Uncategorised

Just Like Being There

I burned most of today fighting with Jazz’s lab again. I just couldn’t get those computers to run the Autodesk deployment. They either had bad cache, or just hadn’t retried the installations, and I ended up having to remote into them one by one to start the installations again. I might as well have just walked into the room and copied the software over from a flash drive.

I met Brody at CiCi’s for lunch, then continued with more of the same in the afternoon. I did get another deployment made for the same lab, but otherwise I didn’t get up to much else. The only thing I felt really good about today was sending something to Gary with a useful suggestion, and then finding out that he actually implemented some changes. Hopefully now we’ll have a bit more clarity when some of our automation scripts don’t work as expected.

After work, I went home to change and then went to visit with Mom. The pool had a bunch more sediment in it again, so I spent quite a while trying to research their new pump model and how it should be set to better filter their water.

When I finally got home, I picked up a little bit but didn’t really get deep into anything. I struggled to wind down very well in spite of how little I slept last night, so hopefully tomorrow isn’t too much of a drag.

I never liked only having one speaker of the house. That’s why I’m always shopping for more.

Uncategorised

What kind of overalls does Mario wear?

I took the car to work today on a whim, and out of nowhere we had a downpour in the afternoon. It wouldn’t have mattered though, since it only rained briefly while I was inside, and everything was basically dry by the time I left.

Jacob spent some time asking questions in my office first thing in the morning, which lasted for much longer than I expected. It went on for so long that my calendar alert went off and reminded me of the CPPC meeting I had completely forgotten about. I ran across the street not really knowing what to expect, but the meeting went pretty well. Judy was mostly running the show again, and had the second draft of the salary schedule ready for us to review. We went through all the columns, or at least by department, and discussed what changes were made and why. I got the impression that almost everyone felt like they were getting a good raise, but it surely won’t be that way. I just don’t know who all is being cut.

The meeting carried on until just before lunch time, and I took Gary and Zach to BFD where we all got the same Lizard Lunch. Evidently I was charged double for the addition of fajita vegetables, which highlights the glaring inconsistency we get there since I never see the owner any more.

The afternoon went by more slowly as I struggled with Autodesk some more. I hardly saw anyone else the rest of the day, except for a brief moment when Thomas came back to ask for help. I was excited to flex my knowledge for him until I realized he just wanted help moving furniture. Kelsea got a new desk delivered from Burris, which must have cost a fortune because we bought it from Burris.

I left a bit late to go home and change. I had to chase Bác Vân down to find a package that was delivered and then scooped up by her and Doug. Then I went to my parents’ house to help vacuum the pool. It was so humid that I was juste absolutely drenched in sweat through the whole process. Mom continued to direct my work while I did my best to ignore her through my earbuds. It was all just sediment that never got stirred up, so I think the new pump just needs to be turned up higher.

After I finished the pool, we went in to clean up some leftovers. Then I got the pump running again and added some shock to the water before heading home. I thought it was going to be a quick night to bed, but Old Navy had me trying on pants and shopping for more deals before I could sleep. The problem with buying all of your jeans at the same time is that they all wear out at the same time.

Denim denim denim!

Uncategorised

Stop Buying Things You Don’t Need

I went straight to Oakland this morning for the first time this year, and got in just a little late. It felt warmer and more humid all day, which had me looking for an escape from my mask more often. I feel like the buildings need to be showing some solidarity with so many people stuck in them all day long without a break.

After running around a while and fixing what I could, I ended up back at the shop until lunch. I didn’t have a whole lot of really pressing stuff to work on, so it was finally a bit more relaxed. Our new guy, Jacob, has started reaching out with questions, but it’s a little odd since I haven’t really worked with him at all yet. He’s always just at the junior high by himself.

I went home for lunch and had some more leftovers, then took some to Summer since she wouldn’t get out for a break. Then it was back to Oakland for a bit longer. As I pulled up, Darla was unloading a big printer from her car, so I helped her bring it into the library. I don’t think she should be allowed to buy those things with any kind of district funds, since she’s one brick wall away from a giant copier, and across the hall from a multifunction color printer. There’s just nobody filtering that kind of stuff from happening, so we’re left stuck trying to decide how much we’ll support it. Imagine that, a lack of accountability.

I ended the day back at the shop, and it was just as quiet as it had been all day. I went home and just stayed in for the night. I was going to go vacuum the pool for my parents, but I thought it was going to rain. It certainly looked that way on the ride home. I guess that’ll be a job for tomorrow then.

