Author: gallopingcow

I had some trouble sleeping last night on my new pillow top mattress pad because it seemed to trap a lot of heat. It’ll probably take me a few nights to acclimate myself to it. It still doesn’t feel quite as luxurious as I had hoped, but it is noticeably huggier.

I spent literally all day at work pulling cable. First it was for Allen, and then I got the team over to the junior high to finally take care of the ones I needed. I still have some finishing to do when I get back next week, but at least the hard part is done. We were let go early, but the cable run ended up keeping me there even longer than our normal off time, but it was worth it to finally be finished.

After work, I came home for a bit before going to my parents’ house for dinner. Then it was back home to some Rocket League until I was too tired to play. I took a shower to clean the ceiling grime off, and now I’m off to pillowtop land.

Wait, is the week over already???

I spent this morning catching up at the junior high since I only finished a couple things there yesterday after wastefully sitting on my hands all day at Oakland. As lunchtime neared, Zach showed up in my building on official security business and said they were going to Western Sizzlin for lunch. I met them there and made them watch as I shoveled an hour of food into my mouth hole.

After lunch was a lot of back and forth between the office and Oakland just to standardize one teacher’s PC setup because she had something out of the ordinary from a grant that the previous teacher had gotten in that room. I guess grants are cool for getting new tech into places like that, but it makes standardization a real pain.

After work, I came home to open up the pillow top mattress pad I ordered so it could decompress as much as possible before bedtime. While I was here, I watched MKBHD’s first look at the Pixel 2 and followed the link in the video description that surprisingly took me to the store page that suddenly showed my color and size choice in stock. I don’t know how or why it suddenly showed back up there, but it was still showing out of stock on the Fi site, so I went ahead and placed an order while I could. I’ll finally get to try out Fi, and hopefully have a bit better service with the addition of local T-Mobile towers.

Dad summoned us for phở, so I went to their house for dinner. While there, Julie was super tickled that she suddenly knew everything about my life from totally-not-binge-reading-at-all-and-just-skimming the blog. I guess that really sums up relationships in the new millennium. Try and know as much about someone as you possibly can without actually interacting with them in any meaningful way. Whatever’s going on here is a bit of a step beyond a Facebook post or an Instagram selfie, but it’s all still the same. What started out as a personal diary will quickly become some form of entertainment for someone else.

And so it goes.

I had forgotten that today was the first day of testing for one of my schools, and luckily stopped by Oakland first thing this morning. There weren’t really any issues, so I left there to try and get some things done at the junior high. I got caught up at the office for a little while though, and ended up getting a panicked email about testing, so I headed back to Oakland instead. Once there, they had already resolved the issue using the processes we have in place for when something goes wrong. That didn’t stop Ben from getting a call from those in charge of testing. It really aggravates me that I make myself available and we provide all the tools necessary for a successful run, but someone ends up complaining for no reason.

I ended up having to babysit, and killed the entire day’s worth of work sitting in the office. Defining moments were a conversation about life, the universe, and everything with the music teacher, and then the rest of the morning and afternoon hanging out with the girls in the office. I even ended up skipping lunch for some reason. Julie started texting me as she seemingly binge-read through my blog. I don’t know what’s creepier: having someone stalk through that much history in one sitting, or having someone blog about things you’re doing while you’re completely unaware of being the subject of the day. What expectation of privacy do we really have in 2017, anyway?

I laughed about it a bit with Erica, and ended up giving her a card, so we’ll see if she shows up to the digital hoedown. Mollie shared a cupcake and some popcorn with me, which held me through the rest of the school day, and then I was off to the junior high to try and take care of at least a couple things before tomorrow.

After work, I went to my parents’ house for some leftovers. Mom started asking me questions about her phone again, and I didn’t have any good answers for why it acts the way it does. It makes sense to run into these kinds of questions with Android because of the options and additional features, but the iPhone doesn’t have an abundance of either. It’s the same frustration I had with randoms that would come in to a retail store and not understand how to use their phones. There’s a break in my perception of everything in life where I simply don’t understand how someone can’t be curious enough to figure out these kinds of things on their own. It’s not technical knowledge. It’s not even basic understanding of anything in particular. It’s the lack of a fundamental desire to tinker with something to get it working the way you want. When I buy a phone, install a piece of software, get in a new car, or do anything new at all, the first thing I do is lay my hands on every single option I can find, and I don’t stop until I’ve covered the same thing two or three times. I just want to know everything about it.

