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Post up and Roll Out

We all slept pretty well last night after such a long day. As soon as Dad was free, I met him at my house to replace the wooden support posts by the front door. It was so hot and humid, but we made relatively short work of it, and I think it looked pretty good.

I cooled off a while inside while Summer and the girls went to get supplies together, then I met them at my parents’ house to swim for a bit before dinner.

Julie came over, and Mom spent all morning getting things together for beef spring rolls. Even Autumn did well with an alternative meal of beef and noodles with some vegetables since she didn’t care for the rice paper. Then Mom made strawberry shakes for dessert.

We poked around the house for a little bit after dinner, and I tried out my old Ninja Turtles suspenders that I never actually wore during my childhood because I hated suspenders. Then we all headed back up to Summer’s for the evening.

In hindsight, maybe we should have measured the distance between pillars.

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COVID Springs and Corona Falls

I got up as early as I could will myself out of bed this morning and got ready for a day out of town. The girls were ready and waiting for me, so I picked them up and we stopped at Arby’s for lunch before hitting the road. We ate at the park across the street, then I had to send off some pirate mail, and finally we were off to Magic Springs.

The drive always seems faster than Little Rock just because it’s more fun going through the mountains. Summer informed me an hour into the drive that she didn’t bring her swim suit, so we stopped by Walmart in the Village so she could buy another one. They didn’t have a great selection, but we pieced one together that worked well.

The parking lot seemed absolutely packed when we got to Magic Springs, but I got pretty lucky with a spot close to the gate. We made our way through the season pass processing for Autumn, got all of our souvenir bottles, and started down the hill toward the roller coasters. We got down to the bottom and realized that they had signs up on a lot of the rides that masks were required, and they didn’t hand any out at the front, so we had to walk all the way back up to the car.

By that time, we were all so hot that we just wanted to go to the water park, so we rented a locker and got changed, then made our way around to the lazy river. That thing was packed to capacity, and they were limiting people to one loop at a time since there was a line of people waiting for tubes. I never could really figure out why they offered tube rentals, since they have tubes available at all the slides. They weren’t allowed in the wave pool, so I don’t even know where else they were relevant.

Eaddie got a nose bleed on a trip to the restrooms, so I hung out with her for a while, then Autumn and I went to go get some drinks. They loaded two $5 coupons on each of our passes as a means of compensation since they refused to refund anyone due to the pandemic. I assumed it was $10 that spent like cash, but it was a use or lose it in one transaction. The girl at the counter was so nice that she ended up just giving us four drinks for free so I didn’t have to go back for money or burn my coupons.

We spent a little time in the wave pool, then did another water slide before changing and going back to the roller coasters. It was much cooler by that time in the afternoon, and we had a pretty good time. Pretty much nobody was social distancing though, so I’m pretty certain we all have COVID now. We could hear the concert in the background, but none of us had any interest in staying late for some fellow named Zach Williams.

By the end of the day we had all worked up some pretty good appetites, so I found a restaurant called Colorado Grill. We made our way across town and had some of the best chips and salsa I’ve ever had. The fajitas were amazing, and the girls had a couple huge burritos that looked really great too. Our fajitas came with some barbecue ribs on top that seemed kind of pointless. I would have preferred more fajita stuff, especially after I rolled a saucy rib down my shirt and onto my pants.

On the way out of town, we stopped by the fountain to fill up some water bottles. Shelby spotted me and stopped to say hi, and then we headed straight home and off to bed.

I knew we should have stopped for a funnel cake.

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Docking Request Accepted

We actually had a proper team meeting this morning with some updates from Ben, and then Zach telling us what to do while he’s on vacation for the next two weeks. I think the others were sent off to collect devices at the elementaries, but Ben helped me load a truck full of new docking stations to deliver to the high school. Allen immediately volunteered to help me swap them out, so he and I got the delivery done and a plan made before lunch.

Most everyone met back at the shop, and we went to Linh for lunch. Then Allen and I went back to the high school to start our deployment. It took us a little bit to get into a groove, and I had to make a trip back to the shop for the new video adapters, but we got a decent amount done before quitting time.

When I got home, I played some Overwatch to kill time until Summer got off work. She didn’t get home until pretty late though, and I got buried in several hours of trying to re-image a MacBook. I finally had to fall back on piracy just to get a recovery image, and it took me a few tries to get it to work, but by the end of the night I had a working MacBook from nearly a decade ago.

