Tag: anxiety

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164/100

I had an okay start today, but my back still had a slight twinge in it. I made up quite a bit of time on the way to work, but it mostly ended up being for naught. Kyle came by and said the backup circuit was somehow getting traffic to the state servers, so we didn’t have to worry so much about installing the VPN. After that, it was mostly Maggie and me in the office all day, with a bit of Charles and Gary.

With Randy out, we didn’t even see Jim, though he did call for help once. I ended up getting some cheap fast-food for lunch, by way of a fry deal from Burger King and a sandwich deal at Arby’s. The afternoon was pretty quiet, and then I snuck out a few minutes early so I could get the car out of the workshop.

I stopped by Old Navy in Conway on the way home to return Summer’s ill-fitting pants. Then I got home just in time to take the dogs out on a twilight run. They ran hard all the way around the basin and to my parents’ house. Mom said she had some rice soup, so I took the dogs home and rode back again to eat.

Summer got home from work late and wasn’t feeling great, so we put her in a bath and then checked her blood pressure. Hers was fine, but mine was unreasonably high for some reason. I imagine my sleepless commute time has something to do with it. We also discussed ordering a new Model 3, and I think Eaddie’s for it now. I guess I should get one so I can enjoy it for a bit before I stroke out.

It’s always an improper fraction, but it’s usually not more than two.

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Smokin’ Breasts

I woke up a little bit before my alarm today and got up to start prepping the turkey breasts for smoking. Summer was up on the couch doing some work, and then left to open one of her stores because multiple people called in, or didn’t show up. Eaddie got home from her father’s and hung out in the kitchen with me so she could lend a hand while I tried to season the turkey. This was only the second time I’d tried to use my baster, and I completely forgot to blend my dry spices so they wouldn’t clog the syringe. That ended up being a big mess, so I finally just put the breasts on the smoker and used my butter concoction to baste it instead.

Summer got home and started making deviled eggs, and I tried to pick up some of the rest of the house. I think Michelle and Phil were the first ones to show up, just before my parents. I kept shoving things into the laundry room, and the house filled up pretty quickly. Alie and Chance made it, and even Julie and Kevin showed up. Uncle Rick and Ginny were the last to show.

I had a fire going, and the smoking was pretty much done before anyone showed up, so I just had to carve the turkey while everyone else arranged food on the dining room table. Then everyone visited and ate in the living room. Julie and Kevin left pretty early, and I threw out my back at some point during the afternoon, which slowed me way down for the rest of the night.

Sometime during daylight hours, I took the dogs out for a quick run before wrapping up with everyone at home. It wasn’t our most entertaining event to host, but hopefully everyone enjoyed it. The whole thing just kept shrinking more and more until we could fit everyone our house instead of an aircraft hangar.

Eaddie wanted to go out to see Wicked again with some friends. Summer went to bed super early while I cleaned up and eventually made it to bed. Maybe my sleep schedule won’t be too far out of cycle by tomorrow.

No deals!

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Core Progression

I was in and out of sleep all night, so I nearly got out of bed around two or three and just headed on to work with the others. I ended up falling asleep until about four and just got up half an hour early, yet still somehow ended up a few minutes late.

Randy, Kyle, and Jim were at the high school core closet and had already moved the core switch and firewall. Evidently Gary texted about the network being down, even though they’ve been talking about this move since before they hired me. I helped route some fiber, and then they decided we were going to go out for breakfast.

The four of us met Jay at BJ’s Market Café and I had a surprisingly small omelette. It did come with hashbrowns and a biscuit and gravy though. Jay’s pancakes were pretty big, and overall it was one of the cheaper meals I’ve had in Little Rock so far.

From that point, we stopped by the annex where I started to tinker with the sign maker before having to go back to the high school where we sat and waited for Windstream to fix the stuff they didn’t have configured correctly. Around lunchtime, I went and got some Sonic drinks. I would have gotten a snack if I had realized we weren’t going to get lunch later. After that, it was a very long and boring afternoon for me listening to Kyle on a phone call with the engineers doing the fixing.

At the end of the day, I left Kyle to sit on his call while I drove home. The Full Self Driving trial was over, so I had to be a lot more involved. I did not like it at all. I really didn’t think it would be that big of a difference, but I had trouble with the cruise control stopping whenever I changed lanes. Around Atkins, I tried to fix it and accidentally disabled Autopilot entirely, so I had to drive the rest of the way to town.