But I waaaant it.

Uncategorised

WOOWOO

You just haven’t lived until you’ve been wooped by a big black guy riding a bicycle as you zip past on your Grom. He may have been making fun, but I chose to interpret it as encouraging excitement for how much fun I was having. The weather was much more mellow today, so aside from some time in a mask in the afternoon, it felt pretty good out.

I worked on some stuff at the shop until a group of us went to La Chiquita for lunch. The carnitas were smaller than I remembered, but I was still stuffed. It was nowhere near as much as Gary’s giant prime rib burrito.

After lunch, I went straight to Oakland for a while to close out, or at least investigate as much as I could for closing on the next trip. A large part of that time was spent in the library shuffling through damaged or failing Chromebooks. As the end of the school day approached, I was run off again, and I returned to the shop for the remainder of the day.

When I left work, I stopped by Casey’s for a free drink, then went by the shop to try and see Summer again. She had been in the pit all day, so all I could see at lunch was the top of her head when I stopped by. They were still busy, so I went on home to change.

I took the Grom back out to go see Mom for a bit. She was insistent that I pick up some potato salad that we left when we cooked out for Labor Day. Julie called while I was there, and we chatted for a little bit. Then I eventually made it back home for the evening.

Uno Uno Uno!

Uncategorised

The Grill of My Dreams

I got up this morning and had some more leftovers for breakfast. I thought we might get out to teach Eaddie to ride the Grom after learning that Arkansas raised the engine size limit for 14-15 year old riders, but she didn’t want to get out of bed. Summer and I ended up going to town to do a little deal and grocery shopping for dinner.

I’d been seeing seasonal deals on grills and outdoor stuff, so I really wanted to look around for a new grill. Summer’s propane grill has seen better days, and Mom and Dad have one like my old one that’s missing the right table side of it. We ended up finding a dual-fuel propane/charcoal one with a griddle insert for $150. Then Summer ran into a couple guys she knew from Autozone that marked one down to $100 for us since it was missing the charcoal door handle. I figured I couldn’t beat that, so we took a price tag, picked up our groceries, and checked out. All that was left was to find someone with a truck to haul it home for me.

I dropped Summer off at her house and then went home to clean up. Brody said he could help me with the grill, so I waited around for him to get back with me. I didn’t realize he was out of town, but eventually he came through. When I got back to Walmart, they had closed the garden center door, so I had to find an employee to help me walk the grill through the store and out the front door. Brody got there just after we got outside, so timing was just about perfect. When we got to my house, he took the turn into my street just a bit too fast and tipped the grill over on its front side, but it didn’t look like there was any damage. We got it down and into the garage, and then I was off to Summer’s for dinner.

Summer made chicken and dumplings, and it turned out really great. I ate way too much though, and the heartburn ate away at me the rest of the night. We watched a couple episodes of Modern Family, and then she went to bed and Eaddie and I watched an episode of House to finish up the fifth season. She still can’t believe the show is still so good this many seasons in, and I keep telling her it gets better. It’s one of the few shows I think they did an excellent job of ending without fizzling out.

After that, I headed back home for the evening to rearrange in the garage a bit. I made just enough room to squeeze past the grill until I can find a cover for it to put it under the porch. I guess now I’ll have to find a way to get my old one to my parents’ house, but that shouldn’t be too bad. The new one is huge though. I can’t wait to try it.

Went looking for a hot deal on a grill, and found a grate one. Job well-done.

Uncategorised

Baby Let’s Cruise

I didn’t sleep too late today, and got up to have some leftovers out of the fridge. Autumn was already off to work, so I just hung out until Summer was ready to go to the gym. I went home and finally opened up a bunch of boxes of paper towels and toilet paper that were still in the garage, and then organized a bit inside the house. I’ve been holding on to a lot of cardboard boxes, but I think I’ll actually get rid of some of the oversized ones because they won’t be as useful as I suspect they will be.

The girls all wanted to go to the movies with friends, but of course the two wanted to go to different ones. Autumn’s friends ended up bailing after Summer convinced Noah to go with them, so we sent all the kids to see Free Guy again since Noah hadn’t seen it. At least Eaddie’s boyfriend made it. Since they were all together with Noah, Summer and I split off to watch Jungle Cruise.

The first part of the movie really bored me, I think just because it was very much a kid’s movie with silly physical comedy that I just wasn’t at all into. Eventually the story picked up, but I just couldn’t get into any of the characters. I did like that they made a bunch of corny jokes like the skippers do on the ride at Disney.

