Tag: Tesla

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One of Everything

Eaddie woke us up at four in the morning to be dropped off at the high school for an away robotics tournament. I got frustrated with her when she asked for food after we had already started driving the wrong direction for that, and then we tried two different gas stations that ended up being closed for the night. She ended up changing her mind about it, but then wanted me to drop her off to kill time by wandering around the campus in the dark. I at least got her in the building, and then checked up on her on camera once I got back home and into bed.

I didn’t let myself sleep too long though, because I wanted to make it to the Ridgewood Brothers for their soft open at 11. I got cleaned up, and Summer and I went across town. We were actually the second ones there, but I think the other lady might have been there the night before as well, so I was fuzzy on how the invites or events went out. Gary showed up a little while after we did, and came to join us. We were all really surprised there wasn’t just a line of people wrapped around the place.

They had a somewhat limited menu, but we definitely weren’t short on food. They could have just opened for regular price, and I would have paid it just to support them, but they were giving dine-in orders for half-off for the day. The one new thing I got to try was their new cheesy jalapeño rice grits. I thought they were fantastic, and could have started the day with a bowl of that for breakfast.

After we ate and finished socializing, Summer and I headed back to the house to get my yoke, and then went to Superfast to borrow some tools. They ended up having to buy a socket adapter that I would have had at home, but I didn’t have a breaker bar or a 10mm hex to go on the end of one. It took a little bit, but I ultimately got the wheel off with an air impact. I ended up swapping the whole front facia and using my OEM buttons, rather than separate the horn springs and whatever else was contained in the wiring harness. In the end, I thought it looked pretty good, and the experience of driving with a yoke was exactly like I expected: In no way better, but tolerable as a style choice.

We went to my parents’ house to show them, and they at least liked the look of it. We made plans to come back for dinner, and I took Summer back to the house so she could go to the gym. I poked around the house for a little bit, and tried to clean up some oil or grease stains on my hoodie from spending more than a couple minutes at the shop. Then I stopped by Walmart for bread flour, yeast, and a forgotten cucumber before heading up to get Summer for dinner.

Mom made egg rolls the other day, so Dad fried some up for salads. Eaddie was heading home on the bus the entire time, so we didn’t stick around too long after we finished eating. I dropped Summer off, and then immediately went to the high school to get her. We stopped by my house so she could get some things she had left, and I showed her my first three ice spheres from my new fridge. I was pretty happy with how they turned out, especially for the first batch.

Summer was making bread when we got back home. Eaddie chatted a bunch about her day, and then everyone was off to bed pretty early. Autumn made it home from Quiz Bowl, but didn’t bother to greet anyone before closing herself up in her room. I was absolutely heartbroken.

I feel personally attacked!

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Quarter Panel with Ketchup

I almost made it to my charge limit this morning, and left the house at 75%. I think being able to take a day trip during the weekend and then recoup that energy throughout the week is acceptable. I kept relatively busy today, and went to Dwight in the morning to troubleshoot a display issue. I ended up having to contact Newline support for some firmware, so I went back to the shop and had lunch before going back.

Aramark served us Thanksgiving lunch in the Gardner cafeteria, and most of our crew went, along with a few from maintenance, several from administration, and some others from the surrounding buildings that I didn’t know so well. Gary joked that the superintendent didn’t punch me when she walked in, so I must be in the clear for now. Thomas was going to go back to the shop, but we ended up staying. I sat with our substitute custodian, Anthony, and a couple Chrises from maintenance, since the tech table was a little crowded.

After lunch, I finished up at Dwight and Ian found me in the office again. I guess no one else ever sticks around so long when he starts talking, because he’s always got something to say. I ended up going back to the shop just before school let out, and rode out the rest of the day there. Thomas told us not to wait until 4:30 to leave, but I only got out a few minutes early.

I saw Summer at Superfast, so I stopped in to see her and we went to Walmart to get stuff for her to make chili for work. I found a kitchen faucet on clearance as well, so I picked it up to replace my leaky one. She dropped me back off at my car and I took it home, but on my way back out to go to her house, I noticed a big blob of ketchup on my rear passenger quarter panel. It was all over the place, and obviously intentional, so I had to take it to the carwash.

I spent a couple minutes in the carwash, trying to scrub through what little sentry mode footage I had. I never saw anything suspicious, but the recording hadn’t been working for several days anyway. I was really upset that someone would do something like that to my car for no apparent reason other than the fact that it’s a Tesla. The ketchup was very dry, but I never noticed it throughout the day as I walked to the car. It took me a little while to clean it off, but I had been wanting to wash the car again anyway. Fortunately it didn’t seem to mess anything else up, but it was also dark outside. While I was in the middle of the wash, I had to ride out an anxiety attack. I remember a couple of loud trucks being around, which probably put me a little more on edge on account of why I was at a carwash in the middle of a cold night.

