Author: gallopingcow

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Night at the Belongia

I took the Shadow to work again today, but then spent the morning riding around in the work truck with Brody. We sent everybody except Gary to hang the new 75″ touch panels at the high school. We were able to fit five on each truck, along with the toolbox and mounts. The first one went okay, but it quickly devolved into multiple people sitting around. I tried to lead a group of the half that were sitting to prep the other rooms, and then circle back to hook everything up once the panels were hung. That worked for a little bit, but we just have so many guys that can’t work without direct supervision.

We made it back to the shop just before lunch, and then went to Linh’s for some of the best food we’ve had from there in a while. Our server seemed nervous, or at the very least, inexperienced. We got our food, and then never saw her again. At least she had an automatic gratuity for our party size.

After lunch, I had to stick around the shop in case some desktop computers showed up. Fortunately they just coincidentally showed up shortly after everyone else had left. I got the forklift and unloaded the pallet in record time, and then Gary and I took them all downstairs. The rest of the day was spent trying to get the network image working for them.

After work, I went home to change and then went up to Summer’s to get ready for Eaddie’s band camp concert. She was already home and trying to find a nice outfit to wear for the concert, but we could tell she was tired and cranky. She would never say it, but I think she was happy to see me.

We made it to Witherspoon just before the first (last) band started, and somehow Summer was able to find three unoccupied seats. Autumn immediately disappeared, refusing to sit with us. Summer’s mom showed up, followed by my dad, right before the second band started, but we had room after people left from the first set. Eaddie really wanted me to record the second band, so I just recorded the entire set, as well as her last (first) band.

We took our time getting out to avoid the traffic, but then took Summer’s mom home before getting the girls home. Everyone was pretty tired after a late night, so it was showers for the girls, and then everyone was off to bed.

We’re almost there.

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Cruis’n RSD

I took the Shadow to work today, and it really worked out in my favor. We were tasked with visiting every campus to check for rooms with A/V equipment where we could host large classes of sensitivity training. Three of the guys went to the high school to continue imaging student devices. Greg and Josh went to the high school to scout that campus’s rooms, and I got to ride my bike all around town to visit all of the elementaries.

I stopped by Oakland first, though I already knew what equipment they had. Then I ran home to put in my contacts and sunglasses, since I would be spending so much time on the road. Crawford was a pretty quick in-and-out, and then I made my way up to Center Valley. It was nice to get a little bit of a ride in, and then I hunted around in the dark to investigate their setup. One of the custodians saw me come in but didn’t know who I was, so he chased me down to investigate.

While I was there, Gary asked me to meet him at Sequoyah to pull some cables out of the ceiling because they were somehow in the way of the maintenance guys. Gary didn’t realize we left the lines with the intent of using them for whatever goes in the room next, and had already cut them at the ceiling. We probably could have still kept come, but we ended up pulling them all out anyway. When we finished, Greg and Josh showed up for some reason, and we chatted outside for a while. Then when I left, Selvin was taking pictures of my bike, so I let him ride it around the parking lot. Maybe I can get him and Marcela to buy one, and then I’ll have a new riding buddy.

I stopped by Dwight to take care of it before lunch, and then left London for the afternoon. On the way back, I stopped by the new Ridgewood Brothers’ build site to take a picture of the framework. They were putting trusses up with a big crane, so I took a few pictures to share before heading back to the shop.

I suggested Freddy’s for lunch, and Gary seemed excited by that. Thomas took him, Greg, and Josh, and I rode the bike. The service was actually really fast for dining in, but we were also there early enough to beat the lunch rush. The burger I had was really good, especially with all the added veggies. After that and some cheese curds, I didn’t have room for any custard.

When we got back to work, I was sent to find Mary Beth to help with a printer issue. She wasn’t there, but Thomas was in the conference room waiting on her for a meeting. I waited for a bit, but then was called away when a truck load of 75″ Newline touch panels showed up. They were stacked two pallets high, so I had to get the forklift and shuffle them around quite a bit in order to unload everything. I felt like an expert though, and we got everything into the graveyard without incident.