Eaddie was out doing things on holiday break and Summer had already eaten, so I picked up some Burger King on the way home. The fried pickle Whopper was super disappointing. I shoved it down, but still had to take the dogs out in the pitch black. They did okay, but seem unaffected by the directions I called out. I really think I’ve just been getting lucky when they go the right way. We stopped to visit my parents and then weaved through the neighborhood to get home.

Eaddie was out late and Summer was working on her laptop in the living room all night, so I watched a little bit of YouTube after commandeering her cooking shows playing in the background. Once she went to bed, I summoned Eaddie home and then went to bed.

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Barricade

I snoozed this morning since I was up late last night. I wasn’t horribly late after my modified morning routine, but I still had to make up a lot of time on my drive. That meant I burned up a bit more power, so I ended up charging the car in the afternoon.

It was fairly social today because Jim was in the office working on building a “gaming” computer for EAST. Evidently their one good teacher died, and the new coordinator is a coach that knows nothing, so the kids are no longer capable of assembling the computers themselves. Randy and I tried to help with some of the assembly.

Kyle met us at David’s Burgers for lunch, and I found it to be a better version of CJ’s. I liked that they walked around with unlimited fresh fries, but they just didn’t come around with refills very often. It was also $15 for a combo that was just a basic double cheeseburger.

After lunch, Randy took me on a ride to drop off hotspots for the food service people, and then we stopped in to see Jimmy at their little shack. Gary was out somewhere else. Not long after we got back to the office, Jim took Randy and me to his house to pick up some wood to barricade the core closet at the annex. The security folks called Randy because someone broke in yesterday afternoon, and he was worried they would be back over the weekend to steal the equipment we’ve been hoping to move to the high school core closet.

We used deck screws to board up the doors, then went back to the office to wrap up the day. The drive home was slow because of a number of stopped cars and at least one bad wreck going the opposite direction. I made it though, and had time to take the dogs out before dark.

Summer was already home and sent Eaddie out to a friendsgiving meal. I took off with the dogs and went the long way around the basin trail and to the roundabout. We got to my parents’ house just as they were leaving to take Nova out to Linh’s. I got the dogs home and fed them some hot dogs before having a burrito myself. Then Summer and I watched a couple episodes of Modern Family before she went to bed.

Eaddie came to talk to me for a little while when she finally got home. Her holiday break is filling up quickly, so we’re glad to be able to spend the day with her tomorrow.

Came in through the chapel and they’re
Gonna raid the server closet.
Came in through the chapel and they’re
Gonna steal our wiiii-fiiiiii.

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I Make a Penny

I’ve been bringing leftover Starbucks coffee to work lately, but having very mixed experiences with the USB heated mug. The Ember gets it hot once I get to work, but it’s annoying that the travel mug doesn’t work as well. We had someone from IK Electric and someone from Fortinet coming to set up some demo phones for us, but I wasn’t sure when they would be there. That meant we had a fairly slow morning waiting for them.

Randy had to disappear to deal with the Windstream folks, so I tried to lead some of the conversation with the phone guys. Maggie kept including herself in the conversation for some reason, which was annoying because it was difficult to get any more technical questions out.

Kyle and I met Randy and Jim at Shotgun Dan’s Pizza for lunch, and they appeared to be much busier than they expected, because there was only one server for the whole restaurant. She was struggling to get anything done, but at least the food was pretty good.

After lunch, Randy went with me to Central Office to “apologize” to Sonya. I expected to at least say something, but really he walked in and just started talking and never really quit. She didn’t seem very chipper, but maybe she’s just sassy like that. I couldn’t be bothered.

When we got back to the office, Randy realized his car was actually at the high school. We decided I could just take him back to his car after work, and we finished out the afternoon. I had to charge in the warehouse in order to get home, but it all worked out.

Summer made slow cooker chili, so I got home and ran with the dogs. It was pretty cool outside, and we were chasing daylight anyway. I was pretty frustrated when we got back, because Summer brought in Stilgar’s slow feeder that she had left outside. He literally chewed the whole food dish in half. I really liked that slow feeder, and I haven’t seen another one like it available on Amazon Vine. I don’t know how many times I’ve told her not to leave it outside. Stupid.

