1) I think I might have mentioned in a previous email that it appears as if DOGE may be having an impact on the BOP. It seems like CO’s are now trying to find ways to justify their existence and/or at least document what they do each day. I think it is making them nervous/anxious, so they start doing things that they normally wouldn’t do. Some examples are listed below:
a) There is a guy named Goose that works in the front half of the library. He is the epitomy of what you would expect a male librarian to be like – intelligent, respectful and helpful. If the copier doesn’t work, he is right there ready to help you. If the printer is out of paper, he is johnny-on-the-spot to get it filled with paper. Meanwhile, there is another guy at the front half who is loud, only helps his buddies, and sometimes hogs the computer when you go in there to use it (as if he didn’t have all day to use it himself). Who do you think got fired this week after working there for five years? Is it the goofball or the well-respected, helpful individual? Yep – you got it – Goose got fired.
b) There is another extremely helpful guy who lives on our unit named Paxton and he works in education helping guys get their GED’s. He has been there at least 4 years. I often see him tutoring people after hours in his own room & I have heard nothing except how helpful he is. He is a graduate of the Kelley School of Business and got his MBA from University of Wisconsin. Within a few days of getting here and finding out that my son & daughter were both at IU Bloomington, he asked me if I needed anything. I said I would really like to have a watch. He gave me his extra watch to wear at no cost until I got one of my own – which was about a month later. Who do you think got fired on Friday and sent to the SHU? Yep, Paxton. None of us can comprehend that he would have ever done anything wrong, had contraband or disrespected a CO. It is uncanny what is happening.
2) Today is Easter Sunday. We don’t get anything special for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I don’t think there is anything special at church like communion either. Nevertheless, I walked around today wishing people a Happy Easter and will go to church at 1:00 for the sermon. Three of us did have an informal discussion about gays in the church and some of our thoughts on it, but that was the extent of our religious conversation for the day.
3) I mentioned in a previous email that I was at 250 sit-ups and push-ups per day and that I was peaking out at 25 push-ups per rep. One guy said to take a break and do the push-ups every other day. I took his advice & yesterday when I was walking my 3 miles on the outside rec track, I would stop at the SE corner and easily crank out 30 push-ups. I also did about 20 pull-ups. I would have done more, but there was a line behind the pull-up bar and I wanted to keep walking with my buddy Greg, a farmer from Georgia. But, I am now doing 300 sit-ups everyday and 300 push-ups (in ten sets of 30) every other day. I may start throwing some Burpees in the mix now.
4) I cranked out five book reports between yesterday & today. The first three were all mostly done, so it was easy to finish them yesterday. I finished two books yesterday evening that were both about halfway done. I woke up at 5:00 am & could not go back to sleep (I think I was watching for the Easter Bunny), so I got up and worked on the other two book reports in the reading room. I got them typed up by 9:00 and sent over. I then started working on my homework for the Threshold class & should finish that by 13:00 today – just in time for church. I jumped on this computer when everyone went to lunch since I had alread had ten crackers with some pepperoni & cheese on them in the comfort of my own room. After church, I will go to outside rec this afternoon and then do the weekly crossword puzzle with Mark & Gino.
5) One of my cellmates is in the hospital. Tony is the one that has kidney disease, diabetes, has high blood pressure and it taking Wegovy for weight loss. He has fallen about 20 times in the past month or so, mostly due to his blood pressury changing drastically when he stands up. Early this week he transitioned to a wheelchair and he went in for some lab tests on Friday morning. That is the last we heard from him. All we know is that he got taken to the hospital; don’t know if it is for more tests or if it is something serious. Tony is really close to T2 in our room and T2 moved down last night & slept in Tony’s bed. T2 said it was the best night’s sleep he has had in a long time. T2 gets out on Friday and a guy named Joe (who got to within 3 weeks of graduating from med school before getting arrested) will be moving down to replace him.
6) Here is a funny story. Everyone knows that I talk in my sleep. Eric told me yesterday when I was sweeping & mopping our room (there are six of us in the room and we take turns each week – it was my turn) that I yelled out in the middle of the night “I’m back baby!” He said I didn’t sit up or anything, just blurted it out real loud.
7) If some of my journals tend to be disjointed sometimes, it is because we do not have a cut & paste function on the computer. If we write something, we cannot cut & paste it to a different section. A perfectionist would probably retype it. I choose to just go ahead with it as-is.
Until next time,
Dennis Zeedyk 37175-510
