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If a Tree Falls in the Hood

Today was the last day of school, and things were quiet everywhere. Traffic wasn’t bad, and people weren’t pouring into my office constantly, so I had a little time to get settled in and put some Chromebooks and chargers away. I ended up scanning all of the returns into a sheet so I could know exactly where each device was on the shelf.

They brought us Taco Villa for lunch, and then sent everyone home afterward. Kim ate with everyone in the cafeteria, and I would have too if I had realized it soon enough. I already had everything open in the office though, so I just ate and continued working. I stayed a little bit late just to wrap things up, and then headed home.

Just as I was getting close to Dardanelle, my old neighbor David called me. I could swear he said a big branch had fallen between my house and Bác Vân’s, so I headed over to check it out. When I got there, I was greeted not by a branch, but by an uprooted pine tree from the front yard. By some miracle, it managed to fall perfectly between the houses and only appeared to cause a little bit of damage to the very edge of my roof. It missed the other house entirely.

I headed home to change, and then picked Dad up so we could go check it out. He took a bunch of pictures that we took to the insurance office, and it seemed like it would be the better option for us to just take care of the tree ourselves and then just pay a roofer or carpenter to fix the house. As long as there’s no hidden damage under the tree, we didn’t figure it would be that bad. The trunk of the tree would be a lot of work, but the upper branches seemed small and manageable for two people.

I dropped Dad off and went back home until Eaddie showed up after school. Summer was supposed to work really late, but came home because she didn’t feel well. FedEx delivered a replacement thermostat and Eaddie was super hungry, so I took her for a ride across town to swap out the baseplate at the old house and then get some food. Just as we were about to go to Freddy’s, Dad reminded me that they had both ribs and curry, so we got Eaddie a free custard and then headed back across town.

After we ate, I took Eaddie home and then took the Onewheel across town to swap thermostats. It hurt my feet pretty bad since I was out of practice, but at least I didn’t dump the board. I was afraid to test the thermostat until we got the tree off of the unit outside, so I just headed back home. I stopped to get some more pictures of the shipping container in the woods, then at Casey’s for a drink, and circled around Ridgewood and the bike path where I saw the first lightning bugs of the season.

The girls were in bed by the time I got home, so I cleaned up a bit and then tried to get to bed early myself. Kim is out for the summer, so unless we have a project for her to work on, now is my time to really get things done.

Like threading a pine needle…

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No Son, You Failed Yourself

I got in a little bit early today, but it didn’t really help. Wave after wave of kids and teachers came in to talk to me, and only me, to check out or return devices. Jace was there with Kim again, and was being loud until I finally had to yell at him myself to stop making unnecessary noise. It was just impossible to do any work, and nobody else was really helping. I knew she had a long lunch duty, and I could have given her simple instructions on how to check devices in, but we just didn’t really have a plan going into it, and I wasn’t really backed up an unreasonable amount. It was just frustrating that I was roped to my desk all day.

By the end of the day, we only had one kid with anger issues, and were left with just over 70 students that either owed money or still had to return their device. That was a better number than last year, but still more than one grade level of students.

I headed home afterward and got stuck in slow traffic for the last leg of the trip. I fed the fish and thought I’d get back out on the Onewheel, but then it started to look like rain. I had Summer cook up the rest of the Brussels sprouts she bought the other day, and I grilled some brats as the weather sirens went off. Eaddie got super nervous about some cloud rotation, so the girls hid in the bathroom for a bit while I started eating. The sirens went off a couple times, but we never saw anything too bad on our side of town.

After dinner, everyone ended up in bed pretty quickly. The storm blew through super fast, so it didn’t even rain the rest of the night. I got things mostly cleaned up and put away, and then I was off to bed.

I just carried the grading pen a while.

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Be Cool

I saw that the cafeteria was having macaroni and cheese as an entree today, so I stopped by Burger King for some croissants instead. I ended up getting to work a little late after following a bunch of really slow people, but Kenny was the only one fussing about anything right off the bat. He couldn’t access our old camera system, and evidently the server never properly powered back on after our surge last week.

I also called Roy’s early in the morning so we could get someone out to look at the air conditioner. I was surprised at how quickly I got a call back, and Summer was with Eaddie at the dentist, so I had to call Dad. I didn’t specify, so he accidentally went to the old house and I got a call when the tech arrived and nobody was home. Dad and Summer got to the house right about the same time, and luckily the tech found a hidden C wire that he could connect without having to run a whole new wire. Unfortunately it was the Nest thermostat at fault again.

The rest of the day was pretty hectic with teachers constantly coming in for me to sign off on their technology inventory. At least this year I had lists of Chromebooks to send back to them. Several kids were also in and out to borrow or return devices, because nobody seems capable of the responsibility of bringing them to class every day.

After work, I headed to the old house and pulled the thermostat off the wall again to see if it would work with the new C wire at the new house. It reported the same error, so I figured it was the backplate that had actually failed. Summer was doing some work from home, so I went back to the old house to get the newer backplate and swapped the entire system out. That got the system working, so the new house cooled down pretty quickly.

