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DeepNot

Johnny called and woke me up this morning to chat about finding a decommissioned server that he wanted to use for SCCM. He interrupted a strange dream in which I was about to take a ski-lift from California to Washington D.C. I wondered if I would dream that in real time.

We chatted for a while and then I went outside to find the dog bowls. Then I started cleaning up around the coffee bar so I could place the new silicone drying mat that would be delivered later in the day. I tried to stay fairly busy, but then I got a rejection email from DeepNet that got me kind of sad. After hearing how excited the girl was about the company, I got excited myself, but I didn’t even make it to the second round of interviews. Maybe I was a little too honest about my worst boss story.

I finished up a bunch more leftovers and got the coffee bar put back together just before Eaddie got home, but she and Eli changed for a football game and then immediately left again. I waited around for Summer to get home, and she really wanted spaghetti, so I told her we could go out.

We ended up at Pasta Grill, and she didn’t even get spaghetti. We had to wait about half an hour to be seated, and then service was incredibly slow. The food was good though, and we left with a ton of leftovers. I thought we’d walk the dogs together when we got home, but dinner didn’t sit well with her and I ended up taking them on a quick walk around the block by myself.

We ended the night with the old movie Twister, which had me completely bored out of my mind. I thought it would be better after hearing so much about it years ago, but I just didn’t find myself caring about any of the characters at all. It all seemed really far-fetched and unrelatable. Dull.

Eaddie made it home late after a losing game against Morrilton, and then they were off to bed. I spent a couple more hours researching mopping robots before I got there.

Twister Cafe

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Flight Plan

Even Summer thought I should get out of the house a bit today, so I got up this morning, fed the dogs, had a burger, took a shower, and called Dad to meet up. I went to his house and we flew the FPV drone around the neighborhood, and then we were going to go see Kevin at the airport.

Dad had someone coming out to quote some tree removal at the old house, so we had to go there first. Then Summer wanted something to eat, so I picked up some Burger King for her before we finally made it to the airport.

The hangar was pretty impressive. I’d only ever seen the main area, and never been through the offices before, but Julie rented the whole space for their new business. Kevin was hanging out while some glue dried, but we got to see him put a couple strips of fabric down after we got a quick tour of the place. Julie eventually showed up after work and did a walkthrough herself. Dad and I left shortly after that, and I dropped him off before going home.

The girls would be out late, so I finished up the aged burrito stuff. Then I took the dogs out on a hard walk. I finally put together the reason they pull so hard on some of our walks. Today was trash day, and there were drips, spills, and smells absolutely everywhere for them. Stilgar even found a whole Milk-Bone, which I broke in half for them. We eventually made to to my parents’ house again, and Mom got home from a long day of work while we were there.

On the way back home, I happened to run into James as he was driving home, and he gave me back my Ember mug power adapter. He said they sprung a presenter on him with just a three-minute notice, and I had to chuckle inside. That place will never get better.

Summer was home and nearly passed out on the couch when I got back home. She had a long and hard day at work, so we talked for a little bit before she went to bed. Eaddie went to the gym and then got home late for a shower and bed. I did my best not to stay up too late, but I still found time to order some more “free” junk on Amazon.

That is incorrect.

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Guy in a Chair

I woke up to a dark, empty house with a bit of a headache this morning. The dogs weren’t on the porch, so I never bothered to go outside and look for them, and instead tried to focus on organizing and cleaning up the house a bit more. It was pretty early that I got a text from James about how to get “windows 10 installations to do it manually.” I was worried that he was having trouble imaging over SCCM, but evidently he was just trying to test an all-in-one that was out at Plainview. I directed him to the OEM media creation tool, the Volume Licensing Service Center, and the new Microsoft M365 Admin Center. Maybe he’ll figure it out.

Johnny called me later on and wanted to vent for a while about some things at Lamar. I wish I could have set him up at Two Rivers, because it would have been a great place for him to learn and actually have some control over some things, but that’s just not how it worked out.

Later still, some dude knocked on the door and tried to “sell” me RightFiber, but was kind of shady in how he went about it. I didn’t care for his appearance or his tactic of presuming I would be changing my service provider, so I ran him off.

Summer was late coming home from work, so I ate some leftovers without her so I could get the dogs out on a walk before it got dark. When we got to my parents’ house, Julie and Kevin were there eating dinner. We chatted briefly about their new business, and they invited me to come out to the airport tomorrow to visit some more while he works.

I got back home after dark, and the dogs did pretty well. I need to get some more higher quality food for my treat pouch, and hopefully we can continue improving their behavior. Summer was waiting up for me, but then went to bed. Eaddie got home shortly after that and came to talk to us for a while, and then everyone was off to sleep.

HumbleAir than you.

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This Grill Is on Fire

For some reason, Summer set alarms on the Google Home speakers last night, so I woke up to two extremely loud alarms this morning. I got back to sleep for a little while, but still woke up at a decent time to an empty house. I started cleaning up right away so we could have the family over in the evening for Dad’s birthday.

I got sidetracked for a bit when Dad said the restoration people were coming to paint the old house. I tried watching the cameras, but the Wyze app broke and quit showing any of my cameras at all. I ended up going over there and contacting support, but it wasn’t until I eventually got back home that they started working again.

