Tag: work

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I Make a Penny

I’ve been bringing leftover Starbucks coffee to work lately, but having very mixed experiences with the USB heated mug. The Ember gets it hot once I get to work, but it’s annoying that the travel mug doesn’t work as well. We had someone from IK Electric and someone from Fortinet coming to set up some demo phones for us, but I wasn’t sure when they would be there. That meant we had a fairly slow morning waiting for them.

Randy had to disappear to deal with the Windstream folks, so I tried to lead some of the conversation with the phone guys. Maggie kept including herself in the conversation for some reason, which was annoying because it was difficult to get any more technical questions out.

Kyle and I met Randy and Jim at Shotgun Dan’s Pizza for lunch, and they appeared to be much busier than they expected, because there was only one server for the whole restaurant. She was struggling to get anything done, but at least the food was pretty good.

After lunch, Randy went with me to Central Office to “apologize” to Sonya. I expected to at least say something, but really he walked in and just started talking and never really quit. She didn’t seem very chipper, but maybe she’s just sassy like that. I couldn’t be bothered.

When we got back to the office, Randy realized his car was actually at the high school. We decided I could just take him back to his car after work, and we finished out the afternoon. I had to charge in the warehouse in order to get home, but it all worked out.

Summer made slow cooker chili, so I got home and ran with the dogs. It was pretty cool outside, and we were chasing daylight anyway. I was pretty frustrated when we got back, because Summer brought in Stilgar’s slow feeder that she had left outside. He literally chewed the whole food dish in half. I really liked that slow feeder, and I haven’t seen another one like it available on Amazon Vine. I don’t know how many times I’ve told her not to leave it outside. Stupid.

My new Pixel Watch 3 came in, so I spent some time setting it up. I didn’t love the color of the band, but I’ve ordered more from Vine. Otherwise than that, I spent some time on the phone with Johnny, and went to bed early.

My boss makes a dime.

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Human Retards

I was really early to leave the house this morning, but kept having idiots pull out in front of me just to go slower, multiple times on the way to work. I guess preconditioning took some battery power, so I pulled into the warehouse to charge all day. Things started out super chill, but quickly became ridiculous. “Everyone” was having trouble either printing or connecting to network drives. It took us all morning to figure out that it was the changes to Cisco Umbrella that Randy made yesterday just before we walked out the door.

Sonya called Maggie about a print issue that I assumed was the same I had been troubleshooting, but then went off about needing staples, and being an exception to the rule of our PaperCut deployment. She didn’t like any of my answers, became hostile and rude, and then hung up on us after threatening to get the superintendent involved.

Maggie and I went to Chili’s for lunch, where we were served by an old friend of hers. We didn’t think too much about the grief back at the office, though I did get a “nasty” email from Sonya. I had begun crafting a response, but Randy initially told me not to reply at all. He said he was told to have me apologize in person, to which I responded that it was odd that Human Resources would want an apology in person without a paper trail. We ultimately settled on a written response and an added face-to-face meeting to smooth any lingering tensions.

We fixed the Umbrella nonsense for the moment, but would have to revisit it later. Near the end of the day, we had to run upstairs to collect a TV that had fallen off of the wall in a conference room. As we came back into the office, Johnny called with some of his own drama. Then I ran home as quickly as I could to get some run time with the dogs.

Eli’s car was at the house, and Eaddie was in a bath when I got there. She texted that he wasn’t there, so I left with the dogs. Evidently she drove his car home because he picked her up for school, but then had to leave for some band thing and wouldn’t be back until late in the evening.

The dogs did great as we ran our course backwards. I wanted them to get some time at the basin trail before it got too dark. They had a dip, and then we went up to the roundabout before swinging back through my parents’ house. We talked with Dad briefly before making it home for some hot dogs. Summer was out back on the porch waiting for me, but then Brody called with questions about used Teslas. I talked to him a couple times before Summer and I got to chat about her day.

I had a burrito for dinner and did some laundry. Eaddie chatted with me for a bit and helped with some leftovers. Then I wrapped things up pretty quickly for bed after she left to get Eli.

Must be something in the water.

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Overwhelming Sense of Email

I tried warming up some coffee this morning, but the heated travel mug I used didn’t seem to work. I was early enough that I had a fairly leisurely ride in. I was left alone for the first part of the morning, but then Charles came in and chatted with me for quite a while about his life in the past, present, and future. It was nice, because we’d never really talked much before. I helped him get a desktop image started, and then he left.

