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Jesus Hubert Christ

I made it in really early today and got started in a classroom to test and fix an Airtame 2. The teacher’s laptop was still trying to connect to the old device for some reason, so I just had to point it at the new device instead. I was pretty productive the rest of the morning as well, but then got stuck on some medieval software that another teacher wanted me to install on all of her students’ devices from a compact disc.

Allen wanted to go to KFC for lunch again, and I’m always down for that party. We had just sat down to eat when I looked out the window and spied, with my little eyes, Jesus of Nazareth. Not like a long-haired, blonde, homeless vagrant type, but like a guy wearing potato sacks for clothes. You don’t get that stuff at Walmart. I don’t even know where you’d begin to look for fabric like that. I told Allen that he was about to be raptured away, and that I would be left to eat the rest of the chicken all by myself. The guy came in holding something square under his arms wrapped in the same fabric, but I couldn’t make out what it was. His ensemble was complete with some kind of rope or heavy twine for a belt and everything. I knew for sure that this was it. Either the end times were here, or we were about to be blown up by some religious nut coming after gluttons at a buffet.

The man came in, spoke to someone at the counter, and then left just moments later. It seemed we were all spared. Or all left behind. I’m always telling Allen he’s not living right, but he never listens. Not one soul was spirited away, so maybe we’re all damned. I’m not really sure how we would know in any event. Allen suggested that maybe there was a play going on at the church next door, but I told him that this was no Thursday matinee Jesus. This was the Saturday night, packed mezzanine, prime-time son of God.

I went back for seconds. Then dessert.

After lunch, I went to the junior high to pick up another rubber cable cover, then stopped by the library on my way out. When I got back to the shop, I chatted with Ben for a bit about various goings-on before heading back to the high school. I wasn’t super motivated by that time, and ended up talking with Karen about my spiritual encounter. Eventually I did get back to work, and the girls came to my office so I could shuttle them around after school.

We left first to go to my house so I could change. Then we dropped Autumn off at the junior high for her football game. Eaddie had some time to kill before karate, so we ended up at Sonic for some cheese sticks and fried Oreos à la mode. Everything was incredible. I dropped her off, then went to my parents’ house to visit while she was in class. Dad brought out a bunch of old junk for me to discard, and I went to get Eaddie.

When we got to her house, Summer was laid out in bed feeling ill. I started watching Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, which I wholeheartedly recommend for any old fans. Autumn called for a pickup just as the credits rolled, so I went to pick her back up from the junior high, and we all came home for bed.

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Just Shrimpy

I got home this morning and discovered one of my cherry shrimp had died. I’m assuming it was just a bad molt, because they all seemed fine yesterday. Can you imagine being trapped and suffocating inside of your own skin?

Work carried on with more random workie stuff. I do find myself annoyed with basically always having a backlog of work to do. It’s not that I don’t care to work the whole time I’m there, but rather that it’s so much more work than what I was doing before.

Lunch time ran a little late, and I found myself at Hardee’s to try their Monster Roast Beef. From the moment I walked in, I felt a little like I was in some kind of slummy neighborhood. What was confusing to me was that I saw examples of great customer service happening around me, but then I felt like I just got the “thank you, now move along” treatment. It was really kind of a weird experience. I felt like that place used to be a lot better. The sandwich was super tasty but surprisingly wet. I guess the roast beef was kept in juice to keep it moist, almost like a pre-soaked French dip.

I didn’t accomplish a whole lot more in the afternoon, and ended the day with some clerical nonsense that drove me a bit mad. I went by the warehouse to pick up some speakers, then home to change and hang out for a while. I made a frozen shrimp pasta dish of some kind that I got from Zach several months ago, and mixed it with some “grilled potatoes” he gave me as well. The whole meal was old enough to be walking and talking, but it tasted alright for what it was.

To wrap up the evening, I headed up to Summer’s and started setting up the speakers, and then we went to bed with the last episode of the second season of Battlestar.

