Tag: aquarium

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The Princess Is in a Cooler Castle

I had to take an alternate route home this morning due to railroad construction, and then the extra traffic on the way in to work very nearly made me late. I spent all morning with Brice doing the cleanup work orders at Oakland. Allen came by and helped after taking care of something else.

Ben brought smoked turkey for lunch, so I had to run to Neighborhood Market for my side. I brought potato salad and rolls, because I didn’t realize Jason was bringing some kind of cheesy potato salad type dish. Both people in front of me in line paid by cash at the self-checkout, which was stupid and slow. Why do people use money?

The afternoon was more of the same, with the addition of Amanda and Jason for a short while. Summer and Ben stopped by after Mark stood them up for their meeting, but I couldn’t really help them. Ben let us have a working lunch, so most of us left early. I ended up going to the high school to drop off some things first, where I got caught up chatting with Bryan for a minute outside. I didn’t realize higher level administrators had the same number of contract days that we have.

I stayed super late in my new office, hooking up one of my speakers and contemplating a desk move. Then I went home and started water changes in all of the aquariums before having to pick Eaddie up from karate. We went by my parents’ house without any real plan, where we ended up eating some leftovers and doing puzzles. Eaddie was doing them on her phone, while I put together a 3D castle that Dad pulled out of the closet.

We headed back to Summer’s pretty late, and I was so exhausted that I just crashed there. It took my house a frustrating hour to cool down four degrees, and I don’t know if it’s the weather, or if there’s something wrong with the new unit, or if it’s just not designed to be shut off for long periods of time. In any case, I need to spend some more time at home now to take care of all of this stuff. I just feel like I’ve been run over by a school bus.

“And at the end of it all, my only regret is not spending more of my life working for a living.”  –nobody ever

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The Humidity of Our City – Our Ciiiity!

I scarfed down an apple fritter on the way home this morning, and was greeted by another dead A/C unit, presumably full of water again. At least the house had cooled down quite a bit, so I was able to get ready for work without too much additional sweat. I was running a tiny bit ahead, so I proceeded with adding the new shrimp to the kitchen aquarium. Dad showed up just before I left for work so he could house-sit while Dependable replaced my central heating and air. I figured it would be a few hours, but it ended up taking all day long.

Jason decided to take a look at the high school sign with me, which took quite a bit of walking and driving back and forth across the campus. We ended with the assumption that the outlet is bad, or at least giving dirty power that’s causing some issues. Everything else seems to be working correctly. When we got back to the shop, we loaded up with some cable and went to meet Heather at the junior high to pull a couple lines. I thought I had it down to the foot, but I ended up being super short and lost one of the two cables in the ceiling, so we had to finish after lunch.

Allen and Gary wanted to go to Bocadillos for lunch, but didn’t want to wait for me to get back to the shop, so I had to drive myself down to Dardanelle. The food had been better, and the salsa tasted like it had started to turn. To top it all off, I was charged double for my drink, and my mangonada cup was served super messy. I managed to make it home to check on Dad though. Bác Vân brought him lunch, but I felt bad that he had to sit in the hot house all day. I really had no idea it would take that long, and I didn’t leave him anything to keep entertained. I really should have just taken the day off myself.

Back at work, Jason stayed at the shop while Heather and I finished re-running and terminating cables. Then we ended the day with some battery swaps and a cooldown in the office. That’s when the rain finally hit, and it really poured. I wasn’t willing to wait it out, so I ran to the car, splashing through the flooded parking lot, and made my way home.

Baby Bye Bye Bye!

The guys were just finishing up with the equipment and needed to test the thermostat. It was a bit upsetting that they didn’t seem to have a clue how to use the Nest thermostat since Dependable is a registered Nest Pro. I had to set the thermostat up myself after plugging it in to a micro-USB cable to quickly charge it back up after they cut power at the breaker for it last month. They had enough other stuff to finish while we waited for the charge though, and eventually tested everything successfully. It took the house a few hours to cool down from the peak of 89 degrees, and the unit didn’t seem to be very fast at all. The air coming out of the vents was just barely cool, and the outside unit didn’t blow as hot as I expected. I was just happy to have something going though.

