Author: gallopingcow

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Who’s Afraid of the Big, Black Bat?

I woke up this morning forgetting that I had lost an hour overnight. I thought I’d be up early enough to make breakfast after how early I woke up yesterday, but instead I just heated some cold brew coffee for Summer and took a shower before my parents came to pick us up.

We headed to Conway and, after some deliberation, settled on Sharks Fish and Chicken for lunch. I was worried Mom wouldn’t like how dingy it was inside, but everyone was pretty happy with the food. We’ll have to take them to Sam’s in town sometime, because I bet they’d like it a lot.

After we ate, we were going to shop for refrigerators, but evidently they had already picked out what they wanted in town. Instead, we went to Kohl’s and wandered around for a bit. We left there empty-handed to go to the theater, and fortunately we left early enough to get through some traffic that was caused by a flipped vehicle right off the interstate.

The movie was as long and slow as Eaddie described it, and I was surprised at how much they completely focused on it being a detective story. I guess it made sense, but it was less entertaining than I had hoped. There were certainly scenes that I enjoyed, and styles that I appreciated, but overall I didn’t at all feel glued to my seat. What I perceived as their big plot twist didn’t really carry any weight with me, and overall I thought it was relatively forgettable. The realistic wingsuit didn’t help, but I guess they really focused on realism on this one. There wasn’t an overabundance of having to suspend my disbelief as there has been in previous iterations.

After the movie, we headed straight home. As Summer started to head home, she showed me a piece of her car’s roof trim that had come loose, so I pulled it off to move the retention clips and then hammered the thing back into place with a mallet. Then it occurred to me that I had just fixed her car with a hammer, and that we should probably follow through with a plan before we’re forced to rely on a backup plan.

Once Summer left, I went to my parents’ house for some fish soup with them. We chatted for quite a while before I headed back home to try and get to sleep as quickly as possible. The new superintendent is coming to see the shop tomorrow, and I don’t know whether I’ll meet her or if I’ll be asked to disappear for the afternoon. I suppose I’ll at least brush my hair in case.

Something in the way, mmḿ?

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Of Milk

I woke up really early today for a Saturday. Eaddie got up to go help at a robotics tournament at Tech, and Autumn got up to go to her father’s for the weekend. When Summer left for the gym, I went home for a while to clean up. I finished up some leftover breakfast pizza, did the dishes, and got showered so I could run some of my smoked cheese over to Robert and Grant in the afternoon.

They looked to have been closed for a little while, and were busy cleaning up. We chatted just briefly, and then I went on home to wait for Summer. She had to get Eaddie back home to change, then drop her off at her friend’s house for her birthday party later in the evening.

We went to Walmart just because I hadn’t been in quite a while. I was really hoping to find something interesting, but all I got was some deodorant and bread that were being cleared out. Summer wanted to meet up with Justin and Ashlen to take a picture in front of the “coming soon” sign on their new carwash lot. Then we ran home before going to the bowling alley.

Strikers was super busy, and we had to wait for a lane to open up since they wouldn’t take a reservation. Summer thought we would need two, but between me not bowling and several others not making it, they fit in one. She got everyone pizza, and then we got some fried pickles and cheese curds. I ran into Robin and her family while we were there, and caught up with her just briefly.

Summer wanted to leave after one game, so she paid for the team to have one more after we left, and then we had to take Eaddie some stuff since she decided to stay the night with Maristella. Afterward, Summer really wanted some ice cream, so we went to Dairy Queen to redeem my birthday BOGO Blizzards.

The ice cream was super melty, so I didn’t eat much of mine. She nearly finished hers, and then I froze the rest so we could go to bed. She started watching her baking shows until she started to fall asleep. Then I finished my chores before crashing.

I simply will not tolerate this.

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As the Driven Snow

Everyone did a deep clean of the shop this morning in preparation for the new superintendent to take a tour of the place. By the time we were all done, it looked pretty stark and eerily unused. I know it was too messy before, but now it just feels less useful. I ended up with a bunch of stuff in my office, plus a huge box of shirts that ought to fit me. I ought to be able to get it all clean in one load though.

It was super quiet the rest of the day, as we waited in anticipation to see if they would close school early for the incoming cold weather. Gary discovered that TestNav was incompatible with every version of Windows we have deployed in the entire district, and quickly got to work building an update to deploy.

