Category: Uncategorised

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Has the Moon Lost Her Memory

I nearly had to amputate my hands from the cold ride in today because I was too stupid to wear my gloves. Otherwise it was a beautiful day to ride. I started at the shop and had Gary help me look at the deployment I was struggling to fix. Then Ben came around and helped prod me through a printer setup because I was tired of all the little one-off solutions left by my predecessors. I went to the high school for a bit, then came back to meet up with Allen, Gary, and Zach at Taco John’s for lunch. That place was super quiet for a lunch hour, but I don’t know what I expected on a day other than Taco Tuesday.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly as I ran around the building closing work orders. I got a call from someone at corporate Walmart letting me know to expect a call from the local store to set up an exchange of our bad ONN television, which was far more than I expected. I’ll have to meet with a manager there tomorrow, and they seem keen to do anything to make it right. I didn’t even intend to ruffle any feathers, but it’s nice they’re going out of their way.

I ran to Sonic for some quick dinner, then to Summer’s shop to share some cheese sticks before getting ready for Melodie’s celebration of life up on Crow Mountain. Charlie was there, and the only one I knew outside of the family. Of course Brandie and Candace were there and came around to visit. It really was a perfect night to gather and remember, though for a moment on the drive I thought for sure I was being hoodwinked for my kidneys as I drove on into the pitch blackness. Ana was running around playing with the other kids, but stopped by to sass me for a bit too. I spent a good amount of time chatting up Seth just to try and lay some groundwork since I’d never met him before.

After we shut that place down, I headed to Summer’s to get her TV so I could run it straight to Walmart after work. I tried to swing by and catch Zach, the manager, tonight so I wouldn’t have to risk the rain tomorrow, but that was a bust. Finally I headed home to bed.

Burnt out ends of smoky days…

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Tying up Loose Ends (To Throw Them out to Sea)

It was a little warmer this morning, and I should have taken the bike. We finally started testing, and I immediately got called down to the opposite end of the campus for a non-issue that was resolved before I got there. I had a bagel for breakfast and couldn’t find a toaster anywhere. Asking around didn’t turn up a lot of suggestions, and ultimately Lee seemed to really want to go for a walk down to home ec, so we busted right into a full classroom and I bashfully asked to borrow theirs. Then I spent a bit of the morning catching up on some things that needed catching. Being an excellent multitasker, I was able to make a few calls while I was working so I could verify my benefits for next year, get back into my old retirement 401(k), and even get bounced around to a third and fourth customer service contact for Summer’s failing ONN TV that I got from Walmart.

I wanted to go to Ruby Tuesday for another $5 salad, and I should have just gone by myself, but Brice, Allen, and Jason all wanted to go to Long John Silver’s for a $5 meal coupon they sent out today. I was nervous when we encountered a sign on the front door asking customers to call a number to report if the restaurant was not open during its posted business hours. The guy inside even seemed a bit sketchier than usual, but we all made it out in the end with free drinks and an extra side of fries for Allen.

Jason wanted to come work with me at the high school in the afternoon, so after milling around the shop for a bit, we headed up to my office. I had him hunt down some Adobe stuff for Macs while I poked at another issue I was having. Then we took the trip across the campus to install Daniel’s software and set up Tina’s new computer. Jason had to leave just as school let out, and I kept tripping over myself trying to reconfigure the switch that Tina’s computer was plugged into, but at the end of the day Gary was able to save the day. I stuck around late trying to figure out why my test software deployment kept failing, and finally gave up so I could make it up to Summer’s for dinner.

She had stayed home sick today, and made spaghetti mac(?) since she didn’t have proper spaghetti noodles. It turned out really yummy though, and then we watched an episode of Parks and Rec with Eaddie before I headed home for the night.

Don’t you know what happened to the little boy who cried, “wolf!”

