Erin's Blog

More boring stuff about my life....

Yesterday I ran a bunch of errands.

I went to get a resident parking permit for my car -- now I can park on my street in the time-restricted zones and not worry about getting a ticket.

I went to the Social Security office in Denver. I waited in line for 3 hours to find out I need to get a bunch more paperwork to do what I wanted. Yuck.

Then I went to the clinic. I showed them my log of blood glucose levels and they said they were very good, and to stop taking the medication. So, I stopped taking the glucophage. My BGC this morning was 102.

They set me up with hormones, too. I had just run out of spironolactone, so that was good timing. They gave me Estrace, a chemically identical form of estrogen as well as a daily multivitamin, a calcium supplement and a bottle of baby aspirin. Good stuff, considering I had to pay for them all in the past.

Speaking of hormones, the 18th was my 10-month anniversary on hormones. I took some pictures of the effects they've had on my body. If you are a close personal friend and would like to see them, e-mail me. If I don't know you, don't bother.

Today I ran some more errands. I did the laundry. I looked up the Prince George's County Public Schools and found my old school records. I went to Kinko's to fax the PGCPS a request for my transcript. I went to Target and bought a box fan (I _need_ a fan to sleep well) and some nail polish remover. I did my nails. C got home and we went out to dinner.

I just got home a few minutes ago, and need to get some sleep. I have to get up at 4am to go to work tomorrow!

Night!

_erin

More boring stuff about my life....

Wow, it's been a while.

Been busy with work. Things are going well still. I actually got a hold-down for this week, so I've known what I've been working for a week in advance. Sweet. A 25X and 85X in the mornings, a 48 in the afternoons.

I knew it would come up eventually, and it happened yesterday. I talked with Alice, the supervisor of the training department, about the dreaded issue: restrooms. According to RTD policy, because I haven't had the surgery yet, I need to use the men's room. Yuck. My therapist, Karen, said she would write me a letter. Hopefully this might help convince them to change their minds.

The past few days have been stressful for me because of my car. I had to get it jump started every time I tried to start it yesterday. Today, things went better, but barely. I took it to Start Mart, a chain that does batteries, alternators and starters. When I was in Portland, I had my alternator rebuilt and put a new battery in my car at a Start Mart there. The one here rebuilt my alternator again for only a labor charge because the parts were under the Start Mart lifetime warranty. Now I have the car back, and it's back to normal. Sweet.

C was in the ER again last night. I didn't visit her as I had to get up at 3am this morning to go to work. I think she was upset, but understands.

My friend Ci invited me to her place on Sunday for the Denver Pride Fest. The parade goes right by her place, so we figured we could make some lunch, and when we hear the parade drawing near, go down and check out the festivities. This will be the first Pride Fest I've been to. When I told C, she asked if she could come. I told her I'd ask Ci.

The apartment search continues. I still like the one nearest work the best, though I saw a really cute apartment on the top floor of a Victorian house in the Capitol Hill area downtown. Decisions, decisions! I will go look at some more tomorrow since it is my day off.

Tomorrow I'm headed to the Stout St. Clinic to talk about my diabetes and to get some meds. They are offering hormones for free, so I figured I'd take advantage of that! Good timing, too -- I just ran out of spironolactone.

Well, it's getting late, and I'm tired. Night!

_erin

More boring stuff about my life....

Well, I spent all day Saturday looking at apartments with my friend Ci. We drove all over town and saw some wonderful Victorian homes that had been split into apartments. I saw several that I really liked. Unfortunately, the one I liked best was $985/month. A little out of my price range.

Sunday I went around to several more places that I had found. I found an affordable apartment that is a really nice 1 bed / 1 bath with all of the amenities on my checklist and more. To top it off, the building is brand new, and it is only TWO BLOCKS from where I work! [Cartman] Kickass! [/Cartman]

I will probably go cash my check tomorrow and pay the application fee and put down the deposit. Only problem is the building is still under construction, so I won't be able to move in until July 21st at the earliest. Yikes.

Monday was my first day on the extra board at work. I drove four different routes in two pieces of work. I worked almost 12 hours. And there wasn't one incident, not one wrong turn, not one curb hit. Yeah, I can do this for a few months until I get a steady route of my own.

