Tag: Onewheel

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Rollin Errands

Best I could tell, I wasn’t expected to work today for the “winter break.” I still felt pretty crummy anyway, so I had some breakfast and took a hot, steamy shower to try and clear my sinuses. I had some errands to run, and thought I might make some homemade chili to put over some grilled dogs for dinner.

I tried to go to the DMV to get some kind of receipt for my vehicle sales tax, but forgot it was a national holiday. I still had plenty to do though, so I continued to the car wash to see Summer and clean my car. Then I ran by the Nissan place and talked to Tim about trying to fix the old Pathfinder sitting at the other house.

From there, I dropped in to feed the fish before going down to Clear View to talk to Mike about the crummy tint job they did last year. He agreed to give me a discount on my new car, whenever I eventually get one. By the time I got home from that, Eaddie was home from school. She went to my parents’ house to rake leaves, and I rode my Onewheel over there with Dad’s leaf scoopers.

I took off from there and rode to the Neighborhood Market for stuff to make chili dogs, and dropped all of that off at home before going back to my parents’ house. I saw Mom when she got home from work, and once Dad and Eaddie were finished raking for the day, we headed back home.

Summer made it home much later than she expected, and the chili dogs turned out pretty great. Eaddie thought the chili was missing something, and I kind of agreed, but that seems to be the style of hot dog chili. I guess it won’t hurt to experiment though.

The girls went to bed, and I cleaned up in the kitchen before settling in. Hopefully tomorrow won’t be too taxing.

HAPTIC BUZZZZZZZ

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Twowheels

Eaddie left early this morning for all-state weekend, and my school had a “winter break,” so kids were out and teachers were only there for parent-teacher conferences. Traffic was thin enough that I had a nearly uninhibited drive in to work, save for the last mile. Kim showed up late, and then disappeared around lunch time. I just kept working on SCCM and never saw her again.

I was pretty hungry when I left work since the cafeteria was closed, so I stopped by McDonald’s in Dardanelle for a Big Mac, then fed my fish, and picked up some fries afterward before stopping by the wash to see Summer. I finished those on the drive home, and then jumped on the Onewheel to get some float time before sundown.

I took some milk back to my parents’ house, then rode around to Gary’s house to chat with him for a minute. As I was leaving, I accidentally knocked my earbuds out of my pocket, and they both popped out of the charging case. I nearly rode over one of them before I noticed, but it seemed like only the case got scratched.

From there, I rode down to Ridgewood, but didn’t see anyone I knew. I circled the building, and then a kid named Kyron(?) chased me down on his Onewheel GT. We stopped and talked for just a few seconds because he wanted to see my board. Then we split off and I headed home.

My head cold got bad pretty quickly from there. I had body aches and a bit of a fever, so I cleaned up some leftovers, made some Theraflu, and went to bed before Summer even made it home.

Okay.

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Server-Client Privilege

I took Summer’s car to work today just to be safe, since she would be working on town. Just as I got to work, I got a very apologetic call from Tulsa Tesla to say that they were sending someone out to bolt my car back together tomorrow.

Apart from that, I kept pretty busy working on SCCM all day. I seemed to be having trouble getting the client installed remotely, and I couldn’t tell whether it was a settings issue, or if I was just being impatient. Hopefully I’ll know more tomorrow after it sits overnight.

Kim brought me some leftover lunch trays again, so I ate while she was at duty. The last part of the day dragged on a bit, and then I headed home to feed fish, see Summer at Superfast, grab some tacos, and then head home to eat.

Eaddie was at robotics a little late, so as soon as I finished eating, I headed out on the Onewheel. I forgot to get more dishwasher detergent, so I rode it to the old house to get that. My legs and feet were burning, but it was a load of fun. I stopped by Gary’s on the way back for a break, but he didn’t answer the door. Then I saved myself from wiping out on a crack in the sidewalk. The streets are way better to ride because of the frequent breaks in concrete.

The girls were home when I finally got back, exhausted from my ride. Everyone wound down pretty quickly, and I thought I’d make it to bed really early, but then I watched the first episode of the newest season of The Daily Show since Jon Stewart is back. I’ve missed him as the host, and I think the world needs him for what this election cycle is going to bring.

Carve away.

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Grocery Gettin’ Fool

Summer made sausage and eggs for breakfast this morning, and then Eaddie sent a video of some strawberry cheesecake cookies that she wanted to make. I took a shower and then rode the Onewheel to the Neighborhood Market for some flour, brown sugar, and strawberries. On the way back, Beth and Mark spotted me and stopped to holler at me.

Eaddie had been at a robotics tournament all day, so when dinner time came around, I thought we could go to New China for a lunar new year’s meal. We ate, and then went to Walmart to walk around a bit. I mostly wanted to look at some plant pots and solar lights for the front walkway. We ended up getting a watering can with a long spout like I had been wanting for a while.

We didn’t do much else since it was a bit rainy out. Summer suggested that she would be interested in trying to ride the Onewheel after hearing how much fun I’ve had on mine, but we didn’t want to get out in the wet or dark. Eaddie eventually made it home, but pretty much went straight to her room. Summer went to bed early as usual, and I stayed up late learning how LEDs work.

