Tag: Onewheel

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Other Directions

I thought today might be an okay day. I got to work and made myself a coffee, and was able to assemble my knowledge and choose a direction for my big networking project. Then things started to get gross. Around lunchtime, Blake found me in my office and told me they were going to go in another direction with the Technology Coordinator position. He didn’t have any real answers or even useful adages. He just said they weren’t going to keep me. At that point, he didn’t even know whether I was supposed to pack my things right then and there, or if I was supposed to keep working until the next Coordinator of the Week showed up. He did know that they already had someone picked for the job, by way of Western Yell County School District, but he didn’t know when he was slated to start.

We talked briefly to no end, and then I spent the rest of the day applying for every job I was even remotely qualified to take, almost all of which were more than twice the salary. I’d already missed my best opportunity for the moment in Morrilton, so all I could do is hunt through what was left. Nothing local, for certain.

I talked to Summer, Johnny, Brody, Kim, and Ben on the phone throughout the afternoon. Ben, as usual, probably had the best advice. Brody, on the other hand, was the only one with an actual job to fill. It would be a slight pay cut, but only if I’m still working by that time.

I eventually headed home without packing too much stuff out of the office. I fed the fish and then went to get Summer for dinner. Eaddie had already eaten, and Noah needed her to pick him up across town. I’m so sick of hearing from that kid, sweating on my couch all night, burning in my television, holding a savings of three hundred dollars toward buying a working vehicle since he burned up his truck.

Summer and I went to Peg Leg for some burgers. Based on our first impression from walking in the door, it was not going to be a good experience. It was a dingy establishment with an oscillating fan in the dining room, a television playing Christian music on Sirius XM, and literally zero other customers. That was when things took a sudden turn. Our server accurately guessed both of our burger choices, and forty bucks later, we were really impressed. Takeout would probably be a better deal so we wouldn’t have to tip, but the burgers were fantastic. Way more gourmet than the Gunslingin Burger across town, and with fewer creepy people inside.

After we ate, we headed home and I took the dogs for a run to my parents’ house. When we got back to the house from our extended route, Muad’Dib still wanted some more. I ended up taking him out on a solo run, and we finished the day with nearly three miles on the board. Hopefully that will keep them quiet tonight.

Summer was in bed long before I got settled in, because I had to wait for Noah to finish his laundry before I could get to mine. Eaddie chatted with me a little bit about a band opportunity, and I applied for Brody’s open position in Clarksville. I may not like it now, but I drew my line in the sand. The lesson is that integrity shown is seldom reciprocated.

Blame is better to give than receive.

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Twisting the Night Away

After being ill for so long, and exhausted from overexerting myself all day, I still could not sleep last night. I tossed and turned in a damp sweat, with cold burning in my nose from sinus trouble. My mind reeled in restlessness, and even when I would occasionally doze off, I would wake up in some delirious state, half dreaming, half in some anxious panic.

I got up with my alarm, pushed back and got up a little later and still got to the door on time. Both of the Murano keys were gone. I screamed. Summer yelled back to take her car, so I threw the things she had in the seat into the floor of the garage and left. I picked up a burrito from Sonic and made it to work a little bit early.

The admins saw me. First day off-contract. Will I get a paycheck? They’re normally deposited around this time of the month. I haven’t gotten anything yet. Labor laws dictate that I must be paid for the time that I’m there, and nobody has run me off yet. It feels like I’m playing a rich or stupid man’s game of Chicken.

I made it through the day with a bowl of ramen and a cough drop. I finished up the last few minutes at the elementary and then headed home a little early. Who can stop me now?

I fed the fish and slowly made it home. Eaddie and her friend Autumn were at the house for the night. I changed clothes and settled in for a little bit. Mom was making Phở, which wasn’t the eggplant soup I anticipated, but welcome nonetheless. The girls would be making dinner, so I’d go by myself since Summer was working a little late. Then Noah called to “warn me” that a “strange hairy dude” was going to come by and drop several boxes of his things off at our front door, and that he would be along afterward on his bicycle.

I roped up the dogs and we hit the road on the Onewheel. We made good time to my parents’ house with the runs. Both kinds. I tied them up in the back yard so we could eat, but then I had to get them home in the hot humidity. They made it with plenty of energy after they had some time to rest, so I hoped they’d be too tired to mess with anything overnight.

All three kids were in the kitchen making “food” and “noise.” I dried up the sweat and sought refuge. Eventually sleep.

I’m with stupid.

