Tag: frustration

Uncategorised

X-Day

Summer had to work this morning. I tried not to sleep too late, but Eaddie beat me to the shower. Then she disappeared to go to a friend’s party while I was in the shower. Summer came home excited about getting full self driving in her car, and wanted to go out to eat. The driving really had improved and seemed more assertive when taking off, and less afraid of cars crossing the street or turning in front of you.

We went to Mulan’s for lunch and then walked through the Lowe’s garden center, completely forgetting that I had reserved a free flower for Mother’s Day. We wanted to go grocery shopping to get steaks and potatoes for the family, but Summer started to feel a little sick and we ended up going straight home.

She had been talking about watching the X-Men movies after Mom watched the Wolverine origin movie the other day, so we watched the very first movie. Then I made her go out and mow as it started to get dark, and I cleaned up the kitchen in preparation for company.

Eaddie got home really late, so she’ll be spending all Sunday cleaning her room. That means I’ll have to sneak into the laundry room if I want to wash any of my own clothes. Today was a relative bust as far as I was concerned, and afternoon coffee had me up into the wee hours just doing nothing.

Stupid thermostat.

Uncategorised

Logic Puzzles

They must be training someone new at McDonald’s, because I was late to work again because it took way too long to get through the line. My reward was not having to wait in line for a 7 Brew Sweet & Salty that the school had “catered” in big, pre-brewed dispensers. I forgot about the donuts in the office, and then I had to figure out the gym sound system on wheels so they could have graduation rehearsal. Barry nearly had a heart attack when I insinuated that I may not be available the next evening for graduation.

In the end, whoever rolled the thing out there didn’t plug it in all the way. It took a real IT genius to figure that one out. I got the sound running, but there were still adjustments to be made and speakers to be balanced. For the time being, they were happy with what they had. My price keeps going up when I see how much I’m overcompensating for the ignorance of others. The bar is just too low.

I had some leftover barbecue for lunch and then ducked out early so I could be there for at least part of graduation. TCW was supposed to come run fiber into the house anyway, so I made it home just in time to meet Tony.

It didn’t take long for me to realize he just wanted a super easy install. Evidently they already trenched the fiber to the side of the house, and it was his job to get it inside. He kept wanting to go around the outside of the house, or poke the fiber through a hole in the vents that go under the house. His drill bit ended up being too short to make it through a layer of brick, followed by cinder block. Dad had stopped by for some silicone to fix his rain gauge, and I ended up having him crawl under the house to try and drill outward so we could meet him halfway. Tony called another kid for backup, but he didn’t have a longer bit either. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until after Dad started drilling that the kid even attempted to drill a new hole, and then immediately quit because he didn’t want to deface the brick trying to get into the mortar joint.

We ended up not getting new internet, and we’ll wait for them to come back with a proper sized bit. Leonard’s had 24-inch bits available all day long, but I guess they weren’t authorized to make that purchase. It’ll help them in the future, and I couldn’t believe they didn’t have one in the first place.

After the guys from TCW left, I got a call from Bitec to schedule an interview over a video call. I was a little surprised how quickly they called, and couldn’t even remember the details of the job listing. Looking back, it wasn’t very detailed at all, and seemed like a bunch of generic IT-related stuff, but at more than twice my current salary.

Dad pedaled home, and eventually Summer got home herself. Eaddie was out all night for band awards, but we didn’t go. I had been wound up enough all day, and then aggravated a blood vessel in my foot, so I sat down on the couch for a while. I eventually moved to the computer, and then bed.

Things are harder when you’re an idiot.

Uncategorised

Testing

I did my best to wake with the sun in the sunroom this morning. It seemed easier with the natural daylight, but the blinds will have to be closed to keep the heat out soon. I got to work and Kim was being pretty chatty, so it was hard to do anything, much less start a project. They brought some good barbecue for teacher appreciation lunch, but I think the rest of the week is just smaller treats. I also got a clipboard with a gator burned into the back.

After work, Summer said TCW was parked outside the house, so I quickly fed the fish and headed home. The guy was still there in the van when I got there, but as I walked out to get the mail, he drove off. I don’t know if he was just there to check that buried objects were marked, or what. He didn’t talk to Summer, and neither of us could tell whether he did anything around the house.

Once Eaddie got home, we went to my parents’ house for spring rolls. Julie and Kevin were there, so Julie tried to help us rearrange our dining reservations. I was frustrated because I scheduled things not understanding what time slots were best, or how the restaurants were ranked, and those were really the only two things I wanted help with. The girls weren’t really any help, but by the end of the night I just wanted to cancel the whole trip.

When we left, I had to go by Walmart to pick up an online order before we could get home. When we did finally get home, I noticed that in Summer’s terminal absentmindedness, she had brought an empty beer can from the house into the car when we left. I understand being busy, stressed, or overwhelmed at work, but don’t be an idiot and jeopardize my life.

Applications away.

