Tag: frustration

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Resume Testing

They started interim testing today, which meant I wouldn’t be getting much work done the rest of the week. We started off with a bunch of people coming to the office looking for loaner devices and chargers, and we had to turn them away. I even got a little snippy with Denice when she started mouthing about their inability to manage an effective take-home deployment. It seems like nobody wants to hear the fact that accountability and consistency is paramount. Casey came in and borrowed a couple devices, and though I have no clue what I could have said to offend her, apparently she felt the need to make a complaint that earned me a phone call to “put a smile on that bearded face.”

I found four higher-paying tech jobs on the first page of Indeed, for which I would be more than qualified.

Kim ended up leaving after doing about zero work for the hour she was there, because she had a bunch of people coming to look at her house. It would have been quiet, had it not been for the testing traffic and some students coming by in the afternoon for help. I talked to Denice for a bit after work, and at least then she admitted to being overly-stressed about testing, and I think we left on good terms.

On the way home, just as I was pulling up to the stoplight in Dardanelle, I heard an incredibly loud “kerCHUNK” that sounded like it came from around the rear-passenger wheel. It was loud and violent enough that I swore it shook, or at least vibrated the car. I pulled right over into the gas station parking lot and walked over to the road, where I saw nothing. There was nothing on the dash cam footage, and there was no damage to the car. I couldn’t tell what it was, and I made it back home without further incident, so there’s no telling what happened.

Summer was at a meeting with the Arkansas Tech Career Center, and Eaddie was playing in the pep band for a basketball game, so I went to the old house to feed the fish, then to Walmart to use a coupon for some free Dawn. Then I grabbed some tacos and made it home to eat before taking the Onewheel to my parents’ house to check on the cat.

I took some dry cat food to the neighbor across the street, who reminded me a bit of the librarian at school. Then I rode around for about five miles, practicing some tight turns and deep carves. I felt pretty confident, even with my achy legs and feet. Then I tried riding switch, and my muscle memory was breaking everything. Evidently my riding style is heavily directional, and I got the wobbles almost instantly every time. I kept at it though, and kept switching back and forth mid-ride. I never got any better, and then ended up falling when I tried to do a 180º pivot, and banged up my left elbow. I laid my head back on the street and sighed for a moment before packing it up for the night.

Summer got home shortly after that, followed by Eaddie a little while later. I got a little more sore as the night went on, but was ambitious enough to swap out one of the smoke detectors for a Nest Protect.

All interviews are just for practice until you take the job.

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Documents for Their Documents

I had a slow start this morning, grabbed a free cappuccino, and strolled into work a couple minutes late after fighting some dumb traffic. Denise was actually in her office all day because they’re actually doing testing, and I think that makes four whole days this calendar year. Kim was pretty chatty all day, and I struggled to deal with all the noise.

Lunch time came and went, and we kept having people in and out of the office, which further frustrated me. I spent most of the day trying to spin up SCCM, but it seemed far less than straightforward. There are so many pieces to set up manually, and for some reason I thought it would be a click-through install.

When quitting time finally arrived, I headed toward home, stopping at McDonald’s for a cheap Big Mac before going by the old house to feed the fish, and finally making it home to where Summer had been cooking dinner for a while. I changed clothes and rode to my parents’ house on the Onewheel to pick up some things, but ended up leaving more than I took because the things kept adding up to more than what I wanted to haul in my backpack.

I headed back home before dark, and Summer had baked ribs and potatoes, and pan-fried some Brussels sprouts. Eaddie made it home late for dinner, and then everyone wound down pretty quickly. I was tired and uneasy, but eventually made it to bed.

Settled down.

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That Last 92%

I kept getting behind slow people to and from work today, but the weather was nice and the clean acceleration for passing was nicer. Kim walked in right behind me, but spent a good portion of the day out of the office somewhere else around on campus, as far as I knew. I spent most of my day behind emails, trying to wrap up Jaime’s nonsense. It became more and more evident that nobody there really knew how the grants were supposed to work, and it really seems like the district is just sort of winging it.

