Tag: Onewheel

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No, but Yes

I was a little on edge this morning as I waited for a call from Moodle. I woke up early and Summer was around for a little while before work, and then I made some coffee and cleaned up a little bit while I waited. I eventually got a text, and about ten minutes later a call in the early afternoon, and she apologized for the missed communication. They filled the position, but would have a different one open at the start of next year if I would be available. This worked out pretty beautifully, since Randy would later confirm my employment in North Little Rock.

I took a breather as the afternoon flew by, and then Summer came to get me so we could go look at a house across town. That ended up being a pretty neat experience. The house was small, but super cute, and seemed to be well maintained. As we ended our visit, Alisha spotted the owner in the driveway next door, so she walked over to ask a question we had about the property line. Another guy drove up to look at the house unannounced, so the homeowner went to talk with him, and then came over to talk to us. She ended up taking us back inside to tell us the rich story about her life and the home.

Her father built the house for her mother in 1961 or ’62, and she knew the history of all the surrounding farmland before it was developed. She had all kinds of improvements made and maintenance done, and the house really did appear loved. I was a little concerned about the number of cameras outside, but it made sense for her situation. The lot seemed to be fairly sized, which was difficult to discern from the maps I found online. Summer was nervous about taking on additional debt, but we’ve been doing so well, and I may have an opportunity for immediate income.

We finally left and stopped by the old house before going home. She thought she had a Tech event for work, but ended up back home because she had the dates wrong or something. I took the dogs out for a run, but then wiped out going pretty fast just a few houses down the road. I don’t know how I didn’t take more damage, because I tumbled over backwards and lost my phone out of my pocket. I must have rolled just right to take the inertia out of the fall. I took the dogs back home since Summer was still in the driveway, and then the neighbor rode over on her little recumbent trike. I shook off a bit while we talked, and ended up continuing my ride with the dogs to my parents’ house.

I visited with them for a little while and then ended up just going straight back home. The dogs had been pulling kind of hard all night, and I was still feeling shaky on my board. I got them fed, and then I came inside to watch the recorded Linkin Park streaming event. I’ve never had a more emotional connection with a band, and I don’t entirely know why. Maybe it’s nostalgia, or maybe it’s power in the vocals, but I was weepy the entire show, even with their new singer that made me feel a little iffy about them.

I got hungry late and ate some leftover pizza and fried mushrooms. Eaddie got home from her away game and went to her room to study and sleep. I thought I’d get to bed early, but I missed. I won’t be able to keep that up if I’m going to make it to Little Rock by seven o’clock in the morning for five days a week.

Get some cheddar for now, and worry about the rest later.

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Email From the 1900s

My Onewheel was out for delivery today, so I paid extra attention to the front door to make sure I could be there to sign for it. I made myself a pretty good looking burger for brunch, and then helped Julie set up some web hosting so she could get a business email set up. When I heard the mail truck pull up, I went outside to fetch the mail. I stopped on the way back inside to check on my black widow, and then the UPS truck pulled up. I got my Onewheel unboxed and charging, and unfortunately my odometer had been reset, but at least it worked.

I dug through Namecheap and Hostinger to try and pick hosting for Julie, and ultimately just kept it all on Namecheap thinking it would be easier for her for not much difference in price for her current needs. It astounded me how web hosting is still just as complicated as it was back when I started this type of stuff over 20 years ago. I tried to break it down for her as simply as I could, but it wasn’t until late in the evening that I got her email going.

Summer had range anxiety after going to Little Rock and Greenbrier for work, but she made it without any trouble. I even had enough charge to take her car across town to get Zaxby’s for Eaddie, who was working late at the high school.

As soon as I got home, I took the dogs out for a really fast and long run on the Onewheel. We stopped to see my parents, but they were gone, so we continued on around to the basin trail. We stopped to rest on a bench for a while, and the dogs sat nearby for pets. They did super well, and I hoped they would tire out for the night. They had killed a tiny, baby possum the night before, so I had to bury it when we got back home.

Summer was in a bit of pain for the rest of the night, so I didn’t see much of her. Eaddie came home earlier than she expected and wanted me to go get her some cigarette papers to clean her flute, so I drove to the closest gas station, which didn’t sell them. That led me to Casey’s, who sold them, but didn’t have any without the glue. I didn’t feel like running to another store though, so I picked up what they had, along with a freebie cookie, and headed home.

I ended the night completing new-hire paperwork for the North Little Rock School District, and then tinkered with Julie’s email some more. Evidently it didn’t automatically point the domain to the host, even though the purchase specifically asked me to do so since they were both purchased from Namecheap. With that finally working, it was time for bed.

What do we want?
Low-flying airplane noises!
When do we want them?
Nnnnnooooooooowwwwww! 🛩️

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No, but Maybe

I forgot to grab a banana for work this morning, so I started off hungry. It was pretty quiet, but I still had plenty of time to vent about the surrounding idiocy. I was a bit more helpful today, and it seemed like James was getting into a little bit of a groove. I still don’t know if he’ll stick around, but I guess he is making more than I was. I could see him leaving for Russellville, since he evidently lives just a few blocks away from us.