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We’re in for Some Chop

I was on the verge of crashing all day long, but still stayed up late trying to get things back into order. We rolled out of the hotel and hailed a Lyft as we walked down the hallway. The ride was quiet, and traffic wasn’t bad at all until we got right into the airport. Evidently there was a convention for the National Federation of the Blind this week, because I’ve never seen so many white canes in my entire life. It was interesting to witness them traveling through such a hectic environment that even we struggled to navigate, and I’m sure they appreciated the time to see each other face-to-face.

We timed things just about right, so we had plenty of time to get through security and grab some pretzel breakfast sandwiches from Auntie Anne’s. I watched part of Dune: Part Two on the first flight, which was pretty smooth. We had just enough time in St. Louis to switch planes, and then I watched a bit more during our much more turbulent flight to Little Rock.

Eaddie wanted Mexican food for lunch, so I found a well-reviewed place called Tortas Mexico in North Little Rock that had some of the best food we’d had all week, at a third the price. I felt rich. Then we continued home, unloaded, and played with Muad’Dib for a bit before Eaddie and I went to get Stilgar from the vet.

Muad’Dib seemed a little happier to see us specifically, while Stilgar seemed happy to see anybody. He did pee a little in the excitement. The lady that helped us was really concerned that we might have lost Muad’Dib, but I told her they simply didn’t have room to board both of them while we were gone, and we decided to make sure the younger spirit was kept safe.

Stilgar wolfed down a whole bunch of food, as though he hadn’t eaten anything all week. We played with them for a bit, and then I went inside to unpack and get things in order. Noah came back after work and Summer had a talk with him about some responsibilities, but you could tell he was just sitting in silence to receive the lecture.

Once I had things put away enough, I took the dogs out for a roll through the neighborhood on the Onewheel. They did really great, but I did finally see worms in Muad’Dib’s poop. He had to stop a couple more times on our journey to and from my parents’ house. We didn’t stay to visit for too long, and made it nearly all the way home before Stilgar got too hot and tired, and flopped onto some cool dirt. He refused to move, so I tried to get Summer to bring us some water. She and Noah walked up the wrong street, but it didn’t matter because a girl came out of the house across the street from us, and her dog ran at us full-force off-leash, which got Stilgar up and full of energy immediately. They wagged and sniffed, and then we were on our way home.

One or the other of the dogs kept chewing on potted plants I had on the deck, so I repotted what was left of one of them. Hopefully having both of them here again will settle them down overnight, but more importantly, hopefully they can’t get out of the fence again.

The ants we had in the master bathroom looked to have moved on, but after just a short while they came back. They went straight for the bait, but I wish I knew what triggered them to come back in the first place.

Finally down for the long snooze.

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Ten Mile Search

The dogs woke me up super early with some barking, but they were just laying on the porch. As soon as I opened the door, they mauled me and wanted to play, but I was too sleepy and went back to bed. The next thing I knew, Eaddie was up checking on them and they had vanished through a new, large hole in the fence. I got up and rode around looking for them, and found Muad’Dib pretty quickly, but could never find Stilgar. Muad’Dib followed me home, but stopped a few houses down to hide in someone’s garage. I ended up knocking on her door to see if maybe Stilgar was in there, but she didn’t seem terribly happy about the dogs being loose every day, and there was no Stilgar. She mentioned she had called animal control on them last week, but they were never picked up.

Eaddie came and took Muad’Dib back home since I couldn’t retrieve him without a leash. Then I rode the block several times, blowing my dog whistle to try and attract Stilgar. Eaddie left to spend her birthday with some friends at the lake. The day just kept getting hotter and I eventually gave up for long enough to take a shower. I called the animal shelter, and their answering message said they would be open until four on Saturdays, so I ran across town to check there. A couple of girls were sitting in a dark office just hanging out, and they recognized Stilgar immediately. They had seen posts on Facebook from people that had seen them. Evidently he ended up on my parents’ side of the neighborhood, so I ran back to try and find him.

Summer got home from work, and I still couldn’t find Stilgar while I was driving, so I went home to get the Onewheel again and took Summer’s car to my parents’ house so I could start from there. I got up to the top end of Camelot, and Stilgar was panting in some water on the front porch behind a couple kids playing in a kiddie pool. The father said he had been sitting there for quite a while, so I ran back to get the car and took him home. He was so hot and tired that he just laid down in the front seat while I pet him.

