Tag: television

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Find Time to Chill

Thomas came into my office this morning to say that he, Kelsea, and Gary would be in Plumerville for some Cognos training, and to be on alert in case the new superintendent needed any technology help. I didn’t really expect to hear from anyone, so it wasn’t a big deal. Greg mentioned needing to run some cable at the central office, but wanted Zach to find someone else for that.

It was pretty quiet with everyone out, so I mostly stuck around the office to babysit Tammy. I did have one pretty animated guy come in for an account creation, but otherwise it was business as usual. Zach and Josh showed up for lunch, and we went to Zaxby’s where I saw Aaron’s dad for the first time in a little while.

Shortly after we got back from lunch, Thomas messaged us to run upstairs and help with an unspecified technology issue. When I got there, the air seemed tense and they really didn’t seem like they wanted me there. They said she was busy, and wanted to know if I could be reached later. I didn’t really see the point in them calling us for help and then turning the help away, but maybe she figured out how to set her MacBook’s sleep settings on her own.

A little while later, we got a truckload of Newline touch panels in. We went with the next size up, so these were pretty unnecessarily heavy. I’ll say it again – I’m all for removing technology from schools. Educators primarily use it to babysit, and rely too much on it for classroom management. It just gets in the way of teaching.

I ran to Oakland at the end of the day to collect some backup battery inventory information, and then just happened to realize that Eaddie needed a ride home since Autumn went straight to work after school again. We went to my house and started the second season of Stranger Things. It seemed to jump right into things, but I couldn’t really tell where things were going to go from there.

Summer came over as soon as she got back from Cabot, and we went to La Huerta for dinner. Then I headed back home to decide on a refrigerator. I narrowed it down to a side-by-side with water and ice in the door. I wasn’t thrilled with the ice capacity, but that seems to be how it is on most of those things these days. Now comes the time to manipulate discount methods.

Keep hustlin’, not bustlin’.

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A Little Strange

Gary called me just as I was walking out the door this morning to ask for a ride to work. Evidently Zach had his new truck in the shop for an issue with his backup camera, so I was the next best thing. We skated in a few minutes late because of it, and evidently the storms had some things down when we got there. It wasn’t too long before they had it figured out and we were all up and running, but then Brody had some trouble with testing that almost needed assistance. I ended up being able to do some remote updates that I think helped, because he called us off the case.

I spent a large part of the day working on CPPC stuff, but also made time to create a software deployment. Lunch time came around quicker than I realized, and Gary, Thomas and I started for Linhs. Zach pulled back into the parking lot as we were leaving, so I circled around to get him.

After lunch, Linda wanted to come chat with me, so I had her meet me in my office. She was upset, as many are, about some of the perceived hiring practices in the district. I tried to ease her mind the best I could, but ultimately I told her that every job has a leader that can ultimately make whatever call they want. There’s no law about fairness, and it’s not uncommon for employees to develop a feeling of entitlement over a long period of time with a company.

Even quitting time arrived quicker than I expected. Amber texted me that Eaddie didn’t have her phone but needed a ride home. Then Eaddie emailed me and said she thought she left it on the bus. I called over to the Transportation office and found it, then picked her up. Autumn had to work right after school, so Eaddie and I went to Burger King at her request. We had a really good conversation that went all over the place, and then we went up the hill so she could change and shower for the evening.

We headed back to my house with the expectation that we would start the second season of Stranger Things, but she ended up in her room studying all night. I watched a recap of the whole first season that got me stoked enough to rewatch the last episode of the first season. Then Autumn called and wanted to stay home, so I had her pick up Eaddie and we all went to bed.

So you think superficially going through the motions would make you feel better?

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Trashcycle

I made it in to work this morning with some of my last returns to the graveyard. Jason had come over from Atkins to pillage some of our trash before it went out, so I didn’t even spend any time in the office at all in the morning. A couple of big guys with a big box truck showed up, expertly parked at our makeshift loading dock, and loaded 12 gaylords full of our electronic waste. The biggest heartbreak was probably all of the student Lenovos that have been absolute workhorses for us for the past four years, going on five. Sure they were showing their age, but they were still great laptops that were super easy to service.

Jacob, Zach, and I stayed in the graveyard all morning to help move all of those piles of junk. That got us to lunch time, but Gary and I were the only two that didn’t have plans. He and I both independently thought about The Gunslingin’ Burger, so that’s where we went. It took them a typical several minutes to cook everything. The burger was good, but the fries were cheap and uninspired frozen crinkle-cuts. Sixteen bucks later, I had slowed down quite a bit. I kept eyeing the Sonic across the street though, and grabbed a Cherry Limeade on the way back to work.

The afternoon dragged on for what felt like forever. I ended up way more sore from the morning than I expected, plus I just felt super sleepy the rest of the day. I did manage to get a little bit of work done, but otherwise the back of the office was pretty quiet all afternoon. I was the last one out the door, and headed straight home to try and stay up.