They fed us catfish and chicken strips for “Thanksgiving” at Central Office, so I rode with Maggie over there. I also delivered my transcript and certification paperwork to HR to see if they could find me a raise somewhere in there. It’s neat that so many people are actively trying to help with that. It’s such a foreign concept to me thus far.

Most of us gathered around a table to eat, and the food was pretty good. I had to laugh because Javier couldn’t tell the difference between the hush puppies and the fried chicken. That kid is weird. We had plenty of food, and then I managed to make it back to the office with Maggie without my paperwork that I had leaned against the wall while we ate, so I had to drive back to get it.

The afternoon was slow, and I felt like I hit a brick wall. I tried to be productive, but I was just too tired for some reason. I felt like I slept reasonably well. I made it to the end of the day and ran to The UPS Store to return a few things. The bottom fell out of the sky on the way home, so I had to slow down quite a bit. I could barely see ahead of me, and even the Model Y struggled with traction in places.

I got home to an empty house and played with the dogs for a bit. When Summer got home, we shopped for some pants online, and then I realized I had some bills coming due. I hurriedly paid those, and then wrapped things up for bed.

Efficiency Struggle

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Self Driven

I allowed myself one snooze this morning, and then I was up to get ready for work. Traffic was actually quite a bit more relaxed when I left about 20 minutes later, and I still got to the office before anyone else. Maggie was actually at the Seventh Street Elementary renaming ceremony for the first part of the morning. Jim was there for a little while, and then I took Betty for a drive in the Model Y. She was super excited about it, and yapped the whole time. I was proud that Full Self Driving didn’t embarrass me even once. Maggie brought some coffee and assorted pound cakes from the ceremony. Otherwise, it was a super quiet, mostly unsuccessful day for me.

She took us to Brewski’s North to meet Jim, Corey, and Hunter for lunch. It was a little odd to be in a well-lit bar environment with waitresses in tight clothing for lunch, but the chicken sandwich was good, and the wings that Maggie got looked even better. We chatted with them for quite a while, and then I practically had to drag her out of there.

The afternoon went by slowly as well, and I ran us out a few minutes earlier than usual. I stopped in Morrilton for some drinks on the way home, and traffic closer to town was worse than it was for most of my morning drive. I got home and Eaddie had friends over for a little game night before some concert. I took the dogs out for a quick run before finishing up some leftovers and then unboxing a bunch more stuff and messing with the Model Y.

After the kids left, I laid down with Summer for a bit. She hadn’t been feeling well all afternoon. Then Eaddie brought her friend Autumn back over for the night. I finished up, then crashed pretty hard.

Shortie

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Barnacles

I tried to sleep in a bit today since I would be out late for Howard’s customer appreciation dinner, but I woke up close to my usual time to a loud, droning sound coming from across the house. I made my way to the kitchen and found the garbage disposal running after multiple days without power. Evidently somebody accidentally left the switch on when they turned on the sink light, and never turned it back off. The negligence meant the disposal had been running dry for over two hours, and left the house smelling of a burning motor.

Since I didn’t die in a house fire in my sleep, I got up and ready for work. I figured I would get there a little before eight after stopping at Starbucks for a holiday drink and cup. Then I ran into stop-and-go traffic after Conway. I was surprised that I didn’t see much traffic coming from the first couple ramps in Conway, and figured the big rush had come and gone from people trying to show up at seven. The eight o’clock traffic hadn’t hit yet, but surely somebody’s stupidity caused the slowdown ahead.

I arrived about ten after eight and tried to charge the car in the shop, but the power was out. Maggie showed up just as I was walking into the office, and we had a quiet morning inside without much foot traffic. I didn’t have much luck with anything I worked on, and after a while it was hard not to feel discouraged.

Maggie ended up taking the afternoon off, and I just ran to Sonic for a chili cheese coney. I also grabbed some fries from an inconceivably slow McDonald’s, then ate in the office by myself. I stayed until nearly four, then left to find a place to charge at the Embassy Suites. Maggie came out with a hotel key card she borrowed from David, and then I met her in the vendor hall. I saw Ben, but no one else that I really knew.

Randy eventually came around, but Kyle had to work the board meeting. Randy and I sat in on the whiskey tasting with his Conway crew, and then went down the hill to The Butcher Shop for dinner. Howard always throws a big party, and our room got progressively louder as the drinks flowed. Food took a while to show up, but we all ate, and I took Randy and Dustin back to the hotel before I headed home. Dustin was completely enamored with the Tesla, Full Self Driving, and Actually Smart Summon.