On the way home, I picked up some tacos and quickly ate before getting back to cleaning. Then I went to the Neighborhood Market for everything we needed for hamburgers. Julie came over first and was a huge help prepping everything. I got the grill going, but promptly caught two whole packages of bacon on fire and basically ruined it all, and nearly burned the house down in the process.

By then, Summer had made it home, and my parents weren’t far behind. Overall, I think Dad’s birthday dinner was a relative success, but I still need more experience grilling on my gravity grill. It’s awesome for smoking, but grilling on it is almost like an entirely new skill. Maybe I’ve just gotten bad at it because of our reliance on propane, since that’s what Summer always had at her house.

I took the dogs for a quick walk around the block after everyone left, and I saw the neighbor on a recumbent bicycle. We chatted for just a brief moment about it, and then I made the loop back home. Eaddie got home from her after-school activities a little after I got home, and everyone went to bed pretty quickly.

It’s all about branding.

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Plan B Corp

Today was the first day after Two Rivers, so I tried not to sleep in too late. Summer was still home when I got up, but Eaddie was long gone. She eventually went to work, and I decided to have lunch with Kevin. I took a shower and then picked him up at AT&T, and we went to Cici’s for $5 buffets.

We chatted a while, and then went back to the store and chatted some more there. They were painfully slow, but even with all of that, he said he still makes a pretty good salary. I almost couldn’t believe that I was still struggling to get my earnings up to that level in IT. Schools really are the pits.

Summer wanted some Subway, so I ordered and picked that up for her and dropped it off at the carwash. Then I took her car to the manual wash to clean it. Somehow, somewhere, the back passenger wheel got some pretty wicked curb rash. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get to lemon-law it as well, if they don’t fix this air conditioning problem. I figure they have two more repair attempts before I file paperwork.

I made it home just in time to settle in for my fourth attempt at an interview with DeepNet, and she actually showed up! She said her husband fell off the roof of their house and broke both of his arms, so she transitioned back to working from home. I thought the interview went great, and she seemed to be the most excited about her own company out of all the interviews I’ve had, which got me pretty excited. It pays better than Moodle, and close enough to the school district that it would be worth it just to save myself the commute. The only wildcard at this point is Grace, which would give me somewhere local to work in person.

Eaddie and Eli came over after I finished the interview, and we went out back to play with the dogs for a bit. Then they left to meet Summer at the gym. Summer eventually got home, but wasn’t hungry enough for dinner, so I walked the dogs to my parents’ house where Mom had bún thang.

It was getting dark by the time we finished eating, so I headed straight home with the dogs. Everyone settled in pretty quickly for work, and I tried not to stay up too late. I think tomorrow we’ll grill burgers for Dad’s birthday, so I’ve got some housecleaning to do.

Call me “Butter,” because I’m on a roll!

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Oodles of Moodle and Noodles

I tried to study for my Moodle skills assessment this morning by poking around in their test instance. Eaddie went to church again, and Summer went to the gym. I finally just had to dive right into my assessment, and it was basically just another instance with one particular setting changed. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to find where the override was set, but I eventually sent my response. Hopefully my “customer service” response will be enough to make up for my lack of experience in their application.

Dad had messaged us early in the day that Mom mentioned spring rolls, but it didn’t seem like anyone got a hold of Mom to confirm. We did end up going over there, but not without jumping through some hoops first. Summer and I went to get Nova from her dorm, but then were sent back home to get our electric skillet so we could set up two tables for everyone to have enough room to reach all of the food.

As Summer and I rounded the corner to get back home, I noticed the house at the end of the road had a table and some stools out by the curb. We ended up going back home to get the Murano, I knocked on their door and confirmed it was okay to take them, and we hauled them home and into the back yard. It was all in surprisingly good shape, so I don’t know why they were getting rid of it instead of selling it.

By then, Eaddie was home and had decided she wanted to go eat too, so the three of us headed back to my parents’ house. I spilled a bunch of raw noodles in the floor, but we eventually got everyone sitting and eating. In the end, we dropped Nova back off at her dorm and made it home for the evening. Not having work for the next several days will be a bit nerve-racking, but I’m sure I’ll survive.

Cleanup time!

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Stay In; Go Out

Summer got up fairly early and did some work from home this morning. I was a little slower getting around, and lounged a bit. Eli brought Eaddie some food and I went out to play with the dogs for a while. Summer went to the gym and I ate a burrito for lunch, and then I ended up taking a really late shower.

Eaddie had a game night with some friends, so Summer and I went to New China for dinner. I was too stuffed to do anything else after we left. I should have gone out with the dogs, but Summer and I both fell a little bit sick after that. We ended up laying on the couch together watching dog training videos until she finally got up to go to bed.

Clean up and clean out.

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C-Ya Suckers

I ran late today, but who would even notice? Apparently Barry came by while I was gone yesterday and pushed for Chromebooks to be deployed, obviously without having done any work himself, so Kim was loading devices onto a cart when I got there. They never actually got that done though, and I wasn’t even sure what they were working on. I just did my best to clean up the last few of my things.

