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So You’re PMSing Pretty Bad, Huh?

It was nice enough this morning that I got the R1 out, but I didn’t get much time on it. I started super tired and got a slow start, which landed me at work pretty late, but I stayed even later to make up for it. I felt like it was a pretty productive day of mostly helping others, but I also felt like I was the only one that saw it that way. I’ve been feeling more or less like a superficial cog in the wheel, taking on menial tasks without any real, tangible usefulness.

Lunch at Fat Daddy’s didn’t make it any better. Gary and I got the Tuesday special, which was a “brisket sandwich” that looked like an overcooked philly cheesesteak sandwich without the grilled onions or peppers. It was more like a French dip than anything, and it was pretty awful. I left hungry and dissatisfied, both because of the food and the amount of time it took to get to us. I don’t know how a barbecue place that has to smoke meats hours ahead can take so long to slice and assemble a plate.

The afternoon was successful in that I got rid of the Mac that has been sitting downstairs for the past couple weeks. I was also promised some recommendations for Ben’s position, though I’m not super hopeful about that. I’m cautiously, if not unjustifiably optimistic. Ben told me to take my speakers home, which sort of inadvertently crushed what little bit of happiness I’ve had at work lately.

I stopped by to see Summer on the way home and we chatted a little bit before she went home. Still hungry from a disappointing lunch, I stopped by McDonald’s for a sad bacon double quarter pounder, then Wendy’s for a sad order of fries. I ate, finished up a bottle of apple pie, and watched a couple more episodes of Superman & Lois before crashing for the night.

I suppose you’re all wondering why I called you here today.

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And They Act Like They Forgot About Drapes

I rode the Shadow to work today, and it paid off with a beautiful afternoon. I had to go by Dwight first thing to babysit testing, but of course nothing happened that required anything of me. Karen was right behind me in the office, and had to run to a meeting. When she got back, she said we were having a Classified Personnel Policy Committee meeting next Monday about the salary schedules.

I got back to the shop just in time for lunch, and I met Gary, Zach, Josh, and Brody at Taco Villa. They were busy inside, but we got a perfect table outside for everyone. It actually ended up being a way faster lunch than we usually take, so I stopped by the shop to see Summer before going back to work.

I spent the afternoon helping Josh a bit, and then we went poking around the other dungeon/basement area with Gary, Greg, and Kyle. At the end of the day, I sat in with Ben for a while and chatted. He confirmed the beaded curtain was still in the closet where he originally hid it, so I went back in there and almost immediately found it. I knew it had to be in the box of ceiling tiles, but it just didn’t feel heavy enough and the curtain had fallen down to the bottom of the box. I didn’t notice until I flipped the whole thing upside down and saw a couple beads poking out the bottom.

When I got home, I fixed a webcam for Summer so she could take it to work. Then I went into denial about how hungry I was and dawdled around until I finally broke down and warmed up a can of soup and made some popcorn. It didn’t really satisfy me, but it made me not hungry. In fact, I probably got too full from it all by the time I finished everything.

To wrap up the evening, I finished some laundry while watching the first episode of Superman & Lois. I really just wanted to see how good it was, and it landed about where I expected, if not a little cheesier. It might be a fun watch though, since this was just the pilot.

Just a bunch of gibberish.

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Battle of the Bulk

Summer and I got up this morning and started shuffling things in the garage. After some debate, we decided to get rid of the chest of drawers that has been rotting away in the garage due to some water damage. Then we got rid of some larger pallets from the shed out back, and moved some of the smaller ones from the garage out into the shed. There was a nest of some kind of flying ant-looking bugs out there, and they didn’t seem to be eating up anything, but they just went everywhere when we disturbed them. I just left the shed open all day, and they moved on out.