The Model Y handled the drive pretty well and only required minimum intervention. Summer was passed out when I got there, and Eaddie was just finishing up a shower. I cranked through my routine and hit the sack as quickly as I could.

Should’ve paid!

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It’s Not Wireless

I stopped for breakfast in Morrilton, and McDonald’s had me in and out so fast that I got to pass someone on the interstate twice. I was still the first one to the office by quite a bit, and I immediately dug into my Adobe licensing issue before Randy started sending me things to do. Maggie said she had to go to the transportation office to check out a pile of old junk, so she didn’t show up for a little while.

When lunch time came around, she and I went to a place called Sweet Poppas and had their fried chicken lunch special. I also got a drink and some cheddar peppers, which incredibly brought my lunch total to over $22. I couldn’t believe it. The food was good, but the portions were small, and the cheddar peppers came out with cold centers the first time around. Maggie’s chicken took forever to come out, so mine wasn’t exactly piping hot by the time we started eating.

The afternoon got wild when Kyle asked me to go to the high school to investigate an issue in the rack. Apparently the guys we paid to install the new VxRail forgot to plug in one of the iDRAC cables, so they couldn’t manage it remotely. It took me a while, but I finally found the right piece of equipment and the right port. There were a couple other cables that seemed poorly connected as well, so I don’t know what they were doing in there. Hopefully we can bring a lot of that stuff in-house.

I left straight from the high school and got home to run the dogs. We did our usual route through my parents’ yard to talk to Dad, then took a dip in the creek before making it home. Then I made a burrito for a quick dinner before spending some time cleaning up the kitchen and taking out the recycling. Eaddie and Eli did homework until pretty late, and Summer went to bed pretty early. I tried to take care of as much stuff as I could before I finally got to bed.

But I still forgot to clean the vacuum.

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Who’s the Boss

I got out super late today, yet still somehow showed up first. Summer wanted to take the Tesla, so I arrived white-knuckled after manually driving in. Jay came in and out while I was getting water, so he didn’t see me. Maggie predictably came in about half an hour late, and I don’t know if that’s just what she’s arranged, or if that needs adjusting. Randy and Kyle were at the Arkansas Conference of Technology, so I was “running the show.”

The morning was super quiet. I had a late coffee and helped Johnny with some more Google Cloud Directory Sync stuff. Lunch time came around and I just ran to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal to get the Mario Kart toy. I wasn’t super happy with the “pink gold” Peach I got, but what do you do? Someone went through the drive-through with a U-Haul trailer, and didn’t look jackknifed, but the truck was tilted up on its side somehow.

I got back to the office and had a long afternoon. I talked to Johnny some more, and eventually dug around in SCCM some more before taking off a few minutes early so I could get home to run the dogs before our parent meeting for Eaddie’s band trip.

The dogs took off full-tilt to my parents’ house to see Dad, and then we went around the basin trail to take a dip in the creek. We got back home and they got some hot dogs, and I ate some of the lasagna that Summer made yesterday. Then Summer and I headed to the high school band room to meet up with Eaddie and the other students and parents that were going on the trip.

Dan seemed to be the one running the show, so he talked to us about the trip and some expectations. Summer and I were really just along for the ride on account of our flexibility. That went on for a while, and then the three of us came home and went to bed.

Shopfree!

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Turn it On

I really left for work a little early today, which meant that I got to work right on time, which meant that I was the first person in the building. Luckily I had the alarm code ready. Jay was the next one in, nearly ten minutes later. I didn’t really get into anything at all before Johnny called for some help with GCDS. I talked to him for a while, and then Randy wanted me to ride with him to all of the elementary campuses to check on some printers. I think he just wanted company, because all we really did was turn printers on. Literally press the power buttons and walk away.

We went to lunch at Larry’s Pizza, where we had good salads, good pizza, and no service. I wish I hadn’t left a tip at the front counter when we paid, because I got all of my own refills, though it really appeared as though we were supposed to get table service. Otherwise it was a surprisingly good experience for how quiet the restaurant was. The buffet bar was also super tiny, but they kept it well stocked somehow.

We continued turning printers on and chatting with various people in the district for a while, and then came back to the office where I worked with Johnny some more. I lost track of the time and Maggie had to alert us to quitting time, so I ran home to deliver some beer to Travis before I could take the dogs out for a run.

