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TalonRider

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  1. TalonRider

    The Talon House and Me

    By TalonRider,

    The Talon House
     
    This actually comes from another blog that I have going.
     
    While doing the last post, I happened to think, I should tell the story behind The Talon House.
     
    I joined Deweywriter in December of 2003. That same month while on Christmas vacation, I met a friend of a long time friend of mine. He and I became friends. B, at one point started his own forum board Lonecoyote79. Later that year, B decided to pull a disappearing act on his friends. Not knowing what was going to happen to that board, I decided to start my own.
     
    After discussing this with a couple of people and what I wanted to do, a format was chosen and I contacted forums4 free and started my own free site. The board I got just happened to be by Invision Power Services. On July 14, 2004, The Talon House went online. In October 2004, F4F upgraded their servers. When they did this, it caused problems for the House. I tried several times to contact F4F to have the problem they caused, corrected. Never got a answer from them. I then checked into Invision Power Boards and switched to them. So The Talon House became a hosted site. Fortunately, I had a back-up copy of the original site to start up the new hosted one, so I only lost about 4 weeks worth of posts.
     
    The design for The House is a cross between two sites, Deweywriter and the now defunct Lonecoyote79. LC79 was set up like a house with rooms for forum names. I used sub-forum ideas from DW. I later added the chat room, a.k.a. the Fone Booth.
     
    Since I love to ride Roller Coasters, I chose Talon @ Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom as the coaster name I would use, henceforth, I became 'Talonrider'.
     
    Unfortunately, the pictures I have are too large to post here. But, you can go here to see some photo's.
  2. TalonRider

    A Fun Day

    By TalonRider,

    Hehe, it's going to be a fun day at work today. You see, I'm an Indianapolis Colts fan living in Eagle Country. So you can imagine how the talk was at lunch on Friday. I did say at one point, that in the last five or six meetings between the two teams, The Colts won each time.
     
    Well, last night, the Colts beat the Eagles again.
  3. TalonRider

    Black Friday

    By TalonRider,

    Black Friday, in the U.S., is the day after Thanksgiving. It officially opens the Christmas shopping season. It's the one day out of the year that I avoid shopping of any kind, if I can. To me, though, it takes on a slightly different meaning.
     
    The story begins in mid August, 1982. One evening I was sitting out on the porch step and the sister of a friend of mine stopped by with a couple of her friends. They all got out of the car and out stepped a 19 y/o blond God named Phil. A slightly over used term I know, but what can I say other than he was beautiful. And my gaydar didn't have to tell me he was gay, I knew it instantly. We all talked for awhile and made plans to double date the following weekend.
     
    The following weekend we went to the drive-in. Yeah, they were still around back then. During the first movie, Phil got playful and started dropping ice down the back of my shirt. He didn't get the reaction he was expecting. It was so hot out the ice actually felt good. I eventually took the ice out and turned around and dropped it down the front of his shirt. After awhile of going back and forth like that, I got brave enough and at one point, grabbed the front of his shorts and dropped the ice in. That brought an end to the game.
     
    Later on, we decided it was time for some refills and a nature break. Since we were the only two in the restroom at the time, I turned to him and came out to him. He replied, "I know. Why do you think I'm here?"
     
    Phil's birthday was coming up soon, so the girls and I decided to throw him a little party, which also happened to be Labor Day weekend so a cookout was planned. As part of the plan, I had invited him to spend the weekend and everything went off as planned. As the weekend was coming to a close, I asked him to let me know when he was ready to go home. Much to my surprise he said, "I am home, why would I want to leave?" Little did I know that when I picked him up Friday that he had planned to move in. All he brought with him was clothes for the weekend. At some point after we had first met, he had decided that I was his and he was staking his claim.
     
    It took me awhile to get used to living with someone again as I had been living by myself for six years. Phil became my first roommate, and more importantly first boyfriend. It took me a couple of months to realize what my feelings for him were, that I loved him. So that makes him the first guy I've fallen in love with.
     