When Summer and Eaddie finished what they were doing, they came to pick me up and we went to my parents’ house for some leftover phở. We sat there for a little while before going back for my car. They went home and to sleep while I cleaned up a couple things at the house, and then I joined them for another night.

So much to catch up on now…

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A Day Off

Summer and Autumn headed out before lunch and left me to myself for the day. I couldn’t sleep in as long as I wanted, but it was probably for the best anyway, if only so that my sleep schedule doesn’t get flipped completely upside down.

I didn’t really accomplish anything besides a shower. I did spend some time with the fish, and even got some mosquito larvae for them all. I spent a little time on Overwatch, and some on YouTube, and just picked at some food all day around the house.

The girls headed home after Autumn’s belt test at karate, and Mom offered some stir-fried vegetables at the same time, so I went there to eat. I forgot some of my meds at home though, so I just went back for the evening instead of going up to Summer’s. We’ll have all day tomorrow though, when we go to Conway for Aladdin.

I ended the day replacing the duvet cover on my weighted blanket, though I’m not sure it will make much difference in how much heat it holds. Maybe at the very least, it will hold fewer brown recluses.

Bugger.

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Removing Tech

Finals started for my campuses today, so I spent all morning at the junior high while Ben covered Oakland. I used the time to dust and wipe more computers for esports kids since there wasn’t any real need for me anywhere. Dale called for lunch and nobody else was interested, so I met him at Subway for an overpriced 6-inch sub. We didn’t stick around long because the parking lot was packed. I went back to the shop for a bit before visiting Oakland.

Steven had texted earlier about his laptop not working. Ben okayed the swap of his old desktop and laptop for a single laptop to use, but I considered it a small success to have him agree to use the office loaner on those very rare occasions that he needs a laptop, and I’ll replace the desktop with a current model over the summer.

I finished the day at the shop, partly messing with a Chrome tablet and partly chatting with Ben. Then I went home and had to clean up a bit and separate my betta pair in the kitchen. The Dumbo’s fins have been getting worse every day, and though I haven’t seen the other betta pick on her in any meaningful way, I had to start eliminating variables to get her better. Afterward, I went to visit with Summer for just a little bit before going to get gas, exchange the incorrect toilet seat I had picked up from Lowe’s on Saturday, and finally to Tractor Supply to pick up some bags of Black Diamond coal slag sandblasting abrasives to use as a soil cap in the aquariums. I really hope it pans out, but it’s going to be quite a bit of time consuming work ahead.

Back home, I started some laundry, installed the new toilet seat, cleaned up, and played some Overwatch with Clint, Jack, and Johnny before bed.

The socks won’t sort and number themselves!

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Just a Splash of Kool-Aid

I tried to take today pretty easy since I’ve been over-monitoring my blood pressure the past couple days. Luckily this time of year it’s easy to do that, but I’m not looking forward to a hot summer. We all went out to Brangus for lunch so Ben could treat Heather for administrative professionals day. I told her I didn’t need an artificial holiday to remind me how much we love her. Besides, I thought the day was for actual administrators, which also doesn’t include sysadmins.

Allen provided a cellphone photograph of a CD for Gary to whitelist the software. I don’t think I have to explain to anyone else that this is not how that works.

After work, I ran home and did some water changes before dressing up for dinner. Then I made my way to Summer’s in the rain to pick up everyone. One of the guys from her new company wanted to take us all out for dinner at Brangus so we could meet his family and get to know a little more about what she’s getting in to. They’re definitely coming in swinging, and it makes sense that there’s so much money in what they’re doing because it’s more about a service than a product. I’m excited for her, and I hope it works out as well as she believes. There’s always more money in sales, no matter what field you’re in.

