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Tank of Least Resistance

I had a massive headache all morning, but Summer saw a post on the Ring app that our dogs were out wandering the neighborhood, so I had to ride around to try and find them. I took several laps around the neighborhood and never caught a glimpse. My feet started hurting really badly, so I came back home and walked to the back yard just to make sure they hadn’t come home. They weren’t back there, but they were in front of the garage when I came back around the house. They must have seen me somewhere and followed me back.

I fried some eggs for French bread sandwiches, and then Summer really wanted to mow. I tried to find how water was getting from the cold to the hot lines, and with Summer’s help, we eventually tracked it down to the master shower mixer. I tried to take a cold shower since we didn’t have a water heater, and it was much colder than I remembered from the other night. I tried a couple times, but just barely managed to get myself wet. Of course Summer had to outdo me and take one herself.

My parents had eggrolls and noodles, so we went over there for a late lunch. When we got back home, I decided that it would probably be best to just stick with a water tank for now. I’ve always wanted to switch to tankless, but the lack of a regulator, need for a larger fuel line for either gas or electric, need for a more substantial vent if we went with gas, and the likelihood of the work being pushed back a week for the actual work to be done convinced me that I just needed to get something done today.

I poked around in the vent to see if I could get it reattached. Dad came over when we couldn’t find where the vent actually left the house, and we found it in the secondary attic. Summer and I went to Lowe’s to try and pick up a replacement water heater, but Dad had to meet us there because there wasn’t a soul in the store that knew a thing about plumbing. We eventually just settled for a couple parts, and headed home.

The girls were able to help me lift the tank high enough that I could wrap straps around it and lift it the rest of the way. It was a super tight fit, but having a 50 gallon tank instead of a 40 gallon tank should let us keep the set temperature a bit lower, or at least keep us from running out so quickly in the winter. Dad came back over to help hook everything up after I got it in place, and I was finally able to take a hot shower before bed.

Sometimes we trade dreams for convenience.

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Seven Trains Later

Both of the dogs were gone this morning, and I found the front gate open. I assumed the neighbor accidentally didn’t close it all the way, so I took the Onewheel around the block and found them not far away, running through the streets. As soon as they saw me, they came running and I just rode home with them right behind. I thought it was a pretty good response, but Muad’dib eventually disappeared again in the afternoon.

I spent the morning cleaning up the creeping vines on the fence, so the gate was much more accessible. Then I trimmed the rose bushes so they weren’t sticking out over the walkway. Our backyard neighbor Josh handed me a bag of homegrown blueberries from their garden and we traded phone numbers. I continued to sweat profusely as the sun got higher, so I came inside for a shower. After the shower, I heard a water leak alarm and found the water heater standing in a pan full of water.

The rest of the afternoon was a bit of a jumble. Dad came over to take a look at the tank with me, and we started draining it. I warmed up some leftover roast beef for lunch when Summer got home, and then Dad came back over so we could pull the old tank out. We really wanted to go tankless, but the earliest anyone could come even look at it was Monday. We figured we could deal with cold showers for a few days, but needed to replace the washer in the shutoff valve, so we went to Leonard’s for that. Then Dad had to leave for his old friend Dave’s art show.

Ronda and Steven were cooking at their new food truck, so we wanted to go support their soft-open. We took that food back home to eat, and then tried to catch Dad at the art show. He was already gone, but we wandered around the gallery with wide eyes. I told Summer he was good, but I don’t think she believed me when I told her how good.

After that, we went shopping for a couple things at the house, and we also looked for some better dog collars and leashes. Walmart didn’t have what we were looking for, so we went to T.J.Maxx and found a leash and a squeaky toy. Perhaps we should have waited, because Ross actually had a better selection. Five Below had nothing. It was all garbage.

We ran home and I met up with Dad again to try and pick up a super cheap tank heater that was on clearance at Lowe’s, but they couldn’t find it on the floor. We grabbed a plug for the hot water line instead, and sealed that off so we could at least turn on water to the house without it coming out uncontrollably from the wrong pipes. I tried to track down the faulty mixer that was letting cold water back up through the hot lines, but gave up about halfway through the house.

I was exhausted and sticky by the end of the day, but at least cold showers are on the table again, and I can wash my hands after petting the dogs. Hopefully they’ll stick around for a walk in the morning.

When it rains, it leaks some more.

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Lab for One

There was no way I was getting to work on time in the rain this morning. I forgot my routine for summer hours, only barely remembering that we would work four ten-hour days. I resigned myself to picking up some Burger King so I wouldn’t starve for lunch, and made it in about five or ten minutes late. I was by myself all day. It looked like Denice had been in her office at some point, but otherwise I never actually saw her.

I spent the entire day imaging lab computers and updating network equipment. I got nearly all of Jaime’s lab finished, and got rid of most of the boxes that were stacked in front of my desk. Tim called to say they fixed the Pathfinder, so we can go pick it up tomorrow. Becky came in a couple times to get trash and then invited me to have breakfast with them in the mornings in the life sciences classroom.