By that time, I still needed to run out to London, so I left again. I decided to stop and see Grant and Robert on my way out of town, and showed them my pictures while they trimmed up some briskets. They were high-energy as usual, but I couldn’t stay long. It felt like a super long trip out to the final elementary campus, but it was a nice ride across the lake. I checked an extra room there, since the cafeteria didn’t actually have any equipment in it at all. The room with the stage might actually work pretty well.

The rest of the afternoon was super quiet. Some of the guys filtered back in and sat around for a while. Thomas eventually came back and let us go just a few minutes early, though he seemed to indicate that he meant to let us go even earlier. The long days feel absolutely ridiculous, and I don’t think anyone at Central Office is even working that late.

I rode home and changed, then went next door to talk to Bác Vân about her high electric bill. She said they added four pounds of refrigerant to their A/C unit at the start of the season, so I’m wondering if it’s low again. In eight days, she’s used almost as much electricity as she did all last month.

I finally made it up to Summer’s for the evening, and Autumn was already silent in her room. Summer was horizontal on the couch watching TV, so I snacked on some leftovers, and then she went to bed super early. I took the opportunity to do the same, a little uncomfortable that there was still enough light to see outside, but also fully aware of how tired I feel when I wake up that extra half hour early for work. At least we’re over the halfway point.

Hell if Fi knows.

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Pull It

I got the R1 out for a ride to work today. It was a beautiful ride in the morning, and then a little warm in the afternoon, but still nice at speed. We all ended up going to the middle school to pull a few lines, except for Brody, who misunderstood the assignment and went to the high school by himself.

I rode with Kyle to the building, where he parked in back, a ways away from where we needed to be. Then we had to walk to the front anyway, since we had to help unload the truck and bring everything inside. I kind of got stuck with him on one of the jobs, and though he seemed to be trying, he definitely had some issues climbing the ladders. He said he was terrified of them, but for being so small on such new, sturdy ladders, I just couldn’t see it. I tried not to be too frustrated with him, and definitely tried to nurture him along. I still ended up doing most of the climbing, and an hour job ended up taking us the whole day.

We tried using a couple of old lines that were already in the room, but only one worked. The others we found went back to where an old switch was located. There, we discovered a huge bundle of cables that had just been cut and left in the ceiling. We’ve been struggling to find work all week anyway, so I decided we should clean out all the old cable from the ceiling. We got most of it done before lunch, when Kyle dropped me off back at the shop.

I rode to Taco John’s and met with four of the others for a cheap lunch. I hate when they don’t automatically print receipts, because then I don’t get extra rewards points. The tacos were incredible today though. They were loaded with well-seasoned meat, and were some of the best tacos I’ve ever had from there.

We went back to the middle school to finish in the afternoon, but still had a couple hours to kill before quitting time. I took the old cable to Cunningham for scrap, then stopped at Casey’s for some snacks. When I got back to the shop, they had received one of the Dell dock/port-replicating monitors to test out, and everyone was in Thomas’s office trying to get it to work. I sat in the shop for most of it, since I was completely beat from going up and down ladders all day, plus I stank from the sweat, and I wouldn’t have really added anything to the group that was already working on it. Greg came back and ate some deer, offering me a couple bites, and then shared the top secret location of his cabin. It was neat that he wanted to talk to me about hunting for a bit, because it wasn’t like he was just talking to another hunter about things he had killed.

After work, Gary followed me home to get the weighted blanket I picked up for him. Then I went to my parents’ house to swim for a bit before picking Autumn up from karate. She wasn’t at all happy to see me, but she became nicer once we got home. Summer worked from home and made a corned beef for dinner, so the three of us ate at the dinner table before Autumn got current with Stranger Things.

I had sent Eaddie a picture of the corned beef, and she asked me to bring her some to band camp after nine, so I had her call me once she was ready. My old buddy, Neal, was there delivering some pizzas, so after I got my hug from Eaddie, we stood outside and chatted for quite a while. He always has all kinds of random stuff to talk about, and it was fun catching up a bit.

Everyone was off to bed when I got back to the house, so I tried not to waste any time myself. Hopefully I’ll sleep better after such a long day today.

Add it up.

