Tag: television

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Be Happier, and That’s an Order!

I woke up around 4am and couldn’t go back to sleep for a long time. I felt like I just started to doze off a little bit around the time I had to get up. Ben had his little chat for us and basically told everyone to get along better and stop having poor morale over our pay. I hate that the district’s response to that is that they’ll help us find new employment if we don’t like it.

We loaded the trucks up and took two groups to Oakland to rehang touch panels. I’m pretty sure at least one of the rooms we hung had a newer projector, so it aggravates me that they didn’t even attempt to change the bulb before removing them. I guess I’ve just got to learn to ignore the stupidity at this point, but it’s just so damned aggravating.

Summer was running around with Ben schmoozing local businesses, and invited me out to lunch at Fat Daddy’s. It must be so nice to be appreciated by your employer.

After lunch, I kind of got left behind in the shop, so I spent the whole afternoon just chatting and sifting through Dale’s old Google Drive. It won’t be long before I have to dig right into the 1:1 laptops, and I couldn’t be less excited.

I went home after work and spent a bunch of time cleaning up. I took care of the cat, fish, cleaned up the kayak and put it away, and finally headed up to Summer’s. I beat her and Eaddie home, so I started cleaning up a salad with chicken strips. When they got in, we watched an episode of Parks and Rec, and I watched just a little bit of Into the Spider-Verse while they showered before bed.

Alright, let’s do this one last time.

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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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Trash or Treasure

Going back to work this morning wasn’t quite as difficult as I thought it would be. I managed to get there with time to spare, and brought along plenty of Soylent to choose for brunch. We met at the shop, but didn’t really have any major projects to do. Ben just had me go to the junior high to clean up my office all day. I loaded up a trunk full of stuff to bring home, and then after lunch time he came in a work truck to help me with a bunch more. We filled the truck bed nearly to the brim, and there’s still more little stuff to pack as well. I’m cautious to start moving anything to the high school yet, and it’s hard to motivate myself to move things out when it feels like Heather doesn’t have anything major to move into the space I’m leaving.

I met Ben back at the shop to unload, and then Gary invited me to the server room to move the phone equipment between racks, and then mount four new servers we got in. It was a very light $100,000 worth of equipment, which snapped into place as easily as Lego bricks. I really enjoyed the hands-on, though I’d like to see the software setup side as well.

That got us to the end of the day, and I went home to unload the trunk and grab a couple things I needed for the evening. Dad had come over earlier in the day and had someone look at my broken air conditioner. They deemed it irreparable and quoted $4,945 for a new one, which felt like chump change after dealing with the new stuff at work. It’ll be nice to have something reliable and relevant to this century though, and hopefully we can get some duct work done as well.

I left home and went to my parents’ to chat about it, and ate some leftovers while I was there. I also brought Dad a box full of some old yearbook photography equipment that he sifted through. Summer was working late on her first day at the new job, so I took her some fried rice and egg rolls when I left. We watched Parks and Rec over a big strawberry shortcake, and then it was off to bed.

Throw it away?!?

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Mow Fuel, Mow Problems

We got up this morning, and Summer tried to get the mower out to teach Eaddie how to use it. We could never get it started though, so we spent the whole day playing Magic instead. When she was finally ready to go to the gym, I headed home to mow my own lawn. I decided to take the power cord to the TV as well, and in response, Eaddie attached herself to me like some kind of spider monkey. It took a great amount of effort to get away from her without physically harming her.

Once I got home and started mowing, it went by pretty quickly. I really love my electric mower. My parents came by and saw me outside for just a second before I finished up, and then it was shower time.

Summer picked up our coffee urn from the junior high and groceries from Kroger on the way home, and I eventually made my way back up with a spark plug wrench in tow. It didn’t seem to help, and I’m guessing the mower just has bad gas in it. I asked if she got new gas for it, and I guess she thought “new from the gas can” was good enough. Crank as we may, we only got it to run for a few seconds before dying again.

Meanwhile, Autumn helped Summer make burgers, sweet potato fries, and asparagus for dinner. It was all super good, and I tried to fill up on the asparagus after watching a bunch of videos on how it grows. I never would have expected such a weird swamp grass-looking plant.

After dinner we played a little more Magic, and then watched a few episodes of Parks and Rec before bed.

You know what, I am going to have that third steak after all. Go ahead and put that order in now, please and thank you.

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Friar Cluck

Summer started off super early to get the car show going. I got out as quickly as I could, feeling much better after sleep. I had to go by her place to get some cakes she forgot, then made it in at least before it started.

