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The Grapes of Wrath ft. Johnny Cougar

It was a bit rainy again today, and I ran a little behind in the morning, so I just got to work. It wasn’t long before I had people calling and things breaking. Several of my switches and my Unifi controller went down again for no apparent reason. Then the Google Cloud Directory Sync hadn’t run in a while, again for no apparently reason. I spent all day trying to figure that stuff out. I finally got GCDS going by clearing some files out of storage.

After lunch, I had a call with Robert from DIS about my network outage. He peeked at the server logs I found, but didn’t have much to say other than that I was on the right track. He got to close his ticket, and I get to figure out what the hell happened on my own.

I left just a couple minutes early and made good time back home. I fed the fish and grabbed some stuff for my contacts, and then headed home to pick up Summer. We stopped by my parents’ house to try and see Mom, but she was working late and we had to get moving to Little Rock.

We stopped in Conway for a quick dinner at Golden Corral, and then made it to the Robinson Center in plenty of time to find our seats. The concert started with several short clips from old black and white movies, which had pretty much everyone looking around with “wtf” looks on their faces. In all, I’ve seen better concerts for free, but the performance wasn’t bad. They were just old. Older than the crowd, which was much older than us. It was full of woo-women who couldn’t hold their liquor and wouldn’t shut the hell up. It was a mild performance, mostly of songs we didn’t know, but it was a fair time. I wouldn’t pay that much again though.

It rained pretty hard on the drive home, but we made it through the weather without having to stop and charge. Eaddie was well asleep by the time we got there, so it was off to bed quickly.

What if we gave little pink houses to all of these homeless?

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OneDrive Me Nuts

I took the Murano to work this morning because of the rain, and it looks like that will be a trend all week. I had a bagel on the way, which really helped pass the drive. As soon as I got there, we had to wheel my portable touch panel down to the nurse so she could use it for teaching a “Stop the Bleed” class all week. Though I think it wise to teach the subject matter, I find it upsetting that it’s only normalized with the rest of the active shooter drills we do in schools now.

Otherwise it was a pretty quiet day. It dragged on a bit for me, but I finally fixed my problem with OneDrive by installing it before I try to block it. It’s perfectly Microsoft in its logic.

Brody called and offered a bunch of crappy soundbars that his predecessor purchased without need or purpose. Luckily Summer was home early, so he just dropped them off at the house for her. After work, I went straight home for dinner because Summer fried some rice with some ground chicken. It was questionable, but tasty enough. Eaddie and Eli came to eat, and then Eli had to run for a concert, which Eaddie attended later.

I went for a short ride on the Onewheel to my parents’ house and then around the neighborhood. Then when I got home, I tested out a soundbar in the bedroom. It was even worse than I expected, but still better than some of the worst TV speakers we have in the house. After that, I was pretty sleepy but still struggled to wind down for the night.

Next up, we’ll take it back to a little pink house with Jack and Diane.

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Staring at the Sun Again

Eaddie and I got up this morning and went out on the Shadow. We were hungry, but wanted to cruise around town quickly before going to my parents’ house for the eclipse, so we stopped at Zaxby’s to pick up some chicken. Then we ran by my old house so I could put in some contacts and feed the fish, and we continued past the nearly empty Hickey Park and high school parking lots. We wanted to go by the soccer complex, but we ran a little behind. The Confederate Mother’s Memorial/Pine Knob Mountain Bike Park was full of people, much like the back of both Walmart parking lots we passed, but Sequoyah was empty as well.

Dad was outside with several telescopes and cameras, and Mom came in and out as the moon slowly crossed the sun. Summer left work early and met us there with plenty of time to eat and peek through the telescopes. Totality was longer than the first time we saw it, but it didn’t seem quite as momentous for me. Maybe it was because there was so much else going on with so many telescopes, or maybe because I kept having to tell Summer to take her glasses off. The solar prominences didn’t seem as big, there weren’t any big jet trails revealed, and the mountain blocked our view of the 360º sunset. The crickets and bats came out though, and everyone really enjoyed the event. I preferred being in a quiet place away from all the public screaming or music playing.

We didn’t watch much of the last half of the eclipse. The girls headed home and I ate some bánh bèo that Mom made before catching up with them. We went back out to check out a pretty disappointing “eclipse market” that was just a small handful of vendors that didn’t interest any of us. Then we finally went past the soccer complex and Old Post Park before going back to the other side of town for some free Freddy’s. Much to the girls’ dismay, I took us to Price Break, and Eaddie waited in the car while Summer and I sorted through bins of Amazon returns. I had to poke fun when Summer bought way more stuff than I did by the end of it all.

Once we made it back home, the girls settled in. I had a leftover burger and then rode the Onewheel to the Neighborhood Market to take in the recycling and pick up some more oranges. I ended the night with some laundry, and it’s back to the grind in the morning.