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Towsday

I had trouble sleeping last night, but fortunately it wasn’t too hard to get around this morning. I took Summer’s car home and debated taking a bike to work since the weather was supposed to be super nice. I knew I had to meet David to have the Murano towed sometime in the morning, plus I wasn’t sure what else I might have to do for work, so I decided to take the air conditioned option just in case I ended up in any uncomfortable heat. I’m definitely just a fair weather rider these days.

Zack and Gary were both out, so Thomas met with us and had Greg split the crew up for whatever work they could find. There wasn’t much, so nobody batted an eye when I just hung out at the shop all day working in SCCM. A couple ladies from other districts came downstairs for eSchool rollover, but I was gone for some of that to escort my tow to Accurate Automotive. Summer has sent customers there for some time, and even David said he trusts their work, and have had their work truck serviced there in the past.

Greg came back and ate at the shop, so I ended up just skipping lunch entirely for an apple and a bag of Cheetos Puffs. It was a really quiet day, and even quite cold in the air conditioning. The ladies outside my door weren’t there for long, since evidently eSchool was down for a bit. I just listened to music and tinkered at my own pace.

After work, I went home to change and then went to my parents’ house for some leftover shrimp soup. We chatted for a while about the car situation, and I was a little disappointed to find the value of the Murano to be under about $13,000. It is older now, but still in pretty fair shape. Hopefully the engine isn’t damaged, but I feel encouraged about buying a new car now that I’ve had a good raise, saved some extra money, and have another raise coming in a matter of days.

I eventually made it up to Summer’s for the evening, and I thought Autumn was going to be sour, but she ended up being pretty good all night. We got our letters absolving us of any wrongdoing in the case against Autumn, and enjoyed the weather on the front porch for a bit. Then I dressed up some of Autumn’s leftover chicken rollup things for Summer’s dinner, and everyone went to bed pretty early.

I’ve never gotten so many letters in my entire life!

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This Time, at Band Camp

I slept in a bit today before getting up to take Eaddie to band camp. We all loaded up to take her to Paine Hall and found her dorm room. We didn’t stick around very long, because she was excited to get started. On the way back to the house, we stopped by the Murano to get an old Quiz Bowl buzzer set out of the trunk. I was curious to see if it would work. Summer briefly daydreamed about having a trivia team builder for work. Aside from some broken cable clips, which appeared to just be RJ45 connectors, everything seemed to work fine.

Autumn had been a bit argumentative all morning, but then tried to convince Summer and me to play Monopoly with her. We just kind of stared blankly at her for a moment, since she couldn’t seem to process why we might not be interested in playing board games with someone who says she hates us. She acted like we were only going to ignore her for the week because Eaddie’s gone, but Eaddie has been over her shit for just as long as us.

Summer eventually went to the gym while I tinkered around. I ended up taking a shower, and then the two of us went to New China for lunch when she got back. Autumn spent all day banished to her room, and that’s how she’ll stay as far as I’m concerned. She verbally expressed that she doesn’t want to verbally express anything to us, so I see no need to dance around each other pretending like everything is fine.

Autumn was out of her room making some food when we got back, and it didn’t take long for her to have an attitude with Summer, so she went back to her room for the rest of the evening while Summer and I laid around being super lazy for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We both struggled to stay awake. At one point, I put on School for Scoundrels, and then we watched some standup on Netflix before bed.

Ants everywhere but in my pants.

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Cooling Issue

We got up and made Autumn mow the back yard today, and then Summer scrambled some eggs with some sliced up sausages from last night. Everyone else got a pretty slow start to the morning. The girls didn’t want to go to the Clarksville Aquatic Center like Summer had been planning all week, but she did convince them to go to a craft fair at the fairgrounds. I went home to clean up first, but was already unsure about joining them if it was held out in the heat. I ended up bathing for a bit, and then sitting it out.

When they finished at the fair, I met them at Walmart so Eaddie could get some things for band camp. My parents were on that side of town as well, having dropped off Mom’s car to have a couple tires replaced after ripping off a part of one of the sidewalls. I picked up some Stranger Things themed goodies on clearance, as well as some banana Soylents and a weighted blanket for Gary.

The girls were hungry when we finished, and my parents had mentioned food before we all met up at Walmart, so we all met back up at Zaxby’s. Summer and I shared a Zalad and a Wings & Things meal, which was a good mix. I ended up having to take off before everyone else, and went home for a bit before going to Wesley’s house to help with a WiFi issue.

