Tag: television

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Garth eVader

I tried to sleep as much as possible last night so today wouldn’t drag on. I made it out of the house in time to get Eaddie and meet Dad at the train depot to see Summer cross the finish line for her half marathon at right around two and a half hours. Ben and Sarah were there, and snuck up behind me while we were waiting in line to take Summer’s picture in front of their big inflatable. From there, we split back up because Summer needed a shower and Eaddie wanted to go ride her bike in the nice weather.

Once Summer was cleaned up from her morning race, I got gas and picked her up for a quick bite to eat at Zaxby’s before heading to Fayetteville. That was when I learned that she didn’t actually have any tickets because every purchase she tried to make had fallen through. She was on her phone the whole time trying to arrange for new tickets.

When we finished eating, we picked Eaddie up from her friend’s house and came back to my place. I tried to help Summer pay for some tickets, but it just didn’t work out. I started feeling sketchy about all of the different failed payment attempts, and it was getting late fast. We ultimately decided to just stay home. We let Eaddie go back out on her bike while we watched some TV to relax a while.

Eventually we were hungry enough to have a nice meal. Eaddie still wasn’t hungry, so Summer and I drove across town to see if the boys at Ridgewood Brothers had any scraps left. Grant gave us their last half pound of beef and some banana pudding, and we caught up really briefly as they finished cleaning up. I’m super excited for them to build their new place and get out of the trailer.

After running around town dodging prom-goers, we ultimately ended up at La Villa for some reward pasta for Summer. Then we picked up Eaddie’s bike from her father’s restaurant so they could go out to eat together. Summer and I watched an episode of Middleditch and Schwartz improv, which had me absolutely rolling. Then when Eaddie got home, Summer went to bed and we stayed up late watching Stranger Things.

We nearly finished the season, but Eaddie gave up just before we started the last episode. It’s just as well though, because I’d rather not have to wait for the next season to start. I’ll be curious to see if they really try to make it scary.

Flayed

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Circus Town

I had one of the worst times I’ve ever had getting out of bed this morning. I snoozed for 45 minutes and then crawled straight into a shower, and just barely made it in to Oakland. Mollie was back, certified cancer-free with just some maintenance going forward, so everyone had treats for her in the lounge. I took care of the tickets I had gotten on my day out, and made it to my office.

Gary came back and had some coffee with me since I made some “fancy” stuff that Greg wouldn’t have liked if he were there. I kept relatively busy all morning until Zach showed up and took Thomas and me to Old South for lunch. They were packed, but the food was fair. The service was middling, but I got out cheap too.

The afternoon was super quiet, and I never heard from Lowe’s about the pickup of the refrigerator. Autumn didn’t want to wait for Eaddie to get out of tennis, so she asked me to pick her up. I stopped by my parents’ just briefly to drop off a printout for Dad, and then got Eaddie and her boyfriend. We dropped him off at home and then went to my house to wait for Lowe’s.

It wasn’t until after we moved all of the crap out of the way of the front door that I got a call saying their truck had been broken down for hours and that I would have to go to the store to reschedule for another day. Eaddie and I finished one episode of Stranger Things, I watched one super short episode of Old Enough, and then Summer picked her up.

I should have gone to get some dinner first, but I thought Lowe’s would be quick. I ended up hanging out for nearly an hour waiting for Sergio, who appeared to be the only one in the store that could actually reschedule me. I think I finally got a little bit of sympathy after being exceedingly friendly to everyone that I’ve interacted with at the store. Not like a lot, but I made a joke about us being best friends by the time this is all over, and he smiled and said we were best friends.

On the way home, I stopped at Sonic for a chili cheese coney, all the while laughing at the blue screen of death on their drive-through speaker. Then I grabbed some very mediocre fries from McDonald’s and went home to eat. I was so excited to finish my food that I didn’t even take my backpack off once I got in the house.

After I ate, I excavated the Shadow and took it for a spin around the block just to warm it back up after the winter. It took a little bit of time to get the tires aired up, but tomorrow looks like a good day to ride in to work. There wasn’t much left of the night by then, so I wrapped up as quickly as I could and went to bed.

Everything has been a joke today. Why is life awful?

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Strange Design

I went to Oakland first thing again this morning to take care of a couple things. Luckily it didn’t really start raining until after I got to the shop, so I missed the torrential downpour until lunch time. It was quiet downstairs because Gary was locked away doing some training in his office.

Greg, Gary, and I met Zach at La Chiquita for lunch, and witnessed some pretty spectacular lightning strikes along the ride. The rain calmed down a bit by the time we got there, and fortunately the storm never got super bad right over us. We made it back to work without incident, but the rest of the afternoon was a challenge in staying awake.

When I finally left for home, Eaddie texted and wanted a ride, so I picked her up at Oakland. We went to my house and started the third season of Stranger Things. After one episode, we went to Burger King so she could get a chicken sandwich, because when I think of chicken, I think of Burger King. My Big Bacon King was too much. We watched one more episode before Summer got back home and picked Eaddie up.

