Cloud Failings

Today started out pretty early with SharePoint sync issues, which reinforced my frustrations with Microsoft cloud services. I’ve avoided OneDrive at home for so long, and the business experience is no better. Sync had broken on one of the computers downstairs, and reconnecting overwrote all local file changes with the older cloud version, which it thought was newer.

Lunch was interesting because I wasn’t the best dressed person in the Morrilton McDonald’s. There was something in the air, because it looked like there was a higher-level manager on duty, and there was actually someon walking the lobby to keep it clean. The usual staff was still just as curt with their yelling order numbers, but the food was good, and otherwise it was a decent experience.

Muad’Dib had some big zoomies to run out when we got back to the office, and fortunately it was a quick afternoon after going to lunch so late. Mark texted earlier in the day, so I called him on the drive home. Then I stopped by Julie’s house to trade a Dutch oven for a pretty loaf of sourdough. We talked for a bit before I continued on to visit my parents.

When we left there, Muad’Dib started whining and I let him out of the car to run home. He did great as I followed him in the car, and then Summer and I ate some leftover enchiladas before she wound down for bed. I opened up some Vine stuff and then continued vacuuming until I had an anxiety attack, which mostly just left me feeling suddenly extra-exhausted, so I wrapped up to go to bed too.

Sleep Paralasys

Chop Chop

Today needed to be Friday. I waited all morning for McDonald’s, and when the time came, the app wasn’t working and I had to go in to try and place my order. I tried several times to redeem a deal, but it wouldn’t let me. Without hesitation, I walked out and we went to Taco Bell instead. It was a nice day to be outside, but Muad’Dib kept wanting to eat some cinnamon twists that somebody dropped on the ground outside. It would have been fine, except that it was off the curb, so I kept having to spank him to keep him out of danger.

We ate and then rode out a long afternoon. When we got to the house, I went out back and assembled the wood rack I ordered a while back. It was really cheap and flimsy, but hopefully it will hold up for a while out of the weather. I chopped a few logs up and had the kids wheelbarrow them to the back yard, but it got dark fast and I got stuck on a log with a big knot in it.

Everyone else wound down pretty quickly after that. The kids made some tomato and milk (???) soup, and I had a couple cold brats. Then I played a few rounds of Please Fix the Road before I decided it wasn’t for me and requested a refund.

Time to suck it up.

OneMany

I finally heard back from David at Howard today, and he set me up with a different rep that supports our category of business. Beyond that, I just haphazardly chiseled away at my understanding of Azure. We hit up McDonald’s again for more Monopoly pieces, but neither my Big Mac nor my medium hot tea had pieces. That was pretty upsetting, but I did learn that I could request up to ten game pieces per day by following the alternative method of entry, so I did that to make up for it.

The afternoon dragged on a bit as I spent much of it waiting for systems. Julie called to offer bread, so I stopped by her place when I got back to town, and chatted with her and Kevin for a little while. As soon as we got to the house, I made a sandwich out of the leftover chicken and then walked Muad’Dib to my parents’ house. Dad was at church, but Mom gave me some meat for Muad’Dib, and then we walked back in the dark.

It was a relatively quick night to bed after that, aside from my shitty Blink camera in the basement harassing me with notifications for absolutely no reason.

irritare

Doggy Jail

We swung through a busy McDonald’s for a free biscuit this morning, and then Muad’Dib had to take care of business before we could go into the office. As I was going back to the car for a bag, he ran out in front of a big truck that was coming through the front parking lot for some reason, so I had to discipline him for running around and not listening. He sulked all morning as I made him lay by my side, but he was much better behaved the rest of the day, walking right by my side any time we went anywhere.

I’ve come to hate Microsoft cloud services with nearly every fiber of my being as I try to work out what we have and what we need. Licensing is a mess, and it feels almost beaurecratic how much documentation you have to understand to make any of it work. We finally took a break and went back to McDonald’s for more Monopoly pieces. I’ve been doing pretty well with the small stuff, so maybe I’ll get lucky with something big.

The afternoon dragged a little bit as I struggled to maintain focus. I finally just had to throw my hands in the air at quitting time. Summer had burgers and brats for us when we got to the house, and then I had to run to Walgreens for a prescription and some more nonstick gauze pads for my arm.