I didn’t feel confident in running more than one deep fryer because of the lack of outlets, but I managed with just one pretty well. The show had a great turnout, and people seemed to have a really good time. Nick sold out of pulled pork peculiarly fast, but we had chicken strips for days. I just kept churning them through the fry baskets, using the timer on my Pebble to keep them going. While I was there, I had a few esports kids come in to play, but they were just left to their own devices since I was busy elsewhere.

Dad came by to check it out and hung out with the Model T guys for most of the day. I pulled him away for just a bit to climb up to the roof for some photos. The trees were a bit in the way, but I got a decent panorama out of the deal.

I was absolutely beat by the time we got everything wrapped up, but I had to go to my parents’ to clean up their fryer, and then to the shop to drop off the borrowed extension cords. Somehow Summer had the energy for some gym time. I went home to clean up just a little bit, then made my way to her place to pick her up for the Magic: The Gathering open house. Travis met us there, but John and Melissa had something else going on. We ended up wishing we had brought the kids, but they were tired and moody anyway.

We played a couple games, first for Summer to watch and learn, and then again with all three of us in a free-for-all. Summer won that game, and seemed to really enjoy it, so I’m sure we’ll be back for the next open house. One of the esports kids that didn’t show up to the car show today was there learning how to DM a game of D&D, which I thought was pretty neat. They really did a lot with a small amount of space.

Once Travis had had enough, we headed home and I fried up some rice and egg for dinner. We watched a couple episodes of Parks and Rec, and then crashed.

Oh, oh, it’s Magic!

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Avengers: Girl Power

We got up this morning and headed to Little Rock for lunch and an IMAX showing of Endgame. Our first stop was at Sam’s to pick up a bag of rice for Summer’s mom, and then we went to Chuy’s to eat. The food was amazing as usual, but looking back it was probably too expensive to be taking all of those youngsters. They end up ordering cheaply made food and not enjoying the value of the more expensive dishes, but everything there is a bit higher anyway. I’d love to go to happy hour at some point without them though.

After we ate, we went to The Promenade At Chenal to walk the food off a bit. We never even made it to any of the stores, and just did one loop around the area. We did make a couple stops at some benches to rest, kill some time, and take a few pictures. I made Summer mad because I wouldn’t pose with her in front of a concrete LOVE sculpture, but I didn’t like having to get someone out in the street for a proper angle. I did take a couple from behind that could be mirrored, but by that time nobody would really cooperate anyway.

The kids walked on ahead to the theater, so Summer and I went on in even though we were over half an hour early. The entire process was ticketless, which was kind of a bummer for me because I like keeping them as a sort of souvenir. My glasses were dirty too, but they washed well in the sink. The kids got some small popcorns and drinks, and we made our way to our seats. All of my bladder training paid off, and I made it through to at least the start of the regular credits.

Endgame was an amazing movie. It was constantly full of emotion. I thought there were some moments that could have been shortened a bit to shave some precious seconds off of the total film length, but I was pretty happy with the screen time that the characters got. I wasn’t a fan of Captain Flythroughyourships, and I was surprised to see her get a lesbian haircut in the middle of the movie. I also didn’t really care for the girl-power moment. I’m all for powerful female characters, but we already had some that we killed off. What happened here was too forced. In the end, I thought they did a fantastic job of bringing the story to a close. I’m interested to see where Spider-Man goes from here.

We weren’t really hungry after the movie, so we headed home to drop Noah off, and then we watched some Parks and Rec until bedtime.

I am Iron Man.

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Mow, Mow, Mow your Moat

We got up this morning at a pretty reasonable hour and finished the first season of Battlestar Galactica. Afterward, my parents came by and discussed getting rid of my Fieros, much to my annoyance. I guess it would ultimately probably be best, but I do miss driving them, and I can’t shake the feeling that I should have them fixed up again.

Once my parents left, Summer went to the gym and Bác Vân helped me with some yard work. We trimmed a bunch of branches and cleaned up the front yard so Summer could mow when she got back. It was pretty soggy in some places, but we got it all done and the yard looks a lot better. I’ll have to clear a bunch of brush in the back, but hopefully that won’t be too terrible. The mower seems to do a great job of mulching, and the single battery lasted almost exactly long enough to do both the front and back of the house. I’m sure when it’s thicker, I’ll probably have to bring out the second battery, but for now I’m very pleased.

After all that yard work was done, we came in to shower and then met my parents at Kroger to use some fuel points before going to New China for dinner. Nearly my entire body cramped up from all of the yard work, but I managed to work them out well enough to go eat. When we finished there, we went to Walmart to pick up some things for Easter dinner tomorrow, and then wandered around the store for a while to hunt for deals. We picked up a couple snow scrapers for just pennies, so I call it a win.

Summer went to bed pretty much as soon as we got home, and I played some Overwatch with Clint until bedtime.

…and some Sour Patch Kids and a Coke can!