Today (Tuesday) I drove three routes in two pieces of work. The morning run was very short -- 4:40am - 8:30am. I got home at 9am and took a nap. Woke up, made a Lean Cuisine for lunch, and went back to work at 1pm. Got home around 8pm because of traffic. The afternoon piece was all one route -- route 48. This is the route that goes by our division from downtown. I got to drive a bunch of drivers out to their relief points in town, as well as a bunch of drivers that had been relieved to the division to get their cars. Kind of intimidating for my second day driving on the extra board, but it really wasn't too bad.

When I got home, my new birth certificate was waiting for me in the mail! I was happy to see that, it had been a while.

Well, I have to get up at 3am, so it's bed time!

_erin

More boring stuff about my life....

Yikes. C stole $65 more from me, $60 in bills and half a roll of quarters. I didn't notice the quarters were gone until I got home and saw she took her laundry to the Laundromat. I thought it would be a good time to do the same, but then noticed the half-roll of quarters that was at the bottom of my purse was missing. Argh. This is starting to piss me off. I am now hiding my money. I am no longer the Free Bank of Erin.

Today was our last day in class. Tomorrow, I am out in the "Real World(tm)" by myself. Well, I've already been driving by myself after class, but this will be it For Real(tm). I can't wait.

We took a class picture, once I suck it off the camera I'll post it for your enjoyment. One of the class members wasn't around -- he was off working somewhere else. Oh well.

I am trying to find out my mother's social security number. I need it in order to change my name on my SSN card. She won't talk to me, and my father doesn't have it anywhere. Yuck.

I am mooching off of someone's wireless connection. My roommate didn't send in my MO and her half for the phone bill and it got cut off. I wonder when the electric will get cut off? She still hasn't sent that, either. My MO for half of the bill is sitting in the envelope, all ready to go. In any case, they are closing so I need to run. I will try to come here to get my internet access until I can get the Comcast hooked up at home.

Night!

_erin

More boring stuff about my life....

Morning blood sugar: 119.

Woke up, showered. Took my blood sugar reading. They told me to take it once a day, after waking up, but before eating anything. I did this and my level was 119. Got dressed, went to work.

We had a short day in the classroom, then went out driving. We drove artics today. DJ drove the route 86X, I drove the 82X. When we got back, I had to use the bathroom. By the time I got out, the class had already been dismissed.

I had to come back to work at 4pm for a tripper, but had 1.5 hours to kill. I went home and took a nap. Came back to work and drove the 47X. I didn't ask for any help and I did everything just right. It was a good day, except for the downpour, the golfball-sized hail and me being soaking wet from running through the rain and hail.

Got home and C was already home. She just had gotten home she said. She took me out to dinner because she "didn't feel like cooking" anything. We went to Denny's.

Just got home a few mins ago and decided to write this update before I fell asleep, LOL.

Goodnight!

_erin

More boring stuff about my life....

Wow, I've been a real slacker when it comes to updating my blog. ::shakes finger at self::

A lot of stuff has been happening recently that's been distracting me from blogging.

Last week's training was pretty uneventful. Classroom stuff, mostly.

On Friday last, I went on a date with Ci. I like her a lot, and we've been hanging out quite a bit. We went to a bunch of places she was familiar with in Denver. I had never even heard of them, much less been there. I've been to her place to watch some movies, and another day I was working on her computer (I know, it's a habit, but she didn't have any anti-virus software!).

Saturday was the RTD Roadeo. I took a ton of pictures, but I also got to drive! Normally, the driver has to be at RTD for a year and have a clean record (no tickets, accidents, tardies, unexcused absences, AWOLs, etc.) in order to participate. I asked if I could drive the course, and the instructors said they'd get me in at the end of the participants. They were true to their promise, too. I got to drive the course, and had a blast. I hit a few cones and knocked over a few tennis balls in the rear dual clearance test, but overall I did better than some of the people who had trained on the course previously! Considering I had only been given the map to the course 10 minutes before I drove it, I was happy. My roommate came with me, and she said she had a good time too. I got sunburned pretty badly, but I wanted to get some more sun on my upper body and back -- I was pretty pasty-white before, and it's already turning tan.

After the Roadeo, my roommate and I went and got our nails done. I'd never experienced this before, and it took a while before I adjusted to them. I am even typing pretty well with them now. Luckily, they aren't too long.

Saturday afternoon I went and got a laser consultation. The laser place has a great deal where they will do GIC members' faces for only $99. At the consult, they said the average person need 6 sessions, spaced 4 weeks or so apart to rid the face of hair completely. $600 isn't bad at all, considering I spent almost 3 times that on electrolysis back in 2002, and there was hardly any noticeable difference before and after the electro.