Uncategorised

I Have Reservations

I woke up before my super early alarm this morning with a shin and calf cramp. I managed to walk to my office so I could try and book some dining for Disney, and it was surprisingly a cinch in spite of the fear Julie had instilled in us. All day, there were still reservations available everywhere. While I was confirming all of that, I called a couple different numbers to find someone that could fix Eaddie’s age in the app, so hopefully that experience will work correctly now.

It’s been hard getting into anything too serious since I feel like I won’t be sticking around long. I still haven’t heard anything from Harry or Blake, even to say they don’t want to meet with me. Maybe they’re just both busy, or maybe they’ve just already made up their minds. Maybe I have too.

My parents wanted me to meet them at Georgia Carpet Mills to pick out some flooring for the old house after work, so I did that and then went to feed the fish before going to Little Caesar’s to pick up dinner for the kids. I had placed my order an hour and a half in advance, but still had to wait for over 20 minutes for them to make and bake my order. I haggled the girl for some dipping sauce, and she kind of gave me side-eye, but I wasn’t having any sass after their miserable operation. I still want to open a store next door called Big Brutus.

Eaddie had a house full of teenagers by the time I got home, and Summer was busy with work calls for a little while. My parents stopped by to eat too, and then Mom sat down on the couch and watched the entirety of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It was a little warm in the house with so many people there, so Summer and I sat outside for a little bit to cool off after my parents left. I felt sleepy all night, but didn’t really want to go to sleep with everyone still there. The lack of sleep from the night before has made the day a struggle though.

Great, now I don’t know where anything is.

Uncategorised

Thanks for Nothing

Kim was out today, so I came in to an eerily quiet office this morning. Denice was there in the morning, but then left for the entire afternoon. I was relatively productive because of it, but I still felt the sting of burnout after never hearing anything back from Harry about a meeting. He at least opened my talking points document, but I have a feeling I’ll be more productive with the paper plant.

On the way home, Summer called and asked me to pick up Eaddie from the high school. Then we went straight home so she could clean up and go back for her appreciation concert. Summer and I ate some leftovers and then went to the arts center for the show.

The music was good, but I could see why Eaddie has burned out on Katahj Copley. It was too easy for us to spot just based on the descriptions of the music alone. Things didn’t get really bad until they invited the seniors from the concert band back on stage for The Stars and Stripes Forever. Things immediately fell apart for that song, but Summer wanted me to record it so she could just be in the moment.

Eaddie went out for dinner with her father, so Summer and I went home and started researching Disney restaurants, because why plan early? I finally figured that I could just look at the map and pick out a couple names of restaurants that I remembered hearing about ever in my life. For better or worse, I plotted a few to try and reserve in the morning.

Seat’s taken.

Uncategorised

Life Auditor

Traffic was super bad in Dardanelle this morning, but luckily I was early enough to peel out of line and duck into Burger King for a biscuit. Denice had visitors in her office for nearly the entire day, and Kim was in and out between personal calls as usual. It’s burnout city there this week.

I ended up staying late because the auditor needed some help in the front office, and evidently she was just continuing to work past everyone else leaving. I don’t even understand why she had to be on-site if it didn’t matter whether anyone else was there. She got super chatty, and apparently had to look me up after I had talked to her weeks ago because her son knew Julie back in school. She was nice, but didn’t seem to fully grasp all of the bureaucratic crap she was there to do. After I gave her any and all insight I had to offer, she started telling me her life story.

I finally made it home about an hour late, fed the fish, loaded up a few things, and found Summer at home grilling brats for dinner. We ate our really good, no-frills dinner, and then I sat on the couch and watched YouTube with Summer for a while before everyone was off to bed.

Gary, Gary, Ben, and Terry

Uncategorised

I Need a Vacation

I had to go in early again today for testing, though nobody needed me. It was super slow and quiet, aside from Kim. I’ve been feeling the burnout as time runs out to sign next year’s contract, but it looks like Green Bay is hiring for a different position. I don’t know if one of the others left, or if this may be a new position. I’ll need to reach out to Gary to see if he’d like to talk about it.

I left after my requisite eight hours and made it to the old house to feed the fish. Then I got home and Eaddie was getting ready for some band concert that I guess wasn’t open to the public, or at least we weren’t attending. I changed clothes so I could go out on the Onewheel for the first time since my big wreck. It was much more difficult to accelerate since I was still feeling so much pain in my arm. I was constantly afraid of nosediving.

My only plan was to go to Arby’s for a free sandwich, but I stopped by my parents’ house to visit with them first. Julie and Kevin were there for dinner, and I had a little bowl of some sort of taco cornbread casserole that Dad made. I stayed a while just to visit since Julie was there, but then she started talking about a show on Netflix, and Dad mentioned having trouble watching it on the TV. For some reason, Julie was immediately triggered and started yelling at me progressively louder about sponging off of them and letting them pay for a service that they “couldn’t even use” until I finally snapped back at her. Every single person there just sat in silence while she continued to berate me for being a worthless parasite, so I just left.