By the time we got the majority of everything out, we had worked up an appetite for lunch, so we loaded up the girls and went to Smackin’ Wings and Things. I guess I had slightly forgotten how high that place is, and I outright refused to get Autumn the 5-piece chicken strip meal she wanted for $16.49(!), especially since she was the only one of us that had already eaten something in the form of two leftover soft tacos just minutes earlier. Instead, we had them split an order of 20 boneless wings, and Summer and I shared some Curious George fries. We still didn’t get out the door for under $50 after a tip, so I hope at those prices even the servers get paid a living wage.

After we ate, we took the girls home to clean up and mow the lawn while Summer and I loaded their old mattress onto her car for a trip back to my house for bulk item pickup day. I was pleasantly surprised with how well it rode up there, and we made it home without incident. I continued to clean up and started some laundry while she went back home.

Eaddie wanted to go to an Among Us real-life game with her boyfriend, what’s-his-face, so Summer dropped her off and then came to visit me for a while later in the evening. I felt pretty tired, and was surprised to see how early it was by the time I was winding down for bed. I’ll take the sleep when I can get it.

Seriously, for $2.75 more we could have gotten a dinner buffet at Brown’s.

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Crouching Cow, Hidden Cable

Autumn had a carwash fundraiser with the explorers group this morning, so Summer dropped her off while I got up and around. When she got back, she and Eaddie wanted to go to New China, so we went out for lunch before continuing on to shop for some jeans for Eaddie.

I dropped them off at Maurices while I ran home to get some unused parts to return to Harbor Freight and Lowe’s. Then I met them back at the store as they finished up. From there, we went to Lowe’s while Eaddie stayed in the car. I returned my stuff, and then Summer and I went back to look at the tile and stuff.

Autumn was finishing up around that time, so we went to pick her up at Dairy Queen. Then Eaddie went on a bike ride while Summer took Autumn home so she could go out with Harry, then went on to the gym. While everyone else was away, I took the time to clean up a bit more in the garage, and then climbed around in the attic a bunch to run a new sensor wire and controller for the garage door. It took me a while, but so far it seems way more responsive than the Momentum camera system I’ve had up.

Eaddie eventually came back home and I needed a break, so I came in and started watching The Winter Soldier. I didn’t intend to watch the whole movie, but Summer got back right as I started it, and became interested enough to finish it. When Autumn finally came home, Eaddie and I ran to Taco Bell for a super late dinner. Then we watched another episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Eaddie stayed up a little later watching Invincible, which took a bit to catch my attention. I don’t know how serious I’ll be about watching the whole series, but I let it take up a few minutes of my time before going off to bed.

He’s just going to extort you and do that stupid head-tilt thing.

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COMPLETELY LEGITIMATE BUSINESS PRACTICES

We had an educational meeting this morning, and covered GoGuardian, our prospective replacement for Impero. We were never really satisfied with Impero, though we hardly broke the surface of what it could do. GoGuardian will allow us to give the parents some control over web filtering though, which is something people want in a time when we’re handing foreign technology to children and basically not educating adults enough to manage that responsibility on their own.

After the meeting, we had to unload a pallet of water bottles, which I still don’t drink because we have a filter on the faucet. Then I spent the whole day in my office working on a workaround to run a piece of software for a high school science course.

Mike ended up taking over half a day off when he left early for an eye appointment before lunch. The more I’m around that guy, the shadier the vibes I get. The rest of us went to Mulan’s for lunch together. Greg complained, presumably because they serve vegetables there, and picked up some Sonic on the way back to work.

The afternoon went by slower than the morning, and several of us took a break to dig around for the hidden bead curtain some more. I called Melinda to check in, and she wouldn’t spill the beads.

When we left, I stopped by to see Summer at the shop for a while, then came on home to start some laundry and clean up a bit. The girls all came over eventually, and three of us watched another episode of Falcon and the Winter Soldier. We’re way behind, but maybe tomorrow we’ll get a chance to catch up if it’s rainy all morning.

Pay no attention to the man behind the beaded curtain.

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It’s Curtains for You!

I went in to the office for a little while today, then got a call from Brody to help with something at the junior high. We only sort of fixed that for Matt, then piddled around with some print issues in the library until lunch.