Back home, Summer went to bed sick, and I played a couple rounds of Overwatch with Clint and Johnny before bed.

The puns will practically write themselves.

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The Existential Review: Year 3

I had my yearly review scheduled for this afternoon, so I spent the morning doing what I could around my buildings. I took a break for lunch and met Dale, Brice, and Summer at Taco John’s for Taco Tuesday. We ended up getting way too much food because of a coupon, but somehow I managed. Getting over being sick again has me regularly hungry, but I was hoping it would help me cut back.

My review went well after lunch. I sat down with Ben ahead of schedule just to get things started, and we chatted for quite a while. It’s looking hopeful for an esports stipend, and everyone seems to be on board with what I’ve presented. I’m just hoping I can keep it from feeling as life-sucking as last week when the kids were super rowdy for no reason. I think that will get better as the teams get more serious though. Dale’s retirement is set, so it’s looking like I’ll be moved to the high school now, which leaves me to clean up and move offices. I’ll lose a window, gain a ton of room and storage, and be left with the best-documented procedures on campus. Hopefully I’ll be able to retain enough free time to keep learning things I want to learn, and also have time out for esports in the afternoons. Time will tell. I’ll miss my friends the most.

Nearing the end of the school day, I dropped by Oakland to move their copy machines for kindergarten registration, then made my way to the junior high for esports. We had several new faces today, which meant spreading to the second lab for the first time. We were really only short by one computer, but several of my quieter players chose to move over immediately when I offered the space, which made it a bit easier to manage everyone else. Unfortunately that lab hadn’t been updated automatically, so we wasted several minutes doing that before anyone could play. It was nice to get to talk to a few of them in that time though, since normally I’m just having to sit back and watch over the entire lab of everyone at once.

After work, I ran home and messed with the aquariums a bit, and experimented with some alternative CO2 dosing by filling some glass bottles with carbonated water and floating them upside down in the tanks. I’ll probably have to try again some morning rather than so late at night, but again I’m hopeful that it will provide noticeable growth improvement. That put me a little behind getting the girls from karate, but they seemed to have other things going on anyway. From there we went to their house for leftover chicken in the form of nachos. They were pretty good, but felt like they missed a binding agent like cheese dip. They just kind of fell apart too much, and missed the flavor of the dip.

My head cold cocktail seems to have worked fairly well the past couple days, so I went for a third night to combat the snottiness.

Welcome to your life. There’s no turning back.

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Custom Cocktail Cures

After doubling up on Benadryl last night, my head seemed a bit more clear when I woke up. I’m hoping I’ve found a combination of medicine that I can take to quickly rid myself of the congestion that normally plagues me for months at a time.

When I got to work, Zach gave me an ice chest full of frozen food he wanted to clear out of his freezer. There was something about a church food bank that always has leftover frozen goods that nobody ever wants to take because it requires more effort to keep. There was a surprising mix of better frozen meals, junk food, and microwavable breakfast sandwiches. I managed to fit it all into my freezer, and it’ll be nice to have something easy to warm up on weekends when the kids are over.

I didn’t get a whole lot done today because I still wasn’t feeling great. I spent a few hours fighting with the intercom system at Oakland, picked up some soup for lunch by myself in my office, and then spent the rest of the afternoon there just picking at things to clean up. The day went by pretty quickly though, and it didn’t seem like too long before it was quitting time.

Summer talked to Matt, and made it official that she’ll be taking the job at the shop. I guess I knew she was leaning that way, but she never really talked to me any more about it. I was hugely disappointed that she didn’t at least try to negotiate a better starting rate. Every time I bring it up, it’s like a deer in headlights and I don’t know what else I can do to help without just pushing her away. This stuff is really important to me, and I feel like it should be important to her too. I completely understand being shy or lacking confidence to have that conversation, but at the end of the day, money not earned is money lost, and that directly impacts the family. At some point, something’s gotta snap into gear where you just get shit done. The weirdest thing is that she’s very much that way in many other aspects of her life, so I don’t understand why this should have been any different. This should have been an easy win.