Brody convinced everyone to go to The Gunslingin’ Burger for lunch, and the service was predictably slow. I enjoy that they rotate new creations frequently enough that I can never eat the same thing twice. The Celtic Traveler was way sweeter than I expected with its apple chutney, but overall I would eat it again. The star of my meal was probably the chili cheese fries though. I really enjoyed them today.

They shut school down after lunch, but staff had to stick around “until all the kids were home safe.” Thomas ended up letting most of us go a little earlier than admin, which was great by me. The snow stuck to the car and I had to clean it off before I could drive home, but the roads were otherwise perfectly fine.

While I waited for Summer to get home from Cabot, I tinkered with the Artemis RGB software for my computer. I finally figured out the layers and functions well enough to mostly replicate what I had set up in Aurora. I eventually made my way across town and waited for Autumn to get home from work. Eaddie had me iron some Perler beads together for her, but otherwise it was a quiet, uneventful evening.

I feel like a gift card scammer.

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How Do They Work?

I went straight to Oakland this morning to complete my battery inventory. There are more closets over there than I can ever remember. I was there for a solid couple hours working on that and some other stuff. Eventually I made it to my office and basically waited around until lunch time. Zach and Gary agreed on Stoby’s, and Thomas got back to the shop just as we were ready to leave.

After lunch, I picked up some MagSafe stuff I ordered and then spent a little more time at Oakland. When I got back to the shop, most everyone had gone. Greg had basically checked out for the day and was just killing time until we could leave. It took a lot of motivation to keep busy at all.

I decided to return my official MagSafe charger since it seemed to be defective and would only charge at a really slow rate. After work, I also had to ship off an Amazon return before going to my parents’ for dinner. Mom was up and around in her boot, and warmed up some fish soup.

Mom actually ate with us and we chatted for a bit. I ordered tickets for The Batman, and eventually headed toward home. I stopped at Sonic for some ice cream and then video called Summer for a bit. For some reason I worked up a pretty bad headache, so we wrapped things up and I tried to get to bed as early as I could.

Magnets. They’re basically magic.

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Find Time to Chill

Thomas came into my office this morning to say that he, Kelsea, and Gary would be in Plumerville for some Cognos training, and to be on alert in case the new superintendent needed any technology help. I didn’t really expect to hear from anyone, so it wasn’t a big deal. Greg mentioned needing to run some cable at the central office, but wanted Zach to find someone else for that.

It was pretty quiet with everyone out, so I mostly stuck around the office to babysit Tammy. I did have one pretty animated guy come in for an account creation, but otherwise it was business as usual. Zach and Josh showed up for lunch, and we went to Zaxby’s where I saw Aaron’s dad for the first time in a little while.

Shortly after we got back from lunch, Thomas messaged us to run upstairs and help with an unspecified technology issue. When I got there, the air seemed tense and they really didn’t seem like they wanted me there. They said she was busy, and wanted to know if I could be reached later. I didn’t really see the point in them calling us for help and then turning the help away, but maybe she figured out how to set her MacBook’s sleep settings on her own.

A little while later, we got a truckload of Newline touch panels in. We went with the next size up, so these were pretty unnecessarily heavy. I’ll say it again – I’m all for removing technology from schools. Educators primarily use it to babysit, and rely too much on it for classroom management. It just gets in the way of teaching.

I ran to Oakland at the end of the day to collect some backup battery inventory information, and then just happened to realize that Eaddie needed a ride home since Autumn went straight to work after school again. We went to my house and started the second season of Stranger Things. It seemed to jump right into things, but I couldn’t really tell where things were going to go from there.

Summer came over as soon as she got back from Cabot, and we went to La Huerta for dinner. Then I headed back home to decide on a refrigerator. I narrowed it down to a side-by-side with water and ice in the door. I wasn’t thrilled with the ice capacity, but that seems to be how it is on most of those things these days. Now comes the time to manipulate discount methods.

Keep hustlin’, not bustlin’.

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Sweet and Sour

Today was cold and a little drizzly again. The junior high had some trouble with testing, which we tracked down to another policy that was still launching Chrome on startup. The conflicts we have to deal with and ultimately support are sometimes very ridiculous.