With everyone back home safe, I knew I had to get collars. All we had seen were plastic clips, but I wanted a collar with an actual metal buckle. Summer and I tried to go to Price’s Town & Country, but they were closed, so we went to La Huerta to get some food. Then we went to PetSmart, T.J.Maxx, and Ross. We didn’t see anything that we absolutely loved, so we started to go to Tractor Supply, but we both got belly aches and decided to go home instead.

After a break from the heat, I went back out to Atwood’s to see what they had. They did actually have a surprising variety of collars, and I ended up picking a simple, cheap, blue one for Muad’Dib. I would have liked it to be wider, but the wider ones were all too long. They happened to also have kiddie pools, so I grabbed one of those and stuffed it into the car for Stilgar.

When I got back home, I filled up the pool and then took the dogs on a walk to my parents’ house to borrow Dad’s engraving tool. I poured sweat the entire time, and it was absolutely miserable. The dogs did pretty well on my 20-foot double-ended leash, but ultimately what I wanted for two dogs were two really short leashes for discipline. They did alright, but they still got distracted several times.

We got back home and Stilgar laid in the pool to cool off. I went inside and engraved my phone number onto their rabies tags, and then spent the rest of the evening researching GPS collars. If I can’t keep them in for now, maybe I can at least recover them more quickly.

Great. Dog subscriptions.

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Defence Dog

I could hear Stilgar yelping around the block when I went outside this morning, so I rode over to Ridgewood and found Muad’Dib harassing another dog behind a fence. I got him home and then went back to find Stilgar with his head stuck in a chain link gate. I don’t even know how he got into it, because it was tight. They both did a great job following me home, but I’m still so sick of them getting out in the first place.

Work was still quiet, though I went to a couple classrooms today to deploy some newly imaged computers. I couldn’t really start on any big projects in case something broke in my absence, so I just rode out the day.

Eaddie and Eli took the dogs to the vet in the morning, so Eaddie called afterward to give me the details. They said Muad’Dib was about a year old and likely had some huskey in him. Apparently the vet pinched off at least one of the warts on his mouth, and Eaddie said he didn’t mind at all. They pegged Stilgar at about five months old and didn’t know what kind of dog he was, but said he would get pretty big.

Everyone was gone when I got home, including the dogs. They had dug under the fence again to play with the neighbors’ dogs. I figured they’d be fine since they weren’t paying any attention to me on our side of the fence, so I went to Walgreens for a pickup order and then rode to my parents’ house to give them some of the corn I got from school. I ate some leftovers there and then headed back home to mend the fence.

The dogs were gone from the neighbor’s yard, so I rode about six and a half miles around the neighborhood looking for them. They eventually caught up to me around Ridgewood again, and sprinted straight home with me. We’ve got to work on the obedience, but at least they know where home is.

The girls were home by then, and though I didn’t see much of Eaddie, Summer and I talked for a little bit before she went to bed. The dogs were exhausted from playing and running, and I was exhausted from another week of searching for them every day. Hopefully we have this figured out before we leave.

Nails

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Digdog

I checked on the dogs as soon as I got out of bed, and they had already dug their way out. I figured they were hanging out with a neighbor, but I never saw them when I eventually left for work, and neither of the girls looked for them in the morning. It was a long day at work without knowing anything.

I had another bagel and kept fairly busy with some more trivial stuff that may have actually been clues as to what keeps breaking parts of my network. Then at the very end of the day, I walked in on Harry watching a Strong Bad video in his office. I had to laugh, because I had just texted Gary a GIF of Salad Fingers earlier in the day. I told Harry that we hadn’t had much time to build rapport with one another, but that we were going to be good friends.

After work, I fed the fish and then headed home to try and find the dogs. I probably rode over 10 miles on the Onewheel, but forgot to start logging my ride at first, so I think I captured way less than half of my total ride. I stopped by my parents’ house once just for a quick break, and then again later to eat since Summer wasn’t hungry when she got home.

I lingered around outside for a while, but never saw or heard anything. I did find a couple other dogs loose in the neighborhood, so maybe they’ll still turn up, but I’m not particularly hopeful. If they don’t come back, I hope they find a better home.

Good boys.

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Lab Delivery System

Becky said they were going to cook breakfast, but I got to work a few minutes early and the place was a ghost town. Steven and Keith were there wandering around the high school, but I really didn’t see anyone else. Luckily I brought my leftovers from BFD and could eat that for brunch. I brought the Onewheel in case I needed to get across the campus multiple times, and it made delivering the last couple of desktops a breeze.

Steven was talking to Possum, and later Keith, outside their little office cove, and seeing the Onewheel got them pretty excited. Then Kelly showed up with a couple of the other lunch ladies, and she actually tried it out. After that, I talked Steven into giving it a shot, and he kept wanting to ride down the hall on his own. It wasn’t until he tried turning around in the width of the hallway that he fell off.

