Tag: Tesla

Uncategorised

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.

Uncategorised

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

Uncategorised

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!

Uncategorised

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.

Uncategorised

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.

Uncategorised

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.

Uncategorised

S Drive

I let Eaddie take the Model 3 to school today so I could take the Model S. It was just a little bit rainy in the morning, but I wouldn’t have noticed from my desk anyway. I spent most of the day chatting back and forth with the Tesla Service Center about the Model Y. They had the repair done, but did an unauthorized replacement of the right side trim that River Valley Tinting and Glass scratched, so I was able to talk them out of charging us for it. They also tried to touch up some paint issues for us, which would have frustrated me otherwise on account of our constant battle to get things repaired. Overall, without seeing the repairs, I was quite happy with the results.

My “big win” at work was basically just assembling a huge Monoprice order, and then getting a discount on some headphones from CDW. I found some tiny Type-C headphone adapters that would go on the end of some super cheap, $2 headphones. Overall, we ended up only spending about $10 per headset, compared to $15-20 as expected.

I made the mistake of going to a classroom on the way out of work, and ran into an apparent workaholic teacher who had ALL OF THE QUESTIONS. I ended up leaving about an hour late, so by the time I got home to change, picked up tacos, and made it to the new house, the fact that I needed some other supplies from home really solidified my feeling that it was too late to get started.

Instead of starting carpets super late, I stopped by my parents’ house for some hose washers, and then by Julie’s house to get an old laptop she wanted to return. She and Kevin came out to check out the Model S, and Julie took it squeaking around the block.

I finally made it home to gather what I needed for the new house, and then made it up to Summer’s in time to catch her starting to fall asleep. I didn’t stay up too late since I had questionable-quality sleep last night in my own strange, hot home with a rattly fan and a splashy aquarium.

This is seriously the most embarrassing cool car ever.

Uncategorised

The Loaner

I woke up extra early today and made it home for a quick shower before picking up Dad in the rain. We headed west and stopped in Van Buren to charge before making it the rest of the way to the Tesla Service Center in Tulsa. I didn’t even consider it, but evidently I had the car set to avoid tolls, so we took the long way there and still made it in plenty of time.

We started to drop off the Model Y, but they said it would probably be a multi-day repair anyway, so we could do our test rides first. Dad drove the Model X first and took it around some neighborhoods, getting proper lost in the process. We made it back and I took it for a quick spin, and also got to try Full Self Driving, which was pretty cool. I thought it did a great job, but it wasn’t without faults. When we got back, they let us take a Model S, which I really enjoyed, although I think between them, I’d almost rather have an X and a 3 just because of the size difference. The S would be fun if I needed it for the longer range, but the 3 is sportier and handles a bit better overall just because it isn’t like driving a boat.

Once we got the test rides out of the way, we picked up a loaner vehicle. He brought out an older Model 3 at first, but then took it back when he couldn’t get the screen to work. Then he brought out a Model S, which got me excited. It wasn’t until we got in it that I realized how much of a hunk of junk it was. The wheel wells squeaked, and there were random things wrong everywhere, like a cracked windshield, missing driver vanity mirror, a passenger vanity mirror that was taped in place, and more. Not only that, but there was no way to charge my phone, so I just had to hope it would last the day.

From there, we went to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. Dad enjoyed it, but I found it to be really heavy with the reading, with relatively few exhibits. What they did have were mostly cockpits and engine cutaways. We spent a while covering the floor though, and then went outside to walk through a full size jetliner they had outside. Dad almost tripped and fell down the stairs, but luckily I had my footing and was right behind him with an inertial advantage. I propped him right back up and we continued into the plane.

It wasn’t until we were done that we thought to check the planetarium times. We had to kill nearly an hour before the next show, so we wandered through the gift shop and then back through some simulations we had skipped earlier. Once we got to the planetarium, I wasn’t super impressed with the show. It was probably the weakest one I’ve seen in my memory. The animations weren’t as great, and the first half was just a guy giving a lecture.