By then it was too late to get out, only to have to come back again in the morning. I got things ready and tried to get to bed at a decent hour so we could leave for Magic Springs before midday.

Hi, my name is Michael and I haven’t played Animal Crossing in two days.

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Spitting Image

Right after I got into the shower, they started working on the water lines down the road and I lost all of my water pressure. I practically had to jump around just to get wet. It was really humid this morning, but otherwise the weather was really nice. I rode the bike to work again, but I really need to take it in for scheduled maintenance. We still didn’t have any projects to do, so I spent all morning working on the wiki again. I think I finally got it to a place where I could be happy with it, so all that’s left is to get people to start creating articles for procedures and documentation.

Zach and Greg went to pick up Arby’s for lunch, and then Gary helped me dissect the imaging task sequence so I could rebuild it with a few changes for next year’s leased devices. I felt really happy with my level of understanding, and I even got in a little learning about subnetting on the side.

At the end of the day, Gary had to go to Sequoyah to do some more fiber switching, so I joined him again. As we left the shop, I looked up and saw the brightest, cleanest, bluest sky I think I’ve ever seen. You couldn’t see a cloud, a jet trail, or anything else in the sky at all. It was just pure blue.

When we finished, I stopped by Leonard’s to pick up a pry bar, Casey’s for a free water, and the shop to see Summer, all before heading home to play some Overwatch. The evening went by pretty quickly, and I eventually headed up to her house for the night.

Summer and Autumn were watching TV in bed, so Eaddie and I watched an episode of The Punisher before going to bed ourselves.

This season is a laugh track away from being a sitcom.

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Sitting in an Office and Doing Stuff

It was way cooler outside today after all the rain, so I decided to take the bike in to work. They didn’t really need me for group work, so I stayed at the shop and worked on things in my office. It was really quiet all day, and I only took a break to pick up lunch with the guys.

We had Tacos 4 Ever again, and this time I tried the nachos. At first I was worried that they looked small, but they really packed a lot into that foil dish. The chips got soggy too, so there wasn’t a lot of air taking up space where the precious food could go. It was packed densely with lots of meat and flavor.

I spent most of the afternoon tinkering with the wiki again, and I think I’ve been fighting incompatible versions with the VisualEditor extension. I stayed late again just because I felt like I was making a little bit of progress, and then Ben ran me off again.

The ride home was nice and I wished I could have just ridden off somewhere, but I had to get home and out of work clothes. Then I just didn’t feel like getting back out, so I played some Overwatch and sold some turnips on someone else’s island.

Eventually I made it up to Summer’s for the evening, and the girls were back home from their father’s. Summer was already in bed though, so I just laid around with her until my own bedtime.

Make sure your output correlates with the input.

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The Guttening: Part II

Summer hinted that she wanted an iced coffee this morning by telling me directly last night that she wanted me to bring her an iced coffee this morning, so I got out a little early and made the trip to Starbucks. Once at work, we didn’t waste any time getting back to the junior high to strip out three more computer labs. We got all of that done just before lunch, and we didn’t even have to do anything twice.

Allen and I went to Burger King and just brought it back after the relative nightmare of dining in yesterday. They were surprisingly fast, and reliably hot and fresh in these trying times. I did have some trouble with the app, but at least they were on top of things at the restaurant.

Everyone was on their own again for the afternoon, so I stayed at the shop and did my best to juggle a couple different projects myself. I ended up staying a bit late working on the wiki and getting it updated. Ben came by and chatted for a while, which is always good conversation.

After work, Summer and I went up to her house to have some more leftovers for dinner. Then it was right back home for the evening. I cleaned up a little bit, but bedtime crept up pretty quickly. I must be getting older.

Plant your flag, or somebody else will.

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Maybe It Wasn’t Him…

We were sent to the junior high this morning to gut several desktop computer labs. Gary and I took one truck with a bunch of hand trucks to my house so we could air up the tires quickly and easily using my built-in air gauge. Then we met up with everyone else and helped load up the trailer with a bunch of computer equipment.

It wasn’t until we were four labs into the process that Zach realized we weren’t supposed to remove the second room we did, so we ended up just moving the last lab back into the second room to make up for it. Of course that came with its own set of problems, but they were due for a re-image anyway.

A dog came to visit while we worked into lunch, just so we could get the trailer unloaded. Then Allen, Greg, and I went to Firehouse for lunch. I guess I hadn’t fully processed that we had to wear masks until we got our food, so I had to run back out to the car and reuse a couple of masks we got from Pizza Ranch this weekend. We were still short one, but we made it work since I had already ordered my food online anyway.

