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The Guttening: Part II

Summer hinted that she wanted an iced coffee this morning by telling me directly last night that she wanted me to bring her an iced coffee this morning, so I got out a little early and made the trip to Starbucks. Once at work, we didn’t waste any time getting back to the junior high to strip out three more computer labs. We got all of that done just before lunch, and we didn’t even have to do anything twice.

Allen and I went to Burger King and just brought it back after the relative nightmare of dining in yesterday. They were surprisingly fast, and reliably hot and fresh in these trying times. I did have some trouble with the app, but at least they were on top of things at the restaurant.

Everyone was on their own again for the afternoon, so I stayed at the shop and did my best to juggle a couple different projects myself. I ended up staying a bit late working on the wiki and getting it updated. Ben came by and chatted for a while, which is always good conversation.

After work, Summer and I went up to her house to have some more leftovers for dinner. Then it was right back home for the evening. I cleaned up a little bit, but bedtime crept up pretty quickly. I must be getting older.

Plant your flag, or somebody else will.

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Maybe It Wasn’t Him…

We were sent to the junior high this morning to gut several desktop computer labs. Gary and I took one truck with a bunch of hand trucks to my house so we could air up the tires quickly and easily using my built-in air gauge. Then we met up with everyone else and helped load up the trailer with a bunch of computer equipment.

It wasn’t until we were four labs into the process that Zach realized we weren’t supposed to remove the second room we did, so we ended up just moving the last lab back into the second room to make up for it. Of course that came with its own set of problems, but they were due for a re-image anyway.

A dog came to visit while we worked into lunch, just so we could get the trailer unloaded. Then Allen, Greg, and I went to Firehouse for lunch. I guess I hadn’t fully processed that we had to wear masks until we got our food, so I had to run back out to the car and reuse a couple of masks we got from Pizza Ranch this weekend. We were still short one, but we made it work since I had already ordered my food online anyway.

After lunch, we were all left to our own devices, so I just worked on what I could at the shop. At the end of the day, Gary left to swap the fiber connection at Crawford, so I tagged along in the rain to help. Summer wouldn’t be home for a while anyway, and it was a good way to get some experience and a little bit of education from Gary.

When we finished, I headed up to Summer’s where we picked at leftovers for dinner. The girls were staying with their father, so we came back to my house for the evening. I started some laundry while Summer watched her baking show, and then it was off to a relatively early bedtime.

“Never do once what can be done in triplicate.“
-Us, apparently.

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First Swim (2020 Edition)

Somehow I managed to sleep in until almost noon today. Summer had already left the house and returned with Burger King for lunch. The girls really wanted to go swim, so we got up and rolled out to my house for some quick chores and to pick up swim suits. Then we went to my parents’ house for a swim.

We timed it just about right for lots of shade, and the water was a nice temperature. I think the girls got a little cold in it though, which prompted them to get out sooner than they would otherwise. Mom spent the whole time power washing things, with Dad running around behind her.

Eventually we loaded back up to go home for dinner. We stopped by Hannah and Dylan’s to drop off the baby cow chair I got for their new little one, and ended up chatting for a bit longer than I expected. Then it was back to my house to drop off towels, and up to Summer’s for the evening.

Summer got to work putting together stuff for berry chicken salads, and we ate pretty quickly while the girls showered. Then I fought slow internet to get something done for work. It didn’t take long at all for everyone to run off to their rooms for bed.

Thank God for killing that half million people. I really needed a break.

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Cafeteria-Style

Autumn really wanted to go to Conway to do some shopping today, so I went home to clean up while Summer got her nails done. Then I picked everyone up and we headed out of town. Autumn wanted to look up hairstyles in the back, so Eaddie played DJ up front with me.

We started at Target and milled all around the place. I was a little worried that we’d need masks to get in places, but nobody brought any. It really wasn’t terribly crowded though, and most other people out and about weren’t wearing masks either. After maybe an hour or so, we left with basically just some toiletries.