I spent about 45 minutes on chat with Nest support to try and file a warranty claim, but was told repeatedly that a 2-year warranty that started on May 30th had ended on May 4th. Unable to escalate to a live supervisor, I settled for a followup contact. Then I figured the air unit at the old house was completely replaced since I had gotten the new thermostat, so I took a trip back to see if the old thermostat and backplate would work with the new HVAC unit. Unfortunately it really was dead.

I picked up some Taco Villa for dinner on the way back home. Summer and I ate alone since Eaddie was out all night again. It felt much better inside, even at 80 degrees.

I mean, Stealth Grey looks fine.

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Get Your Mind off of the Gutters

I did manage to get out of bed at a reasonable hour this morning so we could go to Stoby’s for a pancake fundraiser. Eaddie left early to go help out, and I finally got up on the roof to clean out the gutters. It could have been worse trying to reach the edge of the roof, but if I just get up there a little more often, I won’t have to shovel out all of the pond sludge. Two sides of the house had to be scooped out, but the rest was dry and only partially full, so I got to use the leaf blower on that.

With the gutters cleaned out, I came in for a cold shower before breakfast. I wasn’t sure if they would have peanut butter, so we stopped at the Neighborhood Market on the way. The kids were mostly just hanging out at the restaurant because of the number of adults that were already there helping. Autumn was present and came over to talk forever. Then all three kids had planned to meet up after they left.

Summer and I went home so I could clean house while she went to the gym. It didn’t take long for the humidity to sap me again, and I kept a headache for most of the day. I did get a bunch of cardboard broken down and into the recycling, but I didn’t get as much other stuff put away as I really wanted.

Later in the afternoon, Eaddie brought Eli and Noah over, and Summer played Mario Party with them in the sunroom. I kept cleaning a bit and then sat down to eat some leftover rice and steak. Summer and I ended the night with some YouTube while the kids left, and then it was off to bed.

It’s like chewing air.

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Apparent Heat

I woke up early and thought I’d stay up, but ended up sleeping hard for a few more hours. Eaddie had to go play in the band for graduation, and Summer went out to mow while I ate and showered. Afterward I went outside to find her, but the humidity and heat just made me feel sick. I wanted to get on the roof to clean out the gutters, but it just didn’t happen. Summer was sapped as well, and wanted to watch the second X-Men movie.

We came inside and I assembled the Chia herb garden that Dad gave me. Then we settled in to watch X2. By the time we finished that, Summer was ready for bed. I dawdled for a while, but after Eaddie made it home, I eventually went to sleep.

Back before post-credits scenes…

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Surprise Ginger

Mitch texted me this morning to see if I was available. He had driven up overnight on a whim to get out of town and wanted to see some friends, and had a free slot for me before he headed back home. He actually came out to the school to chat with me for a bit, which was pretty cool. He didn’t have a whole lot of time, and left just before lunch, when I ate some leftover “barbecue” that tasted more like slow-cooker pulled pork.

After work, I stopped by the old house and then headed home where Summer was making chicken tenderloins with some kind of coconut milk and lime sauce. It was pretty good, but between two things on the stove and a cake in the oven, the house got super hot. It would end up storming later, so the humidity was pretty smothering.

After we ate, we wasted the rest of the evening on the couch while Eaddie went to her room. I had hoped to feel a little more relaxed by the end of the night so I could be productive the rest of the weekend. I guess we’ll see how that goes.

Not a great start.

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The Dust

The network never came back up last night, so I tried to get in to work a little early to troubleshoot it. The bird woke up while I was in the shower and was chirping all through the house, so I took it with me. I decided to stop at Sonic for breakfast for the first time, and it was some pretty good food for a price. Somehow, no matter how early I leave, I seem to always get to work at the same time.

Todd had already been running things down, and we went back to the core closet to find the VxRail and server switch had no power. Todd thought it was the switch, but it turned out to be the power strip and backup batteries. We moved some things around and got it going again, but then I had an adoption, controller, or DHCP issue as all the switches tried to come back up.

It took all morning, but I eventually got connected to the three core switches and just started turning off ports to distribution switches. As soon as I disabled the fieldhouse switch, everything else started coming right back up. There had to be something down there running a rogue DHCP server, but Todd couldn’t find anything.

I was able to feed the bird some egg and a couple flies I swatted on the loading dock, but as quitting time approached, it got super quiet. It was a fast decline after that. It rained super hard on the ride home, but I got the fish fed and then ran to PetSmart for some crickets. By the time I got home, the bird wouldn’t respond to any bird sounds and wouldn’t open its mouth. I ended up taking it to my parents’ house where Dad had a pipette to give it some water.

While I was there, one of the leak sensors went off at the old house, so Dad went to investigate. The bird was come-and-go by the time he got back, but it ended up having some spasms and died on the table after we gave up and ate dinner. I headed home to bury it, and then assembled the Tiki Retreat fire pit that was delivered in the rain.