    Fast Forward to November 23, 1984. When it comes to Thanksgiving, I would take him to his mothers and then spend the day with my family. This particular year, Phil decided that he wanted to invite his mother over to spend Thanksgiving with us, so that's what we did.
     
    November 24, 1984, 8:00 pm, the terror begins. I'm sitting in the living room watching TV when I hear a gun shot. I got up to go investigate. As I round the corner to go into the next room, I see Phil standing in the doorway to the bedroom and in his hand, is my pistol. I duck back behind the corner and yell for him to put the gun down. I waited a bit, peaked around the corner and repeated for him to put the gun down so I could come in there. Since I didn't know what was going thru his mind, escape was also on my mind. The problem was, in order to get out, that meant crossing 5 feet in the open to get to the front door, which was locked. I kept trying to get him to put the gun down.
     
    I finally peaked around the corner a third time just in time to watch him raise the gun to his chest and fire the fatal shot. I rushed into the room, picked up the gun and moved it way from him, then called 911. I then knelt on the floor next to him and was with him when he took his last breath.
     
    And just so you know, there was no note, but I did find out later that night why he did it.
     
    November 24, 2006, will mark the 22nd anniversary of Phil's death. Most years it doesn't bother me too much. This year tho, it's on my mind more as it falls on the exact day it happened 22 years ago. After all these years, I still wonder if we would still be together today. He would have been 44 now. He's still in my heart and mind and always will be.
     
    So this time of year, I become sad and a little depressed, but nothing like the rest of 1984. The closer Christmas got that year, the more I wanted it over with.
     
    Now you know why this coming Friday is truely a Black Friday to me.
     
    Rest in Peace, Phil.
     

  4. TalonRider

    The First Entry

    By TalonRider,

    Welcome to Talon's Claw. I've decided to do a blog. People may be wondering who I am. I'm sure by now that everyone knows I'm Nick's editor.
     
    I'll start out with my professional life.
     
    I've been in Health Care for 37 years. I started out working part time in Dietary at the local hospital. In 1972 thru 1984, I worked in Surgery as an orderly until I was transferred for what was called some restructuring. That was BS on their part, but I'm not going to get into that right now. So at the beginning of 1985, I worked in the Housekeeping Department. Nine months later, I became a supervisor. Eventually, I was given the added responsibility the Laundry.
     
    Then in the late 80's at the encouragement of my boss, I joined the National Institutional Laundry and Linen Management (NAILM) organization. This next part, you'll probably find hard to believe. Most people do. My boss at the time encouraged me to go to NAILM's educational program known as the American Laundry and Linen College (ALLC). This is a very intense program done in 3 parts at different times of the year.
     
    In 1990, I began Part 1, which is 1 week in length. A typical day went like this. At 7:30 am, including Saturday's, we were bused to the Eastern Kentucky University campus for classes. 8:00 to 8:15, 16 question quiz over the previous day's material, then class until noon. Noon to 1:00 pm lunch. 1 pm to 5 pm, afternoon session. 7 pm to 9 pm, group project and study at the dorm, which was actually the local Holiday Inn. Sunday's we were expected to spend 4 hours in our groups.
     
    Parts 2 & 3 were two weeks each and the only difference's to part 1 was, mid-terms where held at the end of the first week and finals on the last Friday with graduation of all 3 parts that same night.
     
    During each part, each class was given a project to work on and them present it to a panel of facilitators. In part 3, the project was to design a laundry, either on site or off site. During the course, the thru us some twists for the project. One thing they did to us was throw a union into it.
     
    At the completion of all 3 parts, I graduated a Registered Laundry and Linen Director (RLLD). My boss, from the hospital, made arrangements to be on had to present me with my pin. She was also a facilitator.
     
    On a side note. I'm also a member of ACE, the American Coaster Enthusiasts. And if and when the Gallery is online, I'll post some pictures.
     
    The next entry will be called Black Friday.
  5. TalonRider

    Assisted Dining

    By TalonRider,

    This is something that I've meant to do for a long time now, but never got around to it.
     