I slowly rode across town and had to stop behind the forestry service to sob on a park bench for a little while. I only fell down in the street once along the way, at a super slow speed on a super small bump. My wheel just spun up and spat me out, so I laid in the middle of the intersection in defeat.

After pulling myself together downtown, I continued to Arby’s the long way, because I was pretty sure every law enforcement officer in the county was blocking off Detroit under the bridge. I never could see what was going on, but they were there the entire time I rode across town, ate a roast beef sandwich, and rode back home.

Summer made it home after a rough day of her own, and went to bed. Eaddie got home late from her concert and went to bed. I took some blood pressure medicine, and went to bed.

I change my mind. I’d rather plan a vacation.

Uncategorised

Breaker Fixer

I thought about stopping for donuts this morning, but they were too busy, so I stopped for a chicken biscuit instead. I found a whole bunch of new sore muscles in my neck, abdomen, groin, leg, and sides. We still didn’t get too busy doing anything at work. Kim was in and out of the office for most of the day, having left a couple times to run errands. Senior laptop pickup was still mostly a success, but there are a lot left to go.

At the end of the day, Eric needed help raising the projector screen in the auditorium. Kim and I went in there and tried to chase down the problem, but the screen just wouldn’t budge in spite of the relays clicking in the rack. Even Harry came down to lend a hand and poke around, but in the end, it was he who overlooked the auditorium breaker in the closet outside. Todd and Steven ended up coming back, and I think Steven is the one who found it and got it going.

I got home super late, fed the fish, and then ate some super old leftover cabbage and mashed potatoes for dinner. Then I sat on the couch with Summer until she left for bed. I stalled the rest of the night, still too sore to move from my seat. Eventually I had to move out of exhaustion.

Snorlax used Hyper Beam!

Uncategorised

Print Nightmare

We struggled with printers all day after my driver snafu yesterday. Whether it was trouble printing in color, or retrieving jobs, there was always something wrong. My only real accomplishment for the day was talking to Barry to schedule Chromebook pickup, and even that took multiple emails after a face-to-face conversation because he didn’t actually know when his staff would be finished using their devices. Denice and I spent a bit of the afternoon venting about the different idiots we had to support.

I got my contract offer for barely any more than I made this year, so I immediately started looking for work again. I found a couple jobs that may interest me, so I think I’ll be challenging myself to apply to one a day for a while to see how it pans out.

I eventually made it home after getting stuck behind people driving well below the speed limit again. People either fly or crawl down that road. There’s no middle ground.

I got to the old house to feed the fish, and I brought a little bucket pond kit to the new house. Eaddie had Eli over, and Summer was making dinner. I went out back to fill my bucket and got the fountain working. It was pretty disappointing, but I can upgrade it later.

After dinner, we played Phase 10 before bed. The kids stayed up pretty late. I kept getting sidetracked myself, but eventually made it to bed.

Control P

Uncategorised

Ci’s

There was a threat of rain again today, but I don’t think I ever saw a sprinkle on my drive in. It took me the entire trip to finish my bagel, but I guess I was glad to have something occupy the drive. I made it in a few minutes early, but wasn’t any more productive for it. Kim was back, and she’s always particularly chatty after having a day off. I didn’t break anything, but I didn’t fix anything either.

After work, it was a relative breeze home to feed the fish and grab a box to take to the new house. I stopped by the high school to try and catch Eaddie so she could return the robotics toolboxes that have been rattling around in the trunk for the past few weeks, but she was just leaving as I was pulling in.

I got home and took a beat to relax before trying to take a bicycle over to Dad on my Onewheel. I got to the end of the street and had to bail due to uneven ground, and the rear tire of the bike just fell off! I struggled to get it back on, but eventually had it in place on the wrong side of the chain. That was enough that I could at least pick it up and carry it while riding the Onewheel.

After I dropped off the bike, I continued a long ride around the neighborhood before Eaddie and I went out to try and find some food. We weren’t super hungry, and couldn’t decide what to eat. We thought we’d just swing by the wash to see Summer, and then find something to eat on the way back. Eaddie decided on New China, so we drove all the way across town to find they were closed. I drove us back to town to get gas at Casey’s, which took forever because the pump was super slow.

We ultimately ended up going to Cici’s, which was a miserable experience. It was a little bit late, but not alarmingly so. There were no store hours posted on the door, but there were people inside. It wasn’t until after I had a salad that I went back up to the bar to find they had combined everything under one heat lamp. There was no variety, so I ended up with a plate full of pepperoni pizza. They’ll get a review for that move, because a relatively large family came in as we were leaving, and they weren’t opening the bar back up. There was no telling what that family ate.

We got home just as Summer did, and we settled in quickly. The week is flying by, but the work hours are crawling. I could really use a win.

Stupid bubbles.