So Long, Dot

We got up early this morning so we could make it to Tulsa early enough to make a day of it. Eaddie didn’t feel great, so she went to school a little late. Summer and I left for my house, then the wash to vacuum out the car. From there, we made it to Ozark to charge and get breakfast at the restaurant inside. It wasn’t bad at all, but I had kind of hoped for better, given my experience at truck stops in the past.

That got us enough juice to get all the way to Tulsa, but we stopped briefly at the Love’s oasis for some energy drinks for ourselves. When we got to downtown Tulsa, we parked right by the Center of the Universe “art piece.” The look on Summer’s face when she finally spoke up enough to hear the echo was priceless. We didn’t stay long though, and went to the nearest supercharger to get some juice before finally just heading straight to the Tesla service center.

I met several new people this time. Blake was working the service counter and contacted the manager, Jess, about my buyback inquiry. He indicated that he had already escalated it internally, and that I should hear something back in a couple weeks. He blamed the weather for the delay in getting the replacement battery pack. After that I met Tam, who introduced himself as a Vietnamese American for some reason after I asked his name. I drove him down the road to try and reproduce the rattle in my passenger door, and of course it really had healed itself. I don’t know if someone heard it and fixed it, if it was changed due to the weather, or maybe someone fixed it on accident somehow. When that was all done, I moved everything over from the loaner and got Summer into the car. She made a comment about my trunk being loud again, so I had Tam check it out while we were there. He didn’t seem to think there were any adjustments they could do, but said they could replace the trunk strut if I wanted to submit for a new service request.

We left after that, and got some dinner at Cheddar’s. I tried their Cajun pasta, which was pretty good. I kind of wished I had stuck with the pot pie though, just because it really is delicious with their croissant crust. Summer really enjoyed her tilapia and shrimp as well. We started home after that, but on a whim I stopped at The Peach Barn after seeing a billboard. Peach ice cream sounded good. They had a cute little store with lots of jarred goods, nuts, fudge, and some other stuff. Then we got a peach sundae, smoothie, and a couple hand pies and fudge to take with us.

The drive home was mostly rainy until we got back to Arkansas. We stopped in Van Buren to charge, and then almost made it home when we got into some heavy traffic with a bunch of trucks, and I took a bunch of gravel to the face a couple of times. I had a few new speckles in the paint, as well as a small surface chip in the windshield, dead center in my vision. Now I’m really hoping the buyback works. If not, I’ll have to raise concerns with the service center due to at least one paint bubble that I think happened due to the freeze while it was in their possession.

We made it home, Summer went to bed, and I pumped the basement out again. Eaddie made it home late after all-region, but went to bed almost immediately after. I was up for a while just wasting time until I went to bed.

Rotten luck.

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

It was rainy all day, so I don’t know what I expected. I got to work early, and Kim got to yapping. Otherwise it was relatively quiet all day. I was a little scattered when trying to dig into a project, so I had basically zero feeling of accomplishment all day. When I left work, I got a message from the Tesla service center that said I had 48 hours to return the loaner vehicle before I would be charged a rental fee. That felt a little dirty after they had my car in service for 31 days. I wished I had known the details of the lemon laws much earlier.

I continued straight home to pick up Eaddie, and we went to my parents’ house so Dad could practice taking some photos before her school dance. She fussed every time we brought it up, but when we finally got there, we had a little bit of fun with it. Noah got to the house just as we got back home, and I left to get some more things from the old house.

I stopped for some tacos on the way back home, and Noah and I ate. Then I tried unpacking and organizing a little bit while everyone else settled in for the night. Just before bed, I finally went out back to check the basement for water. I should have gone out days ago, because there was another foot of water in there. Unfortunately, my boots were only waterproof up to half that height. I can’t believe the seller said they had only used the sump like three times in their time in the home, because I’ve used it that many times in less than a month. I’ve got to plumb that thing in somehow.

I’ll never understand how some kids seem to hate showers. Frakin nasty.

Future Proofing

We couldn’t make it a full week off for snow and ice, so it was back to work this morning. There were a couple spots with some ice near the house, but then roads were clear until Ola, where you could see some residual black ice. It looked like Dardanelle was still out, because that place was a relative ghost town.

Kim was somewhere doing non-work things, but came to the office after a while before leaving to do more non-work things. Evidently they had a frozen, blocked, or crushed pipe somewhere in the new house, and Roto-Rooter was coming out to find their septic tank. I had a pretty quiet day to myself, except for Jalen coming in a few times for help setting up his new Hudl basketball camera. Then I spent the afternoon plotting my budget to hopefully have something reasonable to present to the superintendent when I ask for more money to sign another contract. Of course, it could all go out the window if he just decides he’d rather hire somebody else. It’s a good time to look for work.

