Author: gallopingcow

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Surrounded by Giants

I got out of the hotel this morning and went to a place called Big Bad Breakfast to eat. They had pretty good reviews, but I didn’t really expect it to be quite so “upscale.” I sat at the bar, turned down a mimosa, and had a Creole omelet with some fresh-squeezed, ruby red grapefruit instead. The juice was a bit more bitter than I expected, but the omelet was delicious. The andouille sausage and shrimp were unusual for breakfast, but great.

After breakfast, I headed to the Embassy and got checked into the conference by Darrel himself. Just after I got through, I caught Gary and Ryan coming in. Then Derrick snuck up behind me and said my name, and I chatted with him for just a moment. He was only there by happenstance, and wasn’t even aware of the conference.

I eventually made my way back to the classroom where we got things started. Brody showed up late, but he didn’t seem terribly interested in most of what they had to say anyway. I really don’t have a clue what he does in Clarksville, but I wish I had his job at that salary. The unbelievable luck of that kid is astounding to me.

Lunch at the hotel was pretty good, but awkwardly placed. They had different stuff for tacos, but it was arranged in a poor order for assembling, so I ended up with a huge plate of mush that I just sort of mixed together and ate with cold, crumbly tortillas.

I thought our session was great, and got a ton of useful information out of it even though we ended a bit early. I even joked that we had paid for the full session, and asked for a refund for the unused time. I caught up with Gary out in the lobby while he was waiting for Ryan, and ended up spending the rest of the evening with them.

We went up to Gary’s room for a little bit and chatted some more there while Brody went to the gym. Then we met him at Genghis Grill for dinner, but he was late to that too. The food was pretty good, but I had forgotten just how expensive that place was. When we got back to the hotel, I used Gary’s key card to get into the garage to charge. Then we hung out in the atrium where they had a band cranked up way too loud for being in the middle of an open area in a hotel with rooms facing inward. We could barely hear ourselves think, much less hear each other without absolutely screaming at each other. We could have easily cut the volume in half and been better off.

I was the last one out, and played on my phone in the car for a little while until I finished charging. Then it was back to the hotel to wind down and sleep before a day of cybersecurity.

No fair.

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Country Roads

I was mostly packed up, but getting last-minute things together meant I ran a little late for work. Summer felt like she was getting sick, so she stayed home. Kim was back at work, and there wasn’t a whole lot going on there. I got fairly frustrated that she spent so much time talking and didn’t actually seem to close any new work orders, but we’ll see how she does while I’m gone this week.

I brought some leftovers to eat since the “pizza crunchers” didn’t sound too good. Then at quitting time, I headed through Plainview to get to Little Rock. I don’t think I’d ever been back that direction before, and it was a beautiful drive for as long as the sun was up. I got into the city well after dark, and my car routed me to the wrong hotel, so I had to turn around.

Check-in was fast for me after the guy ahead of me finally finished his business. I got settled in, and then drove across the street to charge at the Wingate while I walked down to eat at a place called Cheba Hut. I let the guy surprise me, and I ended up with a fancy BLT that I thought needed about six times more bacon. The sauces on the sandwich were amazing though. The flavor was there, but after an eight-inch sub, I was still super hungry.

I hung out and tinkered on my phone for a while just so I could get some more charge, and then headed back to the Hilton Garden Inn, where they lacked both EV charging and convenient parking. I’ll never make the mistake of registering late for a conference again. Once I got back to the room, I wound down and did my best to ignore the dog barking next door, and went to bed.

They’re a little too proud of those two free water bottles in the room.

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I Woke up on a Farm

I slept fairly well last night. The little space heater kept us plenty warm in the tiny guest house. I woke up a few times from a fairly light sleep overall, but I was comfortable. Summer said she didn’t sleep well for some reason. We slept longer than I originally thought, because it was the end of Daylight Saving Time. I got Summer around, and we packed up and headed back to the house to see the others. The kids were getting ready to go off to church with their grandparents, and Josh looked a little more ready to face the day than Alice. Summer decided we should skip breakfast with them and head on home in time for Eaddie’s concert with the Tech band.

The drive home wasn’t bad since I took the back roads to Plumerville. Eaddie’s phone was dead so we couldn’t reach her on the drive, but she was up when we got there. We unloaded and then went to the new Old South for breakfast. They were closed, so Summer decided she wanted IHOP. The parking lot was packed from the church crowd, and I expected poor service anyway, but we were actually seated in a really short amount of time. The food was probably the best I’d ever had from an IHOP, and the service wasn’t bad either. It made the $50 bill a lot more bearable.

After we ate, we went back to the house to wait for Eaddie’s concert. She left early for that while Summer and I cleaned up at home. When it was time for the concert, my parents met us at Witherspoon. It was a pretty quick concert again, and then we tried going to Peter’s to look at some furniture for their 80th anniversary, but they were closed.

