Or Nothing

We had a brief meeting this morning, and then Mike and I helped Josh hang a couple touch panels at the middle school. It went alright, for having a newbie on the crew. We dawdled enough all morning that it was about lunch time by the time we got back, so almost all of us went to Slim Chickens to eat. I had the chicken and waffle, which was good, but I felt like I was paying an awful lot for the waffle to only come with three chicken strips. At least the strawberry lemonade was great.

After lunch, I stuck around the shop and did some more remote work on SCCM. Ben, Gary, and Zach had an interview with a guy that Melinda said was just like me without the fun parts. I told her we shouldn’t hire a complete asshole. Then for some reason I had to rate her on a scale of 1-10 on how much she’s like the devil.

Librado stopped by at some point and got a badge made for his new position as a relief custodian. It was otherwise a quiet day at the shop until Melinda started shooting everyone with her tiny off-brand foam dart pistol. She got me near the eyes a couple times, so I figured I should break out the big guns when I got home.

After work, the girls came over and I baked the pizza that Autumn brought home from school. It took me way back when I had to cut the thing inside of an actual pizza box, and it really made me miss working in pizza. I can see it now: Cow Pies.

We wrapped up the night with the first two available episodes of WandaVision. Summer wasn’t impressed with the highly stylized format, but it was clear things were going to change pretty quickly. I just hope it’s good, and can tie in appropriately with the future of the movies.

It’s NERF!

The “S” is for “‘Spensive”

It was another quiet day at work, which meant I got to tinker with some older projects and things. I was ultimately successful with my Microsoft Office uninstall/upgrade task, and I think I have Web Help Desk configured in a way that will help me keep a better eye on both the junior and high schools.

Summer took the afternoon off and met me for lunch at Brangus. The food was good, but the service was lackluster, or at least mostly absent. I spent the afternoon at the junior high fighting a copy machine. It could have gone worse, but I was pretty sure it was the fault of the printer.

After school, I took Eaddie with me to the shop, then to the high school to pick up Autumn. Then I took them home where Summer had made a delicious pork chop dinner. We watched an episode of Glee, and then I had to head home to do some laundry.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 and its premium variants were announced recently, and Google Fi had a 50% discount promotion, so I finally started the process of porting my old Sprint number over. I’ll save money in the long run, but for now this is just another expensive toy. I figure I’ll eventually switch over to it as a primary device when the 90-day requirement runs out for the promotion.

Don’t worry, there’s no charge.

Don’t Get Attached

I was back at the high school with Mike again today, but nothing exciting happened. I got to focus on some work in SCCM, which was nice. I only really have to run to classrooms at the junior high right now.

Melinda wanted to go to lunch again today, and I told her she was getting too attached, because this was twice in one week. She, Ben, and I went to Mulan’s, and I did my best not to overdo it. I think it was a success. Melinda decided that she wanted to have a cat at the shop, but I don’t think she realized how bad that might be for a cat to be alone for that many hours of every week.

I worked a little late, then changed at home and picked the girls up at their friends’ house. I helped Eaddie with some math homework until Summer got home, and eventually we got around to watching an episode of Glee before bed.

Just have an outdoor cat. That lives on the other side of town.

Panic at the Get-Go

I’m still dreaming a lot lately, which kind of knocked my morning off balance. I had a short panic episode out of nowhere, and just generally had a rough start to the day. Once I made it in to work, everything was fine. Ben, Zach, and Greg were all back from quarantine, so I stopped by the shop before heading to the junior high.

I wasn’t as productive as I probably could have been, but I still got a lot done and never really felt not busy. I ended up working through lunch just to get things done. I was going to take Eaddie to her flute lesson after school, but apparently Summer had already arranged for her mother to take her there and then to the shop when she finished. Instead, I ended the day at the high school to get Autumn. We picked Eaddie up and made it to karate plenty early, so we sat in the car for a few minutes and talked.

When I got back home, I checked in on Bác Vân next door, who seemed to be in good spirits, though annoyed that her in-home physical therapists seemed to be completely pointless. I explained to her that they were probably used to the typical, lethargic patient that wasn’t already doing their own physical therapy on their own time.

Summer came over after work, and we picked up some Arby’s for dinner before she had to get the girls. She said she hit a possum on the way there, so I drove out to make sure it didn’t leave any babies. It took a couple rounds, but I found it on the side of the street, still breathing, but dying and covered in blood. I didn’t have a good way to finish the job, and my stomach wasn’t much up to stomping it to death, so I just left it to die by the curb, feeling pretty sick about it.

I’m all talk.

Super Tecknikken

Today was the last day of quarantine for those that weren’t sick. Mike was out for a personal day, so it was up to me to watch over all of secondary, and I crushed it aside from really needing to study for my A+ exam. Time is running out super fast, so I’ve got to get this test scheduled. It’s been so long since I’ve had to do something like this completely from memory. I don’t even really understand testing to this degree, because in the real world you always have resources.

Josh and Melinda wanted Morelos for lunch, so I met them there for a quick bite. Then it was back to the high school to finish out the school day. Once Autumn got out, we went to the junior high to get Eaddie, and I finished up my day. I took the girls home until Autumn’s Explorers meeting, grabbed a quick, cheap, poorly made chicken sandwich from McDonald’s, and spent the night in.

I saw two snowflakes today!

Lonely Friday

With so many quarantined, there were only four of us on site at all today. We didn’t have any projects, so I just went straight to the high school to get started. When Mike got there, I helped him take care of a couple things. That got us nearly to lunch, so I ran by the shop for a bit and then met him at Linh’s.