I made it back home to swap cars and headed up to Summer’s for the evening. Eaddie had me bring my Yeti microphone over so she could record some flute assignments, but she kept yelling with frustration for most of the evening. Summer baked a cake, but I just laid in bed playing the Stranger Things game on my phone, desperately trying to make it through Chapter 5. When I finally got back up to finish my blog, I had another anxiety attack that I tried to collect some data on. I stopped breathing to see if my oxygen level was just low, but it didn’t seem to be. I’d love to know why I get these now.

This is the kind of stuff that gets people shot.

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Smokey Bros

The holiday doldrums were in full swing today, and I think everyone is just ready for a break. I went to Leonard’s at the start of the day to get some nylon washers to put between my vanity license plate and the screws. After that, I didn’t really deep into anything today, and spent most of my time watching a progress bar as I moved files off of our old SCCM server. Even after running all day, I’ll still have more to do tomorrow.

Dad stopped by in the morning to deliver a pumpkin cake, and Tammy didn’t realize who she had let into the building, which caused a bit of a stir up front when he completely bypassed the front of the office. A couple of the guys up front took off after him until Gary recognized who it was.

The junior high invited us for Thanksgiving lunch, but Thomas was having none of that. We were going to Taco Tuesday. Gary and Josh rode with me, but as soon as we got into my car, we realized my screen had frozen. The music would play, but I couldn’t touch any controls, change the volume or climate controls, or even see a speedometer. I didn’t want to force a reboot and have to wait to drive to Taco John’s, so I got us there and then started the reboot once everyone was back out of the car. Allen was there to eat with us again, and then when we left, my car was back to normal.

I went to Dwight for a bit in the afternoon, and then stopped by the Ridgewood smokehouse on the way back. Grant was there, and actually needed a ride to get his car from the tire shop anyway, so I let him drive. It was kind of gritty on the roads after the rain, so we didn’t get to have very much fun, but he got a taste. After that, it was a dull day back in my office until quitting time.

After work, I went back to the smokehouse and hung out with Kyler and another guy while the bros were in the kitchen doing an interview. They were tending the first fire in one of their new smokers, and seasoning the grill before they could check it for hot and cold spots with some biscuits. It was cool to chat about that stuff for a bit, and then I got a better look at the rest of the building once they finished up with their interview.

Eventually I headed home to charge, and then picked up some Popeye’s on the way to Summer’s. The girls all came out to eat, and then it was early to bed again. I think getting dark early just helps. Everyone was tired and ready to crash.

Smoked, dried, floor biscuits.

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Range Anxiety

I got up and pan fried some leftover rice and stir fry for breakfast this morning. I figured it was early enough to eat a bit and still be hungry for lunch in Little Rock. I charged up to 90%, which should have given us well over 250 miles of range, and went home to shower before coming back to pick up the girls.

Eaddie didn’t want to go, citing too much homework and studying to do. I offered to push it back, or to take her with Gavin at a later date since I’d have all Thanksgiving break off with her. I picked up Summer and Autumn, and we headed toward Conway to stop for a car wash. The touchless was unexpectedly down though, so Summer went to chat for a bit and then we continued to Little Rock.

As we approached our exits, Tres was showing an arrival with just barely over 50% battery remaining. I had expected to arrive home with quite a bit left, so seeing that we had used nearly half of our energy made me nervous. I decided to take us to Cotham’s, where Autumn wanted to eat, so we could stop at Frankin’s Charging Hub on the way to the movies. The restaurant was closed though, so we ended up just stopping to charge for a few minutes instead. The facilities were really nice, and it looked like a swell place to stop and enjoy a coffee, if you could buy one somewhere. Unfortunately there wasn’t really anything around, so we just waited. Summer texted a handwritten number in the window so she could get an unlock code to use the restroom, and she said it was nice and clean inside. Charging with a level 2 Tesla wall connector was a bit slow, but I couldn’t complain about free charging. The faster ones would have cost, but there were already a couple vehicles there charging.