I spent the rest of the night cleaning up my old refrigerator. The right half of it looks pretty nice now, but my arm was too tired to continue with the other half. I also did a little exploring on the new fridge, and discovered the reason for the warm water out of the dispenser. For some reason, the water line travels outside of the refrigerator nearly the entire way. It goes up and into the fridge for the water filter, then comes back out and down to another hole where it goes back into the refrigerator for a cold water reservoir line. After that, it comes back out of the fridge again so it can be routed under and around to the door. This must have made perfect sense to someone who didn’t have to deal with a refrigerator that was powered on, otherwise they would have noticed the heat from the compressor warming the water back up before it gets to your cup.

From that moment on, I went to bed dreaming of trying to perform a return outside the measly 48-hour window at Lowe’s. Maybe someone will pity us for being put out for two additional weeks and scheduling our spring break vacation and one additional weekend around what we thought were going to be deliveries.

Everyone knows backlights are superior. Idiots.

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Winter 4.0

I made it in to work early again today, and it was COLD! The wind never really let up, so it felt like winter was coming again. We had a longish, quiet meeting over donuts before people wandered off. I had to do some rearranging with my CPPC minutes because Janie waited until after I sent the final draft to remind me about the update we got for employees that were hired in with a step cap.

Otherwise it was pretty quiet until lunch time. Kyle went with us for the first time in a little while. Thomas left before lunch and said he had a doctor’s appointment, but then we ran into him with two of his sons at Brangus. He ended up paying for all of our meals on their way out, which was a big surprise. It is nice that he’s so generous so often, but I hope he doesn’t feel obligated.

The afternoon was quiet too. I went to Oakland at the end of the day to take care of a pesky vacation auto responder. Mollie was actually there in person to work, so everyone in the office was super excited. I didn’t stick around too long to chat because school was about to let out and I needed to disappear for that.

Everyone eventually filtered out at the end of the day, but Tammy was left behind waiting for time to meet up with some friends. I stayed to keep her company for a bit, and then went to my parents’ house to visit with them. Eaddie had an all-region band event that kept her late, so I had some spaghetti with my parents until time to pick her up.

On the way home, we stopped at Sonic for a couple shakes. Then we finished the second season of Stranger Things. Summer stopped in at the end of her day, but Eaddie said she wanted to stay the night with me. After the last episode, she changed her mind though, and we went up to their house for the night.

What else?

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The Begrudging Return

It rained most of the day today, but I spent almost all of it inside. I still don’t feel properly rested after all of that vacationing, but what else could I do? I caught up on a bunch of email and dabbled with a few things that were still left over. Jacob called me a couple times, concerned about the Windows upgrade process at the junior high. It went predictably poorly, but progress was still made.

There wasn’t a group for lunch today, so I took the opportunity to go home and clean up some leftovers. The steak, potato, and vegetables from Porterhouse actually reheated pretty well. I felt pretty bougie, apart from sitting in a computer chair and using a ceiling fan box as a dining table. All of the rearranging has left me without any usable space, and it feels like the opposite of progress most days.

I went to Oakland for a little while after lunch, and took care of several things there. Then I finished the day at the shop before making it back to Oakland to drop off a couple laptops and pick up Eaddie. We came home and watched a couple episodes of Stranger Things until Summer got home from Conway. I fed them some leftovers, then cleaned up a few more myself after they left.

It’s nearly tax time, and I’ve done nothing. I also have a lot I’d like to do around the house before it gets hot. Time just keeps on flying by. I feel like crap most of the day because of all the coughing, so all I want to do is sleep.

I just need less stuff everywhere.

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Half the Gurgle

Last night was really rough at Summer’s with my head cold, so I ended up taking the morning off from work so I could try and sleep in at home. I couldn’t really fall asleep for a few hours, but I got up much more rested after a while, had some leftovers, then went in to work.

Brody got back from lunch just as I was coming in, and came right into my office so I could help with his Visual Studio issue. I don’t know how we’re expected to maintain the “babysitting” functionality of our student devices if we’re also forced to allow them to execute whatever files they want.

Eaddie forgot her phone at home this morning and also needed a ride home from Oakland, so I ended the day there to replace a video cable. Then we went to my house to watch an episode of Stranger Things. When Brody finished at the gym, he met me at Lowe’s to try and buy a fridge, but we were told they no longer did a military discount on large appliances. He went along his way while I redeemed over $1000 in gift cards toward the purchase. At least I got a price match to a cheaper store.

When I got back to the house, Eaddie had fallen asleep on the couch and had her hoodie completely covering her head. I poked her a little bit, then let her nap while I went to my room. When she finally got up, I convinced her to finish the episode with me, and then I tried to get Autumn to take her home. Autumn ended up working an hour later at work though, so I took Eaddie home and took the opportunity to lie down with Summer for a bit.

I took some medicine and decided to go back home to avoid another night of gurgling condensation in my CPAP. At least the sore throat is gone now.

Fuck that, get money.

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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.