Tag: work

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Where Do You Want to Be

I had my one-on-one meet and greet with Thomas this morning, and it gave me a little bit of insight into what we can expect in the coming years. Shortly after I made it to the high school to help Mike continue imaging, Ben texted to check up on me. I told him it’s already a running joke that I get fired multiple times a day, and he responded that I’m in the top 10% of the department now. It really feels like it’s just a “big three” now, and Thomas basically told me not to take offense when he eventually moves me out of the office next door. I haven’t even had the chance to play him the songs of my people yet.

I made it back to the shop for lunch, and four of us met up at Quiznos. We ran into Jessica, her mom, and Kai there, and I let her know that we had their new student laptops ready to go. The afternoon was more of the same until I got a random text near the end of the day from Brandie just to check in. Then she accidentally called me instead of replying to my text, so we just chatted on the phone while Mike and I finished up with our last round of laptops for the day.

Shortly after getting home, I took the tile samples back to Ridout and gave my contact information to a guy there, who didn’t really seem to want to talk pricing with me, but rather our contractor. I wasn’t sure I liked how that went, but at least I know what tile I’m looking for now. Then I went to the shop and waited for Summer to get off work so we could go to my parents’ house for dinner.

We had spaghetti with Dad, but didn’t stick around too long before heading back home. Summer texted late about some trouble with Autumn, but that seemed to fizzle out before I got out the door. I’m about to start giving her more attention than she can stand.

I guess when you think the ends justify the means, there’s not much you won’t do.

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Gotta Get Away

It was another quiet day at work today. Zach was back and sent me to help Brody finish imaging the junior high student devices. Then most of us went to an abnormally slow lunch at Morelos, after which I went to the high school to help Mike image his student devices.

After work, I met Summer at Ridout to look at some more tile. We went back and forth for quite a while until we finally found some that we liked, and I’m excited to get things moving. We still need to shop for a vanity and some fixtures, but at least this much is done.

I took the tile to my parents’ house to show them, then waited for Summer to get there so we could have some leftover dinner. After visiting for a little while, we headed back to my house for the evening.

Summer chatted with Beth for a bit, and I ended up doing some flight shopping for Eaddie’s trip back up to Wisconsin. Some airlines charge fees for unaccompanied minors, but I discovered that Southwest would take her without any real restrictions. For only $138, I found myself wondering why we’re only sending one.

Airports are some of the safest places you can hang out in for multiple hours at a time. Everyone there has already made it through security, and at any moment you could scream and at least a dozen good samaritans would come running.

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Independence Day

I got up with Summer this morning and went to Walmart to pick up what she needed to grill hot dogs for her crew at work. Then we went straight to the shop and got things cooking just in time for lunch. Once everyone ate, we headed back home to get Eaddie and then met Autumn at my parents’ house to help clean the pool cover. I was still plenty sore from stacking wood, so I was worthless all day long.

We went to Morelos for dinner on the way home, then ended the evening with a classic Will Smith action flick. At first I questioned watching the modern sequel in 3D, but I think I made the right choice with the original. I can’t even remember the plot to the new one.

Once again, the LAPD is asking Los Angelinos NOT to fire their guns at the visitor spacecraft. You may inadvertently trigger an interstellar war.

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Woody Woodstacker

I made it in a little bit early this morning in time for coffee and donuts. It was another slow, quiet meeting that ended with everyone splitting up to continue imaging. I think we’re about a third of the way through the high school student devices by this point. I really thought Mike might be involved with it at some level, but I guess he’s got his own things going on.

We left at lunch time, and I went home for a bit before going to Zaxby’s and picking up some food to share with Summer. I felt pretty decent just sharing a Wings and Things meal plus a free side of cheddar bites, and afterward I went back home to stack some wood.

I got about two ricks stacked up from the massive mound of wood that has been in my back yard since the trees were cut. I was almost completely in the shade and it was a bit cooler out today due to the rain yesterday, otherwise I wouldn’t have made it. I was pretty proud of my accomplishment, but there’s so much more to stack before I even get to the larger logs that will have to be split.

