Tag: work

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Sandy Lines

Four of us immediately went to the junior high today to try and clean up the work orders that had been piling up due to the lack of a tech there. It was overall pretty quiet, and mostly a cluster of us all bumbling over each other, but we put a dent in them. Lunch time came around really quickly, and seven of us all met up at Mulan’s for lunch. Summer wanted to get lunch, but I was at the mercy of whoever would drive me, and she didn’t want anything that heavy.

We finished up at the junior high in the afternoon, and then came back to the shop to work on Central Office tickets that had piled up on Gary in the time he’s been pulled away to other things. It wouldn’t be this bad if we hadn’t restructured the department in the middle of already being super shorthanded. We just don’t have the people.

Shortly after I got settled into my office, I received an email from Rebecca stating very matter-of-factly that they had a new contract for me to sign, and that I would need to pay the district $558 due to a mistake that they had made. I knew how I wanted to reply, but Gary thought talking to Thomas first would be a good idea. I knew this was coming, but it didn’t get real until that moment, and I got pretty upset. He gave me what advice he could, and asked me not to take any action until he had a chance to go to Central Office on my behalf.

I spent the rest of the day writing a sort of memo of conversation to attach to the email I was forwarding to him, and thanking him for what he’s done in his short time here. I think I’ve been leading up to this for a long time. I just never could have imagined the district would initiate this conversation, especially in such a way that may possibly be more in my favor than not. All I know is that I’ve really enjoyed how my job has changed within the past six months, and that the work I’ve done in that time has been more valuable than ever.

I went home for the evening, and Summer brought Eaddie over once they cleaned up at home. Summer and I watched several episodes of Modern Family before she went to sleep. Then Eaddie came out and watched the last 20 minutes or so of a movie trailer compilation with me. I dawdled a bit more on YouTube before coming to bed, mostly feeling dread for what the future holds.

Audentes Fortuna Juvat

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Dog and Pony

Today was full of meetings for me, so I hardly got anything done. First up was a meeting with Thomas and Gary about the Agile Mind sync I had been working on. Evidently Thomas was stressing over the number of work orders complaining about it, though most of it had been fixed already. I went in and immediately put him to rest with the knowledge that I had completed as much of that project as I could without any further input from their team.

The ocular migraine that I got the minute I walked into his office started to wane as I went back to the shop area to help Kyle with something. I spent a little time in my office, and then I had to go upstairs for a CPPC meeting where Karen had invited all classified staff. We had a decent crowd for a school day, and I don’t know if it spoke more about how involved people wanted to be, or how completely not busy and available people were to come hang out for two hours until lunch time. We had three people from the junior high office alone, so I’m sure they were super necessary staff.

The meeting went about as well as I expected, with the exception that it started as all meetings seem to do any more, with the new superintendent taking over the show and ineffectively communicating the purpose of what he was trying to accomplish. Judy was up front with us, and seemed to be on an exploratory mission more than anything. Once everyone else was done talking, Karen started going over the first page of titles that covered basically secretaries and clerks. Then the meeting was over, with absolutely nothing accomplished.

As everyone dispersed, Judy stopped me to mention that my contract was being rewritten. She said she saw my pay increase and assumed I had gotten a promotion. I let her know that based on the duties I was performing every day, I also assumed I had gotten a promotion. I told her I had no intention of signing a contract with a lower salary, and that if my pay was reduced before I signed one, they would have trouble. How much trouble will depend on how I’m feeling the day that it happens.

Back down in the shop, five of us went to Brangus for lunch. Greg spotted Dale coming in, so I popped out to wave him into our back room for a moment. When we got back to work, I did my best to help people as they came back to me. Then Judy came down to our dungeon to discuss our department’s salary schedule and the proposal Thomas submitted.

She confirmed that we were the only department to produce any kind of counter-proposal. I figure it’s not our problem if no other department can build a case for themselves, but they had better not drag us down. Of course, Gary shut down when Judy admitted that she hadn’t read our proposal completely, but I was feeling optimistic that she indicated she would likely just slap our proposal directly onto the second draft of the salary schedule and see where things go from there.

I stopped by to see Summer briefly at work, but she was busy and I headed on home. Eaddie had been there, but Autumn had already picked her up by the time I got home. I chose to spend another quiet night at home, and I’ll get up tomorrow to do it all over again until they don’t let me.

No sense in crying over your lack of proficiencies.

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Own the Rolls

It was a bit rainy today, but that just made things muggy instead of cool. I spent the morning at the shop being a total boss with people reaching out to me for help left and right. It’s been satisfying enough that I don’t even mind the stress, because I get the reward of helping people without being the one on the front line.

Brody convinced Gary to go to CiCi’s for lunch, and even Zach and Thomas joined us. I loaded up after a light morning, and then spent the afternoon running around Oakland so I felt pretty good. I had to make it back to the shop as school ended because Thomas wanted to meet with us about the proposed salary schedule. We’re meeting with Judy tomorrow, so we wanted to make sure everyone was well-informed beforehand.