In the middle of Kim’s lunch duty, she stuck her head in the door with a couple disposable trays of food and said she didn’t want any of it. Evidently they made extras for kids, but nobody wanted them and they were just going to throw them away. That meant early, free lunch for me. I didn’t get my usual salad, and the food was cold and dried out, but it tasted alright.

The afternoon was fairly quiet, again with Kim out of the office for a large portion of the day. Most everyone was gone by the time I left, and I raced home to load a few more things into the car. Doug caught me outside and talked to me for a little bit, and then I made it home to start some turkey soup.

As soon as everything was in the Instant Pot, I headed out on the Onewheel. I felt fairly confident on it today, and went up and around the hill to swing by my parents’ house. When I got back home, I drove to the Neighborhood Market for some noodles. Just next to the egg noodles, I saw a package of gnocchi that looked pretty good, so I decided to throw them in the pot too.

I was a little worried, but the broth actually came out really good. It was probably the best turkey soup I’ve ever made. I was worried about not having enough meat in it, but it was fine. The gnocchi was really good too. Even Eaddie liked it, even though it wasn’t a full multi-course meal.

How am I the expert here?

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Mental Health Work

I had some coffee this morning and then got into PRTG again. Maybe I felt like I had been too productively lately, but I just wanted to work on something for me. I think I got it looking pretty good, and even got a little now-playing ribbon for my music. That’s not to say that I didn’t do anything important. I cleared a troublesome log in VMware. That fixed the error, but not the root of the problem. There will be time for that tomorrow.

I stopped by McDonald’s on the way home for some free fries, and loaded up another trunk full of stuff to take to the house. Then I started to go out on the Onewheel when Summer texted that she wanted fried chicken for dinner. She agreed to actually go out instead of just coming straight home, so I made it around the block and headed back home to pick her up across town. I nearly ate a face full of sand at the top of the hill, but was able to hit the ground running as the board tumbled end-for-end behind me. I bruised the bottom of my foot a little bit, but not too bad.

Eaddie was out with friends again, so Summer and I went to Zaxby’s and hung out there for a little while. Then we went to Walmart for some stuff so I could finally make turkey soup. When I dropped her off at the carwash, we found where she had hit something in the road, and it gouged the rocker panel trim on the right side in front of her rear wheel.

We made it home and wound down for the night. Eaddie made it home late and talked to Summer for a while before coming to me with a W-9 from school for some reason. She couldn’t even assemble a sentence as to why she needed it. All I heard was something about “superintendent” and “National History Day.” We didn’t get paid to take the kids on the trip. We hadn’t even been reimbursed like we were promised, and they wanted this form filled out overnight with barely any explanation. It sounded fishy to me.

Needs more maths done.

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Nearly Drained

I woke up early and had a bowl of cereal this morning. The girls both slept really late. I ran the sump periodically throughout the day, and it ran for shorter and shorter amounts of time. I doubt the yard will dry out with only a week without rain, so maybe this week I can run a trench through the yard for drainage. I wouldn’t mind making a rain garden with some deep-rooted plants, but that will take a lot more time that I don’t really have.

Summer got up and went to Morrilton to deliver some tax paperwork for her employees there while Eaddie did some homework. I cooked a chicken pot pie in the toaster oven while I took a shower, but it really didn’t satisfy my hunger at all. I ended up eating some leftover turkey and mashed potatoes as well.

When Summer got back home, we went to wash my car and then to the old house to feed the fish and pick up a few things. Then we went to Walmart to shop around a bit and get some dinner. She decided on spaghetti, and we headed home so she could cook.

There was still a little daylight left, so I went out on the Onewheel. I stopped by my parents’ house for a couple minutes, and then went up and down the hill around the neighborhood. It was way better now that the roads were mostly dry.

I made it back a little before dinner was ready, and started unpacking the things I brought home. We ate and talked a bit, and then everyone eventually made it to bed.

But I see the birds in the sky, they’re high flying.

