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All-State 2024

Neither Summer or I slept very well last night because the heater was making an awful rattling noise. When morning finally came, all I could hear was the whirring of the elevator. The shower just lightly dribbled water, as though I was bathing by watering can. We finally made it downstairs for breakfast, and even that was a little bit disappointing in quality.

We went back up to the room and waited for Eaddie to respond so we could coordinate the afternoon. We eventually got checked out and drove over to get her stuff. Then we walked to the Copper Penny Pub for a really good lunch. We all shared an appetizer, Summer and I got some hot drinks, and Eaddie had a sandwich as she became hungry.

After that, we made our way back to the convention center so we could start watching performances. I spotted Reece and Christina and chatted with them for a little bit before we got seated. All the bands we watched were pretty good, but I ended up liking the music better from some of the earlier bands. Eaddie’s wind symphonic band played exclusively ethnic themed songs, which just got a little tiresome after a while. They did great though, and we ended up taking Eli with us.

After the event, we went across town to Fisherman’s Wharf for a nice dinner. Evidently Eaddie had already taken a Dramamine and was feeling the effects at dinner. We went to the mall after we ate, and wandered around the dilapidated establishment depressingly for a bit. Then we stopped for some spring water on the way out of town.

I made good time, but just as we were approaching the stop sign in Ola, Summer got urgently sick. It didn’t make any sense that she made it the entire way and had to throw up in that moment, but all I could do was stop in the middle of the road. Then we dropped the kids off at the high school to get their cars before heading home to unpack and go to bed.

What a match.

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Flaxen, Waxen

I woke up feeling much better after feeling sick last night, and got up to bake the breakfast pizza I picked up on Wednesday. I took a slice to Summer while she was in bed and then did the dishes before I started getting ready for our trip.

We didn’t get started until nearly lunch time, so we ran by the old house to feed the fish and grab some water bottles before going to BFD for lunch in Dardanelle. I thought the fajita portion was large, but didn’t realize that I didn’t get the lunch price until after we’d left.

The drive to Hot Springs was quick and uneventful, and we made it just in time to check in at the Hotel Hot Springs. Eaddie was busy doing her own thing, so we didn’t see her at all. We walked the strip a bit as things were closing down. We were too late for the Gangster Museum, but Summer really wanted to go to the Josephine Tussaud Wax Museum. I hadn’t been since I was a kid, and by now I was more interested in the historical stuff they had from the old casinos.

They had a free wine tasting after the tour, and then we walked back to the hotel to use our free drink coupons before dinner. It was pretty late by the time we got out, so our options were limited. We ended up going to A&W, and it was great. Evidently they were under new ownership with a strict fresh-to-order model. It was probably the best fast food burger I’ve ever had, but that may have been the root beer talking. I love A&W.

I took us to Crumbl for some cookies after that, and we got a box of a dozen cookies at over three bucks a piece. They were a little soft and rich for me, but I thought it would be a good treat because of the baking show celebrity around it. I guess it worked, because we got to watch A Knight’s Tale instead of baking shows when we got back to the room for the night.

Time for a deep dive on coffee grinders!

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Twowheels

Eaddie left early this morning for all-state weekend, and my school had a “winter break,” so kids were out and teachers were only there for parent-teacher conferences. Traffic was thin enough that I had a nearly uninhibited drive in to work, save for the last mile. Kim showed up late, and then disappeared around lunch time. I just kept working on SCCM and never saw her again.

I was pretty hungry when I left work since the cafeteria was closed, so I stopped by McDonald’s in Dardanelle for a Big Mac, then fed my fish, and picked up some fries afterward before stopping by the wash to see Summer. I finished those on the drive home, and then jumped on the Onewheel to get some float time before sundown.

I took some milk back to my parents’ house, then rode around to Gary’s house to chat with him for a minute. As I was leaving, I accidentally knocked my earbuds out of my pocket, and they both popped out of the charging case. I nearly rode over one of them before I noticed, but it seemed like only the case got scratched.

From there, I rode down to Ridgewood, but didn’t see anyone I knew. I circled the building, and then a kid named Kyron(?) chased me down on his Onewheel GT. We stopped and talked for just a few seconds because he wanted to see my board. Then we split off and I headed home.

My head cold got bad pretty quickly from there. I had body aches and a bit of a fever, so I cleaned up some leftovers, made some Theraflu, and went to bed before Summer even made it home.

Okay.

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Quick Cuts

I took Summer’s car to work so she could have mine in town for service. The guy never actually talked to either of us, and just did the work on the car while she was working. One of her employees said the alarm was going off, but I never got a notification, so I don’t know whether that was really true, but hopefully my bolts are there to stay for as long as I have the car.