I finally sent out my Saint Patrick’s Day themed email, but only received one response compared to the slew of them I got last month. It was pretty quiet downstairs the rest of the morning. I rode with Brody in his new truck to Taco John’s for lunch and had some better tasting, yet less filled and more broken tacos.

Kelsea brought me a lemon birthday cake after lunch, which Thomas was super anxious to eat. I don’t know if he’s just got a super sweet tooth, or if he just likes being enthusiastic about home baked goods. I ran to Kroger for some plates, and we made quick work of it.

At some point in the afternoon, a big group of people came through that I believe were from Ritter. The holy trinity brought them all to the back to chat right outside my office, but didn’t shut me in. I had to stop myself from having too much coffee before quitting time. Then I went straight home and did some more refrigerator research. I don’t know where the time went, but my evening disappeared fast.

Realtors should be required to pass a class on photographic composition.

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A Little Strange

Gary called me just as I was walking out the door this morning to ask for a ride to work. Evidently Zach had his new truck in the shop for an issue with his backup camera, so I was the next best thing. We skated in a few minutes late because of it, and evidently the storms had some things down when we got there. It wasn’t too long before they had it figured out and we were all up and running, but then Brody had some trouble with testing that almost needed assistance. I ended up being able to do some remote updates that I think helped, because he called us off the case.

I spent a large part of the day working on CPPC stuff, but also made time to create a software deployment. Lunch time came around quicker than I realized, and Gary, Thomas and I started for Linhs. Zach pulled back into the parking lot as we were leaving, so I circled around to get him.

After lunch, Linda wanted to come chat with me, so I had her meet me in my office. She was upset, as many are, about some of the perceived hiring practices in the district. I tried to ease her mind the best I could, but ultimately I told her that every job has a leader that can ultimately make whatever call they want. There’s no law about fairness, and it’s not uncommon for employees to develop a feeling of entitlement over a long period of time with a company.

Even quitting time arrived quicker than I expected. Amber texted me that Eaddie didn’t have her phone but needed a ride home. Then Eaddie emailed me and said she thought she left it on the bus. I called over to the Transportation office and found it, then picked her up. Autumn had to work right after school, so Eaddie and I went to Burger King at her request. We had a really good conversation that went all over the place, and then we went up the hill so she could change and shower for the evening.

We headed back to my house with the expectation that we would start the second season of Stranger Things, but she ended up in her room studying all night. I watched a recap of the whole first season that got me stoked enough to rewatch the last episode of the first season. Then Autumn called and wanted to stay home, so I had her pick up Eaddie and we all went to bed.

So you think superficially going through the motions would make you feel better?

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The Time Honored Tradition of Explaining Things to Your Denny’s Server

I thought we might go see The Batman today, but things quickly started changing. Autumn had to go shop for uniform clothes for her new job at Denny’s. Summer just wanted to go to the gym, but was otherwise flexible. I spent most of the morning shopping for refrigerators online. We started to warm up some food for everyone, and then Autumn got a call from her father asking to meet up, so they abandoned the pizza we made.

Eaddie wanted to watch a movie, but later ended up going to see The Batman with her boyfriend instead. I made it home and continued shopping for a fridge, but was suddenly hit with a bit of nausea for some reason. I laid down in bed for a bit until that passed, then took a shower.

After her movie, Summer went to get Eaddie and I met them at Denny’s for dinner. Autumn was there shadowing our server, and it quickly became apparent that it won’t take long for her to become the best employee there. As long as she can keep from picking up any bad habits, she should be able to get some experience and take those newfound skills somewhere better. I’m a little afraid she’ll just let herself become comfortable there, though.

After we ate, I went home and did some laundry. At some point I heard a mystery song on YouTube that had been rattling around in my brain since I worked at the call center. Nearly a decade later, I was able to use Google audio search and Shazam to find enough other relevant YouTube videos that lead me to a Reddit thread where someone else was also searching for the song’s origin. All this time, it was just royalty-free music. With that finally out of my brain, I eventually made it to bed.

Eureka! Fifth Avenue Stroll!