I volunteered to wait for Autumn and then take the girls to pick up Noah before heading home. The kids all sat around playing their various electronics while I started a load of laundry and confirmed that my kitchen aquarium water was toxic. From that point, I knew I had to jump right into a water change tonight.

We loaded up and headed to Summer’s where the house was filled with the aroma of simmered, shredded chicken breasts. I’d always read about shredded chicken out of a crock pot, but I’ve never actually tried it. The chicken came out way mushier than I expected, but I didn’t know all the variables to correct it for next time. It tasted good though, and made plenty for leftover nachos tomorrow after the barbecue sandwiches today. She scored a key lime pie for dessert, and then I had to head back home to tend to my own chores.

The bettas and snails all seemed to look a little better after a massive water change, but I’ll have to keep doing more relatively soon to make sure the chemistry balances out. I also need to go get some potting soil and sandblasting media to properly plant and cycle another tank or two in order to move things around to where I want them. It’s a shame we’re only given so much time for all the different things we enjoy.

Guaifenesin Diphenhydramine Phenylephrine

 

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‘Cause I am Barely Breathing

Summer had a 5k and quiz bowl tournament to attend today, so I slept in a little bit. It really wasn’t too late though, before I got up and started trying to motivate myself to clean house. I felt my head cold grow all day long, and I just kept feeling worse and worse, but I didn’t want the day to be a total loss. I ate my week old Firehouse sandwich that was dry and not delicious. Then I started cleaning up around the kitchen and vacuumed the living room.

I wanted to get the big pieces picked up before Ronda and Steven came over to drop off some stuff she picked up for me, but I guess they had more deliveries to make and didn’t stick around long. She got me a reptile double lamp and a nice little aquarium with an overly intricate filtration system in the back. I think it will make a nice home for Murderface in the near future.

I went ahead and moved Blue over to the community tank and she seemed to do fine there. I also noticed she only has one ventral fin, and I’m not sure she’ll grow a second one back. It looked like it could have been a birth defect. I watched her for quite a while to make sure she settled in well, and nobody really seemed to take any notice. The heavy plant coverage should help her find a home in there anyway.

When Summer got home, she took a shower before we strapped in for a Battlestar marathon. I got up to make some instant phở for dinner because neither of us were too keen on getting out, and it was rainy anyway. We got a few episodes watched before my head stopped functioning and she was ready to pass out. I loaded up on what meds I could and hoped for the best.

Hamburger

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Evasive Tax Form

The weather was supposed to be nice again today, but it was still super cold on the bike in the morning. I went back and forth between Oakland and the shop a few times trying to fix some issues before testing season arrives. It was still a mostly mellow morning though. I did run into Michael, who asked about borrowing my home theater speakers for a Dancing Through the Decades dance in a couple weeks. I just didn’t feel comfortable loading them up and bringing them out for use in public though.

I met Zach and Allen at Morellos for lunch, where I vowed to eat too many chips. I had been hungry all morning, and I absolutely loaded myself with fajitas and chips. Allen left us super early as usual, and Zach and I both still got to the shop separately, and well before our lunch hour was over. I really don’t know what his anxiety is about.

I tried to get some tablets reset at the junior high before school let out, but I didn’t get them all done before Jason wanted Brice and me to help Amanda mount a touch panel. At first I thought we were all four going to be there, but evidently he helped Amanda deliver the touch panel, and we were to swap it with a previously mounted television and then bring that back to the shop. I got pretty annoyed at Brice, because Jason emailed us early in the morning with a scheduled time of 3:00, so I left my tablets unfinished to meet at the shop. Brice took an extra 30 minutes to get there, and then we still had to drive to the middle school. On top of that, Gary seemed to be bored at the shop, and Ben was going to be at the middle school to continue his walkthrough. It just felt like everyone was either already there or available to help, and I was annoyed that I couldn’t get my work done. It didn’t help that I was mad at myself for forgetting to complete a work order yesterday, but I really didn’t get any heads-up for that one anyway.