Otherwise I felt super productive at work today. DIS finally got Cognos going again, and I fixed a bunch of our scheduled tasks and PowerShell scripts. My SCCM client appeared to install correctly, but I wasn’t sure about another part of the setup, and I’ll have to continue that tomorrow.

After work, I decided to head home and grill some steaks for Valentine’s Day with my parents and the girls. I ran home to feed the fish, and then stopped by Kroger and Neighborhood Market for several different cuts of steak and some zucchini, squash, and salad. I probably could have gotten more squash, but we still had a little bit left over. Dad baked some sweet potatoes to go along with it all, and met us at the house a little after Summer got home from work.

It was a quick dinner to throw together on the grill, and Dad got to share about their trip to California while Mom fell asleep on the couch. Eaddie dipped a few leftover strawberries in chocolate, but they didn’t last very long. Once my parents left, Eaddie packed up for her weekend at All-State, and Summer went to bed. I would have gotten there sooner if I hadn’t been distracted by Prune.

Porterhouse, Loin, Strip, Ribeye

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Server-Client Privilege

I took Summer’s car to work today just to be safe, since she would be working on town. Just as I got to work, I got a very apologetic call from Tulsa Tesla to say that they were sending someone out to bolt my car back together tomorrow.

Apart from that, I kept pretty busy working on SCCM all day. I seemed to be having trouble getting the client installed remotely, and I couldn’t tell whether it was a settings issue, or if I was just being impatient. Hopefully I’ll know more tomorrow after it sits overnight.

Kim brought me some leftover lunch trays again, so I ate while she was at duty. The last part of the day dragged on a bit, and then I headed home to feed fish, see Summer at Superfast, grab some tacos, and then head home to eat.

Eaddie was at robotics a little late, so as soon as I finished eating, I headed out on the Onewheel. I forgot to get more dishwasher detergent, so I rode it to the old house to get that. My legs and feet were burning, but it was a load of fun. I stopped by Gary’s on the way back for a break, but he didn’t answer the door. Then I saved myself from wiping out on a crack in the sidewalk. The streets are way better to ride because of the frequent breaks in concrete.

The girls were home when I finally got back, exhausted from my ride. Everyone wound down pretty quickly, and I thought I’d make it to bed really early, but then I watched the first episode of the newest season of The Daily Show since Jon Stewart is back. I’ve missed him as the host, and I think the world needs him for what this election cycle is going to bring.

Carve away.

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The New Tesla Bolt

It was chilly and rainy again today. I thought I might have the day to myself when Kim started to leave in the morning, but then she came back and stayed the day. I was able to focus on my SCCM server and got my SQL database set up, and SCCM installed. I almost finished configuring it, but it was getting late and Summer was making dinner.

I got back into town and parked in the garage at the old house, and I heard a clank of something metal hitting the ground. I searched all around the car, and then finally looked underneath it to find a nearly 6-inch bolt laying on the ground right in the center of my car. I backed out of the garage to pick it up, and called Summer to have her meet me at Superfast. I got into a bay and went down into the pit to find that two bolts were missing, and Summer said it looked like something else broke some plastic around my rear-passenger wheel area. I couldn’t really tell because I was afraid of getting oil all over my nice clothes.

Without a special socket with six lobes to put the bolt back in, we packed up and headed home to eat. Eaddie had Eli over, but they had already eaten while Summer and I were looking at the Model 3. I started a load of laundry and then sat down to eat with Summer while the kids watched Mulan. Then I made a pot of rice pudding with the leftover milk that my parents left behind.

Chevy Model 3?

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Level Up

I made myself get out of bed early today, but Summer was the one that wanted to make breakfast. She eventually got up, but then had a long phone call with Noah before she started cooking. We ended up having eggs and corned beef hash for lunch. Afterward she went to the gym while Eaddie played flute. I got distracted by phone puzzles.

When Summer got home, she wanted to rearrange a bunch of the stuff that I had moved in, but we didn’t really accomplish putting anything away where it needed to go. I wasn’t really thrilled by any of the “cleaning” that happened, but I didn’t do any of it myself either.

Later in the evening, Summer decided she wanted to try the Onewheel, so we went outside after it had stopped raining and I walked back and forth down the street with her. She did pretty well, but relied on leaning on me too much. Once she started to stand up on her own, she was able to turn around a couple times. It got chilly pretty quick though after all the rain, and we came back inside.