It was Kim’s birthday, so I insisted that we take her out to lunch and then visit the Plainview campus. We went to the Junction Cafe but turned around when she saw her ex’s car there, and went to the Superette instead. That was a good choice, because they had a surprisingly good catfish meal deal for Friday. I was mad that she had never told me before, because it was only $11 for three large pieces of fish, fries, slaw, and hushpuppies. It was even freshly cooked and delicious.

After we ate, we went to the old school and rummaged through a bunch of crap just to see what was there. Then we headed back to the office and I continued to clean up my stuff. I ended up forgetting a couple of things, so I may go back, or James could bring them back to town for me.

Eaddie had friends over when I got home, and it wasn’t long before they went to my parents’ house to swim. I walked the dogs over there, but they were about done by the time we got there. I wasn’t terribly impressed with a couple of the girls that showed up last, but they didn’t really seem to fit Eaddie’s usual crowd anyway.

Summer was home when I got back with the dogs, and I sat on the couch with her until she went to bed. I finished my leftover lunch for dinner and eventually got to bed. I’m a free man, so now I just need to figure out what my time is worth for these wildly different salaries I may be offered.

Or maybe I won’t get a choice.

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Instant Offers

I woke up about an hour before my alarm with some stomach pain, which was perfect for a day of travel. I got up and took a shower, but gave myself some time to settle down a bit before leaving town. Summer was working in town, so I brought her a breakfast burrito and then headed to Conway for my first stop.

I really wanted to go to Kohl’s and a couple Home Depots before my interview in North Little Rock, but somehow Kohl’s absorbed every second of my extra lead time. I ended up getting a dog toy, and as I pulled out of the parking lot I realized I needed to get straight to the interview.

The rest of the drive was pretty quiet. I got to the building and sat outside the conference room for a few minutes before they called me in, and it was Randy with four of his guys. I don’t even know what they were doing before they called me in, because nobody else left. The whole process felt like an interview speedrun. They introduced themselves, then I chatted about my time in schools, which actually answered most of their official interview questions. It was a little awkwardly quiet at first, but we eventually got to the laughs and disparaging remarks about K-12 education.

I was done in less than half an hour, and there just happened to be a Home Depot right up the road, so I stopped there to hunt down some clearance Nest thermostats. They had four – one of which was an opened box. I haggled them down from $75 to $60 to clear them out, and then headed to get Ben for lunch.

I thought we might go to Cotham’s, but he chose Three Fold, which was a noodle and dumpling place just a few blocks away. It was a relatively fancy looking place, and though staff was friendly, I found the food to be pretty lackluster. There was zero heat to the “spicy” level, so I should have read the menu and chosen “poison.” I guess the noodles were also supposed to be dry, but they had enough “broth” that I assumed it was a soup with too little of it. The dumplings were bland, and the jelly tea was watered down in an already-tiny cup. The portions were miniscule, especially for $35. I would not go again.

We chatted for a while and then I took Ben back to work. I started to look for other things to do, but then decided to drive up the road to charge a bit at Franklin’s. Unfortunately, the Tesla and the wall outlet were both out of service for some reason. I couldn’t tell if they were disabled or broken, but I couldn’t do anything. Then my plans got derailed again.

Randy texted and asked if I had some time to chat, so I ended up just going back to their office and sitting with him there. He offered the job at $67,145.64 and suggested I complete an associate degree for an 8% bump at the base, but that won’t be worth anything if I don’t stay long-term. With the added drive, I was really hoping to get closer to the $80k mark, but this is still better than nothing. I explained my scattershot applications and week full of other interviews, and he said he wouldn’t hold it against me for taking another opportunity later, so I’m a tentative “yes” until the next board meeting.

By that time, he said traffic was about to get wild, so I started heading home. I stopped in Conway for some Long John Silver’s, and then made it home with about 10% on my battery. It wasn’t a bad day, though I only accomplished about half of what I set out to do. I was relieved to have at least one offer on the table though, so my next step is to complete my Moodle skills test and see where that goes.

Am I that good, or are they just that desperate?

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Fool Me Three Times

Midway through the week, things are still pretty calm. Teachers have been fussing about not having Chromebooks yet, so Kim sorted through handbook agreement forms. I had to give James a quick pep talk on how to keep track of what devices are going out, and I probably should have just let him struggle a bit. Between that and helping with the paraprofessional test, I just felt like I was doing too much.

He ended up leaving early to help his father at a doctor appointment, and of course I was the last one out the door again. I’ll never earn enough for the time I’ve put in there. It was an easy drive home though, and I had to kick Eaddie and her friend out from their duo band practice so I could finally have my remote interview with DeepNet.

The joke was on me, because the chick cancelled on me again at the last minute. I scheduled one more for Monday, but at this point I’m not hopeful. Best case scenario, I can earn some good money in Little Rock and then find a home at Grace if they’ll pay enough.

Summer and I had some leftovers and then walked the dogs around a different path through the neighborhood. Eaddie was out until after dark, but then it was an early night for all of us.

Fool me four times, shame back on you actually. You are picking on a vulnerable man!