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Huttin’ for Food

I slept really well last night, and all I wanted to do was stay in bed. It was a little chilly out, but it warmed up nicely. My morning went by pretty quickly as I caught up on things at the high school. Then Allen and I went to Pizza Hut for lunch. I saw Robert and Grant there and learned that they’ve both gone full time with their BBQ business, so I feel doubly obligated to visit them sometime soon.

After lunch, I spent a bit of time at the shop getting a computer ready, then headed back to the high school for the day. I ended up staying a little late because some student data wouldn’t migrate for me, and I eventually just had to give up and go home. Once there, I cleaned up a very little bit and milled around the house for a bit until bed.

Plenty of memories down Ridgewood…

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Talk Down Lock Down

Summer felt a bit off this morning and took a slow ride downhill all day. We got up and munched on a bit of breakfast and then she laid back down for a while. Eventually she tried to get the kids up to take care of some chores and Autumn seemed to be in some sort of mood that earned a stearn parenting moment. I wasted most of my time playing Oxygen Not Included or Lumino City. Summer had a nice pork chop dinner planned and eventually got up to execute that. I put on the National Geographic documentary Science Fair so the kids would have something perhaps a little less mind numbing to watch, and it seemed to grab their attention pretty well, but I wish it had been a little more educational.

When I finally made it home for the evening, I got started on some laundry and cleaned up house a bit. I even managed to frame a poster I’ve been meaning to hang for a few years, but I’ll have to find my way to the wall in order to actually hang it.

Parenting is way easier when you’ve never been one before.

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Seven Player Megonopoly

Summer had to moderate a quiz bowl event today, so I got up shortly after they left to make some breakfast and then go home. I was a bit slow getting started, but eventually became productive. I spent too much time messing with my Google Home/Nest speakers, but discovered my Chromecast Audio devices would output an optical signal, so I eventually got that going in the living room for a true whole-home audio system that sounds great. I started to get the kitchen cleaned up as well as I bounced from one thing to another.

Eventually I got showered and headed to Walmart for cheese dip stuff, and to my horror it had already become quite the zoo. There were so many people wandering around with such full carts, and I could barely make it from aisle to aisle. I loaded my arms full of everything I needed and then some, and the only saving grace was a zero wait time at the newer self checkout lanes they recently opened.

Back at Summer’s, I made the cheese dip in the Instant Pot by first sauteing some hamburger meat with some onions, Rotel, and taco seasoning. I had twice the hamburger meat the recipe called for, but I added some American cheese to it on a whim. The whole thing came out looking pretty bad, and the cheese didn’t seem to properly melt very well, leaving what looked like tiny pellets of unmelted Velveeta. It tasted fine though, and soon we were off to John and Melissa’s.

Travis was there, along with Maria and her boyfriend Asher. Veronica showed up eventually after running around town doing very Veronica things. We snacked on dips and eventually got a game of Monopoly going for seven of us. We had to break out a different set for the extra money and player tokens, but we made it work. It didn’t take us very long to break down some of the rules, but having a couple drinkers around made everyone giggly enough that nobody cared. Much fun was had by all, lasting late into the night.

But what if we put two whole boards together into a figure-8?!?

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Look at the Skies, They Have Stars in Their Eyes

I didn’t sleep in very long today, but I was still slow to get around. It could be the cold making me sluggish too, but I still felt a little lame most of the day. I played Lumino City on my phone for a while and really enjoyed the cute handcrafted feel of it all. Then I played some more Oxygen Not Included until it was time to go up to Summer’s. We had some leftover salad she brought home from Venezia’s, and then watched the new “live action” Lady and the Tramp. It was definitely a more flawed animation than The Lion King, but it was still pretty spooky. You can’t trust anything to be real any more.

Remember that night time we were having?
Cell phone cameras are creepy…

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It’ll Be a Gas!

I snoozed a little bit past my normal work alarm this morning before getting cleaned up to go to my colonoscopy. Summer came over to get me, and we made our way to Saint Mary’s outpatient center. The whole check-in process was pretty quick, and I was in and out of my clothes faster than I’ve ever gotten through my primary care physician’s waiting room. All things considered, it was a great experience with super friendly people. The good news was that it was only hemorrhoids. The aggravating thing was that it took $600 to prove myself right to everyone that was urging me to get it checked out.

