Tag: aquarium

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Form Over Function

Today went by really fast. I spent a ton of time editing a PDF form so I can print on top of my depot service paperwork, because I didn’t want to waste a whole sheet of paper for every repair the way Dale did before. It felt mostly pointless in the grand scheme of things, but it made me feel better until I realized how much of my life is wasted in moments like that.

Allen texted me for lunch, so I convinced him to try Linh so I could get some hot soup on a cold day. I actually finished my whole bowl, and he liked his spicy, saucy, fried chicken thing. I stopped by the house on the way back so I could put some packages inside. Then the afternoon was more or less wasted as well. Time has been getting away from me in a bad way.

When I got home, I did a full panel of tests on my shrimp tank’s water chemistry. After months of neglect, the parameters are still great. I’ve got a ton of algae that I can’t seem to control, and the worms have exploded as well. The plants I was growing really well have started to wither away a bit, and I’m not sure why. I may have to start dosing fertilizers.

Finally, my first laptop repair has been shipped off.

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On Free Hosting

Yesterday I showed up at work expecting a meeting and didn’t get one, and instead spent my day being productive with Brice. Today I did not expect much of a meeting, but everyone was at the shop and Jason was in a talking mood. He didn’t have any actual team-related meeting stuff to say though, and he basically talked about things with individual techs while the rest of us sat around staring at one another.

I stuck around the shop all morning, accomplished a few things that needed to be done, and then spent a considerable time trying to make my email signature look better for the Gmail app dark mode that was recently activated for my phone. It’s been a minor annoyance seeing so many emails come in expecting a white background, and I didn’t want mine to be one of those for anyone else sporting dark mode.

Just before lunch, I decided to go to the high school to get some laptops for Jason to take to central office. Zach was headed that way to look at some doors, so we just rode together. I got a couple more things done, and then we met back at the shop. He, Allen, and I convinced Gary to come along with us to Ruby Tuesday for $5 salads. The food was really good today, and Gary got a really good looking quesadilla. He seems to eat a whole lot of those. Ronda came strolling in with a crew from the junior high as well.

After lunch, I had a call with Jamf about my iPad Pro again. This was the second or third tier of support, and the guy was super friendly and super helpful, though we still didn’t get the issue completely resolved before we were let off work at 3:30. I got home closer to 4 and trimmed the shrimp tank some more. I wanted to sit down and play some games again, but I just kind of zoned out watching the tank. It really has become my zen place.

When Summer got home, I left to get some gas and met the girls at their house for dinner. The girls went to bed pretty early, and then Summer and I watched two more episodes of Battlestar Galactica. With only two more left to watch, I’ll have to dig into the extra content that was added to that universe over the years. I know there are a bunch of webisodes as well as a couple really long special features.

To end the evening, I sat down to write this blog entry when I found my site had been turned off again for overuse of system resources. That still doesn’t seem possible, but I figured I’d gotten enough out of 000webhost for free. I don’t mind so much upgrading to some paid hosting, even for a do-nothing site that I maintain for my own entertainment. The migration to Hostinger was relatively smooth, and at a buck a month it’s really not bad for a four-year term.

The shape of dreams half-remembered. Slip the surly bonds of Earth and touch the face of perfection.

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Midweek Blitz

It was back to work today after a four day weekend, though it didn’t really feel like I had a day off at all. I jumped right into work and picked apart all the work orders I had gotten while I was away. A few of them had already been looked at by someone, which was a really nice surprise. I ended up spending all morning at the shop to catch up. Most of that time was spent with the iPad Pro after hearing back from Jamf support, but unfortunately we still couldn’t get it enrolled properly.

Zach, Ben, and I went to Arby’s for lunch and all got the Beer Cheese ‘n Double Beef Sandwich with free fries. It was a bit messy, but not any more than a big Beef ‘n Cheddar. I really enjoyed it. Then after lunch I finally made it to the high school to jump into my remaining work orders. I kept really busy right up to the end when Autumn came to the high school. On the way out, we walked across campus to the PAC so I could take a look at their sign again. What a surprise to see it not responding over wireless.

Autumn and I came back to my house for just a little while until it was time to get Eaddie from her after school activities. Then I dropped them off at their house before going to visit with Mom for dinner. She had made some salty sausage and stir fried some kind of squash to go along with it. Then we shared some French bread and sweetened, condensed milk for desert.

To wrap up the evening, I came home and did some more laundry while I took care of all the pets. The teeny baby shrimplets have doubled in size by my estimation, and it’s becoming easier to see how many of them there are. I really may have to just eat the culls, because they’re booming and it’s only going to get worse as more of them mature.

Missin’ out on ACOT has me all sad ‘n stuff.