When I got home, I called my old friend Clint to get a referral code for Google Fi so I could order the newly announced Pixel 2 XL. Unfortunately, after several attempts and probably too much time on the fence, I got an out-of-stock message for my color option. I’m not paying $950 for a phone that doesn’t have an orange power button. I’m just not gonna do it.

The intersection of AI, software, and hardware. Machine learning. Machine learning. Machine learning. AI, software, and hardware.

It was another rough start this morning. I don’t even remember how long the alarm played before I rolled over out of bed. I made up for my slow start by plowing right through lunch. It had been raining for a while by quitting time, so I stayed a while and wrapped up a couple things, then went to my parents’ house for dinner.

When I got there, Julie was there showing Mom how to use her phone. It was nice not having to deal with it for once. Julie called me out for blogging about her. It made me curious to know whereabouts she stumbled back upon it, but I don’t put this stuff on the internet to hide it. Welcome one and all, I reckon. Everyone’s got a story.

A little Rocket League wrapped up the night. It was nice to have enough people on to have a proper round of custom games.

Eh, woah, I’ll never let you go.

I got a few more computers set up today, drawing ever closer to completion. I’m getting to the point where I’m filling in gaps now, but I still feel like I’m missing quite a bit somehow.

Ronda invited me to lunch again. This time it was nachos and taco stuff. I crammed a shameful amount of food into my container, with no real healthy vegetables to speak of. I should have done better. I guess hearing that I’m 10 pounds lighter made me cut loose a little. I missed my Soylent this morning.

After work, Julie wanted to meet at Fat Daddy’s downtown to see Andy away. He’s flying south for the winter, or at least for the next few months. While we were waiting for him to show up, my mom and sister argued about Mom’s new iPhone 8. She was frustrated with it, and said she felt like she took a big step backwards from her HTC One M7, which made me laugh. I sat with my face in my hands in an attempt to not be smug about it, but my sister still got upset at me for “having a look.” She kept insisting to her that the iPhone would be easier to use once she learns how to use it.

I was still full from my ridiculous nachos, so I just had a bowl of chili. I don’t know if it was because I was still so stuffed, or maybe that I just felt a little sour overall, but I didn’t care much for it. I tried a piece of Andy’s onion rings though, and they were pretty good. Andy ended up paying for everyone somehow, which was nice of him.

After dinner, I rode back home in some cooler weather, loaded up some Rocket League, and claimed my position at Platinum II. I’m still mad about Gold last season.

I miss the sea.

I woke up this morning around 8 and thought about staying up, but was worried about hunger and entertainment, so I went back to sleep. I only meant to sleep for a little while longer, but ended up sleeping until about noon. I got up and called SuddenLink to switch to my new modem, which caused issues for me all afternoon. After a couple more calls in, I determined it was either their provisioning or a loose termination coming out of my wall. In either case, I ended up getting my new modem to work at close to the speeds for which I am paying.

From then on, I completely wasted the rest of my Sunday. I didn’t even do anything as recreational as play video games, aside from a few rounds of Rocket League to test my internet connection. I did manage to make it out for dinner at my parents’ house, and then returned home to do a couple loads of laundry, but that didn’t make me feel any better about my day.

Knowing I wasted the day, I’m having trouble getting to sleep. I settled down to a couple ASMR videos, which I still have mixed feelings about. I thought I’d try Rainy Mood, but even that’s getting me side tracked into configuring my stereo receiver. I may have to see if I can find some sleep in a bottle somewhere.

You fooled me once with your eyes, now, honey.

Today was the day I was supposed to get a lot of things wrapped up at the junior high, and I got really aggravated when everyone seemed to jump at other jobs rather than help me again. It really seems like this is a trend, and I don’t understand why. Maybe I’m perceiving it wrong, but it feels like I’m quick to offer help, and last to receive it from certain people. Zach and I got the lift and ran a bunch of cables for the choir room, but didn’t get to the band rooms with just the two of us there. What we did run, we never actually finished.