Summer was making a lasagna dinner that Eaddie requested, but I was still stuffed from pizza. I took the dogs to my parents’ house where Julie stopped in for a bit, then we went in a short loop around the block instead of going all the way through the basin trail. It was well after dark by then, so we came back to my parents’ house for some more water before making it home.

Eaddie brought Eli over for dinner, and Summer and I chatted with them for a bit before making it to bed.

Get creative!

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Garaged

My hand hasn’t been hurting too bad, and it didn’t start bleeding again until I was out of the shower and trying to put my hair up. That put me behind getting to work, so I burned through the battery trying to make that time up. Randy was the only one there when I got there, and he was fine with me pulling into the shop bay to charge, so I more than made up for what I burned to get there.

School was out, and most of the administration was out as well, so Randy figured we would probably cut out a little early. We chatted for a while in the office, and I tinkered a little bit, but didn’t get too deep into anything. We Maggie said NextStep was taking people to Topgolf, but then Randy said he and Jim were meeting Hunter and Corey at BJ’s Market Cafe, and I wanted to meet up with those guys. About that time, Ben texted about lunch and I invited him to join us. Maggie just went to Topgolf by herself because she wanted to meet with the vendor.

I tried having Google Duplex(?) make a reservation for us, but that didn’t work and I just called myself. When the time came, Jay decided he was going to go, and Ben said he had a +1 with him. Unfortunately, he misunderstood the location that I didn’t clarify, and he ended up at Skinny J’s instead and never made it to us.

The catfish dinner was pretty decent, and it was nice to meet the old director and network admin. I didn’t have much to add to the conversation, and Hunter seemed mostly sour on the district for good reason. We finished up there and went back to the office for a little while before Randy cut us loose.

Traffic ground to a full stop twice on the way home, but I made it. Summer was home early due to the weather, but it was only barely sprinkling when I got there, so I took the dogs out for a quick, early run. We stopped just long enough to see Dad, then made it around the basin and back home.

After a while, Summer and I decided to leave for dinner, but she didn’t know what she wanted to eat. I activated FSD as we left the house, and decided to just let the car go and see where we ended up. It drove north over the Phoenix bridge, past Tech, and around the old gymnastics building. As we drove by IHOP, Summer decided that was what she wanted.

The food was good, but the service was better. We ate, and then left in some heavier rain. She went to bed, and I wasn’t long behind her. I saw Eaddie briefly as she came in from her rehearsal day in Conway, and we’ll head that way tomorrow for her concert.

SLZZZZZP

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Sliced

I got out really early today, and it seemed to make a huge difference in traffic. The guys were outside talking, but I went in because it was chilly out. Most of my day was pretty scattered, but quiet. I started with a cup of oatmeal, and the morning went by reasonably quickly. We took a late lunch, and I went to BJ’s Market Cafe with Jim and Maggie, where they had us in and out within minutes. They were like Old South, but bigger, and possibly even more packed. I had the “beef tips” which mostly reminded me of rice and roast beef that had been in the slow cooker too long.

The afternoon dragged on a bit, and Johnny called right at the end of the day to gripe about Lamar. I finally got out of there and made my way home after coming to a dead stop right out of Little Rock. Summer was in bed with a bad back, so I took the dogs out for another record-breaking run. They did 2.3 miles at a 9.5mph pace with a top speed of 21.2mph. We stopped at a house along the way home because it looked like they had a water hose running into their yard and all down the neighbor’s yard. They didn’t answer the door, so I went to find their neighbor, who had already texted the lady but hadn’t gotten a response. Hopefully they were just draining their pool, because the back gate was padlocked so I couldn’t get back there to turn a faucet off. The dogs and I finally got home and I gave them treats before making myself a burrito for dinner.

Kevin came over with Mathai to get his laptop. Then after they left, I ended up slicing a huge gash on the right side of my right hand as I tried to swat a fly off of an open can of refried beans. Blood gushed everywhere for a moment, and I called Eaddie for some help as I leaked life fluid into the sink. She brought alcohol, bandages, and even helped clean up the blood splatter all over the floor.

Once I got my hand cleaned up and bandaged, we sat in the dining room and talked for quite a while about growing up and her future plans. It was a great moment, and eventually I had to make a mad dash to get to bed late.

I’m pretty sure I’ve learned this lesson before.