It was nearly lunch time when we got back to my house, so we chatted about our feelings for a bit before going to Bocadillo’s for my first solid meal since Sunday. The food was great as always, and Summer really enjoyed the pine nuts ice cream. Afterward we came home and napped until she had to go get the kids from school. I still felt pretty worn out from everything, so I stayed home and did virtually nothing all night and then went to bed super early.

It’s probably time I understood how to manipulate the healthcare system to work better for me.

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Party Pooper

I managed to sleep until a little after noon today. I never really got hungry which was nice, but I also didn’t feel up to much after popping my Dulcolax tablets. Originally I had envisioned cleaning up the house a bit, and I did try, but I just didn’t accomplish a whole lot. I spent most of my time playing some more Oxygen Not Included until things started getting gurgly. Then I watched The World According to Jeff Goldblum, which honestly kind of left me not really liking him as much just because he seemed completely unable to be even a little bit normal. He’s an entertaining character in smaller doses, but I could see how someone would become tired of him after a while, like an annoying, weird uncle.

Overall it felt very much like the old days of hiding in my home and not seeing anyone for days. I completely forgot to go out and get gas for Hog Wild Wednesday. I wonder if I can last another week.

Won’t this be fun…

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The Long Hunger

We were supposed to start the first day of testing today, but I’m not sure that actually happened. I kept busy with my own little projects until Ben showed up unexpectedly to chat about what happened yesterday. I really hope he actually takes some kind of meaningful action this time, because it definitely feels like nothing ever works.

I had one Soylent to last me the whole day, and then I stopped to see Summer on my way home to stay up late playing video games to stave off the hunger. I was definitely allowed to eat today, and my belly wanted to know why I didn’t. I should be fine tomorrow with enough other stuff going on to keep my mind off of it. The cat is starting to look pretty yummy though.

I played a couple short rounds of Overwatch arcade matches with Jack before he went to play Call of Duty with the others. Then I made the mistake of starting a two-hour update on my computer, so I laid in bed watching some short extras on Disney+ that I finally got access to from Julie. Once my computer was finished, I dove right into a multi-hour session of Oxygen Not Included until about 5am.

23 Hours Later….

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On the Subject of Hierarchy

It was super cold and rainy this morning, and I was super sluggish getting into my office. I just sat in my car, cozy in my seat for a while, not wanting to go in. When I finally did go in, I mostly worked in my office all day without wandering about too much. I started digging into Group Policy to learn a little more about how objects are linked together, and the order in which settings are processed. I sipped on one Soylent through breakfast and lunch to try and cut back hard, and it worked pretty well. Lee came in for a bit to ask for some speakers, then stayed to chat for a little bit.

Near the end of the day, I went to the shop to get a couple things. I chatted with Zach and Gary for a bit, then went to the graveyard to dig around for some speakers. I was so focused on what was on the tables or in the piles of junk, digging for scraps, that I didn’t even notice Jason napping in the corner until I walked right up on him, practically within arm’s reach. It got super awkward after that, with him making brief, but quiet sounds of laboured movement the way one would in that kind of situation. He never said a word to me, and I just started digging in a box for some speakers. It took him a few minutes, but I think he left. I didn’t actually pay attention to where he went, but I didn’t see him again the rest of the day. His car was there when I went back inside though, and gone before we left, which was a bit before quitting time on account of my not taking a lunch break.

Brice has an interview tomorrow, so maybe all the pieces are falling into place for me to take a step up into leadership. One could dream.

After work, I went to my parents’ house for some rice soup. It was pretty soothing, and I peppered it enough that I couldn’t even taste that Mom had burned it. Then I went by Walgreens to pick up my prescriptions, then Walmart to pick up a few more things that I ultimately should have just gotten from Walgreens for convenience and time’s sake.

I refuse to let myself feel guilty for doing what’s right by reporting what’s wrong.