Thank goodness we missed the rain.

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Preclipse Day

I got up and made Summer a freshly-ground cappuccino this morning, which she seemed to like. I’ve only used it twice, but so far I’m pretty happy with the grinder we got. I finally cleaned up the corned beef and had a shower, and then struggled to start the smoker to get the ribs cooking. Summer and Eaddie ran to Kroger to pick up some charcoal for me, and the lumps were tiny. I eventually got the smoke rolling, and the girls prepped the bikes to go for a ride downtown.

We parked at the middle school, which in retrospect wasn’t much better than if we had just left from the house. The girls biked and I rode my Onewheel through some neighborhood trails before going back up to Kroger and heading downtown. There weren’t a ton of visitors there that we could tell, but there were tons of cops and “workers” riding around trying to look important. We stood in line and got some stuff from NASA, and I couldn’t tell whether I had actually offended the guy when I asked how long NASA has known the moon and sun are the same size, and why they were keeping it from us.

We didn’t really find much exciting at the depot after that, so we got Eaddie a shirt and then rode through Tech to Bona Dea. We did a small loop and then headed straight back to the car. Eaddie decided to ride all the way home, and I actually had plenty of battery to do the same, but I drove Summer home instead.

I decided to assemble the outdoor sink and prep table with the hopes that I could use it for the ribs. Summer “helped,” but we didn’t get it done in time, and I ended up bringing the ribs inside to wrap. Eli came over, I eventually got the ribs sauced, and then we had dinner. The meat was way too tender and just turned into mush off the bone, but it was still good. I just wanted a bit more bite to them. Everyone else loved it. Summer made mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and we had a good meal.

The kids hung out for a while and Summer wound down quickly. I started dragging pretty hard, and felt a bit sick from sinus trouble. I assumed it was allergies this time, but I just felt crummy all night.

He’s really not gonna like my questions about why the moon is a flat circle instead of a flat square.

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One Box

I got up and ground some fresh coffee this morning, which was a new experiment. I went for a French press this time, and having a coarser grind worked much better than what I had done in the past. Summer went to the gym and I had some leftover corned beef. It was a slow start to the morning, but I eventually took a shower in case the girls wanted to go out since Summer said the downtown festivities had begun.

Eaddie didn’t want to get out of the house, so Summer and I went to the old house to pack up some things. I got a box of stuff loaded from my old computer desk, and she took a new mower and the rest of the bicycles to the new house. When she got back, we took two of my aquariums home.

Summer wanted to make shrimp tacos for dinner. I ran a couple things to my parents’ house on the Onewheel, and then Eli was there when I got back. We had a pretty quick dinner, and then hung out in front of the TV for the rest of the evening. Eventually the girls wound down, and we’ll have our day on the town tomorrow.

So shrimpy.

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AppLocked

I was actually early for work this morning, and I got my steak bagel that reminded me of the gristly mess that they used to give me. I spent the whole day tinkering with my Group Policy and task sequence to restrict Microsoft apps without causing annoying messages about things being blocked.

Lunch was a pretty miserable sandwich with two thin slices of lunch meat ham on a big wheat bun. The afternoon dragged on forever after that, even though Kim disappeared for most of it. On the way out, I loaded up some empty boxes to help move, and headed to the old house.

There was a ton of traffic crawling over the bridge, stretching from toplight to stoplight. I couldn’t tell whether something happened or if traffic was just that bad due to the eclipse. As I got closer to the old house, some old lady got cut off while she was flying down the road the other direction, and she nearly hit me when she tried to pass the offending car in the turning lane. I unloaded boxes and headed home to wait for Summer.

It took her a while, but she eventually showed up and took me to the Neighborhood Market for some things. We didn’t really have a clear plan for anything, but we spent some money. When we got home, I left for my parents’ house on the Onewheel and finished up the chow mein.

I called Mitch on the ride home just to check on his status. He said he probably wouldn’t be coming past Little Rock. Things were quiet when I got home, and everyone just kind of dawdled alone until we eventually all made it to bed.

Crap. Tax season.

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You Don’t Know Jack

I successfully took the Murano to work this morning. I did not successfully place an order for breakfast at the correct restaurant. The McDonald’s app switched locations on me while I was nearing the bridge to Dardanelle, and I refused to turn around and drive across town to retrieve my order. Fortunately it was refunded later in the afternoon, but it was infuriating that I was completely powerless to do absolutely anything until then. I just went to Burger King instead.

Work was relatively quiet, and some of my deployment issues were resolved. Others I had to keep opening new tabs to research. By the end of the day, I could barely see the icons of each site I had open. Johnny called while I was eating and asked for my reference as he applied for a Dover tech position. It was a little tempting to apply for it myself, but I just don’t think that’s the right move yet. Hopefully something else will present itself, but until then, I’m left daydreaming about what it would be like at the paper mill.