The next stop was Kohl’s where we hit up the clearance racks. There wasn’t much for me, but the girls got a few things. Then we stopped by Dick’s for just a bit. I wanted to go to Best Buy, but they were straight-up closed with bars behind the door.

By the time we finished checking out, everyone was pretty hungry. I decided to try Pizza Ranch again since I had gotten an email recently that they were open again. They gave us masks to wear any time we were walking around, and then the buffet was served cafeteria-style. The food was surprisingly fresh considering there was only one other party there when we arrived, and I only saw two more come in before we left.

It was too late to go anywhere else since the virus has everything closing around eight, so we headed back home. Autumn really wanted to stay at my house, so we planned to let them clean and pack before heading over. It wasn’t but a few minutes later that she came back around and said she was sleepy and just wanted to go to bed, so we stayed in. Eaddie and I watched a couple episodes of The Punisher until things started to get pretty good, and then it was off to bed.

But why no fried chicken pizza???

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Ketchup with Griff Q Over BBQ

This week went by super fast. When I got to work, Ben, Gary, and Zach were already in the conference room talking about something. That something ended up being the logistics behind bringing the district to true K-12 1-to-1 devices. I laid my brilliant plan to keep our old lease devices on them again, and I think they started to see the light.

I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out answer files for a Windows image. Even Gary said that was difficult, or at least confusing, which didn’t give me any hope at all. I felt like I was just beating my head against the wall forever, but it was kind of cathartic in a way.

Ben bought us all lunch at Linh, and my crunchy noodles were fire. I loved that it was absolutely loaded down with vegetables that I’ve sorely missed the last few days.

After work, I spent some more time chatting with Ben, then went home to sell my turnips on the Stalk Market. I am still more successful in Animal Crossing than real life, and I hate it.

I was going to get Gary and stop by the Ridgewood Brothers BBQ to visit with those guys, but he ended up having other plans. When I got there, Robert was already gone, but Felix and Grant were there. It was great getting to catch up a little with Grant, but it still feels like we barely scratched the surface. I haven’t had that much fun digging up old memories in a long time.

Eventually I made my way up to Summer’s for the evening. Autumn ordered Papa John’s delivery, so I ate what was left over. Then Eaddie and I started the second season of The Punisher before bed.

What am I going to do with a 10 gigabyte hard drive?
Just wait. Twenty years from now, you’re never gonna believe this shit.

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2:1

Today was really quiet because Ben was upstairs again for more of whatever they were doing. It wasn’t quite as noisy this time, but we could tell they were doing something. I spent most of the day learning about Microsoft’s licensing structure, and trying to figure out how to wipe the 1,300ish laptops I have for resale.

Zach said the district is trying to go 1:1 everywhere, and I think the buyback price on the old high school lease is perfect for a trickle-down of older technology. The laptops are still working great, and were generally underutilized anyway. Lower grades would have lower requirements, so keeping the old Windows devices would save just over $100,000 over the cost of new, less capable Chromebooks. Nobody seems to really care what I think though.

Greg wanted Mexican for lunch, and I suggested we try the new food truck by the railroad tracks. It was rainy, but light enough that we didn’t mind running out to place our orders, and the guy even brought it all out to us pretty quickly. It took less time than even ordering at a brick and mortar restaurant. My torta Cubana was both huge and delicious, but messy. I should have used a fork and knife. The burritos looked pretty good too.

After work, I went home and tried cleaning out the washing machine with some vinegar, and then later some baking soda. I just let it chug along while I played some Overwatch. Eventually I made it up to Summer’s for the evening, just in time for bed.

Never tell me the ratio.

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A Genius Plot

The morning went by pretty quickly as it usually does. Ben was upstairs all day for the administrators retreat that was making a bunch of noise over our heads. Zach went on a bit about the classified personnel policy committee and the school board, which brought me to a brilliant plan to bring down the machine from the inside. It’ll take some work, but I think we can do it.

We went to Arby’s for lunch and took Summer some as a surprise. Then the afternoon was pretty chill. I did get the new lease docking stations from HP, but I didn’t actually open one to play with it. I probably will soon, but I don’t even have any of the laptops yet.