My parents went on home to prepare some spring rolls for dinner while Summer and I went to my house to get a few things. Then we picked up Eaddie at the house and went to my parents’. Dinner was good, but we didn’t stick around long since I had to do some laundry for my week-long conference.

Summer went to bed at a fairly usual time while I did my laundry. Eaddie went to bed pretty early, and I somehow managed to get to bed before midnight.

That’s quite enough “Halcyon Hearts” for me.

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This Guy Fawkes

Summer had a race in Conway this morning, and Eaddie had to get to the high school to take a bus to Conway for her orchestra concert. I got up pretty early myself and took a bath before Summer got back home. Then we packed up for a night at Alice’s.

We left Eaddie with the Model Y and took the Murano to Conway, which was awful after living on Autopilot for the past year. My arms were constantly tired, and all of my muscle memories were wrong. Our first stop was the liquor store in Morrilton, and then the China Town buffet in Conway for lunch. We finished up there just in time to make it across town to the Conway High School for Eaddie’s concert.

Both bands were pretty good, but I think my absolute favorite song was Eaddie’s last one. The concert was pretty short with only three songs from each of two bands, and then we headed straight to Alice’s place, only making a brief stop at a Dollar General for some energy drinks.

It was a small party this year. Alice and Josh were there, and Josh had one other friend come by. I took Summer, Alice, and the kids to the guest house to check things out, and then to see her in-laws next door briefly before going back to the house. They had some snacks there, but the girls mostly just chatted in the kitchen while the guys went down to start the fire. By the time we made it down the hill, it had mostly died down.

It was a great night of chatting by the fire though, and then we got to retire to a guest house instead of making the drive home after midnight. The guest house was a really cool, two-level house with everything we could have needed. Summer crashed pretty quickly while watching an episode of Fear Factor, which appeared to be on repeat. I wrapped up pretty quickly myself so I wouldn’t sleep too late.

That’s enough 90s television.

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Artsy Fartsies

I was alone again today, which gave me summertime vibes. It was difficult to pin down any one project, but I didn’t really resolve either of my big two, although I did get started on Jamf. I imagine I’ll have to migrate all of our old devices over to our new server, since I hadn’t touched it since I renewed the license right after I was hired.

Lunch was a sad “barbecue” sandwich, and the afternoon dragged on for what felt like multiple days. Then I went to feed the fish before going home to wait for the girls. Summer picked up Eaddie in Conway from orchestra practice and took her shopping for a nice dress for her concert tomorrow. I ate leftover pizza.

When they finally got to town, I met them at the River Valley Arts Center for Suzanne’s exhibit. The biggest surprise of the night was Rachel coming over to talk, because we didn’t interact a whole lot in high school, and I don’t think I had spoken to her since then, though I’d seen her around town periodically.

The girls went home early since it had been a long day. I stayed behind and chatted with Trent for a while, and then a couple of us went to see the kiln room and got a little bit of a local history lesson. We walked around the property a bit and I got to see the edge of an old pool from like the 30s.

The girls were settled in when I got home. Dad and Julie were trying to organize Thanksgiving for 25, so I counted my turkeys twice. It was nice having my desk set up, but I still didn’t get my computer chair. I need to order a new chair mat for the carpet. So many things to buy. So little time.

Fine. It’s ordered.

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BATTLESTATIONS!

Today started out really quiet because they were doing some testing. I dug back into my domain controller replication issue and enjoyed the efficiency of being alone. Once testing was over, my office was a parade of people. That was on top of screaming kids right outside my door. I started to get a little snippy about the situation, and judging from how ultra-sweet Denice started talking to me, I think she might have figured out how I felt about our new arrangement.

The good news was that I finally got replication going again, and my Group Policy configurations started expressing themselves as expected. Hopefully after a few reboots, the rest of the computers in the district will start acting a little more normally. I think the next big project has to be imaging, and I shouldn’t be far off from having that functional. I just need to focus, and time to focus comes at a premium these days.

Earnie called me in the afternoon after a few beers. He had apparently had a bad day and wanted to vent a little bit. I didn’t have the time to talk then, so I called him back on the drive home and we talked for just a little bit. Once I got back into town, I stopped to feed the fish, changed clothes, got a car wash, and then stopped at Ridgewood to try their new Mohawk Sandwich. I talked to Kyler and Grant for a bit, and then headed to the house to eat with Summer.

After dinner, I spent the rest of the night working on the office. Eaddie and I decided the desk would be better situated in the back corner, and though I may miss facing the TV that will eventually be mounted behind me, I think it does open up the room quite a bit. I spent all night getting everything just right, but I’ll still need to come back with a better solution for my monitor. The alternative would be to somehow mount the giant center channel speaker above it, and that might look a little silly. At least it sounds good.

I don’t need a whole lots of money. I don’t need a big fine car. I got everything that a man could want. I got more than I could ask for. And I don’t have to run around. I don’t have to stay out all night. ‘Cause I got me a sweet, a sweet computer, and it keeps me up past my bedtime.