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Mid-to-Late

I woke up at a pretty normal time this morning, having slept on my left hand in some way that my middle finger was completely numb. It took a few hours for it to feel normal again, which was worrisome. I assumed I was just falling apart. I got a few well wishes from friends throughout the day, but my favorite was catching up with my old friend Tasha. We always wish each other happy birthdays, but this year we actually carried on a full conversation, and it was really nice to be able to just catch up after so long, even if that was mostly just fussing about parenting problems.

Bác Vân called to tell me happy birthday, and to offer some eggrolls she was warming up. I went next door, and she had me look at her sewing machine to see if I could find a replacement gear for the one that had crumbled with age. Then as soon as I got back home, Eaddie called and wanted to know if I was picking her and Maristella up from their all-region band event. I rushed through a shower and brushed off a couple more fussy phone calls rushing me along to get there. Then I took them through Wendy’s for some lunch before taking them to Summer’s to eat and change clothes.

I sat in the quiet dark until they were ready for me to take them back. As we made our way back to the Center, Eaddie asked me to record the entire concert. It would have been really nice to know ahead of time so I could find a tripod or something. I dropped them off and went home to change and try in vein to find another solution. Then I met up with Summer for the concert after she left her quiz bowl tournament.

The concert was okay until they went to play Africa by Toto, and the conductor basically stood up there with her hands by her sides just sort of wiggling around like she was dancing. I hoped that Eaddie would get a flute solo for the part I had encouraged her to play years ago, but instead the song was slow and relatively awful. She could have done the entire song better by herself.

Summer took the girls back to their respective homes and then came over so we could go to Lowe’s. I didn’t recognize who he was at first, but Kelsea’s husband, Manuel was there and tried to help us find a fridge. I was already cranky after a pretty annoying day, and then I felt like I basically lost Summer to a sales guy, so I got hyper annoyed and kept wandering off to look at things I had already researched online. At the end of it all I felt really shitty and apologized, and we just left so I could continue shopping online.

We went by Superfast so Summer could retrieve the gift she had gotten me, and then went back to my house for a little bit. I had a moment, or several, and then she went on home to the girls. I wrapped up and eventually followed after her for the night.

Eaddie was up watching TV with her when I got there, and just kept wanting to eat my food. I was still having a rough go and just went to the bedroom to listen to music and play on my phone. Then Eaddie wanted to watch Stranger Things with me, but I was just too tired. Summer came to bed and put on a documentary about mushrooms. Mom and Dad called to wish me happy birthday, and eventually we all went to sleep.

Does 39 feel cranky?

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We-Haul

I had to get up extra early this morning so we could get to U-Haul to pick up a couple box trucks. I rode with Thomas, and Brody rode with Zach for the trip up to Bentonville. The trucks were both super shaky, but I think Thomas and I still had the better truck. Brody said theirs was constantly downshifting, and they were worried the transmission was going out.

We made it to Bentonville without incident, and were immediately met by a large crew of people that seemed all too happy to see Thomas again after such a short time. They made quick work of loading just under 60 laptop carts into the two box trucks. Ryan was there to meet us as well, with an epic red beard.

Thomas rode with some of the others, but Zach, Brody, and I rode with Ryan across town. We were going to try and eat at some chili burger place, but they evidently only had one booth available and we weren’t sure our huge crew would fit. Instead, we ended up at Gusano’s. The service was super slow, but there were a whole lot of us. Zach and I split a wrap and a pizza together so we could try both.

After a super long lunch, we headed back to the trucks and hit the road home. The ride felt smoother to me, but Thomas wasn’t sure. It’s possible I was just anxious to get home. Our crew was waiting outside for us, and unloaded both trucks pretty quickly. Dustin came through to pick up a scrap laptop for a play, and then I went downstairs to see Tammy as everyone else left. She brought me some banana bread for my birthday, but I think the rest of the crew ate the other half.

I headed home and waited for Summer to get off work. Then we went downtown to see Suzanne’s booth at the art walk. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot going on, which was probably less good for her than for me. It was quiet enough that I wasn’t too bothered. We also ran into a handful of other ladies from the schools as we made it around the block.

Once we got back to the house, Summer went home with some leftovers, and I pretty well crashed. I hadn’t felt super since the late afternoon, and it just sort of got worse as the evening carried on.