Finished listening to The Children by Ann Leary. Really enjoyed it.

I knew my bike tires needed air, but wowzer, they were low! I pumped them up, raised my seat an additional half inch, and went out for a short 5 mi ride at 6:30 for another test run. And discovered some more leg muscles that weren't being used before haha! The uphills were so much easier! And with the pumped up tires, I coasted much faster too. I still need to do some tweaking of the seat front to back, but it is better than it was. I also need to find a good position for my feet on the pedals. But this morning, no knee pain. I still haven't tested this out for 10 miles, but I think this issue is resolved. 🤞

Got some good news at work--we'll all be getting 2% increases. So the two team members I reviewed in May will get raises starting with their next paycheck, and I'll get mine at the normal time in November with my annual review. But here's the thing: director has been keeping wage information of the team from me, despite my giving their reviews. The adjusted wage increases are supposed to be loaded to a folder that I have access to. The question is, will my director prevent that from happening? I'm almost certain the reason she hides it is because I make the same as the others in my team, despite having more years in this position and being their supervisor. So I wonder if she'll continue to hide it from me and do the meetings herself. We're supposed to meet with the employees who already had their annual reviews to give them the good news and new rate of pay by end of next week. Will she do it instead? I so much want to confirm what I already think I know.

And this also proves the American dream is a myth, which I've long believed. Work hard, give it your best all the time and you'll be justly rewarded. It doesn't work that way. The truth is, the harder you work, the best you give, it is taken advantage of and they'll only ask more and more of you without reward because you are a good little worker. That's not to say my employer is horrible. They're not, and they do treat their employees well compared to most and this is the best employer I've ever had. And I've had a lot of jobs in a lot of different fields. It's just that working hard doesn't mean shit. Anywhere.

Honey's cousin's husband is dying, and the cousin called to ask honey to make a box for the ashes. His brother, after going through treatment for lung cancer, now has COPD and emphysema. And honey still won't go to a doctor about the swollen lymph node. Sigh.