I went outside again and moved a log to the side of the house so I could tinker with the siding and figure out a way to hang the windchime. I finally figured out how to pull one of the panels out, and ultimately decided to hang the thing with some velcro. I wasn’t completely convinced that was the best place to hang it though, so I may come back later to move it around again.

I took a short break, then did about a mile and a half on the treadmill while watching Love, Death & Robots. It’s been on my list since it came out, but I didn’t realize how absolutely perfect it would be for me. I love sci-fi shorts, so I burned through three episodes before deciding to give it a rest. I can already tell I’ll be really sad when I run out of episodes.

Xerox, Styrofoam, Taser, Thermos

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Clean Mess

I got up this morning and piddled around the house some more. There was some filing of paperwork, and more shuffling things around to different places. I still don’t know where I can put everything I’ve hoarded, but I’ve got to make room to move some furniture somehow. I eventually made it to the shower before Summer wanted to take Eaddie out for dinner.

Autumn left to spend the day with her father, so the three of us that remained went to Venezia’s for dinner. Eaddie was invited to the movies to see Sing 2, but wanted to come to my house for the evening, so we went to their house to get some clothes. Summer headed straight to my house, and I took Eaddie to the theater, stopping for my taco along the way. It made Eaddie really angry, but we made it to the theater with perfect timing.

I laid on the couch with Summer while she watched TV until it was time to get Eaddie again. Then the two of us watched the last episode of Hawkeye before bed. I felt like it was one of the weaker shows, and I really hated this version if Kingpin. Daredevil did it so well, and this just made me hate it. I guess that may not matter though, if the story was as short-lived as it appeared to be.

Persistence.

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Killing Me, Smalls

I came in to work this morning and had everything of my own wrapped up pretty quickly, so Gary gave me three of his work orders. I went nextdoor to the transportation office first, and picked up a couple old computers to swap out and clean up. Then I went upstairs to get a couple broken laptops. One of them was a broken screen, and the other was a super gross looking one from a remote student.

Thomas came in and appeared to be in good spirits, but he still sounded awful. It seemed a little like he was afraid to show too much weakness from it. The morning went by quickly, and Brody came to the office and took Gary and me to Linhs for lunch. As we were finishing up, Kelsea came in with her family. Evidently she took a half day, so we didn’t see her again.

After lunch was pretty quiet as I finished up the work Gary had given me. I picked Eaddie up from Oakland on the way home, and we watched an episode of Hawkeye until Summer got there. She really wanted to go out for Chinese, and I talked myself into feeling hungry enough to go.

The hostess sat us in the tiniest booth in the place, so it was super awkward for me. Eaddie and I werre both basically sandwiched on either side, between the table and our chair. I overate and felt awful, so I came home and put about a mile and a half on the treadmill. It felt awful for about a mile, but then got better just in time for my shins to start cramping. The only real solution is to stop eating food. Maybe I can just take a Soylent with me so I can still socialize during lunch.

Being value-driven is really going to end me.

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Step 2: Do Step 1

I was a little late to work this morning, but it has been especially quiet this week anyway. I’ve rather enjoyed it. Gary gave me something else to do so our new domain controller would sync passwords with Google. Then I actually got a couple new work orders for the first time in a while. I did what I could and kept busy the rest of the morning.

Brody, Josh, and I met Greg at CiCi’s for lunch against my better judgement. I didn’t stuff myself silly, but I’m not sure that wasn’t just because my stomach is permanently too large now. I blame Brody for always wanting CiCi’s.

After lunch, Greg went to Oakland with me to check out an intercom speaker. It wasn’t malfunctioning at the time, so he just rewired something and we left. I ended the day back at Oakland to hide some wires to keep the underdeveloped from yanking them out and hanging themselves. Eaddie was there waiting for me to take her home, so we went on to my house where she started some homework while I dropped off a UPS package and picked up some dinner for her.

I spent a little time on the treadmill to make up for my last cinnamon roll, and when Eaddie finished eating and doing some homework, we watched a couple episodes of Hawkeye. I think it’s getting better, but I really just want to consume the story as quickly as possible. By the time we finished the second episode, she was ready to go home.

Autumn was at a church thing, presumably trying to pray the non-binary away. Summer had a late meeting in Conway, so we didn’t see her either until very late. I played some Last Horizon, which has been a fun twist on the old lunar lander game. Then it was off to bed.

Step 3: Do Step 2

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Guidelines Were Made to Be Broken

I didn’t give the Murano much time to defrost this morning, then made it worse by trying to use the wipers to clear the little bit of frost I had. I made it to Oakland without incident though, and took care of something quickly there before heading in to the office.

Greg was there, in his office, unmasked, and ready to work. It upset me a lot first thing, but I relaxed a bit after they said he had a negative test. I still felt like he should have been masked, but at least I was able to keep my distance for the most part. We did all go to lunch together, but I rode in a different car and sat on opposite corners in the restaurant.

The afternoon was a little slow without much going on. Ben came through right at the end of the day to visit, and finally got to see my glorious new office. I stayed a little late trying to help brainstorm an issue they had at London, but eventually made it home.