I worked a bit late, then headed to the shop to see Summer before going home. Mom and Dad came by to drop off some soybean milk after their trip to the Oriental food store. Then they came back a bit later with some bánh bao. In the midst of all that shuffling around, I was trying to calculate how good of a deal I was getting on paper towels and toilet paper on Amazon. I’ve descended into madness with a spreadsheet that calculates the cost per sheet, but at least now I know exactly how much it costs me to poop at home.

Poopaper to your door for less!

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Mind Flay

It was a little bit cooler today, so I took the Shadow to work. I spent the morning in my office bouncing all over the place. I felt like I was on a rack, being stretched in every direction all morning long. I’m juggling so many things right now, and it actually feels pretty good. I struggle focusing on any one big project, but the constantly changing scenery keeps things from getting boring.

I picked up Summer and we went to Morelos for lunch, but she left me early and ran across the street after staring at an angry customer through the window. I managed to get the leftovers home on the bike, then went back to the shop to get some things to take to Oakland.

Michael and I got to talking about crypto for a bit after work. He gave me a frozen turkey that was sitting on his counter, which I had to swing by and get after going home to get my car. Eaddie had walked to the house after school, and Summer picked her up for karate. I went to my parents’ house after picking up the turkey, and Mom made some super dressed-up ramen.

Things were quiet when I made it back home. I got into the mood for some low-hitting bass after reading an incendiary thread on a speaker deal, so I put on some music. I don’t know what it is about speakers that brings out the forum trolls, but it’s so eye-rollingly stupid. I still want some big subs for behind/under my eventual theater seating though.

If they won’t cater to my whimsy, I’ll cater to it myself.

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Back to the Beginning

I went in to the shop first thing this morning so I could take care of a few things before going to Oakland. It was really quiet with most of the team out in buildings, but things got exciting at Oakland when I finally made it over there. I wandered back and forth down the halls trying to find where everyone had moved, and closed what work orders I could. Evidently there was a screaming runner, so there were a couple suits there briefly just to oversee what was going on.

I stuck around until lunch, then just went home to eat some leftovers before going back to the shop for the afternoon. I was able to get a bit more done there, and though my work is kind of piling up, things just felt more relaxed there than having to be in the building. It’ll be nice to get most of the work orders cleared out of the building so I can get into another project to finish.

Eaddie walked to my house after school, so I came home to her finishing up my pizza. Autumn came along shortly after and took her home, and I spent the rest of the evening in a quiet house to myself. I hardly moved off of the couch and just watched YouTube all evening. Hopefully I sleep better tonight.

Back to the mask.

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I Don’t Have the Time or the Crayons

Today was the last Friday before school starts, and a Friday the 13th at that. I jumped right back into my report scripting in Cognos, at least between calls and nags to help other people. Thomas came in to prod me into finishing the job, but at the end of the day I wasn’t even sure what else he had for me to do. I think Bryan got aggravated that I couldn’t stop everything and fix his issue, but it wasn’t just a simple fix at all, and I was busy trying to get rostering done for a math curriculum program used across nearly the entire district.

Evidently Shane from Howard came down and took the Big Three to lunch but they didn’t invite anyone else. Kyle happened to be in the shop with me, so the two of us went to The Gunslingin’ Burger again for their anniversary deal. I had a Cajun burger that had fried shrimp and rice on it, and I don’t think I loved it. The lady also brought out a plate with like four onion rings on it, but when I commented on how paltry that was, she ran to the back and had them fry up some more without any hesitation. At least the service is good, especially for a place that is more or less fast-food.

I still didn’t make it to Oakland in the afternoon, but things did at least kind of calm down for me while some people were coming through the front of the office for badges and accounts. I did my part quietly in the background and never had to interact with anyone, which was kind of perfect for today.

I worked a bit late again but made it home just before Eaddie made it back from a bike ride. While she was there, I cleaned some more hair algae out of my shrimp tank and found one of my missing snails in the sump area. I moved it back to the front, so hopefully it can keep that area a bit cleaner. Now I just need to find the little baby one, if it’s still alive.

Summer came home not long after that, and we went to Nonna Bella’s for dinner since the girls were going to their friends’ house for the evening. That place was way bigger inside than I imagined, and they actually had a really nice atmosphere. The staff reminded me of a cleaner version of the folks that run the burger joint. They were very proud to be a family-run business, and the service and food were both pretty good. Summer’s pasta seemed a bit too reasonably priced until it came out with imitation crab instead of real crab meat. The pizza I ordered was pretty awesome, but it was on the higher end of the cost spectrum. Overall I think it will be a decent date night establishment.

Summer went straight to bed when we got home, on account of her 5k in the morning. I got into some daydreaming about business cards and letterpress printing again, but had to shut myself down on account of how absolutely unnecessary that is for my present life.

Priorities are a struggle.

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All Your Base

I woke up feeling quite refreshed after a long night of sleep, which helped keep me sharp throughout the day. Gary showed me the insides of our Cognos reporting, and we spent all day trying to import some data into other applications the staff want to use. I’m not sure how useful reporting in Cognos will be outside of the district, but I do think it’s something that I’ll enjoy tinkering with.