We ultimately decided to eat at the McDonald’s near the theater so we would still be hungry enough for popcorn and then dinner later. We made it to our movie plenty early, and enjoyed back-to-back trailers for a movie about Whitney Houston. As the movie started, a group of kids behind us continued to talk loudly enough that I had to stand up and ask them to stop. They should have known better, but fortunately they at least knew better than to talk back, and they piped down immediately. Unfortunately, the act of standing up popped the lid off of my soda, and I spilled a bit, but it all soaked in well enough that I didn’t feel all sticky.

The movie was amazing, and really showcased how absolutely terrible DC movies are in comparison. They introduced an entirely new race of people in an entirely new world hidden right in our own, all while making it believable enough within the context of the story. The CG was intentional, and obeyed expected inertial characteristics, and the dialog was fluid and sincere. I just wish DC could get their act together.

After the movie, we decided to drive straight home so we could get Eaddie her promised Popeye’s chicken sandwich. I was a bit worried about range, but keeping with the speed limit made my range estimates more accurate. We actually arrived home with about 4% more battery than I expected. It’ll take days to recharge back to 80% from 19%, but I think it was absolutely worth it.

Summer drove us home in the Montego, and we stopped to get the three of them some Popeye’s. Eaddie felt much better after having some time to herself to study, and I made her a bowl of Yonanas that she gobbled up. After that, it was a quick evening to bed for everyone else. For some reason, I started getting upset about the felt letterboard at work again, so that had me dwelling angrily for a bit before I made it to sleep.

Contain the rage.

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Thaco… Thursday?

Greg was finally back from his vacation, but he said he didn’t catch any deer. I was glad to hear that he still enjoyed himself. I started on my project to migrate EAST’s domain controller, but kept getting stuck because we didn’t have their existing server information documented anywhere. I had other things to pick at throughout the day though, so it wasn’t too dull.

After two Tuesdays without Taco John’s, Greg wanted to go there for lunch. I could have fit in Thomas’s truck with the others, but I really just wanted to drive my car. I used the opportunity to get a free meal with points, and then got more receipts for more points before we left.

The afternoon was quite a bit slower. Somehow I fixed an issue that Jeff had earlier in the morning, but I didn’t have a clue how. Josh never got back to me with the domain controller information because Dan wouldn’t give him what I needed without checking with EAST first. I don’t know why those facilitators always have to be so absolutely dense, but it’s super annoying. I’ve never met one that wasn’t completely out of their depth, and the entire program is a joke any more. I wish they would just scrap it.

The superintendent barged in later in the afternoon, but she stayed up front with Thomas. We weren’t sure what she wanted, but we were pretty sure she wasn’t happy. We collectively did our best to finish out the day, but I left right on the dot. I went by Ridgewood to find Grant and Kyler, and we chatted for a little while about the car. I’ll have to catch up with Grant next week when he’s not covered in barbecue.

I got to the high school on time, but it looked like robotics had let out a little earlier than usual. Eaddie jumped into the car while I farted at her friends outside, and she said now she likes the Tesla. We went on to my house where I started my first software update, and then we made our way home for the evening. Autumn came out once to make a brief appearance, but otherwise it was an early night to bed. I ate some leftovers for dinner, but then finished up about three hours early myself. I felt tired, though.

Shorter days, but still no SAD yet!

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AKS69Z

I wanted to take a bike to work today because the weather was supposed to be really mild all day, but I didn’t really have room to get one out without moving the car first. Gary came back pretty early and asked me to finish up the EAST domain controller migration, so that’s on my plate again. I talked to him about Azure AD and using Autopilot to prep new computers, so he was stuck on that for most of the day.

Kelsea and I went upstairs when the girl from JTS showed up, and I opted out of any extra insurance again for this year. I figured 2024 or 2025 might be a good year for another vision exam, and without any major dental issues, I would have lost money on that plan. Kyle asked me to return Shavon’s laptop to her once I finished re-imaging it for him, since he was supposed to help out at the middle school today. I didn’t object, since it meant I would get to drive around a bit.

That got me to lunch time, but Gary wasn’t joining us. It ended up just being Thomas and me, and we sort of left awkwardly while Tammy upset herself thinking about the evils of marijuana. I don’t know what triggered her, but she was adamant that it was bad for us and that society was crumbling around her. Thomas agreed to Whatta-Burger for something different, and it was such an incredible disappointment. The wait was bad enough, but then the fries were absolute garbage and the meat patties were about an inch and a half smaller in diameter than the buns. They tasted okay, but I wouldn’t have minded to pay a little more for something that at least resembled what they used to sell.