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Shrimp Daddy

We had a pretty contagious day of not giving a crap about anything. Jason sent every last one of us to the junior high to do a few things, and then vanished as usual. He did stop in a couple times just to make his presence known, but otherwise he was as useless as ever with an attitude to go along with it. I stopped in to talk with Matt about esports again, so I guess that’s still on the table. Then we got a few lines run and found another that already existed. They fed us chili dogs there, and pretty much everyone came out for it.

I spent the afternoon with Brice, first going by Oakland to take care of a couple of his things. We ended up sticking around the office for a while just to enjoy a Friday afternoon. Then we finished up at the high school running a video cable for a troublesome display. I didn’t leave with an overwhelming feeling of confidence, but I guess we’ll see what happens.

Summer had me get the girls from the junior high, so I dropped them off at their house because they didn’t care to have me around. I went home to clean up a bit from all the ceiling dust. That’s when I spotted something new in the Imagitarium!

I finally have baby shrimplets! They were so minuscule that I had to get out the magnifying glass just to see any detail on them. Some of the bigger flatworms rival them in size. I’ll never know exactly how many shrimp I have ever again, because this is just the first of many population explosions. I’ll need to get some other tanks cycled soon for my genetic experimentation.

Mom called me over for dinner, so we sat and had some soup together. Dad had already left on his trip, but left us some fresh banana bread for dessert. Then I headed up to Summer’s where everyone had pretty well split up into their rooms. Summer and I watched an episode and a half of Battlestar before she passed out. I’m super happy about having a long weekend myself.

Alone she sleeps in the shirt of man, with my three wishes clutched in her hand.

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So Berry Glad to See You

It was rainy most of today. We had a meeting to sign testing paperwork for the year, so Ben brought sausage biscuits and donuts. Then Jason had us all go out and clean up the graveyard. It wasn’t an awful amount of work, so we finished up pretty quickly and then I spent the rest of the morning trying to get my student data migrated from yesterday. I was talked into driving half the crew to Fat Daddy’s out of town in the rain, but at least I didn’t have to park in the mud like I usually do. I felt a little rude after asking so many questions about the burrito, but it really annoyed me last time to be charged extra for getting the burrito made like it was described on the menu.

After lunch I got my last stubborn kid’s stuff to start migrating, and eventually I made it to the high school to get the girls. Autumn had a quiz bowl meeting, so they got out a bit late, then we stopped by my house before taking them home. I watched some MKBHD videos after messing with the speakers for a bit, and then we went to my parents’ house for dinner. Summer met us there after the gym because Dad had grilled burgers and dogs. The girls and I had some rice with it since my parents didn’t think of any other sides to go with the burgers.

Autumn wanted to stay at my house where she’d be closer to the high school for her tournament in the morning, so Summer took them home to get clothes, and I went home to start cleaning up a bit. I discovered one of my cherry shrimp was berried with eggs, which got me really excited after spending the past few days so worried. I think they’ll be just fine in that little tank, and I can split the colony up into other tanks as they grow.

The girls eventually showed up and we watched an episode of Battlestar when Summer got out of the shower. Then she went to bed and Eaddie and I started an episode of Luke Cage. She didn’t last very long before wanting to go to sleep herself, which was fine by me.

It’s way too early to be this exhausted…

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Just Shrimpy

I got home this morning and discovered one of my cherry shrimp had died. I’m assuming it was just a bad molt, because they all seemed fine yesterday. Can you imagine being trapped and suffocating inside of your own skin?

Work carried on with more random workie stuff. I do find myself annoyed with basically always having a backlog of work to do. It’s not that I don’t care to work the whole time I’m there, but rather that it’s so much more work than what I was doing before.

Lunch time ran a little late, and I found myself at Hardee’s to try their Monster Roast Beef. From the moment I walked in, I felt a little like I was in some kind of slummy neighborhood. What was confusing to me was that I saw examples of great customer service happening around me, but then I felt like I just got the “thank you, now move along” treatment. It was really kind of a weird experience. I felt like that place used to be a lot better. The sandwich was super tasty but surprisingly wet. I guess the roast beef was kept in juice to keep it moist, almost like a pre-soaked French dip.

I didn’t accomplish a whole lot more in the afternoon, and ended the day with some clerical nonsense that drove me a bit mad. I went by the warehouse to pick up some speakers, then home to change and hang out for a while. I made a frozen shrimp pasta dish of some kind that I got from Zach several months ago, and mixed it with some “grilled potatoes” he gave me as well. The whole meal was old enough to be walking and talking, but it tasted alright for what it was.

To wrap up the evening, I headed up to Summer’s and started setting up the speakers, and then we went to bed with the last episode of the second season of Battlestar.

Battlestar Shrimptactica

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Catching Death

Dead relatives seem to be going around at Summer’s shop. She got a call sometime in the night that lead to her having to work today, which meant that none of the many plans we had to choose from would come to fruition. I slept super late and got up to play with the shrimp some more. I managed to catch the ninth cherry and get it moved over, so now it’s just a waiting game to see if any others come out of the woodwork. They all seem to be getting along fine in the smaller tank though, and they’re much easier to find and count now.