    Most of you how know me, knows that I work in a County owned and operated Nursing Home. Three years ago this past August, the Administrator started a program called the Assisted Dining Program. This program is designed to help Nursing in making sure all residents are fed in a timely fashion. It was set up as a volunteer program and all Department Heads were thanked for volunteering. Yeah, you read right, we were volunteered.
     
    My boss, another person, and myself, were assigned a resident and we take turns in feeding him breakfast. Since I can't use his real name, I'll call him Al.
     
    Al has been with us for a few years. He's only about three years older than I am and from what I understand, when he was in his 20's he was in a sledding accident and sustained a head injury. As a result, he has limited use of his right side and memory loss.
     
    A typical meal conversation may include a little singing, asking me my name, a bit of the Lords Prayer, and if the door happens to be closed a little bit, he's say 'door', signifying that he wants the door opened. His most popular question is,'Where's mom and dad?' Most people will tell him that they are in Switzerland skiing, which in reality, they are no longer living. Even tho, he wouldn't know it, I don't like lieing to him, so I tell him a half-truth. I tell him that they aren't here right now. It's a bit early and they may be having breakfast somewhere. Only one time has that statement not worked. He does remember his manners, he will say excuse me and Thank You. He will also sometimes ask about his brother and sister. His sister is in at least twice a week to see him.
     
    Al is considered a slight choking risk so his food is pureed. I also have to add a thickening agent to his milk. It only has to be honey thick. A typical breakfast can consist of any combination of the following, prunes, prune juice, hot oatmeal or Cream of Wheat, yogurt, pancake, waffles, or french toast with syrup, and milk. Ever tried to mix syrup with pureed pancakes? It's not very easy to do.
     
    I would have enjoyed meeting Al when he was younger. From what I've seen of his pictures, he was quite good looking before the accident.
  6. TalonRider

    December 12, 2007

    By TalonRider,

    This day turned out to be an interesting day. It was the day of our annual Employee Christmas Luncheon. It's the one day of the year where the Department Head's help prepare and serve a meal to all three shifts.
     
    The fun part had already started hours before I showed up at 10:00 a.m. When I got there, there was police and sheriff's car's at the two entrances to the facility. It seems one of the local newspapers had received a call from someone stating that who worked at the facility and drove a white vehicle had a rifle in it. Because of it, the facility was put into semi-lockdown and all white vehicles searched. No weapon was found.
     
    The police did have a suspect as to who made the call and went to talk to him. No charges were filed since the call was not made in a terrorist way. I think all he was trying to do was get his girlfriend in trouble. It also turned out that the SO is one of my department supervisors. Definitely not what she needed.
  7. TalonRider

    More Updates

    By TalonRider,

    Back in January, I did a blog called, It's War I tell you, It's war where I complained about the tenant downstairs. This past Labor Day weekend, Sunday to be precise, I got up at 6 in the morning. At one point I heard a beeping noise coming from downstairs. I thought it was here alarm clock going off. I went to the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker. As I turned to leave the kitchen, I looked out the window to see smoke coming out from under the awning over her porch. I immediately put on my shoes and grabbed my cell phone and run down.
     
    When I got there, she had her door open letting the smoke out. Turns out, the fire was contained inside the oven which is located next to the door. I put small fire out and then proceeded to clear the smoke out of her apartment.
     
    I spoke to the landlord yesterday to see if he knew about it and what he had to say. He didn't know about. The woman, or at least her daughter, should have called the Reality Office who manages the lease's, to have them send someone to check the stove. While I was there, he called them to find out. Come to find out, notice had been received that she would be moving out, stating health issues as the reason. Having talked to one of her daughter who visited her from California before I went on vacation, she has been falling down a lot lately. I assume the family is placing her somewhere where she can be looked after.
     
