Smokey Smoke Chickie Chick

One of the school board members set up in front of the building to cook lunch for the staff today, so after bouncing from Oakland to the junior high, I ended up back at Oakland for lunch. Then I wasted most of the afternoon fighting with a couple of iPads and Jamf, which wasn’t fun or educational.

After work, I went home for a while before heading to Summer’s for the evening. It’s starting to get way colder at night, and I find myself wishing again that it didn’t happen so quickly.

Mount St. Helens is about to blow up, and it’s gonna be a fine, swell day.

Always Be Closing

I finally got Oakland’s sign completely functional this morning. It probably took me better than a full day’s worth of time to get it going, but it felt good to figure it out by myself, and I learned stuff in the process.

Dale and I met for a Taco Tuesday lunch, and then I ran home to get my new Sticker Mule custom stickers. They didn’t quite live up to the quality that I was expecting because the edges were clearly cut on a vinyl printer/cutter, but I assumed they weren’t truly die-cut from the beginning anyway. They were cheap, and it was neat to see the process. It really makes me want to tool up and buy an industrial plotter myself, but I know it would end up just being a bunch of dickbutts in the end, and I’d be out the money without any real desire to be an Etsy entrepreneur.

I rode back to the junior high and spent the afternoon closing miscellaneous work orders, finally trying to make some headway on the 30 I’ve been floating all year. I’ve got more bigger projects that I need to complete as well without work orders, but I’ll just have to figure out how to juggle it all.

After work, I went home for a while until it was time to pick the girls up from karate, and then we went to their house for the evening. Summer grilled some awesome pork chops along with a fresh cucumber avocado salad that we ate with chips.

It’s hard trying to become a sticker person.

Under Circumstances

I felt like I was on a pretty good roll today, but then I got hung up working on Oakland’s sign for what felt like hours after my already late grab-and-go lunch.

After work, I met up with the Stottmans at Miguel’s viewing. Veronica seemed to be doing really well, but she’s always been a really strong person. It was nice to see those familiar faces again from such a long time ago at NEW. If only it had been under better circumstances. It really made me regret not making it when everyone got together for Maria’s sweet sixteen. I guess there’s not always next time.

Contemplating plans for tomorrow, I grabbed a quick dinner at Arby’s before cleaning up at home and settling in for the night.

Sunday None Day

We didn’t do anything today.

Summer’s neck hurt, so I finally set up the neck traction device for her. I’m not sure it did anything, but I think at best it’s more of a long-term therapy device anyway.

Melissa called and told me that Veronica’s husband passed away, so I’ll have to go visit tomorrow.

I did even less after the girls went home, and spent the rest of the evening fighting sleep.

Stop wasting time.

Don’t go in the pimped out fridge, Jack…

Summer and Autumn went to the high school for a quiz bowl tournament today. I slept in until I heard Eaddie moving around, then got up and made some rice with eggs and Rotel for breakfast. We pretty much sat around and watched Arrow all day until the others got home. Then Summer went to the gym for a workout and returned with a bucket of chicken for dinner. We watched Race to Witch Mountain, then went to bed.

It was the Buddha. He was unavailable.

Fall Rain

I had a super relaxing morning with Dale and Zach today. We had to move some equipment around at the high school, and then I walked with Zach to try and track down a kid that threw a bang snap down a stairwell. We never saw him, but the cops tracked him down eventually. Then I got to climb up onto the roof with Zach to run down some cable he thought was damaged. I’ve always wanted to climb up onto the roof of one of those buildings, and it was a good day to do it. It wasn’t too hot because of all the rain we were about to get.

We went to Western Sizzlin for lunch, and the help I needed disappeared until it started to rain, so I just went to the junior high to finish up some work orders until quitting time. When I left, I went to my parents’ house to see if I could snag a CPAP air filter, and when the girls finished what they were doing, we went back for dinner.

Everyone was pretty tired, so we went straight to bed once we got back to my house. Now the trick is to not waste tomorrow.

I woke up in a new Bugatti.

Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind!

I thought I might get lucky with Oakland’s sign this morning, but it looks like I’ll have to spend some more time outside with it. The junk from Vantage LED can’t be set manually elsewhere and have it remember the settings, so I’m guessing I’ll have to go out with an alternatively-powered monitor to see what I’m doing before plugging it into the LED sign. The more I deal with that hardware, the more I absolutely hate it.