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Regionaires

Eaddie left for all-region early this morning. Summer was out of bed super early after a work call, and I woke up pretty early myself, but laid in bed for a little while longer, unable to go back to sleep. I eventually got around and cleaned the kitchen a bit while Summer went to the gym. She didn’t stay long because she had to get Eli’s boutonniere from the flower shop. The kids came over around lunch time but weren’t hungry, and I eventually had a shower and had to drain the basement again.

We picked up my dad for the concert, and made it plenty early for the percussion ensemble before Eaddie’s band. The whole thing was about half an hour behind, so we were worried about the kids having to rush through pictures and dinner before the dance. We dropped Dad off at his house and then the kids met us at home to get ready.

We took a bunch of pictures, and then Eaddie refused to wear her fancy new dress to dinner or the dance, and wore her band dress instead. Once they left for dinner, I finished the eggplant soup. Then Summer and I went home so she could get ready to chaperone the dance. I stayed home and tinkered a bit, but didn’t actually get as much accomplished as I had hoped before everyone got back home.

The kids watched a little bit of TV before Eaddie took Eli home. Summer was already in bed by then, and I eventually wound down around midnight.

If you’re sumping rain, in your neighborhood; who you gonna call?

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So Long, Dot

We got up early this morning so we could make it to Tulsa early enough to make a day of it. Eaddie didn’t feel great, so she went to school a little late. Summer and I left for my house, then the wash to vacuum out the car. From there, we made it to Ozark to charge and get breakfast at the restaurant inside. It wasn’t bad at all, but I had kind of hoped for better, given my experience at truck stops in the past.

That got us enough juice to get all the way to Tulsa, but we stopped briefly at the Love’s oasis for some energy drinks for ourselves. When we got to downtown Tulsa, we parked right by the Center of the Universe “art piece.” The look on Summer’s face when she finally spoke up enough to hear the echo was priceless. We didn’t stay long though, and went to the nearest supercharger to get some juice before finally just heading straight to the Tesla service center.

I met several new people this time. Blake was working the service counter and contacted the manager, Jess, about my buyback inquiry. He indicated that he had already escalated it internally, and that I should hear something back in a couple weeks. He blamed the weather for the delay in getting the replacement battery pack. After that I met Tam, who introduced himself as a Vietnamese American for some reason after I asked his name. I drove him down the road to try and reproduce the rattle in my passenger door, and of course it really had healed itself. I don’t know if someone heard it and fixed it, if it was changed due to the weather, or maybe someone fixed it on accident somehow. When that was all done, I moved everything over from the loaner and got Summer into the car. She made a comment about my trunk being loud again, so I had Tam check it out while we were there. He didn’t seem to think there were any adjustments they could do, but said they could replace the trunk strut if I wanted to submit for a new service request.

We left after that, and got some dinner at Cheddar’s. I tried their Cajun pasta, which was pretty good. I kind of wished I had stuck with the pot pie though, just because it really is delicious with their croissant crust. Summer really enjoyed her tilapia and shrimp as well. We started home after that, but on a whim I stopped at The Peach Barn after seeing a billboard. Peach ice cream sounded good. They had a cute little store with lots of jarred goods, nuts, fudge, and some other stuff. Then we got a peach sundae, smoothie, and a couple hand pies and fudge to take with us.

The drive home was mostly rainy until we got back to Arkansas. We stopped in Van Buren to charge, and then almost made it home when we got into some heavy traffic with a bunch of trucks, and I took a bunch of gravel to the face a couple of times. I had a few new speckles in the paint, as well as a small surface chip in the windshield, dead center in my vision. Now I’m really hoping the buyback works. If not, I’ll have to raise concerns with the service center due to at least one paint bubble that I think happened due to the freeze while it was in their possession.

We made it home, Summer went to bed, and I pumped the basement out again. Eaddie made it home late after all-region, but went to bed almost immediately after. I was up for a while just wasting time until I went to bed.

Rotten luck.

