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The Day Before I Almost Got Arrested

I started the day off at Oakland, working on a handful of things. The moment that stands out, though, was when I was helping Sheri with some technical issues she was having in a testing room. Erica came by and tapped on the glass and pointed at me, so I came out and was greeted by a uniformed police officer. He informed me that I was parked in a no-parking zone. I corrected him that it was a no-unloading-zone. He said I could finish what I was doing in the testing room before moving my vehicle, so I offered to walk him outside to confirm. He tried getting all tough-guy and said we could do things the hard way if I wanted. He asked to see my ID, but I insisted we should go outside to look first.

When we got outside, John was already there and started telling the officer that maintenance and I park in that area all the time because we are employees that travel and may have to unload equipment or otherwise access areas that are not normally accessed by the public. When we got to my car, I pointed at each word on the sign as I read them aloud slowly. He pointed at the ground behind my vehicle where the old parking spaces had been painted over and re-marked with NO PARKING. I guess he missed the bright yellow school bus that was parked squarely on top of a painted NO PARKING area. He said he was checking all of the schools after complaints about people parking “suspiciously.” Outside of the building I didn’t want to push my luck, so I gave up my ID when he asked again, and then moved to a parking space so he would leave.

Back inside, Mollie said she would make me my own parking space. I insisted it would have to be in the front lawn by the tree, or somewhere else conspicuous and obviously not a parking area. She said that wouldn’t be a problem. After a quick run through Wendy’s for lunch, I ended up at the junior high and told Kevin about my harassment. He knew almost immediately who I was talking to and indicated that he wasn’t a fan of the guy’s attitude either. He even went as far as to tell me I should hang a “TECHNOLOGY PARKING ONLY” sign on top of the no-unloading-zone sign when I park there tomorrow, because he would be on duty again. I think the real problem was that he came into the building without a visitor badge. Office staff should really be trained to take IDs from everyone, even if they’re dressed up like cops. We’ve got to be vigilant with these predators and sexual offenders.

After work, I ran home to tend to the ailing betta. It looked worse off and seemed even less active, but I’ll keep doing what I can. I moved him to a small betta cup with just a little bit of water in it so he wouldn’t have to swim so high to get to the surface for air, but his eyes are clouded over and I’m not sure he’ll eat anything. I’ll feel a lot better if I can get him to eat something.

Summer beat me to my parents’ house for dinner, but they weren’t home anyway. They arrived shortly after I did, and we had dinner and played some more arcade games and foosball. The kids all ate pretty well, and then Summer had to get them home for homework and bedtime. I filled up on gas on the way, and it was pretty much straight to bed since Summer’s neck was out again.

Julie messaged the family late with her own troubles, and I guess all I can really do is hope for the best. Sometimes you’ve just got to make your own fortune.

I’ll give you one guess which one of us has more authority inside this building right now.

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Fishing for Help

I spent all morning back and forth between Oakland and the shop, and only had a few answers to show for it. I’ve got so many work orders to close all at once when these long jobs are finished. Ronda was going to go to lunch with us for $5 salads at Ruby Tuesday, but she ended up meeting Steven instead when our lunch hours didn’t quite mesh. I didn’t make it back to the shop in time to drive, so I met Jason and Allen there.

Most of the afternoon was spent waiting for a fix for PaperCut, and then an hour or so was spent on the phone with the VantageLED folks. The first half hour call I made ended up with me in a queue where I went from the first person in line to being the second person in line, and then I heard someone rattle a phone and hang up on me. The second call got me the resolution I needed, but still no answer for why my emails to tech support never garnered a response. They say there are notes that we were referred to an electrician, but that is both false and an incorrect diagnosis for the problem I’m experiencing.

The fix for PaperCut ended up being an update to the embedded printer software, and then I went to my parents’ house for a bit before deciding to go to the junior high to pick up Jessica’s dying betta. It looked dreadful, and Ronda felt like it was going to die overnight, so I decided to take it home to try and nurse it back to health. I hope it works, selfishly as an I-told-you-so moment. I wish I could impart some empathy and a willingness to properly care for fish, but I guess it’s just too small of a creature for her to care about.

When the girls got out of karate, Summer brought them to my parents’ house and we had most of a Christmas dinner. We didn’t stick around too long though, because the kids had work to do, and I had a fish tank to clean. I guess I’ve done all I can for now. We’ll see how he is tomorrow.

Thank you for holding. All our agents are busy helping more important customers right now.

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Quick Trip to Arcadia

This morning started with an outcry over badge printing. It seemed like just about everyone was affected, but I think Amanda had more trouble than I did. Mine seemed to pick up again after restarting the printers. Then I spent too long fighting with some newer, yet somehow unmanaged iPads. I left a little late for lunch and got a drink and free tots from Sonic, and chili with a free burger for Wendy’s. I ended up eating too much, but paid so little.

The junior high ate up my whole afternoon, and I’ve likely worked myself into another directionless morning tomorrow. Hopefully I get myself on task and close out some more work orders pretty quickly, and I should be able to take the lead.

After work, I took the girls to my parents’ house while Summer went to the gym. We tried waiting a little while for her before we started eating, but once the food was hot, I started the kids on dinner. Somewhere in there, I fired up my old arcade cabinet, and Eaddie and I beat Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Autumn wasn’t having much of it, but at least she ate two hot dogs without too much fuss. She and Summer tried playing some foosball as Eaddie and I finished up.