Muad’Dib and I took a long walk to my parents’ house and visited with Dad for a little bit, and then got back right at dark. I cleaned up a little bit and wrote a few reviews, and then it was off to bed.

Doggy Directions

R.O.U.S.

I slept hard with vivid dreams last night, and had to drag myself out of bed in the morning. We got to work and Joel had brought Dexter, who didn’t take very kindly to Muad’Dib. It didn’t help that Muad’Dib just wanted to eat his food, so I had to shoo him up the stairs. I did pretty well in the morning, but after another Monopoly run, I found the afternoon to be pretty dull. I did discover that I could get hot tea to drink for an extra game piece, which was cool.

I remembered to call TCW to schedule another service call, and they somehow managed to make it out the same day. Luckily Summer was home early to cook dinner, so she was there for them to complete the job. It was rats again, and they threatened to charge the next time they had to come out. My response would have been for them to run rodent-proof cable if they’re going to leave bundles of it lying on the ground like that.

The kids were basically sitting at the table ready to eat when we got there, so we sat down for a quick dinner. Then Summer and I went out back to investigate the basement situation. Dad showed up to join the party, and the two of them wandered back farther than I could go. I actually had some spare PVC pipe sections from, I think the kids’ History Day project, so they ran the fiber through that, and I coiled the rest and hung it up in a place that hopefully a rat won’t find. While they were down there, they looked for a doorbell transformer without any luck. They did find a cat skeleton, but Summer said it looked like it had been down there longer than we have been here.

It was a short night after that. Just more frustration and bed.

|floodgates|

Prodogtive

I tried extra hard to stay focused today, and it sort of went okay. I tried to tie up some loose ends and choose a project of some importance that could keep my focus. We ended up getting pulled away from that to go downstairs, and I decided to let Muad’Dib into the office with Teddybear. I was proud of him for listening and playing nice with the little pup, and even Rhonda had to stop and take a picture of them just staring at each other. Being down there gave me the project I needed to focus on, so we went back and pecked away at that.

Monopoly was back at McDonald’s, so I had to go there for lunch. Muad’Dib was mad that I left him in the car, but I was only inside for a little bit anyway. The afternoon went by at a very normal pace. I couldn’t remember whether I had my anxiety attack then, or earlier in the morning, but it hit me pretty hard whenever it was.

When we finally left, something caught Muad’Dib in a laser-focus, and I turned back around the corner to see one of the guys leaving the plant with a bag of chips. He offered one up for puppy tax, and then I had a little trouble rounding him up to leave. We stopped at the wash to see Summer, but she was too busy to really visit anyway.

We weren’t at the house for very long before Summer showed up, and we decided to go to Cici’s since they had the cheapest meal in town. I just had to go easy on the pizza, and left actually feeling pretty decent after a good salad. It was dark when we got back, but we walked Muad’Dib to my parents’ house to see Dad after his trip to Alabama. Then it was right back to the house for bed.

Toxic Gift Cards

Let the Hauntings Begin

I got up right after Summer this morning and made us some bacon, eggs, and cheese to go on a couple leftover biscuits from Popeye’s. Eaddie had a game in the evening, and Summer wanted to go to the gym early, so I spent the day vacuuming the carpet some more.

Summer wanted to take some banana pudding to the people at the wash, so Muad’Dib and I went with her to get out of the house. Afterward, we went to Tacos 4 Ever where I encountered two super confused young people when I asked if we could eat with our dog outside. After disappearing into the back of the restaurant, a third young lady came out only to be just as confused. After some back and forth and me insisting that I wasn’t wanting to order to-go, they said we could just bring the dog inside and they would seat us in the “back” of the restaurant, which was just the end of the aisle of seating they had.

Our food was excellent as usual, and Muad’Dib got a handful of chips. Some were even dipped in my birria juice. We left there and went straight to Tech to find a place to watch the band. We were there way earlier than I expected, and I kind of cooked in the sun a bit. I tried to walk around with Muad’Dib to find some shade, and then an officer approached us and asked me to put him on a leash that people could see. He was being a good boy and let me wrap it around him for a while, but Summer felt I was protesting too much.

