"If you don't go to other men's funerals they won't go to yours." - Clarence Day

The NAACP has joined other civil rights organizations in saying that the steps taken and planned re. Sterling's ownership of the Clippers are insufficient. They're calling for specific steps to be taken to insure more diversity in the front office and ownership of NBA teams.
Strikes me as more than a little hypocritical coming from an organization that was more than happy to take Sterling's money and give him not one, but two lifetime achievement awards.

After three days of wind gusts in excess of 20 mph it's finally calm. We may hit triple digits over the weekend but the average first occurrence is May 2, so that would be consistent. The middle of next week the temps should drop and the wind pick up again.

We've had a couple of challenging days with extra stuff going on, some of it moderately stressful. That's why there was no post last night; just didn't have it in me. Today has been better, just very busy. Here are a few pics of some of the activity.

It took two days, several phone conversations with Emarat Shipping and a few emails back and forth with the buyer in Dubai, but the VW is on its way. It will be taken from here to L.A., put on a ship, and arrive in the UAE approximately two months later. The buyer was a big help in moving things along and I find myself wishing we could meet in person. He told me if I'm ever in the UAE (does that take the definite article?) he'll treat me to dinner at "Dubai's finest." That's almost enough to make me travel there; dinner in Dubai!

What you don't see here is a picture of the new transmission for the truck. I was told yesterday I could pick it up at Joe's today but when I went to get it...no transmission. Thirty minutes each way, no tranny. He said he'd call when it arrived, so I'll be making another trip, either tomorrow or Monday.

I took this picture ... just because. I don't really think it needs an explanation.

Thursday night is "Doc Martin" night at our house. It's a BBC comedy on PBS, but don't think laugh track and sight gags. Typical British humor, a running story that centers on a village doctor in a small coastal town. Everybody is a little eccentric, especially the doc, and their interactions are entertaining in a slightly cerebral way. We're fans.

Pam's job situation has grown challenging. She works on a 22-bed unit and if the number of patients ("census") drops below 17 she gets called off. That's happened about four times in the last two weeks, and it's still April. More snow birds will be heading back to their midwest homes in the next couple of weeks and the patient pool will drop further. When that early morning phone call comes ("don't come in today") she has to either go without pay for that shift or use one of her limited vacation days. Neither is good. So she's been trying to talk with people in positions that might be able to do something about it, and today one of them came with a suggestion.

Pam is going to go through the 6-hour course to be a "companion." Some patients, typically older individuals, are disoriented and need supervision 24/7. So the hospital stations a companion to sit in the room with them to make sure they don't harm themselves or the equipment. I would be bored out of my skull within 30 minutes but Pam is well suited for that task; at least that's what everybody there thinks. So if she gets called off from her job as a HUC she may be able to pick up a shift as a companion. And after she's done that for awhile she'll take the additional training to be a "sitter," someone who does the same thing, but with suicidal patients.

She's still going to talk to supervisors she knows about other options but this looks like at least a short term assist. Besides the income, her job provides our health insurance, and at some point a bean counter is likely to say, "Why are we providing benefits to someone we're telling to stay home half the time?" That would be a disaster.

T'ank you, Fadder.