Battlestar Shrimptactica

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Beating Down Problems

My first task of the day was to collect a new recording for the arena IVR. I had to wait in the office a bit, but eventually got Johnny to put on his best radio voice. With that out of the way, I jumped into some AppLocker configuration for Ethan’s lab. I kept digging and digging and felt like I was getting nowhere until lunch time. I eventually just had to stand up and walk away, if for nothing else than to get some food.

I hunted around for a bit but didn’t find anyone, so I headed to Wendy’s by myself. That’s where I ran into Allen at his new favorite restaurant. He was so adamantly against it for so long that it’s hilarious for him to love it so much now. That guy’s so dumb and hilarious. I customized a bacon jalapeño chicken sandwich by adding all the usual burger veggies plus the spring mix, and it made all the difference. It had a whole new crunch and depth of flavor to it, and I loved it. I don’t know why every restaurant app can’t be like theirs.

After lunch, I solved my great AppLocker conundrum with a stroke of luck with the flexibility of wildcards. It’s still technically a loophole, but a small enough one to not have to concern myself with the possibilities. Next it was off to beat my head against the wall for a VPN setup where I kept having to wait for Al’s password until he eventually just gave it to me. Super insecure? Sure. Did he only give it to me because of the rapport and trust we’ve built over the twenty four years we’ve known one another? Probably not. Does it not matter because of the eventual and inevitable heat-death of the entire universe and the end of everything we’ve ever known? Absolutely.

I wrapped up the day with a small cable run across the floor, and then headed home to clean up. Houdini, the black racer nerite, escaped from the front portion of the tank again, and I don’t know why. He seems to just prefer the sump area for some reason. Mom called with leftovers, so I went to their house for dinner. I got to try out the Anker Soundcore Life Q20 noise cancelling headphones I got for Dad, and I was super impressed by both their sound and their active noise cancellation. Then he brought out a bunch of old computer stuff and we tinkered for a bit.

I ended the evening at Summer’s, where I first helped Eaddie with a bit of math, and then settled in for another episode of Battlestar. I truly had forgotten how much I really loved that show.

We’re here on our own. That’s the way they set things up. We have to find our own answers, our own way out of the wilderness without a nice little sunny path all laid out in front of us in advance.

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IMPOSSIBRU!!!

The high school had a tornado drill this morning, so I started at the shop just to avoid it. When I finally did get to the high school, most of my day was taken up with interruptions and being dragged out of my office to look at something. I spent way too long messing with a touch panel and dock situation, and not enough time doing other older work orders.

Nobody had said anything by the time lunch rolled around, so I just kind of left campus and tried to wing it. I stopped by the taco truck I’ve seen up the road, but they were closed on Mondays. Then I started toward Taco Bell before switching gears to try the Impossible Whopper at Burger King. The app experience was absolutely horrible, and it didn’t matter whether I wanted to place the order online or use a coupon in the restaurant. It took me about 15 minutes just  to get the order in.

Once I finally got my order, I headed to see if I could commandeer Summer for a few minutes. We split a shitty taco, some nuggets, onion rings, and the two burgers. I’m not sure what I expected with the taco, but it was an absolute abomination, and whoever thought it was a good idea should be fired, re-hired, and then fired again. The nuggets and rings were bomb. The burgers were more or less indistinguishable, but I think the takeaway is not so much that we can make fake beef taste good. The lesson here is that Whoppers are terrible. Sure, they managed to make a vegetable patty that tasted like a Whopper, but why would anyone want that?

After lunch was literally more of the same, getting pulled back to the same room for hours, fighting with the same touch panel and display issues. I really just hope the next time she comes around, I’m legitimately in the middle of something so she doesn’t think she can just come and fetch me any time she wants. I ended the day playing with the IVR a bit more, and finally switched the career center over to their automated menu.

When I got home, I pretty much immediately got to checking water quality in the aquariums. Much to my surprise, everything was great! The 10 gallon shrimp tank was within acceptable ranges of everything, but the Imagitarium had perfect numbers. No ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates at all. The carbonate hardness was up a bit, and it had even turned a bit alkaline, which is great for the shrimp. The Tums really worked some magic in both of the tanks.

Eventually I headed up to Summer’s for the evening, and made us salads for dinner before settling down with an episode of Battlestar for bed.