    On another bright note, last October I went to bat for my staff on some issues that they wanted answers for that I didn't have. Following the chain of command, I sent an email to the Assistant Administrator I worked under, since my boss was gone. I also cc'd it to the Administrator. That afternoon, I got called to his office. He proceeded to chew my butt out for doing my job and threatened to write me up the next time I did something like that. He said I had no right going over he head. I told him that I didn't go over his head. I sent the email to him and sent it my boss and the Admin. for their information.
     
    The next morning, the supervisors of Housekeeping, Laundry, and myself had an email stating that there would be meeting that morning will all the staff from the two department. 30 minutes before the meeting, we received word that me and the supervisors need not attend. After the meeting, some of my laundry staff requested a meeting with the Administrator about the bullshit he spouted to them. I also scheduled a meeting with her.
     
    At the end of October '06, the Administrator removed the two departments from him.
     
    Apparently, there has been a lot going on with him since then. This past Wednesday, his employment with was terminated and he was escorted out of the facility. We have our own Security Department, but since he has a temper, a Sheriff's Deputy was present to escort him out.
     
    We may never know the reason(s) for it, but there are a lot of happy people.
  8. TalonRider

    Liers

    By TalonRider,

    What to do about liers and people who talk about you behind your back?
     
    Last week, I started a project at work that hasn't been done for awhile. I started taking the wheels off of the carts used and removing all the crap that has accumulated over the past couple of years. I was only able to do it a couple of days due to meeting a good part of the week.
     
    I started out by getting several different size wrenches from the tool cart, different style carts have different size nuts and bolts. As I said, I grabbed several wrenches since our maintenance man keeps the cart in the basement instead of on the main floor like he used to do, so I didn't want to have to make several trips to get the exact sizes I needed.
     
    On Thursday morning, the maintenance man said he needed his wrenches for a job. So I got them for him. I found out later that morning that he had said something about me having those tools. One of my supervisors told him that I probably had them in locked up in the closet and that he would get them for him. He told the supervisor, nah, he'd wait til I got in. He was nice to me in asking for them. He also had told me that he had done 15 of the carts and my first thought was, oh yeah, when? This is something that you can't hide doing. Then he took off to do what he could have done with the wrenches before I got in.
     
    The day before that, his Department Head, Supervisor, and my boss were all in the Laundry look at something and they all saw what I was doing. I was told the following day by one of my staff, that he told her that he was going to get me in trouble for doing what I was doing. It was later confirmed by another of my staff. That pissed me off. I went to his boss about it. I told his boss about what was said and that all the problems that he and I have had between the two of us was because this guy was playing us against each other, and he agreed with that. I also informed my boss about the situation.
     
    Friday, my boss told me that the maintenance man had told him that he didn't care if I used his tools, which conflicts with what the supervisor had told me. I told my boss that over the weekend, I was going to buy some tools and bring in to use. That should avoid the issue of borrowing his tools, which by the way actually belongs to the Laundry Department.
     
    So tell me, how am I going to get into trouble for doing his job?
  9. TalonRider

    A Sad Note

    By TalonRider,

    This has been a weird week and I'm glad it's over.
     
    We got hit this week, Wednesday, with the first major storm of the winter season. Though it was nearly as bad as New York state, it was still bad. We got hit with a wintry mix of snow, sleet and rain. To make things worse, add in the bitter cold and wind that followed it. The worst part of it was the people that were stranded in their cars on I78 for over 24 hours.
     
    The worst part of the week came in the form of a phone call from Security at work. They had called me to inform me of a phone call they had from the daughter-in-law of one of my staff. One of my staff had died suddenly Monday evening at home. I went in to work early Tuesday morning and got the staff together first thing. I gave the staff time together to grieve for their co-worker. Some sat quietly, some cried, and some spoke of past memories. After 15 minutes, I quietly told them when they were ready to go to work they could. I spent the rest of the morning on the production floor talking with staff and making sure they were doing okay.
     
    Chester will always be remembered as the Rain Man. I think it was 3 years ago, that when ever Chester was off, it would rain. It was like that for the whole spring, summer, and fall. He was of course teased about this for a long time. We will always think of Chester every time it rains now.
     