I went in to shower from all the sweating, and Summer brought Eaddie over later in the evening. Autumn didn’t want to stay here again, so it would just be the three of us. Eaddie wanted to meet Dave at Old Post to play tennis, so Summer took her and they stayed out pretty late doing that.

When they got home, Summer and I watched the latest episode of Loki, and I still hate the forced weekly release schedule. I’m ready to see what little Alligator Loki has in store for us.

Now would be a great time to learn how to smoke things.

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New Boss, Who Dis?

It was cooler and rainy today, which fit perfectly with my mood about Ben being gone. Thomas is back, and we’ll get to spend the next few days bringing him up to speed with what he has already identified as “same shit, different people.” At least he’s welcomed input so far, and I don’t guess I could ask for much more.

Gary didn’t have anything new for us to work on, so we split up to image computers again. Josh returned to the high school with me until lunch time. Then we met everyone back at the shop for lunch with the new boss. He picked Fat Daddy’s, who appeared to be busier than usual. I had an uncharacteristically good burrito, which may be my go-to from now on. Everyone else’s meat plates looked overcooked and dry as usual. We still can’t figure out why the service takes so long though, since all the meat is smoked for longer periods of time. It’s not like we’re waiting for it to be freshly prepared. I had joked during our brief morning meeting that Gary said Thomas was paying, and then he actually did. I must be a prophet.

After lunch was just more of the same. Gary joined us for the last few minutes, and then we were off. I went home until time to get the girls for the band camp concert at Tucker Coliseum. I don’t remember it being carpeted the last time I was there. It probably helped the acoustics, but it still wasn’t at all ideal for a wind band. The girls were placed in the top two bands, which were both markedly better than the third.

They were hungry when we left, so I grabbed a family pack from Wendy’s on the way home. Then Eaddie and I watched an episode of House before bed.

Sometimes you just have to move the numbers around a little bit. It all makes sense. Trust me.

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A Message for Our Steakholders

I thought I would be out in the sun a bunch this morning, but Gary was a bro and had me complete some work in the office instead. The others went in pairs and disassembled some digital signage for spare parts before they’re outright replaced with the new hotness. For some reason they’re replacing all of the elementary signs regardless of condition, but not the middle school sign that is like 90% broken.

Four of us went to Brangus for lunch, where my beef spud tasted like mouthfuls of dirt. I don’t know if the mushrooms or potato weren’t washed, but I figure that’s what happened. After lunch, we split up into a couple re-imaging groups. I had Kyle go with Brody for the junior high, and I took Josh with me to the high school, based on who lived closer to which campus.

After work, I went straight home and did a little more cleaning up before Summer got home. Then we went back to Brangus for dinner for another sub-par service. I really thought it would be better, but the tumbleweed was burned to a crisp, and the service was mostly absent. Brangus is normally a good pick, but they were zero for two today. The one redeeming part of the visit was seeing Melinda and Matt on their way out. I had to holler at her pretty loudly to get her attention, but as soon as she saw us, she one-upped me.

Once back home, we wound down pretty quickly and went to bed early. Tomorrow we’ll face the new boss. The last one was easy.

Too many ghosts.

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Double Your Money

We didn’t have anything pressing going on at work today, so a couple people split off to take care of other things, and a couple more went to image junior high laptops. Gary and I stayed at the shop to duplicate flash drives among other things.

My money transfer back into my savings account evidently got doubled, so I spent about half an hour talking to both Discover Bank and Arvest trying to make sure I didn’t get hit with an insufficient funds fee. Discover was uncharacteristically useless, but a nice lady at Arvest said she would set a calendar reminder to waive the fee for me once the transaction finishes tomorrow.

Lunch time came and went pretty fast. Gary suggested CiCi’s because Brody wanted it yesterday but couldn’t get Greg to go along with it. Gary and I met him over there, and they were just packed. After lunch, I went to the junior high with the last of the flash drives and found some of the ones Brody was missing. I think we’re still missing a couple, but now Gary has some new ones mixed in with the rest and I’ll never be sure again.

Gary joined us at the very end of the day, but four people was way too much for the number of flash drives we had, so I went to the high school to catch Mike and grab some flash drives from him to make in the morning. When I left, there was a road crew tearing up 16th Street and I had to take the long way home.

