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Self Promoting

Gary and I chatted for a while this morning, reminiscing about the days of olde. I missed not getting to see Mitch when he came to town. He said they all went to Robert and Grant’s barbecue truck to see what they had, and that it was the best barbecue he had ever had. It got me thinking and wondering, and even made me a little sad to think back to that earlier time.

Dad texted Mom and me asking for a ride home from St. Mary’s after they had doped him up and told him not to drive. I got him home and then went to the junior high for a bit before lunch. Allen was really craving chicken, so we went to KFC for lunch, and then I went back to the shop to talk with Gary some more about how to block the kids from accessing porn on the school devices. Those kids are so crafty about it, and some of the things they do are pretty creative. I guess I just can’t imagine them living in today’s world without access to that kind of thing everywhere else, and it makes me wonder why they’d do it at school.

Eventually I made it back to the junior high for esports. Rachel and Josh came by to get a few quote from some kids and take some more pictures. Josh even staged a little artistic photo as well with a mix of someone’s Razer headphones, a VicTsing mouse, and my Monoprice mechanical keyboard. At the end of the day, I accidentally remotely restarted three computers that were being used to play a winning game, and I felt really bad for causing the team to lose an otherwise winning match. They gave me some grief over it, but they seemed to brush it all off in the end since it was really time to go anyway.

I went home for a bit to clean up, and then went to Summer’s for the evening. She prepped some more veggies and I made another awesome pizza since the girls went out with their dad. Then I spent the rest of the night playing some Overwatch with Johnny, Jack, Aaron, and Clint. It was nice to have so many people on, and I was surprised at how late they all stayed on. Must’ve been kismet.

The Executive Director of Esports, Game Master, and Emperor Supreme does not 1v1 a bruh!
The Executive Director of Esports, Game Master, and Emperor Supreme sends his Legions to dispatch his opponents!

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Subway++

I didn’t think I had much going on this morning, but we eventually discovered that I wasn’t getting work order emails properly again. I bounced between campuses in the morning to take care of some older things, including discarding a cart full of netbooks so I could repurpose the cart in the library. Then I met Allen for lunch at the Subway in the old Darrell’s building. He had suggested Subway, and I was curious about their other offerings. I got boneless wings and made it a combo with two bread sticks and a drink. The food tasted cheap, but I paid $9 for the meal. They did have a mini Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, but it had a weird lever that had a really poor tactile response. The inside of the restaurant was actually really nice though. I haven’t tried their pasta, but so far I can’t recommend anything but the Subway for their corporate-y goodness. What I had tasted like frozen gas station food.

The afternoon was partly spent catching up on newer work orders that flooded in after the Web Help Desk reset. Ben came by at the end of the school day and tested out LanSchool for Chromebooks in my APUSH class. To make a long story short, it was absolutely terrible. The limitation of features and the ease of a student making it annoying for a teacher trying to keep tabs on them were just too much. Another hard “no” from me.

I went home after work and spent a little time with the fish before heading to Summer’s for dinner. She had a roast in the slow cooker all day, and the girls ate in front of the TV while we sat at the table. Summer spent some time doing school work while I read up on the Travel on Fi comment thread on SlickDeals. Wednesday will be the 90th day since her phone activation, so I’m getting really antsy about getting the $799 travel gift card. I’m really doubting she gets it automatically, and I kind of dread having to contact Fi about it. They’ve always been pretty decent, but it’s just annoying.

And I still have to do my taxes…

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It’s Pizza Time!

I woke up with a fair headache this morning, but still tried to get out of bed early enough to have a useful day. Summer took Autumn out shopping, and eventually Eaddie and I left to go back to my house. I spent a while trying to fix the back seat recliner loop that came off last night. I’m really just lucky we didn’t lose the whole loop somewhere. It took me a while, but I was eventually able to use a length of wire to pull it back up into place.

With that done, we ran to Walmart to exchange my aquarium LED light bulb under warranty. It was a relatively quick in and out, and then we went back home where she watched Supergirl while I showered. Once we were ready, we ran by Harbor Freight to get a power splitter and magnetic tool mount for my aquariums, and then made it back to her house.