Most of us went to Arby’s for lunch, where I had one of the worst examples of an expectations versus reality that I’ve ever had. It wasn’t quite Bikes Blues and Barbecue rib eye sandwich level, but it was pretty bad. It tasted good, but it was dry and the presentation was just awful. In fact, looking back at it, I’m positive the guy actually gave me something completely different from what I asked for. Apparently I wasn’t the only one with that experience either. To be fair/grossed-out, he did tell me he wasn’t feeling well because he had been sick.

Allen came to help me after lunch, but we really didn’t get anything accomplished then on account of the band practicing for a parade in the afternoon. I finished up some things in the building by myself before we got to leave work early at 3:15 to beat the parade traffic. I ended up going back to the office for something, then chatted with Ben for quite a while.

I was waiting for Josh to come over so we could go to Conway, and ended up stopping by the Boys & Girls Club to see Becky’s computer lab setup there. We talked for a while there until Josh got to my house, and I raced home to pick him up. He showed up dressed to the nines, so I broke out a button-up shirt and jeans for a night out.

We went to Best Buy first to spend some expiring credit I had. They happened to have a relatively fair price on a cable modem I had been eyeing, so I picked it up for no money out of pocket. Josh was just glad I didn’t get the blender I was contemplating. Afterward we went to Chipotle where I was accidentally shorted on the steak in my burrito. It was already so full of other stuff that I didn’t bother fussing over it, and it tasted awesome anyway. After we ate, we walked around Walmart for a bit before the movie.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle was pretty good. I’m still kind of surprised that neither of them came out in 3D, but I guess it really is kind of going away as a fad. That really upsets me, but I guess the changing market and how people consume media has decided the fate of 3D for me. Like tonight, it’s not uncommon to go to see a movie on the weekend in a mostly empty theater.

If it’s windy tomorrow, we sail!

I had my wellness checkup this morning. Apparently I’m down 10 pounds from last year, but I definitely don’t feel like it. I don’t even know why I’d be down at this point. Most of the time I actually feel fatter for no particular reason. The Soylent typically makes me feel pretty good though, so I guess I’ll stick with that. I guess I could give up food at any point, but I still use it as a social event.

Ronda sent me an email this morning inviting me to have cafeteria salads with them for lunch. I got a bit lost in the cafeteria until Hobby pointed me toward the adult bar they had in the side room. I ended up filling my container almost entirely with salad from the kids’ bar, and then went to the adult section and crammed even more in it. They had some kind of chicken and cheese hash brown bake, some chicken salad sandwiches, and pinwheels of some sort. It was actually a pretty decent spread for $3.60. We ate in the library, then chatted for a while after.

I ate the remainder of my salad before I left work for the day, then came home and played some Rocket League with Josh. I’m more than a little disappointed with the rank I earned last season, and I didn’t realize the season was already over. I’ll have to make more of an effort this season.

Moovie Night needs to happen again soon, but I have too many hobbies, and the internet is just such a warm blanket of laziness.

I had a great deal of trouble waking up this morning. I felt super drunk or hungover or something, but I hadn’t had any alcohol for days. It was just a weird form of grogginess from sleeping weird, I guess. When I did finally get up and out, I spent a little time bouncing between buildings before settling in at the junior high. I’m getting really close to finishing the deployment.

After lunch, the freight company delivered my tower speakers to me at the office and I loaded them into the back of my car. I was really surprised not to have to give any ID, or even have it delivered at the proper destination. That, paired with the fact that they were content to just hold on to my package until I called them didn’t fill me with a great deal of confidence, but the journey was already over.

Jason came to the junior high with me afterward, and helped me run a couple more lines. Friday will be spent up on the lift to finish up. I need to talk to the teachers to confirm what times I can get in and out.

When I finished at work, I came straight home and unloaded the speakers. The kitty litter worked surprisingly well to clean up the vegetable oil that had spilled a few days ago, and I got the speakers into the dining room. I’m completely out of space at this point. I’ll have to do some major rearranging to make this work.

I tried playing Battlegrounds and Overwatch, but didn’t have much luck with either. Hopefully I’ll get some decent rest tonight.

Everyone thinks they’re the exception.