I got a notification on the way home that service on my car was finished, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I should have messaged them to try and negotiate something earlier. I figured that waiting longer would give me a better chance to get something out of it, but I hadn’t accounted for sudden and sneaky repairs. I had a suspicion that they started yesterday, but then I got a low tire notification today that really made me think they were working on it.

It was another quick trip to the old house for another carload of boxes to take home. Eaddie was on the way out the door, so I was left to unload myself. Summer was home shortly after that, and looked unfrazzled enough for a dinner out. I called Mom to see if they wanted to go, but they were already eating, so Summer and I went to Mulan’s.

When we got back, we watched a standup special from some guy named Dusty Slay on Netflix. It was fine. Eaddie had a late curfew, and came to talk to me for a little while when she made it home. Then it was off to bed.

It’s been a long week.

The Coolest Fuckin’ Guy

I got around today and cleaned up a little bit while the girls were gone to work and school. I got screaming-mad at the dishwasher again, because Summer insists on partially loading it, and I basically have to unload everything once we have enough dishes, to rearrange them in the most compact way possible. She refuses to just leave it alone.

Afterward, I called to schedule a tow to the Tulsa Tesla Service Center, and then took a shower. At around 11, a guy named Moses come by from Diamond Ridge to check out the ceiling work we want done in the house, as well as the outhouse. He seemed to really recommend taking the existing ceiling down and hanging a new one, which made me a little nervous. I don’t really know where to start in the shed out back either, because we’re right in the middle of the expensive time of the year and it’s not like we’re just rolling in extra money.

There was a little bit of time to kill, but not too long before Doug from Storey Wrecker showed up. I drove my car onto the back of his truck, and then rode with him to Tulsa. I had asked the Tesla Roadside dispatcher if that would be alright, and I thought he had asked to confirm, but it sounded like it was a surprise to Doug. He didn’t seem to mind at all though, and spent the ENTIRE three hour drive telling me progressively less believable stories all about the cruise ships he had been on with the “Bruce Lee” silk dragon robe that his girlfriend bought him, how his son was a semi-professional wrestler and drill sergeant, and eventually some stories about sewing his wild oats and seeing Pink Floyd in Germany while he was in the military.

I would have liked to power through the trip, but he stopped once at the little oasis on the turnpike for a restroom break, and again just a few miles from our final destination to fill up with diesel. When we got to the service center, the actual service department was closed and for some reason I couldn’t get my car out of park. Being unable to drive it off of the truck, I ended up having to enable tow mode, which let it free-roll down and into a space.

Once I got inside, it seemed that the instructions for my loaner vehicle weren’t clear. It took the guy a little while, but eventually he set me up with a pretty new, white Model Y Performance with Full Self Driving. I started to drive away, but then stopped by the exit to adjust some settings, and the guy came out and caught me to get pictures of my license and insurance. It seemed like there should be a better process for that.

I wasn’t starving, but I wanted to eat before I left town, so I drove a couple miles away to a Cheddar’s and had some spinach dip and a chicken pot pie. I had forgotten that they seem to be famous for their honey butter croissants. All of the food was delicious.

From there, I headed on home in some relative cold. I had a little bit of range anxiety since I left the service center at 80%, but made it to Van Buren without any trouble. Full Self Driving was leagues better than my Enhanced Autopilot on the interstate. I think there were only like two incidents of something behaving a little goofy, and only one false lane change mistake. Mine changes lanes improperly all the time, and it’s infuriating that it’s not the same experience.

I got a large coffee to get me to my next stop in Ozark just to top off on Tesla’s dime. I picked up a sparkling water, and then powered on home as quickly as I could. I let FSD take me from the offramp all the way to the house, and it worked near-flawlessly. I didn’t take over driving at all, and it was great.

The girls were in bed, but awake for a little while. I laid with Summer for a bit before wrapping things up and going to sleep myself.

I’m not very patriotic, but after seeing it in the garage, I have to admit it would be kind of cool to complete the red, white, and blue set.

Center for the Farts

I took Summer’s car to work today so she could keep mine in town. Casey’s had a free Reign Storm (ha), so I picked one up on the way to work and just accepted that I’d squeeze in a little bit late. It was more or less pretty quiet, with just a small group of kids doing some makeup testing in our office, followed by the usual lunch shenanigans. I was pretty scattered again, so it was a lot of meaningless accomplishments and nothing of any consequence was fixed.

Summer went home early with a headache, and got some new messages about reduced power and acceleration in my car, so we’ll tow it to Tulsa for a replacement high voltage battery. I guess I should be happy to rewind a year of degradation, but it doesn’t make me feel really great about the longevity of my car. I noticed Summer had a little dent in the back of hers when I got back home, apparently from trying to open the trunk while the garage door was shut. I almost made the same mistake once, so I couldn’t be too mad at her.