After lunch, we were all left to our own devices, so I just worked on what I could at the shop. At the end of the day, Gary left to swap the fiber connection at Crawford, so I tagged along in the rain to help. Summer wouldn’t be home for a while anyway, and it was a good way to get some experience and a little bit of education from Gary.

When we finished, I headed up to Summer’s where we picked at leftovers for dinner. The girls were staying with their father, so we came back to my house for the evening. I started some laundry while Summer watched her baking show, and then it was off to a relatively early bedtime.

“Never do once what can be done in triplicate.“
-Us, apparently.

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First Swim (2020 Edition)

Somehow I managed to sleep in until almost noon today. Summer had already left the house and returned with Burger King for lunch. The girls really wanted to go swim, so we got up and rolled out to my house for some quick chores and to pick up swim suits. Then we went to my parents’ house for a swim.

We timed it just about right for lots of shade, and the water was a nice temperature. I think the girls got a little cold in it though, which prompted them to get out sooner than they would otherwise. Mom spent the whole time power washing things, with Dad running around behind her.

Eventually we loaded back up to go home for dinner. We stopped by Hannah and Dylan’s to drop off the baby cow chair I got for their new little one, and ended up chatting for a bit longer than I expected. Then it was back to my house to drop off towels, and up to Summer’s for the evening.

Summer got to work putting together stuff for berry chicken salads, and we ate pretty quickly while the girls showered. Then I fought slow internet to get something done for work. It didn’t take long at all for everyone to run off to their rooms for bed.

Thank God for killing that half million people. I really needed a break.

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Cafeteria-Style

Autumn really wanted to go to Conway to do some shopping today, so I went home to clean up while Summer got her nails done. Then I picked everyone up and we headed out of town. Autumn wanted to look up hairstyles in the back, so Eaddie played DJ up front with me.

We started at Target and milled all around the place. I was a little worried that we’d need masks to get in places, but nobody brought any. It really wasn’t terribly crowded though, and most other people out and about weren’t wearing masks either. After maybe an hour or so, we left with basically just some toiletries.

The next stop was Kohl’s where we hit up the clearance racks. There wasn’t much for me, but the girls got a few things. Then we stopped by Dick’s for just a bit. I wanted to go to Best Buy, but they were straight-up closed with bars behind the door.

By the time we finished checking out, everyone was pretty hungry. I decided to try Pizza Ranch again since I had gotten an email recently that they were open again. They gave us masks to wear any time we were walking around, and then the buffet was served cafeteria-style. The food was surprisingly fresh considering there was only one other party there when we arrived, and I only saw two more come in before we left.

It was too late to go anywhere else since the virus has everything closing around eight, so we headed back home. Autumn really wanted to stay at my house, so we planned to let them clean and pack before heading over. It wasn’t but a few minutes later that she came back around and said she was sleepy and just wanted to go to bed, so we stayed in. Eaddie and I watched a couple episodes of The Punisher until things started to get pretty good, and then it was off to bed.

But why no fried chicken pizza???

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Ketchup with Griff Q Over BBQ

This week went by super fast. When I got to work, Ben, Gary, and Zach were already in the conference room talking about something. That something ended up being the logistics behind bringing the district to true K-12 1-to-1 devices. I laid my brilliant plan to keep our old lease devices on them again, and I think they started to see the light.

I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out answer files for a Windows image. Even Gary said that was difficult, or at least confusing, which didn’t give me any hope at all. I felt like I was just beating my head against the wall forever, but it was kind of cathartic in a way.

Ben bought us all lunch at Linh, and my crunchy noodles were fire. I loved that it was absolutely loaded down with vegetables that I’ve sorely missed the last few days.

After work, I spent some more time chatting with Ben, then went home to sell my turnips on the Stalk Market. I am still more successful in Animal Crossing than real life, and I hate it.

I was going to get Gary and stop by the Ridgewood Brothers BBQ to visit with those guys, but he ended up having other plans. When I got there, Robert was already gone, but Felix and Grant were there. It was great getting to catch up a little with Grant, but it still feels like we barely scratched the surface. I haven’t had that much fun digging up old memories in a long time.

Eventually I made my way up to Summer’s for the evening. Autumn ordered Papa John’s delivery, so I ate what was left over. Then Eaddie and I started the second season of The Punisher before bed.

What am I going to do with a 10 gigabyte hard drive?
Just wait. Twenty years from now, you’re never gonna believe this shit.