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Love is a Space Battlefield

Today felt really cold for all the wind. We had a little bit of a meeting this morning, but no projects. I eventually made it to the high school to work on a few things, but made it back to the shop for lunch. Seven of us agreed on Brick Oven, where I ordered the prettiest, but most disappointing salad I’ve had in a while. I think the $10 price tag was what made it most disappointing, because there was absolutely nothing complicated about its ingredients. It was just a bunch of iceberg lettuce, disguised under a ton of ranch and sriracha. All the flavor really just came from the heat, and it didn’t feel nutritious at all. I might as well have just sucked on a bottle of sriracha.

After lunch, I went back to the high school and tinkered with things. I’m pretty sure the sound system in the crimson room had incorrect parts to route the computer sound to the overhead speakers, but I don’t know who originally set it up or what they had in mind. I did the best I could, but at the end of the day it still just won’t work because it doesn’t have the right parts.

I went home for a little while after work before heading across town. I had to stop stop by Amanda’s to take a package inside for her, then made my way to my parents’ house. I got to see the new lighting along 12th street, and man was it an utter shitshow. The lights were way too bright and glaring, and cast way too much light outward right at eye level. They’d be cool with flame bulbs I guess, but at their current brightness they might as well just bulldoze the school and build the casino right there in the middle of all that light.

I didn’t stay for any length of time since Summer had picked up a bucket of chicken strips for dinner. The kids ate, and then Summer and I picked at what they were made to leave us. Noah sat everyone down to watch Star Wars: A New Hope. I think the girls started to fall asleep about halfway through the movie, but after it was over I played some stuff on YouTube until we all shuffled off to bed.

It’s good to be curious about many things!

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Genius Stew

It was pretty cold out today, but at least it had stopped raining. I started off in the fieldhouse, then went on in to tackle whatever I could find. Allen called for Taco Villa, so I picked him up and we managed to squeak in right before the rush hit. We stopped for a free beef jerky stick at Casey’s on the way back to the shop, and then I eventually made my way back to the high school.

I spent a little time stirring the pot in the library, fussing over inconsistencies in hiring practices. At least I also closed out several work orders, so I felt accomplished, and everywhere I went, it seemed people were exceedingly pleased with me. I was upset to get a laptop back from the service center without any repairs done at all. I guess I can’t decline the paid battery replacement without also declining the rest of the repair. I really was expecting to see the rest of it repaired so I could get it back out into circulation.

After work, I ran by Starbucks to get a BOGO drink for Summer. Then I ran home to change before meeting her at Chili’s. The girls went out with their father after karate, so we got to have our early date night. The place was packed, given that there was one section completely closed down. Surprisingly our service was actually really good, and the food seemed to come in surprising portions.

When we got back home, we watched an episode of Glee until the girls got home, and then I played a round of Overwatch until bed.

What would you do if you were going to die, and how did you convince yourself that you weren’t?

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Lumpday

I was pretty scattered today, like the rest of the week. It rained pretty heavily most of the day, and somehow I kept finding myself out in it. At least my waterproof shoes worked perfectly. I wasn’t very hungry by the time lunch snuck up on me, but Allen texted me last-minute to go to KFC. I just had a famous bowl, which still filled me up plenty, and I only paid about half of what he paid for his buffet.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly too, as I continued to pick at more things around the office. I went home and played a little Overwatch by myself in the cold until Summer got home. Then I went by Casey’s for their free rewards item. There was a little cat pacing and meowing around the front door, so I stopped to boop it a little on the way out. Then I got a snack from Taco Bell, gas from Shell, and headed up to Summer’s for the evening. Everyone there was pretty much off to bed, so I got on and played some more Overwatch with Clint, Johnny, and Jack until bed.

C-can you hear that music?

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Catching Up Over Deals

I decided to work today instead of taking even just the morning off. I went to the shop first, where we didn’t really seem to have a meeting planned. The pizza I ordered Sunday night would be ready at 9, so I worked on some stuff there until it was ready, then picked it up on the way to the high school. It wasn’t fully decked out, but I think the only thing I really wished I had added but didn’t were jalapeños. I showed Summer a picture and she decided to try a couple slices, so I dropped some off really quickly along the way.