I fed the fish and picked up some tacos to take home for us. Then we went to the high school for Eaddie’s Christmas concert. Autumn spotted us as soon as we walked in and came over to our seats to talk at us. It was super awkward, and I imagined it was a little bit like how she still hangs out around the high school where others can’t just walk away from her.

The concert band was pretty bad, but it wasn’t until the symphonic band played that I realized how spoiled I was from listening to Eaddie’s elective concerts. It really is the difference between a group of really passionate, or at least dedicated musicians, and a public school band. There’s simply no comparison.

Eaddie went out with friends afterward, so Summer and I came home so she could go to bed. I was up a while, in part to try and get the old refrigerator running. I’m afraid the compressor may have finally bit the dust, which is frustrating to have happened after we finally got it situated in the laundry room. Oh well.

It’s obviously the product of favoritism, and not at all hard work.

BMS_a035

I got an error message on the drive to work today, which said my car may not restart. Nothing appeared to be wrong, and I made it to work, but a quick Google indicated it could be anything from the high voltage system to the 12-volt battery. I parked close to the building in case I needed to run an extension cable out to charge something, and set up a service appointment once I got inside.

I really struggled to stay awake today, though I wasn’t particularly low on sleep. I was fairly concerned about my car, and I eventually received a message recommending that I have it towed to the Tulsa service center. I asked whether that would be covered by warranty, and a quick call to the roadside assistance number confirmed that it would be. He also said my car had been on for a really long time and had me restart my screen, though I don’t think that really had anything to do with my problem. I wasn’t even really sure that restarted anything but the screen computer.

Shortly after that, I got a call from the actual tow driver. He would be coming from Broken Arrow and could pick up the car the same evening, but after the reboot, my car wasn’t complaining about anything. Service said I should be fine to drive home as long as I had the range, but that I may have trouble charging. It wasn’t until I got back through Dardanelle that I got the error again, so I was hesitant to stop at Casey’s only to miss out on the freebie of the day. I made it to the old house without further incident, though it wouldn’t start charging the first time I tried. I unplugged and plugged in again, and it successfully started charging.

I had Summer pick me up so we could go to Cici’s for dinner. Then she dropped me back off with the car and I drove home to finish charging. It seems to be fine over short distances, but I figured I’d take her car to work in the morning until we can figure out how everyone will get to school or work after they take my car for service.

I ended up relaxing in a bath until the girls came home. Eaddie needed some energy to study, so I made her a milk-heavy latte and then settled in for bed.

Tough luck

Ready for Takeoff

I got up early today so we could go hiking on Petit Jean with Tom, Angela, Brandan, and Nikolle. They brought Cutie along as well, and she really enjoyed running around outside. I thought Eaddie was going as well, but she stayed home and slept instead. Summer and I met the others at the Cedar Falls Overlook. That was barely a walk at all, and then we went to the lodge for a restroom break before going to the Bear Cave Trail. That was more climbing than walking, but I think they had fun. Our last stop was the gravesite, and I let Tom drive the Model 3. We weren’t there long before we had to get back to town because Uncle Rick’s family made it into the airport.

I raced home with Summer and had Eaddie load the Model Y for us so we could do a quick swap and go. We loaded up some food and went to get some ice, and met everyone at the airport. Julie rented a big room there where everyone could sit and eat, but everyone eventually spread out across the whole building and outside, particularly while Kevin was giving airplane rides.

I finally got to go flying with him, and it was exactly what I had imagined. I’ve always wanted to fly, but never put any effort into it. The regulations and formalities just sort of made it less fun, which was sort of the same way I felt about ham radio. We flew along the river toward Petit Jean, which was way faster than driving earlier that morning. We scared some birds, skated on some water, and got eye-level with a buddy of his that had flown to a sandbar for a night of camping. I got to fly while we climbed for a while, and then he took over for a couple maneuvers before we landed.

I was the last one in the air, so I got to see the beautiful sunset. The girls had left earlier because Summer was feeling sick and Eaddie wanted to go to the movies with some friends, so they didn’t get to see any of it. I also got brave enough to try out Kevin’s Onewheel, and did way better than I expected. I tripped up trying to get off a couple times, but didn’t fall until I had already ridden around with a little bit of speed. When I did finally fall, I think it was because I was trying to start out on a slightly sloped surface.

Dad finished up the night at the airport with a short magic show, and then everyone helped us load up to go home. Julie and Kevin locked up at the airport, and my parents and I waited for everyone else to make it back to their house to pack some food for their trip home. Then once they left, Dad took me home.