Frakking toaster thinks it’s human!

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MRIs!

It was actually a little bit cool out this morning, and another nice day to ride. I closed out what work orders I could chase down, and then left after a half day so we could take Autumn to Little Rock for her MRI. Once Summer was home, I picked her up and we went to The 3D Cafe for lunch. The fajita nachos were excellent and heaping, and apparently they’re the kind of restaurant that serves chips and salsa when you sit down now. Summer wanted the strawberry pie too, so we split that cream cheesy goodness.

When we got to the junior high, I ran inside to see the girls in the library for just a moment, and then we were on our way. I thought about stopping in Conway first, and possibly should have, but it all worked out in the end. We took a brief detour through Little Rock due to some blind acceptance of the GPS, but we made it to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in plenty of time. It was a late appointment, and the place looked mostly empty, so I guess it shouldn’t have been surprising that they got us checked in so quickly. There was a bit of a wait for the MRI, but then she was in and out in no time. Summer and I didn’t even make it through a whole episode of Battlestar Galactica on my phone before Autumn got back.

I fought my GPS a little more and circled the capital before heading out of town. We got into Conway and stopped at Sam’s for a little too long before running through Bed Bath & Beyond to grab some clearanced merchandise, and then finally stopping at PetCo for some more shrimp. The store looked to be in particular disarray, and it took us forever to get any help. They had one fish tank full of young bettas that were flaring up at each other with all manners of stress, and I was just told he’d “tell their fish guy.” There were tons of dead, but I went through with the purchase anyway. Some combination of poor eyesight and not giving a shit landed me with a couple extra shrimp, but I figure I may lose that many in the next day or so just due to the poor handling.

We stopped at Rally’s for a bite to eat on the way home and had some of their awesome fries. Their cheese sticks didn’t have any noticeable seasoning as advertised, but the cheese itself was perfectly stringy and delicious. When we got back home, I dropped the shrimp off, we got Eaddie from her grandparents’ house, and then I dropped the girls off at home. Summer and I finished the last few minutes of our episode, and then I headed home to set up a quarantine for the shrimp before bed.

OIC, MREDBD peepers!

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Catching up with Bae

Summer took the girls to the high school for a 5k color run this morning. I ate a few leftovers there before heading home to clean up. I’m pretty sure I lost one of my ghost shrimp, and I couldn’t ever find any of the berried ghost/amano/whatever shrimp they were. I don’t know if they’ve been hiding, or if they dropped the eggs, or if they perished as well. I didn’t want to disturb the tank too much, but it didn’t get as busy in there as it usually does while I did a water change. I guess I’ll just let it be, since it’s fully established with decent parameters.

Summer dropped the girls off with their friends around lunch time, and we headed toward Conway. We were pretty hungry and decided to stop at Yesterday’s in Morrilton so we wouldn’t be eating too late in Conway. On our approach I was worried it would be more bar than grill, but once we got our food I was convinced. The appetizer sampler with fried green beans, pickles, mushrooms, and cheddar was amazing. Summer’s chicken and grilled vegetables were great. My chicken fried steak was a bit tough but not bad. The loaded mashed potatoes were stellar. Even the toast was delicious. It was a great date that we both needed.

As we came into Conway, Summer arranged for us to get a carwash at the Splash since she wanted to visit her employee that was on loan there and get a tour of the place. It was a pretty cool experience, but odd to see the lube side completely dead. I don’t know if it’s just a bad location or lack of marketing, but there wasn’t a single lube job done while we were there. It was awesome getting the car washed inside and out though. I think I still prefer to maintain it myself, but every now and again this would be nice just to dust out the whole vehicle.

From there we went to Andy’s for some frozen custard, and then killed a bunch of time at Kohl’s. I spent forever looking through the clearance sections, but didn’t find much that was marked down enough. I almost picked up a jacket or two, but decided against it after remembering how little I actually go out in the winter for long enough to need one. It was already getting a little late, so we went straight to Sam’s after that and ended up picking up a bunch of bath towels for her.