After the movie, we all went back to Summer’s for the evening to play some Uno with Noah. Then he and Autumn played a couple infinite rounds of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate before he left. I even squeezed in for a quick round, but it all felt pretty meaningless without any score or time limit.

Once the other two were off to bed, Eaddie and I watched some more House until she got sleepy again. Then it was off to bed.

Reward Juggler

Uncategorised

Deadlines

The crew had a little training meeting this morning, but I just stayed in my office and continued working on my Autodesk deployment. It took me all morning, but I finally got the idea to build it on a non-domain computer so AppLocker wouldn’t keep interfering.

Kyle was the first one to ask me about lunch today, and suggested Ridgewood Brothers before we walked out and learned that the rest of the crew was going out to London. The joke was on them though, because the weather was cool enough, and the line was short enough that we were actually in and out faster than they were. Even Josh joined us at a picnic table there.

After lunch, I had to run across the street to help Judy for a bit. Then a little while later, Zach, Greg, and I went to Oakland to install a touch panel. When we got back to the shop, I finished up my deployment and just hoped that it would work over the weekend as intended.

I ran by Superfast to see Summer for a bit, then went home for a few hours before making it up to her house. She was already watching TV in bed, so I laid down with her for a few minutes before going back out to watch House with Eaddie for a while until she couldn’t stay awake any longer.

Well that’s one way to get rid of a character…

Uncategorised

Manualdesk

My entire day was eaten alive by a surprisingly uncooperative Autodesk Inventor deployment. There’s no reason that software these kids are using should be over 10 gigs. It took forever to download, extract, build a deployment package, and then finally incorporate that into Configuration Manager. I even stayed a couple hours late, but for whatever reason it just wouldn’t install. My only break was a lunch trip to Bocadillo for a beef chimichanga with Zach and Gary.

It would have been one thing to fight and test different things all day, but this took all day to build, and then didn’t actually start failing until the end of the day. I just wanted to shoot myself. Unfortunately I couldn’t even get it to install manually on a single device, so Monday’s deadline for such a massive deployment is no good.

At least apple pie is almost in season again.

Uncategorised

Wild Bus Chase

Today was a little bit weird. I spent all morning chasing my tail trying to fix something that appeared to not be an issue. I tried to go light for the day, so I had half a Soylent for breakfast and then the half grilled chicken salad at Brangus for lunch. My only saving grace was the pile of peanuts I ate, but then I spent all afternoon smelling like an elephant.

I made it back to Oakland for a bit before school let out and closed up what I could. Then they chased me out as they got ready for dismissal. The shop cleared out really fast, and I left to get some gas into the Shadow. I was never certain, but I was pretty sure the main tank died on me as I pulled into Brangus, and I didn’t want to risk running out.

When I got home, I dug out all of the old pairs of jeans I could find since the ones I’ve been wearing had all worn out and started to critically fail. None of the stiff ones I just received fit even a little bit, so they’ll probably all go back.

Eventually I made it up to Summer’s for the evening. They got home just after I got there, and then I sat and ate a bowl of roast by myself because they were all preoccupied. Afterward, Summer and Autumn went to bed and Eaddie and I watched several episodes of House. Rewatching the whole series, it’s uncanny how I let it shape my late 20s.

Saving lives is just collateral damage.

Uncategorised

You Get a Raise! You Get a Raise! Everybody Gets a Raise!

I had my meeting with Judy this morning, along with Zach and Thomas. Pending board approval, we’ll both be promoted to the Network Tech title. Zach was uncharacteristically quiet through the whole event, and I would have thought he’d do a better job of showing some appreciation or excitement, especially with the news that his would be retroactive to the start of July. Oh well.

Lunch was light with just a couple spring rolls from Linh’s. Then I went to Oakland for the afternoon to try and knock out as much as I could. I still didn’t get the bulk out like I wanted, but I made a little progress before taking off at the end of the school day.

I was the last one out at work, and went home to change before going to Walmart to pick up the last couple of things we needed for dinner. Then I ran up to Summer’s to get the Instant Pot going for chicken tacos. Summer wanted me to get Eaddie to karate, so I was rushing through the whole prep only to have her leave work to take Eaddie herself.

Dinner was finished right as they got home, so at least that much was perfect. The tacos were pretty good, but I had to limit myself to four. All I wanted to do was continue eating them, but even four was too much. Hopefully I’ll feel a little lighter tomorrow for it.

Well, actually, that’s all. Just the two. Nobody else gets a raise.