    A collection was started within the department and $300.00 was collected. A separate collection was started for the rest of the facility.
     
    When I made the announcement at the morning Administrative stand-up meeting, the Administrator ordered the County flag to lowered to half staff for a week. This act surprised and pleased my staff when they found this out.
  10. TalonRider

    A Busy 3 Day Weekend

    By TalonRider,

    After pulling a double shift on Monday and working 2nd shift the rest of the week, it was nice to have a three day. It was a busy weekend tho. I spent a good part of the time editing 4 chapters for one author and a couple of new ones for Nick.
     
    I know that sounds like a lot of work, but it was fun to do.
     
    I also spent some time having a couple in depth chat's with an author friend of mine about his latest chapter release. Now it's time to reread Book 2 of The Scrolls of Icaria from the beginning and review some of the chapters from Book 1 on a couple of points.
     
    Jan
  11. TalonRider

    Work Background

    By TalonRider,

    I began working at the local Hospital when I was 16. So basically, I've worked in the Health Care industry all my working life. I've worked in Dietary, gotta start somewhere, Surgery, Housekeeping and Laundry.
     
    I'll tell you some about the place I work now.
     
    I work at a County owned 470 bed Nursing Home. I am the Assistant Director of Environmental Services. Which means I help run the Housekeeping and Laundry Departments, with my primary duties in the Laundry. I've been doing this since here September 28, 1992.
     
    THE EQUIPMENT:
     
    4 - 450 lb. open pocket washers
    1 - 300 lb. open pocket washer
    1 - 50 lb. open pocket washer
     
    Open pockets are the same as the front loading machines you can find in Laundry Mats. To give you an idea of how much these washers hold, one 450 will hold the equivalent to 18 regular top loading home machines.
     
    2 - 400 lb dryers
    1 - 200 lb. dryer
     
    2 - flat work Ironer's along with sheet feeders and folders.
    2 - Small Piece Folders, for folding bath towels and patient gowns.
    1 - Garment Steam Tunnel, for the removal of wrinkles and drying of Residents clothing. We don't have the time to hand press each piece of clothing.
     
    We also have a water reclamation system that is used. This system was installed when they built this Laundry. With this system, we reuse the final rinse at the end of one load and use it at the beginning of another.
     
    In August 2004, an Ozone system was installed. This was installed for an energy program the county entered into. A heat reclamation system was also installed the year before. This system was hooked into the exhaust ducts of the dryer. The heat heading out is caught by a wheel, similar to that of a car radiator, and is picked up by the fresh air coming in.
     
    We also have a couple of conveyor systems we use to move the finished product to central areas to be wrapped in plastic material.
     
    My main function is to oversee the overall operation of the department. I have 2 supervisors who oversee the daily operation and a staff of 28.
  12. TalonRider
    Today, I got the strangest email from my boss, addressed to me and the Housekeeping and Laundry Supervisors. This email informed all six of us that we are not longer to sit with our staff at Break and Lunch times. When some of the staff found out about it, they all said that's ridicules. The time is spent socializing and not talking about work.
     
    I may not be able to sit with them, but I'm certainly not going to run them off if they choose to sit with me at lunch and outside in the smoking area. And I'm certainly not going to get up and leave when they do. I mean, how rude is that. It's even worse for one the supervisors as his wife works in the laundry. They can sit together, but they can't sit with the others.
     
    The person that I think is behind it, is one who likes to stir things up and the next time she comes up to me during break time with a work related question, and she does it often, I'll tell her no, it can wait until break is over and she can come to my office and ask it.
     
    End Rant.
     
    Jan
  13. TalonRider

    First Entry (Part 2)

    By TalonRider,

    I forgot to mention, that a result of this training, which I finished in June '92, that I started my current job in September of the same year.
     
    I now work for a 470 bed County owned Nursing Home. I'm the Assistant Director of Environmental Services in a suburban county northwest of Philadelphia.
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