The girls both got home super late. Eaddie crashed a graduation party with some other friends, and Summer had to close the wash. Hopefully I can decompress from the week quickly tomorrow night and be productive the rest of the weekend.

Death squawk. :(

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A Sparrow: Gus

Traffic was awful in Dardanelle this morning, but I made it to work. Kim and I chatted for a while, and I never really did find a project. Kids came in sporadically to turn in Chromebooks, which was good. I also learned that about 30% of ninth graders have been suspended this semester, and I’m sure several of those were repeat offenders.

At one point, I had to go to the maintenance office to help Toby ask his vendor for a real attachment instead of an Office 365 share, because Kim couldn’t think of that herself. While I was there, I heard a bird in the building somewhere. Evidently some kid had brought it to Keith, and he didn’t have the heart to tell them they couldn’t do anything about it, so they were just going to keep it in a paper box until after school and then throw it back outside. Stephen was convinced it was a barn swallow, but the color didn’t look right to me, and Merlin identified it as a house sparrow.

I intervened.

A little while later, I headed home at quitting time. Dad had been mowing the lawns at the old house. I showed up to feed the fish, and then he helped me find a worm out back to try and feed the bird. It wouldn’t open its mouth, in spite of how chatty it was.

From there, I headed home and warmed up my leftover Mexican to eat. Summer came home and laid on the couch, but Eaddie was out all night with Eli. I managed to shoot a fly with the Bug-A-Salt, and after trying to hand it over to the bird a few times and it spitting it out, I finally just gave it and walked away. It immediately swallowed the fly. I don’t know why it swallowed the fly that time. Perhaps I can keep it from dying after all.

As the sun went down, I turned out the lights and the bird quieted down. I guess I’m committed to taking it to work tomorrow. It looked like the internet went down at the school earlier in the evening, so with any luck it will be back up by the time I get there. Otherwise, I guess I’m in for a treat.

I would have preferred a swallow.

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Print Manager

Kim was out getting roto-rootered today, which left me to fix all of the printer and toner issues in the district. I felt a little bit helpless, because printers are one of the few things she does autonomously, and I never physically touch them. Other than that, I spent all day tinkering with Cognos reports to fix my Savvas rostering. I cut the errors in half, and I’m pretty sure it’s only fussing because I’m uploading classes that don’t belong there.

Denice was out for a bit of the afternoon, but then showed back up a few minutes before quitting time, when I had a scheduled interview with Bitec. I was a little bit concerned that I might have to explain myself to her, but she walked out about five minutes before my call.

The interview was one of the most relaxed I had ever experienced, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m older and less up-tight, or if it really is just a laid back environment for them. They definitely seemed tired for being at the end of the day. Evidently the position is a wholly new position, to take over IT duties full-time from those that just sort of help out day to day. It sounded a lot like what I’m doing now, except the size of the operation is a small fraction of what we do for a school. Possibly more coding, and surprisingly less management of people.

Otherwise the interview didn’t last super long. It seemed to go super well. I headed back to town to feed the fish after work, and got my old thermostat re-installed at the old house. Then I headed home briefly before Onewheeling to my parents’ house for some phở. Dad had come by the new house to babysit while TCW came and installed my fiber internet. They ended up running it all the way to the sun room, so if I ever get my rack going, I’ll be in business.

What is a VLAN, and what does it do?!?

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Querious Planet

Kim was out today, so it was just Denice and me all day in the office. She spent all morning testing one kid, which seemed absolutely asinine for someone making more than $15,000 more than the newly overpaid minimum wage for teachers. It took me a little bit to get the motivation to dive into anything serious, but I eventually got word back on my Savvas roster import project, and I ended up working on that all day with a lot of help from Gary. I felt bad for being so needy, but it just wasn’t documented in any meaningful way for me, and they had already reinvented the wheel once before.

Time got away from me at the end of the day, and I got back to town a little bit late. I fed the fish and brought a bucket of trinkets home from the old house. Summer was home and already into the fresh leftovers from yesterday’s grilling. I went outside and cleaned out the gutters on the front of the house before coming back in to uncover and ultimately throw away a large container of spaghetti meat sauce and half of a pot of rice. When I went outside to put that in the dumpster, I found a fresh, unpeeled orange that had been thrown away for seemingly no reason as well. It would have been less infuriating if I hadn’t had to argue with both of the girls on separate occasions about eating my leftovers from the day we accidentally stumbled into Toad Suck. I’ve been feeling like an alien from another planet of people that give a shit about waste.

Rather than scream or yell, I just warmed up a little bit of leftover lasagna and corn from weeks ago, and ate that outside by myself. It started to rain a little bit, so I ducked under the porch. Dad said they had shrimp soup, so I left to eat with them and just get some space for a while. It’s no longer about feeling frustrated or angry all of the time. Now I’m just unhappy.