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All by Myself

Kim was still out sick today, and Denice wasn’t there either, so I got to spend the entire day in the quiet of my own office with very little disturbance. Of course it didn’t take long for Barry to walk in and ask for a new key fob for the door. His mysteriously quit working, and I went through two bags of brand new ones, and still couldn’t find one that would read on the door. I decided then and there that I would make him a proper ID card and figure out how to print badges for the first time since they had purchased the whole setup, long before I arrived.

I skipped lunch, having sipped on a Soylent all morning, and worked right to the end of the day. The last thing I did was try and fix the replication issues across my domain controllers. I was really convinced it would work, but it didn’t. Now I don’t know what to do to fix it, and it’s tempting to just start over anyway. The staff devices are such a completely random collection that it probably won’t matter to nuke everything anyway.

After work, I went to the old house to load up a few things and feed the fish. Summer said that they got pizza, so I hurried home to eat. Then Summer and I went back for my computer desk. I spent the rest of the night doing a load of laundry while cleaning and setting up the desk in the office. Summer had a video call for work, so she was up late. Eaddie went to bed early, and I did well to wrap things up at a usually-late time.

Why get rid of the Cougar, anyway?

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Spooky, Scary Mortgages

It was really frosty this morning, and it made for a quiet ride to work. Kim was out again, and this time she said she was actually sick. Denice asked about printing to our office printer, and that led me to discover that our domain controllers weren’t replicating correctly. I spent the entire rest of the day troubleshooting that.

I got a call from the Rockline recruiter that I responded to last night, and he indicated that they may need to move forward with a decision before I’m available for an in-person interview, but wanted me to keep in touch at the end of the conference just to see where we both were in that moment. I really don’t want to double my commute time, but I wouldn’t mind doubling my salary. My current position may sound better on paper though, and may be a better position to hold while I look for the right opportunity.

Summer was on her way back, so I waited for her to get some Cici’s. I got my desk disassembled and then met her at the wash where she had to contact a customer. Then she was too tired to go out, so I picked up Taco John’s on the way to the house while she waited on trick-or-treaters. Eaddie got home a bit after that, and then everyone was off to bed.

It’s “trick or treat,” not “oh, hi there!”

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Frosty Forest

Kim was out again today, so I had another quiet day to myself. I parked way out in the front of the building again, to try and avoid stupid children and stupider adults. My car still had soccer ball prints on the hood, and it’ll take a better wash than the one I did this evening to buff them out.

I was in a fast caravan home and stopped to feed the fish before going to the new house. I picked up a few things, and then couldn’t decide between going back for more or cleaning carpets. In the end, I did neither. I finished up some leftovers, moved plants inside, and made sure everything was winterized for the incoming frost. My plants were already looking really wilted, so I was annoyed that nothing was noticed or said.

As the evening drew to a close, I had to run back across town to winterize the old house. I still had one hose hooked up outside. Ironically, the carwash was still functional on the way home, so I cleaned my car. Earlier in the day, I had received an invite for a second round at Rockline, which surprised the heck out of me. I’m certain I used the phrase “well-educated idiots” in my first interview. In any case, I spent a while drafting a response to that, and then it was off to bed.

How am I supposed to function in the winter when even summer days are too short?

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Al imPastor

I held on to a headache for most of the day. I wanted to move some more stuff from the old house, but I guess we got rained out, or at least de-prioritized again. Maybe I’m just not being vocal, specific, or immediate enough when I say that I want to move things, but I really thought I made this weekend’s goals clear. The girls left at some point to get some stuff so Eaddie could make Oreo balls, and Summer said she was making al pastor for dinner. I didn’t unpack what she bought, otherwise I would have noticed the slab of beef.

We ended up getting two things done today. Dad came over to carve pumpkins, and brought his drain snake along to try and clean out the drain for the driveway. He tried to run an old washcloth through after he got the snake all the way down the pipe, but it wouldn’t make the turn. I’ll just have to get a hose out later to clean it out, assuming I can access the spigot at ground level on the front of the house. It’s possible that it doesn’t work, like the second on on the back of the house.

Once we finished with that, we came inside and carved pumpkins. I couldn’t think of anything more scary than “8.5% for 30 years” worth of home loans, so that was my pumpkin. I carved until my fingers bled, and then ended up cutting out the letters anyway because they weren’t visible enough.

Summer got dinner going while I went to the Neighborhood Market for the things they forgot. I found some bags of rice that apparently just had to be microwaved. They smelled good when we cooked them, but the rice was rubbery. Summer’s beef “al pastor” was tough and mostly cold and dry. I had been excited all day, so dinner was a big letdown. I don’t think she could even tell me what cut of beef she bought. I’m pretty sure she exclusively shops by complete impulse after a weekend of fighting various things around the house.

My headache compounded with at least a dozen other aggravations from the day got the best of me, so I went to find some quiet in the bedroom, and then called it an early night.

I should really have checked the murder basement.