It was a pretty quiet, slow evening at home for the most part. I waited for Summer to get home from a day in Conway, and then the gym. I would have liked to get some more done around the house, but hopefully at least the garage door sensor will stay put.

Ah, screw it.

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Dull Work Now, or Dull Work Later

Everyone there was there at work today, and it felt pretty empty. Gary did his best to inspire everyone for a full day of work, but then he went home because he had been at the hospital all night with our old friend Thomas. I told him not to worry about coming back, and the rest of us quietly toiled away.

I continued work on the image while the others either split up for tickets or spent the entire day enrolling Chromebooks. Lunch time came quickly, and I went to Linh’s with Kyle and Greg. Then I took a bánh mi home for Eaddie. The rest of the afternoon went by quickly enough, and eventually we all went home.

I stopped to look at a Miata on the way home since Summer wanted to know more about it. The few deeper scratches and scuffs weren’t visible from the road, but otherwise it was in okay condition for something that old. Summer wanted to meet me there later to look at it, and she decidedly fell out of love with it. She continued on to a bowling team builder while I went home for a while.

I eventually made it up to their house for the evening and made double layer tacos for dinner, then watched House with Eaddie until bedtime.

To send a wagon for thy minstrel and refuse my letters!

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O Captain! my Captain!

I spent most of the day trying to polish my task sequence for the new student laptops. I think Gary was getting frustrated with me, but I didn’t want to ship an unfinished product, and there were plenty of other things we could send the crew to do. Ben happened to be there for what was essentially his last day, and reminded us that we have several hundred Chromebooks that are ready to be enrolled as well, which took most of the heat off of me.

A bit before lunch, a couple guys showed up in a big box truck to clean out the graveyard. Evidently we never actually scheduled a pickup date, but that didn’t matter much. I ended up babysitting them through lunch. Gary ran next door to Smackin’ Wings for food and gave me his leftover fries. Around one o’clock, I had to go back in to help Ben with new staff accounts while he printed badges. That started out as a bit of a circus, but I made it work. It did take the rest of the day though, and as everyone else left, Gary and I stuck around to see Ben out.

I thought we might go for dinner or drinks, but instead I just helped Ben carry his stuff out while I waited for Summer to get home. I got a little choked up, but I’m happy for him. As soon as I got home, Summer, Eaddie, and I went to Mulan’s for dinner.

Once we got back home for the evening, Summer went to bed and I finished up on the computer before watching an episode of House with Eaddie. Then we were off to bed.

But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

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Just Sit Down and Do Work

I was sleeping super hard when my alarm went off this morning. I made it in to work on time, but others didn’t and got yelled at by Gary. It was lax before, but now we haven’t had a leader there consistently for like a month. He sent everyone to the junior high to unbox laptops while I worked on the imaging process all day. I caught a break pretty late, but I think he’s still pretty stressed about getting it done since we still have new devices coming later in the summer.

We got our COVID checks today, which was nice. It would have been nicer if they paid us for the time we worked, and not based on the number of days that teachers worked, since we had to be there for way longer risking ourselves. I nearly died. Three times.

Greg took Josh and me to Taco John’s for lunch, and the tacos were actually great for the first time in a while. We saw Brice there with his 911 buddies, which is to say his work crew, and not a count of how many buddies he has.

After work, Summer came over and we went to Georgia Carpet Mills to trade some tile samples. I think we found a couple that I really like. She really liked a super worn pattern, but it didn’t come in long planks, and would require us to go all-in on a rustic look that I think would just be too stylized.

I went up to her place to help with the mower for a bit, and recorded a video of my Rolling Square InCharge 6 Max charge cable so I could submit a warranty claim. I don’t actually know if it’s under warranty for longer than a year, but the cable was always slow. Afterward I went to my parents’ house for eggplant soup. I couldn’t stick around any longer than that because the allergies murdered my sinuses.

When I got home, I dug the Grom out and took it for a ride around the block. It rode fine, but felt ever-so-slightly crooked. It’s a shame, but it’ll be a fine beater to teach Eaddie how to ride eventually.

W=A*V