My morning went by pretty quickly again, though I managed to stay decently busy. Lunchtime approached quickly again after such a late breakfast, and I was to meet up with Amanda. She said to invite anyone else along, so I texted Allen and picked him up before getting her on the way to Zaxby’s for BOGO chicken. As we left, Allen said the others were meeting Dale at Taco John’s, but they hadn’t said a word to me about it. It’s not the first time they’ve had lunch with him without mentioning it to me, so I felt less bad about missing out.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly too, and I jammed out with no teachers down my hallway. I ended the day setting up another computer at the old fieldhouse, then made a lap to burn the last couple minutes before quitting time. I spent a little time cleaning up and started a load of laundry before Summer decided she wasn’t hungry enough for dinner, so I let her handle the girls while I went to my parents’ house for dinner.

My parents had already eaten, so I warmed up some spaghetti and ate, then talked to then about work and finances for a little while. It’s probably past time that I research high interest offers for both savings and checking accounts. I figure I’m missing out on another hundred bucks or so in interest income, and that’s just too easy not to collect. I started to look at some different banks when I got home, but then Aaron got on to play some Overwatch with me until bedtime.

It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen…

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Lunch With Newbies

I got up a little early this morning to pick up a breakfast pizza for work. The two new guys started today, so they were off with some of the others doing new hire stuff all day. My morning was blink-and-you’ll-miss-it. I barely made it back to the shop by lunch time, though that ended up not mattering much because Zach was at London with Josh and didn’t make it back until about half an hour later.

Greg, Ben, and I met them at Brangus where Ben ended up buying all of our food since we were the only ones that showed up for the traditional new-guy lunch. Hearing them in conversation helped me feel a little better, but I’m still bitter about their starting salaries. I guess there’s just no getting around it now, so I’ll just have to move up by moving out when I have the opportunity.

My afternoon went by pretty quickly too, as the high school had their parent-teacher conferences. I got a few things done, and then Melinda sent word that central office was sending us home an hour early. I went home for a little while until Summer got back home with Eaddie. She stir-fried some leftovers, and then we watched a couple episodes of Glee before bed.

To work, or not to work…

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No Phasing Them

We got up this morning and picked at some leftover breakfast from last week. I eventually made it home to clean up after the cat and hang out for a while. I played a bit of Overwatch and took a shower with my nice new bath towels. They’re almost too plush, but I assume that will wash down a bit. One of the hand towels frayed on one side, but I couldn’t find any way to contact the manufacturer. I guess I could contact J. C. Penney and pursue a refund that way, but that sounds horrible. I might as well just keep the stupid thing.

Summer made fajitas for dinner and had Nick’s son Zach over to hang out with the girls. I stopped by Casey’s on the way over to convert some old box tops into virtual credits, and the lady had to do it three times before she figured out what was going wrong. Eventually she seemed satisfied with her process and sent me on my way. Dinner was great, and we played some Phase 10 and Mario Kart until Zach went home and everyone went to bed.

Hey Google, play some music, here, in this house, where we are currently located.

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RoboBowl

Summer and Autumn left for a quiz bowl tournament at the junior high his morning, and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I tossed around for a while before giving up and heading home to clean up. I had to wash my new towels before putting them away, so I split that up into two loads before taking a shower. Just as I was getting ready to leave the house, Doug came over from next door and asked me to come hook up his old DVD/VCR combo. He had the cable coming out of an input port, so it was an easy fix.

Summer had just finished at her nail appointment as I headed to the junior high, and we pulled into the parking lot at the same time. I went in with her to see the quiz bowl awards before we walked back to the gym area where Oakland was hosting a robotics tournament. Everyone had already packed up and left, and nobody ended up going to Fat Daddy’s afterward, so we ended up just going back home for the day.

Autumn and I went to Dollar General to pick up some pasta, but got sidetracked by a bunch of tables with miscellaneous clearance stuff. She accidentally threw hot pink powdered chalk all over my light button-up shirt, but luckily it mostly shook out. We picked up a few things and headed back so Summer could make dinner. Eaddie had finished, or at least found a bunch of her missing homework that was keeping her grades low, so we let her join us in watching a bunch of Glee before bed.

When we open the lab each morning, we tell the robot to kill.
It’s our little joke.
But secretly, we’re just afraid to tell it to love.