After work, I went home and started a load of laundry before Summer got off work. Then when she got here, we picked up the girls and went to my parents’ house for dinner. I was going to have the girls help with the bao, but they were all in pretty foul moods, and overall useless as individuals. We spent a little time rummaging through my old room and reminiscing over some old books I had from my childhood.

When we left, we dropped the girls off again at Summer’s parents’ house. Then we went to Summer’s for a bit before coming back to my house. I did some more laundry and played some Overwatch until bed.

You can’t beat them if you’re not even playing the same game.

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MATTE BLACK EVERYTHING

I took Zach with me to the high school this morning so we could try and move some laptops from the library back to my office, but the custodians had the whole hallway taped off so they could strip the floors. I’m going to have to get in there to do some work sooner than later, but I really haven’t been too ambitious about anything anyway.

For lunch, we went by Tropical Smoothie for a couple free smoothies. Then I picked at a few things at the office until Gary mentioned something about doing some network equipment changes at London. I volunteered to go out with him even though it would extend a couple hours past my quitting time.

We drove out, got two switches replaced and set up two existing ones that just weren’t configured yet. I was mostly just another set of hands, but it was nice to get out and do something else for a bit.

After work, I went by to see Summer at the shop before heading home and starting laundry. Some of the guys started showing up online and I just sort of passively listened to them while they played something. As my last bit of laundry finished up in the dryer, I played a few rounds of Overwatch. Then it was off to bed.

THE GAME

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Quarantine Schwarantine

Everyone was back to the office today, though the only new face I actually saw was Allen. I guess Heather was either out or staying away from the shop. I went in and planted my flag to officially commandeer Jason’s old office, and started picking at little things to do. I really needed to go to the high school to clean up some more laptops, but I just never made it over there.

Zach, Gary, Greg, and I went to Wendy’s and started in line by the road. It took us quite a while to get around, I’m guessing because everyone ahead had multiple orders like we did. Ours seemed to come out pretty quickly, and the fries were cold and soggy for all the time we waited, but otherwise it was good. Everyone got spicy chicken sandwiches, which I’ll bet was what Wendy wanted since beef seems to be super expensive now.

After lunch was mostly more of the same, just picking at old work orders and closing out what I could. I tried updating one of the LanSchool servers, but couldn’t even successfully log into it. On the way out for the day, I tried convincing Ben to just spend the extra money on Impero because it’s better anyway, and administration won’t let us actually have any of the money that we’ve been saving the district. I think it’s time we try a new strategy of running out of money and making them come up with more for us to spend.

When I got home, I spend a good amount of time in Overwatch just trying to get my wins in for the week. It just felt like children everywhere though, and I kept getting the dumbest teammates. Eventually Summer showed up and we went to my parents’ house for dinner.

At the end of the evening, I did my chores in Animal Crossing, then researched some more gaming laptops before bed.

At a dollar a day, can I really afford not to invest in a new computer to last me the next decade?

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This is Normal

Summer got up this morning and started prepping for lunch with my parents. The girls took turns being moody for a bit, but did fine for lunch. Summer made grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, some fresh broccoli salad stuff, and some guacamole that we barely got to for the appetizer. Then she had a pound cake made for strawberry shortcake for dessert.

My parents hung out for just a little while, but then went home to make bánh bao. The girls decided they wanted to spend a couple nights with their father rather than go help, so when they left, I headed home to start cleaning house.

I got a bunch of old laundry done, but still have loads [pun intended] more left to do. Summer eventually came over and watched TV while I worked. Suzanne called at some point and said she thought they heard gunshots from protests happening downtown, but I couldn’t ever find any evidence of it, nor could I hear any noise from outside over my laundry. It seemed like the most action we got were some guys open-carrying rifles around town.

Tomorrow everyone is back to work at the office, but we’re sort of left to our own devices to help with social distancing. It’s been nice spending so much time at home, and I’m in no way looking forward to going back.

Surely homesteading isn’t that hard.