Too many cookies later, the girls all went home, and I went to my house to spend some time with the cats and clean up a bit before bed.

…back when there were only four elements!

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Fortin’ Around

Summer got up and went to the gym this morning while I got showered and ready to go. We got to my parents’ house right before noon, and we all headed to Fort Smith. We dropped Dad off at the library for the magic club meeting, then the three of us went to a coffee shop and had a white people version of Vietnamese French roast coffee without all the drip gear. Mom and Summer ate cinnamon rolls, and then we went across town so they could get their nails done. I had just dropped them off when they called me back because there weren’t any openings, so we went to Sam’s instead.

When Dad’s meeting was over, we went to pick him up, then went to Red Lobster for dinner. Endless shrimp was a little slow, but we all managed to get our fill. Mom was presented with her live lobster before it was cooked for her, and I was left sort of wishing that more restaurants would do that.

After dinner, we hit up a couple of the oriental food stores before driving home. We considered stopping in Clarksville to cram the girls into the car, but the timing didn’t work out. We got back to town, ran by my house to clean up some things, and eventually found our way to bed.

Bye, Pinchy!

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It’s Wake ‘n Ache, and I Welted!

I kept waking up throughout the night with a massive headache, which I assumed was from a bad neck angle. I couldn’t shake it all morning. Summer got up and made French toast with bacon and sausage, then left me to be bored with the girls while she went for a workout. When she finally got back from that and the girls left with their dad, I started playing a Smarter Every Day queue and nearly dozed off in her lap. I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn’t been for those meddling apneas.

After a while, I got up and we watched one of the last feel-good superhero movies, Superman Returns, and ate some potato skins.

We can always get out of the house tomorrow.

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Time Trials

Ben had us in the conference room first thing this morning to talk about PaperCut and testing rules. He got breakfast, which helped quite a bit. Then we actually got to do some group work for me!

I think Dale, Zach, and I set a new record for the fastest truck loading, delivery, removal, and mounting to replace a SMART board. It helped that we only had to drive to Oakland, but it helped even more that everyone on board was there to work. After the first one, we went to the arena to fix a board in a switch closet that had started to sag away from the wall.

Lunch was a big group of us at Western Sizzlin, and then Gary joined the three of us to hang a second touch panel at Oakland. That was all the group work I had to be a part of, so I spent the rest of the afternoon at Oakland before heading home.

I played Overwatch most of the evening to get the wins I needed for some special loot, and then I had to call SiriusXM when I realized they had charged me for another month of service after I specifically asked them not to! It was mostly painless, but I set myself up for having to call again in under a month. I really hate that company.

I made another quick call to Discover to find out the department I needed was closed. Then I went to get some gas and headed to Summer’s for the evening.

Hog Wild Wednesdays are back!

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L’orange Chiquen

Aside from a brief moment of VLAN switch fun, today was mostly more imaging. I got to spend some more time not getting paid to work on a laptop, and the prissy got sissier.

Ronda called and elated something about orange chicken in the cafeteria, so I met her and Summer for an early lunch. I had to get there a little earlier to fix the serving line computers, and Summer had to leave to meet a student for some lunch hour work, but I eventually made my way back to the library to eat with the others.

After work, I dropped the girls off at karate and waited for them at Oakland while I reimaged yet another computer. It took me the whole two hours to get everything set back up, and we grabbed a couple buckets of chicken on the way back home. Summer was down with a massive headache, so the rest of us made a mess of the kitchen and then disappeared into the night.

Maybe the cleaning fairies will get it.

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I’m Just a Regular Everyday Normal Guy

It was a pretty slow day at work, but I still didn’t make a whole lot of headway on anything. I’ve lost a whole lot of efficiency to this head cold. I ended up skipping lunch and just working at my slow pace all day until after work when I went to Summer’s for dinner. She had just left for the gym, so I helped Autumn start draining her turtle tank, then went outside and fought with the lawn mower for a while. I really am pretty excited to use an electric one instead of a gas powered one with all the nuances of a combustion engine.

After Summer got back and we all ate, I messed with her window blinds for a little while, then gave up and came home for the evening. It’s another early bedtime, and hopefully enough rest to improve my cold recovery time.

If you wanna mess with me I think you probably can, because I am not confident and I’m weak for a man.

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Ain’t No Party Like an Image Party

This morning flew by pretty quickly. I spent most of it with the sweats from moving around so much with a head cold. After the first few days of it using my humidifier, I went without last night to try and dry myself out. Now the cough is here to stay for a while.

I took a slightly late lunch and went to McDonald’s on the cheap. Then I spent most of the afternoon re-imaging half a dozen computers. I almost got out after work, but decided to stay home and rest instead. I’ll be glad to get rid of this sinus nonsense.

Cause an image party don’t stop.

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Harry Potter and the First MacGuffin

Autumn talked us into watching the first Harry Potter this morning while we ate breakfast. I’m a bit burned out on them by now, and I’ve got too many other things I want to get watched.

We finished the movie and I took them home, then spent a little bit of time messing with Summer’s lawn mower before feeling too sick to continue messing with it. I headed home, got the dishes cleaned up, and started some laundry. Then I spent the rest of the evening playing Gunpoint before heading to bed early.

Welcome to the seedy dark web of black market medical equipment for legitimate use.