The afternoon was pretty quiet, but I wasn’t super motivated. I tinkered a bit and then took another trip to the DMV to register my car. Evidently right before school lets out on a Wednesday is the perfect time to go, because I walked in and right up to the counter, and two other people showed up the entire time I was there. All the ladies behind the counter were friendly and chatty, so I can officially say the DMV was a better, friendlier experience than shopping at Target last weekend. Once I paid my sales tax and got my license, I went to Dwight to install an additional charger in a Chromebook cart. Then it was back to the office for the remainder of the day.

I got a little caught up in traffic and took the long way back to the shop. I figured tomorrow would be a fine time to start a big project, so I didn’t dig into anything too tough before quitting time. When I left work, I went to my parents’ house to return the critter traps I had set in the basement, since we never caught anything. Dad had fixed a couple rice cookers for me, and then Mom got home from work and offered bún bò Huế. I decided to stick around for dinner and chatted with them for a while before going home.

As soon as I got home, I installed my new license plate and then headed up to Summer’s for the evening. She and Eaddie were up talking, but then Eaddie scolded me for showing up and making Summer start talking about boring work stuff. Everyone went off to bed, and I tried not to get sucked down any rabbit holes online.

Poor kid had no idea.

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To Recap

It was kind of a busy day today, but not so much from work. Thomas was finally back, but it was still pretty quiet in the office. I had to go to the junior high pretty early to help Jacob find the breaker for the west street sign power. I gave him a ride back to his office and then went in to see the girls in the library. I quickly gave Ronda a ride down the street, chatted with our coffee guy for a bit about it, and then gave Jessica a ride as well. I stopped by Dwight on my way back across town and took care of the only thing they had going on. They’ve been the opposite of needy, but it’s just that time of year.

Dale came down to meet us for lunch, and when we all arrived at Taco John’s, Allen was there to meet us as well. I don’t really think anyone told him, so it’s possible he showed up because I told him weeks ago that we’re there every week. I sent a picture to Amanda and jokingly asked why she wasn’t there for the reunion.

The afternoon was a little quiet as well. I snuck out to go to the assessor’s office because they couldn’t add the Model 3 to my tax account over the phone. Evidently their service provider was compromised, but hopefully nothing of value was stolen. The printed copy of the accounts they had to find me in was comically large, so I asked if I could get a photo.

My time at the courthouse was pretty short, so I decided to run across town to the DMV to register my car, since an earlier phone call proved that I wouldn’t be able to register immediately with my vanity plate. Even if I only use it for a day, I’ll have to have a regular interim plate in order to retrieve my vanity plate. I waited in line for a short while, and then spoke to a nice lady that couldn’t actually help me without my loan paperwork. I didn’t realize it until after I left, but I actually had digital copies of that stuff from when I originally made my down payment. I expected it to be in the physical packet I received, but it wasn’t. Now I’ll have to go back a second and third time to complete the registration and ultimate transfer to my final tag.

I finished up the day working on some things for a couple of the other guys. Summer wanted me to pick up Eaddie after robotics, so I had some time to kill. I headed toward Ridgewood Brothers to see if I would run into anyone, and I found Robert at the new building. He was just finishing up, so I let him take a spin in the new car. He was just loaded with questions, more than anyone else I’ve talked to so far. It was a fun ride, and got me right up to time to get Eaddie.

I stopped by the house to check mail, and then waited for Eaddie behind the high school. As soon as she came out, we ran to my house again so I could change, swap cars, and pick up some rice for dinner. Summer made a corned beef at home, so we ate as soon as the rice was done. Autumn got home from karate late and had lots to say about people that were trying to motivate her. She was taking their comments to mean they thought she was doing well, but in reality it was pretty obvious they were trying to push her harder and tell her that she had potential if she would just stick with something. After that, the girls split up for bed pretty early. I tinkered a little bit, but made it to bed on time myself.

OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE BLUER THAN THEY APPEAR

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First Bath

Summer and I got up this morning and went to Hardee’s for breakfast. She planned to go home afterward, so we drove separately but then took mine back home when we realized I forgot our coupons. Their biscuits were awesome again, and I was glad the recipe hadn’t changed like I thought from a prior visit. They must have just had an off day.

When we finished, I went home to get some quarters and then went to the car wash to get some of the dust and grime off of the 3. I’ve driven it so much in the rain that it’s actually stayed relatively clean, but there was a bit of grime on the back end that I wanted to clean off, not to mention fingerprints showing up on the door handles.