Autumn had suggested we make homemade pizzas for dinner, so Summer was prepping a bunch of fresh ingredients she picked up. Eaddie and I went outside to dig up some dirt to plant a pineapple top until the pizzas were ready to make. The girls built their own simple ones, and then I made one for Summer and myself with every topping we had.

The pizzas turned out really great, the girls seemed to enjoy getting to make them, and even my over-topped pizzas stayed together really well. I guess after all these years I’ve still got it. When we finished eating, I played a game of Mario Party with Autumn before we all sat down to watch Parks and Rec before bed.

PMOGHRN LS

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Eureka!

I got up early this morning and went to pick up the girls to head to Eureka Springs. We went to Ozark and then took the Pig Trail north from there. We stopped at Turner Bend to check out the tiny waterfall, but Autumn didn’t want to get out of the car. The rest of us took a few pictures, and then we continued on our way.

Eaddie handled the drive pretty well, but it helped that we got stuck behind some slow vehicles for a ways. We made it into Eureka right at lunch time, found a parking space, and started to wander. We should have gone straight to lunch first, but things ended up working out alright in the end. I ended up buying some tea after the girls kept sampling a bunch of things. Then we walked to the other end of the strip and went to Local Flavor Cafe for lunch.

I had fish tacos on the waiter’s recommendation. The girls had burgers, and Summer had something with avocado instead of meat. Of course I couldn’t leave without a chocolate lavender crème brûlée. We shared it three ways because Autumn is weird, and then we started back down the strip to do some shopping. The girls got a few things, and I got us some chocolate dipped stuff at the candy store that’s always pulling taffy. After our four hours were up, we headed to the Inn of the Ozarks to meet my parents for dinner.

We went to The Bavarian Inn Restaurant as is tradition. They had us sat in a room with a bunch of other magic folk. Dad was super excited for everything, which was nice. Even Autumn found something she liked. My food was fair, but it always feels so overpriced and under filling. Even Summer agreed that it didn’t fill her up. They seemed to make up for that with gas though, because by the time it was all said and done, I did feel a bit bloated for a while.

After dinner, we went back to the Inn for the magic show. They put on a really good, if short show. Evidently they had split it up into like three shows this time, and Dad performed at the afternoon show today that we didn’t get to see. Eaddie got to participate in the finale with a really solid levitation, and then refused to smile as she left the stage. She really enjoyed it though, and continued to talk about it for the first part of the trip back home.

The drive back was uneventful, except that Eaddie got to feeling sick as we got into the tighter curves. The Dramamine didn’t seem to help her much, so I just slowed way down until we got most of the way back to Ozark. Then we hit the interstate and made it home just before midnight. The girls all crashed, and I eventually made it to bed super hungry.

Alright, already we’ll all float on.

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Risk of Rain

We had a meeting this morning with our new testing coordinator about ACT Aspire testing. Heather made us pancakes and sausage for breakfast, which made the dull meeting better. The highlight was the look on her face when we told her the number one reason we get called in to help is for one of the things we are specifically forbidden to do. At least the whole ordeal didn’t take long, and then I filled up on breakfast.

Allen needed help hanging a touch panel in London, so Dale and I joined him on that quest. Shortly after we got there and got set up, they had a fire drill and the two of them insisted on going outside for it. I went ahead and hung the mounting hardware while they were gone. Of course I ended up having to drive back to town because he forgot a part. That got us to lunch, and they suggested staying in London to eat at Fat Daddy’s, but I wasn’t even remotely hungry. We came back to town, and I went and sat with them at Taco Bell for half an hour, but then just went to the junior high to work on my stack of work orders.

I very nearly completed resetting all of my PLTW tablets, but still ended up staying late to finish the second lab. When I finally left, I met the girls at my house and made more pork nachos for them. I probably ate too much of it myself, but at least I cleaned up the leftovers. They headed home shortly after that, and I spent some time on the aquariums before sitting down to some Overwatch with Johnny, and then Jack. When they both finally got on at the same time, we played some of the new Risk of Rain 2, which was relatively fun, mostly annoying, and ran pretty terribly on my ancient computer. I want so badly to build another one, but also recognize that I have such little time to sit down at it. A laptop is appealing, but I don’t exactly have the money to pay that premium anyway. I guess I’ll stick with my old computer for a few more years of indecisiveness.