It was a ghost town by the time I left, which made me wonder when everyone else left. Being completely solo, and working more hours than Kim, I really don’t have a clue when I’m allowed to duck out a little bit early.

When I got to the old house, Dad was there with a guy down the street cutting branches off of the fallen tree. He wanted to get quotes for insurance, and the tree removal alone would have been slightly more than his deductible, so it didn’t seem to make sense to start removal if nothing was seriously broken. He did uncover the air conditioner though, and without any damage, it started up just fine.

The mini fridge fit in Dad’s trunk perfectly, so we took it to the new house after stopping by his house to get the rice dispenser he had already picked up from Bác Vân’s house for me. We should have left the fridge outside to defrost, but we brought it in and left it in the entryway.

Once Eaddie got home, we went to Dardanelle for dinner and ice cream at Bocadillos. The food wasn’t bad, but the service was. The girl just didn’t seem to want to be there at all. We chatted and stuffed ourselves before heading back to town. I thought we’d swing by the store to find Summer, but she was having a very bad day. She wouldn’t be home until late, so we headed home to find water all over the entryway.

I crawled around and cleaned up the water, and set the fridge up in the dining area. I think it’d probably be better in the living room, but I’d want to put something under it to keep it from leaking onto the carpet. Summer eventually made it home and I put her to bed quickly before heading to sleep myself. We were both completely burned out from the day, and needed much rest.

Government wouldn’t do something like that…

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If a Tree Falls in the Hood

Today was the last day of school, and things were quiet everywhere. Traffic wasn’t bad, and people weren’t pouring into my office constantly, so I had a little time to get settled in and put some Chromebooks and chargers away. I ended up scanning all of the returns into a sheet so I could know exactly where each device was on the shelf.

They brought us Taco Villa for lunch, and then sent everyone home afterward. Kim ate with everyone in the cafeteria, and I would have too if I had realized it soon enough. I already had everything open in the office though, so I just ate and continued working. I stayed a little bit late just to wrap things up, and then headed home.

Just as I was getting close to Dardanelle, my old neighbor David called me. I could swear he said a big branch had fallen between my house and Bác Vân’s, so I headed over to check it out. When I got there, I was greeted not by a branch, but by an uprooted pine tree from the front yard. By some miracle, it managed to fall perfectly between the houses and only appeared to cause a little bit of damage to the very edge of my roof. It missed the other house entirely.

I headed home to change, and then picked Dad up so we could go check it out. He took a bunch of pictures that we took to the insurance office, and it seemed like it would be the better option for us to just take care of the tree ourselves and then just pay a roofer or carpenter to fix the house. As long as there’s no hidden damage under the tree, we didn’t figure it would be that bad. The trunk of the tree would be a lot of work, but the upper branches seemed small and manageable for two people.

I dropped Dad off and went back home until Eaddie showed up after school. Summer was supposed to work really late, but came home because she didn’t feel well. FedEx delivered a replacement thermostat and Eaddie was super hungry, so I took her for a ride across town to swap out the baseplate at the old house and then get some food. Just as we were about to go to Freddy’s, Dad reminded me that they had both ribs and curry, so we got Eaddie a free custard and then headed back across town.

After we ate, I took Eaddie home and then took the Onewheel across town to swap thermostats. It hurt my feet pretty bad since I was out of practice, but at least I didn’t dump the board. I was afraid to test the thermostat until we got the tree off of the unit outside, so I just headed back home. I stopped to get some more pictures of the shipping container in the woods, then at Casey’s for a drink, and circled around Ridgewood and the bike path where I saw the first lightning bugs of the season.

The girls were in bed by the time I got home, so I cleaned up a bit and then tried to get to bed early myself. Kim is out for the summer, so unless we have a project for her to work on, now is my time to really get things done.

Like threading a pine needle…

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Be Cool

I saw that the cafeteria was having macaroni and cheese as an entree today, so I stopped by Burger King for some croissants instead. I ended up getting to work a little late after following a bunch of really slow people, but Kenny was the only one fussing about anything right off the bat. He couldn’t access our old camera system, and evidently the server never properly powered back on after our surge last week.

I also called Roy’s early in the morning so we could get someone out to look at the air conditioner. I was surprised at how quickly I got a call back, and Summer was with Eaddie at the dentist, so I had to call Dad. I didn’t specify, so he accidentally went to the old house and I got a call when the tech arrived and nobody was home. Dad and Summer got to the house right about the same time, and luckily the tech found a hidden C wire that he could connect without having to run a whole new wire. Unfortunately it was the Nest thermostat at fault again.

The rest of the day was pretty hectic with teachers constantly coming in for me to sign off on their technology inventory. At least this year I had lists of Chromebooks to send back to them. Several kids were also in and out to borrow or return devices, because nobody seems capable of the responsibility of bringing them to class every day.

After work, I headed to the old house and pulled the thermostat off the wall again to see if it would work with the new C wire at the new house. It reported the same error, so I figured it was the backplate that had actually failed. Summer was doing some work from home, so I went back to the old house to get the newer backplate and swapped the entire system out. That got the system working, so the new house cooled down pretty quickly.