I changed out of my work clothes and went to Lowe’s for a connector to join my two track lights while I chatted on the phone with Summer, who was on her way home from Conway. They had some clearance racks up that I perused as well, and scored some iron plant hangers that I’m hoping will work with my windchimes.

As soon as I finished shopping, I went to my parents’ house for some spaghetti. Mom was watching YouTube videos about Vietnamese street food, which lead to us watching the Top Gear Vietnam special. I was pretty tired by the time I got home from that, so I finished up and went to bed early.

Whatever you do, don’t look up.

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Vacation in Spirit

I went to bed super early last night, and then woke up early this morning after many hours of sleep. I found a charge on my Discover card from Disney, but didn’t go with the rest of my family a couple weeks ago. After some digging, we discovered that Dad had somehow been signed into my account and charged a couple things to my card. I was just glad I didn’t have to cancel my card and get a new number.

Summer had to do some shopping for work, so she came to get me and we went to Walmart, Harbor Freight, AutoZone, and then Sumo for lunch. Afterward, she dropped me off at my house so I could do some things there.

It was nice outside, so I took the opportunity to clean out a corner of the garage and put together the last part of my new metal cabinet. It was a bit of a struggle to get everything to align properly, and I’m still not super happy with the door, but it works. Now I just have to figure out what to store in it.

After a quick shower, Summer finished at work and took me back to her house. Eaddie had been deep cleaning her room all day, which she had needed to start for a while. I stayed there and played some Don’t Starve while Summer went to the gym.

For dinner, I took Eaddie to pick up Summer at the gym, and went to my parents’ house for egg roll salads. Mom seemed to function pretty well as long as I could get her to whatever corner of the kitchen had what she needed. We ate, told Dad jokes, and then I took Summer back to her car and met her at my house.

Eaddie and I had been wanting to watch Hawkeye for a while, so we finally started it. I felt like it started super slow, and didn’t have a very interesting plot or memorable soundtrack. I was also pretty disappointed with the surround sound in general, and I had some strange artifacting in the picture. I couldn’t tell if it was from Disney+ or possibly something with my Chromecast.

Once we finished the first two episodes, Summer went to bed and I started the first episode of What If…?. Eaddie didn’t stick around for much of it, but I was at least appeased with the level of action and the pacing of the episode. By then, I was pretty tired, so I finished up my chores and went to bed.

Have some Upper 10. It’s more than 7 Up!

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Everybody Dies

Summer went to work in Cabot today. I slept in as long as I could, but Autumn was banging around the house rearranging her room. Eaddie stayed in bed all day, so I just milled around and ate leftovers as I got hungry.

Eventually I gave up on going home, and played some Don’t Starve on the TV. The girls went to eat with their father, so when Summer got home, I made us some salads for dinner. Then when the girls got back, Eaddie and I watched the last episode of House. It seemed much shorter than I remembered, but it was still the perfect ending to the series.

With Summer in bed early after a long day, and Eaddie not wanting to watch anything else, I got ready for bed myself. As I finished up, Sweetums brought a baby mouse into the house, which Autumn had to chase around and throw back outside. The Matrix awaits me tomorrow, and I’m excited in spite of the bad reviews.

Follow the white rabbit…

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People That Clap at Movies

I kept waking up last night as though I was completely full of water. I couldn’t even really sleep in very late because of it. The girls were already awake, so I got up and picked at some old leftovers. Then when Summer and Autumn went to the gym, I left to clean up.

On the way home, I stopped by Ridgewood Brothers to see if they might be free to see The Matrix Resurrections with Mitch and me next week. It didn’t sound very likely, but I had to try. Gary never responded either, until I called him out on it late in the evening.

When I finished getting ready at home, I went to pick up the girls and we made our way to Conway. They really wanted to eat on our trip, so we went to Red Robin first and had some pretty good burgers. I still don’t really think they’re worth the prices they charge, but at least it’s something a little different.

After lunch, we went to Sam’s Club for a bit, then Target. That place was absolutely packed and it was pretty difficult to get around the place. The checkout line stretched back to the cosmetics, but fortunately we pushed a cart around for absolutely no reason and bought nothing. By then, we didn’t have time to dawdle on the way through traffic to the theater.

The Cinemark was packed as well, with several theaters showing the new Spider-Man: No Way Home. We got snacks, sat down, and then I got up for more popcorn just in time to make it back before the previews. The movie was pretty good, but didn’t really have many surprises after all the rumors and spoilers that have been going around. I enjoyed it, and so did the rest of the room as evidenced by the constant clapping any time a character returned. I was pretty disappointed in the 3D, mostly because of the darkness of the projector. I guess I’ll have to just prioritize the large format screens from now on.

When we got back home, Summer and Autumn went to bed pretty quickly. Eaddie and I stayed up and watched several episodes of House, so we’ve only got three more episodes to go.

Planning with adults is stupid. Families are much easier, because they can’t leave.