Being stuck on my newfound “engineering” tasks kept me out of any other buildings, which is bad for this time of the year. School starts next week, and I still haven’t made it out to hook up some staff devices. Priorities are priorities though, and evidently we’ve taken on a lot more responsibilities this year in spite of losing most of the eSchool stuff.

Gary, Greg, Brody, and I went to Linh’s for lunch, and I had to eat my phở with a fork because our server never got back around to us while we were eating. I picked up a tin of cookies on the way out, and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing around in Cognos by myself. I was successful with most of my first assignment, but I’ve still got some work to figure out tomorrow since we don’t name our courses the way they want them for Agile Mind.

I finished up a bit late, then went home to change. I was pretty mentally exhausted, so I didn’t get up to much. I eventually made some tuna for dinner, and then vegged on YouTube until bedtime.

Elementary, my dear Watson.

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A Real Jokester

I struggled to get out of bed an hour early today for the back-to-school breakfast. I’m pretty sure I was the first from our department there, but Greg walked in right behind me. We both expected them to be enforcing masks after the board meeting last night, but hardly a soul was masked. We got our food, which was probably the best I’ve had for the occasion, and found a seat right in front with Summer and Justin. The casserole was so good I had to go back for more, but it was okay because they didn’t have any other events or big raffles like previous years.

After breakfast, we headed over to the arts center for some quick training. Without Ben’s cyber security training, we just heard from a couple suits and then listened to Judy talk about FMLA before our OSHA training. I liked that guy the best just because he seemed like a cool, old guy.

We got back to the shop a bit before lunch, and they sent out the first draft of the proposed classified salary schedule. That, of course, sent everyone through the roof when they learned that our pay was lowered both at the base, and then significantly at the cap. I divulged that I had gotten a big raise, likely unintentionally, and was making more than Zach for the school year.

I was still full from breakfast, so I only ordered some chips and a shake when a group of us went to Slim Chickens for lunch. That left me pretty salty and dehydrated for an afternoon of crunching numbers, and then trying to find out why we were short so many new laptops for junior high students. It was just one clusterfuck after another, all day long.

After work, I went straight home and immediately had to start fighting sleep. My gut never quite recovered from the food from the day, but at least I was able to go to bed early.

Let the output reflect the input.

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Ain’t No Party Like an Expo Party

I’ve been spending most of my days helping others, which has felt good until I look back at my own work orders that have yet to be completed. Summer tried to hand out coupons at the certified back-to-school event, but they didn’t have a breakfast like we are tomorrow, presumably because there was a concern about them spreading COVID. No such worries about classified, though. She came by to see my new office when she finished, and then we met for lunch at The Gunslingin’ Burger.

After lunch, I spent the afternoon with Brody at the high school, primarily trying to get Jazz’s printer and desktop working. It took a painfully long time to find the network line for the printer because the tone generator was just too sensitive and would start playing music as soon as you’d walk up to the racks. Eventually I prevailed, both with the printer and imaging the desktop.

After work, I went home to change and then met Summer at the Boys & Girls club for the preview party. We thought I would need a ticket to get in, but nobody was checking for them. At one point my parents came in with tickets they were given at the door, so it really was just a sort of soft-open. We wandered around and got a bit of schwag and some food. My old coworker Stacey was there with Legends and gave us both a big gift bag full of junk.

When my parents showed up, I took the opportunity to leave since I wasn’t all that excited to be there anyway. I thought it would be less standing in a booth and more of an actual preview party for those involved. We went to La Huerta for dinner, and then I made it home just after Summer did.

I ran back out to Slim Chickens to get some dinner for the girls, and then we came back for an early night to bed. I’ve got a super-spreader breakfast to attend in the morning before work, so I’ll need my beauty rest.

‘Cause an expo party don’t start!

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Pololoko

Teachers were back on contract today, but they were all stuck in meetings and couldn’t harass us too much yet. This summer felt super short, and I wasn’t ready to go back to full days and polo shirts. I’ve taken more vacations this year than ever before, and I just can’t wait to leave again.

I spent most of the morning at Oakland taking care of a very few things, but mostly babysitting in case they needed help with their iPad project. Nobody ever came to get me, so I guess it went alright. I’m sure it helped that I made them test it first.

Greg and I met Brody at Old South for lunch, where I had a pretty dissatisfying “prime rib” sandwich. It tasted more like overcooked roast beef, and left me hungry all afternoon. The worst part is that I think I’ve tried it before and was equally unhappy with it, but I had forgotten.

I spent the rest of the day at the office just slowly chipping away at duties as they seemed to be rolling in. It was quiet with everyone else out in the buildings, but I can feel the tidal wave coming.

I went home after work until it was time to go to Summer’s for dinner. I took the giant zucchini and chopped it up into large chunks to grill, and Summer made mashed potatoes. Noah came over, and we grilled cheddar jalapeño sausages. Autumn had band practice pretty late, but Noah waited for her to get home before taking off. Then everyone was off to bed pretty quickly.

Bugs…EVERYWHERE!