I forgot all about that damn whale in the gym. I really wanted to see it.

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Tabula Rasa

It was cold this morning, but it would warm up pretty quickly, so I took the bike to work. I spent all day at the junior high touching all of the Samsung tablets in three different classrooms, and still couldn’t get it done before lunch. I met Zach, Allen, and Jason at Morelos where I tried something new – the lunch burrito supreme. I was a little disappointed in its size, and the mixed beef and chicken was really kind of split down the middle the short way, but with the rice, beans, and chips, I had plenty to eat. On the way out, some little squishy unicorns caught my eye in a quarter machine, and somehow I talked both Allen and Jason into donating a quarter each. I was shocked, but it made me happy.

I went by the shop for a little bit after lunch and chatted with Gary about some of the troubles I had been working with, and that’s when I got two work orders about kids looking at porn on the tablets. At first it just seemed like one more thing to throw onto the pile of crap I was dealing with, but after further inspection I’m not positive I caused this one. I spent the rest of my day and most of my evening updating and factory resetting tablets in two of my three labs until I couldn’t stand to look at them. I have one lab completely finished, but I won’t know for sure until tomorrow. Then I’ll still have to come up with a better management process and also wipe two more labs’ worth.

At first I thought I would skip dinner because of how late it was, but then I remembered I had a Subway coupon that expired after today. I was super hungry too, so I ordered a chicken bacon ranch sub and rode on home. I got one load of laundry done as well, and was still ready for bed earlier than the past few nights. I’m already over 40 hours for the week. Hopefully all this overtime helps me build a case for a raise and a solid position with my esports program.

Oh, glee.

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Tabmanian Devils

I had to spend most of the day fighting the tablet issue I had yesterday. I took a short break to meet with Rachel about esports, and again for lunch at KFC with Allen and Dale, but it wasn’t until after lunch that I got them working again. I won’t find out until tomorrow whether or not I’ll have to touch all of the classroom devices to fix them all.

Jason and Zach helped me hang a TV at the end of the day, and we really got it up in record time because neither of them were very excited to do the work. Jason actually looked to keep busy all day, but I’m really not sure what Zach did for most of it. We did a good job though, and I’m always for good, efficient work.

When I got home, I started trimming and replanting the bathroom aquarium and did a quick water change. We were going to get 50-cent corn dogs for dinner, but then Mom said she was making chow mein. We coordinated Summer’s gym time with me borrowing Allen’s truck to move the mattress from my parents’ house, and I grabbed some corn dogs for the kids on the way. I happened to pull in right behind Keith at the drive-through, and we hollered back and forth for a bit, and then it was off to dinner.

I don’t know how Eaddie ate so much, but Noah gave up pretty quickly on his chow mein after eating like five corn dogs. I think Eaddie only had about three, but she loved the chow mein too much to pass it up. Summer took leftovers for lunch, and then we loaded the truck up to get things moved.

We dropped the boxspring off at my house first, just to raise my mattress up off the floor a little bit. I don’t love it, but I’m so indecisive about a bed that I really don’t know what I want anyway. Then we took the mattress up to Autumn’s room for her. I topped off Allen’s truck and returned it, then headed home to put everything back together again.

Johnny and Jack were playing some Overwatch, so I jumped into a couple matches with them to end the day. The steamrolling was unreal.

Turn around, now you’re my A Team.

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Sticking It Through to the End

It was supposed to be a bit warmer today, so I took the bike to work. It was pretty cold in the morning, and it never got super nice to ride, but the afternoon wasn’t too bad. I met up with Dale, Allen, and Jason at Ruby Tuesday for $5 salads. Ronda and Jennifer sat at a table next to us as well. When we left lunch, I met Dale at the shop to give him his Rap Snacks. He loved it, and even posed for a photo.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly, and before I knew it, it was time for another esports practice. We only had a couple seats left in the lab, and everyone seemed to jump straight into games pretty quickly, so I’ve reached near autonomy. Sam, one of my founding students, came in for his first meeting and gave me a set of Hot Wheels that I didn’t immediately identify as being Rocket League themed. It was a pretty awesome gesture, and I was happy that he finally made it to a practice.