If that wasn’t enough for the morning, I frustrated myself more by spending 15 minutes trying to get the Sonic app to let me spend some of the extra $40 it had previously charged me, but it refused to let me complete my order. I don’t know what the deal was, but I just kept getting hungrier. I ended up running by Wendy’s for some chili cheese fries and free single with cheese. These really are the best cheap lunches I could ask for.

I kept busy all afternoon at the junior high, then came home and had to clean up after the cats. They’re really cramping my style. Between constantly ruining furniture and carpet, they basically just exist solely to turn my money into shit. On the bright side, Jessica’s bougie fish could suddenly eat when I brought home some of his flakes from work. Over a week and he doesn’t eat a bite, and I bring home pink flakes and he won’t stop. I’ve just had it with animals.

Summer had me pick up some Arby’s on the way to her place, and after finishing Aladin we watched several episodes of The Office until bedtime. Michael’s left the show, and now I get to relive all the strangeness that happens after. I don’t even really remember what happens, or if I ever even finished the series. Better late than never.

Don’t you dare turn that down!

One Man’s Job is Another Man’s Work

I finally received the replacement sign computer for Oakland today from Vantage LED. Right out of the box, the standard power cable was completely dead. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a dead one before, yet somehow I wasn’t surprised to find one from them. The computer wasn’t set up for our specifications, and they told me it wouldn’t keep a configuration unless it could verify functionality first, which means I’ll have to plug it into the sign and run another monitor out there to use as a display to change the settings before plugging it into the sign. It’s the most janky setup I can imagine, and the invoice listed the device at $2,000. The video cable was invoiced at $75. Total bullshit.

I eventually made my way through McDonald’s and Wendy’s for a drive-through mix-n-match lunch, then got a few things done at the junior high. Then Jason called and wanted me to help Allen run a USB extender across a room. Evidently he was too busy, and me with over twice as many work orders as the next highest tech made the most sense. I didn’t mind the work, but the logic there just makes me shake my head.

After work, I came home and made some popcorn with the new popping oil we got at Sam’s. It was pretty good, but it’s still missing that buttery goodness I’m looking for. Once the girls got home, I ran through Chick-fil-A and Wendy’s for another mix-n-match cheapo dinner, filled up on some gas, and went to visit with them before bed. Team Lift first thing in the morning.

The internet made me this way.

Let’s Table this for Now

I started out behind this morning after dealing with a faulty cat box. I’ve really got to do a full disassembly when the weather’s nice. What a way to spend an afternoon. Before I could even get to work, Heather was already harassing me about my ugly folding table that I scavenged from the stage upstairs. I can’t stand that so much good stuff is being thrown out in the name of renovation. Regardless, I knew I was going to have to find a way to get it home.

I stayed pretty steady all day. I guess I filled myself up on coffee, because I never really got overly hungry for lunch. Summer surprised me with an apple fritter when I got to the junior high, so that and the coffee carried me straight through a working lunch until quitting time. I managed to fit the table into my car and headed to Hubbard to pick up my bike. It was a quick ride home before Summer picked me up to retrieve my car, and then I went to Wendy’s for a cheap dinner. I spent all evening in a level of semi-stress just reading about video cards. Then I ate the other half of a partially fermented kiwi.

Oh the times, they have a-change-d.

Fever for the Favor

I didn’t have a whole lot going on today at work. A few of the others have caught up pretty close to me in work orders, and I guess it’s because both of my campuses become pretty self-reliant after a while. I ran to Wendy’s to grab a cheap lunch that I ate at home for no particular reason. I think I’m just tired of the grunt work, and I’m looking for something to learn and have fun with again.

After work, I ran straight home to get the bike, and Summer came to get my tire to take to Hubbard ATV. Then Eaddie and I went to pick up Autumn from her color guard practice. We stopped by the Neighborhood Market for a couple loaves of French bread, then went to their house to start up some garlic bread for dinner. When Summer got there, she and I ate some leftover spaghetti while the girls ate a frozen pizza. Then I headed back home for bed.

I’ve got the green glow under my car!