We were pretty hungry by the time we left, so we made it into downtown Tulsa to a place called Sisserou’s Caribbean Restaurant & Catering. The food was pretty good, but I expected the flavors to be a little more pronounced with some more heat. We did get some habanero sauce with the bread and butter, which was weird. It was pretty good sauce, but I don’t even know what it would compliment. I did not think it paired well with the crumbly bread, though.

After we ate, we headed right back toward home. We stopped to charge in Van Buren again, and we had trouble getting the charger door open. Luckily I got it unstuck with my finger, so we weren’t stuck without a vehicle. We charged enough to make it to Ozark where we stopped to charge some more. It seemed to be going a bit slower than I expected, so rather than fill up on Tesla’s dime like I wanted, we continued on home.

We visited with Mom for a bit, and then I started towards Summer’s for the night. Along the way, I saw Kyler’s car outside the restaurant and stopped at Ridgewood. Then Grant came out and invited me in for a “family tray” of leftover barbecue from the night. Nobody wanted anything else from it, so they let me have it all. Then they were going to throw out a whole tray of baked beans that they let me take home as well.

Once I got to the house, things were quiet. Summer wound down quickly, and Eaddie made it home from her football game around midnight. She made first chair in a wind ensemble at Tech, so she shared some music with me before bed.

What a piece of junk!

Uncategorised

Inverted Coffee

My alarm went off in the middle of a very deep sleep this morning, so I had a really rough time getting going, until nearly lunch time. I had to make coffee twice because I spilled the first one all over the carpet. Then we had a presenter for a cookie dough fundraiser, so we had to go “work the projector” for him. Just before that, Blake came into the office to tell me I was, in fact, having to move into the front office with Kim. It’s just as well, since I can never hear her through the wall anyway. The rest of my career there will probably end up being pretty passive-aggressive.

Summer took her car to Fast Glass again, and just as before, I got a call that they didn’t have the right windshield. At least this time they didn’t rip out the old one, so I called Progressive/Safelite to confirm that I could take the car to the dealership, and then messaged Tesla to see if they would be able to add it to my service. As luck would have it, they actually did have one in stock.

I felt kind of crummy near the end of the day, but made it back to town in time to catch Shaun at Fast Glass to confirm he would get it parked outside their shop before he left for the night. Evidently he had to start disassembly before he could tell they had the wrong glass. He was working with someone else at the time, so I went to see Summer at Superfast before going home to change. Once her car was moved out, I headed back over to move some things to my car, and then went to my parents’ house for some shrimp soup.

After I ate, I headed straight up to Summer’s for the night. Summer was doing work things most of the night, and Eaddie was having trouble with her new piercings she got on her birthday. I spent some time on my résumé, and went to bed way later than I wanted after Summer got off the phone.

This is a normal and appropriate level of anger.

Uncategorised

I Can See Clearly Now the Crack Is Gone

I made it to work early today, but forgot my keys at home, so I was more or less tethered to Kim all day. I had to prod a couple of vendors for some quotes they’ve been sitting on for over a week, and still didn’t get responses by the end of the day as promised. We did reach over 70% deployment with Chromebooks, so that was alright. I also fired off what I thought was a pretty slick email denying someone’s request to move some technology.

Otherwise there wasn’t a whole lot to the day. It was busy, but went by much slower than yesterday. I also had to call Fast Glass for an update on my windshield, and was told the glass “just arrived fifteen minutes ago” but they hadn’t confirmed its fit yet. I ran straight to the shop after work and found Shaun working on it, so we would at least get it back at the end of the day. It was a good thing too, because I called Progressive and they would do absolutely nothing to resolve the awful claim experience.

I ran by Superfast to check on Summer, went home to change, and then made it back to get her so we could pick up my car. She went home and I stuck around chatting with Shaun for a while before heading back home to do some laundry.

I picked up some tacos for dinner while I laundered, and then my phone started going off with messages about more school superintendent shenanigans. Evidently Hope had quit, and hung a bunch of dirty laundry out to dry. I messaged her as I fell down that rabbit hole again, and offered to throw any of my fuel on that fire.

Finally I made it up to Summer’s for the evening. She had been asleep for a while. Eaddie pulled into the driveway right after me, having been at school late for band. She stayed up and did homework while I fought their ant problem, and eventually made it to bed.

Moving Day Aproaches