Summer was in bed, and Eaddie and Eli were at the house watching TV, so I showed them a clip from my flight before going to the office to research Onewheels and EUCs. It was tempting to order one at Black Friday prices, but I don’t guess I’d really have much occasion to ride one. It really was fun, though.

The Need for Speed!

Pixel8ed

I slept reasonably well through the night, so I was surprised at how tired I was when I woke up this morning. I had another annoying shower, fighting with the hot water again. Then it was a McChicken Biscuit kind of morning for the drive to work. It was a bit of a struggle getting Kim to focus, which was especially bad since Denice was in the office for most of the day. Summer sent me a picture of the back of her car where someone must have hit it with something and gouged the paint a bit. She tried to look through the dashcam footage, but couldn’t find anything.

I spent my entire day working on VMware again, and with Gary’s help, I got my log files cleaned up, and everything was working again. I learned quite a bit, but there’s still so much more. They had a pep rally in the afternoon, and then school let out for a three-day weekend that I really needed.

After work, I ran straight to the new house to get my Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2. I spent most of the evening setting them up, until the girls got home and I went out to find some food. I went to the Neighborhood Market to see if they had anything interesting in the deli. They did not. Then I went to Kroger and ended up getting some brats to grill.

Summer was asleep by the time I got back, so I ate by myself, tinkered for a while longer, and then finally went to bed late.

Every day, there’s something new.

Smudge, Rattle, and Scroll

I got a message back from Shaun early this morning about the rattle in my car and the smudge in front of the camera that kept triggering my wipers in the dark. That made me feel a lot better after having such an ordeal getting them to fix my windshield in the first place.

It was relatively quiet at work, but I actually had a student come in with a broken screen and payment for the damage fee. That got me in a rush to create a new tracking sheet for damage and repairs, which took most of the day.

They had some pretty decent fajitas for lunch, and then I went to the elementary at the very end of the day to fill up a cart that was missing some chargers and Chromebooks. I left as soon as I finished there so I could get to Fast Glass to meet up with Shaun. We took a trip around the block and discovered the rattle was coming from the headliner, so I babysat his dog Annie while he took the headliner down a bit and taped the rattling cable up. Afterward, he pulled the camera assembly down and discovered a smudge of some kind of residue in front of the cameras.

The rattle was resolved for the ride home, but I wouldn’t be able to test the erroneous wipers until it was completely dark outside. I spent the evening just hanging out at home so my car could charge, resetting the breaker multiple times, and taking a break to pick up some tacos for dinner.

When I finally made it up to Summer’s, she was helping Eaddie study for a test over some historical lawsuits, which fell to rote memorization. I dawdled a bit until they went to sleep, and then I followed along after.

That’s a big payment.

The Center of the Target

I finally got a call this morning from Will, who wanted to work on the trusses at the new house. I missed that while I was in the shower, so I called him back on the way to pick up Dad, and then we ran by the house to get a code to let them in. Then Dad and I headed toward Tulsa, stopping at the Workman’s Travel Center in Ozark for a charge and some breakfast. He had already eaten a little bit, so I just got some junk food from the glass case. From there, we stopped at Casey’s in Van Buren for a bit more juice to get all the way to the first of five Targets in the Tulsa area

They were clearing out some of the Ember mugs, and I wanted to pick up another for use at home since I enjoy mine at work so much. They were out of the travel mug and the rose gold color that was discounted the most, but I did pick up a white one for $75. We didn’t stick around though, and stopped at another Target on the north side of town. They didn’t have anything I wanted, so our next stop was downtown to try Coney Island dogs and tamales. They weren’t bad, but there wasn’t anything special about them. Sonic does it just fine for me.

After we ate, we walked a couple blocks to visit The Center of the Universe, which was sort of an art installation, if you could call it that, where sounds echo off of some round planters and make your voice sound weird when you stand in the middle of the circle.

We continued on from there to another Target with a Supercharger. It was a bit of a walk with no success, and then we found our way to the Oklahoma Aquarium. It was neat as always, and we actually got to see them feed some of the animals. We even touched some surprisingly dense jellyfish.

We fought traffic for two more Targets, and then ended up at Tesla to pick up the Model Y. They did a slightly better job on the paint than the Kansas City Service Center did on delivery day, but by the time we made it to Tulsa twice, I think I stopped caring. We loaded up the two old wheels and headed straight home, stopping in Van Buren and then powering straight home.

I wanted to check out the work on the house since nobody was there to watch. I guess structurally it may be better, but it looks awful and one of the ceiling fans is completely cocked to the side now. We have no choice but to pay some drywall people to come and make it right. I took Dad home, went in briefly to see Mom, and then headed to my house to charge up a bit before going to Summer’s.

Eaddie got home just before I got there, but then everyone was in bed. I stayed up pretty late without purpose. At least I can keep my coffee hot now.

Where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain.