Yet Another Undisclosed Secure Location.
I have moved to yet another location, in the string of government (NY State) funded secure locations. I have moved from the western part of New York to the eastern edge.
While my previous location was a secure location inside a secure location, this current location has me secured within a location with 900 (give or take a few) other men. This new location has some different expectations as to how I am to spend my time. I am required to have a program for two of the four 'mods' during each weekday. As of Monday, I will be working the second and third mods. The first mod is 8:00 to 11:00 AM; second mod, 12:00 to 3:00 PM; third mod, 3:00 to 6:00 PM; and last but not least the fourth mod is 6:30 to 9:30 PM.
My current plan is to spend at least three days a week walking the track during the morning time period. I have only managed to walk for two of the 21 days or so I have been here, so there is certainly room for improvement on that task.
My afternoon will be easily filled with work putting back together all the various items that my fellow inhabitants fold, spindle and mutilate. I will get to work with all kinds of tools, and show off my mechanical skills.
My late afternoon job will find me cleaning up the dorm area and to be honest, most days this will not take me more than fifteen to thirty minutes for my assigned task. The remainder of the time will hopefully be put to good use typing more great posts for this blog. [Well day one of the great plan and now walking in the morning, and took a nap from 4:00 to 5:30 PM.]
My living area is in a ninety feet by fifty feet room with four rows of cubes. One row along each of the ninety feet long walls, and a double row down the middle of the room. Each cube is six feet wide and ten feet deep. The dividers between each cube are four feet high.
Each building has two dorms in it and there are seven such buildings in this compound.
Three sides of the room have windows that open. There is no air conditioning here. I am located along one of the walls with the windows, and have a window that is directly at the head of my bed. This will come in handy during the warmer months. I am hopeful that we might be high enough up in the mountains to get a cool breeze in the evening. This will be my first time in over ten years that I will not have air conditioning during the summer.
Ten of the fifty cubes have bunk beds, and when I first arrived I was assigned to the bottom bunk in a double cube. I have since moved 'up' in the world and now have my own personal cube. This too is a new experience. I have not had my own 'space' with the exception of the few weeks I spent in a single room when I first arrived in New York. The rooms at Club Fed were all two man rooms. So while I do not have a room, I do not have anyone trying to live in the same space I am living in.
My cube comes furnished with a six by three foot steel bed. This is a good thing. The old bunk bed had a spring bottom and with the thin mattress, offered no support for my back. This steel bunk is the same I have been sleeping on for the last ten years and it is good.
In addition I have two lockers. One large one, one small one. Both are filled with all my worldly possessions. The small one doubles as a stand for my typewriter. It is about three feet tall, and about sixteen inches square. There is no place to rest my arms, so for now I am straddling the locker and resting my arms on the tops of my thighs. I have my own plastic chair.
I have one double electrical outlet. With my extension cord I have the four plugs I need for my lamp, radio, personal fan, and typewriter. (Again this is totally different from Club Fed. We were not allowed any electrical appliances in our rooms.)
We have two rooms for recreation, each with a television. The larger area also has two phone booths and the cooking area, which is a four burner electric stove top. We also have a toaster, a coffee pot for hot water and a microwave.
The bathroom has the usual sinks (8), toilets (4), and urinals (3), and one large shower room with eight shower heads along three walls.
There is no smoking allowed anywhere inside the building, but since you can not just step outside any time to smoke, the bathroom also doubles as an (illegal) smoking area, and depending on the officer on duty you may get a 'ticket' if caught. Good thing I do not smoke.
One last amenity is our laundry room. We have three front loading washers and three dryers. And no extra pay is needed to get your clothes clean. This also is a good thing.