I ended up staying super late again, this time fighting with some PLTW Android tablets. For some reason, several of them just refused to see the internet through the internal wireless. I wasn’t able to figure them all out tonight, so that’s just more work for tomorrow. On the way out, some kind of torpedo-looking vehicle silently zipped past me in the parking lot. It had a bicycle tire in the back, and headlights and tail lights for riding around in the dark. I couldn’t really see through the windows in it, but it looked like some kind of motorized recumbent bike. It was super low to the ground though, and didn’t seem to have any room for pedaling.

When I got home, I spent the evening cleaning up after the pets. I moved Murderface to the old shrimp bowl, and then Big Blue to the old container. Hopefully everyone acclimates well, but dead shrimp have me nervous. I’ll have to keep a close eye on them.

Señor Cow is ready for his cover photo.

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Plant Fitness

I was so tired this morning after such a busy weekend. I lost my last cherry red shrimp last night, and after fishing it out of the bowl, I dug around and found the other one dead as well. The body nearly melted as I tried to remove it, which meant it must have been dead for a bit longer. I couldn’t remember if I had seen them both alive after the trip or not, but I was sad that they both died without any signs of a reason why. Water parameters seemed okay. Maybe it was the fluctuation of the water temperature.

The work order system email handler failed at some point, so I didn’t think I had much going on in the morning and spent it at the shop. Heather got my room booked for the conference in June, and unfortunately I couldn’t get one at the Embassy Suites like I wanted. Staybridge has been great in the past though, so I couldn’t complain too much. I just wanted to try somewhere new. Allen, Zach, Sara, Gary, Ben, and I went to Zaxby’s for lunch, which was exciting and rare. We never did hear from Dale, so I ended up putting his Rap Snacks in his cabinet at the shop.

After lunch, I ran home to fetch my delayed aquarium plants out of the mailbox. They looked to be in pretty good condition, so I went ahead and planted a few of them before heading back to work. I went to the junior high and milled around doing a few things before Gary restarted the Web Help Desk server. Then I found myself with no shortage of tasks to complete. I managed to get most of them done, but ended up staying late fighting with the esports lab. I got the LoL clients updated, but had some trouble getting ADUC loaded on the instructor’s computer. I guess I’ll just have to keep using remote desktop to handle that step.

When I finally got home, I made some barbecue pork nachos for dinner, and then got to work planting the rest of the new plants. I think I’ll move Murderface Betta to the shrimp bowl since all my shrimp died. That will give me a little more room. The dumbo and spotted one look to be getting along fine together, so that will just leave the blue one left to home since he didn’t get along with the other two in the kitchen. I had just enough time for one game of Overwatch with Johnny before bedtime, and then it was an early lights out.

Me, a mentor? Is that like the big half-man, half-bull thing? Can those even gallop?

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Here in my Garage

Today was the last day of spring break, and therefore it was a day of cleaning up. Summer gathered her things so we could pick up the girls, and on the way out I spotted a mail carrier driving toward my neighborhood. I was expecting my plants that were delayed from yesterday, so we came around the block to wait for it. Summer couldn’t find her keys, so we took the time to unpack her bag and look for them. The mail carrier never came though. I eventually had to give up, and we went to get the girls and take them on home. Just as we pulled in to Summer’s parents’ house, I saw that my package had been delivered, so I dropped the girls off and headed straight back home.

To my surprise and some disappointment, I didn’t receive my aquarium plants. It was actually my Momentum Smart Garage Door Opener that was delivered. I started cleaning up, took a shower, and then ran next door to borrow the extension ladder so I could get into the attic. It was a painfully easy installation, even considering I had to run power above the ceiling. I got the camera set up and hooked up the opener cables so I could open the garage door from my phone. By that time, Summer had dinner about ready, so I headed to her house.

She grilled some chicken to go with some mashed potatoes and cheesy squash and zucchinis that turned out really great. The cheese was probably a bit much, but it was so good broiled and browned the way she made it. Eaddie wanted to watch an episode of Parks and Rec, so after dinner we watched one episode before I headed home to complete some laundry before bed.

While the laundry was going, I got dishes done, and then started messing around with my TeamSpeak server some more. I think all that’s left is to test it with multiple outside connections. Everything looks great so far though.

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