I spent all afternoon sifting through my Google Drive and Photos to try and save some space, because evidently my 100GB HTC promotion runs out next month and I’ll either have to cut down what I’m storing online or pony up some cash for a storage plan. At least I still get free full-resolution uploads for having a Pixel.

Eventually I got cleaned up and went to Summer’s where she and Noah were settling in for some television. I made a couple salads, and we watched some Battlestar before bed.

If I could tuuuurrrn back time!

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Mandio Cart

I forgot my phone at home this morning, but at least I made it there on time. Jason was out, which shouldn’t have surprised me since he actually had us scheduled yesterday for projects today. I was sent with Amanda to pick up a couple unused carts from Oakland and London. If I had known they were such small carts, we wouldn’t have taken the trailer, but it did still make things easier on us. I even managed to swing by and get my phone on the way. When we finished with the carts, we had to hang a touch panel at Crawford for Allen, and Amanda and I made short work of it.

On a whim this morning, I suggested Taco Bell for their new toasted cheddar chalupas, and it stuck. Allen, Gary, Ben, and I all had the same thing for lunch, and it was a hit. It didn’t even seem as heavy as I expected it to be, and the tacos were extraordinarily fresh and crunchy. I spent too long fighting with their app and ended up having to order at the counter like some kind of plebeian, but it was worth it for that warm, fried, cheddar shell.

After lunch we split up to do our own work orders, and I fought with my latest software deployment some more. It never finished overnight, and I nearly gave up, but I kept throwing changes at it until it worked once, and then I deployed it to the lab. So far, so good. I finally got that sound system lowered as well, but I cheated and didn’t even bother mounting the wall mount. She had a full size filing cabinet right there underneath it, and there was just enough slack in the cabling to pull it down, so I set the amp there instead.

After work, I went to the shop to visit with Summer, and messed around with her computer some to try and make things better for her. It was so hot upstairs, and I could tell the heat was making me a little cranky. When we left there, I couldn’t even take the short way home because of the county fair traffic. I had to make a huge loop all the way around town. I found one more cherry shrimp in the kitchen tank, which brings my total to eight in the Imagitarium and one stubborn and hard to catch shrimp still in the kitchen tank. Then I got frustrated with a corrupt Tabs Outliner file and had to recover from a January backup before Summer got here from the gym.

We settled in for some Battlestar Galactica, and then it was off to bed. Dad wanted to leave super early for the civil war thing, and we just weren’t having any of it, so we’re sleeping in instead.

Ocular migraines are weird.

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The Fastest Day Ever

I slept pretty well last night and was able to jump right into the day. The morning absolutely flew by. I got enough done that I felt really accomplished, and even spent some time remoting in to assist Heather with a deployment. That was two labs worth of testing software resolved. It felt like I had only been there for half an hour before lunch time. I lucked out and caught Summer on a slow day so she could meet me at Arby’s for lunch. The poor old lady at the register seemed new, but was kind. The tiny girl that came to help her a couple times as she struggled seemed like she was super frustrated by it. I didn’t realize it at the time, but thinking back she looked a lot like the daughter of one of the big wigs from back when I worked at Domino’s. Surely it wasn’t.

After lunch, I had to babysit the interns for a period while the girls in the library were out. I took them downstairs to help move a lab worth of computers from under the desks to behind the monitors. I originally intended to leave them to do it alone, but as we got going, I just stayed and helped complete the job. I was surprised we were able to get it all done in one day. I worked on some other stuff for a bit until Ben came by to look at the fire panel at vo-tech. I met him there and tried to learn anything, but oldschool telephone stuff still just confuses the hell out of me.

Eaddie came to the high school today, but she just had to chill out while I was with Ben. Then a bit after quitting time I had to take off to pick up Autumn from her practice. We were a bit later than I wanted to be, but I didn’t want to just leave Ben either. Once I had everyone, we headed straight to their house so they could take care of whatever it is they had to do. Autumn first claimed homework, then reported near-immediate completion when she wanted to sit down and play Minecraft. I played with them for a bit, and then switched to my phone to kill time until Summer got home.

I hadn’t been home, and it was too late for dinner by the time Summer got there, so I left and spent the rest of the evening taking care of the shrimp before bed.

We’ve got an escape artist!

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Sleeping In at Home

Summer had to work today, which meant I got to sleep in at home for the first time in a long while. I started the morning with the shrimp and just kind of lounged around all morning and early afternoon. When I finally got around, I tinkered with the computer some and got to play with PRTG, which is something I installed but then sort of abandoned last year. I even had a little fun adding some custom device icons.

Eventually I got around to bathing, then waited a bit until Summer got here from the gym and a shower. We went to my parents’ house for duck soup for dinner, and then came home for a few tense episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

No, no, no. It’s “frak.”