I did get a call from Grace Manufacturing, which was a bit of a surprise. They turned me down for the job I interviewed for, but liked me well enough to call back because one of their IT guys is retiring in a few months. I laughed a bit that they were actually able to get ahead of that and train someone before he leaves, unlike schools where they just play catch-up forever. I’ll get to have a real interview next week, so I feel like I have a pretty good chance of getting an offer from them. Tomorrow, I’ll have my call with Moodle too, so I really need to study up for that one in the morning.

I was the last one out of the office again, this time messing around with SCCM. I should just leave it, but I also don’t want to make it seem like I didn’t actually have it working. I need to be able to image at least one computer to prove it works before I go.

After work, I took care of the fish and made it home to eat some of the leftover tacos Dad brought over. Then I was pretty quick to take the dogs out for a run. We got to the end of my parents’ street when my Onewheel just died. Luckily I was coming up to a stop, so I just tipped forward and stumbled off of it, but all the lights went out and I could never get it to wake up again. I ended up carrying it, a water bottle, and two bags of poop, all while trying to keep the dogs from pulling me over all the way to their house.

Dad got the DJI FPV drone in, and unboxed it before he had to go water the plants. I had Summer bring my swimsuit over so I could cool off, and we played with the dogs by the pool. Stilgar really wanted in, so I splashed him a bunch to cool him off. Then Summer took everything else home so I could walk the dogs back. It was a struggle, but we made it through the humidity of the evening.

Eaddie got home a little after I did, and spent some time talking to Summer while I wound down for the night. Muad’Dib really doesn’t seem to like the Ol’ Roy that we’ve gotten for them, so I guess I’ll have to keep buying something better.

Pay the bills!

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Experience Depreciation

I got up extra early today so I could try and beat the new guy to work, but that failed for multiple reasons. I stopped at Taco John’s for breakfast, which ate up all of that extra time, but he also showed up a full hour early. Todd had already given him the tour, and as I would learn later, Samuel had actually given him a tour the week before last, while I was still there. In fact, Samuel was the one that called him the week that Blake told me they weren’t going to keep me, and told him they were looking for a new Tech Coordinator. The entire thing has been super shady, and it just made my day worse and worse until the end.

I walked around with him again and we visited all of the switch closets in the high school and elementary. We didn’t bother going anywhere else, and I probably won’t, except maybe Plainview to see if there’s anything out there that I want for myself. Maybe I could get lucky and find some rails.

We had several waves of kids come in for password resets, but otherwise it was relatively quiet. I had to keep telling him that I wished him the best of luck in spite of how crappy they’ve been to me, but secretly I just hope he gets the same and leaves them in a short amount of time. It’s just not fair that I invested all of that time and effort to fix so many major problems, and he gets to come in and ride the calm seas at a higher rate of pay with two fewer years of school experience.

I was the last one out of the office, and I had already relinquished my keys, but luckily Keith was there and I could borrow his to lock the office. I headed toward home and fed the fish, and got gas at Casey’s. Summer was making a baked spaghetti with pink sauce when I got home, and I just held her for a bit before I got changed and went out to sit with the dogs.

Summer called Eaddie home for dinner, and the three of us ate. Julie called because she saw a Cybertruck in town and thought it might actually be me. Then I went out for a run with the dogs. They did super well, ran hard, had some mostly solid poops, and for the most part weren’t too bad about getting distracted until the very end. It got dark fast, so we only stopped at my parents’ house long enough to say, “hello.”

I wound down pretty quickly, and everyone was off to bed. It was an awful, emotional, maddening day of being the better person, and the frustration of living by an unmatched code of integrity just made me incredibly sad.

And either I’m right and justice is never served, or I’m wrong and I go to Hell anyway.

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Big Ask

Breakfast was better this morning, but Kim was by all accounts worse. She disappeared often, and left at some point to drive to another town to retrieve her wallet from her husband’s unlocked truck where he parked at work. Fortunately it was mostly quiet for me. The afternoon dragged horribly after we got our hibachi food truck for lunch.

I got a call from Grace Manufacturing to do a same-day phone interview, so I took that at the end of the day after everyone had left. I thought it went alright, but I had the feeling they weren’t looking to pay anywhere near my asking price, and it’s not at all in the technology field either.

I eventually made it to the old house to grab some things and feed the fish. Then I headed home for some peace for a while before Summer got home and I left with the dogs. I took their water bottle along this time, and it really seemed to help pace them. We stopped at my parents’ house, and then went through the basin again. We ran across several others walking dogs, so we had to take some breaks and then ended up on the divided street before circling through the neighborhood again to get home.

Noah was back for some reason. Then Eaddie got home late, and I was upset at the state of her room. Summer failed to take the evening off for our concert tomorrow, and Eaddie still doesn’t want to go next week, and it has me wondering why I plan anything with them at all.

Good boys, anyway.

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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