I stopped by Walmart in Dardanelle on the way home, because it was the only store that would offer free online pickup. Then I picked up the coffee table from the old house and headed home. Along the way, I called Jack out of the blue to try and catch up with him. All I could do was leave a voicemail. Summer was already home when I got there, but taking work calls and then heading to the bath after helping me unload the car. I went to my parents’ house briefly, came back to get my backpack and chargers before going back for dinner.

It was nice out, so after dinner I rode all around the neighborhood and the west side of town. Then I came home through the Waco Detention Basin Trail, which was actually dry. With both the Onewheel and the Murano depleated, I plugged in and drove across town to fill up the car. I didn’t realize how much I hated pumping gas until I didn’t have to any more. I still miss my car.

I chatted with Jack for quite a while. Eaddie got home super late, and Summer was in bed early.

Calm

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Cold Mornings Are for Suckers

Eaddie beat me to the shower unexpectedly this morning, which meant I finished mine in lukewarm water. Any colder outside, and it wouldn’t have lasted that long. I got out the door and realized she had taken the Murano to school, which was different than the plan we had set the night before, whereby Summer would drop her off so I could not ride the bike to work in the cold. I ran back inside and got a jacket, but failed to get my gloves, so my hands were ice cold when I got to work. I started with some coffee, but it took a while to get over the deep chill.

I spent most of the day fighting printer drivers, and still never really fixed the deployment, I guess I’ll dig into it some more tomorrow, and likely start from scratch. The ride home after work was a bit warmer, but the warmer weather has really brought out the asshole pickup truck drivers. Maybe I just didn’t notice them in the Model 3, but the Shadow doesn’t have quite the pep to keep at the head of traffic.

I fed the fish and then went home until Summer got there. She worked a short day after having a doctor’s appointment, but still came home looking like hell with no will to exist outside of the house. I left on the Onewheel and had some rice and sausage that I like with my parents. Then I rode around the neighborhood for a while before making it back home. It was a short, quiet night after that.

Direct Translation

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Lab Aid

McDonald’s was super busy this morning, and the lady inside was yelling at all of her employees for wasting food. I didn’t realize until I got to work, late again, that they didn’t put egg on my bagel. More on that later.

I had a few distractions throughout the day, but my big accomplishment was getting Kim out after lunch to replace 17 more lab computers with me. We had a student help as well, which was nice. We ran out of video adapters and cables, which was a bit of a surprise. The entire lab was set up with HDMI cables, so we had to go from DisplayPort to VGA. I don’t want to spend any more money than I have to, so we’ll limp along for the remainder of the year.

I had run out of gas on the way to work and had to switch over to my reserve, so I stopped in Ola for some gas on the way home. I couldn’t tell if I was flying down the road or not, because yesterday I kept getting passed at an unexpected rate. Wind isn’t my friend on the Shadow, so it’s just not comfortable going fast. I prefer something more upright.

When I got into Dardanelle, I stopped to file my complaint at McDonald’s, and bartered some free fries for my missing egg. They were the hottest, freshest fries I’ve ever had from McDonald’s, so that was a treat on a surprisingly cold ride home. Then I fed the fish before going to Orr to check on the status of the Pathfinder. Tim said it would be about three or four weeks before they could even look at it.

I stopped to see Summer at the wash, but left as it continued to get colder. Just after I got home, Dad said they had leftover spring rolls and chow mein, so I took the Onewheel over there, narrowly beating Julie and Kevin. Food wasn’t at all ready, so Kevin and I watched Julie eat spring rolls, and then Kevin, Dad, and I had chow mein once that was done.

Summer was in the bath when I finally made it back home for the night. Eaddie got home late after band solo and ensemble. We all caught up a bit, and then it was off to bed at a reasonably normal time.

Boy, do I miss Tres.

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Commutercycle

I didn’t think I was running behind this morning, but I got to work about five minutes late after stopping at McDonald’s along the way. Kim had texted that she would be out sick, but I didn’t expect every single administrator to be in the back office meeting. I spent the entire day tinkering with my task sequence as I imaged more computers. I almost skipped lunch, but got hungry and grabbed some pizza a little late.

There was a threat of rain in the afternoon, but I never saw a drop. The roads were a bit gritty, and I kept getting stuck behind jerks that would kick all of that crap up into the air. I headed straight home for fear of getting caught in something if I went to feed the fish first.

Summer made burgers, which I re-pattied and grilled. Eli made it here before Eaddie did, and they made music in the bathroom after we ate. Weird, right? I cleaned up the grill afterward, and then the rest of the night went by really quickly as I struggled with the anxiety of feeling like I was forgetting to do something.

Full self driving would have been perfect for this.