We decided to try Whatta Burger after having possibly not been at all since I started working there. They had changed the decorations again, replacing the generic pictures of hamburgers with some squidly kites. The menu boards and POS systems were all new and lacking any character at all. The burger was fine, but the fries were pretty lame. For a $10 lunch deal, it hardly felt like a deal at all.

After lunch, I spent a good amount of time hunting for my bead curtain. Ben hid it somewhere, and I couldn’t tell whether he played some camera trickery on me. There definitely didn’t seem to be any place for it to hide in that storage room where he originally hid it. I was able to recover my pirate flag, but no curtain.

I was supposed to go by Mark’s after work but forgot in the process of getting the girls ready for karate. Fortunately he called to say he had to leave work, so we’d have to schedule another time anyway. I dropped the girls off, then went to the Neighborhood Market for some extras to dress up one of the school pizzas that Brody brought back for us.

Once I got to Summer’s, I started cooking some bacon and putting the dryer back together. The part went in super easily, and I managed to get all the screws back in the right place. I did put the drum in backwards, but it was symmetrical anyway. The pizza turned out pretty great, and was completely unrecognizable with everything I added.

The girls trickled off to showers and bed, and I headed home for the evening hoping not to lose any more Doge. It definitely hit a low where I was losing, but popped right back up within minutes. It just made me wish I was better prepared to begin with, but now that the money is in the account, trades can happen without any fear of missing out.

Rollercoaster…. of Doooooge.

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I’ve Been Framed

I went to high school first thing this morning and helped Mike finish up his printer swaps. Summer was feeling a little down, so I took her to Brown’s for a late lunch. While we were there, a lady next to us spotted my work shirt and asked why the school board fired our superintendent. Then she laughed at my “politically correct” answer. We continued talking for just a little bit, and she said I looked familiar. I don’t recall meeting them before, but they knew Dad and Julie from the plant.

After lunch, I stopped in to chat with Ben for a little bit about the weird day of disabling your boss’s accounts and building access. Then I went on to the junior high to spend some time with Brody. He didn’t really end up needing much from me, but I did have to fix some print issues in the library.

I got the girls from the high school and took them home so Eaddie could go ride her bike. Autumn did her homework and then came out into the garage with me while I poked around. Eventually I came back inside and started reframing posters to put up on the wall.

Just after Summer picked them up to go home, I realized that I couldn’t find the centerpiece poster of A Journey to the Center of the Earth. I could swear I actually framed that picture at some point in the past, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I also discovered they had shipped me the wrong Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland poster. After three years, I’m not sure I’ll get any resolution, especially after they closed their shop of physical posters. They just posted on Twitter that they’re coming back as ETFs, of course, but they appear to be limiting the availability to only four different posters, with a price of 0.05 Ethereum, which is currently around $120 USD. I don’t intend to pay that much for digital artwork, so hopefully if they won’t send me the missing/correct posters, they’ll at least offer a digital copy I can print myself.

Always check the package.

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Gotcha Gotcher

I swung by the high school this morning to make sure Mike was around for testing. Once I confirmed his car was there, I continued on to the office. It was pretty quiet without anyone in the front area with me, so I put on some music and tried to get busy. It wasn’t long before Mike wanted some help swapping some printers, so I went back across town for the rest of the day.

Lunchtime, again, arrived much quicker than I expected. I met Zach, Gary, Greg, and Brody at Slim Chickens and tried one of their sandwiches. It was pretty good, but it was a paltry serving of fries. Again, the thermostat inside the dining room was set to Arctic Tundra.

I went back to the high school afterward and finished up with Mike. I think he wants some more help tomorrow as well, so I may stop in first thing. At the end of the day, I loaded up a bunch of stuff to bring back to my new office. It was super windy outside, and half of my stuff nearly blew away. It took me a while, but I got everything moved.

I stopped by my parents’ house to drop off my old dryer vent for Dad on the way to get the girls from karate. Summer was already at home cooking chicken for salads. After I ate, I disassembled the dryer to find the pulley wheel had completely melted off. I ordered a new one while Summer helped Eaddie with homework, and then I went back home to finish cleaning up my laundry room.