My new Pixel Watch 3 came in, so I spent some time setting it up. I didn’t love the color of the band, but I’ve ordered more from Vine. Otherwise than that, I spent some time on the phone with Johnny, and went to bed early.

My boss makes a dime.

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Human Retards

I was really early to leave the house this morning, but kept having idiots pull out in front of me just to go slower, multiple times on the way to work. I guess preconditioning took some battery power, so I pulled into the warehouse to charge all day. Things started out super chill, but quickly became ridiculous. “Everyone” was having trouble either printing or connecting to network drives. It took us all morning to figure out that it was the changes to Cisco Umbrella that Randy made yesterday just before we walked out the door.

Sonya called Maggie about a print issue that I assumed was the same I had been troubleshooting, but then went off about needing staples, and being an exception to the rule of our PaperCut deployment. She didn’t like any of my answers, became hostile and rude, and then hung up on us after threatening to get the superintendent involved.

Maggie and I went to Chili’s for lunch, where we were served by an old friend of hers. We didn’t think too much about the grief back at the office, though I did get a “nasty” email from Sonya. I had begun crafting a response, but Randy initially told me not to reply at all. He said he was told to have me apologize in person, to which I responded that it was odd that Human Resources would want an apology in person without a paper trail. We ultimately settled on a written response and an added face-to-face meeting to smooth any lingering tensions.

We fixed the Umbrella nonsense for the moment, but would have to revisit it later. Near the end of the day, we had to run upstairs to collect a TV that had fallen off of the wall in a conference room. As we came back into the office, Johnny called with some of his own drama. Then I ran home as quickly as I could to get some run time with the dogs.

Eli’s car was at the house, and Eaddie was in a bath when I got there. She texted that he wasn’t there, so I left with the dogs. Evidently she drove his car home because he picked her up for school, but then had to leave for some band thing and wouldn’t be back until late in the evening.

The dogs did great as we ran our course backwards. I wanted them to get some time at the basin trail before it got too dark. They had a dip, and then we went up to the roundabout before swinging back through my parents’ house. We talked with Dad briefly before making it home for some hot dogs. Summer was out back on the porch waiting for me, but then Brody called with questions about used Teslas. I talked to him a couple times before Summer and I got to chat about her day.

I had a burrito for dinner and did some laundry. Eaddie chatted with me for a bit and helped with some leftovers. Then I wrapped things up pretty quickly for bed after she left to get Eli.

Must be something in the water.

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Overwhelming Sense of Email

I tried warming up some coffee this morning, but the heated travel mug I used didn’t seem to work. I was early enough that I had a fairly leisurely ride in. I was left alone for the first part of the morning, but then Charles came in and chatted with me for quite a while about his life in the past, present, and future. It was nice, because we’d never really talked much before. I helped him get a desktop image started, and then he left.

They fed us catfish and chicken strips for “Thanksgiving” at Central Office, so I rode with Maggie over there. I also delivered my transcript and certification paperwork to HR to see if they could find me a raise somewhere in there. It’s neat that so many people are actively trying to help with that. It’s such a foreign concept to me thus far.

Most of us gathered around a table to eat, and the food was pretty good. I had to laugh because Javier couldn’t tell the difference between the hush puppies and the fried chicken. That kid is weird. We had plenty of food, and then I managed to make it back to the office with Maggie without my paperwork that I had leaned against the wall while we ate, so I had to drive back to get it.

The afternoon was slow, and I felt like I hit a brick wall. I tried to be productive, but I was just too tired for some reason. I felt like I slept reasonably well. I made it to the end of the day and ran to The UPS Store to return a few things. The bottom fell out of the sky on the way home, so I had to slow down quite a bit. I could barely see ahead of me, and even the Model Y struggled with traction in places.

I got home to an empty house and played with the dogs for a bit. When Summer got home, we shopped for some pants online, and then I realized I had some bills coming due. I hurriedly paid those, and then wrapped things up for bed.

Efficiency Struggle

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Hundred Baker Would

Summer had a 5k in Conway this morning, but I stayed home in a warm bed for a little while longer. I checked with Diana to make sure she was home, and then I had Summer pick up an assortment of baked goods from the Blue Barn Bakery in Conway on her way home. We got cleaned up, and then went to visit Diana for nearly a couple hours. She was super chatty, and had a lot to share about music.