I decided to drive around town a bit to dry off, and went toward my parents’ house. I called Brody to see if he was home, but they were only just leaving church. I chatted with him for a moment before going in to talk to Mom until Dad got home from church. She was being critical of the car again, so I did some quick math to calculate how much I’ve had to spend on fuel. I actually figured it would be more, but it costs me about 0.8 cents per mile for electricity when charging at home, versus a lifetime average of 13.8 cents per mile for gas for the Murano. I know mine is beyond overkill, but having a small, electric commuter just seems like a complete no-brainer.

I finally headed back home to shower before picking up Summer to go to Walmart. We picked up a Yonanas machine on clearance, just out of curiosity, and then went across the store for dinner. Eaddie wanted stir fry, so we got a ton of vegetables and headed home to cook.

Summer and I prepped veggies as quickly as we could, and then I stir fried everything together. It barely fit in the wok, and I overcooked things a bit again, but it still turned out really good. We had things split into “long” and “short” cook bowls, but I really need to split it up better in the future to keep things from getting mushy.

The early evening dragged on a bit just because I wasn’t used to the time change yet. When Summer was ready for bed, I found Weird: The Al Yankovic Story on the Roku channel and we watched the first half of it. I couldn’t quite tell if she was serious when she made comments about it being a true story, but I enjoyed the show. It was longer than I expected, so I look forward to finishing it soon.

Oh Tres, you’ve got chips all over your face. :(

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40 and 21

Today was Gary’s 40th birthday, which just reminded me how close I am to mine. He said the air unit in our core server room had gone out, so he had to come to work at two in the morning. Thomas was out, so we didn’t have an agenda for our meeting, but it was still really short. After everyone else was run off, Gary and I chatted with Jeff to give him a little bit of training.

I was a bit scattered for most of the day, and was pulled in a few different directions. Tammy’s son came by, and she asked if I would give him a ride in the Model 3. She came along too, for a loop around the neighborhood. Then I spent some time in Photoshop and worked on my meeting minutes.

Jeff came back to have lunch with us, but Jacob still wouldn’t. It ended up being Gary, Kyle, Josh, Jeff, and me because Zach went to wait for maintenance to show up at the server room. We thought he would catch up to us, but ultimately he just had Gary make an order to go. That meant I paid for four meals, but Zach paid me back for his and Jeff’s.

Shortly after we got back from lunch, Dale and Neletta stopped by. She chatted with Tammy while he, Zach, Gary, and I gabbed in Zach’s office. Eventually I got around to offering a ride, and I let him drive my car up the road a ways. He had lots to talk about, and enjoyed the performance, but I don’t think it’ll make him start voting democrat any time soon.

The rest of the afternoon was super quiet, and I’m pretty sure nobody else actually worked a full day. I stayed a little late putting the finishing touches on my CPPC email, and then I headed home to see what Terminix had finished with at the house.

I hadn’t had a chance to show Bác Vân or Doug my car yet, so I stopped by to take them around the block as well. She really liked how clean it was inside. Then I went home to reset one of my wireless access points for her and then killed a bit of time before going to Summer’s.

On the way, I finally remembered to return the unused sprayer hose to Lowe’s. When I got to the house, Summer was on the couch watching TV while the girls were picking up food. I warmed up some leftovers for myself and then laid on the couch with her until she got up to go to bed. I got pretty tired pretty early, so I took the opportunity for some extra sleep.

Gobble.

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The Good Witch

Tammy decided she would take a ride to get donuts this morning, and she continued to be the person in the office that is the most excited about my car. The rest of the day was super quiet. I went to Oakland for a bit to try and figure out how to make Incident IQ better. I showed Mollie some tricks in the system, and she said she would try to come up with some suggestions.

Back at the shop, I gave Melissa a ride around the block. Then lunch time came around, and Zach and I were the only two around to go. We ended up at Morellos, and a bus drove by with about three kids hanging out the back windows, screaming about the Tesla. I think the red was a good choice.

The afternoon dragged on, even after Melinda showed up in a red cape with a giant basket full of candy. She sat in the back and talked with Zach and me for a while, and then finally took her pumpkin and Jesus mugs with her. On the way out, Tammy brought up my new toy again, so I had to take Melinda around the block as well.

When quitting time finally arrived, everyone was ready to get out of there. I went home and immediately started some laundry. While that was going, I tinkered with the car some more to try and figure out Wi-Fi. Some of the features just aren’t very intuitive, but they’re easy to remember once you realize how to access them.

Once laundry was done, I headed up to Summer’s for the evening. I had to argue with Eaddie for a moment about some math homework, but in the end I was right as usual. Then it was quickly off to bed.

Why waste lucrative drugs on candy? That just doesn’t make sense.