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Slow Grind

I got up a little earlier today and started picking at the house again. It was cooler out, so I tackled a pile of stuff in the floor of the garage, organizing things as I went along. I’ll still have to find permanent homes for everything, but at least now most of it’s out of the floor and in boxes. I even threw away some stuff, like a box of tractor-feed paper.

Summer fried chicken for tacos, but I felt to gross and dirty to get out right then. Eventually I gave in to the hunger for fear of not eating and getting stuck with a late lunch/early dinner mess of a schedule. Just as I left the house, Summer rounded the corner with some tacos, so I came back and ate at home before digging back into the garage.

The day creeped along, and I slowed down as things got hotter. It finally got to a point where I no longer wanted to be outside, so I came in to shower and then headed up to Summer’s for dinner. She pan-fried some fish for fish tacos and made an avocado sauce to emulate what I described to her from Bocadillo. Autumn skipped out and went to spend the night with her grandparents, so Summer, Eaddie, and I got to split it one fewer ways. Then we watched Aziz Ansari: Right Now before heading back to my house.

It was finally time to get Summer on the bike, so she and Eaddie rode their bicycles to the park and I caught up to them on the Grom. Then Eaddie and I rode around in circles while Summer practiced starting and stopping in a straight line. The more I watched her, the more I wished I had a bike like that when I was learning. All of the bikes I’ve ever owned were way more top-heavy, and made it more difficult to balance. The Grom is so puny that even when she stalled or accidentally revved the throttle in a stop, she was able to land on both feet. Dale and Neletta spotted us out there and stopped to chat for a minute, which was really nice. I hadn’t seen him since he left, and had been meaning to call.

As darkness approached, we all road back home and put everything away. Eaddie and I watched an episode of Jessica Jones while I did a load of laundry before bed.

That was a weird comedy show.

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The Militant

I slept in super hard today and missed lunch with Autumn. When I did finally wake up, I got showered and took Eaddie with me to Autumn’s graduation ceremony from the Law Enforcement Explorers program. Dad met us there too, and we got to see their small group do a few vaguely military-like things. It seemed a little generic, and probably not as structured as some of them needed, but I was proud of Autumn for doing something intentionally difficult.

When we left, Summer wasn’t feeling great but the rest of us were hungry, so I took all three kids to Zaxby’s for BOGO Big Zax Snak meals. They were a bit mouthy on the way, but once we got seated the conversations cooled down a bit and we all had a good time. Noah had to work in the evening, so we headed straight back to Summer’s after our late lunch. He and I played a bit of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 while Eaddie hid in her room and Autumn showered.

I wanted to get some things done around the house, so I took Noah to work, then headed home for the evening super early. I didn’t have any primary focus, but continued to peck at the laundry and kitchen areas all night. The garage is still so overwhelming to look at, but I’ve got to tackle it tomorrow so I can park there again.

Gotta review those statements.

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It’s Fryday, Fryday!

I would have expected to be put on Chromebook enrollment this morning, but instead everyone was sent off to do their own things. I’m sure a few work orders were probably completed, but the two pallets of Chromebooks aren’t going to enroll themselves, and it won’t be long before we have a bunch of desktops to image for various buildings. I went to the high school after a while, but even then I really wasn’t overworking myself.

I rode back to the shop for lunch and came across Gary walking to Smackin’ Wings and Things, so I decided to join him for a Fryday. I had the Curious George off of their specials menu, which was a heap of fries, macaroni and cheese, bacon, boneless buffalo wings, cheese, sour cream, and probably something else that I’ve missed. Gary had something like chili cheese fries with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos on top. They both looked amazing, and I know that at least mine tasted really awesome as well. We both only made it about halfway through before giving up.

The majority of my day was spent trying to image a Dell 2-in-1 device. I was excited to get to mess with the task sequence with Gary to try and get it working, but unfortunately I won’t know until next week whether the new image will work.

After work, I stopped by Superfast to give Summer my leftovers. Then I went home to change and clean up a bit before heading to my parents’ house for their anniversary. Dad rode the Grom around the block and came back grinning. Then we went and picked up a bucket of chicken because Mom didn’t feel like getting out. Summer and Eaddie met us there to eat, and then Eaddie swam for a bit by herself before we left.

Summer had to crash early in order to get up tomorrow for Autumn’s explorers competition, so I went to pick Noah up from work. Then the three of us stayed up late watching Jessica Jones until I just had to sleep.

Gotta get down on Fryday!

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Grommin Around

It was nice out today, so I decided to take the Grom to work. Gary, Amanda, and I were sent to clean up a few things at the middle school, and then Sequoyah and Oakland since Brice is out with the new baby. Heather met up with us out of the blue just as we were getting started, and we continued on all morning making the smallest bit of progress in the least efficient way possible. I did score a couple tomatoes out of the garden at Sequoyah though, and then it was nice getting to see my Oakland friends for a bit.

I was able to talk Heather and Gary into going to Taco Villa for lunch, where I scarfed down a taco salad with the house dressing. It seemed way too sweet today, so I think I should stick with my usual Thousand Island or cheese dip and hot sauce. I took the Grom since it was still super nice outside. It was less embarrassing than driving down the highway back to town when we picked it up, and though meager, it was super fun to putt around town. I stopped for gas at Casey’s because I wasn’t willing to risk my reserve to get across town to my usual Shell station. There, a kid stopped to chat with me about it for a couple minutes, which kind of reinforced how much fun I was having.

After lunch we were sent out for work orders, so I ran around with Gary fixing some networking issues that popped up after so much equipment was moved around for the sake of cleaning. I told him we should just let it be broken until we receive work orders, since being super proactive about it just creates more work for us and gives everyone else the illusion that moving things around without us is an okay thing to do.

Summer wanted me to take Eaddie to karate after work, so I ran by the high school to take care of a couple things first, then made my way up to their house. Eaddie was insistent that she didn’t want to go spar with the adults from Krav Maga since they “go hard,” so she convinced Summer to let her mow the lawn instead. I fried up some chicken strips for dinner so we could make some really awesome wraps with tons of spinach, avocado, onion, slaw mix, and anything else I could dig out of the fridge. Then we sat around and talked until it was time to head home for bed.

Got me craving that power between my legs!

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Hi Schoo Tecknikkin

I actually had a good, solid day of work today, even as scattered as it was. Gary, Allen, and I went to hang a couple TVs at the high school, so I actually got to call the shots. We actually had to relocate a touch panel to another room, and then install a new TV for the new JROTC room where choir used to be back when I was in high school. They wanted to fill in the pit but didn’t get it done in time, so I wanted to make sure to mount the TV super high in order to prevent having to raise it in the future. That required us to climb the ladder, and they had just finished cleaning the carpet, so we saved that soggy room for after lunch.

Moving the heavier InFocus touch panel downstairs proved to be a bit of a challenge, and we ended up getting a couple deep scratches in the screen in the process, but we managed. It’s not a full-time classroom anyway, which makes it matter a little less in my mind. The trouble arrived when we had to drill into the outside concrete wall of an underground part of the building. It was reinforced in a way that made it nearly impossible to drill with our bits. It’s possible that if we had brand new bits it would have worked, but I’m still leaning toward the magic ones we got from the maintenance department that knows what they’re doing. As far as I’m concerned, Jason didn’t buy them, so they were the correct tool for the job.

Somehow Allen and I talked Gary into going to KFC for lunch. Partly because I offered to buy, and partly because he wanted to try the Cheetos sandwich. He thought it was a cheapie sandwich and not some kind of fancy, high-dollar promo, but based on flavor alone it was worth a re-order. I just thought it looked really small for the money.

After lunch we got the JROTC TV hung by having the other two lift it over their heads, and then I moved the ladder up behind them and lifted it up the rest of the way. Without power, speakers, or even a properly positioned desk, we skipped the test phase and moved back downstairs to finish running cable for the touch panel. The ceiling tiles looked really gross, but surprisingly there was a ton of room in the ceiling. It was wide open without insulation. I did all the climbing around, but the guys were helpful and entertaining in their own ways, which made the hard day’s work more satisfying.

I ran home to change after work, then went to pick Eaddie up to mow my parents’ lawn. She was in the middle of warming up a bowl of ramen noodles though, so I let her eat them while we watched an episode of Jessica Jones. Summer came home after taking a spill in the pit at work, so I left her to clean up while Eaddie and I went to take care of the lawn. Summer came over when she could, and then I swam with Eaddie for a bit before heading home to clean out the laundry room well enough to get to my appliances and start a load of laundry.

They came along eventually to stay the night, but didn’t get here early enough for us to watch more Netflix, so Summer went straight to bed while I waited for my socks to dry with Eaddie.

I don’t care if you break it in the process of learning how to fix it yourself.

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The Inefficiencies of Mortals

I decided to go to the shop this morning to help out a bit since I had mostly finished with the 1:1 stuff at the high school. It was the mistake of the summer, because Jason and I were at each others’ throats all day. Everything he did or had anyone do was so stupid. From breaking down and having us do what I told him to do two months ago, to fussing about not wanting people to have his phone number in spite of the fact that the district gives him a stipend for his phone service, we just couldn’t see eye to eye.

We started out by loading up Chromebooks to deliver to Oakland, then the 5th grade campus. He couldn’t really tell us where everything belonged though, so each of us ended up wasting most of the day. It really would have only taken a couple people all day to do the job, but instead he tied us all up and prevented anyone else from completing any other work.

Amanda and I went to Taco Bell for a quick lunch, and then we finished up with a less-tense afternoon. It was still stupid and time-wasting, but at least we weren’t also hungry on top of it all.

After work, I went to the DMV and registered the Grom and Murano. The line was longer, but the lady helping me had better soft skills. I got done just in time to get to Eaddie and drop her off at karate. Then I went to wash the car on the way home and encountered one of the strangest, dumbest things I’ve ever seen. Some shirtless guy was trying to pressure wash this girl’s hair that looked like she had just died it bright red. I don’t know if they just didn’t want to get the dye everywhere or what, but it looked ridiculous.

I settled in at home just a little bit before heading up to Summer’s for dinner. We picked at leftovers, then watched an episode of Daredevil before changing our minds and starting Jessica Jones. I didn’t immediately love it, but the story and characters just kept getting more complex the more we watched, and by the end I was hooked.

Lancelot Drive, 12th Street, Glenwood Avenue…

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Guv’mint Work

I had an awful time trying to get to sleep last night for some reason. I don’t remember thinking or feeling anything at all. I just remember not being asleep for longer than I wanted to be. To make matters worse, for some reason my shower would never get hot. I ran straight-hot water and it just felt cool. I turned the water heater up a bit and the water felt quite hot later, so I don’t know what was going on.

My office light was on and the door was ajar when I got there, but to my surprise no one was there. I spent some time investigating to find out who had been there, but the hallway lights turning on and off all night made that a nearly impossible task. I assume Jason had gone in there last week and left it that way, but I may never know.

Gary went to help Amanda, Brice, and Heather finish the cable runs at vo-tech, so once I got my laptops started I went to help as well. The first couple runs ended up being a bit easier than we originally expected, but it still took us all morning. Brice and I went to Zaxby’s for lunch and then went to run one more line in the afternoon. It was quite a bit worse, and the end point actually came out at the top of the raised ceiling, back into a hole in the wall, and then out of a surface mount box at an accessible height. It was super stupid, but we managed to use the old line as a pull without losing it in the wall.

I finished up the afternoon and completed the 1:1 laptop imaging task. I’ve got a few more things I’d like to do, but I don’t know how much time I’ll get to do that after seeing how many Chromebooks are left for the others to enroll. At the end of the day I gathered up a bunch of stuff to take to the DMV and headed across town.

It was a surprisingly small crowd with only one person in line ahead of me, but I was informed that after all that trouble to find my boat’s hull identification plate, I would have to visit someone to get a longer replacement tag before I could re-register the boat. I had also forgotten to add the Murano and Grom to my..account?.. I’ve already assessed for the year, so I have to call before 4pm to add the two new vehicles, and I guess I can’t do it online. For some reason I had hoped the government would suck a little less by 2019, but here I am, unable to complete any of my three required tasks.

Defeated and annoyed, I went home and started cleaning up a bit. I’m trying to do some more frequent water changes to drop nitrate levels a bit more. Summer came by with some Quiznos for dinner before heading to the gym. Then I spent the rest of the evening wandering around the house picking at little things. I need to spend a whole day cleaning up the living space, but that just feels impossible.

It must be so nice to leave at 4 every day forever.

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Simulating Africa

I slept in pretty late today. When I woke up, Summer and Autumn were finishing up Harry Potter, and Eaddie was still asleep. I warmed up some leftover tacos for lunch, and then Eaddie and I watched some Daredevil while Summer took Autumn to her Law Enforcement Explorers program.

Eventually she took Eaddie to the gym and I went home to clean up before movie time with the family. I cleaned up the aquariums a bit, and added some more water to acclimate the new cherry red shrimp. After my shower, I went to pick the girls up, and we met my family at UEC for The Lion King to celebrate Julie’s birthday.

The seats felt better but narrower, and the place was packed with little children. Even more annoying were the young adults that seemed to be eating out of the loudest packaging possible, and the asshat that left their phone LED notification flash on during the movie. The kid in the ridiculous cowboy hat next to me smelled like he hadn’t had a shower in a while, and provided a running commentary. I spent most of the movie admiring the animation and daydreaming about how everything we see is a lie. There’s no going back now. It’s inevitable.

Autumn called during the movie to say that she needed a proper shoe shine brush and blanket for the week, so we went to the Neighborhood Market to try and find the brush. Failing that, we grabbed a blanket from their house and dropped it off at the dorm. Finally, I dropped the girls off at their house and headed home to test my aquariums’ chemistry before dropping the new shrimp in and going to bed.

So much DMV business to do, so little time…

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70s Pizza Party

We got up and around this morning to some leftover chicken tacos. They were so much better with the crunchy greens this time, and frying the cheese in the pan onto the tortillas made them that much better, and even a little more durable. Eaddie and I watched a little Daredevil while Summer went out with Autumn to get some things. Then I went home to clean up for our trip to Cabot.

I got frustrated when my brand new air conditioner only dropped about six degrees in three hours, but I didn’t have the temperature probes I needed to check how much it’s actually cooling. I left my still-warm house to pick up Dad, and then to get the girls for our trip to Cabot for Uncle Rick’s birthday party.

We met up at U.S. Pizza Company and greeted a few of the mostly strangers-level family. It was pretty uneventful for us, but Dad had a good time and it was nice to get together to celebrate. The pizza wasn’t bad, but the toppings seemed cheap. I got pretty frustrated as usual with Autumn’s refusal to eat anything other than a plain pepperoni pizza. It only got worse when she ate our pizza after she finished hers. I swear next time I’m just not asking what they want at all.

On the way back we stopped at PetSmart and then PetCo looking for some shrimp. The first stop was a complete bust. PetCo had some, but they were mostly pretty tiny. I went ahead and picked up three anyway just to grow them, but I’m thinking I may have better luck just getting some from a random stranger on the internet.

Once we got back to town, I dropped the girls off at their house, then the shrimp at my house, and took my parents’ receiver with us back to their house. Dad and I tried hooking it back up, but it still didn’t pass any video along to the TV. I guess it really is only good as an audio amplifier now.

Back at Summer’s house, Eaddie and I finished the evening with a couple more episodes of Daredevil while everyone else was in bed. We made it most of the way through the first season pretty quickly, and I’m excited to finally watch more for the first time.

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The Time I Almost Stole Dinner

We didn’t get to finish up the 1:1 laptops today. Instead, Jason took a crew to get a bunch of bottled water for the shop while the rest of us enrolled Chromebooks in the graveyard. When they got back, I was upset to see a literal pallet of water bottles. I don’t even drink the bottles, and it aggravates me that everyone else does. We don’t live in a third world country. We don’t live in Mexico. We don’t even live in Flint, Michigan. Paying thousands of dollars every year for water that comes with its own trash just seems insane to me, and nobody is even a little bit sympathetic, or even appears understanding to the idea that this is just terrible.

Once we got the pallet unloaded, we took two trucks worth of stuff to vo-tech to run a bunch of network cable. I don’t have a ton of experience running lines out there, but I know enough to know that it’s terrible. We encountered a wall without visible penetration, so we didn’t get our WAP lines run. We did at least manage to find existing cabling where most of the phones were going, which was a great relief.

We all went to Stoby’s for lunch and crammed us three fatties, Allen, and Gary into a booth. When we got back, we reminded everyone that Gary and I didn’t leave early in the middle of the week like everyone else, and that we would be leaving early today. We wrapped up a couple lines and then left at 1:30. I dropped Gary off back at the shop and then went home and took a nap because I felt completely exhausted.

When I woke up, I got my things together and headed to Walmart for groceries. Ronda, Steven, and Maleea were coming over for dinner, and I wanted to make Instant Pot chicken tacos. I was a bit impatient while checking out with Walmart Pay, and forgot that I had received a new Discover Card number after discovering an unauthorized charge. My payment didn’t go through, so I had to run back to the register and apologize for looking like a thief and/or a fool. They had printed a receipt with all my groceries just as I showed up, and with a quick scan of a single barcode, it loaded up my entire purchase again so I could process my payment the old fashioned way.

The girls did a pretty good job of cleaning the place up, and dinner went together pretty well. I completely forgot the slaw mix and punch in the refrigerator, which was super disappointing. Nobody really seemed to notice though, because we had so much other stuff to put on the tacos. Now I’ve got to figure out what else to do with the stuff though, since no one else ever seems interested in eating it.

The girls hung out and played and did whatever kids do in 2019 while we sat at the table and chatted. After the others left, Summer crashed and Eaddie and I watched some Daredevil, though she evidently watched quite a bit without me. I guess that’s how it us during boring old summer vacation.

There are no heroes, no villains. Just people with different agendas.