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Tiny Dancers

Jason didn’t have any projects again for us this week, so after a long, chatty meeting, I went to Oakland to visit for a while before lunch. When I got back to the shop, Jason had me go to central office to run a short line with for him. As we left, several people commented things like, “did you get it fixed?” Jason responded that we had to come back with a tone generator to find a line he had lost, and I added, “why do things in one visit when two will do?” Cindy came back with, “well Jason’s already been here twice already!”

Zach had offered up Western Sizzlin, Stoby’s, or Fat Daddy’s in London as choices for lunch, and because the people I work with have boring, predictable taste, we went to Fat Daddy’s. I tried to slyly load up with Gary, Zach, and Heather, but Gary misstepped and ended up with Heather and Brice while Zach and I drove together and everyone else went with Jason. At least they had expanded their menu to more closely resemble the one downtown, so I got a barbecue burrito. It didn’t seem quite as good as I remembered it, and the menu was misleading in its description of ingredients. That place frustrates me near endlessly.

After lunch, I spent some time at the junior high and visited with Ronda. I had to tell her about the plans for next year, and we discussed getting together over the summer. I think a group vacation could be lots of fun.

When I got home from work, I played enough Overwatch to get another loot box before Summer got here. Then I went to check out the dance at Oakland for a little bit. It was a pretty cool setup they had going on, and most everyone seemed to be having quite a bit of fun. I spent some time backstage with Michael as he played DJ on his iPad.

I didn’t stay super long though, since I was tired from working sickly all week long. I headed back home and warmed up some freezer burned dinner that I had gotten from Zach, and then Summer and I watched Battlestar Galactica until bedtime. I noticed the guys were online, but they were in their last game of Overwatch. They agreed to play one more with me before bed.

The devil you know…

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Baader Meinhof Adapter

I was so incredibly tired this morning that work got me into a bit of a cold sweat. I jumped right into things, trying to track down a buzzing sound in the Oakland A/V setup. Jamming to some sweet classics, the lunch ladies came out dancing. I’m told there’s a video of me being unwillingly pulled into that somewhere. The preschool kids got a kick out of Baby Shark during breakfast. Fortunately I was able to fix the buzz with a ground loop isolator. Coincidentally, I ended up needing another one in a different classroom as well, but it didn’t seem to help as much there.

There was a call for Chick-fil-A, but I lead a larger group of people to the far superior Zaxby’s instead. Poor Zach had his order cancelled on the back end and ended up waiting forever to get his salad. Everyone gave me their toast. I ran out of time before food.

The afternoon was slow and I felt pretty crummy. I did replace a Chromebook screen after Ronda and I interrupted Jessica’s class by popping bubble wrap. I stayed late to take Autumn home after color guard practice, and we stopped by Little Caesar’s to get dinner on the way home. I appreciate when companies go out of their way to support and employ people with disabilities, but I wish they’d keep the blind guy away from the cut station.

After dinner, we finished I Am Legend, then finally watched a couple episodes of Parks and Rec Tommy’s Place. From there, I headed home for the evening, but spent most of it steam cleaning carpet stains. Split’s been throwing up a bunch lately, and I’m just sick of it. He’s about to go on a strict diet. I probably should too.

Summer’s resignation was posted in an email out to everyone today, so I guess it won’t be much longer before my changes are made known.

It’s going to be an interesting summer.

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‘Cause I am Barely Breathing

Summer had a 5k and quiz bowl tournament to attend today, so I slept in a little bit. It really wasn’t too late though, before I got up and started trying to motivate myself to clean house. I felt my head cold grow all day long, and I just kept feeling worse and worse, but I didn’t want the day to be a total loss. I ate my week old Firehouse sandwich that was dry and not delicious. Then I started cleaning up around the kitchen and vacuumed the living room.

I wanted to get the big pieces picked up before Ronda and Steven came over to drop off some stuff she picked up for me, but I guess they had more deliveries to make and didn’t stick around long. She got me a reptile double lamp and a nice little aquarium with an overly intricate filtration system in the back. I think it will make a nice home for Murderface in the near future.

I went ahead and moved Blue over to the community tank and she seemed to do fine there. I also noticed she only has one ventral fin, and I’m not sure she’ll grow a second one back. It looked like it could have been a birth defect. I watched her for quite a while to make sure she settled in well, and nobody really seemed to take any notice. The heavy plant coverage should help her find a home in there anyway.

When Summer got home, she took a shower before we strapped in for a Battlestar marathon. I got up to make some instant phở for dinner because neither of us were too keen on getting out, and it was rainy anyway. We got a few episodes watched before my head stopped functioning and she was ready to pass out. I loaded up on what meds I could and hoped for the best.

Hamburger