The girls wanted me to handle dinner, but didn’t want to give any feedback on what to make. I ate some food in the afternoon because I got hungry, so I wasn’t famished by dinner time. I ended up going to Zaxby’s and Burger King to redeem a couple of deals, and we all shared that before bed.

Lost a another weekend.

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Grocery Gettin’ Fool

Summer made sausage and eggs for breakfast this morning, and then Eaddie sent a video of some strawberry cheesecake cookies that she wanted to make. I took a shower and then rode the Onewheel to the Neighborhood Market for some flour, brown sugar, and strawberries. On the way back, Beth and Mark spotted me and stopped to holler at me.

Eaddie had been at a robotics tournament all day, so when dinner time came around, I thought we could go to New China for a lunar new year’s meal. We ate, and then went to Walmart to walk around a bit. I mostly wanted to look at some plant pots and solar lights for the front walkway. We ended up getting a watering can with a long spout like I had been wanting for a while.

We didn’t do much else since it was a bit rainy out. Summer suggested that she would be interested in trying to ride the Onewheel after hearing how much fun I’ve had on mine, but we didn’t want to get out in the wet or dark. Eaddie eventually made it home, but pretty much went straight to her room. Summer went to bed early as usual, and I stayed up late learning how LEDs work.

Just call me Max Speed!

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One Wheel Keeps on Turning

Traffic was bad in Dardanelle this morning, but I was only a couple minutes late to work. Testing went without a hitch. Kim was out of the room a lot, but I was never quite sure what she was doing. I was pretty sure it wasn’t closing a bunch of work orders. Most of my work was pretty immaterial again, because the morning went by quickly, lunch time was loud, and then the afternoon gave way to more conversations about the impossibility of maintaining my department at my rate of pay.

I got permission for Johnny to come visit for a day so I can mentor him on some things. Then Ben called at the end of the day and we chatted for a while on the drive home. I stopped by the old house quickly to grab a couple more things while Summer was home early with Eaddie and had dinner ready. Clay walked by the house and stopped to talk to me some more, but didn’t keep me too long.

I was proud of Summer for creatively making some stir fry out of the tough ribs she baked the other day and some vegetables that I had prepped from our salmon night. Afterward, I went out on the Onewheel and fed the cat, and then decided to ride on down to Ridgewood Brothers to see if Grant was there. I got him and one of the other guys on the Onewheel for a bit, and then he sent me home with some apple crumble that was incredible.

Sensing some dire levels of stress, I got Summer to go back with me for some more dessert, and we got to step to the back of the restaurant and chat for a little bit more. Hopefully we made a meaningful difference. Eaddie spent most of the night in her room, and Summer went to bed as soon as we got back home. I stayed up a while longer, but felt the exhaustion roll in pretty hard.

The morning sun is rising. It’s kissing the day.

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Broken Management

Today was more spinning wheels. Kim left for a while in the morning with a couple of the maintenance guys to bring some books from their new house to the superintendent’s house. It really seems like nobody cares how little work is done. Maybe I’m wrong for trying to change their mindset. It’s upsetting because that’s kind of my speed, but I also want to learn and grow and improve, and I just feel like I’m the only one actively working toward that.

PRTG showed a meltdown during testing in the morning, and a bunch of my switches showed offline. They came back up with different management IPs, and I’m not even sure where to look for logs. The controller VM probably needs an update pretty badly, and I’ll finally be ready to do that over the summer, if I’m still around. There’s only one person of any importance when it comes to the subject of my salary, and every time I talk to him, I hear about how he doesn’t understand anything about what I do.

Johnny called me in the afternoon and I talked to him for a while about how absolutely broken Lamar is. He says their lead guy knows what he’s doing, but based on the fact that they aren’t automating any rostering data, I can’t imagine he’s doing much. I actually spent a while on the phone throughout the afternoon, because I had to call Steven at CDW a couple times to get the invoice we needed for Jaime. Then I got a call from an auditor at the end of the day, who seemed more concerned about making sure I passed than I did. I told him I wasn’t afraid to fail, just to show somebody how broken things are. Audits should be frequent and unannounced for such mismanaged organizations.

I sped home, grabbed a few things from the old house, and then took a fast ride around the block on the Onewheel. Clockwork, the ratty looking orange cat, let me pet him a bit. The lame one wasn’t around, but at least there was still some food. Once I got back home, I warmed up some leftovers for dinner. Eaddie came home feeling sick and went to bed super early. Summer got home from work early and was watching Moana, and then went to bed early herself.

I think this weekend is for résumé tweaking and applications.

Aim high, and try to miss the foot.