Mister Wesley was outside working on an addition to the house, which I thought was just incredible. I didn’t realize how much he had built onto the property, but it was all really well done. The wireless issue was just due to some equipment removal after they dropped cable, and I had to give them their new wireless SSID and password. The rest of the time we just chatted about what he had built around the house, work, and anything else that came up.

On the way back up to Summer’s, I took the turn at Whatta-Burger at my usual speed, and the Murano sputtered. The engine service light came on, and the temperature was on the under-intimidating “H” so I kept driving, hoping to make it to the house. I got right up to G-Ray’s, and it sputtered enough that I decided to pull over rather than risk dying at the end of the driveway. Summer left the gym and went to my house to pick up a jug of water, but it didn’t suck it into the radiator from the overflow like we expected. She had me start the car and rev it a bit, but we never had any luck.

She dropped me off at her house, and then took Autumn with her to the gym while we waited for the car to cool in the shade. Afterward, we went back and added water directly to the radiator, but it appeared to pour right back out from wherever it was leaking. We went back home, and I messaged my old coworker, Marlena, to see if her husband might want a tow job on the side. That was about the time I realized that it was actually his father’s family business, so I felt incredibly stupid. It took her a while to respond, but she said he wasn’t on call this weekend. Dad and I decided to try and ghetto-tow it in the middle of the night.

The girls eventually dug out the Stranger Things brownies that we bought, and started to bake them. Eaddie had fun cutting out all of the accessories for that, as well as the drink mix. Autumn had apparently come back from the gym with some attitude about me, so I pried at that for a bit until she clammed up and we sent her to her room forever. Eaddie just wants to survive the year and be done with her too, but I’m hoping they can keep the pressure on her.

Dad came over after everyone had wandered off either to bed or to prepare for bed. On the first trip, we discovered my battery had died, and I guessed I must have left the power on. We came back to the house for some sockets to remove the battery and prevent an even deeper drain overnight, but those didn’t work. Fortunately(?), the positive cable was barely snug and I was able to wiggle the cable up and off of the post before giving up for the evening. After this evening and the rest of everything that’s come at me recently, I’m basically expecting the engine to be toast.

No execution. That’s the problem here. I need more executions.

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Half Bad

I got to sleep in a half hour later today, since it was our first half-day Friday. I absolutely felt more tired and worthless all day because of it. Zach was back, but just sent everyone to go hide in their own buildings. I think only Brody actually had anything to do, by the way of imaging with Jacob. Zach had to do badges all day, and it wasn’t very long before I had to run outside to help the eSCO guys. He brought someone new with him today, and neither of them were particularly helpful when picking things up. Thomas came out to help, and then a few of the other guys eventually showed up as well.

The rest of the morning went by pretty slowly, and I ended the day by breaking network imaging. I almost wish I had just stayed to fix it, but Thomas came back to kick everyone out and left me in the dark. I went home for a little bit before heading up to get Eaddie for her flute lesson. She and Autumn were watching TV and being lazy. I dressed up some leftovers for lunch before we left.

It was hot outside, but I didn’t have anything else to do, so I just waited in the car for Eaddie to finish. Then we stopped by The UPS Store to ship an Amazon return before going back to their house. Summer eventually made it home, and after watching some TV, wanted me to grill some frozen jalapeño cheddar sausages for their dinner.

Autumn had asked me to play Monopoly earlier, and set up the game board while I grilled. I threw a wrench in that by asking her to tell me something she appreciated about me. Her mood immediately changed, and she got angry and bitter before putting the game away. I’m not content to ignore her issues like everyone else, so I’m relegated to irritating her into a constant state of annoyance as punishment.

I ended up having to take Summer to the bedroom to talk about it, but it wasn’t long before she fell asleep. Autumn brought her mattress into the living room and went to sleep in front of the TV, because she’s still not being punished. I guess we’ve just accepted this as our life, so we’re stuck like this for another year.

Snorey McBorey

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Rhoid Rhaige

Today was super uneventful, but I needed the break. We’ve been blocked out of everywhere we need to go, and are waiting on other work to be completed before we can complete our own jobs. What’s worse is that we’re made to work longer days for these three weeks, so we spend all week frustrated with busy work.