After the laser consult, which was free, I went to Denver's People's Fair. I walked around with my friend Ci, and a few of her friends. We had a good time, and I ended up buying some stuff at a garlic stand (jalapeno-garlic mustard, some garlic-stuffed olives and some garlic spices). Ci convinced me to get a cell phone, so I picked up a phone for cheap at one of the booths. They activated it right there, at the People's Fair booth. It is nice to have a phone now! (If you are a friend of mine and want the number, click on the "contact" link above and ask for it, I'll be happy to give it to you!)

Sunday I worked a booth at the People's Fair. I had volunteered to work the booth, but when I volunteered, they didn't ask what times. I didn't think to mention it, and it turns out they signed me up for the whole day -- 10am - 7pm. Oops. I managed to stay hydrated (it was in the high 90's and there was no breeze!) and actually got that warm fuzzy feeling by helping people out and giving out information about the GIC.

At work we're still in training. This week is our last week of training, then we're out in the "real world" all on our own. ::shiver:: The classroom instructor is pretty laid back, so he gives us a lot of breaks and we generally have a good time in the classroom. Yesterday I went on my first route all by myself -- I drove a 2X from Civic Center Station to Morrison Park Loop. It was uneventful until the time I parked the bus in the garage. In training, the person at the vault-puller always told us where to pull in the bus (the row number). Last night, they didn't mention it. I drove in and parked behind some other artics, and the cleaning crew yelled at me and said I parked it in a row of clean buses. Oops.

Today on my way to work I stopped to get gas. When I went in to pay I noticed a lot of my money was missing. My bag had been handled last night after I went to sleep (the zipper was in the wrong spot, some papers I had set on top of the bag were beside it) but I didn't think anything of it until I looked in my wallet. I am pretty sure my roommate stole the money. ::yuck:: Now I have to live on $60 until we get paid again a week from Wednesday. I was saving some of that money so I could find my own place, and now I'll be stuck here longer because of her theft.

Today I went to the "diabetes group" at the clinic I've been going to. In addition to a lecture about how diabetes affects the body, they examined our feet with this bizarre piece of rubber that was shaped like a needle, but was super-soft. It tickled the bottom of my feet. I got a glucometer and 55 strips, too. They've asked me to test once a day, just after I wake up and before I eat. I will be logging the scores. Today during the group meeting, my blood sugar was 102.

At work today, we went to the Union Hall where we signed up for our benefits. After that, I got pulled for a random drug test. That was interesting, because I had to be escorted to the facility where I gave my "sample." So I went there, gave them their sample, and then they tell me it might be too diluted to test. Great. I drank some water before the test so I'd have a sample to give them, and then it turns out I might need to give them another anyways. Well, at least I am still getting paid for my time.

I had a nice talk with Alice, the head of the training department at RTD, about my transsexualism. She seemed extremely cool with it, and asked me some questions that weren't too personal. I told her that I was happy to educate, and that if any drivers asked once I was out of training, that I would be happy to educate them as well. She seemed happy, as a past experience with a transsexual that she had was very negative -- only because the transsexual made a big stink when people referred to her as a "him," "he," etc. I told her that I usually let that kind of thing just roll off my back, unless the person is doing that to be hateful. Luckily, RTD has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment. One incident, and the guilty party is terminated. Alice also was very helpful in changing my name in the computer system at the divisions -- I had my name legally changed, but RTD's computers hadn't been updated yet.

After the drug test, I was told I could go home, and that I'd get paid for the rest of the day. I took this opportunity to go to the Social Security Administration to try to change my name there. They needed some info on the application that I didn't know. Hopefully, I will be able to get that done with once I have the info I need.

After the SSA visit, I came home and took a shower. Today was another high-90's day, and I was pretty hot and sweaty. After the shower, I went to Target and bought a binder and some clear plastic sleeves. I am using an idea that Ci had to avoid writing out a lot of information by hand for each run that I do. Everything looks good so far, hopefully it will work out.

Now I just got online. I haven't been online in a few days, so it is nice to check my e-mail and read up on the news of the computer world. Yes, I am an internet addict, LOL.

Tonight I think I'll go to the GIC meeting. I haven't been there in a while, and it will be good to get some of this stuff off my chest in front of Real People(tm).

Night!

_erin