I spent about 45 minutes on chat with Nest support to try and file a warranty claim, but was told repeatedly that a 2-year warranty that started on May 30th had ended on May 4th. Unable to escalate to a live supervisor, I settled for a followup contact. Then I figured the air unit at the old house was completely replaced since I had gotten the new thermostat, so I took a trip back to see if the old thermostat and backplate would work with the new HVAC unit. Unfortunately it really was dead.

I picked up some Taco Villa for dinner on the way back home. Summer and I ate alone since Eaddie was out all night again. It felt much better inside, even at 80 degrees.

I mean, Stealth Grey looks fine.

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Get Your Mind off of the Gutters

I did manage to get out of bed at a reasonable hour this morning so we could go to Stoby’s for a pancake fundraiser. Eaddie left early to go help out, and I finally got up on the roof to clean out the gutters. It could have been worse trying to reach the edge of the roof, but if I just get up there a little more often, I won’t have to shovel out all of the pond sludge. Two sides of the house had to be scooped out, but the rest was dry and only partially full, so I got to use the leaf blower on that.

With the gutters cleaned out, I came in for a cold shower before breakfast. I wasn’t sure if they would have peanut butter, so we stopped at the Neighborhood Market on the way. The kids were mostly just hanging out at the restaurant because of the number of adults that were already there helping. Autumn was present and came over to talk forever. Then all three kids had planned to meet up after they left.

Summer and I went home so I could clean house while she went to the gym. It didn’t take long for the humidity to sap me again, and I kept a headache for most of the day. I did get a bunch of cardboard broken down and into the recycling, but I didn’t get as much other stuff put away as I really wanted.

Later in the afternoon, Eaddie brought Eli and Noah over, and Summer played Mario Party with them in the sunroom. I kept cleaning a bit and then sat down to eat some leftover rice and steak. Summer and I ended the night with some YouTube while the kids left, and then it was off to bed.

It’s like chewing air.

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Print Manager

Kim was out getting roto-rootered today, which left me to fix all of the printer and toner issues in the district. I felt a little bit helpless, because printers are one of the few things she does autonomously, and I never physically touch them. Other than that, I spent all day tinkering with Cognos reports to fix my Savvas rostering. I cut the errors in half, and I’m pretty sure it’s only fussing because I’m uploading classes that don’t belong there.

Denice was out for a bit of the afternoon, but then showed back up a few minutes before quitting time, when I had a scheduled interview with Bitec. I was a little bit concerned that I might have to explain myself to her, but she walked out about five minutes before my call.

The interview was one of the most relaxed I had ever experienced, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m older and less up-tight, or if it really is just a laid back environment for them. They definitely seemed tired for being at the end of the day. Evidently the position is a wholly new position, to take over IT duties full-time from those that just sort of help out day to day. It sounded a lot like what I’m doing now, except the size of the operation is a small fraction of what we do for a school. Possibly more coding, and surprisingly less management of people.

Otherwise the interview didn’t last super long. It seemed to go super well. I headed back to town to feed the fish after work, and got my old thermostat re-installed at the old house. Then I headed home briefly before Onewheeling to my parents’ house for some phở. Dad had come by the new house to babysit while TCW came and installed my fiber internet. They ended up running it all the way to the sun room, so if I ever get my rack going, I’ll be in business.

What is a VLAN, and what does it do?!?

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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.

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Test Daze

I was supposed to go to work about 20 minutes early today, but I didn’t make it. I woke up pretty sore, but not too tired. It had stormed all night, and I couldn’t find my wallet when it was time to leave. That put me in a panic, thinking that it might have somehow fallen out when I crashed yesterday, but I didn’t see it in the road when I circled by. The weather got rough and I ran into some hail and fog, which brought traffic down to about 25mph on the highway. By then, I was glad to be stuck behind a truck, and I just surrendered to traffic the rest of the way.

I still got there about 10 minutes early, and it wasn’t needed anyway. I handed out a couple Chromebooks, but that was all. It was pretty quiet apart from that, which was good because I was hurting quite a bit and couldn’t really focus on anything important. That, plus a dash of burnout led to a very unproductive day.

I left just a couple minutes early and made it to the old house to feed the fish. No wallet. Then I remembered that I had taken it to my office when I called TCW to set up new internet yesterday. I made it home where Summer was baking a lasagna, and I found my wallet. I started to get a headache that had me a little worried, but I was pretty sure it was from the neck muscle pain that had been increasing all day. We ate and then I laid down for a while when Eaddie unsympathetically kept playing loud concert recordings.

I ended the night by resetting my Pixel Watch 2 because of battery issues, and then did my best not to get distracted crunching numbers for a new car. I’m tickled by the new Model 3 Performance, but still curious if something better will come along soon. On the other hand, the $7,500 tax credit won’t be around forever.

But what if we paid off the house in under six years?

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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!