After lunch, I went by the shop again to image a laptop to deploy at the junior high. Gary stopped in and chatted with me for a little bit, and then I finished the day at the junior high. It took me a while to get the laptop set up with all the software she needed, so I didn’t really get anything else done before quitting time.

I picked Autumn up at the high school, and then dropped her off late for therapy since nobody told me she was scheduled for it. I had just a little bit of time to go home and check on Bác Vân at her house, and then I went back to take Autumn home.

Eaddie and I went to my parents’ for dinner, and then Summer came along after the gym. Bác Vân wanted some soup too, so when we left, I took her some for the next day. My new Chromecast with Google TV came in, and somehow I received the wrong note card inside with someone else’s message. I’m not sure what’s funnier: The Pee Team, or the fact that some other random person received my card with “Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?”

After putting it off this long, I’d better pass this A+ test the first time.

Junior Tecknikken

Summer had me drop the girls off at school this morning, so it was a slightly earlier day for me than usual. We dropped Autumn off, and then I went to the junior high with Eaddie. I ended up staying the entire day, only leaving to get some Arby’s for lunch. It was mostly quiet, but I got a decent amount done there.

After work, we had to get Autumn from the high school, and then we waited at my house until time for karate. Once I dropped them off for that, I went to my parents’ house for some dinner. Dad made a corned beef, and then afterward he did some mad science to try and fix the tea infuser I had that broke immediately after I purchased it and brought it home.

Nobody got electrocuted, but the tea ball didn’t stay together either. I eventually headed home for the evening and spent all night trudging through email.

Hold my beer.

A Bit of the Old Ultraviolence

It rained all day today, which made it feel pretty bitterly cold. I spent most of the morning troubleshooting my recently-deployed software while Mike chatted at me. The day went by relatively quickly, and it felt a little eerily quiet, likely because I’m not actually getting any ticket emails assigned directly to me any more.

When we left for lunch, I ran by Burger King and McDonald’s for a Whopper and fries, then stuffed myself at home. Suzanne came by to visit in the afternoon and inspected Frankie, my office succulent. Hopefully he pulls out of the dry spell he found himself in while I was gone. While she was there, she showed us that, evidently the rest of the nation had fallen into chaos with riots in the streets.

Autumn didn’t go to school today, so it was just Eaddie and me all evening. We went home after work to change, then to my parents’ house for dinner. Summer eventually made it home after yet another long day, so we picked her up a cup of chili and some fries on the way home. I called Bác Vân at the hospital to check in on her, and then it was an early night to bed.

WHAT DO WE WANT?
A rational and informed discussion of the issues and exploration of possible workable solutions!
WHEN DO WE WANT IT!?!?!
As soon as reasonably feasible!

Six of One, a Dozen of the Other

Things were pretty quiet today. Mike came in and talked at me for a while in the morning until he had to leave for an early lunch. I took a late lunch and then just ate it at the junior high since they had some work that needed to be done.

Evidently Zach, Greg, and Ben all had to quarantine again, so it’s just the relative newbies and me until Gary gets back next week. Fortunately it’s a pretty good time of year to be short, so I don’t think it will get too stressful. I finished most of what needed to be done at the junior high, but then I had to go to the high school to get the girls because Eaddie didn’t get my message to stay at the junior high.

We dropped Eaddie off at her flute lesson, and then Autumn and I finished the day at the junior high. When Eaddie was done, we got their karate gear from Summer at her shop, and I dropped them off. Then I went to my parents’ house for dinner and to crunch some numbers.

We wrapped up just in time for me to get the girls. Michael was there, I guess donating a bunch of weight lifting stuff, so I helped him unload. Then I took the girls to pick up some flowers to take home to Summer. It was an even quieter night, with everyone off doing their own thing. We watched a very little bit of YouTube with Eaddie, and then it was bedtime for everyone.

The indian shoots his arrow at the smaller, weaker number.

Don’t Look Up

It was really frosty out this morning, but I made it back for a true full day at work. I was catching up with Karen in the library when Julie called to say Bác Tran was blowing up her phone to check on Bác Vân. I got a hold of Doug without too much trouble and confirmed that Dad and Lelan were already on the way. When I got into my office, I found the bucket I had placed above the drop ceiling had crashed through the tile and shattered when it hit the cubbies, dumping rainwater all over everything. I wouldn’t have expected to get that much water there, but it did rain for a really long time.

I took a late lunch to run by the post office, then just grabbed some Tropical Smoothie on the way back to the shop. I spent most of the afternoon there catching up with Ben and boxing up the three laptops we had ready to ship off to the depot repair center. I did eventually make it back to the high school to wrap up the day and pick up the girls.

We got home and Eaddie took off on her bike just before another guy came by to check out the renovations we want to make to the bathrooms. This guy was a recommendation from Julie, and he seemed much less sales-y than the previous group. He wasn’t pushy at all and basically said he was just there to complete exactly what we wanted and nothing more, which I appreciated. I think the quote will probably come back quite a bit cheaper because of that. He also name-dropped my superintendent, who is on an entirely different reality of a pay grade, and I wasn’t quite certain how I felt about it.

Once they left, I took the girls home and started prepping stuff for salads. Summer arrived shortly thereafter and we ate, then watched an episode of Glee. Eaddie and I heard something that sounded like it was running across the roof, and we came out to discover two cats that appeared to have difficulty finding a way down. I’m not sure how they got up in the first place, but it just sort of made me mad that they’ve been hanging around, tearing things up.

At least it’s a rental?