I hung around the office all day, and Thomas had a bunch of us help move furniture since he’s being made to clear out his office. The minimalism cult is clearing out anything of comfort for the sake of efficiency. Josh and Jacob brought a couple computer desks back to the shop, where they put them together in the hallway for use when having new users sign in or change passwords. The computers will be unused for most of the months of the year, but c’est la vie.

Brody, Thomas, and I went to Nonna Bella for lunch, and all three had the spaghetti and meatballs. We split an order of cheese bread, and we all left pretty stuffed. The food was good, but I was a little concerned by the amount of cheese on the bread.

The afternoon went by incredibly slowly. I spent most of the time just sitting with Jacob in my office, waiting for the clock to run out. Thomas came back for a bit and chatted with us, but even he knew there wasn’t much we could get up to.

After work, I went home to lie down for a bit before heading up to Summer’s for the evening. I started the lawn mower with a single pull, so Autumn came out obediently to finish mowing. I picked at some leftover coleslaw that was on its way out, and the girls watched TV until bedtime.

aLL tHE sTeARoIDs!

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That’s a WAP

I didn’t really know what to expect today, since things have hit a real lull. Gary had me fix some printers upstairs after he made some changes to the IP ranges for the building. Greg went up to work on the intercoms, and then met me halfway through to find the printers. Afterward, I took Kyle and Jacob across the street to inspect the lines at Transportation. They wanted to add a computer and an additional wireless access point to help with what they thought were signal issues. I wasn’t convinced, but Gary didn’t want to crank the signal up on their existing WAP either.

Greg came to help us actually pull the lines before lunch. Then I took Greg and Josh to meet Brody at Mulan’s to eat. We had forgotten they started closing on Wednesdays, so we headed to New China instead. I sent Eaddie a picture, and she sassed me on the phone for going without her.

After lunch, I finished up the Transportation lines, which took a while. It was hot and itchy up in the insulation, and several of the tiles had water damage. I finished up, and then Gary had me bring their high-end laptop back to troubleshoot why they couldn’t get it to work with an external monitor.

As soon as I plugged the laptop up to the TV, it fired right up without any trouble. Greg was shocked after having spent quite a bit of time with it over the past six months, but then had me try again on a VGA monitor, and then through a docking station. Finally we walked it back across the street, and it worked there in Christopher’s office as well. I gloated a bit, and then we went back to the shop to ride out the day.

After work, I went home to cool off for a while, then got gas and headed up to Summer’s for the evening. Autumn had tried to pry at Summer some more on the way home, but was told to expect and respect me since I’m not going anywhere. She actually greeted me once I arrived, which was an improvement over yesterday. She and Eaddie were watching TV, so I chatted with Summer for a while until she settled in bed. I cleaned up some guacamole before wrapping up my own nightly chores, and then it was off to bed.

That’s a wrap!

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Tacoboutit Tuesday

I hardly got any sleep last night, so I really appreciated being left to my own devices again today. I made a bunch more flash drives for the imaging parties that are about to start, and that really got me most of the way through lunch.

We went to our usual Taco John’s, where I had a cheap meal, and then after we regrouped, I was sent on a side quest for some bubble wrap to help protect unboxed TVs that we needed to relocate. After a little research, I found that U-Haul actually had boxes for shipping TVs of various sizes, so I went and picked up four of those. They packed super small, which was neat. Then Greg and I went to the high school to retrieve four TVs out of Brody’s office.

It was nearly time to go by the time we got back to the shop. I parked my truck in the bus yard, and then helped Jacob park his in the pen since it was his first time. Everyone met in the shop to go over projects for the rest of the week since every day we’ll be missing one of the three head honchos.

I went home to cool down after sweating over those TVs. Then I went up to Summer’s for the evening. She had a work meeting to properly turn Superfast over to Justin, and then picked Autumn up from karate. Eaddie was just enjoying some alone time at home, so I warmed up some leftovers to eat while we waited for everyone else.

Autumn basically ignored me all night. I talked with Eaddie alone for a bit just to try and get her honest feelings without worrying how they might affect her mother. Then Summer and I chatted some more before bed, but I tried not to stay up too late. These extra-early mornings and long days are awful.

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