Those guys left after a half day, and then I called Nicky to see if she was in her office. I think she and I are the only two people there that feel obligated to work our contract hours. Everyone else is content to lie on timesheets all year long.

I did end up leaving fairly early because Tim called again to say we could get the Pathfinder. Summer got home early too because she was still feeling really sick, but I made her get out and take me to Orr. Tim had previously said the battery was dead, but it started up fine today, so I drove it home after a couple trips through the carwash. Now we just have to figure out the paperwork.

When we got back in, I ate a brat and then laid down on the couch with Summer to watch Three Amigos. I was super tired though, and kept dozing off. I guess I had never really seen it before, but I’ve always been aware of it. I guess I slept through the explanation about why there was an invisible person and a singing bush in this otherwise reasonably realistic fiction.

After a while, Summer craved a pretzel crust from Little Caesar’s. I eventually left the house to try and get some food, and called the restaurant to see if they could make one with the “old world pepperoni” instead of the normal ones. I just like the fact that you get more than two pepperonis on your slice. I was immediately told that it would be a 45-minute wait for a custom order. Then my question caused a little bit of confusion, which was met with “we can’t do that because there’s not a button.” I just gave up, not wanting to deal with those inbreeds, and went to the old house to feed the fish and come up with another plan.

I ended up ordering from Domino’s, and the food was ready before I could make it there. Then I saw Neal feeding the cats out back and stopped to talk to him a bit. I guess he had never seen either of the Teslas, so he was super impressed. I started to hold up traffic, but my phone key had been giving me trouble and I couldn’t get out of “park.”

I did eventually make it home, and the girls really enjoyed my custom barbecue chicken and bacon pizza. Summer and I watched a little more YouTube after Eaddie went back to her room. Then she crashed pretty hard from feeling sick, and I eventually followed.

Definitely couldn’t do that back in RSDland.

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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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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.

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Noggin Froggin

I slept in just a little bit this morning because I was going to Arch Ford for the day. I had time to get a carwash and breakfast at Wendy’s before making it to Plumerville before the meeting. Thomas and Ryan were there, but I sat at a table with Jason, and then we were joined by Randy from North Little Rock, and formerly Conway. The meeting itself wasn’t super useful to me, but it was nice to get my face out there some more. I actually talked to Sandy more today than I ever have before. I talked up Johnny quite a bit, so hopefully he gets the job in Dover.

Lunch was provided by a Lightspeed rep, which was boxed lunches from McAlister’s. I ended up grabbing the last box and ate with Randy, and then it was a long break until we all sat in on a video call with the Department of Education where they talked about cybersecurity response, and then FERPA. Apparently there’s no such thing as a FERPA compliance certification, which will be fun to know so I can call out vendors in the future.

We finished a little early and I made it home before anyone else. I chatted with Optimum and was referred to call instead, and then I called TCW to schedule an install. I’m dropping Optimum in any case, entirely due to their poor customer service. Then Julie called to say she would be going to Disney on the same flight we were taking, but coming home earlier. When Summer got home, we finished up the leftover chicken and then I went out on the Onewheel.

I went around the neighborhood and stopped to see my parents, and then continued straight across town to feed the fish. My board dumped me as I crossed over Knoxville, but I was able to run it out. It happens occasionally when I take off aggressively, but I didn’t think I took off that hard. I actually started to wonder if the motor was actually cutting out on me.

I saw Julie drive by as I was riding home. Then as I crossed in front of Oakland, it dumped me again as I pulled away from a dead stop. I had gotten fast enough that I couldn’t run it out, and I tumbled a bit on my left elbow and ended up hitting the top of my head somehow. I thought I had more rash on my side, but it was only a little bit tender. I got a little bit of a scrape on my left elbow, but overall not as bad as the last time. My phone actually detected the fall this time, and offered to call emergency services. My watch did nothing that I could tell. Fortunately neither were harmed in the process, but I did have to pick up the board and my glasses which were several feet apart.

I dusted myself off and messaged Summer while I gave myself a minute to make sure nothing was seriously hurt. It kind of took the wind out of my sails on the way home though. It was definitely harder to trust the acceleration of the board, not to say anything of how sore my legs were after a fairly long ride. I cleaned up my scraped elbow and settled in pretty quickly. Tomorrow will be fun having to go in early for testing.

Makin’ my own Mickey ears outta lumps.