Hannah and Dylan were slow to respond as usual, but eventually we managed to meet up with them, and we went on to Little Rock for Dave & Buster’s. We did a Jurassic Park VR adventure that was pretty awesome and didn’t cost as much as I expected. It really just made me want a VR setup at home, but I keep hoping an esports budget or stipend will help to fund that. We wandered around the midway until we all ran out of credits, then hit a Wendy’s on the way home since we never really stopped for dinner. We were both exhausted from a long but great day, so it was straight to bed once we got home.

“Let’s build a wall to keep the immigrants from bringing crime into our town!” -the townspeople
“Let’s build a casino in our town!” -also the townspeople

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Newtonian Roast

Dale and I delivered a couple of oversized televisions to James and Robin this morning, which felt ridiculous. I’m mostly concerned about setting the precedent. When we got back, we all spent the rest of the morning building more Chromebook carts while Brice rearranged the graveyard. I think we all basically took turns telling him how pointless that is, and then I spent a bunch of time sifting through stuff that was going out in the garbage. I don’t think we even broke $200 in scrap metal, which I expected. We would have made more by selling the miscellaneous power adapters by themselves, let alone all the other good electronics.

Allen wanted to try Newton’s Pharmacy for lunch, so he, Jason, Dale, and I went there and had the roast beef special. It was pretty good, but I thought my Oreo milkshake wasn’t quite cold or thick enough. At least it was relatively cheap and fast. Then Dale and I went to the high school after lunch to try and go over a last few things before he leaves for good in a couple of days.

After work, I stopped by Sonic to get a drink and free corn dog to surprise Summer at work. At first I thought the drive-through speaker volume was messed up, but then it became apparent that it was probably the girl on the headset that was speaking so quietly. It was also disturbing to see how many of the guys inside were looking to revive the grunge look. I think only two of the five or so people I saw looked like they had washed their hair this week.

I hung out in Summer’s office for just a few minutes before heading home for a while. It’s looking like I won’t have working air conditioning for another couple weeks, but this week has been cooler and more bearable anyway. Hopefully the sun chills out for a bit until my house is back online again.

Once Summer and Eaddie got home with some leftover pizza from her work meeting, I headed up for dinner. Then we watched an episode of Parks and Rec before bed.

Only the dirtiest of copper.

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Angry Turds

It was a peculiarly small crowd at work this morning. Gary was on a tear about having to come in over the weekend to replace door batteries every four hours because power was still out since yesterday, and the doors couldn’t lock without them. Jason came back in from somewhere and was in a pretty foul mood himself, presumably because he felt he was doing the lion’s share of the work and that this wasn’t fair.

We started out in the morning moving crap around in the warehouse for seemingly no purpose. “The shell game” is a phrase I keep hearing lately, and it’s ever so relevant. We moved things from boxes to other boxes. We unnecessarily cut cords off of power bricks to scrap the dirty copper and throw out the actual useful parts. We moved Chromebooks off of pallets and into another room, and were scolded for it without genuine cause. It was overall just a very aggravating morning.

Allen and Dale wanted to go to BFD for lunch again, so I drove us down there to eat. I ate way too much there, and the service was slow again. I still haven’t completely figured out their menu pricing, which is weird because of how electronic it is. The food was good though.

After lunch, Jason sent me with Dale and Amanda to re-mount a bunch of TVs in the halls of her middle school campus. The painters patched our holes, which made it difficult to re-mount them in the same place. We made it work though, in spite of the arm cramps I started getting. When we got back to the shop, we finished the day by wiring carts in the cafeteria, which at least had air conditioning.

When I got home, I cleaned up the bettas and fed them some mosquito larvae. I found a larger container to replace the smallest, so hopefully they’ll be a little happier. Then I spent most of the evening testing inCharge cables. I had a pretty bad ratio of 2:1 cables that wouldn’t charge my phone, which was stupid and aggravating, but it seems like they’ll warranty them without too much trouble.

Finally at Summer’s for the evening, I fancied-up her work email signature and pointed out the obvious flaws of publicizing her personal cell phone number. I can’t even believe nobody considered that.

Intelligence can be such a burden.

