Working On A Quirky Graph

In light of the pandemic, I decided a few months ago to go ahead and volunteer to work the polls. After sending in the initial paperwork, there was a class to take and a quiz to pass. I sat as an alternate for a few weeks, waiting anxiously to discover where I would be going. It turns out I will be working at my polling station, which makes life easy for me and hopefully spreads people out throughout the city. However, now I’m of two minds on it.

I still am proud to do my part for the election. I am glad I can help insure there will be enough polling stations open so everyone has a chance to vote. I have been holding myself a little more upright and puffing out my chest (metaphorically, I could see myself throwing my back out if I did that irl), excited to go stand and be potentially bored for `14 hours. There will be a lot to do, but at the same time, there won’t be that much to do. It will be repetitious at best, take the ID, have them sign the tablet, give them a ballot, and wipe down the machines. For 13 hours. The first hour will be setting up. I should be appropriately caffeinated, but I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with myself the rest of the time. My phone battery is not that strong.

I am worried out of my brain. I will be taking a sleeping pill tonight so I can insure I will get some sleep. I have to be there at 5 so I’m already worried about being late, but now, with people being a little over the top? Yeah, I’m not looking forward to that. Missouri is a state that allows open carry and while, several agencies have said that bringing a gun is not needed, that doesn’t mean they won’t. On top of that, it will take time to determine who the winner is, and tbh, there are several individuals within the Republican party who have been vocal about ‘protecting’ the sanctity of the election.

I’ve already stockpiled groceries, specifically dried goods, pasta, etc. I’m extremely lucky that my neighbor who works for Purina has given me a Christmas box of cat food for my spoiled brats, one of whom is eating the last of my salmon and egg noodle dish. (It was either hand it over, or she was going to claw her way up my leg.) This should get us at least through the week, (they are very picky), which is good because I honestly believe I should just go to work and then come home.

I have an interview on Wednesday for a tech company. So today I meandered over to HackerRank to test my skills. After bombing the initial skills test and getting confused about the second test, I opted to put it to the side for the moment. There may also have been some moaning and whining as well, but we don’t need to discuss that. I have a different interview on Thursday for a tutoring position, but honestly if the HackerRank thing went as poorly as it did, I don’t have high hopes. However, tomorrow is a new day, a busy day, but a new one so I will try again then.

I’m hoping the landlord will be able to fix my Nest as well. I love the darn thing, but suddenly it stopped working and now I don’t know what to do. The first guy that came out explained that it wasn’t a good product and then tried to upsell me. So I went out and got a new machine and the same problem is occurring. It is completely feasible that I have two busted machines, but honestly. So the landlord is coming out tomorrow to take a look at it. If they can’t fix it, I’m going to have to call a Nest Pro which seems ridiculous since the darn thing is supposed to be able to self installed. However, now we wait and see.

Wish me luck tomorrow.