only one car in the house anyway, the idea of a centralized source for takeout - especially from places that don't deliver on their own - is kinda cool. Not earth-shattering or anything... delivery has been a thing for a long time... but kinda cool.

 Now, however, I just got an email from Door Dash advertising their Pickup Service. 

Save Delivery Fees By Getting the Food Yourself! 

What?!?

 Ummm... guys... That was already a thing. 

 I don't need you to order carry out and get it myself. 

 Really... 

 WHAT?!?

Spider-Man: No Way Home

 So, movie review time (I can't make this blog all about me being sick).

 Spider-Man: No Way Home...

 I'm really undecided on this one. I mean, I think it had some interesting ideas on the "just how Meta can we make this?" front. I think I enjoyed watching it... but I'm not sure.

Here be SPOILERS... you have been warned.

.

.

.

.

.

.

OK, so all of the different Spider-Man movie franchises (at least the live action ones) exist within the multiverse as alternate realities. Like I said, how Meta can you get? 

Seeing different heroes and villains back was definitely cool. Willem Defoe and Alfred Molina being worth the price of admission all by themselves (and frankly being the only one's I really cared about because I like the first two Toby McGuire movies). Also, can we pause a moment on Toby McGuire... or as my wife said when he appeared on screen: "Wow, that really shows how long ago those movies were." (I'm not THAT old damn, it!)

So, I thought the concept of the movie was... interesting. The contrasts between the various movies, poking a little meta-criticism about things being dark for the sake of being dark (I'm looking at you Andrew Garfield)... I liked that.

 But that's the thing... I didn't like the dark. Sure, Spidey has always, for me, been rooted in tragedy (the classic death of Uncle Ben) but despite that, its always had humor and light and joy. For me, Spider-Man liked being a super-hero and he was a good guy. Also, my Spider-Man was the super-hero who got to have a positive romantic relationship, damn it.

 So, I didn't really like the ending of the movie... OK, it was a neat, thematic way to deal with the whole Sony and Disney franchise ownership thing and delete Peter from the MCU, but was it really necessary? Did he have to lose everything and everyone? 

 I don't know... being dark and tragic for the sake of being dark and tragic (which is how this felt) really doesn't work for me (still looking at you Andrew).

Week 38

 It's been an up and down week, ending on the down side unfortunately.

 Even on my good days, I'm crashing pretty hard in the afternoons. I actually fell asleep on an hour or so on Monday afternoon, without really meaning to. Other days of the week have been a juggling act of stress and exhaustion.

 The work thing... well, that's up and down too. I met with the Director of HR about my complaints. He seemed like a pretty decent fellow, took the time to listen and agreed that the things I was objecting to were not OK. Said he would help. Unfortunately, what followed was HR and the ADA people continuing to not know up from down. Bad news for them... I'm perfectly comfortable reaching out to the HR director now.

 The other big stressor involved Juno leaving for two nights to attend a weekend conference-like thing. That totally stressed me out. It's not comfortably to realize that, when push comes to shove, one can't actually cook a meal after about 11:30 AM... which makes lunch and dinner a problem, especially when you include feeding the teenager. We ended up getting lots of take out just before she left, so we could have leftovers.

 Unfortunately (I'm using that word a lot, aren't I... kind of theme), the leftover thing didn't work well for the teenager. Most of the week, his health was good and he seemed to have recovered from his illness. Saturday (naturally well after Juno was well and truly gone) he had a major relapse. I'm not sure if it was the leftover pizza or him staying up for about 36 hours straight playing video games or just the gods being in a wicked mood... but he's been pretty wretched.

 I ended up sitting up with him for a couple of hours last night, between midnight and 2:00 am. I expect I feel that soon. He's been resting all today. I sincerely hope that helps him bounce back. I'm recommending no more pizza. I'd also say no more marathon video gaming sessions but who am I kidding. I can't control him... never could anyway.

 All in all, between stress, work and life my own recovery remains stalled. Part of me is still wondering if going back to work was a bad idea... but the damn bills don't care.

Week 37

 OK, being sick sucks. Being sick while the teenager is sick sucks even more. Being sick, while the teenager is sick, while "jet lagged" from Daylight Savings Times really, really sucks!

 Oh and I also spent an inordinate amount of time fighting with the ADA people... AGAIN!

 If this sounds like a re-run of last week... I know, right.

 What the Hell is That About?!?

 In short, it was a very long week and clearly the script writers behind my life need to come up with some new ideas.

Week 36

 A short update for a crummy week. 

 Still trying to get back on track from being sick(er) last week. Not really managing it.

 Spent an inordinate amount of time fighting with HR/Insurance over my ADA accommodation request. Still haven't resolved that but after getting through to a helpful call center tech at the insurance office and getting my complaint forwarded to someone's manager, I at least got some questions answered. Way too much energy used up on that.

 ... and now the teenager is sick. He seems to have the same symptoms I had the week before for what I thought was food poisoning. I guess it might have been a virus because I know we didn't eat the same things. Unfortunately, he is miserable and actually has much less experience with being horribly sick that I do. (In general I would say him having less experience being sick is a good thing, but it does mean now that he is sick he doesn't have a good skill set for it.)

 Also work is miserable and I am exhausted. I'm seriously wondering if I can actually do this.

 So... I wouldn't mind at all if you (whomever you may be, if you're out there at all) kept a good thought/prayer/well wishes/whatever for us. It seems like we need it just now.

Week 35

 OK, so food poisoning (at least, that's my working theory for what happened) sucks. The good news is, I am almost recovered from it. 

 Yeah, Monday night I ate some leftover Pizza Hut chicken nuggets. (No, I will not call then "boneless wings!" They're blessed chicken nuggets people.) Spent the rest of the night trying not to throw up and didn't get any sleep. Missed work Tuesday entirely and most of Wednesday. (Me: "I'll just get caught up on my emails." Manager: "Funny thing, the emails will still be there when you ARE feeling better."). 

 Was stupid enough to go into work Thursday and, to further compound stupid, stuck around for an hour and half longer than I should because "I really want to go this meeting." Crashed so very hard.

 Did I learn NOTHING?!? Gah, really annoyed with myself for that. 

 Actually started feeling better on Friday... if you overlook the migraine that hit after work. I'm not sure my new "take this as soon as the headache starts" meds actually did anything at all. The headache only lasted an hour or two, but that's actually pretty normal for me. I know, lucky. My migraines have never been the "I'm going lay in the dark for three days" kind and I thank the gods for that.

 Anyway, yesterday was great.

 OK, so not my best week... but I can mostly eat food again and I am no longer completely exhausted by sitting. So, YAY, improvement!

Week 34

 Short update today.

 Health-wise, I'm doing pretty good. My second week back at work went OK. I didn't burn out completely on any of the four days. I'm still struggling with "stressing out by habit" but I've managed to recognize that and am finding ways to deal. 

 Life-wise, this week was shit. Our cat of many years passed away. HR continues to be flaming a-holes and the outsourced company who are supposed to be handling my ADA request are proving just as incompetent and obstructionist as the disability insurance people. 

 The stress from life is not playing well with my health. You'd think I'd just crash, but I'm actually doing the opposite. The stress holds me up and pushes me along like a wave... until it runs out and then I crash.

 I believe I have made it perfectly clear to HR and the ADA people that I am not putting up with their crap any more. Now I just need to make it clear to myself. 

 Let's see what next week brings, shall we...