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Big Fuggin Dessert

We lacked any real leadership today, so those of us that were left mostly finished the task of collecting Chromebooks. We got a ton at Sequoyah before lunch, but ran out of chargers part of the way through. It took us a while to get an answer for what to do from there, but eventually we were told to just send them on without chargers. I figure we can find most of the chargers we need to ship back, but some will come out at the end of these leases.

Gary, Dale, and I went to Bocadillo’s Frozen Desserts for lunch, and it was both amazing and expensive. The lunch specials seem pretty great, so I’ll have to leverage that next time. Otherwise, we could feed the family with the CheatMeal for a day or two. To cap off my assortment of tacos, I had a mangonada that was to die for. It was truly perfect.

After lunch, we finished up with Oakland, where I had to weave around through the cramped aisles where all the rooms had been gutted for carpet cleaning. We ended up missing about 50 Chromebooks somewhere, but some of the guys think they forgot to check the Upper Elementary 5th Grade library.

When I finally left work, I ran home to take care of the fish before heading to my parents’ house for a swim. I wasn’t super hungry, but by the time Summer got there and swam around a bit, we had enough room for some spaghetti. On the way out, we got to see a skunk in the cat food. It didn’t seem too bothered, or even aware that I had come outside, but I was too chicken to get very close. Maybe next time.

Anyone that knows me would know it doesn’t matter if I have a use for it.

 

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Eight Minute Labs

I slept only a tiny bit better last night, which made it all the more difficult to get out of bed in the morning. It was my last day to present, and I was scheduled for the first breakout session block in the morning. I had plenty of time for breakfast, and decided to go present my session and then return to check out of the hotel before going back for the last session and closing.

Much to my surprise, my lab pretty well filled up and it made me feel a bit better to be a popular topic. Even Thomas showed up with his tech. I was more confident in my ability to present as well, so I assumed things would go about the same as yesterday. I could not have been more wrong. We started chatting casually just a few minutes before time, and as people quit trickling in, I started in on what I had. It took me all of about eight minutes to completely cover what I had. The room was dead silent the whole time, and none of my jokes got even a groan. I wrapped it up just as quickly as I started, and several people took off. I did have a few people come in a little late, which got the conversations going again. We did have more general esports chats going on, and I got to talk to the kid doing the last session I would attend. I ended up staying the whole hour for the conversation, but overall I considered the presentation a flop.

On the way out, I grabbed a big plate of catfish and chicken strips and headed back to the hotel. I packed everything as quickly as I could, then ate while Summer ran her stuff downstairs. Once I was satisfied with the room check, we headed back to the high school to wrap up the conference. Summer went to Planet Fitness while she waited for me. I went to Connor’s presentation where he tried to quickly go through his slides and then switched to open discussion after seeing how the HSTI fatigue had hit my last session.

We wrapped the conference with a comedian that went around the auditorium trying to make jokes about things people did. I wasn’t into it. The door prizes took forever, and I didn’t have the luck I had the first night. I shouldn’t complain, but I had other plans and was ready to leave.

Summer had met up with Amanda and come back to get me. I hadn’t seen her since her time with Brandon, so it was nice to catch up a bit. I was mostly surprised she remembered our comments on her Instagram and reached back out to me right before the conference. We went to a place called Cafe 1217 that had a bunch of what I considered to be “weird” stuff. It was good, but expensive. I was still kind of full from the quick lunch, which didn’t make me feel any better about it. It was a good time though, and I was happy that at least the staff there liked my jokes.

When we finished, we ran Amanda back home before heading toward home ourselves. I think we were both just too tired at that point to do much else. We stopped to fill our water bottles on the way out, and then made it all the way to the Hot Springs Village Walmart where we stopped for a restroom break and to peruse for clearance deals. Summer got a couple things for herself, and I picked up a couple cheap frisbees since I occasionally find myself in need of one. Finally we made the remainder of the trip home in good time, I unpacked and cleaned up a little, and we went back to her house for the evening. She has to work tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll be making a decision on an air conditioner.

I’ve never had a more successful conference, but I need a vacation after that!