After work, I came home to gather some things before going to Lowe’s to hunt down some light bulbs. I didn’t even see a compatible LED like I’ve been getting from Walmart, but they had one single-pack incandescent for a little more than the LEDs cost. Hopefully it won’t burn out after just a couple days though. I wish I knew what the problem was. I went ahead and picked up a new fluorescent bulb for the 35 gallon bow-front tank as well since it’s been out for years. There were only a couple cashiers, and after waiting in line for quite a while, my guy couldn’t scan a gift card correctly and I ended up getting out of line to check the balance. Once I confirmed what I knew, I got back into the next shortest line and checked out without incident.

I finally made it up to Summer’s for just a spot of dinner and to visit. They had already eaten since I was still a bit full from lunch anyway. Summer and I went to the other room to talk about her offer from the shop, and I tried to help her calculate the value of her time. It really could go either way, depending on her negotiation. The best part is just that she has multiple options for now and in the future, so I tend not to fret too much over her choice. I spent a bit of time trying to buy tickets for Shazam, but had to give up after I met a hidden order limit that required a call to guest services to explain.

Eventually I headed back home for the evening and tried to take care of the aquariums a bit. Once that was done, I spent the rest of the night cleaning with the purpose of finding my W-2. I just couldn’t find it anywhere, and I started to get really aggravated. I felt good about getting so much stuff cleaned up and thrown out, but I was going crazy not remembering where I had put it. Eventually I found it in the living room, but didn’t have enough time to actually file my taxes. I guess there’s still tomorrow.

At least I got my watch shipped off.

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Plant Fitness

I was so tired this morning after such a busy weekend. I lost my last cherry red shrimp last night, and after fishing it out of the bowl, I dug around and found the other one dead as well. The body nearly melted as I tried to remove it, which meant it must have been dead for a bit longer. I couldn’t remember if I had seen them both alive after the trip or not, but I was sad that they both died without any signs of a reason why. Water parameters seemed okay. Maybe it was the fluctuation of the water temperature.

The work order system email handler failed at some point, so I didn’t think I had much going on in the morning and spent it at the shop. Heather got my room booked for the conference in June, and unfortunately I couldn’t get one at the Embassy Suites like I wanted. Staybridge has been great in the past though, so I couldn’t complain too much. I just wanted to try somewhere new. Allen, Zach, Sara, Gary, Ben, and I went to Zaxby’s for lunch, which was exciting and rare. We never did hear from Dale, so I ended up putting his Rap Snacks in his cabinet at the shop.

After lunch, I ran home to fetch my delayed aquarium plants out of the mailbox. They looked to be in pretty good condition, so I went ahead and planted a few of them before heading back to work. I went to the junior high and milled around doing a few things before Gary restarted the Web Help Desk server. Then I found myself with no shortage of tasks to complete. I managed to get most of them done, but ended up staying late fighting with the esports lab. I got the LoL clients updated, but had some trouble getting ADUC loaded on the instructor’s computer. I guess I’ll just have to keep using remote desktop to handle that step.

When I finally got home, I made some barbecue pork nachos for dinner, and then got to work planting the rest of the new plants. I think I’ll move Murderface Betta to the shrimp bowl since all my shrimp died. That will give me a little more room. The dumbo and spotted one look to be getting along fine together, so that will just leave the blue one left to home since he didn’t get along with the other two in the kitchen. I had just enough time for one game of Overwatch with Johnny before bedtime, and then it was an early lights out.

Me, a mentor? Is that like the big half-man, half-bull thing? Can those even gallop?