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Wet Wheelies

Everything has been pretty damp since the ice came in. It was really temperate out, but the ground was still wet. It was fairly quiet at work, but I felt mostly misguided in the work I was doing. I’d get into something just a little bit, and then get sidetracked. I did finally wrap up the last of my iPads for the moment, but I can already tell that I’m going to have to do a real inventory check sooner than later, otherwise I’ll have to increase our license count. I really doubt we actually have over 300 active iPads in the district.

On the way to the old house, I saw three kids at the Hickey parking lot with a couple small motorcycles and a moped doing wheelies. I quickly picked up a few small things and then ran home so I could get a little time on the Onewheel before sundown. The ground was wet just about everywhere, so I went up the hill and around the block to my parents’ house for just a little bit. Mom got home and reminded me she had eggplant soup, and was making fresh “egg foo young,” which I’m guessing was actually chả trứng chiên? I don’t think we’ve ever actually known what it really was.

I ran home to see if Summer wanted to go back over for dinner, but it ended up just being me. I went out back to pump some more water out of the basement, and then drove to my parents’ house to eat and visit for a little while. Dad let me take his old iPhone back to see if it would work for Eaddie on Google Fi. I cleaned up in the basement again, and hooked up a wireless switch so I could turn on the pump without having to wade over to the outlet in the water. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the remote control for it, so it may still be at the old house.

The girls were pretty settled in after that. Summer went to bed, and I helped Eaddie with her phone for a bit. So far, so good. Then it was off to bed.

Got the wobbles!

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Foreward

I did not sleep well at all last night, after tossing and turning for about an hour after I finished pumping out the basement. It was pretty foggy and warm out, and I was early to work again. I started with an AeroPress that simply took too long to make, and then I spent most of the day writing. At first, it was documenting and requesting a buyback for my car. Then it was documenting the work that I’ve done, will do, and hope to continue doing, so that I could present it to the Super Intendent Bros.

Kim had to leave for a little bit in the afternoon to unstuck her husband’s truck from the mud. I just continued my work in quiet. Then we finished the day casing up some iPads. I was surprised, but thankful that Kim stayed a little late to finish the job.

I made a quick drive home and loaded a few more things into the car to take to the new house. I unpacked what I had, and then went outside to check the basement again. No surprise, it was flooded again. Only about half what it was last night, but still annoyingly deep to wade through in my short boots. I had the genius idea to use my little remote switch, so I can leave the pump plugged in and turn it on from outside the door. That should take care of my concerns until we can plumb the stupid thing in permanently.

The girls went to bed fairly early, so I tried cleaning up a little more around the house. Noah had stunk up multiple rooms of the house, and left an entire couch cushion covered in chewed up fingernails. I couldn’t be sure that some of them weren’t toenails, as big as they were. I’m done with his inconsiderate, disrespectful, and neglectful ways in our home, and he’s only been here three nights. No sense in doing that again.

Just grow up.

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Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

It was rainy all day, so I don’t know what I expected. I got to work early, and Kim got to yapping. Otherwise it was relatively quiet all day. I was a little scattered when trying to dig into a project, so I had basically zero feeling of accomplishment all day. When I left work, I got a message from the Tesla service center that said I had 48 hours to return the loaner vehicle before I would be charged a rental fee. That felt a little dirty after they had my car in service for 31 days. I wished I had known the details of the lemon laws much earlier.

I continued straight home to pick up Eaddie, and we went to my parents’ house so Dad could practice taking some photos before her school dance. She fussed every time we brought it up, but when we finally got there, we had a little bit of fun with it. Noah got to the house just as we got back home, and I left to get some more things from the old house.

I stopped for some tacos on the way back home, and Noah and I ate. Then I tried unpacking and organizing a little bit while everyone else settled in for the night. Just before bed, I finally went out back to check the basement for water. I should have gone out days ago, because there was another foot of water in there. Unfortunately, my boots were only waterproof up to half that height. I can’t believe the seller said they had only used the sump like three times in their time in the home, because I’ve used it that many times in less than a month. I’ve got to plumb that thing in somehow.

I’ll never understand how some kids seem to hate showers. Frakin nasty.