Just call me Max Speed!

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One Wheel Keeps on Turning

Traffic was bad in Dardanelle this morning, but I was only a couple minutes late to work. Testing went without a hitch. Kim was out of the room a lot, but I was never quite sure what she was doing. I was pretty sure it wasn’t closing a bunch of work orders. Most of my work was pretty immaterial again, because the morning went by quickly, lunch time was loud, and then the afternoon gave way to more conversations about the impossibility of maintaining my department at my rate of pay.

I got permission for Johnny to come visit for a day so I can mentor him on some things. Then Ben called at the end of the day and we chatted for a while on the drive home. I stopped by the old house quickly to grab a couple more things while Summer was home early with Eaddie and had dinner ready. Clay walked by the house and stopped to talk to me some more, but didn’t keep me too long.

I was proud of Summer for creatively making some stir fry out of the tough ribs she baked the other day and some vegetables that I had prepped from our salmon night. Afterward, I went out on the Onewheel and fed the cat, and then decided to ride on down to Ridgewood Brothers to see if Grant was there. I got him and one of the other guys on the Onewheel for a bit, and then he sent me home with some apple crumble that was incredible.

Sensing some dire levels of stress, I got Summer to go back with me for some more dessert, and we got to step to the back of the restaurant and chat for a little bit more. Hopefully we made a meaningful difference. Eaddie spent most of the night in her room, and Summer went to bed as soon as we got back home. I stayed up a while longer, but felt the exhaustion roll in pretty hard.

The morning sun is rising. It’s kissing the day.

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Broken Management

Today was more spinning wheels. Kim left for a while in the morning with a couple of the maintenance guys to bring some books from their new house to the superintendent’s house. It really seems like nobody cares how little work is done. Maybe I’m wrong for trying to change their mindset. It’s upsetting because that’s kind of my speed, but I also want to learn and grow and improve, and I just feel like I’m the only one actively working toward that.

PRTG showed a meltdown during testing in the morning, and a bunch of my switches showed offline. They came back up with different management IPs, and I’m not even sure where to look for logs. The controller VM probably needs an update pretty badly, and I’ll finally be ready to do that over the summer, if I’m still around. There’s only one person of any importance when it comes to the subject of my salary, and every time I talk to him, I hear about how he doesn’t understand anything about what I do.

Johnny called me in the afternoon and I talked to him for a while about how absolutely broken Lamar is. He says their lead guy knows what he’s doing, but based on the fact that they aren’t automating any rostering data, I can’t imagine he’s doing much. I actually spent a while on the phone throughout the afternoon, because I had to call Steven at CDW a couple times to get the invoice we needed for Jaime. Then I got a call from an auditor at the end of the day, who seemed more concerned about making sure I passed than I did. I told him I wasn’t afraid to fail, just to show somebody how broken things are. Audits should be frequent and unannounced for such mismanaged organizations.

I sped home, grabbed a few things from the old house, and then took a fast ride around the block on the Onewheel. Clockwork, the ratty looking orange cat, let me pet him a bit. The lame one wasn’t around, but at least there was still some food. Once I got back home, I warmed up some leftovers for dinner. Eaddie came home feeling sick and went to bed super early. Summer got home from work early and was watching Moana, and then went to bed early herself.

I think this weekend is for résumé tweaking and applications.

Aim high, and try to miss the foot.

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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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Float On

Eaddie left for all-region early this morning. I woke up pretty hungry, so I fried some rice with the veggies from Christmas, and then threw some egg in it. Then I reorganized and moved some stuff around the house and Summer went to the gym. I had a shower and then went out on the Onewheel to get a little bit of time in before the big freeze. I went to my parents’ house first, and then felt comfortable enough with my figure-eights that I decided to go up and around Inglewood on the sidewalk. I saw Joe out canvassing the neighborhood for school board.

All total, I got a little over seven and a half miles in. There were a few places where water was constantly moving across the road, so I kept trying to find new paths to stay dry. I also rode through the new subdivision, and the roads and sidewalks there were all super cheap, sunken in, and generally crappy. Then just as I was getting back home, I was carving pretty deep to try and dry the tire off when I got a really fast wobble that threw me. Luckily I was just in front of the neighbor’s house, so it was a short walk down the driveway. I didn’t injure myself, but I got progressively more sore throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Summer wanted to cook some seafood pasta for dinner for Eaddie and Eli when they got back, so we went to the Neighborhood Market where we ran into my parents again. We picked up what we needed and headed home to see the kids. I had stepped out back to check the murder basement for water, and it had flooded about eight inches up the wall, so Dad came over with some rubber boots to plug in the sump. It worked great, but there wasn’t a port hole for the hose, so I had to keep going back outside to check until it was done.

Everyone ate, and I spent a little more time on the washing machine. I still couldn’t get the pulsator out, so I think I’m just going to have to give up and bolt the thing back down. Not that it matters; that thing’s not going anywhere. I crawled into a heated bed early just to rest from the pain. A lot of it is just soreness in my legs from such a long ride, but it was a lot of fun finally getting a feel for the control of the board. We’ll see how the bruising looks tomorrow.

Alright, already!