As bedtime approached, news broke that our superintendent had been terminated. That makes two of three. The money guy’s still there, presumably because we’ve got to be paid. I hate to see that happen to anyone, and he always seemed perfectly kind to me, but poor choices had already been made. The die had been cast.

The school bell could not be unrung.

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Where’s Curtain?

I had so much trouble going to sleep last night that it was a real surprise making it to work early today. Ben enjoyed my I Know What You Did Last Summer Recently picture so much that he made his own Where’s Waldo Curtain picture to tape over my door. Melinda was gone and left me with a gift bag of snacks and a single-shot dart gun with a pile of foam darts; mostly pink.

It was a quiet day, because Zach was off and Ben left to cover testing at Crawford. Greg and I were the only two at the shop for a while. Gary was in and out. I had some work orders assigned to me, so I just took care of those for most of the morning.

Lunch time approached surprisingly fast. I convinced Gary, Greg, and Josh to go to McAlister’s with me so I could redeem my free entrée. I should have taken a picture of how pitiful it looked. I got the Pick Two with a cup of soup that was only about two thirds full, and a sandwich that hardly had anything inside of the bread. For ten bucks, I would have been super mad. For free, I just sort of felt like I was on a diet.

After lunch, I continued work in Jamf, trying to enroll that new iMac. I finally asked Gary for some advice and we pretty well decided it was just an OS incompatibility for being so new. Ben and I chatted for a little bit after work, and then I headed home to get Autumn to her Explorers event in Dardanelle.

The internet was in and out for a while, so we had to let Eaddie into the garage from her bike ride. After dropping Autumn off, I came home and continued packing things into my cabinet and cleaning up the garage. Summer came by to get Eaddie, and once the sun went down, I moved inside to try and clean up the laundry room. It gets a lot slower as the things I’m organizing get smaller.

I finished the evening trying to find some arrangement of picture frames that lined up well enough to not notice minor height differences. Next time I’m staggering them purposefully, because inconsistency in mounting hardware height is stupid.

It’s like triangular marketing.

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Hanging Out Fishing

Summer and I got up late and went to Zaxby’s for lunch before she headed home. The lobby was finally open again, so we dined in just in time to get our food before a big lunch rush. When I got back home, I cleaned up and Dad came over to help finish the dryer vent line. We foamed up around the duct inside the outside wall the best we could. Then I had to cut one of the ducts again because we managed to spin the 90º angle pieces around so it made more of a twist coming out of the laundry room, landing it about an inch closer to the outside wall. Once that was all hooked up, we tested the dryer and then taped up the joints to seal it up.

With the dryer project finally complete, we moved a whole bunch of stuff around in the garage and filled up the cabinet again. We swept up and organized a bunch of big, obvious stuff, and then I decided I wanted to run the garage door opener wire through the wall. Doing so would also allow me to hang a cork board right above it. This project ended up taking quite a bit longer than I expected, because the wall was filled with insulation and we couldn’t get my magnetic line close enough to the hole I drilled in the wall. We ultimately had to go to the shop to borrow a proper fish stick, which did the trick.

We weren’t done hanging things then, because I still wanted to re-hang three pictures in the living room where only the one was hung before. After a bunch of measurements to make sure everything was as precise as possible, we discovered the hangers on the back of the picture frames weren’t installed at a consistent distance from the edge of the frames. Fortunately I think one of my other frames is a little closer to what I need, so I’ll swap it out later and use the old frame somewhere else.

By then it was pretty late, so Dad went home and I went up to Summer’s for a quick salad and brat dinner. The girls were home and doing homework, so I pretty much ate and ran so I could clean up a bit more in the house before bed. Past Me had the foresight to pick up two clearance rugs to go in front of the washer and dryer, so the old deteriorated one will likely find a new home either in the garage or in my office at work.

Come on, be a good doge.