After our visit, Summer and I went to Walmart to pick up some things on my shopping list. We ran into Allen, who seemed a little worse for wear. I think I’ll have to check in on him a little more often. On our way out of there, I texted Mom and Dad about coming over to clean up the bún bò Huế. We unloaded the car at home, then walked the dogs to their house.

The dogs did okay, but kept pulling pretty hard for the entire walk. After we ate, Dad let me fly the FPV drone around a little bit as it got dark, and Summer played with the dogs. Then we walked home in the dark and settled in to watch some Agatha All Along. Eaddie was gone all day for a robotics tournament in Conway, but came to visit with me once she got home. Everyone was tired and went to bed pretty early.

Is it even bread?

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Barnacles

I tried to sleep in a bit today since I would be out late for Howard’s customer appreciation dinner, but I woke up close to my usual time to a loud, droning sound coming from across the house. I made my way to the kitchen and found the garbage disposal running after multiple days without power. Evidently somebody accidentally left the switch on when they turned on the sink light, and never turned it back off. The negligence meant the disposal had been running dry for over two hours, and left the house smelling of a burning motor.

Since I didn’t die in a house fire in my sleep, I got up and ready for work. I figured I would get there a little before eight after stopping at Starbucks for a holiday drink and cup. Then I ran into stop-and-go traffic after Conway. I was surprised that I didn’t see much traffic coming from the first couple ramps in Conway, and figured the big rush had come and gone from people trying to show up at seven. The eight o’clock traffic hadn’t hit yet, but surely somebody’s stupidity caused the slowdown ahead.

I arrived about ten after eight and tried to charge the car in the shop, but the power was out. Maggie showed up just as I was walking into the office, and we had a quiet morning inside without much foot traffic. I didn’t have much luck with anything I worked on, and after a while it was hard not to feel discouraged.

Maggie ended up taking the afternoon off, and I just ran to Sonic for a chili cheese coney. I also grabbed some fries from an inconceivably slow McDonald’s, then ate in the office by myself. I stayed until nearly four, then left to find a place to charge at the Embassy Suites. Maggie came out with a hotel key card she borrowed from David, and then I met her in the vendor hall. I saw Ben, but no one else that I really knew.

Randy eventually came around, but Kyle had to work the board meeting. Randy and I sat in on the whiskey tasting with his Conway crew, and then went down the hill to The Butcher Shop for dinner. Howard always throws a big party, and our room got progressively louder as the drinks flowed. Food took a while to show up, but we all ate, and I took Randy and Dustin back to the hotel before I headed home. Dustin was completely enamored with the Tesla, Full Self Driving, and Actually Smart Summon.

The Model Y handled the drive pretty well and only required minimum intervention. Summer was passed out when I got there, and Eaddie was just finishing up a shower. I cranked through my routine and hit the sack as quickly as I could.

Should’ve paid!

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It’s Not Wireless

I stopped for breakfast in Morrilton, and McDonald’s had me in and out so fast that I got to pass someone on the interstate twice. I was still the first one to the office by quite a bit, and I immediately dug into my Adobe licensing issue before Randy started sending me things to do. Maggie said she had to go to the transportation office to check out a pile of old junk, so she didn’t show up for a little while.

When lunch time came around, she and I went to a place called Sweet Poppas and had their fried chicken lunch special. I also got a drink and some cheddar peppers, which incredibly brought my lunch total to over $22. I couldn’t believe it. The food was good, but the portions were small, and the cheddar peppers came out with cold centers the first time around. Maggie’s chicken took forever to come out, so mine wasn’t exactly piping hot by the time we started eating.

The afternoon got wild when Kyle asked me to go to the high school to investigate an issue in the rack. Apparently the guys we paid to install the new VxRail forgot to plug in one of the iDRAC cables, so they couldn’t manage it remotely. It took me a while, but I finally found the right piece of equipment and the right port. There were a couple other cables that seemed poorly connected as well, so I don’t know what they were doing in there. Hopefully we can bring a lot of that stuff in-house.

I left straight from the high school and got home to run the dogs. We did our usual route through my parents’ yard to talk to Dad, then took a dip in the creek before making it home. Then I made a burrito for a quick dinner before spending some time cleaning up the kitchen and taking out the recycling. Eaddie and Eli did homework until pretty late, and Summer went to bed pretty early. I tried to take care of as much stuff as I could before I finally got to bed.

But I still forgot to clean the vacuum.