Wednesday Whimsey

OK, OK, there isn't going to be much about this post that's actually whimsical, but I drew a blank on a title, so that's what you get. 

Now, let's get down to business... First things first, it was not at all cold this morning, so it totally didn't matter that I'd forgotten my jacket at work.  In fact, it was in the 60s, and I just put on a long sleeved flannel shirt and was nice and toasty warm until I got to work.  

By the way, we're back to going in at 5:00.  Yay for overtime.  Oh, and they have totally screwed us on this Big Beautiful Bill thing -- you know, the one that eliminated tax on overtime.  I'll tell you why.  Let's say, hypothetically speaking, I work 60 hours a week.  You'd think that would mean 40 hours of straight time pay and 20 hours at time and a half, right?  Wrong.

For that 60 hour work week, we'll be paid 60 hours straight time pay, and 20 hours half time pay.  So, the only thing that isn't taxable is the 20 hours half time pay.   Got it?  OK, let me clarify it a bit.  If, hypothetically speaking, someone makes $20 per hour, he'll be paid 60 hours at $20, them 20 hours at $10 per hour.  The only thing that won't be taxable is that 20 hours of $10 per hour pay.  I'll still have to pay taxes on 60 hours of $20 per hour pay.  Clear as mud?  Yeah, the company is suggesting we hire tax professionals to make sense of it all. 

I'm just wondering, for those of you who work (somewhere else), is your pay done like this?  Or is it just Lennox, International who does their employees this way?  

In other news, I got me a new toy today. 

Eh, it's just a new power bank, but I'm pretty stoked about it.  See, I'd had this one for a while, 

and I noticed during the ice storm that it will no longer charge my phone.  I turn it on, and it charges for maybe a minute, then turns itself off.  Even sitting out in direct sunlight, it wouldn't charge my phone.  The charge function kept turning itself off.  I'd have to keep turning it back on, and it took forever just to get my phone battery up by just 2%.  I guess it's worn out.  It was an el cheapo model anyway.  I don't think I paid but maybe $10 for it. 

The flashlight on it still works pretty well, but for what it's worth, this one was my go to for light.  

It's got a regular flashlight , and it's also got this little lift up panel for a more widespread light. 

I used that one to brush my teeth with. The only down side is that the radio antenna is so short it makes it pretty limited in what I can listen to.  It picks up the local station just fine, but anything further away is barely audible or so staticky I can't stand to listen to it.  Of course, the local station had lost power, too, so there was that... 

Once I'd gotten the batteries for Cody's bigger radio, I could pick up another station.  I'm not sure which one it was, or where it was located -- why don't they identify themselves more often?-- but it was something to listen to. 

All that rambling to say, as soon as I got my power back, I got online and did some research into power banks. I'd looked into the Jackery banks, but decided against it, especially after my cousin James brought me that generator.  For one thing, they're pretty expensive if you get the one with the solar panels.  For another thing, one of my coworkers and her husband have one, and she told me it only lasted about a day.  They'd kept having to plug it into their truck and go driving around to charge it back up.  

Now that I have a gas generator, I didn't need something to power my whole house.  I wanted something to keep my phone topped up during short term power outages.  You know, the ones that are too short to make dealing with a gas generator worth the effort. 

Anyway, after clarifying to Gemini what exactly it was that I wanted, the one I got (above) was the one that kept coming up on all the lists as being the best value for the money, so I splurged and got it.  It seems pretty nice.  It's got a very bright LED light, plus wireless charging.  It is supposed to be able to completely charge a phone 3-5 times -- depending on how low your battery is -- before needing to be powered up again.  They do recommend that you charge it using an outlet, because it takes something like two days to completely charge it using the solar panel.  

I hope it lasts longer than the cheap one did.  

I'll let you know. But not for a long time, I hope.

I'm done with power outages for a while.