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Let’s Talk About That

I didn’t get shipped off with anyone this morning, but I didn’t want to just go off to the high school for more of that. Oakland had a few new tickets, so I spent all morning taking care of those. I even got a little breakfast when the girls handed me a slice of pizza as I walked past the kitchen. A handful of the work orders I dealt with today were due to a print issue within Chrome, but I didn’t realize it until Gary mentioned other schools in the area talking about the same thing.

Zach, Gary, Heather, Ben, and I went to Ruby Tuesday for $5 salads and got one of the slower servers. We didn’t make it back in time, but nobody ever really cares anyway. When we got back, Ben let me run to Leonard’s to pick up a KeySmart because I was tired of wearing my keys and badge around my neck. I think after almost four years, I’m ready to graduate and get that jingly chain off of my chest. Then I went to the high school to finish up the day.

I didn’t get a whole lot done, but I did close out all the work orders I had done throughout the day. I stopped into the library for a little while, and Karen told me a story about how our superintendent had discovered a destroyed student laptop while he was out on a run. Evidently he thought enough to send a picture of the library barcode in to one of the principals, but didn’t mention that he didn’t actually pick it up. He left it there because he was in the middle of his run, and then it was gone by the time anyone drove out to pick it up. Classy.

I had forgotten to return the district card, so I ended up having to run back to the shop to return it. Ben was back in the shop working on a sign computer, so I brought up the fact that we are still bringing new hires in at step nine. I told him that really made me not want to work at the high school, and that I really only owed him a level of competence equal to our worst performing tech if he’s not going to re-evaluate us before moving on with these new hiring rules.

Just as I was leaving, I saw my order at J. C. Penney was ready for pickup, so I ran across town to get that. Kevin was at work at AT&T, so I stopped in to chat for a bit while I was in the area. Then I stopped by the shop, but Summer had already left to get the kids, so I went home for a little while before heading up to their house.

They were watching TV, so I ate some leftover pizza before we started watching Glee. Then Eaddie came out talking about having some horrible grades due to missing homework. Evidently teachers just let you turn in assignments whenever you want these days, and there are no repercussions. That’s not how I roll though, and Summer tasked her with finishing up all of her assignments over the next day.

Unable to continue in the living room, we retired to the bedroom to chat for a while. Then I forced one more episode of Glee before having Summer set up her new Nest Mini, and then we crashed.

You can’t expect them to pay you for what you’re worth, so you have to give them what they paid for.

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Snoway!

Today was super cold, and there was just enough moisture right over us that we got our first little dusting of snow. It wasn’t even really a dusting so much as a sprinkle, but it was snow nonetheless. I spent all morning at the shop fighting with the same desktop from yesterday, and got a couple responses from 2TAC. They finally agreed to take it back under warranty, though they still felt like it was an imaging issue and not necessarily hardware. Zach, Sara, Gary, and I went to Western Sizzlin for lunch in the freezy air, and then I went to the high school in the afternoon where I fought with the laptops again.

I thought we were going to Zaxby’s for Quiz Bowl trivia night, but Summer had a meeting at the high school and then just went to get the kids afterward. I stayed in and got cold enough to turn on my radiator again, but didn’t do much else. Some of the guys got on and played Call of Duty while I lurked. Eventually Clint got on for some Overwatch before bed.

I just don’t get it, I bought this treadmill two years ago and I still haven’t lost any weight at all.

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Ode to Toilet

I felt like I just banged my head against the wall all day long. I hardly left my office, and didn’t even take a lunch, snacking a bit and sipping a late Soylent. I just couldn’t figure out why one of my new desktops wouldn’t image, or why two of my laptops won’t wake up from sleep mode. I ultimately made my way to the shop for the last hour of the day so I could chat with Gary about it, and ended up leaving the computer there to try again tomorrow morning.

When I left work, I went by my parents’ house and finished up some eggplant soup before Dad came over to look at my toilet. The closet flange was just too big for the pipe, but we didn’t want to chip out the foundation to fix the poor build. We went to Lowe’s and decided to try a non-wax seal first, but it ended up being too small to fill the void. It took another trip to get two wax seals to fill in the gap. We ended up replacing the rest of the components as well since we already had everything torn apart anyway. It took too long, and it was pretty unpleasant, but we finally got it all back in place.

As I finally got to wind down, I saw a whole team of guys playing Overwatch, so I stayed up a little late and joined in for a couple rounds before bed.

I don’t have time for toilet humor.