Once everyone started toward the gates, I left with Muad’Dib to find more entertaining things to do. We were on the way home when I saw a crowd at the train depot, so I thought we’d stop in to see what was going on. I remembered something about a fund raiser for hungry children, but in spite of a small crowd, there really didn’t seem to be anything fun for us to do. There weren’t many vendors, and though it seemed like some people were still arriving, it also seemed like others were leaving. I was confused, and not in the mood to stick around, so we walked the block and left.

When we got back to the house, I felt like I hit a brick wall. Muad’Dib didn’t waste any time going to bed, and I eventually laid down with him for just a few minutes. Eventually halftime came and went, and I got my text to pick up Summer. We got her home and wound down pretty quickly. I watched a very small bit of Dodgeball with Summer in bed before getting up to finish my routine. Not long after that, the fiber went out again. I went outside to investigate, and found the basement door wide open. I didn’t see any trouble with the part of the fiber I could get to, but we’ll have to investigate further tomorrow. Power flickered sometime later for only a second, so maybe the whole place will burn down so we can just leave.

This place is cursed.

Suck It Up

We ran a little late today, but not enough to matter. Between the pain in my elbow and my head cold, I wasn’t worth a whole lot. I did at least manage to bring my OneWheel to send along with our UPS pickup. We had a quick peck at Sonic and made it back for a long afternoon.

Summer had met the TCW tech to fix our fiber, so internet was back up at the house and everyone was there to celebrate. Eaddie and Eli practiced stuff with notes while Summer bathed. I cleaned up an assortment of leftovers and started a load of laundry before getting to vacuuming as quickly as I could.

I extracted canister after canister of the finest powdered dust, as though someone had dumped a bag of flour all over the living room. There would be occasional bits of hair or fuzz, but it was almost entirely the broken down insulation dust. I completed less than a quarter of the room, and I’m sure I’ll still have to go over it several more times. I had a pretty bad anxiety attack near the end that had me in a daze for a while.

McMonopoly looms.

It’s All in My Head

I started stuffy last night, but then then my nose was running profusely all day. I progressively felt a little bit worse by the hour, but had an okay lunch at Sonic. The afternoon dragged on a bit, but having lunch late helped. Summer met a tech at the house from TCW to investigate our bad fiber, but couldn’t stay with him until he replaced the rat-chewed cable. I got no further details until she asked me at home whether they had scheduled a new appointment with me.

As I got to the house, Eaddie was leaving for a date night in Conway to see one of their wind ensembles play. I had a few ribs and then walked to my parents’ house with Muad’Dib. Mom had stuff to heat up some phở, so I stayed for dinner. Dad unboxed his new computer but wasn’t ready to do anything with it. By the time we left, it was already dark outside.

Summer was in bed when we finally made it back. I felt terrible, and prepped for sleep. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to start vacuuming.

always|dniheb

Mac is Back

I went to bed a couple hours early last night, but woke up several hours early with a stomach ache. I managed to fall back asleep for a little while, but it wasn’t long before I had to start getting ready for work. I knew it would take me longer to clean and dress my wounds, so I accounted for that and got to work right about the same time. I was slow and achy all day, but we made it work. The stupidly slow PC I had been working on was evidently only slow because of an insufficient power supply, so I was happy to get that off my desk.

When lunch arrived, I noticed the Big Mac was back on the $6 medium combo deal, so that’s where we went. I was relatively quick in and out, though things seemed to be running more smoothly today than usual. It looked like there were some suits there, so hopefully they’re getting things straightened out.

I tried to go late enough that the afternoon wouldn’t drag on forever. I stopped for a free coffee at Casey’s before going back, and then it was a slow sprint to the finish line. At one point I took a walk with Muad’Dib just to stretch out a bit from being sore.

On the way home, we encountered some sort of medical emergency, but it didn’t look like there was a wreck or anything. Fortunately, traffic moved pretty quickly right on through. We got to the house to find Summer cleaning up. I unboxed a bunch of Vine stuff and then ate the old, dried up KFC that was still in the fridge before taking Muad’Dib on an acoustic walk. I just wasn’t keen to trust the Onewheel after it plowed into the ground without warning yesterday.

We walked straight to my parents’ house, then looped back around just as it got dark. I was too tired and sore to vacuum, but I’ll need to get on that tomorrow. Internet had been out since sometime the night before, so I called TCW to schedule a tech for sometime the next day, and eventually got to bed early.

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